#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Chauvin trial closing arguments; 400 convictions tossed in VA; GOP Rep. wants Auntie Maxine expelled

Episode Date: April 20, 2021

4.19.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Chauvin trial closing arguments; 400 convictions in one Virginia county tossed; Prince George's County, Maryland, the State's Attorney has a list of officers not credible enough to testify; Governor Ron DeSantis signs his anti rioting bill into law; GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wants Auntie Maxine expelled; Multiple shootings over the weekend in Chicago, Austin, and Kenosha + We'll take a look at White Evangelical racism.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform 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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The defense and prosecution presented their closing arguments in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. Today, the jury is deliberating. Senators across the country are bracing for the verdict. We have our legal panel ready to break it all down for you. In Virginia, Fairfax County, they will dismiss 400 convictions brought by the same police officer because, let's just say, wrongdoing.

In Prince George's County, Maryland, the state's attorney has a list of officers not credible enough to testify, yet they're still on the force. We will talk with her. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signs his anti-riding bill into law. The Dream Defenders say it's an anti-protest bill.

We'll be joined by their executive director. Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene announces she plans to introduce a resolution to expel Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters from Congress. Such an idiot. And we'll tell you about multiple shootings over the weekends in Chicago, Austin, and Kenosha, Wisconsin. And in my weekly book club segment, we'll look at white evangelical racism. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it.

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 belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks,'s rolling it's on go go royal

it's rolling Martin rolling with rolling now he's funky, he's fresh he's real the best you know he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's rolling, Martin. Martin. Folks, a pivotal day in Minneapolis where ex-police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd. Three weeks of testimony boils down to final arguments presented by the defense and the

prosecution. Here's a roundup. This use of force was unreasonable. It was excessive. It was grossly disproportionate. It is not an excuse for the shocking abuse that you saw with your own eyes and you can believe your own eyes this case is exactly what you thought when you saw it first when you saw that video it is exactly that you can believe your eyes

it's exactly what you believed it's exactly what you saw with your eyes. It's exactly what you knew. It's what you felt in your gut. It's what you now know in your heart. This wasn't policing. This was murder. The defendant is guilty of all three counts. All of them. And, all of them. And there's no excuse.

His heart failed because the defendant's use of force, the 929, that deprived Mr. Floyd of the oxygen that he needed, that humans need to live. And Dr. Tobin knows because he is a pulmonologist. He's a lung doctor. But for the defendant's actions pushing him down, would George Floyd have died that day? The drugs? He'd just miraculously die of a drug overdose in that time. Maybe it was the tailpipe. Maybe it was his enlarged heart. Maybe not. Use your common sense. Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw. And George Floyd replied, I'm not trying to win. I'm not trying to win. I'm scared. But the defendant, the defendant was trying to win. He wasn't going to be told what to do. He wasn't going to take a challenge to his authority. He was trying to win. And George Floyd paid for it with his life. The presumption of innocence, the defendant is presumed innocent. That's the starting point. He's presumed innocent of these charges. And this

presumption remains with him throughout the course of the trial, the presentation of the evidence, throughout the course of your deliberations, until and unless the state has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant does not have to prove his innocence. We talked about this in jury selection. We talked about the starting point. The defendant doesn't have to try to catch up. He starts at the presumption of innocence. The criminal case is kind of like baking chocolate chip cookies. You have to have the necessary ingredients. You've got to have flour and sugar and butter and chocolate chips and whatever else goes into those chocolate chip cookies. If you have all of the ingredients, you can make chocolate chip cookies. But if you're missing any one single ingredient,

you can't make chocolate chip cookies. It's a simple kind of analogy. But the criminal law works the same way. We call the ingredients the elements. The state has the burden of proving each and every element beyond a reasonable doubt. Not just some global proposition that they've proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. They have to prove each of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt. And if you determine that they have done so, you convict. But if they are missing any one single element, any one single element, it is a not guilty verdict. A reasonable police officer understands

the intensity of the struggle. You can see at points when Mr. Floyd's legs kick back it actually almost knocks officer lane over right it knocks off the body worn camera and the badge of officer chauvin in this struggle a reasonable police officer would understand this situation, that Mr. Floyd was able to overcome the efforts of three police officers while handcuffed with his legs and his body strength. A reasonable police officer would also consider his department's policies, including the use of non-deadly force policy. Force that does not have the reasonable likelihood of causing or creating a substantial risk of death or great bodily harm. This includes, but is not limited to, physically subduing, controlling, capturing, restraining, or physically managing a person. This is the policy 5-302 of the Minneapolis Police Department,

that non-deadly force can be used to physically manage a person. So throughout the course of this trial the state has focused your attention on nine minutes and 29 seconds. The proper analysis is to take those nine minutes and 29 seconds and put it into the context of the totality of the circumstances that a reasonable police officer would know. And the proper analysis starts with what did the officers or what would a reasonable officer know at the time of dispatch. I'm going to start talking to you about what I call the 46th witness. You actually have heard from 45 witnesses on the stand,

but there is a 46th witness. And this witness was testifying to you before you got here to the courtroom. They testified over everybody else's testimony on the stand. It's the only witness that will be talking to you when you're back in deliberation. And that witness, ladies and gentlemen, is common sense. Common sense.

We'll continue talking with you all the while. Because while you've heard hours and hours and hours of discussions here in the closing, ultimately it really isn't that complicated in what it is you have to decide with respect to the excessive use of force and the issue of causation. In fact, it is so simple that a child could understand it. In fact, a child did understand it when the nine-year-old girl said, get off of him. That's how simple it was. Get off of him.

Common sense. Why is it necessary to continue applying deadly restraint to a man who is defenseless, who is handcuffed, who is not resisting, who is not breathing, who doesn't have a pulse, and to go on and do that for another three plus minutes before the ambulance shows up and then they continue doing it. How is that a reasonable exercise in the use of force? You can believe your eyes, ladies and gentlemen. It was what you thought it was. It was what you saw. It was homicide.

Let's go to our legal panel. Terrain Bailey, attorney, the Bailey Law Firm, Candace Kelly, legal analyst, and Monique Presley, legal analyst and crisis manager. Glad to have all of you here. First off, Candace, I'll start with you. Your assessment of closing arguments today, I got the sense that the Chauvin folk were all over the place. I really wasn't quite understanding what the hell they were talking about. Yeah, you know, they really didn't give a coherent argument in terms of what we saw Jerry Blackwell do at the end on his rebuttal. We saw how he just decimated their argument

and went step by step as to what they were trying to present and basically saying, like the soundbite said, just listen to your common sense. They're going to talk to you about causation. They're going to talk to you about heart disease and meth and fentanyl. They're going to talk to you about exhaust, right, carbon monoxide. But when we look at that, all of those jerrys shredded. And I think that we got not only just a good idea about what jurors were going to have to grapple with,

but what just good lawyering is overall. We saw that. It was a good story to tell. And Jerry Blackwell especially told it very, very well. Monique, your assessment. I think the prosecution as a whole did its job and did certainly enough to get the desired and proper outcome, which is guilty. It should be on all three of the charges. The defense has been just borderline abysmal throughout, and today was no different. They've resisted every urge to make coherent arguments. They've resisted every urge to make coherent arguments. They resisted every urge to try to actually put through the type of analysis and factual debate that would lead to a reasonable doubt. The entire time,

it's been grasping at straws. It's been conjecture. It's been hypotheticals. And I just pray that that was not effective for a single juror. Terraine, you have been quite critical of, as a defense attorney, what you have seen from the Chauvin defense team. Again, your assessment of these closing arguments today. One of the things you learn when you become a defense attorney is that when you're presenting your case to the jury, you need to tell a coherent story. You need to have a theme and a theory. There was none of that here. They just threw everything from beginning to end just up on the wall, from the EMTs not arriving on time, to exhaust fumes being the reason why this man, George Floyd, is dead.

We heard everything but a reasonable explanation why this evidence doesn't support a conviction. And it's very disappointing to see a defense attorney go out there and do a subpar job. I mean, every defendant deserves to have competent counsel, and that did not happen here. When we talk about, we start breaking all of these different things down, and what was very interesting as I watched these closing arguments,

how the prosecution candidates just completely said, they talked about drugs, one pill found. They talked about this drug, trace amount found in his body. They talked about this. No, you just don't just die of arrhythmia just for the hell of it. I mean, it was, I mean, I was sitting there going, man, my man is just sitting there just crushing

every single thing they threw out. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, I don't know what he had for dinner, but for lunch, he had that defense every time he came up to speak about what was going on. I think one of the most interesting things too, was this visual that he had where he broke down George Floyd's life in 10 minute increments to get rid of this argument that maybe everything just culminated at once and everything coincidentally happened at the same time, that he just died at the same time that the knee was on the neck, but it's not because of the knee that was on the neck. So seeing that one dot on the screen represent his,

you know, excessive force and break it down that way, he was just a good storyteller. He really captivated you. And when you look at Erik Nelson, I mean, he hasn't been a bad storyteller up, you know, up until this point. But here, you know, you have to believe in your argument so that the jury can believe in your argument. And we didn't see that. I didn't see a lot of faith. I didn't see a lot of what he had in his opening argument. If you go back to the opening arguments and look at all the promises that were made by the, uh, by the prosecution and the defense,

this is where, at the end of the story, we have to make good on the story. I mean, we didn't see Maurice Hall. As you mentioned, all of the arguments were just disintegrated, and he just didn't rise to the occasion. And this is something that I think that the jury's going to more than take into consideration.

Jerry Blackwell was the last person that they listened to. This is the person that they're in the liberation room right now, until seven o'clock to figure out, you know, what's going on. And when you have Jerry Blackwell's voice in your head, like he was giving off today, it can't but echo and just ring the truth that the prosecution wants the jury to hear. And to that particular point there, Monique, in terms of what was laid out, from your vantage point, put yourself in the seat of that jury. You're sitting there, you're listening to these arguments being played out, you're listening to what is being said. How do you assess, again, put yourself in the place of a jury,

how do you assess that? I think that that jury likely has been ready. And so that's why I was amused by defense counsel Nelson's arguments at the end about how they should have been sequestered all along and etc. Listen, the agitation that he was getting before lunch that was obvious to everybody in the courtroom from that jury would have been three times as bad. This has, as we learned, you know, they've had 40 plus witnesses and there's been more than enough evidence for each of the elements of each of the charges. very calm at the same time, utilizing appropriate changes in pace and vocal inflection in order to, without yelling at jurors, because they can't stand that, without doing that, actually going methodically through piece by piece. And as the other counsel on the panel has said, it was just

unanswered. And I agree that that is shameful. I've been a criminal and civil defense attorney for 22 years, and that is not what meets constitutional standards of adequate defense. And as I have said all along, I've been looking at it thinking, are they going for insufficiency of counsel? Because this is a terrible job. So without being able to actually look at the jurors and see who was paying attention and who wasn't, all I could say is I know that they heard enough, and I couldn't understand for the life of me why defense counsel kept insisting on playing that video. That video was murder to their case, and there was no shine that they could put on any part of it that assisted them. I would have had to been forced to

play that video on cross. I didn't understand it watching any day of the trial, and I didn't understand it today. I'd be like, what video? The one of the things that was interesting took place, Terrain, when it came to this

nonsense dealing with Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Before I play that, at noon when they broke for lunch, there was a news conference the George Floyd family, Attorney Ben Crump. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty was also there, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. Here's what Congresswoman Beatty had to say.

Thank you. I'm here on behalf of our 56 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, several of them with us today. We come today in solidarity with the Floyd family, with all of the street fighters, the activists, the congressional people, because today it is not Minnesota versus all police. It is about Minnesota versus Derek Chauvin. And in the words of George Floyd's daughter, my daddy will change the world.

This verdict today changes the world. Thank you. All right, so this weekend, Congresswoman Maxine Waters was in Minneapolis, and then she said this to protesters. Guys, please pray to Maxine Waters' comment, please. Okay, so here's the deal. Let me find it myself. All right, so this weekend, okay, got think I need to try to get.

Come on. Play it, please. And so, yes, I would like to see the bill in Congress passed on police reform. But I know that the right wing, the racist are opposed to it. And I don't know what's going to happen to it. But I know this. We've got to stay in the street and we've got to demand justice. As a black man, despite all of the efforts, I feel like nothing changes. And George Floyd is waking so many people up. Nothing has happened despite the rhetoric. What needs to happen that's different this year than all the years before. We're looking for a guilty verdict. We're looking for a guilty verdict and we're looking to see if all of the talk that took place and has been

taking place after they saw what happened to George Floyd. If nothing does not happen, then we know that we've got to not only stay in the street, but we've got to fight for justice. But I am very hopeful and I hope that we're going to get a verdict that can say guilty, guilty, guilty. And if we don't, we cannot go away. And not just manslaughter, right? I mean- Oh no, not manslaughter. No, no, no.

This is guilty for murder. I don't know whether it's in the first degree, but as far as I'm concerned, it's first degree. What happens if we do not get what you just told? What should the people do? What should protesters on the street do? I didn't hear you. What happens? What should protesters do? Well, we got to stay on the street and we've got to get more active. We've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we... So those comments by Congresswoman Maxine Waters came into the courtroom today. This is what Judge Peter Cahill had to say.

Situation. Obviously, I spend my weekend preparing for closing closing remarks and i certainly can supplement the record with news articles i can supplement the record with the storylines of the particular shows that were brought to my attention so there's i'm making it to note the record at this particular point and i can certainly supplement yeah you to note the record at this particular point, and I can certainly supplement. Yeah, you can supplement the record with whatever media reports. I'm aware of the media reports. I'm aware that Congresswoman Waters was talking specifically about this trial and about the unacceptability of anything less than a murder conviction

and talk about being confrontational, but you can submit the press articles about that. This goes back to what I've been saying from the beginning. I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch in our function. I think if they want to give their opinions, they should do so in a respectful and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution, to respect a co-equal branch of government. Their failure to do so, I think, is abhorrent, but I don't think it has prejudiced us with additional material that would prejudice this jury.

They have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions and that there is not in any way a prejudice to the event beyond the articles that we're talking specifically about the facts of this case. A congresswoman's opinion really doesn't matter a whole lot. Terrain, I'm sorry. What the hell was the judge talking about right there? As if Maxine Waters doesn't have the right to give her opinion? I have no idea. He's talking about a congresswoman speaking to uphold the Constitution, and the right to protest is a constitutional right. These people have the right to gather and to speak their minds and their hearts in a civil way.

He can't quiet her. So if you listen to the news all weekend on every conservative talk radio show, you heard commentators talking about the verdict and what was going to happen and people preparing for anticipated riots. You heard different people talking about this case. So why should Maxine Waters have to be silent? It makes no sense. This judicial officer, he overstepped the line by trying to dictate to another branch of government what they should do.

When Maxine Waters, she never spoke of the court. She never spoke of him personally. So he was far outside of the scope of what he should be doing from the bench today. But, Monique, even if she did, she's not a participant in the trial. I mean, so then to say that, oh, you may now have a basis of an appeal? There's no basis for appeal based on what Maxine Waters said, because everything that

everyone else is saying on television, us having this conversation here, could be considered a basis for appeal using that logic. So she is not a party to this case. There is no gag order precluding anyone from Congress and even commenting. So where he's going with that is truly showing his lip is hanging. He's showing where he is as far as his political views and wanting to silence that woman. Monique?

So I'm of two opinions. I've already tweeted out one of them. It's odd to me that everyone from the current president and vice president of the United States to world leaders to local and state officials have made comments about the wrongfulness of George Floyd's death, the hideousness of his killing and its criminality. Everyone has said something about that. So to call out this one congresswoman's opinion, we know that Congresswoman Waters can be a lightning rod, and those that

apparently are of this judge's ilk can't resist the urge to comment. I'm of another opinion, though, candidly, as a career officer of the court. I understand that judges are very serious about the sanctity of juries, about protecting juries. And there was a conflating of any number of things in Congresswoman's comments where she was saying it should be guilty, guilty, guilty. And they asked her if it is not what do we do. And that's when she said, you know, we stay in the streets, we do this, we do this. Well, I think we stay in the streets no matter what this verdict is. I think putting one dirty cop in a jail cell doesn't fix anything except for one dirty cop went into a jail cell. And I think that this case was handled the way that justice requires and that the state brought appropriate charges. Keith Ellison did an excellent job of leading the prosecution team that is volunteering their time.

They did one of the best jobs I have seen prosecutors do in prosecuting a case, especially a case against police officers, and they have proven their case. So then it's in the hands of a jury. And I am not prepared to say that if one juror hangs this trial and leaves them with a mistrial, that we stormed the streets because of a mistrial. That is the justice system that we supposedly all believe in. That is the Constitution in motion, not out of motion. And we know already it is harder than anything in the world to prosecute a police officer to actually get a guilty. And that's why from the beginning, I've been saying, I don't care how good a job they do. I don't care how much this should be a slam dunk. It may not be. So I am one who wants measured expectations, and I am one who is consistently pointing out that there is a long game here.

So the part where Congresswoman Waters was talking about the Justice in Policing Act, then we storm the streets, I don't think that they're thinking about this the way that we all have to in order to see real and lasting change. Candace, it's just ludicrous to listen to that particular judge. She needs to respect the rule of law. I'm sorry. You're a judge. Did the First Amendment somehow just go out the window and she can't offer her perspective and opinion? Listen, she didn't tell us anything that we didn't know. If the verdict doesn't come down the way that the people and the masses wanted to come out, they're going to continue to hit the streets. There was really nothing that she added to what

we already knew was going to happen if something doesn't happen in court in terms of a guilty verdict. Now, on the other side of this, let's see what Eric Nelson is doing. He's got a file, it's about this thick, and it's called his appeal file. And he's got the fact that the plea deal was told earlier than it was supposed to be or let go. The $27 million settlement was, you know, kicked two jurors off of the juror. He's got this. He's got the way that the prosecution was kind of suggesting that they were lying or not telling the truth or not telling the whole story. So he's got to get it in because, you know, that appeal is coming. And so at the end of the day, that is what this was about. He's building that file and it's not a very light file.

And that's also what the judge's comments were about, because he's the one who could have sequestered the jury and chose not to. So if the jury has now heard things that he believes the jury shouldn't have heard, that's not the fault of the people who are out there using their free speech to say them. That's his responsibility because he knew that he had a high profile case where people were making all kinds of opinions. And if he wanted to ensure that the jury didn't hear anything while they were in trial or while they were deliberating, he had a very effective way of getting that done and chose not to. So that's an appealable issue. It's not the comments of the Congresswoman. It's the judge who may have made an error. And that's, if we get any kind of conviction, that's going to be in the file. All right, folks. So why this heightened concern today,

based on one statement made by Maxine Waters? It seems to me that they're just exaggerating. It's pretty hyperbolic, in my opinion. Maxine Waters has been pretty vocal about her expectation for this trial, the expectation for the treatment of the family, and the respect that needs to be shown to Black Lives Matter. Personally, I'm not a fan of any planned protest. Um, anyone who's talked to me knows that I wish the Black community would go silent. They have planned for us to protest. They have planned for us to be in the street.

And while they know that's our anticipated response, it's our typical response, what would happen if we would be silent? The power in our silence. They wouldn't know what we're thinking and what we were doing. They've already planned for us to stay in the streets. I say we take a different approach

and have a more impactful approach, but not everyone agrees with me with that. Clearly Maxine Waters doesn't agree with that, and that's okay. But I think as a black community, we need to start thinking about where can we put power in our protest? Can we go silent and increase that power?

All right, folks, I'm going to ask all three of you this final question. It's now in the hands of the jury. Do you believe that this jury is going to come back with a guilty verdict for Derek Chauvin? Trayne trying you first. As I listened to the defense closing argument, I had to wonder about his perspective and what he saw in a juror that made him think that there was a juror in that box that would follow his line of closing. There had to be someone he was speaking to because you only need one. And that's the perspective that we don't have sitting out in America. The prosecution knows what jurors are looking at and their responses to the defense. only need one. And that's the perspective that we don't have sitting out in America. The prosecution knows what jurors are looking at and their responses to the defense. The defense knows their responses. So we don't know that. I'm hopeful that based on the jury selection,

that based on the evidence, this is a rock solid case. The defense had an opportunity to take this Jenga block and poke holes in it and try to weaken the foundation of this case. They didn't touch it. They stayed at the top. They never hit the foundation of this case that Derek Chauvin is guilty of murdering George Floyd. So I anticipate that this verdict is going to come back at least on one charge of guilty. Candace?

Second-degree manslaughter all the way. This is an officer that was former officer that was negligent. He didn't even turn George Floyd over, even after someone who was a subordinate asked a couple of times, don't we need to turn him over? They blamed the streets that were 20 feet wide. They blamed carbon monoxide. They blamed everything except for the knee on the neck. Once George Floyd was in the realm of that officer, he was responsible for it. And he let him die under his own neck. That is negligence. That is the threshold when you really boil down the second degree manslaughter charge. He's going to get at least that, which we know sentencing averages, it's about four years, but there were some aggregating factors here. We had the aggregating factor of the children who

were there and that there might've been some cruelty involved. So even while the sentencing guidelines say he on average might get four years on that charge, he might get more with that aggravating factors that are involved. Monique? I agree. It's all wishes and prayers though right now. I feel for all counsel who are sitting out

and waiting for this as the world waits on it. I don't know that they will get the depraved mind that's necessary for the top of the charge list. I think I agree that second degree manslaughter may be easier to reach, but hopefully at a minimum, they will get to the bottom of the charge list and all be able to come to some agreement that they can't do a full and complete not guilty, but without being able to see and assess those jurors and to know whether there's been like one person sitting there frowning at the prosecution the whole time, not willing to take notes, not buying into any of it. We just can't tell. All right, then. Terraine, Monique, Candace, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, we come back for this break. Fairfax County, 400 cases dismissed because of a shady cop and cops in Prince George's, Maryland. Folks, the DA says, I don't even want them testifying on the stand because I can't trust their word. All of that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I believe that it's movement time again.

In America today, the economy is not working for working people. The poor and the needy are being abused. You are the victims of power, and this is the abuse of economic power. I'm 23 years old. I work three jobs. Seven days a week. No days off. They're paying people pennies on the dollar compared to what they profit, and it is time

for this to end. Essential workers have been showing up to work, feeding us, caring for us, delivering goods to us throughout this entire pandemic, and they've been doing it on a measly $7.25 minimum wage. The highest check I ever got was literally $291. I can't take it no more. You know, the fight for 15 is a lot more than about $15 an hour. This is about a fight for your dignity.

We have got to recognize that working people deserve livable wages. And it's long past time for this nation to go to 15 so that moms and dads don't have to choose between asthma inhalers and rent. I'm halfway homeless. The main reason that people end up in their cars is because income does not match housing cost. If I could just only work one job, I can have more time with them. It is time for the owners of Walmart, McDonald's, Dollar General, and other large corporations to get off welfare and pay their workers a living wage.

And if you really want to tackle racial equity, you have to raise the minimum wage. We're not just fighting for our families, we're fighting for yours too. We need this. I'm going to fight for it until we get it. I'm not going to give up. We just need all workers to stand up as one nation and just fight together. Families are relying on these salaries and they must be paid at a minimum $15 an hour.

$15 a minimum anyone should be making to be able to stay out of poverty. I can't take it no more. I'm doing this for not only me, but for everybody. We need 15 right now. Shortly after 9-11, America and its allies went to war in Afghanistan to defeat a terrorist stronghold. We accomplished that mission years ago. Trillions of dollars lost, over 2,000 Americans dead, countless Afghans dead, it's time to get out.

Many presidents have tried to end the war in Afghanistan, but President Biden is actually going to do it. And by 9-11, over 20 years after the war was started, the last American soldier will depart, and America's longest war will be over. Promise made, promise kept. Hey, what's up? This is Marlon Wayans. No, it's not Kenan. No, or as some of y'all say, Klignan. No, it's not Damien. It's really, it's not Damien because I do not have a bald head. It's one of the Wayans. It's not Winans because they have been coming up to me. Hey, how you doing? I love the Winans. There's no BB and no CC in this family.

There's Kiki and Damon. So I am one of the Wayans brothers, or as you may want to call fraternity population. There's the Chinese and then there's the Wayans. We, there's so many of us. Seven Wayans was born during this drop. So you are watching my man, Roland Martin, who really is swagged out. I want to give a big shout out to my man, Roland Martin,

cause he inspired the generation. He's the one that got Al Sharpton in the gym doing selfies. He got a, heh, heh, heh, heh. Reverend Al was like, oh, I see Roland trying to look like he got a little two-pack. I'm going to get him one better. He's the one that got Al doing the one-handed almost push-up

on the desk. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. So Roland Martin is the inspiration behind that. on the desk. So Roland Martin is the inspiration behind that. So be sure to tune in and watch. Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, in Fairfax, Virginia, more than 400 convictions may be overturned there. A judge is moving to throw out the convictions because a former patrol officer is accused of stealing drugs from the police property room, planning them on innocent people during illegal traffic stops.

Johnson Freitag resigned in May of 2020 after the FBI joined Fairfax County in a criminal investigation after receiving a tip in July 2019. A year later, he was hired by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office in Florida, who found no disciplinary records in his file. Freytag was involved in 932 cases in his three years as an officer in Virginia. Brevard County has launched an investigation into the cases Freytag handled. He has denied any wrongdoing and he has not been charged. Let's go to my panel and talk about this here. I mean, this is crazy when you think about it. And so Amos Jones DeWeaver, Leadership Strategist, joins us right now.

We also are joined by Julianne Malveaux, President Emerita and Economist. They've been in college and will be joined later by our third panelist. This is crazy, Avis. And for all the people, again, they go, oh, just a few bad apples. You're talking about the planting of drugs on people. And this guy gets another job. If you are a lawyer and you are disbarred, you don't get to easily just go to another state and keep practicing law. No, you lose your law license. Absolutely. This is ridiculous. First of all, that is just absolutely sadistic, what he did.

We all know what the long-ranging implications of that are. You know, he probably got people convicted on felonies that stay on their records, precludes them even after serving their time, of being able to get jobs oftentimes that will ask if you've ever been convicted of a felony. There are so many ways in which that has repercussions on your life, potentially for the rest of your life. So the fact that this man serially framed people in this way is disgusting. And you're exactly right. The police in this nation are uniquely protected, uniquely protected from having to face personal responsibility for their illegal and immoral and just disgusting actions. database where policemen who are fired due to misconduct would be kept there so that other police departments would know what happened. There are so many things wrong with this picture, it's just hard to even sum it up in one quick sentence. It's a whole bunch of things wrong, and they all need to be changed. Julianne?

This brother needs, this boy needs to go put up under the jail, not in the jail, but up under the jail. This is some craziness. A DC firefighter at the time, a father of a five month old was framed 400 cases. But what this does tell us, and I think Davis is absolutely right. It tells us that this is a pattern in practice in policing. And we, in our community, can take it back to post-Reconstruction. We could look at the 1920s and 30s, where people were accused of attacking a police officer who was not attacked. You know, there are just so many cases. The Justice in Policing Act not only must be passed. I'm, you know, when the young people began to say defund the police, I was like, I don't know about that.

I'm there. Let's just start over. This is for all these Maryland farmers. Those who know me, I just fire all these Maryland farmers and start over. Require, as they do in Europe, two years to three years of training. Make them have college degrees in a number of areas. Sociology, not just criminal justice. Sociology, psychology.

Turn them into human beings because too many of them, as we see from Dara Chauvin, are not. Look, we see examples of this all the time involving these police officers. And the thing, and we've heard this talked about repeatedly, because we saw in the case of the cop who killed Tamir Rice, you cannot have a cop engage in this kind of activity and just easily be able to go fire another job. Those folks should not be in law enforcement. They should not have a badge and a gun. There should be, Roland, some kind of registry

for people who are so-called law enforcement officers that you do pass some national standard, and if you mess up, block up, that you then are removed from that registry. We don't have that. So as we saw with the killer of Tamir Rice, this boy goes from one county to another and kills a 13-year-old. Now, we see this over and over again.

What really needs to happen is that we need to make sure that there's some nationalization. And I know those states, right, people hate that, but they loved enslavement. So that's another story. But these folks need to have a we need to have a national standard that says if you don't do this, you cannot be a so-called law enforcement officer. And this is not controversial, Avis, because the reality is we have it for doctors and lawyers. Yeah, well, logically, it for doctors and lawyers. Yeah. Well, logically, it should not

be controversial, but the reality is it is because there is the complicating factor of police unions in here who have completely bastardized the system. The police unions, I believe, likely have a lot to do. They have a lot

to do with why a lot of police departments across the country find it very hard to fire people. Not to say that they shouldn't do it anyway, but it's not as simple as perhaps it is in other professions. And the police unions make sure that it's not that simple. We also need to get rid of qualified immunity. I know if I served prison time because he planted something on me or somebody in my family did, I would want to sue him for every cent he got, right? We need to make sure that that's in place.

And then the last question I have is, how come with the other place that he ended up, they said that they didn't see anything derogatory in his records? What happened with that? Was he allowed to resign or was he fired? And even if he was allowed to resign, why was there nothing written up about him in his record? Because everyone knows that when all of these police officers who engage in malfeasance,

like as you mentioned with Tamir Rice's killer, when they resign, and even in his case, he was fired, right? They can easily go to another department, and if the paper trail isn't there, or people who aren't hiring them don't really care about the paper trail or don't do the proper investigations around it, you can have that same malperforming and dangerous police officer

just be bouncing around from one police department to another. The entire system needs to be reformed. And honestly, I do believe that a big part of that is with this particular act that's in Congress. And we need to do whatever we can to make sure that the Senate is able to move in the direction that it needs to in order to pass it. Well, absolutely right.

That should absolutely happen. And I think we're just seeing just far too much of this. I got to ask all three of you. I talked about, Eugene Craig joins us as well. I talked about this here with our panel,

even with our legal panel. All of this brouhaha. Republicans are calling for Congresswoman Maxine Waters to be censured, removed from Congress. You got that nutcase out of Georgia. She claims she's going to put forth this deal. The New York Post is talking about, oh, my God, how bad she is.

I mean, Eugene, I'm really sick and tired of these fake outrage of the folks on the right looking for anything and everything. And now the latest is Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Listen, if Kevin McCarthy wants to censor people, he needs to start with half of his caucus. He needs to start with former President Trump. He needs to start with half of the Trump team that's operating with former President Trump right now.

You know, if that's the route he wants to take, he's going to open up his entire half of his caucus, at least half of his caucus, to censorship or impeachment or removal from committees. It's not a path that he wants to go down because he wants to take this out of context. You know, there are actual things that led to actual violence, that led to actual death. I mean, look, this is the Blue Lives Matter caucus. There were blue lives that were lost as a result of words from members from this caucus.

So if that's the word, that's the right it wants to take, so be it. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. I just, I mean, I'm just sort of laughing when I watch these fools, Avis, because if you really want to talk about some comments being made, it's a long line of hacks on the right.

Absolutely. I mean, hypocrisy might as well just be the middle name of that party. The grand old hypocrisy party. I mean, that's that's what I'm going to start calling them right now. It's absolutely ridiculous. I mean, you don't have to look that far back, when you might recall someone who later ran for president ran an entire ad in The New York Times saying that young boys who were accused of a rape that they didn't commit should basically be murdered, right? You don't have to look far back for that. And I don't hear anybody looking back and castigating the former person who resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as in any way being wrong for doing that among this ilk. Number two, you know, the bottom line is, uh, Congresswoman Waters remains someone that they have a unique level of disdain for. A lot of this, to me, has to do, obviously, with her boldness, her bombasticness,

her unapologetic Blackness. But I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that she is a Black woman. And they cannot stand. They literally cannot stand to see a free Black woman who is willing to speak her mind. The reality is she said nothing that won't happen. We all know that if this particular decision goes the way that it might go in terms of letting this murderer get away with murder. There will be protest.

Uh, that's not a grand revelation. Uh, but once again, they want to sort of drag her name through the mud, claiming that she's doing something wrong, which, last I heard, even a congressperson has First Amendment rights. And she's within her rights to express her opinion. Julianne? Don't mess with Max. That's all I have to say.

Don't mess with Max. She is our shero. She is our role model and our leader. This is nonsense. If they want to throw somebody out of Congress, try that little Barbie doll from Georgia. I forgot her name. But anyway, I did remember it, but I'm not going to call it.

But that's who you need to throw out of Congress. Maxine Waters has stood up for us over her entire congressional career. She has made it clear that you do not mess with Black people. She was out there when those police officers brutally beat Rodney King and were exonerated. And she's gonna be out there as long as white police officers brutally beat Black people and are exonerated. She was speaking into the realm of possibility. If Chauvin is acquitted, folks gonna blow. She said, as Ava said, she just spoke our reality.

I mean, I will take my over 65-year-old behind to the streets, behind that one, and I haven't been in the streets in a little while. And a lot of other people will. This is an absurdity that the defense is trying to make this case of, oh, well, maybe he had a big heart. Oh, maybe he did this. Maybe he, you know, smelled the exhaust pipe.

She just said, well, Black people are thinking this cannot happen. Don't mess with Max. Let's go to Maryland where Prince George's County State's Attorney Aisha Brave Boy has created a system to keep track of police credibility. Brady List will identify officers who will not be allowed to testify on behalf of the state based on their discipline records. Prince George's County State's Attorney Aisha Brave Boy joins us right now. I'm glad to have you back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you so much, Roland. Great to be here. Credibility is critically important. We have seen other cases where police officers have

knowingly lied on the witness stand. Judges in Chicago admonish folks for doing so. What happened here? How bad did it get for you to say, I got to create a list of cops who I simply can't trust on the witness stand? Well, you know, we've always had the responsibility and the duty to disclose information that may tend to impede a government witness. And so that was as a result of Brady versus Maryland, the 1934 case requiring the state to turn over exculpatory and impeachment material to defense counsel. But what I decided was that, you know, looking at our cases,

we want our cases to be about the underlying case, not about the credibility of the officer. So we looked at the officers who have lied on the stand, who have exhibited bias, and we determined that those individuals will no longer be sponsored by my office to serve as witnesses in our cases. How many folks are we talking about?

How many cops? So we have about 15 that we have determined that we will not call to testify in cases. That list could potentially grow depending on the officer's behavior. This is really all about holding our officers accountable like our citizens and our residents expect us to. We want to be represented and have the law enforced by people who have integrity. And as the prosecutor, I have to trust the information and the investigations conducted by these officers. And so it is my duty to also hold them accountable and send the message to all the departments that

operate in my community that I will not tolerate officers who are not credible, who are biased, who exhibit prejudice against members of our community. So here's what jumps out at me. If there are officers who have no only lied on the stand, how are they still cops? Well, that's a really good question. And that is really a question for the department, for the administration, how they will choose to move forward.

But we are in a system right now, we are operating in a system where the system is being reformed in every way. And so what has been tolerated in the past can no longer be tolerated. We're setting the standard in our office and we're hopeful that the rest of our law enforcement community will follow suit.

And what has been the response from the police department, from the leadership regarding this list and also the police union? Well, I can tell you that the department did take our actions very seriously. I believe that they have removed those officers from any duty that involves interfacing with the citizens and residents of our county. And the union, of course, is not extremely happy about this move. However, I think that everyone has to agree that there's one set of rules. They have general orders.

They are required to be truthful. And if they are not truthful and if they act in a way that brings upon a question about their credibility and their ability to do their job in an unbiased way, that's on them. And so my job is to do my job, which is to hold everyone accountable. Just like I hold individuals accountable for committing crimes in our community, I have to hold our officers accountable for integrity and for being good, honest people who can investigate and enforce the law fairly. This is obviously, you know, we're seeing this focus all across the country on police accountability. And there's so much trust

that is placed in the words of police officers. And we've seen so many other cases. Uh, the Laquan McDonald case, where they lied. They just flat out lied. Uh, we've seen, uh, other cases, recent cases where officers lie. They just make stuff up. And I just think that is, there has to be repercussions.

We were just talking about the Fairfax County story, where they're talking about throwing out 400 cases because of the actions of this police officer. And I don't understand, again, how people act as if, well, that's just, you know, that's just one or two. No. I mean, 15 is considerable for a list like this. Well, and let me just put it into context.

We have about 1,500 police officers in Prince George's County, one of the Prince George's County Police Department. We also have 26 municipalities within our county, and so each of them have police forces. So while the majority of the individuals who are on the list are from Prince George's County Police Department, there are other municipal departments that have officers that we believe are questionable and will not place on the stand. Again, I think prosecutors have a duty and obligation to set the standard. We are the top law enforcement office within our jurisdictions. And so we have the responsibility to say what will and will not be acceptable. And I believe that the departments that are within our jurisdiction will take heed to

what we are doing and will make changes in their policies, their practices, and how they treat officers who have credibility or bias issues. So we're hopeful by setting this tone, sending this message, that there will be changes. All right, then. Prince, Georgia's county state's attorney, Aisha Braveboy. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, then, folks. Got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about this ridiculous, crazy bill signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, an anti-protester bill. The dream defenders say they are not done fighting

this. That is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You see what's happening. It's not just in Georgia. It's here in Florida and in 43 states across the country. Last year, I had my voting rights restored with an assist from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. I did it for myself, but also for my future. Having children, I realized I could make a difference. So I got my voting rights restored, got registered to vote, and I got my vote in through the postal service since I was working out

in California during the football season. Now, they're trying to undo that, and the hard work of so many others. They're taking away drop boxes, making it hard to vote by mail, and they're still trying to make returning citizens pay for a poll tax just to vote. Now that we know what they're trying to do,

let's stop them. Here's how. Call your legislators. Call your members of Congress. And start by signing our petition at morethanavote.org slash protect. The fight is not over. We're just getting started.

Help us help you and protect our power. Hi, I'm Kim Burrell. Hi, I'm Carl Paney. Hey, everybody, this is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin unfiltered. HB1, known as the Anti-Riot Bill, is signed into law by the governor of Florida, folks. It makes protesting a felony.

Also allows local police to challenge budgets, opens cities to liability for poor riot control, and creates or strengthens penalties against those it deems rioters. It also protects all monuments in Florida. In a statement, DeSantis said, in part, if you riot, loot, harm others, particularly law enforcement, you're going to jail. We're not going to end up like Portland. The bill has been signed and takes effect immediately. Joining us now is Na'ilah Summers, co-executive director of the Dream Defenders. Naila, glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered.

So explain this bill. I mean, this, oh, it's anti-rioters, oh. But this actually goes much further than that. Much further. You know, this is Ron DeSantis' campaign promise to his base. He announced this back in September of 2020, in the middle of a summer of uprising, after he ignored the pandemic for months and months and months. People were in the streets grieving, hurting. And this was his answer. This is what he came to Florida with, HB1. At the time, he called it the most comprehensive bill of its kind. You know, it's a combination of anti-defund legislation, anti-protest legislation. You know,

it gives free reign to vigilantes to hit protesters with their cars. It also protects Confederate monuments. So it's just, he threw the kitchen sink at us here in Florida. And, you know, it's what he's telling his base that he can do with us. And it's his campaign promise. One of the things that was even crazier, he wanted to expand the state stand your ground law. And this is from the Miami Herald

that to justify the use of force against people, go to my computer, please, against people who looted or impaired businesses and would have barred people from getting state benefits or state jobs

if they were ever convicted of participating in a violent or disorderly assembly. But a state senator said there were parts of it we felt were not appropriate to fit within this bill. I mean, this is what they were doing. And what they're doing here, again, what he's doing here is this mob intimidation statute, first degree misdemeanor for a group of three or more people to try and change someone's viewpoints by using violence or the threat of violence,

punishable by a sentence up to one year in jail. The law will also criminalize the practice of publishing a person's personally identifying information, such as addresses or phone numbers, to harass them online. Floridians will also not be allowed to post bail until they make their first appearance in court when arrested for a number of crimes, including theft and burglary during a state of emergency. Then the one that's interesting here, under the law, any person who, without permission,

tears down any type of memorial dedicated to a historical person, an entity, or an event, or a series of events, would face a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. In prison, with no bail. Right? And we saw this all over the country. People in the streets were saying, we cannot revere these old monuments. And that was one of the first things that Ron DeSantis mentioned in his bill, is locking people up, holding people accountable for defacing monuments. And we know that in Florida, that absolutely means Confederate statues, Confederate flags.

They're all over the state. And so, yeah, 15 years is what he's telling us. If anybody were to deface anything, I mean, that's writing with a marker that's, you know, covering it up with a flag. That's anything. Now, here's what I also find to be real interesting. Republicans love talking about local control, local control, local control, big government. Go back to my computer, please. The law allows state attorneys in each judicial circuit or a member of a city commission to appeal local police budget reductions.

The appeal will be subject to review by the governor's office, which ultimately would rule whether it needs further review. Okay, the Herald article goes on to say, if it does, a separate commission, which includes the governor and the Florida cabinet, will have the final say on

whether the local government should approve, amend, or modify a spending plan. How in the hell can the state tell a city elected by taxpayers how they should govern their city when it comes to the police? All under the guise of protecting law enforcement. Roland, that's the cover for this whole thing, this monumental violation of our First Amendment rights in Florida. He's saying it's to protect law enforcement, all of it. So a municipality, a city could say, you know what,

we want 10 less cars, police cars this year. We're going to put that little money somewhere else. And it would have to go through the state attorney. And that was an amendment that got added because originally that approval had to go all the way up to the governor. So it's all a ploy. You know, today when he announced it, it was the first thing he talked about this. It's what we call preemption, right, where the state overrules the local. And it's the first thing that he talked about this morning when he announced the bill. He was so proud of it, so proud to be able to overrule cities. And we are not going to have defund the police here in Florida.

So, you know, that's what's happening right now. And it's just such a violation, I have to laugh. We've been fighting this bill for months since he announced it in September. And so I laugh to keep from crying. How do y'all plan to respond to it? How do you plan to fight it? Well, we're definitely going to see him in court, absolutely. Uh, expect that very soon. And then, you know, he can legislate this racism if he wants to, but people are still gonna be in the streets.

We're still gonna be fighting injustice everywhere all the time. I mean, he did this ahead of jury deliberations today, right? Like, the timing of this is exact, it's precise. He knew what he was doing. So we're going to keep our people safe. We're going to teach people about the bill, right? We got to tell them what their situation is now in Florida,

what the consequences are, the risks, but also figure out ways to keep each other safe when we're out there, because he's just not going to be able to stop this movement. All right, then. Nyla Summers, co-director not going to be able to stop this movement. All right then. Nyla Summers, Co-Section Director of the Dream Defenders. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Roland. What we're seeing here, Eugene, is Ron DeSantis,

Governor Ron DeSantis, running for re-election next year, and really this is all about 2024. This is all about him trying to appeal to these right-wing conservatives, trying to be as Trumpian as he possibly can. That's all this comes

down to. This is a 2024 re-election and it's also a 2022 re-election and 2024 presidential run that he's laying out. This is where the dangerous of some of the wildest parts of the far right come into play. Because we have people like DeSantis in power that actually put some of these things into motion, the law and the policy.

People get hurt. You know, people are going to be hurt by this. But, you know, I do think that with my knowledge of the Constitution of the First Amendment, i would love to see how this plays out in court um you know you cannot you know uh uh make it legal a citizen's right to address grievances um against their government under the first amendment and that's exactly what he does here um what do you make of this um jul, again, this crazy outlandish bill that's now signed into law in Florida? Well, crazy and outlandish are the nicest things we can say about it. But here's the other piece, Roland. This will go to court, but it will go to a Supreme Court that's inclined against citizens.

So there's a fight that's going on. I'm so happy that you had Nayela on to talk about this. But the fact is that 43 states have figured out ways to restrict citizen rights, from voting rights to other rights. And we saw this before in Congress, where people want to send you to jail because you protested. Now, they didn't send the fools who stormed the Capitol to jail until after a while, and

they still haven't found all of them. They could find them if they wanted to. So I think that, you know, Avery said something, I think, in a previous segment about hypocrisy. IHOP, you know, they think it's pancakes. It's International Hypocrisy Operations Program. And that's what we have here. We have hypocrisy and more. But I think that people, the more they do this craziness, the more essentially girded people are to say, oh, no. Oh, hell no. Oh, not here. That's how the people came out in Georgia to vote for Warnock and Ossoff, and that's gonna be how they come out in Florida

to ensure that DeSantis gets a one-way ticket to someplace with double hockey sticks. The thing that trips me out, again, it was over and over and over, how Republicans love to me out, again, it was over and over and over. Republicans love to talk about again, sticking government's nose in everything.

But for them, basically what they're trying to do is, like Alabama and Mississippi, telling cities, you can't touch monuments. We control that. But to sit here and now tell a city they can't make their own determination on how they spend the city's money on the police. Come on. You want me?

I see that Eugene had it exactly right when he was talking about the fact that DeSantis right now, honestly, he's just trying to set himself up for a presidential run. He's trying to be as outlandish as... He's trying to out-Trump Trump, really. You know, I see him as trying to make himself the quote-unquote heir apparent to the Trump crazies. And so that means that he is doing all of this ridiculous. Do you remember how extra he was with the whole COVID situation

and how we still have COVID running amok down there? Cannot trust one statistic out of that state because they have intentionally diluted the data so you can't show how badly it's run amok down there. And this is just another way in which he's literally looking to kill people. This is, the crazies have taken over the Republican Party, and the crazies of the crazies

are the ones who are now trying to get in leadership of this new sort of ridiculous, insane wing of that party. So as ridiculous and as dangerous as this law is and as all of those things are happening all over the country right now in terms of everything that's going on with voting rights, all of those things are outgrowths of this really off-the-rails, right-wing, white supremacist, just deadly and dangerous leanings of a Republican Party that is determined to do anything to hold onto power, to take power, and literally being willing to kill anyone who does not

agree with their political leanings. Yeah, I mean, it's just sort of laughable as we continue to see what they're doing. Let's now talk about another outlandish action with cops. In Massachusetts, an officer of the Milton Police Department will be prosecuted for assaulting one of her son's friends and her husband during a sleepover

at her home in September. Patricia Leo is accused of criticizing her son's black friend because he supported the Black Lives Matter movement and called her son's Hispanic friend an immigrant. At some point during the night, Leo allegedly asked the Hispanic boy to leave. She allegedly punched her husband

in the nose and then called the black boy to leave. She allegedly punched her husband in the nose and then called the black boy ignorant and brainwashed because he supported the Black Lives Matter movement. The police officer with the Milton Police Department for nearly 20 years, she's been on administrative leave since October. Her arraignment is set for May. Um, yo ass got to go.

Girl, why is she not in your crazy-ass white people's... There's no way she can be a cop, though. Why is she not in your crazy-ass white person? There's no way she can be a cop, though. Why is she not in your crazy-ass white people's... Because I got another crazy-ass white person. A crazier. They're new. But anyway... They're levels of crazy.

Child protective services should be in her house. And they should take her child someplace safe. And a police officer for 20 years assaults a child because she doesn't like his political views? This is insanity. I mean, this is total insanity. Maybe we should have, like,

three crazy-ass white people per show. I don't get it. It's absolutely ludicrous, but to me, yo, you punch your own husband in the nose because you're a bigot? Yeah, you might have more than just an arraignment. You might be talking between a

divorce attorney. Hey, folks, some breaking news here. Go to my computer, please. Leadership Conference on Civil Rights just posted this. Breaking. Senator Schumer just filed closure on Vanita Gupta's nomination, moving forward her Associate Attorney General nomination and setting up a final vote as soon as Wednesday. It's time to confirm Gupta this important Justice Department position. Civil rights can't wait. And so it looks like she will get that vote on Wednesday to be confirmed. Then, of course, last week, Christian Clark had her U.S. Senate hearing as well. And so we finally get some action on moving these women in the Department of Justice, the top top two positions and really focusing on civil rights in the DOJ.

Avis. Yeah, well, it's good to see that. I'm also super proud of Kristen Clark. Actually, personally, I would have liked to have seen her as Attorney General, but that's just me. I will say that, you know, it's about time that we have a team at the Justice Department that really embodies the word justice rather than corruption and just ridiculousness, which is what we're having to, you know, still

have some hangover from in terms of the last administration. And so I'm hoping that both of these nominees are able to swiftly be able to be confirmed so that we can have that more full team in place to do all of the work that we know needs to be done to undo a lot of the mess that they inherited and also to live up to all the challenges that we face today and will certainly continue to face in the future. Eugene. Look, get them confirmed. I mean, let's speed it up. Let's get them done. I mean, you know what the votes are going to be. You know, you got a majority right now that's just ramming through. You know, Republicans are going to be obstructionists,

going to, you know, put out whatever roadblocks they possibly can procedurally. But, you know, at this point, let's just get them done, get them through. Julianne? I absolutely agree. I'm with Avis. Kristen Clark could have been the attorney general. I wish she had been. But, you know, Biden was doing payback on Merrick Garland in terms of what happened to him with the Supreme Court. Both Kristen and Vanita Gupta deserve to be in the positions they've

been nominated for. And if Republicans can't cross the line on this, you know what? Smuck them. Um, we, you know, if Democrats hang together, and I hope that, um, that... Quisling from West Virginia, uh, doesn't start flipping and flopping, um, but if the... if Democrats can hang together on this, we will have some very good people in the Justice Department. It will be justice, not just us white people.

Uh, I gotta, I gotta ask, I gotta run this by y'all real quick here. good people in the Justice Department. It will be justice, not just us white people. I got to run this by y'all real quick here. So Kroger is having a few issues, y'all, because somebody posted a story here on social media where Kroger was closing two Southern California stores over a $4 per hour hero pay ordinance. Kroger then responds with this tweet. Grocery stores operate on razor-thin margins, and these mandates increase our operating costs by 20% to 30% depending on market, putting any struggling store in jeopardy. Okay, folks saw that, and then, ooh, they decided to whoop their ass.

First of all, this is the CEO pay for Kroger CEO Rodney McMullin. He made $21.1 million in fiscal year 2019. All right. So that's, they hit him with that. Okay. All right. So, so let me show you this here. Y'all gonna really crack up after this one here. Then they also posted this about Kroger. Kroger dropped in this statement, Kroger's strong fourth quarter performance and how well that they did. Okay, so they hit him with those receipts on social media as well. But this is the one that I really cracked up.

Kroger had a conversation with investors. Their fiscal 2020 highlight, identical sales without fuel grew 14.1%. Digital sales grew 116%. Their brand sales are $26.2 billion. Their operating profit was $2.8 billion. Adjusted FIFO operating profit of $4.1 billion. It's a little hard, Eugene, to make the argument, oh my God, $4 per hour for employees increase is going to somehow drive us out of business when you did $2.8 billion last year. I mean, look, I'm not privy to how Cobra operates their business model. I know some supermarket chains operate on a store-by-store basis, although they may have a parent company. But most supermarkets are small businesses.

Many of them are franchises. And while the Kroger Corporation made the $2.8 billion across all their stores, what may affect one market one way may affect something a different way. But it's not wise, Julian, to try to clap back some folks bringing up, oh, how much, oh, this is just gonna cause us... This is gonna raise our expenses 20% to 30% when you're touting your numbers to Wall Street. You know, Roland, here's the thing. Food costs have gone up.

Anybody who has gone to the grocery store in the last year has seen food prices tick up for any number of COVID reasons, but for other reasons. more than the average employee. This is absurd. Eugene, I'm going to have to dismiss your argument out of hand when you talk about, well, store by store by store by store. It's a corporation. It's a national and international corporation that is essentially making money from hungry people, from people who need food. And the heroes paid that the counties have asked for is nothing more than fair. When we look at what's been going on, these supermarket people, despite COVID, have gone to work, wear their masks, do their things, restock the shelves, take care of us when we

check out, and often are subject to abuse. I was at a grocery store the other day, Roland, I'm going to take your advice one day and start carrying my camera around. I did tell this white person, I said, have you ever heard of Roland Martin? She said, why? I said, because you would be a crazy ass white person. She would put her mask on. And I said, ma'am, would you please put your mask on? She told me no. And my phone was in my pocket and I couldn't get to it in time. But long story short, I've seen these employees ask people to wear their mask.

They won't do it. $4 is the least we can do for them. Kroger is full of it. I have never stepped my foot in a Kroger, but believe me, after this, I won't do it again. It's just never...

Sometimes you just want to keep your mouth shut, Avis, when you're responding to people on social media, because they will pull the receipts out on you real quick. No, serious receipts here. I was looking to try to look up those numbers again. Was that $2 or $4 billion in profit? Operating profit,

$2.8 billion. Roughly $3 billion in profit? Operating profit, $2.8 billion. So roughly $3 billion in profit. Profit. That's like after expenses, bro. Okay? Nearly $3 billion in profit. And they are sitting here whining about providing hero's pay. Let's also put into context a couple of things.

Particularly when this pandemic situation started, the data that I've seen around consumer spending is there was a huge, huge jump in consumer spending right at the beginning. And most of that jump was with grocery stores. Remember, people were going, stocking up, getting everything, all the paper, all that stuff. Then what we've seen since then is we know that the people who were those essential workers in grocery stores were literally putting their lives on the line. Some grocery store workers have literally caught COVID and died during this period. It is a dangerous job to be working at a grocery store in the middle of a pandemic. Hello. So the fact that these people are dragging their feet around providing an extra four bucks an hour for hero's pay,

which I do believe that literally does describe a hero if you're willing to risk your life so other people can eat. OK, when you're running around here trying to brag about the fact that you have nearly three billion dollars in profits, it's absolutely ridiculous. This should be a public relations disaster for Kroger, and I'm hoping that those sleuths on social media do everything that they can to make sure that it is. All right, folks. This weekend, a deadly weekend in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a suspect is in custody connected with a shooting at a local tavern. Three people died and three others were injured. Police in Austin, Texas arrested 41-year-old Stephen Nicholas Broderick, a former Travis County Sheriff's Office detective suspected of killing three people. Last year, Broderick was charged with

the sexual assault of a child. And in Chicago, a seven-year-old girl was shot six times on Sunday as she and her father waited in the drive-thru of a McDonald's. The child was pronounced dead at the hospital while her father is in serious condition. No one has been arrested, but police believe the shooting is gang-related. What's strange about this is over the weekend, we saw these conversations taking place, Julian, with John Boehner, former Speaker of the House.

And he was asked in one of these appearances with regards to, you know, his thoughts on the shootings. This, to me, was just maddening. Listen to this. But I first want to start with the moment that we're in in this country. We've had yet another mass shooting Thursday night, a couple overnight, eight people in Indianapolis, that's the one on Thursday, were killed. 47 mass shootings in the United States in just over the last month. And I know you know this poll show the vast majorities of Americans support at least some

new gun restrictions. When you were speaker, there were 20 first graders who were killed in Newtown, Connecticut. Looking back now, do you regret not passing new gun laws then? And do you want to see Republicans come to the table now, at least, to pass something? Well, back when Newtown happened, we couldn't find common ground with the other side. And I heard the earlier segment, and hopefully there's some common ground with the other side. And, you know, I heard the earlier segment, and hopefully there's some common ground to be found. I know that Senator Pat Toomey has been working on this across the aisle, trying to come to some agreement, and hopefully they'll find some common ground, because this is, frankly, it's heartbreaking. I think it's embarrassing our country to the rest of the world.

And we've got to find a way to deal with this problem. So this would be a top priority for you if you were still Speaker of the House? If, but I'm not. So those in power now are going to have to figure out what can be done. It's not about what everybody wants. It's a matter of what can be accomplished in a bipartisan way.

You know, it really pisses me off, Eugene, when politicians who didn't do a damn thing when they had the power now want to comment when they're out of office. I mean, that's the nature of politicians. You know, politicians that just give it to you straight out of office? I mean, that's the nature of politicians. You know, politicians that are just given to you straight are very, very far and few between,

because you don't want to meet friends or appease people that way. What he probably should have just said straight up is that we probably just find a way that to deal with mass shootings and gun violence that still protects Second Amendment rights. Um, you know, that-that's probably the conversation that needs to take place.

What he should have said, Avis, was, I didn't do my damn job when I was there because I was trying to kiss the ass of the NRA. Absolutely. And now that I'm a punk, I can sit up out of office, I can sit here and claim that, oh, well, those people who are there now should work in a bipartisan way. Now that we know that his whole party, quote unquote, is now run by the crazies who are all interested in any sort of bipartisan action on anything. So it's very safe

and very convenient that he feels this way now. It is, once again, it shows profiles in cowardice. We see this a lot from politicians, but particularly those in the Republican Party who are now no longer there or who are about to resign. And right at the very end, when they're about to resign, they may develop a little bit of a little teeny bit of courage, maybe the size of a mustard seed to say something's wrong here. But the bulk of them who are in power right now, who see ridiculousness happening right now in this dire issue, are still too afraid to do anything or say anything about it. And we are living in a country that day after day are experiencing bloodbaths because we have politicians who are afraid to stand up and make the movements

that they need to make in terms of legislation to put an end to this nonsense. Julianne. You know, there's an intersectionality here going on. It's not just about the laws. Although the laws are extremely important. It's not just about the action, although the laws are extremely important. It's not just about the action that Republicans,

and they're not a party, they're a cult, but that those people take. But it's also about why are these people, especially when it's young white men, running around shooting stuff up? When you look at Indianapolis, I mean, the dude was mentally ill. His mama called the FBI

and said, come do something with this child. He had two long shotguns. There is something going on in our nation that's corrosive, and we can't deal with it until we deal with a set of other issues, which frankly revolve

or not solely about and not grounded in, but revolve around issues of race and people like that Marjorie person, this whole notion of white exclusion, the notion that they believe that they're being written out. So when they believe they're being written out, they cling tenaciously to symbols of whiteness, like guns, like Confederate statues. We can talk at the top of it about, okay, IDs, background checks, and all that.

Fine. If you want a gun, you can find a gun. And so I think that our nation is up for a reckoning. I don't think that anybody is better suited to do it than a Joe Biden, the old white man who started out kind of someplace and is now in the right place with a good VP. But there's a reckoning that has to happen. And until we have that reckoning, we're going to keep seeing this stuff.

You talked about whiteness. Well, the reality is that is really the subject of a new book that we talk about next in our book club. White evangelicals play a powerful role in the disunion of today's American political scene and also the role they have in the Republican Party. Dr. Anthea Butler, she's the author of a new book. It is called White Evangelical Racism, the Politics of Morality in America. And she joins us right now. This is the book right here. Again, White Evangelical Racism, the Politics of Morality in America. Dr. Butler, glad to have you on here. And the reality is this year, we see it

constantly. We saw it with Donald Trump, how they sucked up to him. The racist things that he said, they didn't care. Xenophobic things, whatever, don't care. The attack on Muslims, don't care. And that these white evangelicals, these white conservative evangelicals, it's more about whiteness than it is about Jesus. That is absolutely correct, Roland. Thank you for having me tonight. I wanted to show this as a history in this book because I think it's really important for everyone in America to understand that evangelicalism, the foundation has been racism since the 19th century and even before that, but especially for the 19th to the 21st century and the ways in which they've used morality to shield the kind of power that they want

and the ways that they have placed themselves within the Republican Party, I think is important for where we have been and where we about to go in this country right now. And the reality is, I'll give a perfect example. You have Ralph Reed. He has his faith and freedom or freedom and faith, whatever the hell they call it, annual deal. And there have been a number of times I've gone on his list, and it's all of these Republican candidates come through, all these Republican speakers. And I've often tweeted them saying, boy, I noticed. I said, for a so-called faith conference, y'all ain't got one session on poverty or any of the stuff Jesus talked about.

And it's amazing how their business interests are the business interests, their interest on all these other issues, and it's not about faith, but they use that Bible to bludgeon others when it comes to the culture wars. No, that's absolutely correct. I mean, because the number one thing is about how do you get the power and how do you get the money? I mean, I think one of the things

that people need to understand is that all this time when evangelicals were talking about abortion, they were talking about same-sex marriage, they were talking about all these things that they detested and the kind of morality they wanted. I think one of the things that was really interesting from 2016 forward is that Donald Trump blew all that up and let everybody else see it. Some of us knew that before. But when you're talking about going to meetings with Ralph Reed, I mean, Ralph Reed had this all down back in the 90s. Before it was Faith and Freedom, it was Christian Coalition. And they started that off with them to tell people how they were supposed to vote, how they needed to think about the candidates.

So they even had voters, guys, that you could take into the voting booth and vote just straight down the ticket like they wanted you to. We need to see about what evangelicals have been doing is this way in which they've ingratiated themselves politically. You know, first, if we're talking about the 19th century Democratic Party and then in the 20th century post 1964, where that has gone into the Republican Party and this marriage of sorts that they have had with each other. And when we talk about, again, when you look at how they weaponize faith, it's amazing how silent they are on issues of racial justice, because again, whiteness precedes their faith. Yes, that is correct. And I think, you know, again, we have to see this from both the historical and the current perspective, the ways in which they talk about the family, for instance. Remember all the talk about the black family is broken. They don't have any parents. It's always about, you know, whether or not somebody is, you know, unwed mothers and things like this. And they put this on the black family. These are constructions that were made in the 19th century, but they have an effect in the 21st century because that's when they say, well, we're not going to give anybody any help. We're not going to do anything about schools. We're not going to do anything about any of these things that people are really, you know, really serious and need to think about. So what evangelicals have been doing is sort of doing like a bait and switch. They've been talking about morality all this time, but the reality is that they've been pulling away the kinds of social contracts that we need

or even the things that you think about that are in the gospel that they should believe about feeding the poor, you know, taking care of the widows and all this other stuff. They haven't done any of this at all. This is all about power and about how they can have more power, A, and, B, more money.

Questions from my panel. I'll start first off with Avis. You know, I find this to be a very intriguing topic because, you know, I may not be the best expert on religion, but it seems very clear to me that when you look at white evangelicals and how they behave versus what Christianity supposedly stands for,

I'm so excited that your work is exposing it for what it is, being based in protecting whiteness versus Christianity. So my question to you is, in terms of being able to empower sort of Christians beyond that specific ilk to maybe call them to task, you know, do you think that there is any things that other people could do who are maybe interested in perhaps showing a more strong fidelity to the morality and to the standards of Christianity to really call out these white evangelicals as the, once again, the hypocrites that they are? Are there, you know, I'm thinking of Reverend Barber, perhaps, as an example, but other examples

of how individuals who are more true to faith, what they should do to call out this sort of strong voting bloc that really stands for nothing more than weaponizing their racism in the political sphere? Yeah, no, that's a really good question. I think one of the things you first have to do is, if you are in any of these churches,

you need to get up and go. Because basically, you're subjecting yourself to this kind of thinking. And I think for a lot of Black conservatives, especially, they have bought this hook, line, and sinker. And that means that they are projecting this out into our Black communities, is one thing. Second, I think about pastors, not just about Reverend Barber,

but, you know, Reverend Otis Moss, you know, Reverend Freddie Haynes and others who are preaching what I would call a more full gospel. And in terms of thinking about social justice, the kind of race issues. The other thing I think is really important is I think that Black Christians need to stop playing these racial reconciliation games with white evangelicals. I'm looking at right now what's happening with the Southern Baptist Convention and how they're having black pastors leaving like Dwight McKissick and others because they finally figured out that they had enough. What they didn't understand before is that they were pawns in this game of making those people look like they were less racist

than they really are. And I think that's the other thing we have to call out is that the kinds of people who continue to support these white racist structures by saying we don't see color are in fact, you know, messing up their black brothers and sisters because, as a matter of fact, the color that they see, just as much as white evangelicals, is white.

And that's the important part. I want to say one more thing, though. I think what's really important is that, you know, Black churches know how to get out the vote. And right now, voting is in peril. And evangelicals are a part of this. There's a whole history about that with somebody named Paul Ryrick, who in the 1970s was working alongside at the beginnings of the moral majority with people like Jerry Falwell Sr. and others. One of the things he said was this. We don't want everybody to vote. You all think that there's supposed to be good government,

but we don't want everybody to vote. We need to figure out how to make sure that these people don't vote. These people mean Black people. And so Black churches need to do more than just get souls out to the polls. We need to get involved in every area of political action and activity and begin to do the same kinds of things that white evangelicals have been doing. Mm. Julianne.

Your work, my sister, is very powerful, as is your presentation, and we're grateful for you. Especially when I think about the letter from the Brim- Birmingham jail, where Dr. King called out the white Christians who basically could not deal with racism. And so you're basically talking about some of the same things, these folks who refuse to deal with their own racism.

I'm glad you ended your comment from Avis with the commentary about voting in the polls. But what about the economic aspects of this? What can we do economically to bring these fundamentalist Christians to their knees, to make them think differently about us? Yes, this is a little bit harder. And I need to say this because I think this is really important for your listeners to understand and for Black Christians especially to understand. These organizations like Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, American Family Association, these are not just about talking about nice Christian things. These are powerful lobbying organizations that back up Republicans.

Where are our powerful lobbying organizations? We have not given money in the same way to these kinds of things, first of all. And secondarily, we rely on the NAACP and other kinds of orgs to do that work. We need to start to think about how do we get organizations that are fighting for the things that we want. One of the things that people said, you know, in various administrations, I'm not going to pick on anybody right now, is that Black people bring out the votes for you, but we don't get the things that we want. And I think that one of the reasons why is because we have to have a concerted organization about how we do that and how to put the pressure

on lawmakers and others and people in your own community. Right now, people in my home state of Texas are fighting about voting right now. They're trying to get this thing so that they don't lock down things like they've locked it down in Georgia. And I think that's where we need to start to train our energies and that churches will have to think about how do they get involved? Because this is disenfranchising Black people. This is a way in which we're not being able to go to move forward. One more thing. I think a lot of times what we don't even consider are the ways in which white evangelicals are embedded in law enforcement and how that works out.

This whole Blue Lives Matter thing, the ways in which, you know, the police get sacralized, this organization that was raising money for that boy in Wisconsin that went and shot two people after the police shooting. That's a Christian, white Christian organization raising almost a million dollars for a kid who went with a gun and shot people indiscriminately. Now, I ask you, how do we get through all of this? Well, one thing we have to do is to begin to realize that these organizations are there and that, again, if you are a Black person, stop giving money to this and start to think about the ways in which you can empower organizations that are fighting

for the rights of people in a much more broad way than just these narrow ways that you have been. Because I think a lot of people out there are giving their 10% to white churches and white leaders that don't need their money. Eugene. I appreciate you being here. You kind of answered my question with your last answer.

But I guess to maybe reframe it a little bit, with the blackening and browning of America, I would presume the same is going to happen within the Christian community. You know, what are some of the tactics that maybe some of the organizations can take to prepare for that, to assume those mannals of power and those mannals of influence. As the blackening and browning happens, the power of white evangelicals is going to either be super compact and limited to certain regional areas, or just be diluted altogether. Black America needs to be prepared to step into that fold and assume and fill that power gap. Well, you would think that,

but when you have people who have a stranglehold on power, that's going to be a little bit more difficult because while you say that, you know, Black and brown people will be able to get that, I want to remind you that during the Trump administration, we had over 200 judges appointed, you know, and then you also had three Supreme Court judges appointed. So this is not a game. This is really serious in the ways in which the people will have to think

strategically about maybe the demographics are changing, but how do you change the power structure? The power structure cannot change unless we have people at every level of government. We begin to have different kinds of people at every level of government. So what I mean by that is people who are willing to think about the ways in which power has been used in malfeasance kind of ways. And to think about how we're going to prepare for that is to think about are our organizations strong enough? That's first of all. Are we linking up with churches to think about that? How do we think about getting equal pay for everybody? You were just talking about Kroger. It is a shame that Kroger is doing what it's doing right now. And there's no excuse for it. There's just none.

Because they make millions and millions of dollars. But at the same time, I think economic pressure is really important. There is a question about, you know, whether or not people should be boycotting Georgia. And there was questions that Stacey Abrams didn't want that, and other people wanted boycotts of certain things thatcotting Georgia. And there was questions that Stacey Abrams didn't want that, and other people wanted boycotts of certain things that happened in Georgia. I think people have to use the power that they have at hand

to start to make these organizations pay attention to things. But until we decide to make a concerted effort, like Republicans and evangelicals have together, to be involved in the political system and not just getting elected, but also making the structures underneath those elections to hold firm. I think that's really important. Last thing, and this is going to be the thing that hurts everybody's feelings.

I think that many of these churches and religious organizations in this country probably need to pay taxes because they've gotten away with this for a very long time. We see all the stories. There was just a story today about a pastor, I believe somewhere in the D.C. area, that got 1.5 million PPP money and just used that to buy a bunch of cars. Excuse me. This is ridiculous. And I think that it's not just the ways

in which people take money from the government, but it's also the ways they fleece people in order to buy jets and all this kind of stuff. And we joke about that, but there's a real serious part of this where evangelical Christianity has turned into a real business and we need to start considering it that, and we need to start taxing it. All right then. All right, folks. Here's the book again. Show it, please. The book is called White Evangelical Racism, The Politics of Morality in America

by Dr. Anthea Butler. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. You're welcome. Take care. Thank you, Robert. All right. Thank you very much. All right, folks. Real quick, I'm going to... First of all, let me thank Eugene, Avis, and Julian for being part of our panel today. I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

And as well as... As well as, of course, our legal panel, we thank them as well. Let me give you a shout out to the folks who join our fan club. John McCall, Cornelia Ojukwu, Miriam Dries, Charles Bell, Derek Thomas, Rosetta Fulwiley, Veronica Robinson, Edgar Easterlong, Doris Lowe,

Gina Watson, Melanie Tittle, C. Harris, Ruby Hightower, Barbara Jones, Lynette Hadley. I got this note here. I slept on you for a minute. Thank you for waking me up to the content that dictates while we see experience, daily tribulations, Monday through Friday. From what I see on YouTube,

there's not a close second place to your show. Keep doing what you're doing. I'll be a contributor here on out. And so, Bail, I certainly appreciate that. Thank you so very much. I enjoy Real News and you do bring that. I will get a second job in order to support the vision. Big screen

take Fox out. Cornelia, I appreciate that as well. Let's see here. We got this card right here. Dr. Carr suggested I was able to put together two, three, or four dollars, LOL. Well, a little bit more than that. Roland Martin and the Filters is the best news information program in the country. I appreciate you.

This is Veronica. Thank you very much for the news and service you practice. I always know I can go to you for the honest perspective you provide. And turn it over. It took me forever to get the street address. Please add to the ticker tape in the home page. All right, she's talking about the crawlers at the bottom. So, Kenan, go ahead and add

our address to that. Let's see here. You're doing a very good job reaching the black people on YouTube, but you need your own network because a lot of blacks won't tune in to YouTube, but they will go to major channels and they don't get the real truth from those channels.

Let's see here. Also, Dr. Carr, great to watch. Talk truth. Thank you for that. This brother says you will have your own network. Just be patient. And let's see here. I'm going to read a shorter one before I get on out of here.

That's not it. And let me see if I can read a shorter one. Let's see here. Mr. Martin, I just had to thank you for this show and all you do. I would like to help you reach your goal. Here's a hundred bucks to help you do the thing you do. Keep pushing and help us to understand more. I'm hooked on your show. That's doors low. So folks, we certainly appreciate that. Y'all want to support what we do. If you give to YouTube folks, we only get 55% of that. If y'all want to support what we do, if you give to YouTube, folks, we only get 55% of that. They keep 45%. So if you want to support us directly, please Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered,

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I certainly appreciate it. I know April 15th was Jackie Robinson Day, but I wanted to go ahead and rock my – I have two Jackie Robinson jerseys, and so I wanted to go ahead and rock it again in support of Jackie Robinson. And so, folks, thank you so very much. We will see y'all tomorrow. Y'all like the new background? We switched it out. So we had another one.

And so put a little more blue in this one. The other one was like really, really blue. So we'll mix it up. So we're going to throw some different looks at y'all. So I certainly hope y'all enjoy the show. Again, we got some phenomenal things being planned. I so wish I could share some of the stuff with you. But my goodness, I mean, it's going to be amazing. And tomorrow I'm going to show you a preview of a new six part

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All right, folks, I will see y'all tomorrow. Howl! with Facebook. And so you don't want to miss that. All right, folks, I will see y'all tomorrow. A lot of times big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways from tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith.

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