Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Why Won't President Trump Do a Virtual Debate? Plus: VP Debate Reactions and Mailbag Friday.

Episode Date: October 9, 2020

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss Kamala Harris and Mike Pence facing off in the vice presidential debate, President Trump’s decision to not participate in a virtual debate, the NBA Finals' drop in ratings, and the arrest of several men for attempting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, before taking mailbag questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Higher learning. Put your thinking caps on. It is I, Van Lathen. What's up, guys? This is Rachel Lindsay. Rachel, I have to ask your permission for something before we get started.

Yikes. Okay. For what? I have to ask you permission to bring my mom on the podcast. You don't have to ask permission for that. Yes, I do. Why? I would love for your mom to come.

I would love. for your mom to come on the podcast. I just had a long conversation with my mom as I was walking through Beverly Hills and some of these stories and some of these jewels that Crystal Ellis is dropping. Crystal Ellis,

they have got to find their way on to higher learning. It has to happen. You're down with you. I'm down with it. You don't have to ask. She doesn't need an introduction. Bring her on.

I would love for her to come. What would you want to ask my mom? I mean, what was it like to raise Van? Like, is she okay? Oh, oh, come on, man. That's my girl. But no, I would love to hear stories.

I mean, you're a good storyteller, and you've let us in a lot and told several stories. Don't even compare. So that's what I would want to ask. Like, I want the mother's perspective of what you were like as a child, you know, I'm sure you got into some trouble, but I'm sure there's some good stories in there, too, like some, like some gold star nuggets. She told me a story that I'm going to let her tell.

Do you remember the story? She just told me a story. It was just told it to me. No, no, no. I mean, like, is this like a childhood story that you did? Not about me. Okay. About her, about why she had to stab somebody in the back with an etching pencil the first

day of eighth grade. several times. Stabbed somebody, but you know those pencils and there's one side they got the thing and then the other side they got that stabby part.

Mom just told me because I didn't realize that she almost got expelled and they had to go to the school board and there was a whole thing she told me why she had to stab a dude in his back

multiple times with an etching pencil first day of eighth grade. Do you feel like she didn't tell you these stories growing up for a reason? And now she's like,

you know what, you're of age. I can tell you these. things now. Well, she had told me the story before about what the guy had done to her, but she didn't tell me about the get back. I like her. Yeah. I can't wait. We should have a, we should have a parent day. Parent day. Yeah. I think people would appreciate that. See where we come from. See, see the roots of the higher learning tree. I like it. Yeah, it's amazing. So listen, we normally get with all of the banter before we go back and forth,

but we got to be honest with you guys. There is so much news to cover. We're probably not going to be able to even fit it all in this podcast. So we're going to skip the banner. Skip it. All right. And we're going to get right to the meat of the podcast right after we pay some bills real quick. Hold on.

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active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com. All right, so, Rachel, I am assuming that you saw the debate. I did. I watched it with a nice glass of wine.

Vice presidential debate, of course, happened yesterday. This is Thursday as we tape. You guys will be hearing this on Friday. It was Mike Pence versus Kamala Harris. Okay. Okay. Did the debate live up to your expectations? What were your overall thoughts of it?

Um, expectations. Hard to say because I'm not sure I quite had any coming into this debate. I knew it would be different than the presidential debate. I knew that we would, we would hear their point of views. At least that's what I thought going in. I was impressed with Kamala. I know that it, I watched some of the talk afterwards. I've talked to some people at work today and some people weren't as impressed as I was.

I thought Kamala did great. I thought that she was patient. I thought that she showed restraint when things necessarily weren't going her way or she was being talked over or talked at. And I felt like she did a very good job of humanizing herself. I thought it was excellent how she would tell stories

to get the viewer to know who she is because we haven't seen her in this, you know, he's the current vice president. So I thought that that was really great because she personalized things. And you got a chance to know who she is as a person in addition to some of the policy that they hope to put into place

if they take office coming up after this election. So I thought that she did fantastic with that. I thought for the most part, there was sometimes she didn't, but I thought for the most part she answered the questions that were asked of her. I thought she did a good job of responding. And her rebuttals were great

towards or against Pence. But I was more, I had more higher expectations for Pence. I would say I was, I was more shocked with him. I thought he would be a little bit more direct in answering his questions. And instead, he seemed to either, we talked about the red herring last week or last episode, he seemed to change the topic. He seemed to be very complimentary of her when answering the question. And would go to things like prayer and pointing out families that were in the audience.

and would use that tactic more than answering the question straight up. I also thought he would attack more of her as well, how people say that she's flip-flop a little bit and changed her stance when she was running for president. He didn't really do that as much either. So to me, he didn't bring it in the way that I thought he would. And he seemed subdued and a little annoyed that he had to be there. Yeah, the annoyed thing definitely I picked up one.

For all the reasons that you just pointed out, I thought it was a very effective debate for Mike Pitts. Really? Yeah. I mean, first of all, if any debate ever was a tie, this was a tie. Okay, I'll give you that. What I mean to say about that is that and a tie in this situation is a win for Biden Harris, right? Because with each day, the win probability for the president and vice president, they go down.

So Mike Pence had to win. Now, I'm not saying it was a tie because Kamala. Harris didn't have better ideas or she wasn't more direct. I'm saying it was a tie because really what we were judging this debate on in terms of Mike Pence's performance is against the president's performance. The White House had a two-week barrage of some of the most negative press that any administration has ever had this close to an election. Yeah.

So what Pence really was tasked to do was go there and in a little way put a tourniquet on that and kind of get things back to normal. And for the most part, the fact that he wasn't rattled, the fact that he conducted himself in a more respectful way, even though the things that he were saying. You mean in a more respectful way than who? Than Donald Trump. Not in a more respectful way, period. But in a more respectful way than Donald Trump.

Don't get me wrong. He still was disrespectful to that sister many times and tried to talk over. her. That's just because the only thing that sometimes be the truth is a loud lie. So he was trying to lie very loud so that you couldn't really get to the substance

of what she was saying. Anyway. But to that point, I think people who just wanted to know that the White House isn't, the administration, should I say, isn't populated with 100% crazy people. They probably got that feeling from watching Mike Pence. You know? Now, here's the thing.

Mike Pence is a crazy person. He is. I say crazy because, you know, Mike Pence wants to study conversion therapy for our LGBT community members. Mike Pitts is an evangelical Christian, like Pete Buttigieg said, who shared a ticket with a guy who, you know. Intertains porn stars. Yeah, not to dis porn stars, but, you know, there's a fine line between. It's a stark contrast between being an evangelical Christian to teaming up with this person. Right. So, you know, Mike Pitts, don't get me wrong. the president would, excuse me, the country would not fare any better, any better out of a Pence administration than with a Trump administration.

Yeah. There might be more political competence, but the ideas are putrid. And Mike Pence is right there with them. But however, as a politician and bringing some sort of normalcy back to what people see as a discourse, people see his political discourse, he probably accomplished that. Still, though, I think that... Both of them, it was, it's difficult to, the vice presidential debate is difficult. Remember, Kamala Harris isn't up there like debating for Kamala Harris. Yeah.

It's the president this, the president that, the president this. So the substance of her ideas and who she is has to take a second, has to take a second seat or, you know, a backseat, should I say, to the, to vice president Biden. And that's probably not a specifically comfortable place for her to be in. But I thought she did a really good job of constantly bringing it back to that. This is what, even if she called herself saying, I, she was like, and I know Joe feels the same way. Or Joe believes in this. Or when he was in the Obama administration as a vice president, these are the things that he did. Like bringing up the Recovery Act that she mentioned.

I thought she did a very, very good job of that. I think what really annoyed me coming from Pence's side was that he wanted to act as if the presidency for Trump, is just starting. It's as if he was ignoring what had been done, especially in 2020 and the prior years, and as if they were just starting over today. And that really, really bothered me. And what I really, really wanted them to hone in on, which I don't think, I mean, I think people know, but I think it was just so effective is that Mike Pence is leading the task force for coronavirus and look at what's happening with it. I really, really want her to hone in on that. And I think maybe we just think that that's very obvious and we know those things. but just look at it. Yes, he's the president of the United States, but look at the man who's leading this. And I mean, when it was done on a smaller scale in Indiana, when they had, you know, the HIV-AIDS outbreak that was going on,

he messed that up too. Now look at what he's doing when he's able to do it on a larger scale. And I hated that they kept going back to the swine flu in H1N1. And he talked about the what if, you know, this had been the same level fatality rate as COVID. What would have happened? how many people would have died. The point is that it didn't happen,

and that wasn't the case. So you cannot talk about the what-ifs. We're talking about what actually is happening right now under your current administration and the task force that you're leading and how you're handling this virus and how detrimental it has been to our country and the people who are living within it.

So I wish they would have talked more about that and health care more than anything else because it particularly pertains to Mike Pence. By the way, the swan food thing is very, stupid. So stupid. I mean, it's like saying what if the chicken pox was herpes? Yeah, from the same

family, but they're two different things. I mean, they're from the same family. But by the way, not to stigmatize people who have specific SDDs at all, but I'm just saying there's a different reaction to coming down with those two things, okay? You know, just to let you know, if,

just imagine right now. if you could never cure the chicken pox. Dumbass, we can. It's not the same thing. So I don't know why we're doing this. And if the swine flu was fucking a lot of things, it would be more, if the swine flu was Ebola, if the swine flu was fucking pancreatic cancer,

if the swine flu, any disease or virus could be worse, okay? I don't know if you ever saw outbreak. Oh, I did. I did. I did. I watched it one. Once COVID happen. There you go.

I love that shit. What if fucking COVID the mutaba virus? What if COVID was the mutaba virus? None of us would be here. It could all be right. It's over. I mean, I'm in a treehouse somewhere. Shaving my head with a blade with a makeshift bow and arrow.

You know what I mean? Do you think about that? Do you ever think about that? Do you think about if it was, yeah, I know how you roll. I know you think about it. How long do you think you would really survive? Like if this was like a walking dead situation and this was like the end of the world,

do you think you'd be one of the first to go or you really could survive for some years in this? Okay, so here's the thing. Here's the question. Here's the answer to this question. Physically, could I survive? Sure. If my anxiety doesn't get me first.

If my anxiety, if I can make it through the anxiety of everything, right? I have to hit the road. I can hit the road and make it happen. if I can survive the mental part. You know, if I can survive the part where I'm painting my face and stalking people and you know what I'm fucking...

You might just need to have an episode and then you would come back. Maybe. Do you watch Walking Dead? Of course. Okay, I'm not caught up in the last season, so please don't say anything. But yes, I always think what role would I be?

I think I would be, physically, I think I could survive, but I wouldn't be like the main one going out to hunt and provide. I think I would run the town. I'd be the governor, but not as crazy. But not as crazy. The governor, but not as crazy as the governor.

The governor was pretty crazy. Really, to be honest with you, I want to say, I would probably be Negan if I'm being honest with you. No. I probably would. I'm serious. But just as evil?

I mean, Negan, you feel like it's evil, right? But it, he's doing so. I know you guys might not watch The Walking Dead, but the reality is that Negan was a character that ran everything with it. Because that, I feel like that's a stress reaction that Nigham having to have that much control and stuff. So probably, probably would be Negan.

But look, here's my thing. This is my thing. The reason why I am a gun owner and have the guns and have the shotgun and have things like that is because, you know, everybody else is busy building like survival kits and stuff like that. And what I tell them all the time is your survival kid is my survival kit if it ever happens to be gone. I know whose house I'm coming over to. Hey, we got all the water in the world. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, fam. We got all the water in the world.

Okay. We, me and you, okay? And don't drink too much. You allow two sips a day anyway. No, but I don't know. I could also see myself lying and say I knew the cure. Like, oh boy, I can't think of his name right now. Oh, yeah.

And be like, yeah, you got to take me with you because I know what's up. Yeah, you know. But it's just, I think about that. Now, we should say something about this debate. The most consequential thing that happened to this debate is, and I just want to tell you guys something right now, everybody listening to this podcast. If a fly of a lights on my head on this podcast,

please tweet me, text me, do something to let me know. Last night during the debate. No, no, man, what could you have done in that moment, though? If you did a debate, flick the fly off there. No, wait, in the pod, like, if you, if a fly flew, on your head, right? Actually, I don't know if I would tell you. Wow. But in the debate,

what was supposed to happen? You know what I mean? Like, that was, there was nothing like that. By the way, the moderator could have been like, hey, I don't know if she could see it from there. I even walked up to the TV because it wasn't moving. And I thought, did something fall on his head or is that a fly? And I walked all the way up to the TV and I said, no, that's a fly.

You want to hear something crazy? What? That fly can cost him vote. people in places my dad went on and on about that fucking fly. He is convinced that that fly means something. I want him on the podcast. My dad, no, you don't. I want him on the song.

No, you don't. Let me tell you something. In this era of Me Too and all of this, I'm not even trying to referee it. I know you don't. Nope, nope, nope, no, no, fuck, no. I know how to save people sometimes by not putting them in danger water. So no. Something going to get said. We'll talk. We'll talk

about it later. And I'm not taking it out once he said the bullshit. So now. No. But he is convinced that the fly was a signal. That the fly was a sign. That the fly in somewhere, the fly went there and it stayed there.

In that control environment, the fly stayed on his head did not move. He's convinced that that fly means. that either something is rotten with Pence or that he's full of shit. Well, it's biblical.

It's biblical, right? Like flies in the Bible as well. So I understand that. Did you notice the moment that the fly flew on his head? What was the moment? It was when he started talking about systemic racism and the police force and how he did not feel like it existed. The fly dropped on his head.

That's what I noticed. I was like taking notes. And I was like, oh my gosh. Even the fly knows what he's saying. that he's full of shit with it. But a lot of people were upset about that. Right? Note the symbolism.

The moment he started talking about that, that's when the fly said, I've had enough. Yeah, you know what? John Lewis sent that fly. Like, John Lewis sent that fly. Several people sent that fly. A lot of people that Dr. King and them sit that fly.

They understand the states. They're like, hey, get over there. Just do something. Because here's the thing about, we talked about this before, about the fallacy and the fucking terrible movie, the villain of ghosts, who is Sam Wheat. But think about it.

When you first became a ghost, when Sam Wheat first became a ghost, he couldn't do some of the things that he could do later on in the movie when his ghost powers were at their all-time high, right? Right. At first, remember, he was just struggling to move the coin. So if there's any ghosts back there that are not, like, experienced spirits of our ancestors that are not experienced yet, you know what I mean? they might have only been able to get the fly

to like that they couldn't they couldn't like push over the whole podium or rip the mic down or anything like that they could only manage to get the fly and just think about it. It was taking all of their effort to keep the fly there. You know what I mean?

Just to let people know this is when a bullshit comes in. But no, seriously, right there, that's that type of sub, that's the age we live in. With that type of symbolism, really, really matters to me. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was interesting to see the other side talk about, oh, if this is all that you have to talk about, then that means you lost the debate. No, that's actually not. We have a lot to talk about, but you have to point out the fact that the fly sat on his head for two minutes, and you have to talk about the reaction that people had.

And it added a little bit of levity to the debate, you know, because it was kind of boring at points too. Otherwise boring debate. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it was some comic relief, and I was happy to jump in. on it. And really we should say also, I mean, look, the guts of the debate in terms of policy

and what everyone was talking about, it's not much different than things that you've heard. The biggest question that Kamala was Kamala, should say, was evasive on, was packing the court, which, by the way, sounds like the name of a porn, packing the court. You are the porn expert on the show, so I will defer to your expertise for that. By the way, they should do that. One of the companies, packing the court, packing the court. I don't think I would want to tune in. You wouldn't want to see like...

Pack it. Packing the court. Maybe it's the way you're saying it. It's like it's for the mature because they, you know, they have... It's for mature. Mature isn't all poor. They have mature. No, no. Because they have, they have mature.

I got you. Categories. Like, no. And then mature. There's actually a site dedicated to mature. Wow. It's just mature. of expertise.

Do you know the name of this site? The name of this site was just old guys. It was old guys and regular age porn stars. I'm serious. It was two. It was two sites just for old guys and regular age porn stars. One was called Blue Pill Men. That was the name of the site.

And the second one is one of the funniest names of a site ever. For old men and young ladies in porn. It was called Jurassic Cox. That was the site. I'll probably. That was the site. I swear. I swear.

That was the best name. The depth of your knowledge. Ever. That's what I know. So Kamala would not talk about packing the court. And that's because they probably going to do that shit. And they don't know yet about, especially if Amy Coney-Baird is confirmed, either they're going to do it for sure or they haven't made up their mind about whether

or not they're going to do it so they don't want to commit to actually. actually going through with packing the court and they don't want to say that they won't do it so that they don't have to come back and be liars in case they win the election. And also, it's iffy the way the electorate would react to that because it's an issue to where, you know, for the long-term diversity of the civil, excuse me,

of the Supreme Court, in terms of making sure that you have, you know, enough minds on there so that one method of thinking doesn't just completely take hold in America, it might not be a bad idea, but the whole fundamental change of that is scary to a lot of people. They think, what do you mean you're going to put more people on the Supreme Court? What does this mean? That's got to be wrong. So they don't know how the electorate's going to react to that, so they don't want to take a concrete stand on it right now, which is politics. That's the way that it goes. It's not what you ideally want. You ideally want

answers. I mean, not even ideally, you want answers, but I don't think they know yet. If they no, they don't want to tell. Yeah, I didn't think it was that big of a deal for, I mean, yes, she clearly didn't answer that question. Although I loved her story about Honest Abe, I did not know that. And I thought that was good. Did you know that? No, didn't. But Abraham Lincoln, I thought it was great that she put that out there, especially because President Trump is always referencing him.

And he claims that that's one of his heroes. I don't think it's that big of a deal for them to have to answer that right now. And I just felt like they just needed something to be negative. towards when it came to Kamala in the debate, and that's the only thing that they could pick. So they hung on that. I think that if the situation were reversed, they would have answered it the same way. And I do believe, like you, that they have no idea what they're actually going to do. And we need to see this through as far as what's going to happen with Amy Comey-Barrid before we even answer a question about packing the court.

And she even laughed. She was like, huh, you're talking about packing the court? Like, in that kind of what y'all are doing right now, which is why y'all are reneging on the stuff? that you said before in 2016 because you're trying to pack the court. So, you know. Yeah. It's crazy.

Every time somebody says re-nicking. I said it on purpose. How you feel about it? I just, because I wonder if you can re-nig. Because if you nigg a lot in the first time, like, right? If you nigg, like, whatever ngging would be, you re-nig. So is there a nigg? Because you re-nig.

So there's got to be a nig, which is a problematic word, which is why I'm talking about, because if there is re-nigging, then maybe there's nigging. And so I want to hear one of these, I want to hear one of these politicians when someone says you reneged on that. I want to hear one of them be like, nah, man, I nigg the hell out that shit. No, or how'd I nigg in the first place?

How'd I nigg in the first place? I never need. One thing that I'm hilarious. One thing that I never, one thing I tell my kids is never nigg. I want an America way we never nigg. No nigs, never. We don't nigg over here. It's always interesting with re-nig right there.

Like, one of you people... You did grimace a little bit when I say, you're like, hmm. When I said, you're like, hmm. Yeah, because it's nigg. Y'all watch the video, please. Yeah. Okay.

And more debate news. Trump has declined the next debate. The federal debate commission has decided that, what they were going to do. I guess that's their name. I don't really know. There was the next debate

was supposed to be a town hall style. I think it was down there in Miami. And because the president is a walking sick bay, a gaping, contagious wound, the president

is a Panamanian mosquito filled with malaria. Shout out to Panamanian. Panama, but when we were building the Panama Canal back in the day, when I say we, they, when they were building in the Panama Canal back in the day, a lot of people got malaria, so yellow fever or whatever. That's what he is. They decided, hey, let's do it virtually, right? Let's do the thing virtually. Yeah.

Do it virtually. Well, we definitely don't want Joe to come down with COVID. That's fucking terrible. So let's do it virtually. We don't want anyone to come down with COVID, but Joe is a little older than even try. Right. Right. So, and Trump said no, Trump has declined to do that saying that he will hold a rally instead.

He immediately refused the invitation to do this virtually. What the fuck? Why wouldn't you do it virtually? If you want the American people to hear your message and see you up against Joe Biden, and you know that you, and not only you, but everyone that you've glanced at in the last two weeks has COVID, why would there be a problem with doing the debate virtually? I'm not sure why. Very, very good question.

Because it has never been about America. It has never been about the people. It has always been about Trump. It is all about him being performative. It is all about having the spotlight and the attention on him. He does not care to talk about what he plans to do, what he wants for the people, and how he's going to make things better for us. All he cares about is.

himself, which is why he's replacing it with a rally where people are going to praise him, where he can stand on a stage and people can cheer him on and chant toward him, as if he's some type of God. The debate isn't about you. It is about the people understanding what you want to do for us and how you're going to make this country great again, as you say. So if you don't want to do the debate because you can't have it your way throwing a tantrum like a child, what is it really about then? It's like people time and time again, President Trump keeps showing you who he is and who he is about. Me, myself, and I.

Sorry, I just thought about the movie. Wow. Me Myself and I or the song. It's just me, myself. Yeah. Do, do, do, no. Oh, so look, look, here's the thing. Oh, I thought we were seeing the Beyonce version for a second.

Okay, we can do that version, too. No, I don't. We can do that version, too. No, I don't do that version. No, I don't do that version. Look, first of all, did you know this? I didn't know this. this would not be the first time that a presidential debate was held with two candidates in different places.

I did not know that. Who did it before? Richard Nixon and JFK. It's really not that big of a deal to be honest with you. Not at all. It's not that big of a deal. But he has decided that he is not going to do it. Really not much to say about it. Just thought people should know.

As far as my take on it, I think it's at this point, incredibly bad politically for the president not to take part in the debate not to he doesn't want to do the debate he's going to hold a rally instead I think but I think that Donald Trump and his administration

his campaign to this point right now has just said fuck it I'd be honest with you That's how they're acting I mean that's how they're acting they've said fuck it they've said listen they're either our base is strong enough for me to win electorally or we're going to lose. So all the voters that really delivered the election for Trump in 2016, which were,

you know, selfish people who vote on the economy and didn't vote on putting in a white supremacist's in office and all those things like that, they, I guess those people, he's just saying he can't win them. And he is going to need turnout from his base, enough cataclysm. at the polls, and then maybe enough intimidation and voter suppression to be able to keep other people voting that he can eke one out. But because to not have the debate is just, it's just completely politically assinine at this particular point. It makes zero sense not to show up. Agreed.

Oh. So, I read something. What's your read? I read something about the NBA finals. Okay. Am I going to be surprised by what you say? I don't think you're going to be surprised. I don't know if you'll be surprised.

Now, everybody right here knows that we love our basketball. NBA basketball was really one of the things that was credited to getting shit back to normal a little bit for people, right? You see the guys on the field, on the court, should I say, they're doing their thing. I made people feel like, hey, we're watching sports again. It was part of the big sports research, sports comeback. NFL came back, Major League Baseball came back,

everything came, college football came back, and the NBA is right there, getting ready to crowned champion. Tonight, well, as you're listening tonight, when we were taping on Thursday, LeBron James is going to go for the gentleman's sweep against the Miami Heat. It seems to be a huge deal in his career. LeBron, at 35, going for a fourth title,

you know, to put them way up there with three different franchises. Or is it four different franchises? And it was three different. It would be third different franchise. He won the title with Heat, Cavs, and now with the Lakers. And it seems that this is a big, huge moment for the biggest sports star in the world, or one of them at least. But the ratings are way, way down. When I say way down, the NBA finals ratings are down consistently in the high double digits.

I think the last game was a slight uptick, but they're down like something like 30 to 50%, which is absolutely crazy. The game three of this NBA Finals series was the lowest rated NBA Finals game since 1984. 1984. That's where Magic and Burr were establishing the NBA as being a worldwide brand and a juggernaut that it is.

right now. And we've seen this game two. Like, game one broke the record low. Game two broke the record. These are, these are, it's, there's no doubt about the fact that these numbers are terrible. Some people are attributing these social justice movements that are happening. Some people are believing that the NBA fans are turned off in part to the players, to Black Lives Matter being on the court, to the players having the messages on their

uniforms. to this point, Adam Silver has said or not committed to doing that again next time and it said, really, the message itself loses a little bit of its steam. You can be fatigued by if players do it again next time. Do you think that the NBA's brand of social messaging is the reason that the ratings for these finals are down? No. I don't think it has anything to do because I do agree with Adam Silver in the sense that like you start to see past it. You know, even when I do watch, I see that they have these phrases on the back of their jerseys. I see it on the court.

But after a while, you kind of see through it and you're paying attention to something else rather than getting fixated on what's on the back of their jersey. So I don't think that that's the reason. I fall into the group of people who are really not that interested in watching. I didn't really watch the games and I'm not watching the finals. I'm not into it. And I can attribute that to a lot of things. I think for me it was the buildup of getting to the bubble and all the talk around it, is it going to happen? Is it not going to happen? You know, who's going to play? Who's not?

What teams are going to be in and out? Where is this going to be played? That by the time we got there, I just wasn't into it. Mentally, I had already checked out of an NBA season and I was ready for the 2021 season to start. Now you have baseball and football. It's October. I'm in football mode right now. That's all I want to watch. So for me, I'm just ready for them to start the next season. season and I kind of had already considered this one a wash. I'm just not into it. And I try. I tried to watch game four. I couldn't, I couldn't get into it. And I, you know, my husband's a big heat fan. He's all the way in. So I see what it's like for somebody to be fully invested in it. Still can't get into it. Yeah, look, I think all of those things that you just said are true,

but I also think that there is something to the fact that the social, the social justice messaging turn people off. Really? Yeah, I definitely think that there's something to the fact. As in like people are boycotting watching it because they did decide to play in the middle of this civil unrest and how it affects so many players

or just because there is a message that's so out there. Well, I think we have to remember not everything that's right is popular. Now, what the NBA did to me is right. It's the right thing to do. You have the majority of your players who feel a certain way about things that are going on in society. They have told you they refuse to ignore them. They are not going to ignore the space in the moment that they're in.

They're going to be a part of this. As a league, you can either fight them on that as the NFL did with Colin Kaepernick or you can embrace them on that. Okay. Now, once you do that, once you take any sort of stance, and people have to understand this about taking a stance, once you take a stance, you've picked a side. And anywhere, the one thing that you can do to narrow your commerce is to choose a side. Choosing a side ultimately means less money for you. It's the way of the world.

Now, it don't matter. Now, it normally depends on how polarizing the issue is, right? If you choose a side, say on, I don't know, whales being unjustly poached, right, then there might not be enough people that care about that, although they should, save the whales. But if you choose a side on something that's particularly that's wildly polarizing, which this happens to be, you're going to turn some people off. The question then becomes how worth it for you is to choose a side. is it to choose a side?

And how much does that mean to not just you, your entity, and the future of that entity, you know? So I am 1,000% sure, but there are people who love the NBA that turn it on and see Black Lives Matter written on the court and the messages on the back of the jerseys and they go, I'm done. Absolutely.

I know that that's a thing. How many of those people? Right. That's what I was going to ask you. Is it a significant number to really be causing an effect? That's what I don't necessarily know if I believe. I think it's part of it. I think it's everything that you just said and then it's part of it.

Another part of it is that I can't even relax enough to watch sports the way that I used to. True. So LSU is playing football right now and LSU is in the middle or at the beginning, should I say, of an arduous season. Normally I would be really infested. You know, we came out, we didn't look. that good. We we bounced back

in the second game. Still didn't look perfect. Normally this is a storyline that all of my week would build up to Saturday to watch this. I just don't have enough care left.

I'm over caring. I don't have enough care. Is it cool that the game is on tomorrow night? Yeah, it's cool. I'm going to watch it, right? Normally I get nervous

about these things. I'm nervous. Like, I'll change it from the LSU game on third down. If it's a big third down, I can't watch. I'll change it from the game on third down.

If the Lakers are down a lot, I'll change the game for a little while. Can't watch it. Too nervous. I just don't, I'm not there. I can't, I have too much, I don't have enough care left. Yeah.

But I don't, it's, it's, and it makes it less, like I missed the last game, an NBA finals game. I missed it. Well, I've been missing them all. And you, I watched some of the last one,

but you know what? It dawned on me because Brian's coming in town this weekend and he said, well, Friday could be the championship game. Like that's it. It's the last game. And I was like, okay. And he goes, well, don't you think it's going to be crazy in L.A.? And I was like, no.

No. It might be a little crazy. It'll be slightly crazy. There's, like, I get it where COVID and not everything is open up the same way, but also I just feel like people are, not as into it like me. So I'm kind of like, no. No.

They are, but remember, it's just different. I think on the court, the competition matters, and it's the same, but think about it. You know, the life has been sucked out of Staples. Yeah. You can't, you know,

like all the places that would be humming, right? There's a lot of places that are still, if you go to L.A. during the game, like tomorrow night, you know, all the spots, the parlor, Berkshire House, all of those places like that, those places will be lit with people sitting outside and stuff like that

because the weather's going to be nice. But it's not the same. Because we're having a problem right now enjoying. Sports are a distraction, but they're a distraction from your everyday mundane life, mundane life, right? They're a distraction from your everyday mundane life. They're not a distraction from,

death, destruction, and the decline of your society, that's a little hard to be distracted from. Yeah. So for me to fall

into a game and actually care, it's difficult. So that's part of it. And it must be difficult for the players. That's part of it. But also I think part of it is

there are a lot of people who, when they see these things, they get triggered in the opposite way. They're trying to watch the game and they get triggered. And so because of that, I think the ratings are down.

I will tell you this, though. The question becomes now is, is the NBA, will the NBA come back? Will there be a rebound? I think yes. But it's got to be some. I guarantee you, though,

we both say that, but there's some puckered assholes up there in New York. But like, okay, but what does that look like? So it doesn't come back for a 2021 season? I mean, invested all this money in this bubble. No, it's coming back, but does it come back

in terms of the fan enthusiasm like it was before? How long do these effects linger? Right. I think that they continue on. I wonder how the ratings are for football. I don't know. I wonder what it is for football. Be very curious to know. I'd be curious to know, too. It would be great if we had a crack research team

like Jordan Liggins. A novel idea. And Jackson, Safan, aka a spaghetti man and losing Isaiah Blakely, you know? Oh my gosh.

Losing Isaiah. Shout out to our producer, Isaiah. Losing Isaiah Blakely. Losing Isaiah Blakely. Did you ever see a movie losing Isaiah? No, but I'm familiar with it. I got the joke.

So a friend of mine, like her mom, a friend of her mom wrote that movie, right? Oh, I thought you were going to say it was a true story and you knew Isaiah. No, a friend of her mom wrote that movie, like she wrote it. And then she named the baby after the friend. And she named it after the friend. And think about that. That's what.

You don't want no fucking... I haven't seen the movie, but I'm familiar with that. You don't want, like, I wouldn't want my kid named after some kid. movie all fucked up and tough did and they fucking crying and all that shit. Don't name my kid after that. Isaiah's a beautiful name. Isaiah? Mm-hmm.

I like it. Maybe. Maybe it's. You guys want the clipups on the NFL ratings? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're getting the update there. Yahoo news article, NFL ratings week four, colon, the slide continues.

So they're down football as well. Thursday night football is down 70% from last year. 7% of the night football is down 37%. not every game has been down. It looks like the Cowboys still get watched, but generally they're down to the NFL as well. You guys heard it right there for spaghetti, man. Generally, the NFL raises it down.

And that has to do, I don't think that has as much to do with any social justice stuff. There isn't really any social justice. It's an audience. I think they take a knee before the game or something like that. But I don't think that's what's doing it. That's not affecting it. It has to be an audience.

That's the common denominator. It's the fan interaction. There's a big piece of breaking news that just came out as we're doing this podcast. Before we do that, before we get into it real quick, we have even more bills to pay. We like Rach. We got a rolling in here at Higher Learning now.

We're in the groove. So let's pay these bills before we get to this. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming. You deserve a break that actually satisfies. Sweet Green's new wraps have got you.

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disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Trimfaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections, or lower ability to fight them,

and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiatoradio.com. Okay, this is a huge story to me. So Gretchen Whitmer, who is the governor of Michigan, six men were just arrested.

of plotting, they were arrested for, not of, they were arrested for plotting with the militia group to kidnap the governor of Michigan. Gretchen Whitman. Now, if you remember back in the day, which, you know, we say back in the day, but it's actually months ago, people were very upset with Governor Whitman.

Remember they stormed, the state house, did all of these things, and it looks like they charged 13 men in total, some of whom, there were different jobs here, I guess, were accused of plotting to storm the state capital building and planning to start a civil war. Six of these men were going to kidnap Governor Wilmer, Governor Whitmer, should I say, directly.

And the headline is, six men were arrested and accused of plotting with the militia group to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. I just, you know, when I read that headline, I know it jumps out to me. Just how nicely, how nicely. how nicely they're being treated as domestic terrorists. It's just like problematic white people get treated so amazingly in America.

You know, you let some black guys would have yelled at the government. The hell I would have been four thug niggas threatened Governor Whitmer and with their home addresses on there. Yo, call these niggas up, tell them they wild. But no. So here's the deal. For everybody out there that thinks that, you know, encouraging people to take up arms against the government or encouraging people to be violently, civilly disobedient in any way,

or that the government is some sort of evil machine that is out to destroy them and take away their white, not to wear a mask inside Traitor Joe's, that there are no repercussions to that? There are. And you see it right there. They put a public servant in danger. How much do you feel like the president is responsible for that? Well, you know, from reading the article, they're saying that there's no indication in the court documents that they were necessary. inspired by the president, but

Governor Whitmer herself said that they heard the quote, they heard the president's words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry and as a call to action. That is a direct quote coming from her. That is what she believes and I believe that as well.

I mean, she even goes on to say when she took oath, she knew that this job would be hard, but she never imagined anything like this. And she shouldn't have to, right? You know people are going to disagree with you and they're not going to like everything that you say or you do, and that's when you use your voice and your right to vote. If you don't agree with the person who's in office,

you don't take up arms and plot to kidnap a government official who is dedicating their life, or at least their career in the moment, to serving you. It's insane that these are the times that we're living in. And as of right now, I have yet to hear the Trump administration condemn what was done or being plotted to do against Governor Whitmer, which again speaks to so many issues that are wrong with that, with that administration.

Yeah, the whole things. Yeah, well, you know, I'm sure they'll catch the guy. They got the guys now and the whole thing will be able. But listen, it's going to be up to everyone to be vigilant about protecting themselves and protecting people that they love that might be in government because we're living in scary times here. So that news just broke one to put people on this. But you know what else I saw?

Forget about that. That's not even important. Did you see the way Cuavo? Hold on for a second. You do not transition with did you see the way Quavo? I have to. I have to. Shout out Cuevo, man.

Cuevo and Suidi, it's soidi, right? It's Sawhidi. I know. I just say sweetie. It takes a lot of effort to say Sawhidi for me. I'm not quite sure. I look, love them. I think they're a beautiful couple.

One of the more beautiful couples in hip hop, Quavo and sweetie. There aren't that many. There aren't that many couples in hip-hop or aren't that many beautiful couples in hip-hop? No, not that many couples in hip-hop. There are a lot of couples in hip-hop. All right, okay. You don't think there are a lot of couples in hip-hop?

They're couples in hip-hip-hop. I could name five. Can I name five hip-hop couples right now? Go. Five hip-hip-hop. So when we say hip-hop couples, we mean both of them are rap, Or? Yeah.

Well, that's... No, because, no, because then I would put Beyonce and Jay-Z in there. Okay, so let's do it. Five hip-hop couples, okay? So you got Beyonce and Jay-Z. Put one finger up. Don't try to put two. Y'all see that, y'all see that watching the video?

He thinks he's slick. Count Beyonce and J-Z. It's easy. It's easy. Beyonce and J-Z. Okay. Cardi being offset. They're done.

You can't count them. It's not a couple anymore. It's not final. No. It's not final. It's not final. It's such a cheater. I could never play games with you.

Go ahead. It's not final. Cardi to be an offset. Okay. Big Sean and Jenei Iko. Okay. They count. Cuavo and Suidi.

It's not Cuevo. Cuevo. Excuse me. Why did I say quavo? I don't know. Cuevo and Suidi. And, okay, there's got to be couples in hip-hop. And technically, you really only have three.

But go ahead. You can't even get to five. With cheating. No, that's a, could they count? There's a couple. Damn, hold on for a second. And Jordan cannot help you. No, Jordan cannot help.

Nobody help me. There's more than couples than this in hip hop, man. So, all right, let's do it again. I tell you, there aren't that many. I have to jog my memory. Okay. You got Quavo and sweetie. You got Offset and Cardi B, which counts.

Big Sean and Jeney. And then I already forgot one of my other ones. Jay Z and Beyonce. Jay Z and Beyonce. Damn. There's more. Oh, Swiss Beets and Alicia Keys. Okay, that's really four.

But go ahead. And the answers of time. No, they count. Swiss and Alicia. But Cardi B and all said do not. They do count. But go ahead. They're separated.

By the way, Cardi B put out a, She put out a quote on Instagram on Twitter a couple of days ago. She tweeted she's like, I will not fall victim to the penis. She misses him. She misses him. It might not be. It might not be over. It might just be mad. Cardi stay strong.

Cardi stay strong. There are a lot of people. There are a lot of other people. No, Cardi herself says she's had enough. No, girl, stand strong. There are better men out there. Swiss and Alicia Keys. Cardi, talk to me if you want to be on the Bachelorette. Oh, that would be crazy.

Talk to me, Cardi. Have your people call my people. Yo, that would be bananas. Cardi B. Cardi. As the Bachelorette. That would be, that is the best idea yet, by the way.

The Cardi B as the Bachelorette, that would be insane. Bachelor crazy if they don't do that. Now, I'm not wrong. I'm serious. So, wait, why did you bring up Cuevo, though? I brought up Cuevo because now we finally seeing how Cuevo and

Suita's relationship got started, he basically sent her a DM. Now, look, I don't know how it works in these modern day times, but the DM is of the little ice DM. Then this is the base of the DM. This was on March

15, 2018. He sent her the little icicle DM, the little ice thing. Snowflake. Snowflake D. Yes. She sent him back a bowl of noodles. I don't know what that means. I'm old. I read in comments that they think it meant like stir fry, the name of one of the songs, his songs. So he sent her

a snowflake and then she sends back the stir fry that he says, you're so icy, I'm a glacier boy. Then she says, what's happening then? And then that's it. Now, two amazing people are having a relationship. do you have any idea how many dudes jumped into women's DMs

with snowflakes and you're so icy I'm a glacier boy this, know what this proves to you? This proves to you that at a certain level of money and fame, it really don't matter what you say. A hundred percent. You could be as simple as they come because that's what that was. That exchange was simple.

Like he really could have hit her up and probably been like, yo, you're trying to go to Circle K? and she probably would have sent back a little Hot Cheetos emoji. You know what I mean? Like, yeah. It really doesn't matter. People think,

it was like, people think that it matters at a certain level, it doesn't matter. And by the way, it doesn't matter right now. How many people would be thrilled, how many men right now

would be thrilled to get a DM from Rihanna that says, you smell like shit? I mean, I would be happy for Rihanna to message me that. So, when everybody,

it's kind of like everybody else is playing, this game online is like how it started. They put in the DM on and got things started. Between them, but this doesn't even count. This should not have been revealed to us. It's so whack.

It's so bad. And all I thought of is, if he wasn't who he is, she would have never responded. It's not cute. It's not flirty. It's simple. Shout out to whoever at Juju Bangs is. I saw this.

on Twitter. Shout out to this guy. Shout out to this guy. This guy, the juju bangs. The juju-jou with two U's bangs, bangs with two Zs. He said, I tried it out. He sent a glacier to somebody. She responded with a question mark.

He didn't respond. You're so icy. I'm a glacier boy. She didn't respond. What the fuck are you saying? And then he screenshot the next thing, which is the user not found thing. because she blocked them on Instagram.

Now, that is me. That's hilarious. That is a normal reaction. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. How many DMs do you get from dudes trying to see what's up? I really don't.

I think a lot of people, I guess because I don't have that type of Instagram, I don't really get a lot of people who slide in my DMs trying to come at me. The occasional one. Brian's DMs are popping more than mine. Girls are guys for Brian. Girls. No guys for Brian? I've only seen girls.

You're only seeing? Interesting. He's shown them to me. I don't go through his phone like that. I don't have time for that. Interesting. Interesting. I've only seen girls.

So when you've gone through this man's phone. I didn't. I swear on copper. On copper. I don't have time for that. You tell on yourself a lot on this podcast. No, I don't. I don't have time for that.

Like Brian would be like, look at this. I'd be like, That's what people are sending you in your DMs. So he shows you the DMs. He showed it. Not all of them, but what he has, he'll be like, look at this. And I'd be like, wow, my DMs are popping like that.

That Brian knows what he's doing. That Brian knows what he's doing. Shout out to Brian, man. But no, they're together. They're having fun. They stay together. But the DMs are not cute. It worked.

It worked. That's all I can say about it. Shout out, Cuevo, man. Shout out, sweetie. I just don't want Cuevo to think he is either charming or slick the way he slid in her dams.

He's both. You know why? He's rich and famous is what he is. That's what he is. But listen, this is why I don't understand. Don't they have a song that says that? But this is what I don't understand. This is what I don't get.

If you know that you, why beat around the bush with the bullshit? But he wasn't beating around the bush. I mean, I mean, he was beating around the bush with the emoji. He got at her the way Cuevo should get at a woman.

Hell no. Okay. That would work for me. So you mean to tell me that if I... I literally would take that and be like, look at this shit. You're bullshit.

Yes, I would. That's not true. Now, I hold it, Suiti. Soidi's like 25 or 26, right? Okay, I would have. So let's remember that. So at 25 or 26, let's say,

what year was it when you were 25? Do I have to do that? So it's like 10 years ago. So it's 2010. It was 2010, yes. So it's 2010. Let's think about at this particular point who's popping. It's Jay-Z.

It's Kanye. It's GZ. It's all of those guys are popping, right? All of those guys are popping. One of those guys comes at you like that. You're 25-year-old Rach. But who am I? You're Ronnie and Trish.

Because she is, I'm Ronnie and Trixie. She is, yeah, because she is a rapper, though. She's got her own status. She's got her own, right? She didn't really happen like that, though. Two years ago?

Do we know who she was two years ago? Of course. I mean, we knew who she was. She's been, she does her thing. She's more for anything, people just know it because she's fine. But what I'm saying is, it's still Quavo, who at that point, 2018, Migos are the hottest act in hip-hop. And he was the unquestioned leader of the group at that point.

They were. I literally would have taken it to my girls. And I would, I mean, I would have responded back. 25-year-old Rachel probably would have. But I definitely would have been like, look at this. Can I ask why women lie about stuff like this? Why do I need to lie? I said I would have responded back.

At 25-year-old Rachel, absolutely would have responded back. But I also would have laughed to be like, look at this. Look at how he slid up in my DMs, y'all. You wouldn't have been like, oh my day, he sent me a snowflake. You wouldn't have been like that? At 25, no, because I've been around famous people before. Sophisticated rage. Tasteful vixen.

Tasteful vixen. Listen, this is what I'll say. I don't think that there's anything wrong in a situation like this if you're overtaken with someone with who someone is. I said I would have responded. I did not say I wouldn't have entertained it, but I definitely would have been. And by the way,

I think it's more of my... I was once talking to a very, very... To like a very, very big-name actor, right? I was talking to a big-name actor. And I'm talking to this guy. It's a great guy, by the way. And, you know, he says to me, he goes, yeah, so, you know, it was in the late 90s,

earliest, 2000s, I was doing... And it's not Don, by the way. It was late 90s, early 2000s, and I was doing a movie called Oceans 11. Do you know how fucking pissed off I was at that point? I was, do you know how upset I was? I was doing a movie called Oceans 11. Don't act like I ain't never heard of Oceans 11 before.

Don't introduce yourself to me. Don't introduce yourself to me. Like you're just another, that to me is like that to me is a weird thing. You know, I know that you were in Oceans 11. And you know I know who you are. It would be like Beyonce coming up and going, me saying, hi, I'm Van and her going, hi, I'm Beyonce.

Don't do that. No, I think, no, that's not fair, Van. No, no, I think it's actually polite. Like, you're not acting like, oh, you better know who I am. It's exchanging pleasantries. So, like, I don't know if you may or may not have seen it, like me, I've never seen Ocean's 11. You may not have seen it, but I was in this movie called Ocean's 11.

I would say, okay, I wouldn't be befitted by that. Yeah, you know that I've seen Ocean's 11. because we're talking about movies and we're talking about, you know I've seen it, had a conversation with you at Jones there. It was great, you're a great guy, you know I've seen it,

but I was a little tape. So look, know who you are. I don't have a problem with Cuevo, knowing who you are. It's like, hey, if you would have been like, hi, my name is Quantavius, I would really like to. I didn't say he had to do all that.

Your Cuevo. He didn't have to do all that. Migos. We'll never, we'll never get this. We'll never get this. But you know who you are. You know, Big Rage, tasteful Vixen. You know what I'm saying?

You do your thing in QVC. All right. It is time for our favorite part of Thursday, which is Melbag. It's time to get you guys as Melbaq, man. Kind of get the questions from the thought warriors that we love to answer and love to talk about. Jordan, let's kick it.

From Alex Lumina. Who are your first celebrity? Pretty precious. Ooh, mine was Taven Campbell. Without doubt. Now, things have changed. No, no, no. It's interesting, but that makes sense.

Wait, wait, why is it interesting to you? Because I remember having the cassette. I remember singing, tell me what you want me to do and him hitting that high note. I remember when he was on Fresh Prince, and he said, little tea, and he sang to Ashley, I thought I was Ashley. That was my first crush.

That was probably what, like five, maybe six. Damn, five. I can't crush a five. Were you three? Were you three? Okay, fast would have been if he was in my classroom. He was a crush from a distance. You're five years old.

Why don't you play with your colors or something? Like, you play with your colors or something, man. I didn't say what I wanted to do with him. I said he was a crush. What you know about boys at five, man? You better go nap time. I know he could sing and he looked good. That's what I know.

No, Tevin, shout out to Tevin. Andy was from Dallas. Is he from Dallas? Yeah, from right outside of Dallas. Yeah, Tevin, um, Tevin was going to do the Red Pill podcast back in the day. We should bring Tevin on here. Oh, I might, no, I don't, I don't, I guess I still have a crush.

I don't know if I can handle it. Did you guys just see how Rage reacted? I hope you guys are watching. Raid's just, I said, Tevin might, I talked to Tevin back in the day about coming on a red pill. And I said he might come on here. And Rachel goes, oh, she's like, she fully lost it. I become five again.

When you think about your, Tiger Beat, when you think about your, Tiger Beat, when you think about your first crush, you be, I feel like I revert back to that age. I remember Tevin Campbell, it was like, maybe it was a BET Awards. And I was at a bar. I was in Houston. I could not remember which one. And it was Tyrese, I think, Tevin Campbell, maybe Tang, Genuine, they all three were seeing some song. and Tevin Campbell popped up out of nowhere. I screamed out in the bar like a bloody murder

because I hadn't seen Tevin in so long. I became five years old again. I don't know if I can handle him being on the pocket. I'm going to be honest with you. He'll be on it. He'll be on it. I love Tevin Camel, by the way. I used to love Round and Round.

That was my joint back in the day when I was in the sixth grade. Prince just creeping around in the video. Yeah, Prince. That was from graffiti bridge. People hate on graffiti bridge. Free Bridge is a good movie. I'll go down for graffiti bridge right there. I'll go down.

I'll go down with Griffith's. I can't think if I can remember the dance that Kevin does. I can't remember. But this is easy for me. This is the easiest question we've ever had on Mailback, Janet Jackson. And I remember, I remember my mom peeping it. I remember my mom because there is not, there's no singer who's ever looked as good as Janet Jackson looks in the pleasure principal video. When I tell you right now, I still watch it and I'm like, Jesus Christ, the video.

And the song is amazing. I just remember my mom coming in and like seeing me, seeing me watch the video and being like, boy? And I was just smiling because she was so crazy, beautiful. And it resonated all the way up. Really, it never stopped. Yeah, it never does. Clearly. Janet Jackson, but the thing is, Janet didn't do nothing but get fined.

Yeah. She got finer. She was fine. And then she got fine. Then when the whole 1992, 93, 94 era came along, then I was at a different stage of my life and it was crazy. But, yeah, Janet Jackson. Have you ever been to a Janet concert? No.

And people keep saying that that's me. I have. I went to All for You and it was, it'll take it to another level for you, especially when she pulls out that bed and somebody from the audience. I mean, what would you do if she pulled you out? There was a clip of a guy that she was doing that to and the guy looks like me and everybody keeps saying that was me. I was like, do you guys have any idea like how that would never,

I wouldn't be able to handle that? Like, that could not be me. That guy was going crazy though. All right. Next. From Bobby Hayden. What's the worst business idea someone has ever approached you about hoping you would fund? Damn.

I don't have one. You don't? You know what? Here's the thing about this question. The person's going to know who it is. They're going to know who they are. Okay. Just here's the thing.

Actually, let's do another mailback question because I would really, because some of my niggas come up with, you know what? No, I'm going to go ahead and answer this question. Oh, wow. I'm going to answer this question. So a couple of years ago,

a friend of mine came up to me, A friend of mine hit me up, and he said he wanted to, he had just gone to Vegas, right? He had gone to Vegas and he had hung out at rehab when he was in Vegas. He was at rehab and he loved it. Pictures he had been doing, like, you know, working out and stuff. He was at rehab in Vegas and he loved it. Now, if you've ever been to rehab in Vegas, the big pool party,

it's hard to love. It's hard to love. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you like it, but you don't love it. Why not? It's a lot of people, man. Not if you're separated. Yeah, it's true. I'd be honest with you, though.

In the cabana, different time. COVID was probably started. Oh, wow. The germs in that water from all of the... Oh, you don't get in the water? Sunscreen and people get in. That's probably what COVID came from. It probably came from rehab.

The petri dish of rehab in Vegas. Anyway, so he had gone to rehab, and it comes back to me. He goes, you know what? I want to do this. I want to do this. do an adult pool, just like they have at rehab. And I was like, where? Where do you want to do it at?

And he was like, I want to do it in Baton Rouge. So in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he wanted to have a pool like rehab. Stinging to himself, I was thinking to himself, I was like, okay, where are we going to do this in Baton Rouge? So we do it in the middle of the city? So what's going to get people out to the middle of the city to come to this pool? He was like, I don't know, man. You know, I don't know.

I was like, so who is his first? four because Baton Rouge is very segregated. It's like, it's for, I was like, is it for the white people? Was it going to be a dress code? How are we going to keep niggas from shooting this shit up? It's like, I don't know, bro, but I think we could do it. I was like, well, what about the weather? What about the rain?

Like what? Rain's three days out of the fucking week in Baton Rouge. So it's three days every time we're not going to have no revenue at our pool. Okay? Is this pool connected to a hotel? And the more we started talking about it, I'll never forget this. And it goes, fuck you, van. I'm like, all right.

I just had questions. But to have a rehab like pool works in Vegas, they don't even have anything like that in Los Angeles. Do you know why? Because people actually live here, right? People don't like just come in here. Like, it's not going, in Miami it works. It works in Miami.

And it rains out there. But it works in spots that people go to turn up like that. Yeah. You're not able to put a pool like that. I think of working at LSU if you like tap into, I mean, if you, in Bat Rouge, if you tap into an LSU, but then it becomes something different with college. It's not, I'm just college thing. And now I'm not going there if I'm 30, 35. Right. It's something different.

I got people from 18 all the way up to 45, whatever. It was a nice thought. I appreciate it. It's a nice thought. It's a nice thought. Like, how about this? How about think your ass on a spear flight, go to Vegas, enjoy the pool? That's probably why he said that to you.

Maybe you did. By the way, the guy's an amazing guy, by the way, super smart guy. We all have had half-brained ideas. All right, next question. From Janet Gardner, which up-and-coming politicians do you have your eyes on for a future

presidential run? Give us something to be hopeful about. I got one. Go ahead. Michael Tubbs. I got two. Michael Tubbs is the mayor of Stockton, California.

Michael Tubbs comes from Stockton. There's a brilliant documentary called Stockton on my mind. Michael Tubbs is a Stockton resident who went away to an Ivy League school, big time school. Maybe he went to Stanford. I actually don't know. But came back home to Stockton as the mayor of Stockton instituted UBI in Stockton, part of a pilot program there, and several other reforms that have Stockton, a place that has been plagued by poverty, by violence, by homelessness, has done. the city on the uptick.

It's called Stockton on my mind, and Michael Tubbs is a big part of it. His father now, it's a beautiful story. His father now is actually incarcerated. Michael Tubbs changed his community, and he changed it not from somewhere else. He changed it from right in his own backyard in his own neighborhood.

And he is an example of someone, if given a statewide or national platform, you can look forward to being a first-rate public citizen. Also another guy named Randall Woodfin, who is the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. Had a chance to sit down and talk to him a couple of years ago, and he's just doing amazing things down there. Those are two young brothers that I think in the future

are going to have big, big national. Also, Ted James from, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, city councilman down there, Ted James, not city councilman, a state representative down there who I believe one day is going to be the first elected black mayor of Louisiana. There was a black mayor there previously, PBS pinchback, but he was appointed. Mayor of what? Excuse me, the first black governor of Louisiana, should I say. So there was a black governor of Louisiana before PBS pinchback, but he was appointed during

reconstruction. But I think Taylor would be the first elected. All of those guys, you know what I really need to do, though? I really need to fill that list out with some black women in politics who I believe are going to. And I'm acknowledging the fact that I didn't name any black women in that, but there are tons of black women who are out there doing the work. I just have to work to go find out who they are so I can support them. I'm acknowledging the fact that I'm not going to name anybody. I like your list. I like your list. I need to start.

That's a fantastic question. I can't remember who asked. That's a fantastic question. and it's honestly making me realize I need to actually think about that. It's a great question. Yeah. Young horses.

Young horses to support in the race. Do you want to do one more or is that it? What do you think? Let's do one more. Let's do one more. Let's do one more. From Kate Pancratz. What's your go-to series or movie

when you want to watch something but you can't find anything to watch? For me, my go-to series is Law & Order Special Victims Unit. Jesus. It's on all the time. There's always marathons. Remember the question when I can't find

absolute anything else to watch that can be on in the background. I don't go with that. I love it. I love I see in it. I love Olivia Benson. It's her character in it. Yeah, no, it's great.

Never gets old. Great stories. Ripped from the headlines with their own spin on it. I love it. Okay. I get that. I feel like a lot of people love that. I've never seen it before.

What? There's like 19 seasons, not law and order. Law and Order special victims unit. There is a different. I've never seen any episode of Law and Order. SVU? Not like none in the franchise. Not anything.

Oh my gosh. We'll change that. I've never seen that one episode of Law & Order. I haven't seen it. Mine is Curbier enthusiasm. Love it. Is Kirby enthusiastic? If I'm just here,

or the wire. It's a lot of it, the wire was one too. It's changed now. It was, it was the wire for sure. I would just put the, but sometimes I need to just,

I need a little levity now. So it's curb. I went through a real big Martin thing, not too long ago. But curb over the years has definitely been curved for me. Funny show of all time. Yeah.

It's a good one. I watch curb. All right. Mailbag is over, which means we only have one more thing to get to. Do you have an unexpected ally of the week? I'm going to go with what everyone was saying to me, which was everyone, after the debate,

everyone said, please make this the unexpected ally of the week. We've already talked about it on the podcast. I want people to know I hear what you say or I see it. It was the fly. I thought it was the fly as well. Yeah, everybody wanted the fly. I get it. It was, for all the reasons we stated earlier in the podcast,

I don't want to be redundant, but definitely the fly. And the tweet of the night was the one that said, and I cannot give credit to who it was because I can't remember, and you put it in our group chat, was that the fly was Mike Pence's only black friend. Oh, wow. That was a tweet of the night. She took some shit for that, by the way.

She deleted that. Did she really? It was funny. She deleted that. People said that the tweet was. anti-black comparing black people flies.

Y'all think y'all hit sin y'all think before y'all hit sin on this shit I had to fly too I think the fly was unexpected ally of the week because it was a really unexpected ally I want to point something out right now

there were a gang of people gang of people in my mentions saying and my DMs I know you guys were being funny you were saying hey make COVID the

unexpected ally of the week because President Trump got COVID. Okay. I want to say something real quick. I have nothing to do with President Trump or whether or not anybody hopes that he gets well or doesn't hope he gets well in terms of not making COVID the unexpected ally of the week.

I'm not being in the hall monitor when I say this, but I got a lot of those. I want to talk about it real quick. I know people are just joking. But think about the... Anytime we mention COVID, anytime we mention COVID, Think about the totality of COVID.

COVID is not one case, one space anywhere. It's every case, every space, everywhere, everywhere. So it's just not one person that got COVID that passed away that you might have not liked or one institution that is changing course because of COVID. COVID is everywhere and it's everything. And so it will be very important for us to treat COVID. of it, like it is a problem for us all. So there is absolutely zero way to individualize the virus for one person, one place,

one industry. I've never seen anything that made this adage more true. But when it comes to this thing, we are all in it together. And like, it's high time that we really started fucking out. acting like that. You know what I mean? So no, COVID is not an ally. No, it is not.

It's not even a joking ally. It's not even funny. Yeah, COVID is not. I know y'all, I'm not trying to come down on nobody, kick nobody in the nuts or whatever like that, but no. Well, just think about it. Like, I get what you're trying to say, but think but why that that would be wrong. So, yeah.

All right. We out of here. Listen, famous people, don't try to holler at Rach. She's married. Okay, I know there's going to be a lot of guys now. thinking, hey, let's test her out. Let's see what she's about if she really wouldn't be excited right now. Hey, maybe I'm Michael B. Jordan.

I want to see if she's as good on her word. Don't do that. You're going to have a mad Colombian in your DMs trying to get you out of here. But we're done until next week. Who knows what's going to happen? Every fucking day six fucking major stories break. It'll probably happen right after we sign off here. But we have to sign off.

Take a break this weekend. Take your thing. off. If you can, I'm Van Lathen. I'm Rachel Lindsay. Also, guys, we will be back next week, but the podcast, we're not having a podcast drop on Tuesday because we are honoring Indigenous People Day on Monday. So the podcast will drop Wednesday. Make sure you check for it.