#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Bondi, Rubio Senate confirmation hearings, Jack Smith Report, 'My 1st Ankle Monitor' fallout

Episode Date: January 18, 2025

1.15.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Bondi, Rubio Senate confirmation hearings, Jack Smith Report, 'My 1st Ankle Monitor' fallout  Senate confirmation hearings continue for the convict-in-chief's administration.  Today, Senator Marco Rubio and Pam Bondi were in the hot seat.  We'll show you some of what happened in their hearings.   Representative Ayanna Pressley is making a final push for President Joe Biden to grant clemencies before he leaves office in a few days. She'll join us to discuss her efforts and her plans for January 20, as she won't be attending the inauguration.  The president of Bennett College is stepping down.  FEMA's administrator was labeled a "DEI hire" by a member of Congress. We'll hear from a Colorado news anchor who will explain what it really means when white men use the term "DEI hire."   #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Wednesday, January 15th, 2025, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. City confirmation hearings continue for the nominees of twice impeached criminally convicted felon Donald Trump. Today, Senator Marco Rubio and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi were in the hot seat. We'll show you some of the shenanigans of those hearings. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley will be joining us to make a final push for President Biden to grant clemencies before he leaves office in a few days. Also, the president of Bennett College is stepping down. FEMA's administrator was labeled a DEI hire by a member of Congress. Man, these people are pretty stupid, but a Colorado news anchor really showed how

stupid that is. All that and more. It's time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. On the Black Star Network, let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's 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 believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martel Now Martel Well, another idiotic appointee of the twice impeached criminally convicted felon in chief Donald Trump appeared before a Senate confirmation hearing today. This time it was Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. You know, the one who Trump bought off to stop an investigation in Florida. Oh, my goodness.

She was asked about birthright, citizenship, election denial. First, Senator Dick Durbin asked Barney to weigh in on the call between Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election and Biden's victory. Listen to this idiot. Do you have any doubts that Joe Biden had the majority of votes, electoral votes necessary to be elected president in 2020? You know, Senator, all I can tell you as a prosecutor is from my firsthand experience. And I accept the results. I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is president of the United States.

But what I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania as an advocate for the campaign. I was an advocate for the campaign, and I was on the ground. So the idiot can't even say he won. Now, keep in mind, Donald Trump lost all of those lawsuits. These crazy, deranged, MAGA Republicans keep saying, oh, there was all of this election interference and voter fraud. They won't even say it was a free and fair election, even though Republican secretaries of state said the same thing. But also, let me add this here. Y'all notice how every other Republican who won

said that their races were free and fair, but the race of Trump who was on the same ballot wasn't. Continue with the stupidity. I'm in Pennsylvania and I saw many things there,

but do I accept the results? Of course I do. Do I agree with what happened? I saw many things there. But do I accept the results? Of course I do. Do I agree with what happened? And I saw so much. You know, no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country. We should all want our elections to be free and fair and the rules and the laws to be followed. I think that question deserved a yes or no. And I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren't prepared to answer yes. Have you heard the recording of President Trump on January 2nd, 2021, when he urged the Secretary of State of Georgia to... Freeze that. I love this here. I saw so much that I can't name.

Oh, my God, I saw so many bad things, but I actually can't describe what I saw that was illegal. Yep. She's full of shit. Keep playing. Quote, find 11,780 votes and declare him the winner of that state? No, I've heard about it through clips, but no, Senator, I've not heard it. What was your reaction to President Trump making that call?

I would have to listen to the tape, Senator. Well, the quote that I give you is exact. He said to the Georgia Secretary of State, find 11,780 votes. Do you have the entire context of that call? I feel like it was much longer than that and may have been taken out of context. It is. It was an hour long. Right.

You can certainly listen to it. I hope you will. Every American should. As a former prosecutor, are you not concerned that the president of the United States called a state election official and asked him to find enough votes to change the results of the election? Senator, I have not listened to the hour-long conversation, but it's my understanding that is not what he asked him to do. You need to listen to it.

So you didn't hear the recording. You heard clips, but now you're saying that's not what he asked him to do. Y'all keep in mind, Pam Bondi was one of the people who was engaged in this nonsensical election crap in 2020. Now, California Senator Alex Padilla questioned Bondi about her knowledge

of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which is kind of basic for any lawyer. I'd like to answer the previous one, Senator. When we met yesterday, you pointed your finger at me and said you were speaking. You did not seem to be familiar with the Citizenship Clause, the 14th Amendment of the United States of America, which was deeply disappointing. And I'm hoping you're more familiar with it today after I gave an opportunity to study overnight. So can you tell me and this committee what the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment says?

Senator, I'm here to answer your questions. I'm not here to do your homework and study for you. If I am confirmed as attorney general. You're the one asking for a confirmation. Hey, you cut me off. Can I please finish? What does the 14th amendment say? Senator, Senator, the 14th amendment we all know addresses birthright citizenship. I've been a state prosecutor. I've been a state AG. I look forward to even given your remarks today, working with you and the people of California if I am confirmed as the 87th Attorney General of the United States of America. I didn't take your homework assignment. I'm sorry. I was preparing for today. So on the 14th Amendment, now you've testified repeatedly to this committee that you will uphold the laws of this country and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Do you believe birthright citizenship is the law of the land, and will you defend it regardless of a child born in the United States, regardless of their parents' immigration status? Senator, I will study birthright citizenship. I would love to meet with you regarding birthright citizenship. Can I answer the question? As the Attorney General of the United States, you still need to study the 14th Amendment of the Constitution? That is not helping me have more confidence in your ability to do this job. Go to my iPad. This is the 14th Amendment.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of the laws. This is one of the Reconstruction Amendments, the 13th, 14th,

15th Amendment that was pushed through by radical Republicans. Those radical Republicans who were fervently against slavery, they didn't care that this was passed without bipartisanship. It was rammed through. The 14th Amendment was passed for people who look like me to establish citizenship for black people. This idiot can't even answer the question. It just goes to show you what we're dealing with here with the games. And I'm just warning you, we tried to tell you, we tried to tell you what was going to happen. We tried to tell you how ignorant these people are.

We tried to tell you how nonsensical they are. Then you have, you know, in the same hearing, you know, she did not want to deal with the reality of January 6th. January 6th. So, I mean, I just, I'm going to pull this video. Let me find it, because it's pretty crazy when even Republican Tom Tillis kind of got a little ticked off regarding her answer as it related to January 6th because she waffled, if you will, she waffled, if you will, when it came to January 6th. All right, listen to this. Last thing before the second round. January 6th, a lot of people are going to say you're going to have a rubber stamp for letting people have pardons or

recommending a pardon for people who did violence to law enforcement. I'm not going to ask you a hypothetical because I want you to be consistent in not answering them. But I have to believe as a member, I was the last member out of the Senate on January the 6th. I walked past a lot of law enforcement officers, excuse me, who were injured. I find it hard to believe that the president of the United States or you would look at facts that were used to convict the violent people on January the 6th and say it was just an intemperate moment. I don't even expect you to respond to that. But I think it's an absurd and unfair hypothetical here, and you probably haven't heard the last of it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The whole deal is they are going to pardon January 6th folks. Robert Petillo, he's host, People, Passion, and Politics, News & Talk 1380, WAOK, Out of Atlanta, Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President, Fair Elections Center out of D.C., Gavin Reynolds, contributor to The Root, and former speechwriter to Vice President Kamala Harris, New Haven, Connecticut. Robert, I'll start with you. My God, how hard is it to just say what the 14th Amendment is? But the reality is Pam Bondi and Donald Trump and these MAGA Republicans,

they want to act like the 14th Amendment doesn't exist. And if actually, if they truly believe in it, guess what? If I'm wrong, was Barron Trump born when his mama was actually a citizen? Well, it goes deeper than that, even, Roland. It's not that they simply want to ignore the 14th Amendment. They want to pervert the 14th Amendment. They want to change the amendment and all the efforts of the civil rights movement to be antithetical to their original intent. Anton Scalia always talked about the original intent of the framers of the Constitution when it came to interpreting judicial precedents.

What we know for a fact is that the 14th Amendment was meant to expand and protect the rights and interests of African Americans. Right now the extreme MAGA movement is using that to go after affirmative action, to go after diversity, equity, and inclusion. They're using the U-14th Amendment to protect Trump from felony disenfranchisement laws, but also to prosecute black and brown people who are the victims of those laws. So what we have to do is stop fighting the last fight and fight on the battlefield that they are on currently. It's no longer a question of exposing hypocrisy. It's no longer a question of catching them in lies. It's what are we going to do legislatively to protect the civil rights that we have fought for for the last 150 years? What are we going to do to change

the legal landscape to ensure that we are not going back on Brown v. Board of Education? We are not going back on everything that Hamilton E. Holmes and Thurgood Marshall were able to fight for for our people, and that we're not going to repeal many of the acts that were put in place as the sole form of quote-unquote reparations that we received at the end of slavery, that being the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment, announcing those being used to enforce a white supremacist agenda, which is meant to degrade the rights of African Americans. So when you listen to these answers from Bondi, who I used to debate on Fox News on a regular basis, it's interesting to see the number of people that I used to debate on Fox

who are now high-ranking cabinet officials. When you got Leo Terrell heading up civil rights for the country, we have to understand that they are taking and weaponizing these things to a level further than we've ever seen before. The guardrails are gone. The adults in the room have been thrown out of the party. The people like Mitt Romney, et cetera, are gone now. And we need to develop strategies to fight back against this. We want to preserve the rights we've achieved over the course of the last two centuries. Yes. You're rocking your pink and green, Rebecca, on your AK Founders Day. Robert's absolutely right. The reality is the election is over. The idiot is going to be sworn in on Monday. His crazy, deranged appointees are there,

and the battle has to be exactly in dealing with their craziness. You know what, to quote Jasmine Crockett, child, please, listening to Bondi in that hearing, spew utter nonsense. For all of us who went to law school, we were taught American jurisprudence. She understands what the 14th Amendment is and what it is not, regardless of the interpretation that she's trying to present in front of the Congress. It's also troubling. She was very upset in the questioning, but had she showed up and met with individual senators, especially on the Democratic side, then she could have had these questions that could have provided her answers in those specific individual one-on-one meetings with various senators. And we ought to be asking the person who's supposed to be the chief legal officer in this

country, we should be able to ask, do you understand the Constitution? Are you going to actually uphold the Constitution? Are you going to try to interpret the Constitution in a way that is not to be interpreted? Those are very fair questions. And like Robert said, it's amazing how many of his former colleagues on that other news channel is now going to be in government. This is really bizarre times. Gavin, folks just better get used to this level of stupidity now holding power in all facets of government, at least for the next two years.

No, absolutely. And look, they're holding Pam Bondi's confirmation hearings this week. But the unfortunate reality is she will be confirmed. You see, because what Donald Trump did is he's flooded the zone with deeply unqualified and deeply dangerous nominees. And Democrats can only fight so many of them. I think what it's looking like is that Democrats are probably going to let, you know, Pam Bondi go through and they might sort of put more capital on trying to block a Pete Hegseth or an RFK Jr. And we know that our community is going to suffer with all of these people in office. And I wish

that the senators had spent more time today talking about civil rights. We look over the past four years under President Biden and Vice President Harris, the DOJ has actually prosecuted civil rights violations, has actually carried out pattern or practice investigations, has actually issued consent decrees. And these are things, these are tools that during Donald Trump's first term in office, his DOJ simply decided they weren't going to use. I think we've taken for granted that we've had a Biden DOJ over the past four years. And not only do we have the legacy of what Donald Trump did or did not do during his first term in office, but Donald Trump has also been very clear

about how he intends to use this DOJ over the next four years. He's talked about suing universities who have DEI policies. He's talked about, you know, countering anti-white racism, all of these things, by the way, we're in the pages of Project 2025. And so, you know, I think the DOJ is one of the most important cabinet agencies that exists. There's tremendous potential to do great harm. Pam Bondi is a Donald Trump loyalist. Any opportunity she gets, she will put Donald Trump over the Constitution. So the harm that Pam Bondi and Donald Trump can do, and by the way, her deputy, he gets confirmed to be Todd Blanche, who is Donald Trump's personal attorney. So make no mistake where the loyalties lies

for the number one and number two officials at the DOJ. They will do great harm to our country and they will do great harm to our community. Indeed, folks, President Biden is going to be giving his final speech to the nation tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern. One of the issues people are still awaiting to hear, will there be additional pardons and commutations for various individuals? He commuted the sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But many have been saying that there are other people who he should be granting clemencies to. Joining us right now is Congresswoman Iyana

Presley of Massachusetts. Glad to have you back. And so who specifically and how many commentations are you hoping that President Biden grants between now and 1159 a.m. on Monday? Hey, Roland. Happy New Year. Good to be with you. Let me just say that, you know, as I reflect on the election outcome, one of the things that keeps coming up for me is that when Democrats have the power, we don't use it. And so how do you make the case for why we should get the power back when, you know, you want the power, but to do what? President Biden has the authority in these remaining days. Clemency is a very powerful tool. We have a mass incarceration crisis. Our broken clemency system has contributed to that. There are tens of thousands of people

whose lives, thousands of people whose lives hang in the balance. So people that are disabled, that are elderly, that are chronically ill, women who are incarcerated for the crimes of their abusers, people that are victims of sentencing disparities because of crack cocaine and otherwise. You know, I'm proud to be a part of this coalition that has been pressing and pushing and organizing. We are encouraged by the two actions that have been taken in those previous rounds, both with the 39 pardons and the 1,500 commutations for those on home confinement. People like a grandfather who was 69 years old, Roland, serving a 40-year conviction for a nonviolent cannabis conviction, had been on home confinement because of a CARES Act provision we fought for at the height of the pandemic.

And now he knows he can continue to be a granddaddy and stay home with his grandbabies and isn't going to have to come back. So that was 1,500 people whose lives are forever changed. So this is meaningful. It is transformative. It is about addressing systemic injustices. It is about the moral thing to do. And it's about legacy. He has the power and he needs to use it. Look, the White House said this was after the Hunter Biden pardon and a few others that there were going to be two or three more rounds. And look, it's going down to the wire. When I was at the White House Christmas party, this was a couple of weeks ago. There were a group of women who were outside protesting for several, a number of different black women to be to be part. And Kimba Smith was out there

with them as well because they were raising the point how more simply needs to be done. And to your point, only the president has this power. And come 11, come 12 or 1 p.m. on Monday, you know, the twice impeached criminal convicted felon in chief will be sworn in and the opportunity will be gone. That's right. He has the power. He needs to use it. It's the right thing to do. And really, it is a matter of legacy. I mean, again, we're encouraged by actions that have been taken to date, but we're pressing for him to continue to do more. And let me just share, you know, my father is someone who was incarcerated because his substance use disorder was criminalized. Very destabilizing, devastating for our household. And when he came out, he became a college professor, a dean of a college, and a successfully published author. And walk me down the aisle 10 years ago to the love of my life.

We have 800 incarcerated individuals that are fighting firefighters, wildfires, getting paid $5 a day and at night returning to a work camp instead of being reunited with their families. This is about second chances. This is about affording people an opportunity to make a positive contribution. And it's about reuniting people with their families. President Biden, you and you alone have the authority. When we have the power, we have to use it. Use that authority in these final days and hours. Pardons, commutations, clemency is a very powerful, life-changing tool. Indeed, indeed. And so what for folks like yourself and supporters, I would assume

that you're all in constant, are you emailing, are you calling, and what are they saying? Are they saying, hold up, it's coming, it's coming, or just be patient? What are they saying? Yeah, we've been in ongoing communication with the White House throughout this. You know, of course, my work in this space certainly predates the Hunter Biden pardon. So we've been in this space of working to reform our clemency system for a long time. But, you know, I do believe that there will be another action taken in these final days. And so we just keep pressing and pushing. We had a final press conference yesterday. We're still calling. We're still organizing people because this is about people's lives. You know, again, it's a matter of legacy. He has the authority. He has to use it. I mean, Roland, riddle me this. Why is anybody

still incarcerated for a cannabis conviction? So when you ask me, you know, how many people should he use this tool for, the Office of the Pardoning Attorney tells us that there are thousands of people, maybe as many as 10,000, whose lives are just hanging in the balance. We have a mass incarceration crisis. We have a broken clemency system that has contributed to that. That work will continue. You know, myself, Hakeem Jeffries and others to address this broken clemency system. But right now, President Biden, you and you alone have the authority. Use it and change lives. And this here was some of the video outside of the White House a couple of weeks ago as people were leaving one of the White House Christmas parties, as they were trying to get others to embrace the need for these pardons.

And you see them holding the names of some of the women who they have been advocating before. Congresswoman, say it again. Go ahead. Yes, I was saying Michelle West. That's an example of one of the women, you know, who is incarcerated for the crimes of her abuser. So, again, there are people that are disabled, that are elderly, that are chronically ill. There are women that are incarcerated for the crimes of their abusers. There are people that are victims of sentencing disparities. They need to come home, reunite with their families, be afforded an opportunity to make a second, for a second chance and to make a positive contribution. All right. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Roland.

I'm going to go to break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin, unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. Hello, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase. And right now we're accepting investors in our $17 million round to revolutionize the future of social media. Today, for just $399, you can own 60 shares of stock in Fanbase at $6.65 a share. Go to startengine.com slash fanbase and invest today. While the big platforms have grown too massive and disconnected from their users,

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big platforms are failing to serve their users, and Fanbase is stepping up to fill the gap. Don't wait until it's too late. now invest for yourself and your future go to startengine.com slash fan base and own the future of social media parkour executive producer a proud family bruce smith creator and executive producer of the proud family louder and prouder. You're watching Roland Martin. Folks, the death toll in California's historic wildfires are now at 25, with officials anticipating the death toll will climb higher as dozens remain unaccounted for, winds continue to make it difficult for thousands of firefighters to battle the wildfires across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. About 92,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders.

Another 89,000 are under evacuation warnings. More than 80,000 customers in the southern part of the state are without power as Southern California Edison starts shutting off power. The devastation to homeowners and business owners that they are seeing after their possessions are in ruins and ashes. Now, what was interesting is that you continue to see the attacks against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. In fact, what's crazy here is the Los Angeles Times, check this out. Now, keep in mind, the owner of the Los Angeles Times is a MAGA billionaire.

He's been kissing more Trump ass than anything. Go to my iPad. So they put this story out that said, as the Palisades fire exploded in Los Angeles, Mary Karen Bass was at an embassy cocktail party in Ghana. Now, this goes with a story. The story, the headline was Mary Karen Bass was at an embassy cocktail party in Ghana as Palisades fire exploded. Now, keep in mind, she was there as a part of a four person delegation on behalf of the president of the United States for the inauguration of the Ghanaian president. And then a lot of folks have been fighting back. Victor, she is one of these people. So this is so I gave you the headline. This is what the story says. Seidel said the delegation left the ambassador's house between 8 p.m. and

8.30 local time, departing straight to the tarmac of a military base where the mayor, quote, was on her way back to Los Angeles on a military flight by 9 p.m. That would put her departure from the party between 12 p.m. and 12.30

Los Angeles time last Tuesday. Bass arrived in Los Angeles at around 11 a.m. Wednesday. So do y'all see the game being played here? The game being played here is like, oh, oh, she was at a party. Oh, yes, she was at a party just enjoying herself when when Los Angeles was just blowing up. So we're just going to just totally ignore, ignore why she was there. We're going to ignore that while she was there, she was in communication with her staff. So we're just going to act like none of that stuff actually exists.

I mean, so you have the constant attacks against her, the constant attacks against California Governor Gavin Newsom. And it's going on and on and on. And so it's just amazing to listen to these people, listen to how they attack folks, how they how they will just make stuff up. And as if also as if somehow Karen Bass could win. OK, blow the fires out. I mean, it's but but but you see what happened. She was there as an official delegation for the United States. I was I was peeping this. I'm trying to find the piece that I want. And, you know, Bill Burr, the comedian, he was on he was on Jimmy Kimmel.

And it was really interesting. Listen to him on Jimmy Kimmel talking about the fires there and how people are responding to it. So check this out. You know, the fire was coming and all that stuff. So I feel lucky. Are you guys back? And I think everybody did a great job. Yeah. Unlike the Internet, you know? Yeah, right. I know.

It's right. Oh, my God. All of these fire experts. Why didn't you just fly a helicopter into the ocean? And then just, I don't know, because there was 100 knot winds. You want to do that? You want to do that at night, you f***ing lunatic? How are you in the room? This was definitely

mismanaged. That's a big word we're hearing now. Mismanaged, like some f***ing idiot on the internet knows how to manage the worst fire in LA, sitting there in his underwear. You know what? Looking at the footage on the Internet, I have determined that this here was mismanaged.

You know about helicopters because I remember, and it's interesting now thinking about it, because you... I mean, he's absolutely right. I mean, this is sheer stupidity, Rebecca, when you look at it, when you see what's going on here. And the L.A. Times publisher also pushed out lies talking about what was cut from the fire department. And you see what's going on here. So that's that's pretty trifling to do this.

Oh, she was at a cocktail party in Ghana as if as if you ignore that she was there on behalf of the United States. You know, there's three facts that we know. The fact one, we know in the United States, the majority of our homes are built with wooden structures. The rest of the world, not so much. They're using concrete. You know why? Because it's fire resistant. It's one reason when San Francisco burned down completely over 100 years ago, they rebuilt with concrete and steel. They didn't rely on the wooden structures that is common across the country. The second thing that we know, especially for my family, part of my family that does live in altadena there hasn't been significant rain in that part of california since may that's almost eight months where it's dry it's extremely dry

there's high winds we also know that climate change is real so we know that the environment was ripe for a massive fire and then to my point, when you have a bunch of wooden structures which aren't fire resistant, instead they're going to burn up very quickly. The third thing that viewers also have to understand is we have to think about water and water scarcity, especially in the southwest United States. Over, I think about 102 years ago, was the Colorado River Compact. That was the agreement among seven states, including California, on the water that flows from the Colorado River. It flows both west and it flows east. From Nebraska is next to Colorado. We get some of that Colorado River water that flows east.

And I think Nebraska right now is in a fight with Kansas and Missouri on water rights off of the Colorado River. I say all this to say is that there are hundreds of years worth of stuff that's happening in California. It's the reason why California keeps having fires. And people have to understand that. It doesn't matter who the mayor is. This situation is going to occur unless there's actually some real understanding of water rights in that part of the country. And unless we figure out better ways to create structures that are resistant to climate change.

Because we know with climate change, we're going to have more flooding. We know we're going to have more extreme weather. We know we're going to have more flooding. We know we're going to have more extreme weather. We know we're going to have more fires. So until building codes start changing and people start building structures, especially homes that aren't that aren't heavily that they keep building structures that aren't fire resistant. We're going to keep seeing this massive destruction regardless of who's mayor. I think Gavin was tripping me out. I see somebody uh somebody uh you know in the chat goes oh it's not my fault the fire hydrants were empty well that's also another lie so again uh when you listen to experts when you listen to i mean firefighters long-time firefighters in L.A. County have been predicting that when you that a perfect storm is when you get winds in excess of 100 miles an hour.

They would not be able to do anything if a wildfire starts. Well, Roland, we're living in an era now where people seem to not really care about what's true and what's false, what's real and what's fake, what's information versus what's disinformation or misinformation. People have literally lost everything in these fires, including my girlfriend. Her family is from the Pasadena area. Her uncle has had his house burned down, as well as other friends and close family friends of her family. So first of all, I want to just say that my thoughts and prayers go out to all those who've been affected. But I think it's just disgusting and terrible to see the misinformation, disinformation that has literally been spreading like wildfires on the internet, which has involved very racist and gendered attacks on Mayor Karen Bass,

who I think has done a commendable job as mayor thus far. The way I've heard governors like Ron DeSantis and others talk about her as that mayor, saying how she was in Africa, and you hit the nail on the head, Roland, why was she in Africa? She was in Ghana representing the president of the United States. And as soon as the situation was, that she was made aware of the situation, she boarded a military plane and got back as soon as she possibly could have. At a time like this, it's imperative for all of us, no matter where we live, no matter our political persuasion, to come together and support those who are actively responding to the wildfires. That not only includes the firefighters and the first responders, but also Mayor Karen Bass,

Governor Gavin Newsom. We're all on the same page here. But I think we have to get ahead of this trend of misinformation and disinformation. We have to get ahead of that before the next disaster occurs. We have to. Robert, you had some, you had some, I'm not even going to show it, some bullshit ass Web site post a story that says former Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrice Cullors at two of her three L.A. homes had been burned down by fire and she was listening donations. The story even had quotes from her. I text her. I called her. It's a lie.

It's an absolute lie. It was completely made up. I mean, homes didn't burn and the quotes were totally made up and there's no solicitation. This is what you're seeing. Just like you have arsonists who are trying to start fires in L.A. County. You've got social media arsonists doing the exact same thing. Look, there's a quote Congressman Jonathan Jackson, he said, the same Santa Ana winds that are blowing this fire are similar to the same winds that are blowing lies and misinformation around the country right now. There's a reason that Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy Twitter.

There's a reason Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post. There's a reason a billionaire bought the Los Angeles Times. The new currency is information. If you can control what the truth is, you can control the activities of the American people. As Voltaire once says, if you can convince a man of absurdities, you can force him into atrocities. And that's what we're seeing happening currently. Instead of people saying, well, it's kind of weird that Atlanta is having a blizzard and LA are on fire at the same time. It seems like the climate has changed from what it used to be. We've allowed these right-wing influencers who are

financed by the fossil fuel industry to say that, well, this is because of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The fires are because the fire chief is a lesbian. The fires are because the mayor is a black woman. Instead of looking at the fundamental truth, which is that we are polluting this planet to the point that we are seeing weather conditions where you'll see a blizzard in the southeast and a wildfire in the southwest, literally the song of ice and fire taking place in America, that we can

blame it on black women and lesbians instead of blame it on these corporations that are burning the planet into oblivion. We have to look at these things and understand that we have to control the information space. That's why shows like this are important. This is why platforms like Fanbase are important.

Because the control of information is where the millionaire and billionaire class are working going forward. So a bit of myth-busting with regards to the fires. One, no, the hydrants weren't empty. Two, even if they weren't, no city in this country or world can fight 10 massive blazes taking place in one metropolitan area at the same time. Number two, no, fire trucks were not forced to stop in San Francisco or Sacramento in order to pass emissions tests because of the Green New Deal. That doesn't even make any damn sense. Three, when Marjorie Taylor Greene says that they have weather manipulation machines that are able to seed clouds and rain on the wildfires,

if you believe that, you're one of the dumbest people left in this country. Four, no, you cannot just take seawater from the ocean and dump it on the fire. Why? Because seawater has salt in it, and cities are made of metal. So you'll dump water onto those cities and rust out every pipe, every hydrant, every piece of infrastructure, every piece of electrical infrastructure. You would essentially be salting the earth so that even agriculture can't grow back again. That's what happens when you drop seawater onto a city. So for these people who are believing misinformation from Joe Rogan or Patriot Eagle MAGA Front 441 do not have mansions and who have families looking for them will be found in the days and years in the future? How many people have been burned completely to ash to the point they will need dental records to find them? And you're running around talking about DEI and a lesbian fire chief and a black mayor instead of talking about the human toll that climate change is bringing to this planet. And we cannot admit that right now. I don't know exactly what it will take for people to realize exactly what corporations are doing to the world we live in.

I just got this. I just got this text from Ben Crump. Here it says, Attorney Ben Crump. Here it says, Attorney Ben Crump to announce lawsuit against Southern California Edison in tragic California wildfire wrongful death case on behalf of Evelyn McClendon. He says the lives of the McClendon family

were horribly devastated by the fires that swept throughout Altadena, the largely minority community. Besides their homes, they lost a beloved daughter and sister who served the community as a school bus driver. Like many in Altadena, they were able to build their version of the American dream, purchasing a home decades ago that grew in value and representing by far their largest asset. And so Ben Crump said they're going to be, of course, doing that. So a lot of people already are talking about, again, how we have the families on the other day. They talked about they talked about how the power was still on. And some say that that that California Edison, Southern California Edison, what their rules, the procedures are to turn the power off to that way.

You don't have that power going through those lines or therefore sparking fires. And so we'll see what comes of that. Put up the GoFundMe, folks, of the we have the GoFundMe last week. We also had the one with the law firm. You see this here. L.A. fires, the impacted community, black community urgently needs help. Is that the most recent update of where they are? Okay, I need you. Yeah, I don't want screen grabs, guys. I want the updated one.

As a matter of fact, regarding the first one that you saw there, that was the Cochran law firm. They are behind that. They're also adding as partners Marathon marathon which is the company of nipsey also attorney ben crump is going to be in joining this as well uh so they're adding official partners to this to help people be able to raise funds and so um so that's what's going on right now i do want to be able to show you uh those GoFundMes are up to. Again, we had impacted families on the show last week talking about talking about what they have been going through, what they have been able to deal with.

And so, you know, we certainly want and there are a number there, the number of if you actually go to GoFundMe, there are a number of wildfire relief funds. So there's there's one that is actually called Wildfire Relief Fund that's already raised right here. Three point five six million dollars. This one. So this this one here and they're raising their goal to some five million. That's that that particular that particular fund. You have your few other ones as well. You see there's a family here that has an autistic child. They lost everything. They've raised two hundred and ninety four thousand dollars. And so pull up the the latest of the the campaign, the L.A. fires.

All right. So what's the total there, folks, that I need to I'm trying to see how much has been been raised. One hundred and seventy seven thousand dollars.'s, uh, kind of low. Um, so, um, you know, so we want to, uh, show you that. So again, if you, you know, again, there are a lot of black families. We're not talking about celebrities. We're talking about a regular ordinary people, people who live there for a long, long time, people who live there, um, for, um, just decades. Uh, yeah, they've raised the total. The target goal is five million. They've raised here. You'll see right here. Target goal is five million. Fifteen hundred dollars. They've raised one hundred seventy seven thousand six hundred and twelve dollars. And so what you do is you can type in James Bryant or you can just type in L.A. Fire as the impacted black community urgently needs help to provide some assistance there.

Got to go to break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin unfiltered the Black Stud Network. Don't forget, support the work that we do. Joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average. Fifty dollars each is four hours and 19 cents a month 13 cents a day uh and so if you want to support the work that we do uh what nobody else in black on media is doing with the kind of show that we do in the shows that we have on our network uh if you want to give you a cash app this is where you can contribute use using the stripe app i told you before the cash app shut down all the different um all of the different uh um uh accounts and so we had to figure out a

way around it so this is what we did and so uh use the stripe qr code if you're listening go to blackstarnetwork.com it's up there uh if you want to give me a paypal r martin unfiltered vmo is r m unfiltered zale rolling at rolling s martin.com rolling that rolling martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Those of y'all who contributed via cash at PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle during the show, I'm going to give you a shout-out live. You can also send your check and money over to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196.

Back in a moment. What's up, y'all? DC, 2003-7-0 wealth and influence in the digital age. The black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community, through job's at. Now streaming on the Blackstar Network. I was challenged by my uncle early on before I even had a career. Like I was maybe eight years old and my uncle said, what do you want to do? And I told him I wanted to be a rapper.

And he said, okay, well, I don't know anything about the music business. So what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business. And I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through. And so I went and bought books. All you need to know about the music business hit me. And I just went and bought a bunch of books to start reading as a 10-year-old. Just reading, reading. And so I learned, you, licensing, mechanical rights, I learned about publishing, learned about how

composition is broke up into two pieces, the writer's portion and the producer's portion. But by the time I actually learned I can't bend, I was ready to like, okay, I got it. He would go into prison. So I had all this information. All this knowledge. All this knowledge.

You like, well, what am I gonna do with it now? Ha ha ha! Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Boy, he always unfiltered, though. I ain't never known him to be unfiltered. Is there another way to experience Roland Martin than to be unfiltered? Of course he's unfiltered.

Would you expect anything less? Watch what happens next. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, Bodies white conservatives love their BS. A member of Congress referred to FEMA's administrator as a DEI hire solely because she is a woman. Georgia Congressman Andrew Clyde made this comment about Deanne Criswell, who hails from Colorado. All right. So. All right. Well, all right, well, y'all got it. We should have it. Where is it? All right, y'all, well, in response to Clyde's remarks, Kyle Clark, a news anchor from Colorado, a local TV station,

he laid out, from his perspective, the true meaning of the term DEI hire. A Republican congressman calling FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell a DEI hire isn't subtle or clever or accurate. It's sexist. And it's deeply, deeply dumb. Criswell, longtime Coloradan, has a ton of experience in emergency management in the public and private sector, decades of service in the Colorado Air National Guard, and she has the public administration degree and the work to clearly qualify her for the role. That's why Republicans and Democrats unanimously confirmed

her to lead FEMA. But sexist and racist trolling now passes for political thought these days. You'll hear the slur DEI hire being thrown at anyone under scrutiny who is not a straight white man. Again, it's not subtle, it's not clever, it's not accurate. Every American, regardless of politics, but especially straight white guys, should make it clear. Criticizing somebody's decision making, that's fair game. But if the best you've got is a shot at their race, sexuality, or gender, then shut the... Then please rephrase your concern. You know what? I think we're going to run that back. A Republican congressman calling FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell a DEI hire

isn't subtle or clever or accurate. It's sexist. And it's deeply, deeply dumb. Criswell, longtime Coloradan, has a ton of experience in emergency management in the public and private sector. Decades of service in the Colorado Air National Guard. And she has the public administration degree and the work to clearly qualify her for the role. That's why Republicans and Democrats unanimously confirmed her to lead FEMA. But sexist and racist trolling

now passes for political thought these days. You'll hear the slur DEI hire being thrown at anyone under scrutiny who is not a straight white man. Again, it's not subtle, it's not clever, it's not accurate. Every American, regardless of politics, but especially straight white guys, should make it clear. Criticizing somebody's decision making, that's fair game. But if the best you've got is a shot at their race, sexuality or gender, then shut up. Then please rephrase your concern. Boom. Gavin, the reality is more straight white men should or hell more white men, period, should be doing this. And guess what? So should more white women.

They should also be saying the same thing because they were talking about a white woman. But the reality is too many white folks in this country want to remain silent. And when it comes to fighting things like these slurs, oh, D-E-I hire, who typically are the folks who are fighting that? Black people. And you know what? I'll just say it. A bunch of Latinos are silent. A bunch of Asian folks are silent. And so guess what? They're also talking about y'all. Kevin? Yes, Roland. We know white women as well have been the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action, but to your point, have remained largely silent in pushing back against the attacks on affirmative action, which is now illegal in college admissions processes thanks to the Supreme Court. Let's talk about Andrew Clyde for a second, who was the congressman who called Deanne Criswell

a DEI hire. He's an ineffective legislator. He voted against the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. It still passed. He voted against the largest expansion of veterans' health care benefits. Still passed. He tried to get the AR-15 designated as a national gun of the U.S. He failed at that, too. And, of course, he failed to put forth a coherent

argument as to why Deanne Criswell is a DEI hire. As the news host there pointed out, she's a military veteran. She served as a commissioner in the New York City emergency management. And, of course, she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. That includes every single Republican senator. So I want to turn this back around on Republicans. They want to say that DEI means didn't earn it. Well, I want to know how Pete Hexeth, a news host, a Fox News, cable news host with no management experience and who's been accused of some deeply disturbing criminal behavior, earned the right to serve as secretary of Defense to head up the largest fighting force in the world. I want to know how RFK Jr.,

who has no healthcare background whatsoever and is advocating for policies that will lead to Americans literally dying, earned the right to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Well, you nailed it. And again, if you want to understand in terms of how these people are operating, it was on some one of these nonsensical right wing networks.

And this is what Andrew Clyde had to say. Listen. And often in these situations, it's very strategic. It's not necessarily about always putting more people on that we have to make sure that it's safe. And, you know, you can only add

so much aircraft in the airspace. Congressman, as I said in my preamble, government isn't supposed to be welfare for the stupid. Why should the people of Georgia and your district and 48 other states be forced to pay when Democrat policies predictably fail as they have in California? Well, great to be with you, Chris. And by the way, a fantastic monologue.

I tell you what that DEI hire said was just incredibly stupid. You just can't do that. When the federal government offers you resources like that, helicopters and Marines on the ground, then you would take that. That just shows an incredible lack of leadership. But this is simply what they do. Robert? I think it's important for us to take a stock of what's happened over the last couple years of American media and politics. We often find ourselves in this position

of arguing what is right, but not realizing that we are arguing in an alternate universe from the one in which these people exist. And I want to put yourself in the mindset of one of these extreme right-wing maggots. If the only news you consume is right-wing news, if the only social media you see is right-wing social media, if the only people you hang out with are right-wing people, then us fat-checking and pointing out their hypocrisy does not matter. We have to get into this place of

fighting fire with fire. When Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, he announced his re-election that night and started running that night. When he started talking about following these losses, knowing good and damn well he lost the election, he never varied from that point. He never backed down. And he went through and created a coalition around the country that was between tech billionaires, far right- racists and foreign superpowers in order to suppress 6 million votes in order for him to win this election. For Democrats, we can either spend the next four years talking about all the times that these far right extreme magos are lying, or we can put together the groundwork that's

needed to win. If Democrats had listened to black voters in 2020 when we said we needed the John Lewis voting rights act and we needed to really put teeth in here to stop them from stealing elections. We would have won in 2024. Twenty six states passed voter suppression laws, including Senate Bill 202 right here in Georgia, to make it harder for people to vote. As a result, we saw six million fewer Democrats voting in the 2024 election versus 2020, if Kamala Harris had gotten those same votes that Joe Biden did, she would have beat Donald Trump by 4 million votes yet and still when we talk about this MAGA mandate.

So when these people are out here yapping their gums about DEI hires and black votes and dinner earnings, et cetera, we can either argue back and forth till we're blue in the face, which leads us to a standstill. Or we can just say, uh-huh, yeah, got you. And then get in there and organize. And get in there and start the fights. Get in there on the state and local level and start organizing these people to move together and

start planning for 2022. People running for the Democratic nomination in 2024 or 2028, you're already behind the eight ball. People planning on announcing for Congress in 2026, you're behind the eight ball. The fight started on November the 5th. Either we can get into that fight or we can continue to be left behind, running behind people who clearly don't got no damn sense.

Or you can listen to Marjorie Taylor Greene and her Jewish-based lasers or the cloud seeding to put out the fires. You're not getting logic with these people. You're not going to shame these people. You're dealing with a generation without shame, and we have to fight the fight that's needed to win. See, the thing that people also don't seem to understand, and this is where, and black women get this, Rebecca, and I think Latinas get this, but the problem still is these white women.

And what they don't understand is what the right has done. They are on this whole thing, masculinity. Masculinity. Then you got one of the greatest wimps of all time, Mark Zuckerberg, who goes on Joe Rogan's show talking about, oh, they don't like masculinity in corporate America. That's also part of it. Just listen to some of this BS.

For me, it's just I think a lot of the corporate world is like pretty culturally neutered. And I just think like having, you know, I grew up, I have three sisters, no brothers. I have three daughters, no sons. So I'm like surrounded by girls and women like my whole life. And it's like, so I think, I don't know, there's something, the kind of masculine energy I think is good. And obviously, you know, society has plenty of that. But I think corporate culture was really like trying to get away from it. And I do think that there's just something, it's like, I don't know, these, these, all these forms of energy are good. And I think having a culture that like celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits that are really positive. And for me. Just like having a thing that I can just like do with my guy friends

and we just like beat each other a bit. It's good. It is good. I agree. It's good. I could see your point, though, about corporate culture. When do you think that happened? Was that a slow shift?

Because I think it used to be very masculine. I think it was kind of hyper-aggressive at one point. No, and look, I think part of the intent on all these things, I think, is good. I do think that if you're a woman going into a company, it probably feels like it's too masculine. It's like there isn't enough of the kind of the energy that, that, that you may naturally have. And it probably feels like there are all these things that are set up that are biased against you. And that's not good either. Cause you want, you want women to be able to succeed and like have companies that can unlock all the value from having great people, no matter what their background or gender, you know, but, um, but I think these things can always go a little far. And I think it's one thing to say, we want to be kind of like welcoming and make a good environment for everyone. And I think it's another to basically say that masculinity is bad. And I, I just think we kind of swung culturally to that part of the, the kind of the spectrum where, you know, it's all like, okay, masculinity is toxic. We have to like get rid of it completely.

It's like, no, like it's both of these things are good, right? It's like, you want like feminine energy, you want masculine energy. Like, I think that that's like, you're going to have parts of society that have... So I'm sorry. See, I had to stand up on that bullshit, okay? So, Rebecca, here's what Mark Zuckerberg is really saying. We need to go back to a world where men were crude, rude assholes in the workplace. We need to go back to a workplace where men could say nasty, despicable things, and they could do it because there were no women around. And really what this

fool is saying is, oh yeah, let's go ahead and do this. Because see, those also were times when there were no black people around. See, what people need to understand is when you hear the phrase make America great again, let's go back to a period. When all y'all women were not in the workplace, y'all were at the house laying on your backs, making babies, cooking a damn food in the kitchen and we men could be in the workplace and we could say the kind of stuff we want to and pull the kind of pranks but damn y'all showed up and messed every damn thing up. In fact, that was a story I saw yesterday I wish I should have saved the story. I think it was in the Financial Times where this banker said, oh, now now we can go back to the times where we can say pussy and not get canceled at work.

That's what we're dealing with here. But people need to understand, people really need to understand what's going on here. When you got the Republicans, when you got the Republicans, okay, trying to defend Andrew Tate, okay, as some arbiter of greatness, that's what you're dealing with. You got

Alina, whatever her name is, Habba, Hobbit, whatever her name is, talking him up. And so Tucker Carlson has been embracing this stuff. Josh Hawley of Missouri, all these Republicans. And so what we are dealing with and what Robert is talking about, people need to understand. What these people are focusing on, Charlie Kirks of the world, recruiting all these frat boys. These white men are mad that they no longer get to be the nasty, despicable assholes they were in the workplace. You know, according to that movie, didn't Zuckerberg steal Facebook?

Like listening to him spout utter nonsense and acting like oh because he leads facebook he leads meta that for some reason we ought to listen to him pontificate an american society american culture when here's the reality and this is piggybacking off of what robert was talking about we know in the 40s and 50s the United States government actually pushed propaganda on describing what American culture is. This is where we saw the rise of television shows like Leave It to Beaver. And we saw these things that if you watch Mad Men, it really showed, hey, this is what even the state of advertising was during that time, and the American government at the time put so much money into housing for white people, created suburbs for white people, created this idea of American dream.

It was very whitewashed because it was targeted. It was propaganda of showing this is what America is. And it was this highly, it wasn't even sanitized because it was completely unrealistic. And so it's a lot of white men in this country who grew up with this caucasity dream of the American dream, like this caucasity viewpoint of it. And now that they are of age and they're seeing that that's not the world, that is not the reality of America, they can't deal with it. So they go on places like Joe Rogan and they crash out. Personally, I appreciate the Mark Zuckerberg with the short hair because he didn't talk. We didn't hear him pontificate. Instead, we have this

guy who, I don't know if he's reinventing himself. I really don't know what's going on here. But you know what? If Joe Rogan could have a podcast and he could spot Nasus, you know what? This year, Roland, I'm going to start a podcast. Well, I mean, well, first of all, Rebecca, you want to start a podcast, man, I got a whole damn network. So all you got to do is call a brother. So that ain't hard. But here's the thing. And see, I really need people to understand what's at play here, Gavin, because I don't think folk really get it.

OK, what you have going on, what you have going on and the attacks on affirmative action, all the stuff about CRT, all this sort of stuff. I'm telling you, I wrote my book for a reason. When I said white fear, how the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds. Then you also throw in gender. What these people, and what Trump represents, and this is where we got to understand why Donald Trump appeals to certain black men. See, we can't act like that don't exist. What we are dealing with are individuals who are so caught up in we need to return to manliness.

Manliness. Men have gone soft. We have feminized the country. And we got to recognize that's what the right is doing. So when you have white women who vote like white men, and now you got these increasingly angry young white men who are mad because, damn, can't return to the good old days. And we can walk or walk around and slap women on the ass in the workplace.

And can we return to the days of just snapping their bras and groping them? That's really what these fools are talking about. OK, and then let me just go ahead and say that. I just got to go ahead and say, you know, ifall want to, that clip I played of Mark Zuckerberg, that's what we call 100% bitch assness. 100% bitch assness. That's you, Mark Zuckerberg. Because, oh my God, oh my God, I grew up with two sisters. I don't have any brothers. And I have daughters sisters. I don't have any brothers. And I have daughters.

And I don't have any sons. And I grew up around women. Hey, dumbass, it was me and my brother and three sisters. I got nine nieces and four nephews. I raised six nieces, me and my wife, at one time. And guess what? I'm not sitting here like, oh my god, can I call some men? What happened? No, Mark Zuckerberg, you're 100% bitch assness.

That's your problem. And this whole deal of, oh my god, can we just inject some manliness into this? Please, your issue with terms of your masculinity, that's your testosterone problem. And that's how dumb this is, Gavin. It's dumb. But people need to understand that this is a political reality that we are dealing with. I think you're 100 percent right, Roland. You're right that this is the situation that we're dealing with, and you're right that there are

pretty great political consequences as a result of it. I think a big part of this past election was the fact that the Democratic Party, our nominee, Vice President Harris, sort of the whole Democratic Party platform, really failed, I think, to resonate with, to your point, a number of working class, non-college educated Hispanic men primarily. But we know there were some Black men, no Black women, but some Black men who felt some sort of affinity to perhaps not what Donald Trump was saying, but perhaps how he was saying. I think it was a huge mistake that the Harris campaign did not try to penetrate more spaces with some of these young male. But get Gavin, Gavin, that ain't the problem, bro. She's a woman. She's a black woman.

She could have penetrated those spaces. It would not have mattered. What the Trump campaign did was the reason the Trump campaign was so aggressive at targeting men, because they actually believed they were going to lose more women. And so they had this target. Hey, we got to increase the male support by at least three percent. And so the whole deal with Charlie Kirk and the right hit the fraternities on the campuses and all this sort of stuff. But guess what happened? She didn't lose because they increased men. She lost because white women stuck with him. They voted for misogyny. And to Robert's point earlier, Biden voters set their ass on the couch, including a lot of black people.

So that could have been overcome. But we have to understand what does that play here? The idea of make America great again, what the right is angry about. And this is what people have to accept. The 64 Civil Rights Act, the 65 Voting Rights Act, the 68 Fair Housing Act, those three civil rights bill provided not just civil rights for black people, but what it did was it created civil rights for everybody else. And so Title IX was a direct result of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

And so these white men have been pissed off since 1972 because shit, these damn women, our wives, our daughters, our aunts, and our female cousins are now in the workplace. Why are these white men so pissed off with Kamala Harris? Because who's the most educated group of people in America right now? Folk who are like Rebecca. Black women. So we got to understand

you can try let me go in there but let me just be real real. I'm just going to put it out there. For Democrats to have a shot in 2028 based upon present conditions they can't nominate a woman. See we just got to

go ahead and deal with the reality. This country is sexist as hell and we saw it in this election that's true i i just i i firmly believe i think the democrats and this is not an overnight sort of solution but i do think that the democrats need to focus on putting forth positive messages of what masculinity means. I do think there are a lot of young men out there who over time have gotten very disenchanted with some of what they're hearing from the Democratic Party. I think that means the Dems have an opportunity then to say, don't listen to what Charlie Kirk, don't listen to what Joe Rogan, and Joe Rogan's not even a

good example because he was a Bernie bro, right? So don't listen to what these men on the right, Joe Rogan, are telling you. What they're telling you is not true. They're taking advantage of you because of this anger and this pain that you're feeling, but there's another way. It can't happen overnight, Roland, you're right, but I do think that if the Democrats

think very critically and are intentional about penetrating some of those spaces, about connecting with some of those young men who stayed on the couch, I do think we can reclaim some of those voters. Here's what jumps out, Robert, again, that Democrats have to understand when we start talking about whiteness in culture. There is a strong belief, and the reason Kyle, the reason Kyle was very specific when he said, when they say DEI higher, these are straight white men,

because what you have is you have an increasing number of straight men, not just white, who believe the Democratic Party is too gay. When you look at the transgender issues, all those, they didn't run $170 million worth of transgender commercials just because. That's also culture. And so when we see this DEI hire,

the desire is we want to negate anybody that's not a straight white man because what they are afraid of, and we got to understand, their numbers are declining, Robert. So what they need is the only way to truly connect with those white men. You're losing power. So then what they do, Robert, they go, well, that won't work with black men. So what we'll then do is we'll run ads on radio to black men.

Transgender, transgender, transgender, transgender, transgender. transgender oh my god transgender sports transgender sports but when you look at the numbers it ain't like i mean i ain't even i have a run into a transgender athlete okay so the numbers that were playing on local high school whatever we see what's going on here but that's's what they're doing. They saw the reaction of black men to Dwayne Wade's daughter. They're like, oh, yeah, we can tap into this because people don't understand those transgender ads were running on black radio stations in January, February and March before the TV ads started running, Robert. So the point that you've been making is people have to be smart enough to understand the game being played. And like my man, Bill Duke said in the movie,

high flying bird, they invented a game on top of a game. Well, the quote, the prophet, most deaf, you start keeping pace. They start switching up the tempo.

And what this is, what we're seeing right now is the kind of empire strikes back moment for lame dudes. We look at Elon Musk. If you look at all these people in the Trump orbit, Stephen Miller, etc., these are dudes who ain't got no game. These are dudes who could not pull a woman without money. These are men who have been overlooked their entire life. Look at the quote from Vivek Ramchwani when he said, well, you want to venerate Zack and Slater over Screech. We want to demonize Steve Urkel. These are those guys who grew up to grow up to be lames.

And no amount of money can un-lame you. You can have all the billions you want. You are still lame. And what they have depended on for the last several hundred years since the Victorian era is that, well, my money and women's economic dependence on me will give me the type of leverage in the dating market for me to be able to continue reproducing. This is why Elon talked so much about this progenitization of white people needing to breed

more, because his belief is that them as the ruling, wealthy white elite class should be repopulating the earth with more people of their very nature. At the end of the day, none of these white billionaires out there, if you took the money away, and you stood every single one of them up against me, ain't nobody choosing none of them over me. That's just the reality of the situation. And that's what threatens them. That's what they are afraid of.

You take the money out of the situation, I'll pull all they women. And that's just what they understand. So the only way that they can keep up is by changing the rules of the game, by changing who has the opportunities. You take economic opportunity away from white women, then you make them dependent upon the white man again,

then that means Elon and Zuckerberg and all these other guys go to the top of the heap again. You give white women the ability to make a half million dollars or a million dollars based on their intellect and their abilities and not having a whole bunch of kids running around because they have the right to bodily autonomy, then all of a sudden they ain't worried about them. They can date and marry who they want. So the reason they talk about all this DEI and affirmative action, et cetera, is all of a sudden their money can't buy them what they want in life anymore

because other people aren't desperate. So when we're looking at these people who are dealing with this massive lame agenda, it's not this thing of saying, well, we need to change our messaging to attract more lames to the party. We have to attack what the real problem is, which is these 26 states have passed voter suppression laws. We have to organize at the grassroots level to make sure we're getting those state and local officials in office so they can change these laws. One thing I'll say that Trump does better than Democrats. If you are running for county commissioner in Brunswick, Georgia on a MAGA agenda, he will bring an entire clown car,

a circus to town, to campaign for you. If you get on TV and make a fool out of yourself to campaign for Trump, guess what? You'll be the assistant secretary of state for watermelon or something. Who knows what he gives these people appointments for? Democrats tend to get elected and close the door behind them. Forget the people who sent them there. Have the gatekeepers in charge as opposed to dealing with the issues of the people that sent them into office. This is why four years later we are sitting here a week before, a couple of days before Trump gets in office saying, well, will Biden pardon the black people like he did Hunter? We have to start exercising that political power because at the end of the day, I refuse to allow these lames to run the

country. We got to turn the country back over to real men who know how to talk, know how to walk, and know how to lead, not these sniveling dweebs like Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro and all these other lames who could never pull a girl without a wallet in their life. So unless we are willing to see this country go over to the lame agenda, we're going to stand up and organize and fight against it. And the reality is here, real men, real heterosexual men, ain't nobody scared of a woman. Ain't nobody scared of having a woman in the workplace. Ain't nobody scared to working with a woman. Ain't nobody scared to follow a woman.

The first boss I had was my grandmother. OK, that she in terms In terms of a job. And when I went to the Austin American Statesman, Maggie Baylo was the editor-in-chief. Then when I went to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mary Jo Meisner was the chief. Actually, even before that, my first news media job where I got paid, guess what? Sonsira Masai-Giles was a publisher of the Houston Defender. So I ain't never been afraid to work for no woman. But when you a little

bitch ass, bitch ass this, like, oh my God, we need the masculinity. We need to be able to, you know, find ourselves. That's just some BS. That's all it is. All right, folks, going to go to a quick break. Robert, you going to add one thing real quick? Rebecca, who was going to say, what was I going to say really quickly?

It's not even just real heterosexual men, real men, period. Real men, period, are not afraid and intimidated by women. And that's regardless of what your sexuality, your orientation is. But this is also about authenticity. So even to Robert's point, we got the revenge of the nerds. We have all these white men with imposter syndrome, and they cannot compete. And that's what the real issue is, even going back to your book with White Fair. They are not able to compete. They do not have the skill set because they've always been allowed to fail up.

Even like Andrew Clyde, who we talked about earlier. I mean, his leadership right now in Congress, he's on the Congressional Chicken Caucus. Like, what are we talking about? Well, in fact, if I wanted to, I could pull up a photo of how his little punk ass was running scared on January 6th when they were storming the Capitol.

But then, of course, now he's trying to protect the January 6th defenders. Oh, by the way, we talk about a real man, a real black man, a real heterosexual black man. Yeah, I'm rocking his hoodie. The the wife of Bill Russell said this to me last year when I was celebrating his 90th birthday. And so this is the back of the hoodie. And so I just had to be wearing it today. And so, again, this is a perfect example. Bill Russell. Yeah, that was a real brother, a real brother. I'll be right back. Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Isaac Hayes, the third founder and CEO of Fanbase. And right now we're accepting investors in our $17 million round to revolutionize the future of social media.

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Kristen Clark and the Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, they are working up to the end and don't expect us doing any of these reports over the next four years. But the DOJ, they staged a South Carolina jail. They have been violating the Eighth and the 14th Amendment's rights of various inmates. The report states that the Alvin S. Glenn Division Detention Center in Richland County, South Carolina, does not provide adequate safety measures and fails to protect incarcerated individuals from physical violence by other inmates.

Adair Burroughs, a U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina, addressed the report's findings during a news conference on Wednesday. The incidents of violence at Alvin S. Glynn are pervasive and commonplace. Alvin S. Glynn in Richland County, South Carolina

does not provide adequate safety measures and fails to protect incarcerated individuals from physical violence by other inmates. And you will see in our findings reported noted steps that Richland County has taken on Wednesday. The incidents of violence at Alvin S. Glenn are pervasive, systematic, and commonplace. Alvin S. Glenn is marked by a culture of violence that poses a risk to those that are housed there, as well as to staff and to law enforcement. Our investigation considered, and you will see in our findings reported, noted steps that Richland County has taken.

The incidents of violence at Alvin S. Glenn are pervasive, systematic, and commonplace. Alvin S. Glenn is marked by a culture of violence that poses a risk to those who that are housed there as well as to staff and to law enforcement. Our investigation considered and you will see in our findings reported noted steps that Richland County has taken. Individuals who are charged with a crime and detained at Alvin S. Glenn face very real possibilities of being stabbed, raped, and beaten before they ever see a courtroom. Such conditions violate the United States Constitution. For more than a year our team gathered documents and data and information from the jail through their county attorneys. We gathered information

from state and local agencies as well as from other third parties such as hospitals. Investigators conducted a thorough inspection of the facilities. We interviewed jail staff and jail leadership. We received hundreds of letters, emails, and calls from people detained or incarcerated at the jail, from their loved ones, and from advocates. Investigators spoke with dozens of individuals detained at the jail, with their family members, as well as with community advocates. All of them had disturbing stories of violence. Their plea was the same. We are afraid for the lives of our loved ones. Something has to be done. While corrections departments across our country are facing some tough challenges, such as

adequate staffing and contraband control, the issues at the Richland County Jail extend jail extend well beyond industry norms. The jail's own records indicate over 150 assaults in a nine-month period and we know that this number under counts and does not include all of the assaults that happened. We saw multiple instances, some of which we have detailed in the findings report, where the jail did not respond to violence and did not respond to serious injury until they were notified from the outside days later that the incident occurred. The county must take additional steps to address this violence. In our findings report, we've outlined some minimal remedial measures to do so. And I also want to say we're not adversarial in this charge. We do

applaud the steps the county has already taken with regard to the physical plant. And we believe that we have a shared goal with the county to make conditions at the jail safe, to make them meet minimal constitutional standards. And we look forward to working with the county to make that happen here in our community. Robert, this detention center houses some 965 people. And again, the point that I'm making here is that, look, I don't expect at all a Pam Bondi, Donald Trump, Department of Justice to be doing anything. In fact, let me add one more thing before we talk about it. The DOJ has also entered into a settlement agreement with the Orange County, California, with Orange County, with the DA on using custodial informants at the Orange County jails.

The deal resolves findings that violate criminal defendants' right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment and the right to due process of law under the 14th Amendment. You know that 14th Amendment we kept talking about with that dumbass Pam Bondi? The investigation evidence revealed that Orange County prosecutors failed to seek out and disclose exculpatory information regarding custodial informants to defense counsel. County prosecutors failed to seek out and disclose exculpatory information regarding custodial informants to defense counsel. For the people who are watching and need to understand, this is what happens when you

have a federal Department of Justice Civil Rights Division that cares about the civil rights of people, whether they are in prison, in jail or free. Look, I want to remind the people who voted for the MAGA agenda or who stayed home because they didn't like transgenders or abortion. Leo Terrell's in charge of the Civil Rights Division now. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, who are now in charge of civil rights, that ship has now sailed. And so for people who put some of these other issues that you were talking about, the transgender commercials that were running during the football game earlier, if you put that at the front of your list, you have to understand that you are voting for the entire MAGA agenda.

You weren't just voting against transgenders. You weren't just voting for tax cuts. You weren't just voting because you like Kid Rock and Amber Rose. You were voting essentially to condemn people who are currently incarcerated to the complete abrogation of all of their civil and human rights. When you don't have an empowered Justice Department that is able to go after these things, they're able to defend those rights, those fundamental not just civil but human rights that individuals have when they are incarcerated, then you are setting the clock back over the course of decades. Look at what Doge just said, the Department of Government Efficiency. They're talking about going through and cutting wholesale many of these departments that they find to be superfluous. Look at the testimony of Pete Hestek yesterday for Defense Secretary. He talked about getting rid of any

initiative that talked about diversity, equity, inclusion, civil rights, human rights, but also going after white nationalist extremists in the military. We are seeing that they're doing the same thing with law enforcement, where they want more people who have white supremacist and white nationalist backings to be part of our law enforcement, to be in charge of arrest, to be in charge of jail, to be in charge of prisons. Then when you don't have the backing of the federal government as we've had through the Courts of Civil Rights movement to come in and address local prejudices, you leave people without coverage.

So for the next four years at least, we'll be without coverage on many of these issues. And going forward, we're going to have to work to repass and reinvigorate many of these entitlements and many of these rights that are currently going away. We still haven't gone back and fixed the damage that was done by Shelby v. Holder to voting. We still haven't gone back to address many of these rollbacks that we've seen to civil rights. And what I fear is that after the MAGA movement is done in four years and potentially even longer. There won't be much to restore and rebuild. We'll have to restart from scratch. We cannot be the generation that is known as the generation that failed and lost the civil rights movement for all of our ancestors.

Rebecca, on midnight Monday night, Jack Smith's report on Donald Trump's efforts to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election. He said that without a doubt, the evidence showed that if this was the trial, Trump would have been convicted. And frankly, the only reason he is getting off is because he was reelected. Of course, this is also the basis of Fannie Willis's, you know, legal battle with him in Georgia, but that's also now on hold for at least four years. That 140-page report by Jack Smith is important.

And I just think that, first of all, a lot of stuff, information that we knew, but he makes it perfectly clear he would have been convicted. And I dare say, when it comes down to it, the hell was Merrick Garland doing for two years? First, just like we talked about last Wednesday, I'm very glad that this report is being released because we need to have the official record from the United States federal government to serve as a witness and bear witness to the events that happened on and around and leading up to January 6th. Stop. It has to be released. That said, you know, got many issues with Merrick Garland because there was very much a push.

And maybe it's because he's a white man. I really don't understand it. There was a push of, oh, well, we have to be civil. We have to follow certain norms. We are living in times where the norm is no longer the normal thing. There's no such thing as regular conventions of how we do things in this country, because even what Robert was saying and Gavin was saying, we are now in the MAGA world. And so if the quote unquote good people or the people who support democracy in this country aren't prepared to fight on that field of battle, then it's already a losing proposition. We can't pretend or dig our heads in the sand and pretend that the reality of what's happening is not occurring.

And, you know, I think Robert said this at the top of the show. We were here 150 years ago. We were here during post-reconstruction. So we actually have the blueprint of what to do next. But we have to have people who have the willingness to do it. And you know what? From where I see it, I think I talked about this maybe a month after the election, you know, I trust Black women. I trust some Black men. There

were some people in the comments who were like, what do you mean you don't trust all Black men? I trust people of good conscience who want to make sure that this country is free, fair, and accessible for all. But what we're seeing is that there's a new administration that's coming in, and they don't give a care about everyday Americans. They only care about lining their pockets. They only care about particular consolidation of power. But our country is really in a very precarious place. We're at a crossroads. Are we going to move forward as a democracy or are the rest of us going to beg Canada to allow us to go into Canada rather than Canada becoming the 51st state as the

orange in chief seemed to imply last week? Kevin, Rebecca's right. The report needed to be released. We needed to see it. And what it also shows is that this country didn't give a damn that this man tried to overthrow an election, committed an insurrection, was impeached twice. And so, hey, whatever happens and they allow them to do, that's on all of those folks, Republicans, Democrats, independents and the people who set their ass at home, don't look at us. Don't look at us who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris because we knew what the flip side. I don't want to hear no bitching from any of

these people when two more hardcore, young, right-wing conservatives, potentially Eileen Cannon, are put on a Supreme Court. Because you know what? Some of us did our job. That's right. Look, and I think my takeaway from this report is that we've seen now evidence has confirmed that Donald Trump ran for president simply to save his own ass. Right. Jack Smith made it very clear that Donald Trump would have been convicted had this case moved forward.

And the only reason it's not is because he won. And so if you talk about elections having consequences, this result is squarely at the feet, to your point, Roland, of all those who showed up to vote for Donald Trump despite knowing what Donald Trump did on January 6th. And so I want to know where we go from here. You know, Pam Bondi in the past has talked about the prosecutors are going to be prosecuted. She said the investigators are going to be investigated. Donald Trump, I'm sure, would love for that to happen. And Pam Bondi is loyal to him, not to the Constitution. So we're going to have to see what unfolds there.

But I agree, taking a step back, I mean, we have a lot of soul searching to do as a nation, and it's damning. A line from the report said that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States' democratic process. So Donald Trump literally tried to bring our nation to its knees because he lost, but of course not this time around since he won. So, look, I don't know if it was a mistake for Democrats to lead with this issue as much as we did. I think we had to. I think what it says about us as a country, though, that we are willing to look past it and that we are willing to, first of all, take seriously that Donald Trump, someone who had no concepts of any plan whatsoever, could help bring down the cost of groceries or eggs. And we were willing to show up and vote for him despite what he did on January 6th. It's something that we're going to have to grapple with. But, Roland, like you said, we showed up. We did our part. We voted. We helped other people

register to vote and to vote. Once again, black people were called upon to save our country. We did our part and the blame is with everyone else. So, you know, God, you know, I pray that over these next four years, the damage will be as contained as it possibly can, because we're ready to fight. We're not going to stick our head in the sand. We're not going to throw our hands up. We're going to roll our sleeves up. And I think Robert's right. We're behind the eight ball in terms of 2026 and 2028. So it's time to get to work. Well, that's why, again, we have this shirt. Y'all pull it up. Don't blame me. I voted for the black woman. And so if y'all want to get y'all's, you could do so by going to RolandMartin.Creator-Spring.com. Go to the BlackstarNetwork.com.

And again, that's my position. And I don't want to hear nothing. Folks, an Illinois judge has been reassigned and referred to the state judicial inquiry board for allegedly sharing a racist image in a text message. A recently elected Cook County judge, Carolyn Glennon Goodman, shared this image that got leaked to the public. The image parried a little tykes toy box with a picture of a black child and a foot outfitted with a my first ankle monitor. In a screenshot of the text obtained by Injustice Watch, Glennon Goodman sent the image along with a text saying, my husband's idea of Christmas humor. Glennon Goodman was just elected, y'all, in November to her first six-year term. She presided over detention petitions and set conditions of release for people newly accused of crimes. She

was a Cook County assistant public defender from 1997 until last year and handled murder cases for nearly two decades. And Justice Watch first reported on the incident, saying the judge had told a confidant that the message was intended for a close friend and was instead mistakenly sent to a fellow judge with the same first name. Well, who the hell are you married to, Rebecca? I mean, should we put up a picture of who she's likely married to? My guess is he's probably a Trump supporter, statistically. Just taking an educated guess here. I mean, here's the thing. It's Cook County. There's enough people there. If they wanted to do a recall, they could do a recall.

But that's up to them. But also, this is what people have to understand. Regardless of someone who has a Democrat or a Republican in front of their name, not everybody supports Black people in Black communities. What she did was out of bounds. Because first of all, how are you a public defender and you're joking about something like that? And it kind of makes me wonder of the people who you were supposedly defending, were you actually vigorously defending or were you just working with the prosecutors to try to plead them out instead of actually having a true, robust criminal defense that is constitutionally their right to have? So it's just letting us know they're not like us. They don't support us. So many of them don't have our best interests at heart. So, you know, I hear what Gavin was saying. Oh, hey, the next four years, we need to roll up our

sleeves. Well, hey, we need to work. We need to roll up our sleeves on behalf of our community, because ultimately we have to be the savior of our community. Indeed, folks, I want to get this in real quick. North Carolina's Bennett College president stepping down. Suzanne Elise Walsh will be complete her term on June 30th. This is her appointment in 2019. She has moved the college from critical to stable by focusing on resource stewardship. During her presidency, Bennett College also earned prestigious national acknowledgments, including recognition as a Fulbright HBCU institutional leader for five consecutive years,

ranking number one in social mobility in 2022 and 2023 by U.S. News & World Report, and designations as one of the nation's best women's colleges by bestcollege.com. An interim search will assist the board of trustees in identifying an interim president who will begin transitioning before President Walsh's departure. Folks, shortly, President Joe Biden is going to deliver his final national address as president of the United States. Today, of course, they announced a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Republicans are taking lots of credit for this.

I dare say, I don't know how much time we have. It's supposed to happen at the top of the hour. And so soon as I see it come up, I've got to go right to it. But, Gavin, real quick, this sounds to me very much, this sounds very similar to what happened to Jimmy Carter in 1981. And there's no doubt in my mind that Trump and his people told Netanyahu, yo, y'all don't accept nothing until after the election and I'm about to get inaugurated so they can claim credit. Go. Yeah, no, definitely. I texted one of my friends earlier today and I said, President Biden just got Jimmy Cartered. Because as you said, Roland, this is exactly what happened

to Jimmy Carter years ago. President Biden is going to be leaving office, unfortunately, with approval ratings very near where President Carter's were when he left office. Well, actually, CNN's poll has him leaving an approval rating with 36 percent. That's still higher than what Trump left with in 2021. Go ahead and finish your point. I've got to quickly go to Robert and to Rebecca. I was just going to say, previewing the speech coming up in a couple of minutes, I think it's going to be an incredible speech. It's going to be the president's opportunity to say farewell to the country after his four years in office and his 53 years in public service. So I'm looking forward

to tuning in. The reality here, Robert, is that Biden, that was a thread I read earlier, that Biden could have done more to push Israel, but he was so steadfast in his commitment of not cutting off weapons that, frankly, they didn't have to listen to him. He had the power to do that, but he chose to stick with them, and they turned around and screwed him, and then also screwed Vice President Kamala Harris. Yeah, maybe we should reevaluate the nature of our

relationship of who's the big brother and who's the little brother in this situation, because I think the biggest mistake Biden made was looking as if he was impotent, looking as if Netanyahu was leading him around by the nose, looking as if he did not have the power to tell the IDF, no. He said, don't go into Rafah. They went into Rafah. He said, stop killing civilians. They killed civilians. He said, don't bomb people of U.S. weapons.

They bombed people of U.S. weapons. There was a point in time this summer where you couldn't go a day without a report saying Israel blew up a bunch of pagers. Israel blew without a report saying Israel blew up a bunch of pagers, Israel blew up a headquarters, Israel blew up a hospital, etc., without the American people having any say in it. So either we need to reevaluate the relationship and determine exactly what the nature of that is to make sure we're securing Israel for the future, but also making sure they have to respect the limits that we put in place.

Or we have to determine what exactly the miniature two-state solution will be. Because it can't simply be, we send you money, we send you weapons, you do what you feel like with it, and we have no say over it. Rebecca. You know, if Trump indeed interfered with the negotiations that the United States was leading. This, yet again, is another example of treasonous acts that this person has committed. So even going back to the Carter reference, where it was another example of Reagan starting his administration under treasonous acts, there's a lot of similarities. One thing I do want to note, hey, happy birthday, Dr. King. This is your actual birthday. Want to recognize it. Rebecca, real quick. I got to go to the White House with President Biden is now speaking. An iron worker installed beam after beam, day after day.

He was joined by still... ...up here. ...up here. ...administration fully informed, because that's how it should be. Thank you. a lot about who we are and maybe more importantly who we should be. Long ago in New York Harbor, an iron worker installed beam after beam, day after day. He was joined by steel workers, stonemasons, engineers. They built not just a single structure, but a beacon of freedom. The very idea of America was so big, we felt the entire world needed to see. The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France after our Civil War.

Like the very idea of America, it was built not by one person, but by many people, from every background and from around the world. Like America, the Statue of Liberty is not standing still. Her foot literally steps forward atop a broken chain of human bondage. She's on the march, and she literally moves. She's built the sway back and forth to withstand the fury of stormy weather, to stand the test of time because storms are always coming. She sways a few inches, but she never falls into the current below. An engineering

marvel. The Statue of Liberty is also an enduring symbol of the soul of our nation, a soul shaped by forces that bring us together and by forces that pull us apart. And yet through good times and tough times, we've understood it all. A nation of pioneers and explorers, of dreamers and doers, of ancestors native to this land, of ancestors who came by force, a nation of immigrants who came to build a better life. A nation holding the torch of the most powerful idea ever in the history of the world. That all of us, all of us are created equal. That all of us deserve to be treated be imposed, moved in every way possible. Our rights, our freedoms, our dreams.

But we know the idea of America, our institution, our people, our values that uphold it are constantly being tested. Ongoing debates about power and the exercise of power. But whether we lead by the example of our power or the power of our example, whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power or we yield to it, after 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America

means respecting the institutions that govern a free society. The presidency, the Congress, the courts, a free and independent press. Institutions that are rooted, they just might not reflect the timeless words, but they echo the words of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, rooted in the timeless words

of the Constitution. We, the people, our system of separation of powers, checks and balances. It may not be perfect, but it's maintained our democracy for nearly 250 years, longer than any other nation in history that's ever tried such a bold experiment.

In the past four years, our democracy has held strong. And every day I've kept my commitment to be president for all Americans. Through one of the toughest periods in our nation's history, I've had a great partner in Vice President Kamala Harris. It's been the honor of my life to see the resilience of essential workers getting us through a once-in-a-century pandemic. The heroism of service members and first responders keeping us safe. The determination of advocates standing up for our rights and our freedoms.

Instead of losing their jobs to an economic crisis that we inherited, millions of Americans now have the dignity of work. Millions of entrepreneurs and companies creating new businesses and industries, hiring American workers, using American products. Together, we've launched a new era of American possibilities. One of the greatest modernizations of infrastructure in our entire history. From new roads, bridges, clean water, affordable high-speed Internet for every American. We invented the semiconductor, smaller than the tip of my little finger, and now it's bringing those chip factories and those jobs back to America where they belong, creating thousands of jobs.

Finally, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for millions of seniors, and finally doing something to protect our children and our families by passing the most significant gun safety law in 30 years and bringing violent crime to a 50-year low, meeting our sacred obligation to over one million veterans so far who are exposed to toxic materials and to their families, providing medical care and education benefits and more for their families. You know, it will take time to feel the full impact of all we've done together, but the seeds are planted and they'll grow and they'll bloom for decades to come. At home, we've created nearly 17 million new jobs, more than any other single administration, single term. More people have health care than ever before.

And overseas, we've strengthened NATO. Ukraine is still free. And we've pulled ahead of our competition with China. And so much more. I'm so proud of how much we've accomplished together for the American people. And I wish the incoming administration success because I want America to succeed. That's why I've held my duty to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition of power, to ensure we lead by the power of our example.

I have no doubt that America is in a position to continue to succeed. That's why my farewell address tonight, I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. This is a dangerous concert. And that's a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people. The dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America, and we've seen it before.

More than a century ago, the American people stood up to the robber barons back then and busted the trusts. They didn't punish the wealthy. They just made the wealthy play by the rules everybody else had to. Workers want rights to earn their fair share. You know, they were dealt into the deal and helped put us on a path to building the largest middle class and most prosperous century any nation in the world has ever seen.

We've got to do that again. The last four years, that is exactly what we've done. People should be able to make as much as they can, but pay, play by the same rules, pay their fair share of taxes. So much is at stake. Right now, the existential threat of climate change has never been clearer. Just look across the country, from California to North Carolina. That's why I signed the most significant climate and clean energy law ever, ever in the history of the world, and the rest of the world is trying to model it now. It's working, creating jobs and industries of the world and the rest of the world is trying to model it now. It's working, creating jobs and

industries of the future. Now we've proven we don't have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy. We're doing both. The powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we've taken to tackle the climate crisis, to serve their own interest for power and profit. We must not be bullied into sacrificing the future, the future of our children and our grandchildren. We must keep pushing forward and push faster. There's no time to waste. It's also clear that American leadership in technology

is an unparalleled, an unparalleled source of innovation that can transform lives. We see the same dangers, the concentration of technology, power, and wealth. You know, as farewell address President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military industrial complex. He warned us then about, and I quote, the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power. End of quote. Six days, six decades later, I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex. It could pose real dangers for our country as well. Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing.

Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families, and our very democracy from the abuse of power. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time. Nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy and our security, our society, for humanity. Artificial intelligence even has the potential to help us answer my call to end cancer as we know it. But unless safeguards are in place, AI could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation. We must make sure AI is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind. In the age of AI, it's more important than ever

that the people must govern. And as the land of liberty, America, not China, must lead the world in the development of AI. You know, in the years ahead, it'll help to be, it's going to be up to the president, the presidency, the Congress, the courts, the free press, and the American people to confront these powerful forces. We must reform the tax code, not by giving the biggest tax cuts to billionaires, but by making them begin to pay their fair share. We need to get dark money.

That's that hidden funding behind too many campaigns contributions. We need to get dark money. That's that hidden funding behind too many campaigns contributions. We need to get it out of our politics. We need to enact an 18-year time limit, term limit, time and term, for the strongest ethics and the strongest ethics reforms for our Supreme Court. We need to ban members of Congress from trading stock while they're in the Congress. We need to amend the Constitution to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. The president's power is not limited. It's not absolute.

And it shouldn't be. In a democracy, there's another danger to the concentration of power and wealth. It erodes a sense of unity and common purpose. It causes distrust and division. Participating in our democracy becomes exhausting and even disillusioning. And people don't feel like they have a fair shot. We have to stay engaged in the process. I know it's frustrating.

A fair shot is what makes America, America. Everyone's entitled to a fair shot, not a guarantee, but just a fair shot, an even playing field. Going as far as your hard work and talent can take you. We can never lose that essential truth. Remain who we are. I've always believed, and I've told other world leaders,

America can be defined by one word. Possibilities. Only in America do we believe anything is possible. Like a kid with a stutter from a modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in Claymont, Delaware, sitting behind this desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States. That's the magic of America. It's all around us. Upstairs in the residence of the White House, I've walked by a painting of the Statue of Liberty I don't know how many times. In the painting, there's several workers climbing on the outstretched arm of the statue that holds the torch.

It reminds me every day I pass it of the story and soul of our nation and the power of the American people. There's a story of a veteran. This is a veteran, a son of an immigrant, whose job was to climb that torch and polish the amber panes so rays of light could reach out as far as possible. He was known as the keeper of the flame. He once said of the Statue of Liberty, quote, speaks a silent universal language, one of hope that anyone who seeks and speaks freedom can understand. Yes, we sway back and forth to withstand the fury of the storm, to stand the test of time. A constant struggle, constant struggle, a short distance between peril and possibility. But what I believe is the America of our dreams is always closer than we think. It's up to us to make our dreams come true.

Let me close by stating my gratitude to so many people. To the members of my administration, as well as public service and first responders across the country and around the world, thank you for stepping up to serve. To our service members and your families, it's been the highest honor of my life to lead you as Commander-in-Chief. And of course, to Kamala and her incredible partner, a historic vice president, she and Doug have become like family. And to me, family is everything. My deepest appreciation to our amazing First Lady who is with me in the Oval today, for our entire family. You're the love of my life and the life of my love.

My eternal thanks to you, the American people. After 50 years of public service, I give you my word. I still believe in the idea for which this nation stands. Nation where the strengths of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. Now it's your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it too. God bless you all. May God protect our troops. Thank you for this great honor. All right, folks, so let's go to our panel. We'll start with you, Kevin.

You were a speechwriter for the vice president. Your assessment of that final farewell speech from the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden. Like I said before, Joe Biden served in public office for 53 years. He was first elected to the Senate when he was 29 years old, and now he's leaving office as president after serving four years at the age of 82. I was expecting a little bit more from him in terms of what he has experienced over that long 53-year career in public service. I expected a little bit more in terms of the places, the people who helped shape him, Scranton, Delaware, but on message,

they kept him pretty brief, which is unusual for President Biden. Those of us who were at the DNC, who were in the hall when he was speaking, remember how late he finally got on stage and how late he left that stage. But I thought for a man like Joe Biden, who has served humbly and dedicated to the American people for his whole life, I appreciated the words that he left with us. You know, he talked about how the America of our dreams is always closer than we think. And he left us with that final parting charge that it was our turn to stand guard. I was surprised that he went into, you know, the tech industrial complex. That's something that's certainly the next sort of frontier for our nation to deal with as he retreats back to the sidelines. But I

appreciated that he brought that up, you know, and we'll see how much we hear from Joe Biden over the remaining years of his life. He's an older president leaving office. But I did feel like he left us a charge. Again, it's our turn to stand guard. And I think leaving us with that was was quite poignant in shouting out those of as well as his administration and his family who have made this ride so worthwhile. So, you know, I thank President Biden for his service over the past four years. I think we made tremendous progress over these past four years when he took office. You know, we were facing a number of challenges, economic challenge, public health challenge, a challenge of racial justice. And I believe that we've made tremendous progress as as a country in our community. You know, we have a lot to be grateful for. But over the next four years, it's going to be really, really, really grave.

And as Rebecca said earlier, we have to fight for our community. So, you know, it's time to do that. But fitting message from President Biden. I thought it was done well received. And thank you, sir. Rebecca. Rebecca. Rebecca. It was chilling, specifically when he talked about the rise of oligarchy rule in America and its threat to democracy. Anytime you have a president who's transitioning out of office and he's frankly letting us know that the next administration are bringing people who are a clear and present

threat to democracy, those are very bold words. Those are very strong words. I would hope in the several hours left in his presidency that he does whatever he can to fight back against that threat, as he outlined, I also have mixed feelings. Because understanding, we all knew that this threat was imminent if Orange in chief was to take back the White House. And so it also, you know, it is upsetting that there weren't more things done over the course of this administration to safeguard for the rise of anti-democracy factions in this country. And, you know, even to our conversation earlier about what more Merrick Garland could do. Once again, this shows there is a gap of things that still could have occurred. But finally, I need Biden to do what he can when it comes to pardoning more

people who are serving in the federal penitentiary system. If you know an anti-democratic regime is coming into office, then make some things right from what you did when you were in the Senate, sir. Robert, you know, this is one of the most important presidential farewell addresses we've seen perhaps since Eisenhower. For the people who remember, Eisenhower ended his presidency by talking about the pervasive nature and pernicious nature of the military-industrial complex. And here we are 70 years later realizing that the defense industry controls our federal government and indeed international politics and relations. Similarly, when President Biden sounded a clarion call about the dangers of the big tech-industrial complex, I don't want that to fall on deaf ears.

I talked a few weeks ago about the digital technocracy that we're falling into. We now have seen just in the last year, democratic governments around the world, the entire Western coalition, fall apart because of the influence of big tech and oligarchs. Canadian government fell. The German government fell. The French government fell. The English government fell. France elected fascists.

Throughout the democratic world, we are seeing that big tech is able to interfere in democratic processes and put in place these fascistic figures that are interested only in centralizing their own wealth and power. The Greek philosopher Polybius talked about the psychoanacalosis, where you have this descending nature of politics. You start with a monarchy, and that descends into tyranny. You start with an aristocracy by the nobility, and that descends into an oligarchy, where the rich are only interested in themselves.

But it also talks about a democracy, ruled by the many, that falls into demagoguery, where an individual can simply lie, such as Alcibiades, the loose-type figure of the Peloponnesian wars, and create power through that. Which then drops you into onicholarsis, where you have mob rule and anarchy. And that's where America is descending into, because we have lost faith in all of our institutions. We've lost the ability to articulate a vision of America which is not separated by xenophobia and jingoism, hatred, racism, sexism, misogyny. We are now descending into an America which is

controlled by the apps, controlled by the algorithms. And by putting these people in charge, we risk the entire constitutional republic of America, but also the rules-based order of the Western world. So President Biden, in that short address, laid out an agenda for democracy for the next 50 years, similar to what we saw with Eisenhower and even the Washington farewell address before him, where he talked about European power staying out of the hegemonic sphere of influence of the United States,

allowing us to prosper into the nation we are today. And I think we will do well to take heed of the call he gave us and fight back against the tech billionaires. I say, go to my iPad. I think this probably, for me, is the most important thing that we heard. When President Biden said Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power.

The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable. In his speech, he also talked about the state of media. He talked about media jobs going away, editors losing their jobs and those things. And I need our audience to understand that on Monday, let's be real clear. Monday is MLK Day. It is a federal holiday of Dr. King. The only thing that you're going to see on this show, on this

network, is going to be the salute to MLK. What you will not see is a salute to an insurrectionist. What you're not going to see is anything dealing with a twice-impeached, criminally convicted felon liar

misogynist sexist racist on monday we're going to be in memphis with reverend dr william barber for this event broadcasting all day doing our show from memphis that night for such as a time as this justice rising a moral call to action in america defining moment. We're going to be at First Unitarian Church. We're going to be broadcasting from there the show on Monday. But I also need everybody watching, everyone watching to understand this. And I want you to understand this very clearly and hear every single word coming out of my mouth and that is you are not going to see a capitulation from this show and from this network to that thug who is going to be occupying the building two blocks from this studio what you're not going to see are the sort of silly ridiculous things that you've heard come

from so-called progressive folks at the Young Turks, like Yank Ugar and Anna Kasprin, who frankly have been sounding more MAGA than anything else. What you're not going to see are the people like Jimmy Dore, who sound like Bernie bros, who turn into right-wing MAGA supporters. What you're not going to see is anybody, definitely not this show and this network, kissing the ass of Donald Trump and these MAGA people. We know that they are awful for black people. We know that they are awful for righteous Americans. And the problem that we have right now is that we have too many journalists, especially mainstream white media.

They are scared to death of Donald Trump. They are running around. Oh, my goodness. What is he going to say about me and tweet about me? Well, we don't actually care what you are going to hear every single day until we run these thugs out of power is you're going to hear the truth. You're going to hear everything about them. You're going to hear what they do, but also what they do not do. And I'm telling you right now, this is a moment that requires people of courage. This is a moment that requires journalists,

it requires editors, it requires photographers, videographers, it requires panelists on this show who have the courage, who understand decency, who have morals, values, principles, and ethics, things that Donald Trump and his appointees do not have. These people are simply our enemy. This is not about getting along with them. This is not about, oh, sitting down and hearing them out. We heard from them since he led the birther attacks. We heard from them since he came down that escalator attacking immigrants, attacking migrants, attacking people who are not like them. We heard the shameful, despicable things that he and Melania Trump and J.D.

Vance said about then President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. We heard the things that he said about President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. And let's be perfectly clear, Donald Trump has done nothing to earn being called president. That's why you will never hear him referred to as president by me on this show. It is not going to happen. See, we talk about celebrating Dr. King. One thing that Dr. King said is that just because it is a law does not mean it is a just law. Just because people have a title don't mean you have to call them by that title. What is required in this moment are people who are willing to be truth tellers. What is

required in this moment are people who are not willing to bend the knee, who are not willing to bow down, who are not willing to accept people who are in power just because they are in power. What it requires are people of conscience, people of faith who have integrity, who have morals and values. What it requires are people who understand the stakes, because you cannot be a black journalist. You cannot work in black owned media if you don't have the courage of a Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells Barnett and a Robert Abbott and a John Sinstack and a Louis Martin. You can't have the courage of an Alice Dunnigan. You can't say you don't have the courage of an Ethel Payne and a Chuck Stone and a John H. Johnson and a Lerone Bennett

and a Simeon Booker. You cannot say you don't have the courage of an Earl Graves and an Ed Lewis and a Gordon Parks and a Susan Taylor and the brothers and sisters who ran newspapers and magazines who worked in black radio. The early pioneers of African-Americans in television. See, if there's any moment to actually show who you are, it is when you are facing fascists, when you are facing racists, when you are facing racist, when you are facing white supremacist. Now is not a moment for people of integrity to run and cower. Days after the election, there are people who said that they were just so despondent, angry and depressed that they were giving up. I heard that from folks who were baby boomers. And generation X. And generation Y. And gen Z. And millennials.

And now generation alpha. But you today cannot be somebody. Who is willing to run and cower. And give up and move somewhere else. Because you don't like what is going on. Do understand. Every single one of us. With breath in our body today.

Stands on the shoulders of ancestors who could not afford to fly off with their passport, who could not afford to go somewhere else. And so if you truly say you are a person of integrity and you care about the ancestors, well, have the guts and the courage of a Paul Robeson. Have the guts and the courage of a Harry Belafonte. Have the guts and the courage of a Harry Belafonte. Have the guts and the courage of a Ruby Dee and an Ossie Davis. Have the guts and the courage of individuals who understood

who understood how they were being attacked. Understand having the courage of a Josephine Baker, of a Martin Delaney, of a William Monroe Trotter who was thrown out of the White House by that racist President Woodrow Wilson. Now is the moment when we will see the folks who actually are freedom fighters and the folks who have been playing imposters. Now we're going to see whether we have people

who truly care about the downtrodden, the poor, the oppressed, the folks who have no voice, or whether or not you're going to suck up to power like Mark Anderson and Elon Musk

and Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. Folks, you heard me say when he was there last time this means war and this means a greater war than it was last time. This is about being in the battle for the soul, not only of the nation, but the soul of the world. Now is not the time for the weak and impotent. Now is the time for folks who have strength. And that, people, is where we have to be. And my last point, when Bill Russell and I'm wearing his hoodie that celebrated his 90th birthday. When Bill Russell, when the Celtics told him they were going to retire his jersey, Bill Russell said, I will do so under certain conditions.

First and foremost, it will not be a public ceremony. Bill Russell said he was not going to stand there at half court and have thousands of Boston Celtics fans yelling and screaming and clapping when the city of Boston was virally racist and how they treated him. He said, I will only allow my jersey to be retired if the stadium is empty. And the only people who are going to be there will be my fellow ballplayers. Red Auerbach had to agree to those terms in order for Bill Russell to allow his jersey to be retired. But did you also know that Bill Russell, when he was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame, didn't show up? Bill Russell didn't show up because Abe Saperstein, who led the Harlem Globetrotters, had already been celebrated. and Bill Russell said it was Abe Saperstein who contributed to black ballplayers not being the NBA presidential medal of freedom around his neck to stand in support of Colin Kaepernick when he need. What is required today of folk who have the intestinal fortitude, who have the consciousness, who have the care of a Bill Russell.

This moment in time will challenge every single one of you. And it will show what kind of person you really are. Will you make excuses and stand with the wretched, evil people who are about to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania? Or will you be one of the people staying on the outside, making it clear that you're going to give them holy hell every single day they're in that building. Rest assured, you know exactly where I'm going to be. Right here, two blocks away, outside those gates, willing to kick their asses every single day for the next four years. Kevin, Rebecca, Robert, I appreciate y'all being on today's show. Folks, that's it for us. Support the work that we do.

We are doing the work. Billionaires and millionaires are not cutting us checks. Major advertisers are not cutting us checks. It's the people. This show has been about the people for six years. This show has been about the people since we started. This network has been about the people since we started this network has been about the people so if you want to support the work that we do join our bring the funk fan club cash app you want to give via cash app do so via stripe when you go to stripe uh what is required

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Unfiltered, 100 percent black on and absolutely unafraid to tell the truth. Black Star Network. A real revolution right now. Thank you for being the voice of black America. All the men we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference

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