#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 10.30.19 RMU: Funeral of Conyers announced; John Witherspoon dies; Trump judge nominee cries

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

10.30.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Funeral of Conyers announced; @DWStweets rips immigration chief, calls him a white supremacist; Trump's Unfit judicial nod cries over bar association letter saying he is unqualified; The family of Antwon Rose will receive nearly $1.2 million from a settlement in the federal civil lawsuit filed against East Pittsburgh and former police Officer Michael Rosfeld; The big four broadcasters are trying to squash Locast; Comedian John Witherspoon dies. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Life Luxe Jazz Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime, delivering top-notch music in an upscale destination. The weekend-long event is held at the Omnia Dayclub Los Cabos, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. For more information visit the website at lifeluxejazz.com. Can't make it to Los Cabos for the Life Luxe Jazz Fest? Get your live stream pass at https://gfntv.com/ #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Ebony Foundation | Home by the Holiday Home by the Holiday aims to reunite Black and Latino families separated by bail, while challenging racial injustice and mass incarceration. For more info visit https://www.homebytheholiday.com/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's Wednesday, October 30th, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, funeral arrangements have been made for Congressman John Connors, who passed away on Saturday, Sunday, at the age of 90. We'll share those details with you and what prominent speakers will be featured. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida goes in on the head of immigration services, telling him his policies reflect white supremacy.

A Donald Trump nominee for a federal appeals court breaks down in tears. Oh, my God, really? During a Senate committee as he heard reaction to the American Bar Association that says he simply isn't qualified. Oh. The family of Antoine Rose will receive nearly $1.2 million from a settlement in the federal-assisted lawsuit filed against East Pittsburgh and former police officer Michael Rosfeld.

The Big Four broadcasters are trying to squash Locast, a startup that makes television streaming free. Wait until y'all hear how we are getting screwed by these cable companies. And a fond farewell to our friend, actor, and comedian, John Witherspoon, who passed away yesterday at the age of 77. It's time to bring the funk on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling, best belief he's knowing.

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Martin now Members of congress family and friends continue to express their cadelus for the late former congressman John conyers who died on sunday at the age of 90. Here's what some of his colleagues had to say on the house floor yesterday Thank you very much. Let me first of all thank you for organizing this special order that gives all the rest of us the opportunity to come and pay tribute to my hero. As a matter of fact, I'm old enough to remember

in a very vivid way the late 1950s and early 1960s when it was people like John Conyers, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Whitney Young, and other heroes of the period. So John, although he was elected in Michigan, he was really all of our congressmen. He was the representative for all of us. We didn't have 55 African American or black members of Congress at that time.

But we had those voices that were strong, vibrant, those voices that gave hope. You know, there was so much hope and possibility being expressed during that period, that those of us who were emerging had no idea that there was anything that we couldn't accomplish, any changes that we couldn't bring about, any possibilities that did not exist. And that, to me, was the true essence of John Conyers. I was tremendously impressed with John because he was always for the underdog. He was always for the little guy, always for the little guy, always for the little person, always representing those who

were left out, those who were unheard, those even who were unheard of. I don't think there was any place in America where action was going on that John didn't go. As a matter of fact, at the time when we were electing the first African-American mayor in the city of Chicago, John was there every week. We thought he had moved to Chicago, but he didn't live in Detroit. I mean, every week from the time I guess he left here and churches and churches and block parties and every place that you could possibly turn, there was John Conyers. So John has given the very best that you can give to his

wife and sons and other members of his family we say thank you for lending all of us to John Thank You mr. speaker and I thank the chair and the anchor for this special order hour Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence for your commitment your dedication and for your service not just to the people of Detroit but to the people of this great nation and I join with my colleagues not only in the Congressional Black Caucus but this body of government as a whole, in mourning a giant in the legacy of Representative John Conyers. Representative John Conyers was a force to be reckoned with,

a leader of the civil rights movement who stood tall in the House of Representatives for more than a half century, the longest serving African American congressman. During his 53 years as the representative for the part of Michigan encompassing Detroit, Congressman Conyers fought for the people of his state tooth and nail. Congressman Conyers was known as the Dean of the House of Representatives and he paved the way for all of us who are here this evening. And I really believe that we stand on his shoulders. Speaking to his legacy, he was a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. And so the fact that we are now 54 members in number representing more than 84 million people across the country, it was the vision of people like Congressman Conyers and others who allowed the Congressional Black Caucus to come forward.

He also led the charge to declare, as has been stated, a national holiday in honor of the great Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., a day Congressman Conyers fought for tirelessly that we now hold in our hearts as a day of remembrance for the legacy of another fearless leader. He also served on two powerful committees as chairman. The House Oversight Committee, and we just lost the passing of the chairman of that great committee, Chairman Cummings, and the House Judiciary Committee, which has great responsibility. And in both, he never shied away from speaking truth to power. As has been stated by my good friend Congressman Evans, one of his early mottos was register, vote, run for

office. It's power that counts. So we will continue to harness this power to promote the ideals that Congressman Conyers espoused during his career. And I wanted to note, I don't think I shared this with Congresswoman Lawrence, but there's a group called the Detroit Connection. And because so many people tend to come to Las Vegas to retire, we have a big contingency of Detroit people and they have an event every year called the Detroit connection they raise money they provide scholarships and I was so honored one year to have congressman Conyers come to Las Vegas and attend the event for the Detroit Connection and it made that group, it made them feel

so good to know that their champion and their representative was still there. So we will use the privilege of serving, I know I will as one of the new younger members, to continue to fight for equality and justice for all, just as Congressman Conyers did during his 53 years here on Capitol Hill. Tonight, we honor him with our words, but tomorrow we must honor him with our actions. Congressman Conyers, we will continue the good work you started all those years ago. May you rest in power. Thank you, and I yield back.

Thank you so much, and thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today with a heavy heart in joining my beloved colleague, who also represents the city of Detroit, in paying tribute to our wonderful late Congress member, John Conyers, the longest-serving African American in the United States Congress, a true civil rights icon and visionary, and the man who will forever be our Congressman. The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.'s mission to make sweeping changes in civil rights by fighting on behalf of the people started well before he ever stepped into the United States House floor.

One of the things that he said is we've got to, at the passing of Rosa Parks, his dear friend said that we've got a tremendous legacy to fulfill. You can't maintain a democracy and an empire simultaneously. And he said, Rosa, you taught me that. But when he first was sworn into the Congress in 1965 during a time of great social unrest in our country's history, he embarked on what would become a 50-year tenure of service to our people that would result in that mission being accomplished and then some. Indeed, his more than 50 years of service brought forth the vision of reparations for

African Americans, the centering of voting rights, a continued push for universal health care, the creation of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the inspiration of not just those in Detroit who worked tirelessly for that, but he directly impacted many, many countless Americans across the country. When I first was elected to succeed Congressman Conyers, I knew that I had a tremendous legacy to carry. It is a tremendous, it's that tremendous legacy that propels my work on behalf of Michigan's 13th Congressional District that I fight for every single day. I remember when I was in his presence of greatness.

He never exhibited anything less than grace and kindness. He always paused and took time to talk to the residents. He taught me that. Sadly, the last time I spoke to him was at his 90th birthday celebration in Detroit. He was joyful, and yes, he still had the presence of greatness, as Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence saw for herself as well. Detroit and our district will sorely miss him. May he rest in peace as we continue to fight for what he fought for so long and with unwavering strength for jobs,

justice, and peace. I pray that his wife Monicaonyers, and the family find strength during this difficult time. Thank you. Five designers. It's unbelievable. All right, folks, we're sitting here talking about, of course, Black empowerment. Of course, that's what Congress and John Conyers was all about as well. We certainly appreciate those members of Congress sharing their thoughts with regards to John Conyers. Reverend Dr. William Barber expressed his admiration for the congressman in a tweet saying this. When Rosa Parks needed a job and a place to go out of the South,

she went to work for John Conyers. Over his life, he was right on civil rights, right on reparations, right on health care, right on living wages, right on justice. All right, folks, the city of Detroit has lost one of its favorite sons. And also, let me give you some funeral information here as well. The funeral will take place on Monday, Monday at 10 a.m. at Greater Grace Temple, 3500 West 7 Mile Road in Detroit. Again, that's going to be at 11 a.m. Public viewing is going to take place at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on the following dates. It'll be on Saturday,

November 2nd, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Sunday, November 3rd, from noon to 6 p.m. And so the graphic says noon to 5 p.m., but the story in the Detroit News says it was noon to 6. And they also are making adjustments to that, so actually that may change as well. Of course, you might remember it was Aretha Franklin. She was, of course, lying in state there at the Charles Wright Museum.

Joining us right now to share his thoughts and reflections on Congressman John Conyers is Wendell Anthony, Reverend Wendell Anthony, of course, who is the leader of the NAACP in Detroit. Reverend Anthony, how you doing? Ron, how you doing, man? You know, 90 years old, 53 years served in Congress. The reality, though, is that he resigned with allegations of sexual harassment, and essentially all of that has been wiped away. Normally, someone of his stature will get far more accolades, lots more attention, but in a sense, if it wasn't for black media, the death of John Conyers would barely be noticed. Well, Roland, there's an old African proverb that says,

until the lion tells his own story, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. That's why you are in black media. That's why you're Roland Martin. That's why you do what you do, because you know we cannot depend on other folk to tell our story. John Conyers is an icon in our community. You cannot wipe out 53 years of service to women, to labor, to faith base, to refugees, to everybody, to presidents, to mayors, senators, congresspeople, 53 years about certain allegations. And yes, everybody should be treated fairly. But I would then say as a minister, I know that we all fall short of the glory of Christ. And one of the things that we do is to judge the

totality of one's life experience. And when I look at the life experience of John Conyers, when I look at somebody who has stood in the gap for you and for me, when I look at somebody who's founded the Congressional Black Caucus with others, when I look at somebody who has stood up for Haitian refugees when folk in Florida were shooting at them when they were trying to come here for liberty and justice for all, when I look at John Conyers stood in the gap for a president, Bill Clinton, who saved him from impeachment.

When I look at somebody who stood in the gap to preserve our nation from right-wing extremist federal judges who wanted to take us back 50 years and now look and see what we got. When I look at somebody who went to jail to preserve the freedom and the democracy of Nelson Mandela, who gave Rosa Parks a job when nobody else would, who stood with Martin Luther King when everybody was afraid of him and ran away from him. When I look at that, I'm looking at the totality

of John Collins. I'm not looking at the small expose that someone wants to put in terms of allegations. He was for Me Too before the Me Too had a movement. He was for Black Lives and said Black Lives Matter before we had Black Lives Matter, folk running around and talking about that. And no, I'm not excusing anything. But I'm saying let's look at the totality of everything.

You got a president, Roland. You got it. A president that's running around and talking about he likes to grab people by their personal parts. He's the president of the United States who's committed treacherous acts and traitorous acts against this nation, who is at the helm of our country. And yet somebody like John Conyers, who stood in the gap for all of us, cannot be honored and recognize what he's done surely he came that's why we in detroit and folk all over the world will never forget the impact of john

conyers may he rest in peace we thank god for the likes of him and what he's done for all of us people who don't even know what john Conyers has done will be the beneficiaries of him. Elijah Cummings, God bless him and God rest his soul. He comes after John Conyers. John Conyers set the stage for men and women like Elijah Cummings. I'm sure Cummings would tell you that if he were alive today. And so I'm simply saying that it's up to you and me and us who believe in jobs, justice, and peace, which is what he fought for, to keep that memory alive. Surely we must, and we have a duty,

to remember not to forget. You talk about how Detroit remembers him. How is the city doing so? Are you seeing the kind of coverage on local television, on radio station, in newspapers, befitting someone of his we have to check people and remind them, even in the city of Detroit. But Detroit has recognized who John Conyers is. We're not thwarted or tainted. We're not reduced by what has occurred at the national scene and by those who ran away at the last moment and did not support him when he needed them. He supported you when you needed him. And so we're simply saying, yes, we see it. There's going to be a great tribute paid to him at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Saturday and Sunday, open to the public. And then Monday, there will

be the homegoing service at Greater Grace Temple Church. I'm told and I understand there'll be a number of people coming in, a number of entertainers and celebrities, a number of political people, a number of members from the Congressional Black Caucus. Former President Bill Clinton is coming in to pay tribute to John Conyers. So it will be a tribute befitting the individual. But keep in mind, Roland, you knew him just like I did. John was not elaborate. He was not ostentatious. He was not like

the Roland Martin type guy that would run around and wear all these fashion stuff. John was just a regular everyday brother. Hold on. Hold on. Let's just be clear. He was always clean.

He dressed like he was from Detroit now. The pocket square. The gators. Come on now. He may not have the kente cloth robe. But I would see him in his red cap, an alpha side jacket with his cream pants and red shoes. Well, he was a little more

modest than some people were. I mean, he didn't go way out there. But you and I both know John was a very humble guy. And see, the thing I loved about John is that John did not have to be out front. A lot of folk got to be out

front. John was content in getting the job done. He had the spirit of his father. His father was not educated like he was. And John was from Conyers. His family was from Conyers, Georgia. That name, Conyers, the name that they took. And his father was a labor leader. He fought at a time when it was dangerous for black people to be organized in the labor union. That's where John got his momentum. It was Rosa Parks and his kinship to her and to Martin Luther King that got King to connect with him, because John was so involved in civil rights because of what his father was about. And so, John, it was a natural

fit for John to be concerned about Nelson Mandela. And I can remember having many, we used to have, Roland, we used to have breakfast at my church every Sunday morning. He would come to fellowship chapel where I pastor. We would have breakfast in between services. And we would talk about everything that you could think of, the presidents, the governors, the senators, the council. There was some... I only wish that I had had the opportunity to video those conversations, because they were deep conversations

about everything you could think of. And John was not shy. He was very clear when we came here and had breakfast on Sunday mornings. And so when I think about John, I think of somebody who loved people from the streets to the suites. He never made a distinguishing line between people.

That's why when he went out in the street in 1967 with a bullhorn, when the Troy were having its rebellion, people respected him because they knew he was for the people. He was not ostentatious. He was not flying by night. He was not here today and gone tomorrow.

He was the same day after day after day. He stood up when others stood back. That's why he stood up for reparations. He stood up and brought H.R. 40 to the floor time and time again. And as you know, H.R. 40 does not do anything other than say we should have a study commission to study the issue. Not that we're going to start tearing off people every day, even though we need to be tore off. I mean, if those people don't understand, that means to be distributed some remuneration for our enslavement in America. But what I'm simply saying is that he stood up for that.

And I'm glad to see now Sheila Jackson Lee is taking up that banner. So we look forward to John taking his rest. And I'm so glad that he went peacefully. He went in his sleep. And I'm told that he had breakfast that Sunday morning. He said to his son that I don't feel very much like getting up and moving. I just think I'll go back and have a little nap. And he went back to bed, Roland.

He went to sleep, and he did not wake up. And so God called him to rest John Conyers gave us his best the question for us is whether we willing to give everybody else Reverend Wendell Anthony president Detroit NAACP chapter I certainly appreciate it thanks for your thoughts reflections on the late congressman John Conyers. Thank you, brother, appreciate you. Thank you. Wanna go to my panel now.

Monique Pressley, Legal Analyst and Crisis Manager. Also, Mustafa Santiago Ali, former Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice at the Environmental Protection Agency. And also, Erica Savage-Wilson, host Savage Politics Podcast. So it was very interesting last night. So there was some people on social media

who were not too particularly happy with me, Erica, because I dared ask the question, was Obama going to issue a statement? And it clearly is black people still can't say nothing about Obama. It's like Jesus, MLK, and Obama.

Now I think now it's Jesus and Obama even before MLK. And first of all, what people don't understand is that's what we do. As journalists, we make those calls. When John H. Johnson died, we were pulling statements from different people, and former presidents, and Colin Powell, and other people,

and then we call Oprah. And we ask the question, like, okay, they gonna release a statement? Media mogul in Chicago. Media titan dies. and then we call Oprah. And we ask the question, like, okay, they gonna release a statement? Media mogul in Chicago? Media titan dies? Uh, and, uh, folks, again, I wrote a column on it, ticked off Oprah.

And she called. Uh, and, uh, we had that issue. But again, that's what we do. Uh, and I think it says something about Bill Clinton. He's gonna be there Monday. Oh Bill Clinton. He's going to be there Monday. Oh, yeah. He's going to speak at John Conyers' funeral on Monday

when a lot of people have gone radio silent because of how John Conyers resigned and why he resigned from Congress in 2018. And so I'm glad you brought that up because people have to also remember that this is the same man that co-sponsored the Voting Rights Act back in 1965. So what Reverend Anthony talked about is looking at the body of the whole person, looking at

the portfolio, and that we are beneficiaries of his courage, his acts of courage in his 26 elections in the House of Representatives. We have to recognize that. We also have to recognize is that he had a presence in the impeachment hearings of a President Nixon. So you saying that as a journalist, but also talking about a politician recognizing the death of an elder statesman,

that is the absolute right thing to do. And so I definitely would be looking for some type of statement from the former president. And look, Mustafa, the balance is here. If you don't have the voting rights after 65, there is no Obama. There is no 55 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. There is no...

I mean, we could go on and on and on. And I believe that you do look at somebody, you do not ignore why he resigned. You do not ignore those women who said that he sexually harassed them. You don't ignore that, but you also cannot deny his legacy and what he accomplished in 53 years serving the citizens of Detroit.

Yeah. Most folks don't know that I worked for Chairman Conyers for two years. I traveled with him around the country. He was my mentor. He was my friend. And it's always interesting because when you work for somebody and you get to really know him, then you also get to answer the phone for them you get to see who comes into the offices and asking for a favor who's calling and say should I do this should I go this direction and for people not to show up now I think it says something about their character so we can honor you know anybody who felt like they were impacted and as you said we should do that. But Chairman Conyers

was an incredible, incredible man. When we talk about healthcare now, when I was there, we worked on HR 676 was the universal healthcare bill. I can't tell you how many people across the country used to call and thank the congressman for raising their healthcare stories. You know, horror stories that were going on. All these other things that he focused on, I would walk with him through the airport. And he would literally, even if we were late for a plane, he would stop and he would talk to the, you know, to the bellmen or the folks who were working there,

just as long as he would talk to somebody who is someone who everybody knew. And he used to tell me, he would say, Mustafa, never forget where you come from. Make sure that you are always honoring those people who have rolled with you and you should roll with them. And that's just the type of person that he was. Monique, you served as an attorney for Bill Cosby.

And I remember when the documentary was coming out of the black stuntmen. And they delayed it to remove Bill Cosby from it. And I said, I blasted them for that. And the reason I did so is because there is no black stuntmen association without what Bill Cosby did. And what I said is,

Bill Cosby is sitting in prison right now. And when Bill Cosby goes on to glory, that will be a part of his story. But also, the Cosby show being number one will be a part of the story. Also, the black stuntman being a part of the story. I spy a part of the story. You cannot get rid of any of that,

even with a criticism over here. And I think, to Mustafa's point, You cannot get rid of any of that, even with a criticism over here. And I think to Mustafa's point, it's been very telling how silent a lot of people have been since his passing who greatly benefited from him in his leadership. Yes, and in part, there's a lack of gratitude because just in general, when our generals get older and move on and are not anymore the lion of the House or the Senate, the stories don't pass and people forget exactly how they got wherever it is they got and whose shoulders they had to stand on to do it. But they're also rolling is this thing. And I was looking at a post from Kadeem Hardison's mom a couple of, maybe like a week ago.

And I mean, and Bethany Hardison, she pulls no punches about anything. Right. Right. But, and she had to, as she was reflecting on the death of Diane Carroll and that scene that everybody kept playing over and over again from a different world and how iconic that one episode was. And she said, but none of this would have happened. But for this one and this one and this one,

and yes, I will say this name too. And it's a shame to me that we almost have to apologize for giving honor where honor is due. We have to preface it. We have to make sure people know that we haven't forgotten whatever bad last act a person had. And

the shame of it to me with Congressman Conyers is that he resigned. Again, we're seeing it happen with Franken. We're going to see it happen with others. Yeah, but we're seeing Franken, though, he's been given a show on SiriusXM. He's been, he is been brought back into the fold.

And, in fact, don't be shocked if he runs for U.S. Senate. Well, and he should is the thing. What you do when somebody pushes you out and takes away your due process is you fight. The shame of it was for Congressman Conyers for it to happen so late in life and in career that instead of causing the fight, he bowed out, but it left things unsaid. And he was not given the benefit that he should have of process. And to me, that is always a shame in terms of someone's legacy. Well, folks, the funeral for Congressman Conyers, again, will be on Monday, 11 a.m., in Detroit. The viewing takes place on Saturday and Sunday.

And we are getting information, trying to find out if a live stream is going to be available for that funeral. So we can also live stream it on the Roland Martin unfiltered platform. Got to go to a break. When we come back, just one of Trump's judicial nominees broke down in tears, y'all, because his feelings were hurt. Because the American Bar Association called him grossly unqualified to sit on the federal bench.

Oh, you know I've got to show flowing white tears. On Roland Martin Unfiltered, back in a moment. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin.

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All right, y'all, it's the holiday season. This is when you think about spending time with family and friends. This is also when you count your blessings and support those less fortunate. This year, be a holiday hero and change someone's life forever. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Americans

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The Bail Project has helped bail out thousands of people over the years, and with your help, they plan to bail out 1,000 people by New Year's Day. Now how's that for a holiday gift? A donation from you today can change someone's life tomorrow. And that you know people of color represent upwards of 90% of the jail population across the country.

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To donate, go to homebytheholiday.com. That's homebytheholiday.com, and we want you to do it now. All right, folks, this is pretty funny. Federal Appeals Court nominee Lawrence J.C. Van Dyke broke down in tears during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. Why? Because of a scathing letter against his confirmation

by the American Bar Association after it conducted 60 interviews and concluded that he was not qualified for the federal bench. In the letter, ABA Chair William C. Hubbard said Mr. Van Dyke's accomplishments are offset by the assessments of interviewees that Mr. Van Dyke is arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice, including procedural rules. There was a theme that the nominee lacks humility, has an entitlement temperament, does not have an open mind,

and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful. Damn. Damn. Y'all should see my knee face as I was reading. She was like... Y'all got the video? Y'all got the video? Y'all got the video? Y'all got the tears?

Damn, there's no video for it. Seriously? Oh, my God. Okay, I just want to go out, pal. Okay, Monique, I'm going to start with you. I mean, to do 60 interviews and call this dude lazy. I mean, they just rip. Go ahead.

Well, that's the thing. That's why my face was scrunching up, because it's one thing for them to say to give a negative recommendation. You could survive that. But, yeah, I could see why he would bust out crying. I mean, it's basically saying he does not know how to practice law. And he's like a jackass. I mean, that's what they said about him.

And that is, you know, and a liar. Right. And because, I mean, you can take intemperate, Lord, I have appeared before plenty of an intemperate type of judge. I mean, you just wander the halls and find one of those. But doesn't know the basic rules for day-to-day operations. That's ugly.

Mustafa, there have been multiple Trump nominees who they have said unqualified. I mean, we can never forget the dude who had never filed a motion and it was a Republican. Senator Kennedy from Louisiana

who was like, do you know this? No, I don't know that one. Do you know this? No, I don't know that one. I think we covered that in law school. And it was embarrassing. And it was embarrassing. And what people don't understand is what Trump is doing.

First of all, he has no idea who the hell these people are. What he basically said is, white conservative evangelicals, here, y'all pick whoever the hell y'all want. And the problem is, people like Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee of Utah and Ben Sasse of Nebraska and John Kenny of Louisiana,

they pretty much are allowing these people to go through and they don't care because they want to pack the bench with right-wing ideologues to sit there for the next 40, 50 years. It's a mockery of the process. You got these folks who an L1 student would know more than many of them do. So, you know, we got some real craziness that's going on. And you're right. It's these senators that continue to approve these folks to be able to move forward. And, you know, unfortunately, the byproduct of that is going to be, you know,

these impacts that we continue to see inside of communities. But here's the reality of it. When we say that this person doesn't have the qualifications, we have a president who doesn't have the qualifications that most presidents would have. We have a leader at HUD who has no background in housing. We have a person at the Department of Education who has done everything that they can to, you know, damage, you know, just the basic public education. So this is just, you know, a continuation of the process. Before I go to Erica, y'all know I was not going to allow this segment to go on without finding the video. I requested the video. the letter also says that you would not commit uh to being fair to litigants before you

notably members of the lgbtq community can you speak to that did you did you say that you wouldn't be fair to members of the lgbtq community senator i that was um that was the part of the letter I did not say that I apologize. It's all right. I'm sorry. No, I did not say that. I do not believe that. It is a fundamental belief of mine that all people are created in the image of God. They should all be treated with dignity and respect.

Senator. Can you commit today to this committee that you will treat, if confirmed, that you would treat every litigant who came before you with respect and with dignity? Absolutely, Senator. I would not have allowed myself to be nominated for this position if I did not think I could do that. Including members of the LGBT community and any other community that has been historically disadvantaged in this country. Absolutely, Senator. Erica. I'm not an attorney. I just play one on law and order.

You say it out loud. You mean the Holly Ann Express? Right. Um... I'm speechless, because that was a horrid performance. And, um... And again, and I really echo... And I was thinking the same thing that you said, Mustafa,

along the lines of that whole kind of like rundown, lazy ideologue, not knowing day-to-day procedure, that sounds like Donald. I mean, a day-to-day, I believe his day-to-day schedule is you know, chips, burgers, watching all

of the networks, so I agree too that it is pretty much par for the course. Monica, you get final. Listen, so I agree, too, that it is pretty much par for the course. Monique, you get five minutes. Listen, the reality is, and I don't know if that man was genuine or not, but his performance right there would upset the president who nominated him. He would not approve of any of those tears. He wouldn't approve of him apologizing. He wouldn't approve of him doing anything but some I said what I said, deal with what I said stuff.

Because, frankly, that man is sitting there and knowing that he's going to get approved. So if that injured him, I'm not going to take that as a sign of weakness. What I am going to say is that having this president, voting matters, people, has shown us the cracks in our system because so much of our appointee system whether it's for cabinet positions or whether it's for judges depends on people having enough care and integrity about the process to appoint people who are qualified for the jobs and we are seeing what can happen when we don't that's right and. And the count is up. We're at, what, almost 200? Yeah. Yeah. And they got stuff to check.

And it is by, and then, and he's pointing a lot of people to the D.C. court. Mm-hmm. So any of the claims filed against him, he's gonna have his former White House lawyers

sitting on that bench being appointed by design. All right, y'all gotta go to a break when we come back. We're gonna talk about this battle, David versus Goliath. These major networks are ticked off

at this little nonprofit for daring to put their broadcast signal on a website when it's supposed to be free. Mm-hmm. I'm going to explain to y'all what this means. And trust me, you're going to be very surprised. That's coming up next, Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. All right, folks.

Life Lux Jazz Experience taking place in Kabul November 7th through the 11th next week. Yours truly will be there. We want you to be there as well. Go to lifeluxjazz.com, L-I-F-E-L-U-X-E-J-A-Z-Z.com. 14 acts, Gerald Albright, Kirk Whalum, Average White Band, Shalaya, Ronnie Laws. I mean, it's going to be jam-packed.

Now, here's the deal. If you can't go, I understand. But you can also participate by getting the live streaming pass from gfntv.com, gfntv.com. $10.99. You'll get to see all of the concerts over the course of three days. It's fantastic.

Oh, did I tell you that GFNTV.com, black-owned? Yeah, as well. And so, also, Life Love Jazz Experience, black-owned. A sister created this to provide an opportunity for African-Americans who live in a lot of these cold states, even though climate change has screwed that sucker up, to opportunity, of course, to hang out in Mexico for four days and have a great time.

I'll be doing Roller Martin Unfiltered there next Thursday and Friday from Cabo. But you can experience the concerts by going to gfntv.com and getting your live streaming pass. So please do so, and we look forward to checking it out. All right, folks. So, many of you know that I am the closest you can get to a tech geek who's cool.

Just letting y'all know. Okay. There's no pocket things. I don't wear short-sleeved dress shirts and ties. You'll never see me in a short-sleeved dress shirt with an ascot. Not gonna happen. So, you know I understand in television.

Now, here's the deal. There's a difference between broadcast networks and cable networks, okay? Broadcast networks are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. Those are the public airwaves. They are allowed to broadcast nationally over the public airwaves,

meaning it used to be you could get a television, you can turn the television on, and you can watch all these channels when it was analog, but then when the digital signal changed, you had to get a digital signal. Now, it used to be no matter where you lived, you could pick up these stations. Some hanky-panky has been going on, though,

and I know this for a fact because it's amazing in the places where I live how it's very difficult to get some of these channels. I personally believe what they're doing is they're blocking these signals or limiting the range of the signals to force you to get that cable set-top box to see your favorite channels. Now, let me further unpack that for you. Again, y'all, this is what I do. I've been doing it for my whole life as a journalist.

It's a thing called retransmission. So here's what happened. These companies say, wait a minute, cable companies, y'all getting paid, and these people are watching ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, so y'all need to start paying us. See, the way cable works, a lot of these cable companies, they get subscription fees. You might get $0.03, $0.05, $0.07, $0.10. ESPN was getting as many as $4 to $6 per subscriber.

That's why the cable bills were so high. So then the broadcast company said, you gotta pay retransmission fees. First person to do that was Les Moonves, when he was at CBS. He understood the power of their signal. And we're talking about folks, millions, five, six, seven, $800 million in retransmission fees.

But they're supposed to have those signals for free to the public. So, my next guest created locast.org. Now, I'm gonna pull up in a second. And so, here's their web interface, folks. And so, go to my iPad, go to my iPad. And so, this is what it is. So, basically, what they've done is,

they've said, hey, people should be able to see their local stations. So I'm going to go here to the cities. Now, right now, they're in Washington, D.C., Chicago, L.A., Rapid City, Iowa. That's where Rapid City is, right? South Dakota. South Dakota. A whole bunch of white people.

That's where they all know. Atlanta, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, Baltimore, Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle, Boston, Houston, Phoenix, Sioux Falls. Also South Dakota. Also South Dakota. No black people there. And somebody knew. I saw the press release.

Seattle. Seattle. So basically, if you're in these markets, you can watch your local stations do this. Now, again, before I go to my guests, let me explain to you. This weekend, I'm in L.A. for the NABJ board meeting. I pay Xfinity Comcast for my cable. I should be able to watch my damn cable wherever I am. I'm paying for it. Nope.

I pulled the Xfinity app in L.A. I can't watch my cable. I'm trying to watch the Astros play the Nationals, and they beat them. But I can't because they're. I'm trying to watch the Astros play the Nationals, and they beat them. But I can't, because they're saying you're out of market. So here I am in a board meeting, bored out of my mind, trying to watch my Astros, and I can't, although I'm paying for it.

Luckily with Locast, I pull them up. They're in L.A. Click, I watch the game via their website as a result of this being created. The networks did not want to do that. You can't go to the local affiliate to watch the game. And you're like, wait a minute, I'm sorry, but this is the public airwaves. Well, my next guest created Locast,

and he created it not just so you can see it. He actually did it so they could sue him. The founder and president of Goodfriend Government Affairs, David Goodfriend. David, how you doing? Hey, Rowan. Thanks for having me on the show. Now, is that pretty much the story? That's about as good a send-up as I could ask for. You always tell it like it is. That's why I love you.

I don't know about your choice of jerseys tonight, but I love you anyway. It's the only way way i roll it's the only way i roll i got no problem with dc tears by 11 30 tonight i better leave that alone anyway look roland the point that you make is true it's kind of what we're all about i've been a telecommunications lawyer for a long time i worked at the f FCC at one time. And it always struck me that these public airwaves that are supposed to bring locally oriented public news, weather, sports to everybody in the community,

that's kind of been a lost value. You know, the broadcasters have no trouble going to Congress asking for billions of dollars for help. Hey, we got to move our transmitter. Okay, you got it. What they always argue is we're doing a public service by making these things free to people. Well, you're absolutely right when you say,

today, if you put up an antenna and you try to get an over-the-air signal, chances are you're going to have some trouble getting it. Yep. That's always been the case. You might get some of them, and then if you hit rescan, you might get some of the other ones and not those. It's not like I'm going to get some of them, and then if you hit rescan, you might get some of the other ones and not those.

It's not like I'm gonna get all of them, and that's what I'm supposed to get. You are supposed to get it, and those broadcast companies have gotten a gift from you, the taxpayer, the American citizen, so that they can make it available to you. And the problem is, people are paying more and more and more money.

And I'm sorry, but when uh, when I was growing up, 100 bucks a month meant a lot to our family. And there are plenty of people who simply cannot afford to pay these increasing fees. They're being forced to pay it because they're being told, if you want this whole package, you must pay us. And not just the fees. The set-top fees. The cable industry fought viciously to keep that.

And they said, oh, Google and these folks want to take it over. No. The software, the Googles of the world were saying, damn it, put the apps on the box and sell the box to the consumer. Why is the consumer having to pay a set-top box fee every month?

This was billions of dollars. And then here's the crazy thing. I got direct TV service. When I got rid of it, they went, oh, by the way, you didn't own that box. Well, what the hell did I... Yeah, you were paying a lease fee. I'm sorry.

You took it back. That's right. I bought something that I didn't own. That's the games they're playing. That's right. And so what they're doing now with this is forcing you, so the broadcasters are forcing you to go to the cable companies to get the cable, and the cable companies

are paying the broadcasters the retransmission fee to carry their signal, and both of them making like a fat rat. Everybody's making money except you. You're the one who gets shafted every single time. Now, look, I mentioned that I worked at the FCC. I mentioned I've been involved in these issues. And I got to tell you, I've been disappointed over and over and over again. I have a successful practice. I represent big companies. But I got to tell you, I came to the conclusion that our current

legislative process is never going to address this. I mean, we had a good laugh about that nominee, but we're living in a dysfunctional political time, and there's never going to be someone who steps forward and says, I'm going to take on those big money interests and do it. So my friends and I took a look at current law. And by the way, this was not our idea. I can't take credit for it. A lot of people have talked about this over the years.

But there really is a provision in the Copyright Act that says, if you are a nonprofit, you may retransmit a local broadcast signal. It's very... It's, like, crystal clear. There's no ambiguity about it. And for years, nonprofits would put up these towers, like translator services, they were called. I'm gonna collect this signal and then boost it up so everybody can see it. Nobody ever sued. Nobody ever touched.

We said, I wonder if you could do that over the Internet. I wonder if you could collect the broadcast signal over the air and retransmit it as a nonprofit in that market so that people who cannot afford cable can at least see their local broadcast TV stations. I love it. We launched it in January 2018 in New York City. And I thought, as Roland mentioned,

I thought there was going to be a lawsuit. I did. I thought, well, this is what broadcasters do. You do something like this, they sue you. It didn't happen. And we launched another market. And I thought, well, now for sure, they're going to sue, and we're going to make our argument in court. And it didn't happen. And we launched another market. And I thought, well, now for sure, I mean, they're going to sue and we're going to make our argument in court, and it didn't happen.

A year and a half went by. We are now serving 40% of television households in the United States. And now they decided to sue. I think because they're seeing members of the public actually like this. They've caught on. And we get comments that would break your heart. I never used to be able to see my local public TV station. I can't afford cable.

Right. And you come along and now I can watch it. Hey, I had to go into my basement during a tornado. Yep. There's no cable down in my basement. The over-the-air signal won't get there. Yep, yep. I used your service to watch the weather reports

about the tornado. It saved my life. I can't make this up. It's all on our website. And the reason I totally understand this, because I've always had portable televisions. I grew up in Houston. Right.

Okay? Hurricanes. Right. All right? I was raised, you better have a portable device with batteries in the case power goes out so i was half analog and then i got the digital uh the portable digital uh tvs but they're now hard to find why because of the internet so the problem is okay same thing in

a storm i need to know what the hell is going on because because power gets knocked out, Wi-Fi's out, TV's out, okay? Radio all of a sudden is like, so how are we now operating? And that's the absolute case. Then, again, understanding this, cord cutting comes along. People are saying, right, I'm tired of paying $200, $220,

and now you're throwing the Internet as well. Now all of a sudden you're paying $300 and and $400 a month in addition to your cell phone. Oh, my God. And I'm only watching four channels. So, forecutting comes along, and people are slashing. So, what happens? People start saying, you know what? I don't need all that.

Because, wait a minute. Hold up. Why am I paying for the box if I want to go when Scandal's on? I can watch Scandal. Hey, man. I can get an antenna. People tell, oh, don't get those antennas. They're big old rabbit ears.

People are like, no. Damn that. I can put that on. Wait a minute, hold up. That cost $19.99? $100 a month? I don't care about those rabbit ears. Right.

But you're right. But the problem is, and I don't care, they're limiting those signals. Because I've scanned it too many times. It's happening, Roland. Right. In fact, I will tell you. They're doing it.

So I mentioned that the big Four broadcast network sued us. ABC Disney, NBC Comcast Universal, Comcast NBC Universal, Fox, and CBS. They didn't just sue the non-profit, though. They sued me personally. Oh, dirty dogs. It was an intimidation tactic, I believe. You will note that I am not intimidated by anybody who's looking.

And they also, I think, really opened up a can of worms for themselves, because anybody who's in a fight will tell you the best defense is offense. You get hit, you hit back. So if they were going to sue me,

personally, I thought it was only right that I should hit them back. And we hit them back with allegations of collusion in violation of the antitrust laws, systematically trying to undermine our operation rather than just be up front and state your claims. And in those claims, in those counterclaims we filed, we pointed out that it is harder and harder to get an over-the-air signal. And we believe that this is purposeful. It's great for them if you have to go pay a cable company to get their programming. They get a share of those fees.

Retransmission fees. So what incentive would they have to make sure that you can get an over-the-air signal? Very little. So the part of this, and y'all can jump in with questions as well, but the part of this, by you countersuing, that means that as it goes forward, you can start doing tests

to see, okay, how far is this signal traveling? Because again, when we switch from analog to broadcast and the federal government resold those rights, I don't know why I know this stuff, y'all, but I do. The federal government resold that technology to wireless providers for billions of dollars. We were told, oh, with a

broadcast signal, it's going to be the same as analog. You can get the station now in your analog, you can get it with broadcast. And all of a sudden, you can't. Then you have people like, that was a company, they had a device that connected to the phone, allowed you to pick up the broadcast signal.

So I was like, okay, cool. The company sent me one of the devices and did the same thing, is scan your local stations. But then I was trying to watch an NFL game. Oh, the NFL was blocking it. You're like, wait, hold up, I'm sorry. How can I watch it on my TV, but you're blocking it here? Because they wanted me to pay their Internet rights as well.

Now, let me be clear about something, though. I want to make this really clear, because it was a surprise to me. I have been surprised at the positive response I've gotten from small small local broadcasters. One of them called me up out of the blue and said, I want to help you. I said, are you sure you have the right number?

He said, yeah, yeah, I really want to help you. And today, we're in business with a small broadcaster. We put our receive antenna on his tower and our servers in his station. Now, why would that broadcaster want help from us? More people watching local programming. More people watching local. Because you know what?

Young people, if you say today, do you know the difference between broadcast and cable? They're like, what? You know, it's on my phone or it's not. Their eyes glazed over when Roland was trying to speak. No, no. They're like, hmm. Really?

He's talking for a liquid. But you know something? That's a smart, small business person who owns a small station who says, I'm getting crushed by these big players from all sides. I like you, Locast, because you're actually helping me reach a new audience, a bigger audience. I want to work with you.

And by the same token, there are plenty of people in the cable industry who are like, do we really like this? This guy's helping people cut the cord. We're not like that. So what I've learned is that within industry, there are big variations of how people feel about this. Among consumers, there is no ambiguity. They love it. We are absolutely performing a public service as a nonprofit. And by the way, among the accusations leveled against me is that this is somehow a scheme for me to make money or for me to get ahead.

I have collected zero dollars. If anything, my wife is mad at me for the amount of time I've spent on this instead of going to make real money. I'm not doing this because I need to make a buck. I'm fine. I'm just frustrated with our policymaking process. I think consumers are getting shafted. I'd like to think when they put me in the ground, I did something useful with my life. And this is it.

This is the fight of my life. So what can consumers do to help support you? I appreciate that. Well, you can log on. If you're in any one of the markets that we serve, Roland listed a bunch of them. Pull it up. You can go to locast.org.

You can download the app on Apple, on Roku, on Android. And you can become a contributing member at five bucks a month. Now, keep in mind, you don't have to become a contributing member. You can use the service. We're going to bug you a lot and say, please become a contributing member. Most people use the service and don't contribute.

That's cool. It's supposed to be free, but we do have costs. We got to rent that tower space. We got to buy those servers. So if you would contribute five bucks a month for all your local channels, pretty good deal, you'll keep us afloat. And the more people that do this, it really is fascinating. Roland, this is a true grassroots project.

We're funded by voluntary contributions from users, and it's working. It's working. People are grateful. They're like, thank you, you know what, I will contribute to you. So that's the best way to do it. And by the way, you should use the service. It's working. People are grateful. They're like, thank you. You know what? I will contribute to you. So that's the best way to do it. And by the way, you should use the service. It's great. Your local broadcasters, all the advertising that's on there, we just retransmit it.

You watch those ads, and it helps locally. And see, before I go to Erica, and I'm not picking on anybody, but again, understanding how capitalism works. So when Les Moonves ran CBS, what they did is they created CBS All Access. Right. So essentially, in order for you to watch

your local program on your pad, they want you to buy CBS All Access. And you're like, wait a minute, it's free. Here's something also y'all don't realize. And again, Les Moonves, no longer there, but it was brilliant. They, y'all, this is about to trip y'all out, okay?

Again, this is the geek in me talking to y'all right now. I love the geek in you. So when I travel, I travel. I'm in hotels everywhere. I'm not, I ain't like these damn kids, okay? I had nine of my nieces and nephews crowding around on a 13-inch laptop watching a video when 10 feet away was a damn 50-inch TV.

It was the stupidest thing. I took a picture like, click, click. It's a big-ass TV. What are y'all doing? So when I go to travel, okay, I plug in my iPad to that 50-inch TV in the hotel room because I ain't trying to look at the iPad. CBS would block you. They would, y'all, they would block, you could not.

I would go in the hotel, unplug the HDMI cable, plug it in my iPad, just like this here, this... Zoom it out. This is the exact same thing. HDMI cable to the adapter into my iPad, plug it into the television. They blocked it. I called them, and they said, oh, yeah, you can only watch your content

on your iPad. I said, every other network lets me plug in my iPad to the television to watch them on television. No. Because they did not want you to cut the cord. Now listen, Roland, you want to know who really is pissed off about CBS All Access? In my humble opinion, the CBS

affiliate. Yep. The local affiliate says, wait a minute, I thought I got an exclusive in this deal. I thought I was the provider of CBS network programming in Washington, D.C. or Houston. CBS is saying, we're going to crush you. What people don't understand is that, okay,

so CBS cuts deals with local TV stations to be their affiliate. Those are local TV stations. The networks only own called owned and operated stations. And we're only talking about 10, 12, 15.

When you get 165, 175 affiliates, you're actually paying somebody else. Right. When they created that all access, the local stations were like, wait a minute, that money's going to y'all. Right. And so they're advertising and so they're losing

money because of that. So let's bring this back so they're advertising the... And so they are getting... They're losing money... Right. ...because of that. So let's bring this back to basics, okay? Let's bring it to basics of why... And then Erica, go ahead. Oh, sorry, Erica. No, no, no, please, please. Well, the basics here. Real people who have to pay real bills

are getting shafted. Mm-hmm. They need a break, okay? How many times have you tried to fight back the cable company or any company, and they say, oh, sorry, read the fine print. You lose. For once, somebody, we, are saying, no, you read the fine print.

Go read the Copyright Act. It says we can do this. We're on your side, the consumer. That's number one. Number two, localism was supposed to mean something. The local TV station that gives you local news, local weather, local sports, local political coverage. remember that? Right? Local communities actually getting a voice, remember that? That's really being curtailed in our current system and it hurts. We actually believe at Locast that we're helping the local affiliate reach a broader audience and thrive and push back. Yes, push back a little bit on that big network

that's saying, we want to take all the money, we want to own all the eyeballs. And the last thing I'll say is, isn't it about time, isn't it about time that being a non-profit means you win? Congress had the right idea in 1976 when they said in the Copyright Act, a non-profit can do something that a for-profit cannot do. Imagine in the Copyright Act, a nonprofit can do something that a for-profit cannot do. Imagine in the world of banking, if credit unions had more of a leg up. Imagine in

healthcare, if nonprofit insurance companies work. They exist, right? Imagine if pharmaceuticals were nonprofit. There were a group of hospitals that actually formed their own nonprofit pharmaceutical company. And I will say, since you're wearing a sports jersey, I'm a Packers fan. The Packers are the only non-profit fan-owned team. All of them trade it. And they will not

allow any other city to do it. There you go. So, I believe that if we pull the camera back and look at the big picture, what we're really doing here is pro-consumer, pro-local community, and nonprofit. And those things we need more of in this society right now. Erica? Yeah, I'm very glad that Roland had you here to explain it to us

and then to the larger viewing audience because just reading the article, I must say I did not have a full understanding, so I have a much better well-rounded understanding. And so with a full understanding, so I have a much better, well-rounded understanding. And so with your market expansion, so I'm from Albany, Georgia, which is southwest of Atlanta. It's about 90,000 people. So to you, are those markets where there is Internet access that you all would be able to expand to as well,

where local really is very much so a thing? Yes, absolutely. In fact fact i'm really proud of the fact i know i know that i know that they uh well i'm gonna say i'm very proud of the fact that we have those two markets in south dakota they're small okay but they came to me and said we really like to have your service in our market and we worked with them uh they provided the roof space for us to put an antenna. They went around and raised money so we could buy the servers and come to town.

And an interesting fact is that broadband availability is greater than broadcast over the air reach. Let me say that a different way. Wow. You are more likely to have broadband in those communities than you are to get an over-the-air broadcast signal. And that's because it changed

because the cable companies all own the pipes into your homes, and so they flipped the switch. They said, oh, phone service, not a problem. We have broadband. So you're no longer paying for the phone service. You're not paying these escalating costs, which is why I was a huge proponent of net neutrality.

Right on. Saying forget this whole deal where if you pay more, you get to be in a faster lane than me. Right. Why am I also a proponent of that? Because this digital show allows us to compete against CNN, MSNBC,

Fox News. And so if they got an opportunity to be in a faster lane, I'm slower. You're going to be frustrated if I'm buffering. You're not going to watch me. And let's let's be let's really put a sharp point on it. Black Lives Matter started as an online movement. If you give somebody a gatekeeper function that they can say that gets shown and that doesn't you lose that. So I'm totally with you on net neutrality. And on the point of the smaller communities. Yes we've actually seen how broadband with an open Internet can serve a lot of homes and a lot of those homes can't get an over the air signal. So it's working in South Dakota and it's working in Manhattan where a lot of times people can't get an over the air signal My only point to you is if I can get more people to sign up and contribute, we're going to turn that money right around, buy more servers, launch more markets. We're doing it now. Even though we've been sued, we're launching more markets. We're going to keep marching. And anybody in any community, come find us. If you want to bring Locast to your community, we've done it in two small markets. We'll do it in more.

So I'm looking down the line where your lawsuit collides with a stupid judge because that's what we're getting more and more of. And I'm hearing you say that it's right there in the Copyright Act, and that's wonderful. And so we're going to have the judge that doesn't know day-to-day operations, right, and has never filed a motion looking and coming up with some wacky interpretation, and then we'll just chase it all the way up to the Supreme Court, and I have no assurance about anything that could happen there. So I'm wondering, are there any other ways to protect the service that you're providing? Like, to me, from what you described, there are real public safety interests involved in people having access to at least local news, which now they do not.

They don't. It's a great question. I'm still idealistic enough to believe that even I, as a progressive liberal, am prepared to make a conservative argument to any judge who will listen. The law is what the law says. They say it all the time. It's called plain meaning statutory construction. Well, the law says this.

Okay, then if that's really how we're living, then the law says a nonprofit can retransmit. I want to put that to the test. It's just a plain meaning interpretation. Now, I also happen to think that we are in the Southern District of New York, a very, you know, sophisticated court with a very sophisticated judge, a judge who's been around for many years, who's been very fair. And I still say it. I have faith in our judicial system. I believe we have the best, strongest, cleanest arguments. Again, the reason they're shooting

at me is to distract whoever's the judge from what's really going on. Hey, look at that guy. He's a lobbyist. Hey, look at that guy. He's a lobbyist. Hey, look at that guy. He's just trying to make money. We can't prove it, but we think it. He's trying to make money. But even if you win, okay, and the bigs get together and they lobby to get Congress to do what they weren't willing to do before and then we're looking at legislation to change the Copyright Act.

Okay, whatever way the poor people who were affected... Yeah, I'm waiting for that one. They're just looking at the lawsuit. They're looking at it right now. No, no, you're right. You're absolutely right. Their next move would be to go to Congress. Their next move would go to Congress.

What could... I mean, where's the buffer? Is there something that we could do in grassroots effort other than watching that could undergird and support and justify why this is necessary because this directly affects impoverished communities. You know, black folk, white folk, all folk, poor folk. But about folks who are giving, that's the database of people who are going to be saying, okay, now let's mobilize and organize.

Exactly. And, again, making argument but because the cost what has happened is again cable cable reached a point I think at his highest inflection point I think the highest 90% it was it was 105 106 million homes that's right 90% used to be 19 early mid 70s broadcast networks were in 98% of American homes. Yep. Cable comes in late 70s. All of a sudden, then early 80s, then it explodes in the 90s,

and it goes up more than $100 million. You only had about 14 or 15 networks that were above $100 million. CNN, HLN, ESPN. ESPN was charging. I mean, it was crazy. So $5 to $7 of every bill was going to ESPN. ESPN was charging. It was crazy. So five to seven bucks of every bill was going to ESPN.

Then all of a sudden, every year cable customer service got worse. Bill kept going high. And I was sitting there going, there's gonna be a point where the public says, you know what? Y'all can kiss my ass.

And the cable companies kept saying, they'll never leave us because they were using sports against people. I watched my Big Ten game, my SEC game. Then it got to the point, millennials were born. Millennials were like, don't give a shit about TV. And then all of a sudden, millennials don't give a shit about TV. And then all of a sudden, millennials don't give a shit about TV,

coincides with technology. Then, for the first time we saw in history, the number of television sets being purchased decrease. I'll never forget, it decreased by 1%. And I said... Such a weirdo. I know. But my kind of weirdo.

This is my business. I love it. This is my business. And he agrees. And I said, it's starting. Right. And then about six years ago, I said, when somebody creates a DVR to record over the air, this bad boy's about to accelerate.

Channel Master did. They sent me one. Channel Master. record over the air, this bad boy's about to accelerate. Channelmaster did. They sent me one. Channelmaster, and that's why I don't understand what the hell Tim Cook was doing. If Tim Cook had put a damn coaxial in that Apple TV to now be able to watch over the air through your Apple TV... Well, Apple TV has Lowcast.

You can use the Lowcast app on Apple TV. That was a key move for us. And so now, if you get that Apple TV device, and you don't want to pay a bunch for cable, but you do want to watch your local news, weather, sports, whatever, download our app right there on Apple TV. Same with Roku, same with Android.

So, look, there's another historical point that I want to put out, again, to try to make this relevant to the larger themes of your show. Those cable systems were built in urban communities with franchise agreements yep that promised something back to the community here you can use all these rights of way you can dig up the streets but you got to serve the community and yet those very same systems now have been sold and aggregated into massive corporations, Comcast chief among them.

And I don't believe the community that really helped get them off the ground has been given its fair shot. And they gave several to African-Americans, David Percy Sutton in New York and one of the franchises. Yes. John A. Johnson and one of the franchises in Chicago. And then they sold those in the early 80s before this whole thing exploded. That's right. And you're right.

And so those cable companies then went from owning... And then, because I have the copy of the speech. Kathy Hughes gave a speech at the Rainbow Push where she said, okay, it's a shame that we launched TV One and we had to give Comcast equity in our network to guarantee we get put on. So that also was happening.

And so all of a sudden, you went from the cable companies now owning the cable channels. And so now they own the content on their very systems, and they're making that money and not owning the broadband as well. So it's like, oh, we're vertical and horizontal. We don't get the money in every single way.

Exactly. And so it's all a sort of game, but it's now, it's so costly, court cutting is blowing up. ESPN is now in 87 million homes. That's a lot. They've lost 13, do the math. They lost 13 million homes, y'all, multiplied 13 million subs by six bucks by 12.

They're scared. Billions of dollars lost because people said, I'm sick of paying all this money for cable. And this now allows them to watch... And go to my iPad, please, because, see, y'all might be thinking, this is ABC, NBC, CBS. No, because of the broadcast, when it was switched, it used to be analog broadcast.

Come back to me, I'll tell you. It was an analog broadcast. So here's what happened. So Channel 4 now has Channel 4.1,.2,.3,.4. So they now have four stations. So Bounce TV, network targeting African Americans, how'd they become a broadcast network? They went to the local market and said,

we wanna lease from you your point one or point two station. So, go to my iPad. So here you see Channel 4, Channel 5, Channel 7, Channel 9, Univision, Fox, this independent, this DC, this is the CW. Then you see WETA, Telemundo, Cozy, Charge, Comet, I don't know what this T, whatever it is, Justice, Get TV, Grit, Bounce, Buzz, Me TV, Movies, you know,

and so, and then, yes, the, what was that, Tele, yeah, the bottom, so what has yes, the, what was that, tele, yeah, the bottom. So, what has happened, these are all digital stations. So, it used to be there were three stations growing up. Then Fox came on, it was four. Now, because of the digital signal, you now have 20 or 30. In Houston, huge international population, it's like 50 channels because now you have, same thing in D.C., Vietnamese now you have the same thing in DC,

Vietnamese, you have Saudi Arabian, Chinese, you got all these different stations. So now, because of broadcast, some places you've got 40 and 50 stations. Now look, Roland, I'm so glad you're mentioning this because cable companies and satellite companies do not carry those multicast, so-called multicast stations. We do, because we're not limited except by how many servers we can buy. So please go contribute, and we can buy more servers. But this is a way to serve local communities, too. You'll notice, I keep saying, go to that PBS Kids.

That's the multicast stream off of a public TV station. Now you can put that on the phone and throw it in the back seat and have the kids watch PBS Kids while you're in the car on low-cast. It's You Kids now. Oh, is it You Kids? Yeah, it's short for Universal Kids. See?

I'm a mom. I'm an empty nester. I would be very excited about that being. That would be a big offering for me. My kids are all grown. I don't know anybody. But for our audience, I know somebody, y'all probably comment, like, why the hell are you spending all of this time?

Because I need, and this is going to be the last point, and then we're going to have David give his final comments, because I need black people to understand the game. I was with TV One 13 of its first 14 years. Don't think I was just some face. No, I was sent around this country. I helped build that damn network. Oh, let me be real clear.

I was sent to Rochester, New York to do community engagement, to get TV One carried there. I was sent to Charleston, to Fort Worth, Texas, sent to San Antonio, sent to cities all across the country. Jonathan Rogers, the founding CEO, my alpha brother, good friend of mine, we talked the business. I ain't just some cities all across the country. Jonathan Rogers, the founding CEO, my alpha brother, good friend of mine,

we talk the business. I ain't just some person sitting on the air. I know the business of this business. Here's what the cable companies did. They put BET, it was the first black cable network. So BET basically was grandfathered in. BET's on basic cable. You can go to a hotel room, anywhere in the country.

For the most part, any place in the country, BET is going to be in the local, BT is gonna be a local cable system because they're on basic cable. Every other black network that came after them, they put them on the higher tier. I did work with a major broadcasting cable network, later became The Family Channel. That's what they did.

But that's what they did with TV One. They put us on the top tier. So what they did to black folks is, listen to me, y'all, they will put TV One near on the same tier as HBO, Showtime, and Starz. So if you wanted TV One, you had to pay for the highest level of cable.

You hear what I just said? Black people, less income than any other group, lowest amount of wealth, forced to pay higher cable bills because of where black networks are. That was by design. They put like, Monique says she's a parent. Guess who is also in the highest tier?

Family channels. Because they want families paying for the highest cable possible. So, black people are paying for the highest cable possible. So, black people are paying for the highest cable and the set-top box and spending $150, $200 a month on cable. This, now it says, wait a minute, you don't need to do that.

And now, whether on your pad, your phone, your computer, or Apple TV, whatever, you can watch it wherever you want to watch it. Understand the game. Billions are being reaped off of us, and that's what is trying to be protected here. David, final comment. Well, Roland, I want to end by talking about something

from my day job so you can see where my heart lies. One of my clients is a man named Byron Allen. He is an African-American media company owner of the highest order. He recently bought the Weather Channel, as you just mentioned. Byron sued Comcast for discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1866

for discriminating in contact. Comcast, Charter. I covered it. Several. Right. All right, so you've covered the case. Oh, yes. So we're talking about a company, Comcast,

that rather than go to trial just to prove that they didn't discriminate, would rather appeal to the Supreme Court and its conservative majority and work with the Trump administration. They've actually given time to the Trump DOJ. Because when you go before the Supreme Court, you only get, what, 30 minutes for all arguments? They've given 10 of those minutes. They have given 10 of those minutes to the Trump Department of Justice.

I can't recall the last time a private entity is giving the government their time to argue on their behalf. So I bring this up because when you connect those dots and explain to the African-American community what's going on and what they're up against, I'm being sued by that company personally, and I welcome that fight, and I welcome that fight and I welcome the chance to beat them in court so that ordinary people can get a

break for once. These things are not unrelated they're absolutely connected and I just can't thank you enough for bringing me on the show. I appreciate it. Talk about Locast. Folks again it is a locast.org. Please show it again. And you'll see it when you actually log in. You see a live TV guide. These are all the cities that you can actually see the local programming in. And then you have the particular profile as well.

The donate button is here as well. I told y'all, I mean, that's the only way I was able to watch the game. And, cause other, I didn't have my Slingbox connected connected and again, you have to buy all the other stuff to be able to watch a program you're already paying for which is nonsensical but that's what's going on here and so David, we certainly appreciate it and the Byron Allen Supreme Court

case is going to be heard on November 13th. November 13th, that's right. And so I've got to find out how we get a seat to actually hear the oral arguments. We plan on having our cameras there and so I want to be able to hear those arguments and then get folks in and out. So, again, locash.org.

David, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thank you. All right, folks, real quick, the family of Antoine Rose II will receive nearly $1.2 million from a settlement in a federal civil lawsuit filed against East Pittsburgh and former police officer Michael Rosfeld.

Court records show 17-year-old Rose was shot and killed by Rosfeld after a June 19, 2018 traffic stop in East Pittsburgh. In March, Rossville was found not guilty of criminal charges in connection with Rose's death, including homicide. The lawsuit said that Rose's civil rights were violated and that Rossville's actions were unlawful and unwarranted and that the lack of training and practices at the East Pittsburgh Police Department caused, in part, the teen's death. And so $1.2 million. Folks, actor and comedian John Witherspoon has passed away.

Early today, his family tweeted, it is with deep sadness we have to tweet this, but our husband and father, John Witherspoon, has passed away. He was a legend in the entertainment industry and a father figure to all who watched him over the years. We love you, pops, always and forever. Monique, first of all, born in Detroit, Witherspoon had an amazing career and included the Friday franchise, Hollywood Shuffle, The Williams Brothers,

The Richard Pryor Show, Incredible Hulk, Good Times, The Tracy Morgan Show, Vampire in Brooklyn, I'm Gonna Get You Sucker, Boomerang, all y'all know, Courtney! Black Jesus, Boone, Dotson, much, much more. Started out as a stand-up comedian in 1977 and went on to movies where he continued to perform well into his 70s.

He was set to reprise his role in Last Friday, but the project has not started filming yet. The Pops of Black Hollywood will be sadly missed by his family and countless fans. John Witherspoon was 77 and one of the absolute funniest people ever. A man who could cuss in rhythm, and it would be funny.

Yes. And he had a cooking show, too, on YouTube. So I'm definitely going to say... Really? Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Yeah, it is... Yeah, it is absolutely hilarious. You have to see it. It's like an old-school kitchen.

He doesn't have a shirt on, just has the apron and his pants, and, um, has made profound chili. So, um, we definitely miss you, Pop the Boondocks, and I'm gonna get you suckers. He was doing 200 shows a year. 77 years old. God tours on the time. Join the show this morning. He said, he said, man, he was just tired. And matter of fact, DL, he had him on the show last week. I texted DL last night and he was like, yeah, I literally just had him on. Uh, and he passed away. Uh, it was, uh, early this morning. I was, I was up after my event last night. All of a sudden I

began to see the post, his family posted, yeah. He passed away unexpectedly, 77. Rest in power. Rest in power. Yeah, and he mentored so many people. And my cousin actually posted something earlier because they were all at Magic Johnson's

birthday celebration over the summer, and everyone was talking about just how wonderful it was to see him in his element. Yep. Absolutely hilarious. And so I happened to be on the plane today flying back from Indianapolis and of course he was in Soul Plane. And yeah.

I just can't rewind it back. Jump with the spoon was absolutely crazy. So it leaves a great body of work. We appreciate it. Alright folks, I gotta go. Tomorrow I'll be broadcasting from New York. Culture Shift takes place. We'll be broadcasting from the Apollo Theater tomorrow and Friday. We want you to support Roland Martin Unfiltered. Of course, this is what we do.

Bringing information you're not going to get anywhere else. And so please go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every contribution you give goes to support this show. You can give your cash at PayPal or Square. We certainly would appreciate that. Thank you to the Stewart Brothers last night for having their lecture series

30 plus years in Indianapolis, the state of black America. We focus on economics and so we're going to be restreaming that as well and so if you missed it, go to our YouTube channel and check that out and so please do so and of course, I got to go because in about 25 minutes Game 7 begins.

Astros versus Nationals. I can't. Look, I ain't trying to have history made. I saw this tweet. Hold on, let me find it. This is the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life because we were asking the question, and this is nuts, and I'm really about to go on y'all.

This is crazy. In the history of Major League Sports, where is this damn thing? In the history of Major League Sports, this guy this damn thing? In the history of Major League Sports. This guy put this thing together, and I sent it. Okay, here it is. There have been 1,420 championship series in Major League Baseball, hockey, and the NBA.

This is the first time ever where the road team won all games. That shit ends tonight, okay? Astros winning at home. Just letting you all. That shit ends tonight, okay? Astros win it at home. Just letting y'all know, that shit wins tonight because, yeah, he a bandwagon. Henry's a bandwagon Nationals fan. No, he ain't

no real Nationals fan. And so, everyone, again, zoom in. The Astros gonna get another one of these tonight. Zoom in, damn it. I'm paying you. And yes, it's Henry's birthday. He's like 59 or something like that. And so the Astros going to get one more of these tonight.

Game seven. I've been killing Huggy Lowdown. We're going to have lots of fun with it. All right, y'all. I got to go. We'll see y'all later. H-Town, holla! We'll be right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops.

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

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