#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Diddy Indicted, Black Votes Matter's $15M Spend, New Orleans Celebrates Frankie Beverly

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

9.17.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Diddy Indicted, Black Votes Matter's $15M Spend, New Orleans Celebrates Frankie Beverly Rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is hit with a three-count federal indictment of racketeering and sex trafficking charges.  We have a special legal panel and an anti-trafficking specialist to discuss this case.  Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, will explain how the organization spends $15 million on voter engagement efforts to mobilize Black Americans to the polls. We'll tell you why a Texas judge told crooked state attorney Ken Paxton that his lawsuit to stop voter registration is moot.   Vice President Kamala Harris sits down with a panel from the National Association of Black Journalists.  And New Orleans celebrates the life of Frankie Beverly.  We'll show you how thousands took the streets.  Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

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Hey, folks. Today is Tuesday, September 17, 2024, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. I am live in Detroit, breaking news out of New York. Sean P. Diddy Combs is sitting in a federal prison cell, in a jail cell, after a judge denied him bond after he was hit with a three-count racketeering and sex trafficking charge by federal authorities. We'll walk you through that, hear from his attorney as well. Also on today's show, Black Lives Matter. They plan to spend some $15 million in battleground states to drive folks to the polls.

We'll talk with Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Lives Matter. Also, we'll tell you why a Texas judge told crooked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that his lawsuit to stop voter registration is a joke. Vice President Kamala Harris sits down with three Germans from the National Association of Black Journalists. We'll show you some of that. Also, New Orleans, in their own way paid tribute to the late Frankie Beverly by having a massive second line in his honor. They even

had a poster of Frankie Beverly in a casket. Only in New Orleans. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's rolling it's Uncle Roro y'all

it's Roland Martin rolling with Roland now he's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best you know he's Roland Martin He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's rolling, Martin. Martin. Months after federal authorities and Department of Homeland Security raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami,

Sean P. Diddy Combs has been indicted by a federal grand jury. He was arrested late last night in New York City. Well, today, that indictment was unsealed, and U.S. Attorney Damon Williams laid out the charges against the rap music mogul. Here's what he said today in a news conference. Today, I'm announcing the unsealing of a three count indictment charging Sean Combs with racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. The indictment alleges that between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused, threatened and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. As part of this investigation, in March of this

year, special agents from HSI executed search warrants at Combs' residences in Miami and Los Angeles. They also executed a warrant for Combs' electronic devices. During those searches, agents seized evidence of the crimes charged in this indictment. They seized firearms and ammunition, including three defaced AR-15s and a large capacity drum magazine. They also seized evidence of the freak-offs, electronic devices that contain images and videos of the freak-offs with multiple victims. And they seize cases and cases of the kinds of personal lubricant and baby oil that Combs' staff allegedly used to stock hotel rooms for the freak-offs, more than 1,000 bottles altogether. Now, I want to be clear about two things. First, this office is determined to

investigate and prosecute anyone who engages in sex trafficking, no matter how powerful or wealthy or famous you may be. No one should doubt our commitment on that. A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City. Today, he's been indicted and will face justice in the Southern District of New York. Second, we are not done. This investigation is ongoing, and I encourage anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly. Anyone with information can call 1-877-4HSITIP. I want to express my deep appreciation for the victims and witnesses who have used their voices

and helped bring this criminal conduct to light. We would not be here without them. Folks, you go through the indictment, it just lays out, uh, sescapades. It talks about flying, uh, sex workers, male and female all across the country. It talks about coercion. Uh, they also lay out when they call this a criminal enterprise, how workers for various, uh, combs enterprises, various companies, Sean P.D.D. Combs actually own and control the role that they played in all of this. I want to get right to it with our legal panel. Candace Kelly, legal analyst from South Orange, New Jersey. Joe Richardson, civil rights attorney out of Los Angeles. Aisha Braveboy, state's attorney, Prince George's County, Maryland. Now, folks, keep in mind, Combs has pled not guilty. And early, they went before the court, and his attorneys had laid out,

they had prepared this document that laid out how they could make bond, putting up his $48 million home in Miami. Also, they talked about he surrendered his passport to the lawyer in April. His children, his sons also surrendered their passport. But the judge said, no, he was simply too dangerous. And there was a history of violence as well as witness intimidation. Here is his attorney, Mark Agnavilo, after court today. Tomorrow at 3.30 in front of Judge Carter, the district judge assigned to this case, Agnavilo after court today.

Tomorrow at 3.30 in front of Judge Carter, the district judge assigned to this case. I think that we made the points that we've been wanting to make. I think he came out. Mr. Combs is a fighter. He's going to fight this to the end. He's innocent. He came to New York to establish his innocence. He's not afraid. He's not afraid of the charges. There's nothing that the government said in their presentation today that changes anyone's mind about anything. He's been looking forward to this day. He's been looking forward to clearing his name and he's going to clear his name. And we're going to stand by his side as he does. We believe in him wholeheartedly. He didn't do these things. This was a 10-year relationship.

There's no coercion. There's no crime. There's basically just, you know, someone who brought a civil case and now is finding themselves as a witness in a criminal case. And we're going to fight this case with everything we have, as is he. And eventually he's going to be shown to be innocent. And so tomorrow we fight again and we fight. We'll fight every day until we don't have to fight anymore. I don't know. The question is, why did it happen last night instead of today? I don't know the answer to that question. I just want to make one point very clear. We have no power. All we can do is show good faith. He got on a plane and he came here. And if he stayed here for one day before the case started or for one year before

the case started, he was going to stay as long as he needed to stay. It ends up being only 12 days. That's fine. That's what the government want to do. The government didn't want him to turn himself in. He came here to turn himself in. Why doesn't the government want him to turn himself in? Because then they can't ask for detention. So they go and they arrest him. They arrest the guy who came to New York to turn himself in. But we are going to make all these points again, again tomorrow, and we'll make it as much as we can until we get him out. Well, again, right now he is sitting in federal jail held without bond and not sure how long it's going to happen. I want to go to Aisha Brayboy first. As you looked at this indictment, I was talking to some other attorneys earlier, defense attorneys. They said the problem

they had was lack of specificity in this indictment. Give me your assessment of this 14-page indictment. Well, the indictment doesn't have to be specific. The indictment has to lay a factual basis for the underlying offense, which is the racketeering, the human trafficking, and also the transportation of individuals for prostitution. So it just has to lay out the factual basis. It doesn't have to go into detail every specific part of the crime and every actor in the crime. So this is a typical indictment. Certainly, defense attorneys always want more, but this is what was needed in order to convince the grand jury to indict Mr. Combs. Candace, your perspective. Well, listen, they didn't have to be specific, as she says, but the other thing is that they

were specific enough with some of the information that we found in the indictment. My takeaway really was it's just very interesting, too, that when we look at this, this is something that Damian Williams said, we are going to continue this. The work is not done, he said. He gave him one 877 number for anybody to call to continue their investigation that's been going on for at least six months. So while there was no specificity or maybe not as much as people would like, there was enough and it's not done. They're going to be talking to people. The case itself, you will see that the only person that is named in terms of who they are prosecuting is Sean Combs, even though this was a racketeering at the top tier

level type of offense with other offenses. But I'm saying that because even though this was racketeering, we know there were other people involved, but behind closed doors, they've already made their deals and maybe some charges might come, but most of them are talking because they feel safe and they want more people to come forward because they feel safe, too. But this is something, too, I think one of the questions, and it struck me in this indictment that was answered, is that this is an international case. This is why we're dealing with the Department of Homeland Security and not just the FBI. This was a question that kind of—the answer was evaded for a long time in terms of what's going on here, why the Homeland Security,

because apparently, according to the indictment, there were people who were being flown in internationally. And my final point is this. They have the videos to prove this. I know there's, you know, a thousand bottles of lubricant and all of that is a lot to make a lot of memes off of, but they have videos. They seized his phones. They seized his computers. They have a huge digital footprint. And that's all that they need. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways.

Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up. so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives.

But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Sir, we are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey.

We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

and the Ad Council. In order to make this case stick, when you think about R. Kelly and the racketeering charges and any other kind of comparative charges, this is worse. Joe, do you get the sense that what they're doing here, again, by calling it a criminal enterprise, is saying, OK, any of y'all who worked for this guy, we're going to give you an opportunity to call us and, frankly, cut deals. And by doing so, that's going to lead to more information, more evidence, more encounters. Is that your assessment of how you look at this indictment?

And again, lack of specificity, but by saying they're continuing, this is a way for them to draw people out who otherwise will remain silent. When you bring a case, you have to allege at a certain threshold in order to go down the road. And they have a luxury here, and that luxury is that Sean P. Diddy Combs is not a man that people are not okay testifying against now. That shield has been broken somewhat. And so to the extent that they feel like they're missing anything, they can put the word out. Conspiracy, C-O-N means with or together. It's powerful, just like with the R. Kelly case, as was said before, there's a conspiracy alleged, but you don't have any co-conspirators that are being prosecuted. As of now, they can always threaten that.

And a lot of those conversations have already gone on. So their belief is that there's good money that they can bet that says that the things that they need to address the specificity issues and to get over that beyond a reasonable doubt threshold is out there and that that information is forthcoming because among other things, people feel more safe. I can't believe he let Cassie file this lawsuit. It opened up the floodgates. There were some things that were already going on, but for him to pay that lawsuit on day one meant that more people were going to come out. And when the feds are hitting up your house, you know, houses together at the same time, they typically know what they're looking for. They typically know exactly where it is that they're going. And so they are very clear eyed

and they feel very confident that whatever they need, they can leverage the threat of someone being part of the conspiracy officially to get that information. Aisha, again, the U.S. attorney made clear here that they're seeking, this is not it, they're seeking more individuals, seeking more information. He is now behind bars. He's now limited. The judge said that looking at what was alleged in the indictment, we're talking about a true criminal enterprise where individuals were hurt, beaten, threatened with weapons to be quiet, to stay quiet. And think about it now. Right now, Mr. Combs is facing 15 to life, 15 to life. And so, you know, Mr. Combs, his co-conspirators, anyone out there who has benefited, whether the government knows about them now or will know about them in the future, they all have something

to lose. And so I think that what the judge wants to do is protect the victims, protect the evidence, ensure that Mr. Combs, who is a person of means, remains in this country. Whether he doesn't have his passport or not. There are methods for those who have means to leave this country, and the judge understands that. So I think taking everything together, the judge made a smart decision based on what the U.S. attorney is alleging in this case. And, you know, as was mentioned by one of your other guests, this isn't anything that's pie in the sky. There's video. Now, they have been very specific in saying that they have video evidence of the crimes. And so I think that understanding that, knowing that, it is far more likely that the U.S. attorney has what it needs to move forward

with this case today. Today the U.S. attorney can move forward with this case. The fact is he will continue to gather information from those who he has already identified, who I'm sure are cooperating now, and those who will cooperate, because now the message is clear. The message is out there. Your wealth, your power, your influence won't shield you, won't shield you from the law. And so those who thought that they were shielded understand now that they are no longer shielded. So others will come forward. I think this indictment and the timing of this indictment wasn't just to send a message to Mr. Combs. He had already received that message. It was really for other people out there with critical information that the government wants. But I do believe that

they have enough now to move forward and make their case. Candace, the point that Joe made, I'd love to get your perspective on it. So many people were shocked that when the Cassie lawsuit dropped, then it was settled less than 24 hours later. And it seems that that lawsuit lawsuit really started this whole thing. And I've heard numerous attorneys say they don't know what attorney in their right mind would have allowed that lawsuit to ever be filed. Just your thoughts on that. Well, you are correct, because let's look at the facts. There were a handful of lawsuits that came long before Cassie, and no needle was moved on a prosecutorial level. There was nothing that the feds or anybody international was looking at.

But when Cassie dropped, that is exactly when the tides changed. When he made that quick settlement, that's when he really opened the floodgates for all of these details to come about. And that, as you said, is a problem that I do not know why any attorney thought that settling this lawsuit that he would think would go away. Looking at this particular case, you see that it's not just a question about him sex trafficking. Listen, Sean Combs is the type of person that could have been in consensual relationships with a group of people and had group sex. That's legal.

What he did and what this says was more sinister than that. So we're not looking at just fulfilling his sexual desires. This is someone with a media indictment that drugged his victims and then used intravenous fluids in order to bring those victims back to life. That is something that goes way beyond what we've ever really heard of in cases like this. He took it really to the next level and kind of sharing the type of person that he is, if this is true, that this is not just a question of him having sex, as his attorney said, oh, this was a consensual 10-year relationship. No, we're talking about intravenous drugs and ketamine and things that revive people after they have been filmed against their will saying that they were

raped. So it's much bigger than just, you know, thinking of somebody with a big sexual appetite. This is about power. This is about dominance. This is about holding people's careers over their heads in order to get what they want with the use of arson, with the use of guns, with the use of taking away money and means for families to survive. This is such a big, big picture that and it's only 14 pages of an indictment, but it certainly is filled with so much information that I would really encourage everybody to read it. Jacqueline Aloto with the No Trafficking Zone, I'm going to bring you in here. Share with us your perspective on them framing this as an international case involving, this wasn't the FBI, this was the Department of Homeland Security.

What do you make of that? I think that this case is very similar to Epstein's case, where Epstein used the modeling industry and Diddy used the music and the entertainment industry to fly in different victims during these parties. I also want to say that there is so many other people that are a part of this. You cannot have this many people coming out and victims and facilitating all of this and not having people cover for you. And that is really the trick when it comes to people that are in positions of power and influence, how easy it is to traffic and produce these sex crimes. And you saw that with the Cassie video when

she was beaten at that hotel. There was a police report. Why didn't anything happen? Why didn't anything happen further? Why weren't there charges? Why was it covered up? I also want to discuss, to say that because someone's in a relationship they can't be sex trafficked, is the most absurd thing I've ever heard of. Parents sex traffic their children. Spouses traffic their partners all the time. And this was a criminal enterprise. I think that is going to show that when you have a digital footprint, like they're saying, that's not just video.

That's also text messages and emails where people communicated back and forth to help facilitate this crime. And you're going to see that substantiated with that evidence. So do me a favor. So Aisha, actually, I want Jacqueline first. Explain for the audience what sex trafficking actually is. So when you say that you can be in a relationship, you can be married to somebody and still sex traffic them, explain what that means, Jacqueline first, then Aisha. Sure. So the technical terminology is force, fraud, coercion.

But really sex trafficking is about being groomed. You are groomed by a predator and you are manipulated. And over that period of time, you're also trauma bonded to that predator, where they start buying and selling you and profiting and participating off of selling you for commercial sexual exploitation. In Didi's case, he did it with females and males. Ayesha? So when we look at claims of sex trafficking, we are looking for force. It could be fraud, some type of coercion to compel someone to participate in a sex act

for commercial purposes or for something of value. And that clearly is outlined and alleged in this indictment. You know, I did want to mention one other thing, because in looking at the video that you just showed of Cassie being brutally beaten by Mr. Combs, you know, when we first saw that, we were like, oh, my goodness, he needs to be arrested, prosecuted. And then we were all disheartened when we found out that, of course, the statute of limitations had run. Now, this incident is actually outlined in and referenced in the indictment. I think one of the things that the RICO statute gives federal authorities the power to do is to bring in those acts that are crimes committed in the state for which a statute of limitations has run, has told, but if they

are in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy, they can be used as predicate crimes to prove the criminal conspiracy. So hopefully, as this prosecution moves forward, even though he was not prosecuted in California for that crime, that that crime will be a part of any prosecution moving forward, and he can still be held accountable for what happened to Cassie on that day. It was also interesting here, Jo, again, when you look at this indictment, when they talk about free calls, listen, there are sex parties. There are people that advertise sex parties, and these are people who make consensual decisions. When you look in this indictment, though, they talk about kidnapping.

They talk about arson. And so it was interesting looking at the different examples they gave in this indictment. Arson really jumped out at me. You're like, my goodness. Yeah, I mean, you got guns, you got drugs, you got threats, you've got all. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Businessweek.

I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that

Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams,

NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill, NHL enforcer Riley Cote,

Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. These things that work together to keep these people, to coerce them, to force them. You've got the threat of losing their livelihood. They are dependent. Maybe they're on the label. They work for Puppy Combs somehow

or some way. And you've got all of these things basically being used to force them to be in the situations that they wouldn't be otherwise. These aren't voluntary situations. Cassie didn't want to be with Sean P. Diddy Combs so that she could have sex with sex workers, you know, while he masturbated. That's not why she got involved with him. But she was coerced. She was forced. She was leveraged into staying in this situation because she briefly felt like she couldn't leave it. You see what you saw at the elevator there. That's just a microcosm of what was really going on. The idea that she couldn't leave, the idea that she was that she was choked into not leaving, not only literally,

but figuratively. So, you know, this is all all of these things will work together to keep people on one side of the line, keep them in line, pay to get the people that could otherwise say something, that witness. He's got security. He's got other people that are part of this in their ways. And of course, they're going to be shaken into doing the things that they need to do related to it, related to potential testimony. But yeah, it was really powerful, all of the things that he did in order to keep these people that did not want to be in place, in place. This is not a voluntary, freak-off, you know, I'm creative, I like to do crazy stuff thing.

This is a situation where people are scared for their lives, had their lives threatened, had their lives jeopardized, they were physically hurt, they were hurt in other ways. And so therefore, there's your conspiracy. And that's why he's got the problems he doesn't. Jacqueline and Candace, I'm going to Jacqueline first and then Candace. By keeping him in jail, this severely obviously limits his movements. Do you expect a number of people to feel, to have the freedom to now come forward thinking that because he's behind bars,

frankly, he can't reach them and it gives them a lot more comfort to be able to come forward to authorities? Jacqueline and Candace. Yes. I think that this sends a very powerful message because what happens with victims a lot of times when they come forward, especially when the predators are so powerful,

is nothing happens and they're retaliated against more, whether they lose their life, their livelihood, their status in the community. They lose everything just from speaking up. That's one of the reasons why we say to people, you know, don't always say when you see something, say something, because there are really penalties to that. This sends an amazing message to victims that are scared, who've always wanted to come forward, that now when they say something, they're going to get justice without retaliation and retribution. That is so important. I also wanted to say that shame is something that's a big part of coercion and grooming

with sex trafficking. A lot of times these people are blackmailing victims in sexual acts that they do, whether they're drugging them or they're in very vulnerable situations, and then they blackmailing victims in sexual acts that they do, whether they're drugging them or they're in very vulnerable situations, and then they blackmail them, which often keeps victims with their predators for a lot longer. I think this is such an incredible message that he's going to stay behind bars, and I think you're going to see a lot more victims coming out and a lot more people that have already also witnessed these crimes coming forward.

Candace? Listen, what the judge did really coincided overall with Damian Williams' strategy, and that is to keep Sean Combs behind bars so that other people could come forward. You do feel safer when someone is behind bars. The whole idea of him tampering with witnesses, that was one of the main things that the judge said was a part of her issue, that he had done this before and that he might even do it again. Yes, his house is for sale and his plane is for sale. He made efforts on paper to do this. But what he also did, and this is where the arson came in, is he has tampered with witnesses, as he has in the past. There was Kid Cuddy. He was the one who was talked about in the Cassie indictment. And it was alleged that he was trying to help Cassie,

and he said, I will blow up his car. And in fact, that did happen. That's where the arson comes in, if you connect the dots of these two indictments. And by this decision that did happen. That's where the arson comes in if you connect the dots of these two indictments. And by this decision of him being behind bars, this opens the door, swings them open for people to come forward and speak their peace and be protected and even make a deal if they happen to be a part of this conspiracy. The RICO Act is really important here because the RICO Act, even though the Adult Survivors Act has closed its door, that's how Cassie and a couple of other people got in before that deadline, the RICO Act allows you to go back further than just the four years that are on

record by law that you can go back. If you can go back even further and connect the dots of crimes that have taken place for a continuous criminal process, then you can go back before those four years. So that's also something that Damian Williams has on his side, so that when people come forward, what they say and what they did can be a part of this case because of the RICO statute. Aisha, last question for you. Obviously, federal trials are different from state trials.

Any sense, and for the purpose of the audience, how long it'll be before this actually goes to trial? Six months, nine months, a year? I mean, these things fluctuate depending upon the case. I think it's going to be much longer than that. That's my opinion. Because I think that, number one, we're not dealing with a statute of limitations. I don't know that Mr. Combs is in any rush, right, to have this case prosecuted. There will be, he will have speedy trial rights, and so that has to be taken into consideration. But I would suspect that he—that this may not even go to trial. This may end up in some type of plea, because I think the evidence as it comes in is going to be completely overwhelming.

The other thing is, one of the things that the prosecutors said was, come quickly. If you have something to say, tell me now. And I think part of that is that he feels like he has a really strong case. But what he's telling folks out there is that I know more than the one person that I put in this indictment was involved in this conspiracy. I've got video. I've got other digital evidence. And if you know that you're a part of that, come forward now to see if I can

help you out. Because if you wait, if you wait and you make me work for it, then it's going to be a lot harder for me to want to cut you a deal or to deal with you at all. So I think it may take some time because I think there's just going to be so many people who are going to be implicated in this conspiracy. This is a—in this indictment, they're claiming an enterprise that's made up of not only his businesses and him, meaning Mr. Combs, but other people, people who he employed and people who he's associated with. And some of those people who he's associated with, we know they are also very powerful people.

So I think that this is going to take some time. I think we're all just going to have to be somewhat patient. And I'm sure that Mr. Combs is going to have to just get comfortable in whatever cell he is in right now because it's going to be some time before this case, I think, goes to trial if it actually ends up in a trial. All right. I want to thank all of you for joining us and offering your perspective. Thank you so very much.

All right. Thank you. Folks, got to go to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network. He told us who he was. Should abortion be punished? There has to be some form of punishment. Then he showed us.

For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it. And I'm proud to have done it. Now Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is. He'll take control. We'll pay the price. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message.

IVF is a miracle for us, because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children. But my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure. Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we wanted. I don't want politicians telling

me how or when I can have a baby. We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems. Oh, she had a big crowd. Oh, the crowd. This weird obsession with crowd sizes. It just goes on and on and on. America's ready for a new chapter. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.

I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year.

His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again? No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. His national security adviser.

Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. The overturning of Roe almost killed me. I had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. I wasn't able to get

life-saving treatment sooner. I almost died. And that's because of the decision that Donald Trump made. I was able to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I'm proud to have done it. The doctors and nurses were afraid that if they treated me in the incorrect way, that they would be prosecuted for that. And that's appalling. Donald Trump says that women should be punished. Do you believe in punishment for abortion? There has to be some form of punishment. For the woman? Yeah.

I believe that women should have reproductive freedom to make the choices about their own bodies. Four more years of Donald Trump means that women's rights will continue to be taken away one by one by one by one. This has to stop because women are dying. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, I want to bring in my panel right now, have them talk about this here. Of course, Randy Bryant, DEI disruptor out of Washington, D.C., Dr. Mustafa Santagul Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA.

Glad to have both of you here. Do we still have Joe with us? Yep, still here. All right, cool. All right, we've got three of them. So, Mustafa, Randy, we'd love to get your thoughts on this. I mean, this is, look, this is a major story. The fact of the matter is, I had someone text me and they said, hey, hope black on me doesn't go overboard on this. But the reality is this here. Sean P.D. comes. Is a significant influencer in the culture.

When you look at music, when you look at fashion, when you look at spirits, alcohol, you name it. Movies. So there's no doubt is going to be massive coverage of this indictment and of him being arrested and staying in jail. You're right. I know my group texts haven't stopped today. I have constant dings all day today because this is a big story. Everyone I know is talking about it and is interested in it. Someone said today, I don't feel sorry for him. And I said, you know, I'm sad about the loss of the dream of who we thought he was, because he was my generation. And late in the 90s, you know, we were dancing to his music that uplifted us. And it's always nice to think of this black man who created an empire. So while I don't feel sorry for him,

I do mourn the loss of what we thought was an icon, the idea of who he was. And so this is a major story, and it deserves coverage. And we aren't just talking about a black man. And I know people are sensitive to the way that black men are oftentimes gone after and broken down. But this is also about black women and women, period, who were just horribly treated. I think there is enough—we've seen the videos at this point. There's enough evidence. We know that the feds don't get involved unless there is an abundance already of evidence that they have. And so this is something that we must talk about. You know, on that particular point there, Mustafa, Randy makes an excellent point, and that is

you can look at this from the perspective of downfall of a prominent black man. Remember. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek.

I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick.

Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not

everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of

star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars, Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Sh Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter

Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. When it was a lot of that when it came to Bill Cosby, when it came to R. Kelly, but what was often left out were the black women and other women who were being

impacted by the alleged acts. And so, you know, this is going to be constant conversation. I mean, look, you've got streamers, you've got others now talking about seeing Didi with other male entertainers and other women and abusive acts. There was a lawsuit filed by one of the singers in one of his groups who alleged that Diddy punched out Cassidy at a table and Usher and Neal and others were sitting there and nobody said a word. And so this is going to bring in a lot of other prominent people who have been in and around Sean Combs over the years. You know, there's so much to unpack because it is about us making sure that when we see these

types of injustices happening, then somebody has to speak out. And I understand the power dynamics that play out and how folks sometimes can be afraid. They might lose their career or they might lose their life or a number of other dynamics. But this is also an opportunity for us to put a spotlight on the fact that we've got over a quarter of a million folks who are dealing with sex trafficking in our country, and about 27, 28 million across the planet. So this is a major, you know, situation that we have to find ways of rectifying. And because the spotlight will be put on Puffy's case, it's an opportunity to educate, to help people to understand exactly how dire this situation is, how large it is. You know, it is also will be a spotlight on the music industry, because we act like this is, how large it is. You know, it is also a spotlight on the music industry, because we act like this is, you know, a case that is out there by itself. But for those folks who have either been in the industry or been around the industry, we know these types of things

often play out. And when you deal with an industry that made, with the music industry, I think it made $20 billion last year, and hip-hop, you know, made its sets of billions last year, then there's a lot of power that's there. There's a lot of people who want to protect each other because they want to make sure those dollars keep flowing. But it comes down to our humanity. Are we going to protect our most vulnerable people who often get themselves, they're either tricked into these situations, or sometimes it is just wanting to be around these individuals who have power and privilege. So we've got to make some decisions about if we're actually going to lean in.

Are we going to have an honest look at this and at ourselves and the industry and figure out what we need to do better? Here's the last thing, Roland. You know, the bodyguards, Gene Deal and others, had been sharing for quite a while now some of these different types of things that were going on. And people would say, well, they're hating. They're not telling the truth. Now, of course, it's still alleged charge until somebody is, you know, convicted. But there is a mounting set of evidence from lots of folks, not only in this moment, but over the last few years, people have been telling of these different types of stories of how people, you know, were getting hurt. So we'll see how this all plays out.

And it's also the same thing with this Epstein trial. So I hope that we have the same level of clarity and transparency that we've been asking for also on the Epstein side, where we have a long list of people and, you know, a lot of that information hasn't continued to be able to move forward. So I'm one who believes in parity and equity. So I hope as much attention that goes on to Puffy's case, that they continue to place that same amount on some of these other high level cases that are out there that are also dealing with sex trafficking and human trafficking. Joe, I think what also is going to happen is, I'm telling you right now, people need to brace themselves.

They're going to get a peek into a side of entertainment that they heard about, but it's going to be real. It's going to be extremely graphic. And we've seen these other stories before. Again, I mentioned R. Kelly. I mentioned Bill Cosby. I mentioned Harvey Weinstein. There are a lot of people, I guarantee you, there are a lot of people in entertainment who are shaking in their boots tonight

because they're wondering, am I on any of those tapes? Was I at any of those parties? What did I engage in? And these all are potential witnesses. These are potential suspects. And so I wouldn't be shocked. It was a lot of luring, luring up happening as we speak. Oh, no doubt about it. Folks are having conversations right now about, hey, you know, here's what I remember. Here's what I don't. Do we get in contact with them?

You know, is it much ado about nothing? Do we not know? And, you know, what's the timing? What's the manner and the timing of getting in contact with the authorities? Because this is a situation where you want to call them before they call you. And if they can get one high profile guy, they can certainly get two or three and play you against each other. And so it is going to be interesting because we're going to get a window into some of the things that you've only heard about that you weren't so sure actually happened that you didn't want to believe happened here's another thing that's interesting about p did it you know if you go back to the east coast

west coast thing or whatever else most people had it fixed where suge knight was the bad guy right you know suge knight was a bad guy much more physically imposing you know all these other things and puff is the one that kind of say things in the right, you know, way at the front. You wanted to believe that Pete Diddy was the, quote, reasonable one, right? Like, he didn't have all of this stuff going on like Suge Knight did. Suge Knight was the one that beat up on people and that threatened people's lives and didn't let people leave their label, you know, his label and all of those things. And so as it turns out, he's doing a lot of the same stuff, but he had folks around him to kind of, you know, keep him in a certain place.

But that has been burst now. And I think among other things, even though he's rich and powerful, I think from a standpoint of what he's producing and what he's doing now, he's expendable. And, again, the Cassie thing was an opening of the floodgates because none of that other stuff really got traction the way that this did. But a whole lot of folks are trying to see. It's almost like jumping rope, you know, when the people would do the rope and you're trying to figure out when to jump in.

Should I call the police now? Should I call the prosecutor now? Or should I wait until I hear from them? Are they paying attention to me? Are they focusing on me? There's a whole lot of people second guessing themselves and saying, why in the Sam heck did I go to any parties with this man? This is absolutely crazy. All right, folks, hold tight one second. We come back. We're going to talk about the campaign. We're going to talk about what's going on. A lot of discuss. Today's National Voter Registration Day. Black Lives Matter is going to be spending $15 million in battleground states. We're going to talk to Cliff Albright, Texas getting smacked down for trying to intimidate voters there.

Microsoft says that Russia is throwing everything to attack the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign. And how dumb are right-wingers? They have this weird-ass and fast fascination with Vice President Kamala Harris changing her accent. They literally were complaining about what she had to say. We talked about the divine nine and HBCUs at the CBCF on Saturday. Yeah, we're going to show you. Folks, don't forget, support the work that we do. Be sure to join our Bring the Funk Fan Club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average $50 each, that's $4.19 a month,

13 cents a day. Again, if you can't give that, you can give less. We appreciate that. Appreciate every dollar given. If you can give more, that's appreciative as well. There are multiple ways you can support our show. Send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered.

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Those are three ways you can support us via Cash App. And so we appreciate any and everything that you give to us. We'll be right back. He told us who he was. Should abortion be punished? We'll be right back. Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is. He'll take control. We'll pay the price.

I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. IVF is a miracle for us because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children. But my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure. Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we wanted. I don't want politicians telling me how or when I can have a baby.

We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems. Oh, she had a big crowd. Oh, the crowd. This weird obsession with crowd sizes. It just goes on and on and on. America's ready for a new chapter.

We are ready for a President Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with

the nation's secrets ever again? No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. His national security advisor. Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator.

We don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. The overturning of Roe almost killed me. I had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

I wasn't able to get life-saving treatment sooner. I almost died. And that's because of the decision that Donald Trump made. I was able to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I'm proud to have done it. The doctors and nurses were afraid that if they treated me in the incorrect way that they would be prosecuted for that and that's appalling. Donald Trump says that women should be punished. Do you believe in punishment for abortion? There has to be some form of punishment. For the woman? Yeah. I believe that women should have reproductive freedom to make the choices

about their own bodies. Four more years of Donald Trump means that women's rights will continue to be taken away one by one by one by one. This has to stop because women are dying. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Me, Sherri Sheppard, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin unfiltered. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one.

The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams,

and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care.

Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Thank you. There's nothing worse than hateful, shameful, pathetic Republicans. SHAMEFUL, PATHETIC REPUBLICANS. AND ONE OF THE MOST HATEFUL, SHAMEFUL AND PATHETIC REPUBLICANS IN AMERICA IS TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON. THIS MAN WHO SHOULD BE IN PRISON

HAS BEEN TARGETING LATINO VOTERS AND BLACK VOTERS IN TEXAS GOING AFTER DEMOCRATIC COUNTIES BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE ODDACITY Latino voters and black voters in Texas going after Democratic counties because they have the audacity to send out voter registration forms. Well, a Texas judge has thrown out Ken Paxton's request for a temporary injunction to stop a Bexar County-funded program to print and mail out voter registration forms through a third-party firm. Ortega found Paxton's case moot after learning from the Bexar County District Attorney's Office that the forms were mailed last week. On September 3rd, county commissioners approved a $392,700 contract agreement with Civic Government Solutions to print and mail 210,000 voter registration forms to potential voters who have moved within the county or recently moved to the county. Paxton said the county lacked the statutory authority to mail out the forms and argued that they could be used by ineligible voters. COUNTY. PAXTON SAID THE COUNTY LACKED THE STATUTORY AUTHORITY TO MAIL OUT THE FORMS AND ARGUED

THAT THEY COULD BE USED BY INELIGIBLE VOTERS. THIS RIGHT HERE, JOE, IS THE KIND OF CRAP THAT WE SEE FROM REPUBLICANS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. TODAY IS NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION DAY.

AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND I KEEP TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO PEOPLE WHAT THEY DESPERATELY WANT FOR FEWER PEOPLE TO VOTE. THEY ARE ON RECORD AS SAYING IF And I keep trying to explain to people what they desperately want for fewer people to vote. They are on record as saying if more people vote, they lose. So they will use attorney generals. They will use DAs to target people. We discussed yesterday a sheriff in Ohio who made a remark, write down the addresses of people with signs of Kamala Harris in their yards.

These people are thugs and they do not want Americans to really vote. Yeah, and it's good that they got the decision that they did in this particular case. Fortunately, this judge saw it the way that it needed to be seen. But the Ken Paxton's of the world are really exerting some major pressure to try to send a message that people that try to get other people to be able to vote do so at their peril. And so therefore, they go out of their way to set up roadblocks. And, you know, they take an example, make someone an example, and hopefully have that be a message to everyone else that's looking through the window. So they got the right decision this time, but it's a serious problem when you are not in the

battle place of ideas anymore. You're not in the marketplace of ideas anymore. You don't want to compete that way. So you just want to keep people from voting. You want to keep dividing and conquering, even though you're continuously outnumbered. So it's not a battle of ideas anymore. It's about just keeping people scared and hesitant and reticent to vote. This is a victory in this larger war that continues. They're going to do everything that they can. Texas is looking at the clock. Texas is already majority minority, And it's only a matter of time before Texas goes blue. It absolutely has to happen. They're holding on a little bit longer, trying to divide Hispanic Latino population from the black population, trying to divide black men from maybe other folks, you know, through Trump and those types of things. But their time is coming. And so they're fighting hard,

fighting as hard as they can. But at least we got a victory in this particular battle in this larger war, which continues, particularly with the election on the horizon. Folks, right now,

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is actually in Asheville, North Carolina. Control Room, let me know do we have that rally ready. I want to go live to a walls right now. All right, guys, you actually, uh, so pull it up folks, uh, get that ready. Uh, go ahead with your comment, uh, Mustafa on what Republicans are doing. Yeah. I mean, Joe hit it, you know, folks are, they're scared. They're running scared because they don't have policies that resonate with the vast majority of folks,

whether in Texas or across the country. They know that the only way that they can even compete is to, you know, try and rig the system. If we didn't know any better, if we took a step back, we would think that we're watching, you know, a developing country that is trying to figure out how to get democracy in place. And then you have the dynamics of different people playing nefarious games. But it's right here in good old America, in Texas, where everything is bigger. And I guess the Republican Party there feels that if they can, you know, continue to load up a various set of voter suppression activities, then maybe they can continue to survive, as Joe sort of shared. So this is not a new playbook. We know what's going

on in Texas. We know what's going on in Florida and a number of other locations. Let's go live to Asheville, North Carolina, Governor Tim Walz. They're there. But she turned around and looked at me and she said, Tim, we work just as hard for the people and their families on this side of the street as we do on this side of the street. And that's what all of us believe. Because that's who America is. And I saw it this summer.

I had the privilege of a lifetime to be in France on the 80th commemoration of the D-Day landing. And I was riding on a bus with several of our Medal of Honor awardees who had earned the Medal of Honor for bravery. And we were going down these dusty little trails to get to the beaches of Normandy, and the houses were decorated with little French flags, with little British flags, with little Canadian flags, with little American flags, to the cemeteries where the sons and daughters of the free nations of the world. And while our young warriors died on that foreign beach, they died for the common humanity, the common decency, the common human rights that we all aspire to.

Donald Trump, when Vladimir Putin invades a democratic country, he says, I don't care. Do whatever the hell you want. Donald Trump tells Putin that. So when you hear Vice President Harris say our allies are terrified of him coming back into power again. But the good news is that's not going to happen. So, we are not going back. I said, I love all the things. My wife talks about turning a page.

She's an English teacher and all of that. I just like this one. This damn TV show of his has been on too long. Let's just cancel it in November. Let's just cancel it. But here's what we get with Kamala Harris, and here's what we get with all of you out here. And people like Stephen and others who are inspired, we've got a new generation of American leadership that's inspiring the rest of the world. So you saw it. Kamala Harris can take care of herself. Our job is to do the blocking and tackling and cover her back. That's what our job is. So this is where I never get too far from

being Coach Walls on these things. This is where I'm going to be. Think about it. If everybody here tonight gets just one more person to do a phone bank or a door knock, just one, talk to somebody. One more conversation. Have that conversation. I'm trying with all of my relatives, I'm trying with everybody else to make the case that we're in this together. We can chart a new way forward. Hell, I get it. You're out here. You're standing in the rain. You're giving your money. You're knocking on doors. You're doing all that.

But, my God, what a privilege to fight for the democracy. What a privilege. Forty-nine days to go. We're finally going to have early voting starting here in North Carolina on the 17th. And we get the opportunity to make a difference not just for four years, but for 40 years, not just here, but across the world. That's what we get to do. So we're in the fight, all gas, no brakes, sleep when you're dead.

And as the next president of the United States says, when we fight— We win! When we fight— We win! When we fight— We win! Thank you. Folks, you see, again, a lot of attention being paid to North Carolina by the Harris-Walls campaign.

Just last week, Vice President Kamala Harris, she was in Greensboro, she was in Charlotte. You see there in Asheville, they're doing all they can to, again, flip that state. Last time Democrats won North Carolina was 2008, and then Senator Barack Obama won with 14,100 votes in North Carolina. President Joe Biden lost North Carolina by 2.5 points in 2020. And you've got a crazy MAGA Republican running, Mark Robinson, African-American, strict anti-abortionist running against Josh Stein. Stein is leading him by something like by 10 to 14 points. And so the Harris-Walls campaign really think they could pick up North Carolina. And that's why you see them spending so much time in the Tar Heel state. Randy, I want to get your just wanted to get your thoughts on.

We were talking about Ken Paxton and get what he's trying to do and how Republicans all across the country are using every tactic they can to keep people from voting, removing folks from the voting rolls. They are making it harder for folks to cast ballots as opposed to making it easier. I thought it was a great foil when you show we were talking about Paxton and then we cut just to this rally. And you hear the conversation about if you're a supporter of democracy, what a privilege it is to support and fight for democracy. In a democratic society, you want as many people to be involved in the process. You want to include everyone. It is inclusive. And so we have to look at how the Republicans are doing everything in their power, as they

always do, to ensure that only certain people in this country have a vote. I am so sick of, you know, them recruiting some of our people within our own community saying for us not to vote. I said, when do you ever hear any community being told, you know what, you should not even vote? Sit it out. And we believe it and think it's a good thing, that we should pay attention to that. We need to pay attention to the fact that they are rallying for us not to participate

in a system that we have every right to do. And the Republicans know that if we vote, if we participate, we win. If we fight, we win. And so that's what they're doing. They are essentially cheating, which is what people who know that they would lose if the fight were fair do. They're doing everything in their power to make voting as complicated and as difficult as they possibly can. So they're trying to get rid of early voting, mail-in ballots, making it as an arduous of a process as possible when people do go vote, cutting hours of time that people can vote so people who work jobs that aren't nine to five can't vote. This is what they're doing.

And if I were anybody out there that's listening, there's no way in hell I would allow anyone to take my right to tell me that I cannot participate in a process. You know, I'm a DEI person. I'm a DEI disruptor. And every, almost every statement that is made these days is anti-DEI. They're saying they don't want diversity, they don't want anybody included, and they don't want to make it where everyone has equal access to participate in a democratic society. And that's wrong. Not only are we talking about Republicans who are trying to make it harder, you really do have some just dumbasses

in the United States Congress. And one of them is Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. First of all, this fake-ass country corn boy, whatever, accent, it's fake. He didn't always talk this way. But if y'all want to see some shameful behavior, watch what happened today in Congress when he was questioning a Muslim woman. If you want to see a level of hatred, just watch this idiot, Senator John Kennedy. And according to your website, you're also, I'm going to quote here, a longtime Democratic Party activist who served as a member of the 2016 Democratic National

Convention's Platform Standing Committee. Close quote. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. You support Hamas, do you not? Senator, oddly enough, I'm going to say thank you for that question because it demonstrates the purpose of our hearing today in a very effective way.

Let's start first with a very effective way. Let's start first with a yes or no. Hamas is a foreign terrorist organization that I do not support, but you asking the executive director of the Arab American Institute that question very much puts the focus on the issue of hate in our country. Well, I got your answer, and I appreciate it. What is the—you support Hezbollah too don't you again I I find this line of questioning extraordinarily disappointing senator that you have you

have Arab American constituents that you represent in your great state ma'am I understand that but is my time's limited and I apologize but is that a yes or no yes or no question to do I support Hezbollah? The answer is I don't support violence, whether it's Hezbollah, Hamas, or any other entity that invokes it. You can't bring yourself to say no, can you? No, I can say no. I can say yes. What I can say is your line of questioning. Do you support or oppose Iran and their hatred of Jews? Again, I'm going to emphasize, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas,

none of them is going to... You can't bring yourself to say no, can you? Sir, I don't support... It's real simple. Excuse me, I'm going to... Ian, no, no, no. As a Muslim woman, sir, I'm going to tell you I do not support Iran.

But what I will tell you is that this conversation... I'm running out of time. I'm sorry. You called our decision... tell you is that this conversation... I'm running out of time. I'm sorry. You called our decision to cut funding. You called our decision to cut

funding. Well, first, what's the United Nations Relief and Works Agency? It's UNRWA, which is the institution that exists to provide services and aid to the nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees. And you called our decision to cut funding for them, quote, an incredible moral failure, close quote. That is absolutely correct. But again, I would suggest that conversation is

about foreign policy. And we did that because nine UNRWA staff members were fired for actually helping Hamas on October 7th. Isn't that the case? I don't believe that that's correct in terms of— Let me ask you one more time. You support Hamas, don't you? You support UNRWA and Hamas, don't you? Sir, I think it's exceptionally disappointing that you're looking at an Arab-American witness before you and saying you support Hamas.

You know what's disappointing to me? I do not support Hamas. You can't bring yourself to say you don't support UNRWA. You don't support Hamas. I was very clear in my support for UNRWA. You don't support UNRWA. You should hide your head in a bag. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways.

Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,

even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey.

We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. That is a perfect example of how shameless Republicans are. And see, I think some people in these panels are too differential and respectful

to members of Congress. That's an example where if I'm that woman, I would say, Senator Kennedy, you can go to hell. And I would have stood up and walked my ass right out of that hearing. And I would have said, y'all let me know when you decide to have a sense of decency returned back to this room. And I would have walked the hell out. That man sat there, don't you support Hamas? Don't you support Hezbollah? Oh,

you can't say no? We know those games. I would not have dignified his questions. That's when you say you are a pathetic, gross human being. And the chair could have sat there and gabbled,

where can I allow personal attacks on members of the Senate? And I would say that right there is an asshole. I just think sometimes, Mustafa, you got to call that thing a thing and not sit there and reason with a hateful bigot like Senator John Kennedy. I mean, you hit it on the head. I mean, he is hateful. He's a bigot. Those questions are racist. You know, he is hateful. He's a bigot. Those questions

are racist. You know, I've sat in those chairs before, so I understand the games that get played on Capitol Hill. But this also places a spotlight once again that this is a leader in the Republican Party. And if this is the best that you have, is this the best sets of information that you can try to extract from a witness instead of getting serious? You're a very unserious person. You are IS THIS THE BEST SETS OF INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN TRY TO EXTRACT FROM A WITNESS INSTEAD OF GETTING SERIOUS, YOU'RE A VERY UNSERIOUS PERSON. YOU ARE NOT TRULY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MOVE FORWARD

IN A POSITIVE DIRECTION, HOW TO MAKE SURE THE COUNTRY IS BETTER. I KNOW MS. BERRY. SHE IS AN EXCELLENT INDIVIDUAL. SHE'S AN EXCELLENT LEADER. SHE IS SOMEBODY WHO CARES ABOUT THIS COUNTRY.

BUT SHE ALSO UNDERSTANDS THE DYNAMICS THAT ARE PLAYING OUT ACROSS OUR PLANET AND WANTS TO MAKE SURE THAT WHEREVER THERE IS leader. She is somebody who cares about this country. But she also understands the dynamics that are playing out across our planet and wants to make sure that wherever there is injustice, that it is being addressed. You know, they want to demonize us. They try and demonize us based on race. They try and demonize us based on religion without understanding that they continue to create larger and larger fissures inside of our country. But that's their goal. It is to be chaotic. It is to be chaotic if it is in a Senate committee or a conference or a hearing. They're not serious people about trying to find ways to either better our country or better this planet. And we have to utilize the power of our vote.

I never tell anybody who to vote for. Everybody knows that who's watched this show. But I do say WE HAVE TO VOTE FOR OUR COMMUNITY, VOTE FOR OUR COMMUNITY, VOTE FOR OUR PLANET, AND WE HAVE TO UTILIZE THE POWER OF OUR VOTE. I NEVER TELL ANYBODY WHO TO VOTE FOR. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT WHO'S WATCHED THIS SHOW. BUT I DO SAY VOTE FOR

SOMEBODY WHO CARES ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY, VOTE FOR SOMEBODY WHO'S ACTUALLY SERIOUS ABOUT A BETTER FUTURE, VOTE FOR SOMEBODY WHO ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT THE DYNAMICS THAT ARE PLAYING OUT ACROSS OUR

PLANET BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS INTERCONNECTED. SO WHEN WE ALLOW INDIVIDUALS LIKE THE SENATOR TO DO THOSE TYPES interconnected. So when we allow individuals like the senator to do those types of things, there are ripple effects. And we have to decide if we want to have positive things that are going out or we're going to continue to allow these types of individuals to embrace negativity and darkness and put that into the veins of America. I just think, I just think again, listen, Joe, this is my posture in the meeting. I'll be in the chair and I'll be like, go to hell. Go to hell again. And then you can still go to hell. I just think sometimes you got to go there with racists like Senator John Kennedy.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, and I don't disagree with that. At the same time, you know, there are people out here, I would like to think, that are still to be convinced. And when you come in at the high level of class that this particular person did, you know, you could convince some people that are out there that could see. You know, it's kind of like fighting fire with fire, right? When Martin and John Lewis and everyone else did what they did in terms of the civil rights movement, they did not fight back physically. They fought back other ways. They choked economically because they knew that there was an audience that was watching, maybe people that didn't want to sit next to them on the bus, but people that wouldn't

put dogs on other people and put, you know, water hoses on them, high-power hoses, in order to prove their point. And so there is that. And then she also could do the middle ground. The middle ground could be saying, sir, those are racist statements. Not calling you racist, but those are racist statements. I have my own thoughts. I don't know you, but those are racist statements.

This is why they're wrong. Despite that, I'm still answering the question. And here's what I'm saying. You could educate that listener and that looker, that person that's looking through the window all at the same time. But the good news is that Mr. Kennedy, who's not quite up to his namesake, the best part of the Kennedy name in any way is helping us to get rid of the notion and the myth of white supremacy once and for all. Hey, I hear Joe Randy, but I just think sometimes you just got to go ahead and go there. I just think you've got, because I just think sometimes, you know, I'm going to go here and go there. I just think you got, because I just think sometimes, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and say this here.

One of my favorite all-time quotes, and all y'all people who keep telling me, Roller, stop cussing, I'm about to cuss right now, so I'm just gonna go ahead and let y'all go and know in advance, so y'all can go ahead and turn the TV down, turn it down. So it was in 2000. It was at one of them Tavis Smiley

State of Black American Things. It was at USC. And I remember my man Charles Ogletree and Nikki Giovanni was on the stage and he asked Nikki Giovanni, why does she like Tupac so much? And she said, I like Tupac

because somebody got to call a motherfucker a motherfucker. That is one of my all-time favorite quotes ever. And that's what Senator John Kennedy needed right there in that hearing. But go ahead with your thoughts. I believe in that hearing. But go ahead with your thoughts. I believe in that too much, okay? I like Joe's approach, and that's what I was thinking. I believe that we need to start calling people racist. I think she should have said, your accusations are racist. Don't assume, make these assumptions about me. I think she should have used the words.

This country has convinced us that we're wrong when we call racism out. And I believe we... Hold on. You said she should have used the words. Which words she should have used? Should she have used the Nikki Giovanni words or she should have used the Della Reese words from

Hall & Knight? Kiss my entire... She should have used D Della Reese words from Hall of Night. Kiss my entire... She should have used Della Reese... Oh, no. She should have used Della Reese from Hall of Night. Kiss my entire ass. But go ahead. I'm sorry. She wouldn't have educated people that way.

And I believe that... Yes, she would have. Yes, she would have. I think racist and motherfucker are synonyms, to be honest with you. I think most of us hear it that way, and she should have called him on what he is and how he was acting. I think that would have shut him up. And I would have said, do you want me to answer the question or do you want to give a speech and just accuse me? Let me know know because I can

just not waste, you know, you're wasting my time up here. But of course, that's... See, y'all, see, y'all, y'all trying to be too nice. Y'all trying to be too nice. So I ain't... No, so I just think sometime,

I just think sometime you got to go there. I just think for some people, the man said, do you support Hamas, Hezbollah, and just kept accusing her because she's a Muslim? No, man, he deserved to be cussed out every which way. And sometimes you got to, listen, sometimes you got to cuss folks out. Sometimes you can't be nice. You can't be cordial. You can't be the one to turn the other cheek.

Sometimes you just got to cuss their ass out and then let them deal with it. You know tomorrow on Fox News they would have shown the clip over and over again, not of him acting a fool. I don't give a damn. But we know that whole damn net. Guess what? And guess what? All them racists watching

Fox News would have seen me cussing his punk ass out. But we know, Roland. We know, because you have. And we're proud that you do. You damn right. You damn right. Sometimes they asses need to get cussed out. All right. Let me go to a break.

Come back. We're going to talk to my man Cliff Albright, Black Voters Matter, about what they're doing. Also, I got to deal with these old dumbass conservatives who are, oh my God, Kamala Harris, she's using another accent. I don't think these white people actually know any black people well outside of Candace as Candace Owens Tim Scott and Byron Donald's I don't know if they know any real black people you watch it Roland Martin unfiltered On the Blackstar Network Well I think some folks

Need to be told Kiss my entire ass Back in a moment He told us who he was Should abortion be punished There has to be some form of punishment Then he showed us For 54 years they were trying to get

Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I'm proud to have done it. Now Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is. He'll take control. We'll pay the price. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. It should come

as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again? No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. His national security advisor. Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest-ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy.

We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. IVF is a miracle for us because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children. But my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure. Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we wanted. I don't want politicians telling me how or when I can have a baby. We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris.

I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. The overturning of Roe almost killed me. I had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. I wasn't able to get life-saving treatment sooner. I almost died. And that's because of the decision that Donald Trump made. I was able to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I'm proud to have done it. The doctors and nurses were afraid that if they treated me in the incorrect way, that they would be prosecuted for that. And that's appalling. Donald Trump says that women should be punished. Do you believe in punishment for abortion? There has to be some form of punishment. For the woman? Yeah. I believe that women should have reproductive freedom to make

the choices about their own bodies. Four more years of Donald Trump means that women's rights will continue to be taken away one by one by one by one. This has to stop because women are dying. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems. Oh, she had a big crowd. Oh, the crowd. This weird obsession with crowd sizes.

It just goes on and on and on. America's ready for a new chapter. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. You're watching Roland Mark. Until tomorrow. You know, I guess this is the they can all go to hell part of the show.

Go ahead and pull up the panelists for me. Put us in the four box. I think this probably is the go, they all can go to hell part of the show. So on Saturday night, Vice President Tom Harris, President Joe Biden, they addressed the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, ALC,

the Phoenix Awards. So Vice President, she's a little under the weather. You can tell. You can hear it in her nose. She spoke about eight, nine minutes. But all these ignorant-ass white conservatives acted a fool again because of what they call her changing accent. Listen to this.

Hello to all my Divine Nine brothers and sisters. And my sorority. And to all my HBCU brothers and sisters. But let me just talk for a moment about Joe Biden. It has been the honor... All right, sister. Okay, I need y'all to re-rack that. I need y'all to

actually play it from the beginning. Because you missed the context what happened there. Okay, do y'all have it? No, no. Go pull it up. I need y'all to go pull it up. Play the beginning. So what happened, I was there. So let me know when y'all have it. So what happened was she came out and the AKAs lost their mind. Ski win left and right, all across the room. All right.

So she didn't want to just show some love to the AKAs. She then did the Divine Nine. And all the different Divine Nine members did. They themed the Deltas, Oop, and the Alphas, do the 06s and deltas oop and alphas do the old six and omegas uh they were chirping barking and the kappas i don't know what they were doing whispering i don't know what the hell they do uh i don't know what the owls and sigmas do so that's what happened so let me know when y'all have it okay so it was a funny moment because she was trying to be inclusive uh and was really laughing at what the AKs did.

So this is the full content. Go ahead, please. Good evening, CBC. Can we please give it up for our President Joe Biden? Oh, it's good to be back. Please have a seat, everyone. Please have a seat. I have to say...

It is so good to be back. And let me just say about Joe Biden... Hello to all my Divine Nine brothers and sisters and my HBCU brothers and sisters. But let me just talk for a moment about Joe Biden. It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as his vice president. And I'll tell you, I have... All right, so all these silly-ass white conservatives talking about the old house how she's changing accent. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways.

Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up. so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick.

Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st,

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet, MMA fighter, Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all

been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I did the same thing when she was talking to the UAW workers in Michigan. And these really are some stupid people, Mustafa. They clearly don't know black people. They don't even remotely understand black people. The fact of the matter is, depending upon what we're talking about,

how we're talking, it might be a different tone that we use. It's what black people do. All of our, we don't talk the same in every single instance in terms of how we talk. They were mad at her because she dropped, she wasn't fully enunciating and pronouncing words. I'm like, literally, these are about some of the dumbest-ass people I've ever seen in my life. It would be really nice if they started a black folks business. Let black folks deal with black folks' business. You know, it's interesting. And there you go.

Yeah, and I don't think they understand family either, because when you have family, you change lots of things, the way you talk and where your mannerisms is and how comfortable you are in that situation. And I think they're mad because she finds family in lots of places, whether it's with union workers or if it's in an HBCU or a number of different places that she goes, people gravitate to her because she brings forward hope. She brings forward a connection.

And I think that they're jealous because they currently have a set of candidates that don't have that ability to connect with folks, to be able to meet folks where they are. So, you know, to make sure that your vernacular is not excluding but including people. So, you know, they really should just stay out of our business because they've never done anything to help our communities, but yet they want to continue to critique our communities and the leaders

in our community so we can handle our own business. You know, why don't y'all take a, instead of trying to get rid of black history classes and books that have information in it and videos, maybe y'all need to sit down, take some time and actually learn more about our culture and how we flow. See, I think right there, Randy, Mustafa said it best. White conservatives stay out black folks' business. Hard. Just completely stay out of it. There was a study that came out years ago that said the average white person,

only one out of four white people have a black friend. One out of four. So I don't know why in the heck they think that they can really have some commentary on our culture. And what they need to get is that we're intelligent folks. We do switch it up. And we switched it up. And we code switch for survival part of our lives because they are always trying to make us fit into how they think we should act. There was a line in The Color Purple that said, some folks don't like to see black people too proud or too free, is essentially what it said. And I think that that's what they can't stand, is that Kamala Harris feels comfortable enough to be freely who she is, authentically who she is, which you cannot pigeonhole.

She feels comfortable just being with her sorrows and shouting out her HBCU folks and just being Black and talking the way we do, as Mustafa said, when we're with family. And they can't stand it because they have for years, for decades, for centuries made us feel as if when we went out in places and we were around them, we had to act like them, talk like them, to be seen and respected. But now Kamala's saying, listen, I can be my full Howard University graduate self, my full AKA self, my full HBCU self, my full Indian self and black self, and that is who I am. And that is what we do when we're with our people. So, yeah, they definitely, 100% need to get out of our business

because they don't understand. And the thing is, I mean, first of all, Joe, I keep seeing a lot of people talk about she code switched. No, she didn't. She didn't code switch. It wasn't like, well, I'm going to talk this way in front of them. No. She was switched. No, she didn't. She didn't code switch. It wasn't like, well, I'm going to talk this way in front of them. No. She was responding.

It was humorous. And so I just think that part of this thing is do you. Do you. That was a brother, Joe, his name, Tom Wilkins. Tom died last year and I love Tom cause Tom Tom was about 6

Tom was about 6'5 Tom was dark skin Tom was always ashy like Tom was forever ashy I always say damn Tom you gotta just keep a supply of lotion. So Tom didn't get it.

First of all, Tom's favorite fur was motherfucking. Him and his wife owned a computer company. He used to always wear his baseball cap, like, sitting on top of his head, like, pulling it up. And Tom didn't care. Okay? Tom would go to meetings, and Tom would be with

white folk. He'd be with black folk, and Tom was the same. Tom might drop an MF. Tom didn't give a damn. In fact, Tom died. They buried him wearing his cap. Tom did not care.

His whole deal was, I'm going to do me. And then Michael Williams, a good friend of Tom's, mine as well. And he would tell, Tom, you're going to wear that hat. Tom was like, I don't give a damn what these white folks think. Tom was a millionaire, didn't care, served his country in the military. It was like, they all can go to hell. But I always loved it because he was hilarious because, didn't care, served his country in the military, and they all can go to hell. But I always loved it because he was hilarious because Tom didn't give a damn. And so the thing is, they have no clue about black people. They have no understanding about black people.

And all they do is whine and complain. And for a lot of these white folks, conservatives and liberals, they got to understand we not always giving a damn what they think, Joe. Yeah. I mean, you know, when you're at home, you let your hair down, right? You do the things that you want to do. You're comfortable. You're at ease. You're relaxed. Most of the time, those of us that have to make it in these majority boxes, we have to speak a different social language.

And frankly, that's what makes us marketable. That's what makes us valuable. You know, they'd be okay with me or Kamala Harris or whoever else making those connections when it's making them money, when it's working to their advantage, which it is so often. They're okay with us code-switching men. They're okay with us connecting with black folks the way you do. I'm reminded of the point in Do the Right Thing,

when Wes's name's like, yeah, you can go talk to brother, talk to him. You know, they're okay when it makes money, when it puts money in their pocket, when it helps them build a bridge that they can't build themselves because it's a social language that they can't speak. But we have to be cross-trained. We got to know how to deal with all kinds of people. And that's the way it's been.

And so how far we've come, and this is what they're mad at, Ro. This is how far we've come that somebody on that stage can go there next to the president. Hey, thank you very much. Here I am running for president and I'm shouting out my black sorority brothers and sisters and I'm black too. They don't like that. That's what they don't like. They can make it like it's something else to the extent that they want to all day long. But at the end of the day,

we're winning. And she reminds them of that. And so, yeah, do need to stay out of our business. We'll pick our own heroes. We'll talk to each other the way that we need to. We show up and work on time, work that benefits you you too, by the way, so you don't have no complaints. We just going to keep banging the way we do it. And if you don't like it, then maybe you can go elsewhere. Hey,

there you go. There you go. All right. Hold tight one second. Go on to a break. We come back. We're going to talk with my man Cliff Albright, Black Voters Matter, about their plans for these battleground states. I'm actually in Michigan, one of these battleground states. I'm here in Detroit. I've got a panel tomorrow for the General Motors Media Summit,

so look forward to that. So let's go to a break. We'll come back and talk to Cliff, support the show that we do, folks. Your resources are vital. I'm telling you all right now, listen, I'm here trying to get us some advertising money, and we put the work in, but it ain't easy. And so your contributions are hugely important for the work that we do.

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Also, PayPal, RM Martin Unfiltered, Venmo's RM Unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. He told us who he was. Should abortion be punished? There has to be some form of punishment. Then he showed us. For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I'm proud to have done it. Now Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control,

ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is. He'll take control. We'll pay the price. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again.

Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again? No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk.

His national security advisor. Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest-ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways.

Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives.

But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about

what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded

a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. We'll see you next time. season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. And I approve this message. IVF is a miracle for us because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children,

but my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure. Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we wanted. I don't want politicians telling me how or when I can have a baby. We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Here's a 78-year-old billionaire

who has not stopped whining about his problems. Oh, she had a big crowd. Oh, the crowd. This weird obsession with crowd sizes. It just goes on and on and on. America's ready for a new chapter. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. The overturning of Roe almost killed me. I had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced.

Because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, I wasn't able to get life-saving treatment sooner. I almost died. And that's because of the decision that Donald Trump made. I was able to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I'm proud to have done it. The doctors and nurses were afraid that if they treated me in the incorrect way that they would be prosecuted for that. And that's appalling. Donald Trump says that women should be punished. Do you believe in punishment for abortion? There has to be some

form of punishment. For the woman? Yeah. I believe that women should have reproductive freedom to make the choices about their own bodies. Four more years of Donald Trump means that women's rights will continue to be taken away one by one by one by one. This has to stop because women are dying. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. This is Essence Atkins. Mr. Love, King of R&B, Raheem Devon. Me, Sherri Shebron, and you know what you're watching.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all, Black Lives Matter. They've been out in these streets all over the country focusing on getting people out to vote. Their goal is to spend 15 million bucks in battleground states. Joining us right now is Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Cliff, glad to have you here. Let's talk about this investment. I was having a conversation today with someone,

and we were talking about advertising versus spending on the ground. And what I said is, I said, I'll be honest. I said, I think part of the problem, and I've said this for years, that a lot of these campaigns, a lot of these PACs, a lot of these parties, they spend so much money on media. And we're in media, and I'm not saying media is not important. I said, but you sort of reach a point where you've oversaturated the market with television ads, radio ads, billboards. At the end of the day, though, you've got to touch people. You've got to actually be going pre-seat to pre-seat.

You've got to have a strong ground game. That's really the difference between winning and losing. Not who runs the most ads on the air. No, you're exactly right, Roland. We'll be doing a little bit of ads in

different forms, radio and billboard. Not TV, right, because that's too doggone expensive and doesn't have the impact that we need. You know, some social media videos. So we'll be doing some of that stuff. But the majority of our spend that we'll be doing in these battleground states, it's on the ground, right? It's going towards things like door knocks. It's going towards phone banks. It's going towards texting. It's going towards, like, special events, like, you know, like our bus tours.

You know, our bus has been rolling all over the country. Even just today, we were in Georgia at a couple of places, up in Philly at a couple of places. And that's not to mention our baby buses that we had rolling around. And creating excitement, right? At the end of the day, you know, it's about the information. It's about knowing the laws and being able to get past the voter suppression, but it's also about creating some kind of excitement to make people want to participate. And not just to make people want to participate, but to make them want to go tell five people, tell 10 people. And so we're putting the vast majority of our spend on the

grounds, in the streets, at these events, polling place parties, special concerts and tailgates to mobilize voters and all that. Yeah, I mean, I think about I think about 2020, that election being in Georgia for the runoff. And I think about the concerts and the outdoor events and bottom line is you had to do it. You know, it was it was like, you know, drive-in movie theaters because everybody, you know, were in their cars or sitting outside of their cars. But the bottom line is you were touching people. You were reaching folks.

And again, it's studying data. It's looking at precincts and looking at how many people in this precinct voted compared to the previous election. And therefore, that gives you a roadmap of how you can actually touch folks and get them out to vote. And it's just old-school politicking. On Sunday, I dropped by the folks in Loudoun County. They asked me to go speak to a group that was canvassing a neighborhood

before they went out, and that's exactly what they did. That's how people get over the hump. When you start looking at these elections and these polls and how close things are, it's by the margins. And guess what? 300, 400, 500, 1,000, that makes a huge difference in close elections. And that's exactly right. And that's also the reason why you and I have talked about this before, why we don't just do what we do. And when I say we, I want to be clear. We work with a whole bunch of partners. We have 600, over 600 partners across the 20 or 25 or so states where we do work, 12 of which are the focus of this spend that we are talking about, you know, right now, this focused battleground spend.

And so, but we got partners all over this country. And so when we do this work, when we do our bus stops, when we do door knocks, all of that is being done with these local groups. It's groups that you all know. It's your local neighborhood association. It's your church. Sometimes it's even an NAACP chapter or some other organization. But these, and sometimes it's national partners, like we'll roll some other organization. And sometimes it's national partners.

Like we'll roll on a bus tour with some of our national partners. And so that's what I mean when I talk about what we do. And we do it in places, not just in urban areas, but also in the rural areas. Because to your point, being able to get an extra 500 votes here in this county, an extra 1,000 votes here in this county, even if we don't wind up winning that county, that collective impact of the urban areas, the rural areas, the mid-sized cities, that's how you change a state. That's how you create a Georgia. That's how we're going to flip North Carolina. That's how we're going to shock people in some of these states where, quite honestly, people are really underestimating. And you said 12 states. Now, of course,, the presidential level, you're talking about seven.

So what do you see as the battleground states? Yeah, I mean, you were talking about the usual battlegrounds for the presidential that you hear about. Of course, you've got Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin and Georgia and North Carolina. But you've got some other states that are not only in play or important know, or important because of a presidential contest. But as you know, we got these Senate races. And so we're also putting some of the spend in places like Maryland, right, where we know that we've got a chance to get a Black woman senator in addition to Delaware. But Maryland is the one that we have included in this spend. Also, even Florida, like people are sleeping on Florida. You know, there's an opportunity in

Florida. And let's be clear, even some in the Haitian community in Florida that, you know, traditionally aren't very active because sometimes you have a feeling of all these elections. That's not our thing. We're new immigrants. Right. They're up in arms about this. Ohio, the Springfield, Ohio stuff. So there's an opportunity to really engage people that haven't been engaged before. So, you know, we're looking at Florida. We're looking at at Texas even. Right? Because at the end of the day, nobody likes Ted Cruz, and so anything's possible. And so, you know, and in Ohio, of course, with Sherrod Brown, because as you have often talked about, it does us little good if we get Kamala Harris in there, but we don't have control of the Senate, right? And even with the filibuster, you know, there's still, you know, we can modify the filibuster, right?

Maybe even get rid of the filibuster. There's things that can be done as long as we maintain a real 50 vote margin as opposed to this fake 50 vote that they've had in previous years because you had two people in Manchin and Sinema that weren't really down with the crew. And so that's what we're looking at,

not just the presidential battlegrounds, also the Senate battlegrounds, and a couple of important congressional battlegrounds, because let's be clear, control of the House could come down to these two new seats in Alabama and Louisiana. So at the end of the day, those Black districts or Black opportunity districts, those are not safe districts. So if people are sleeping on those two states and those two districts, then that would be a mistake. Indeed, indeed. Cliff Albright, Black Voters Matter, man, we appreciate it. We'll see you on the campaign trail with your one good foot.

That's all I need. All I need is one. I can get it done. All right. I would appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right. Folks, today, Vice President Kamala Harris was in Philadelphia taking questions from three members of NABJ.

Here's the questions dealing with reparations, dealing with the economy, dealing with a variety of issues. And here was one of the exchanges. Joyful Warrior has been used to describe your campaign. You didn't see that just a minute ago, though. Okay, back to my Joyful Warrior. And your opponent and Republicans have at times weaponized you laughing in campaign ads, for example. Why is joy important to you to insert into this election? And what do

you make of Republicans using that as a way to suggest that you're not a serious candidate? Well, sometimes I think, and I'll say to whoever the young people are who are watching this, there are some times when your adversaries will try and turn your strength into a weakness. Don't you let them. Don't you let them. I find joy in the American people. I find joy in optimism, in what I see to be our future and our ability to invest in it. I find joy in the ambition of the people. I find joy in the ambition of the people. I find joy in the dreams of the people. I find joy in building community. I find joy in building coalitions. I find joy in believing that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down, but who you lift up. And I think we should all find joy and have a sense of optimism about who we are as Americans

and what we mean to each other and what we can do to lift each other up. Folks, questions range. Another area she talked about, Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, Haitian Americans, Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. It took place at the studios of WHYY there in Philadelphia. Got my panel here. Randy, for the life of me, I don't know why NABJ had this at a damn radio station. This should have been the HBCU campus.

This should have been, to me, a much bigger deal. You had a studio audience there in the radio station. But to do this on a college campus, do this where you got people, and where you have impact, you get much more broader people. And here's the whole deal. What it also does is it brings attention to that HBCU as opposed to this public radio station. So a nearly hour long conversation. And so that was just my biggest

deal. I'm like, you know, actually take it to HBCU and have a much larger, vibrant audience. Because remember, Donald Trump spoke at the convention there. More than a thousand people were in the room when he acted a fool in Chicago. And so they could have easily gotten that type of a crowd as well in that kind of audience. I agree with you. And, you know, HBC students are so involved. I don't know if you've seen the videos going around with HBC students are watching. They had these watch parties when they just had the Democratic,

maybe the debate. The one that went viral was the one with FAMU. And there was not a seat in the House because our youth are interested, which is good to see. And so I believe that it would have been perfect to have that conversation at an HBCU because those students care and we care. And I'd like to hear from them as well. You know, there were questions dealing with Roe v. Wade, questions dealing with Israel and Gaza. But, you know, Mustafa, one of the things that jumped out, not a single question dealing with the fastest growing economy, Africa, was happening in those nations. We talk about Israel and Gaza and the human toll, also Ukraine, but not the Congo, not what's happening in South Sudan and other African nations. To me, that's a missed opportunity from those asking questions for NABJ? Yeah, we got to be focused on the diaspora, without a doubt,

whether, like you said, in Congo or the Sudan or in Kenya or a number of other locations that are currently dealing with both a set of trials and tribulations, but also huge amounts of opportunities on the natural resources that are there and how do we make sure that those are protected so that our brothers and sisters there can utilize them in the form or fashion that they see best. But also, I appreciate that finally somebody also had raised a question around reparations, because we also got to have the questions asked about what's happening here at home on the

domestic front, because there are brothers and sisters who are very focused on being able to address that issue. So I would hope that those questions would also be asked the next time that the both of them come together, because then folks could see the difference in the two folks who are asking for your vote. You know, and Joe, you know, questions were raised about Roe v. Wade. Here's my whole deal. Those questions get asked in every other interview. And so I'm sorry, if I'm in that position, I'm not asking the same stuff that other folks are always asking. And so I think, you know, I thought they could have dealt deeper in terms of her agenda when it comes to black maternity health. I think that that's a topic. It does not get

talked about a lot, which is really important. Also, the reality of, she mentioned this some, but really a more robust conversation about housing in this country as well. And so to me, again, when you have an opportunity, don't ask the same stuff that white media is going to ask, because we hear that crap every single Sunday on Meet the Press, on ABC This Week, and Face the Nation. To me, this is where you have an opportunity to be a little bit different. And look, all the networks carried it. So that was also an opportunity to be able to introduce other topics that ordinarily will not get brought up. Any negative trend just disproportionately affects those who are already behind.

And so she had they had a great opportunity to ask about some things that are of concern to the black community. You know, women's reproductive health is a huge one. Right. Other things, you know, aspects of the economy, whether you're talking about housing, talking about jobs, talking about small businesses, you know, go delve deeper into, you know, what do you say to the notion that people, that some people want to say that you don't have $25,000 to give to small businesses? Address some of the things that are in contradiction or that are raised in opposition to the things that she's already proposed. That allows you to comb in, go in a little bit deeper,

and then give the people that are listening to you something to say in their conversations. So it was absolutely an opportunity that I think was missed in some ways. It would be great to have been at an HBCU or in a situation that allows you to take advantage of the energy of the campaign. And so that's another thing that generates excitement, that gets people involved. Have your voter registration spots in the back. You know, all those things. Do three or four things all at once. There's no reason that you couldn't do that. And so, you know, it would be nice if they had done that, but hopefully they take similar opportunities, do some town hall

style things where you're answering questions of young people who can be a, you know, a suspecting or a, or a, um, uh, an audience that needs to have more information. Um, that's a little bit skeptical, et cetera, use the opportunity to really grow that base and to help them to help you as a candidate. Gotta say, so I've gotta go to our last story here. And this here's an example why I love black people. Frankie Beverly,

of course, lead singer for Frankie Beverly Mays, died last week at the age of 77. And man, the folks in New Orleans know how to send you away. Of course, New Orleans know how to send you away. Of course, New Orleans was where Frankie Beverly Mays, their Live in New Orleans album, put them on the map to start them.

Sold more than 300,000 copies. That's what started it all. New Orleans, man, has always loved them. Guys, roll the video. A lot of video we've seen on social media of what happened in New Orleans. They had a second line. Y'all, they had a casket, didn't have a body, but they made a poster, a life-size poster of Frankie Beverly.

Thousands of people attended this second line, playing music, chanting. Just roll the audio. Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. E aí ¶¶ ¶¶ I'm the first name. Tell me that you're confident. Yes, that's who you think at home. How's about my heart? I'm alone. I'll make you go. Man. Man, look, I tell you, black folk in New Orleans

know how to throw a party. All across the city they celebrated the life and legacy of Frankie Beverly with the second line man. Hey, Joe, Mustafa, Randy, ain't nothing

like black people. And ain't nothing like black people in New Orleans. Nothing. That's right. You can say that again. Real talk. You know. You can say that again. You can say that twice. Nothing. Real talk. You know, when they say that we don't have culture, all you have to do is look at New Orleans.

I lived there before. When someone is transitioning, you know the ancestors are smiling because they are surrounded by so much love and upliftment. So all you got to do is look at New Orleans and you get the opportunity to see us, to see us at our

best, to see our culture at its best, and to actually know what Black love actually feels like. Yeah, this is what you're calling a real celebration. Indeed. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. It just makes it, and again, this Friday is called a white out day in honor of Frankie Beverly.

I posted it on my social media. They're encouraging everybody to wear white on Friday in appreciation of Frankie Beverly. This weekend, Jackson State at their football game mad. Again, y'all know how we do. Before I let go, they played. I've always said that before I let go is

the second national black anthem. Behind Lift Every Voice and Sing, that's the second national black anthem. And I keep telling everybody, folk keep talking about swag surf. I said, no, swag surf got to be around at least another 10 years. We still swag surfing in a decade. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding.

But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams,

and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute

Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings

a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more.

Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'll let that become the third national black anthem, but it ain't there yet. Y'all got the Jackson State video ready? Yo, this is the crowd this weekend, 30,000 folk at the Jackson State football game. I really love you You know I'm just saying And and I am still, I am still disappointed with whoever was playing music at the White House Black Excellent Lunch on Friday.

I don't know what the hell they were thinking. They were playing Beyonce and everybody else. You had 1 a thousand black people on the White House South lawn, nearly everybody in white, and not one damn Mays song was played.

Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, somebody might have to get a BSU card back on that, man. That's not a good look like at all. Well, Frankie Beverly. It was a day after he had passed. Mustafa, go ahead. No, I was just going to say Frankie Beverly was a heartbeat of our culture. I mean, he cared and loved our people so deeply. And that's the reason why we continue and we'll

always give that love back to him. And it helps America to understand we are the soul of America. So if you don't love and embrace us, then you are doing damage to yourself. So they should really remember the words of Frankie Beverly's songs because they were about truth, but they were also about the amazingness of love and of our culture. So he's going to be missed. But again, I know the ancestors are smiling and embracing and welcoming home. And Randy, I can tell you this right here, is white folks who are trying to figure out, man, who the hell is Frankie Beverly? And that's a perfect example

of when you don't know nothing about black people and if you don't know, stay out of black folk business. You got that right. I know people have been talking about how their white friends have asked them or associates have asked them, who is Frankie Beverly? And I'm like, if you don't know

who Frankie Beverly is, we can't even have a conversation. Like, let's just stop I'm trying to tell you, they don't know. They don't know. Frankie Beverly never crossed over. They didn't try to cross over. Frankie was like,

hey, we gonna do our thing and we don't care what y'all gotta say. And they were absolutely about blackness black love black appreciation they wasn't changing they sound they were blackity black and that's what made but I keep telling people listen the Commodores the OJJs, the Spinners, the Temptations. You could throw in Drew Hill, Jodeci, Hair Melvin and the Blue Notes. You could throw in Heat Wave.

You could throw in Confunction. You could throw in Earth, Wind & Fire. Any number of these groups. Amazing groups. Groups that have sold millions of albums. Groups that have won all sorts of awards. But there is no group that has the cult-like following of Frankie Beverly and Maze. And I keep telling everybody,

white people got the Grateful Dead and Phish. P-H-I-S-H. We got Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. That's right. That's right. Just saying. All right. We got to go.

Mustafa, Joe, Randy, I appreciate it. I'm going to get me something to eat downstairs, and I'm going to have my headphones on. I've been jamming Maze all day, and so that's how we do it. I was on a plane just sitting here just grooving. Hold on, real quick. So let me ask y'all this here. Let's see if y'all really see it.

So which album do y'all like best? Maze Live in New Orleans, Maze Live in L.A.? Mustafa, you first. New Orleans. Joe? I'd have to say New Orleans, even though I'm from L.A., because New Orleans is the one that kind of started the immortalization. So this is what it is.

Yeah. Randy? I'd have to agree. Mine is L.A. I think L.A. I listen to both of them. L.A. is more of tempo. New Orleans is a little slower.

Although the look in your eye. New Orleans is a little slower. Although, the look in your eye from New Orleans is fire. But, yeah, I listen to live in L.A. all the time. For me, live in L.A. tops New Orleans. So that's just me. Okay. All right, y'all, we got to go. I appreciate it.

I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Folks. Tomorrow, I got to handle the General Motors Media Diversity Summit. Then I'm flying back to D.C. So I'll be back in studio hanging out with y'all tomorrow. So looking forward to it. Don't forget, support the work that we do. Join the Bring the Funk fan club. Please support us in every way possible. Folks, if you, again, we ask 50 bucks each for everybody for the year. You can give more. That's great. You can't get that. You get less. We appreciate those dollars as well. There are multiple ways to give cash. Yeah, it keeps tripping on these caps. So we got three cash shaft dollar sign RM unfiltered. If that doesn't work, if you get rejected, use dollar sign Uncle Roro Martin or dollar sign BLK Star Network. Also, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Vimos, R.M. Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com.

Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Also, download the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And, of course, be sure to get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Available bookstores nationwide. Get the audio version on Audible. I'll see y'all

tomorrow. Have a great one. Holla! Black Star Network News. Oh, no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going.

The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Thank you. 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. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,ated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey.

We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.