#RolandMartinUnfiltered - ICE Killing in Minneapolis Sparks Outrage, Crockett Rips GOP, CurlMix Comeback

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

1.7.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: ICE Killing in Minneapolis Sparks Outrage, Crockett Rips GOP, CurlMix Comeback An ICE officer shoots and kills a woman during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown.  The mayor and the Minnesota Governor have some choice words for the Trump administration.  While today's shooting is gaining national attention, a Black California family wants answers as to why an off-duty ICE agent killed him over fireworks.  A Florida family wants to know why police shot their loved one after a video shows Donald Taylor walking away from the cops who shot him in the back.  The family attorney is here.  In tonight's Crockett Chronicles, Congresswoman Crockett lays into Republicans who are more concerned with suspected fraud in Minnesota than with keeping healthcare affordable for working families. And CurlMix's co-founder is back with an update on how she paid off half a million in debt after being on the verge of shutting down.   "#BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbase https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Folks, today's Wednesday, January 7th, 2026 coming up on Roller Mark Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. A woman is shot and killed, murdered by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

Condemations are ringing in from across the city, the state, and the country. And, of course, Department of Homeland, security and Donald Trump lying about what took place. We'll show you what happened and all of the reaction as well. Also, with today's shooting gaining natural attention, a black California family wants answers as to why an off-duty ICE officer killed him over some fireworks. We'll talk to the attorney of a Florida family. They want to know why cops killed their loved one when Donald Taylor was seen walking away from the cops who shot him in the back. Also, in tonight's Crockett

Chronicles, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett lays into Republicans who are more concerned about fraud in Minnesota as opposed to keeping health care affordable. Also, the founder of Curlmix joins us to give us an update on the status of her company. Remember, she came on here saying if they didn't sell a certain number of orders, they'll be out of business by December 31st. She'll tell us where they stand. And sad news, a former Black Star Network show host has passed away after a courageous battle with cancer will tell you about the passing of a wealthy you Deborah Owens.

Folks, it's time to bring the funk on Rolla Mark Unfiltern on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Weeks, an ICE agent has gun someone down, this time in Minneapolis. It took place there with a confrontation with ICE officers down the Department of Homeland Security. They literally tried to say that violent rioters weaponized a vehicle who attempted to run. front officers over. Folks, that's an absolute lie. This is the actual video

of the shooting. You okay, Mommy? Now, folks, here is a, here's this video from another angle. Watch this. Now, folks, Christy Noam, who was the Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, went on

on Fox News. This is what she said. This is how she described what took place in Minneapolis. You just saw the video. Here's what she said. You asked about a shooting that we just had in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was an act of domestic terrorism. What happened was our ICE officers were out in an enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis.

They were attempting to push out their vehicle, and a woman attacked them, and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself, and the people around him. And my understanding is, is that she was hit and is deceased. We're continuing to gather more information, but this goes to show the assaults that are ICE officers and our law enforcement are under every single day. These vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism.

We're working with the Department of Justice to prosecute them as such. We will continue. Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bejan Robinson. When I'm on the field, I'm feeling the pressure, I usually just, Take a deep breath. When I'm just breathing and seeing what's in front of me, everything just slows down. It just makes you feel great before I run the play.

Just like Bejohn, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field. Make a game playing for your mental health at love your mind playbook.org. Love your mind. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the ad console. The social media trend that's landing some Gen Ziers in jail. The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired. I'm going to take Francesco off the network entirely.

The massive TikTok boycott against Target that makes no actual sense. I will continue getting stuff from Target, and I will continue to not pay for it. And the MAGA influencers whose trip to the White House ended in embarrassment. So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate. You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Brad versus Everyone podcast. Hosted by me, Brad Palumbo.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards, podcast of the year, by voting at iHeartpodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at iHeartpodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award.

Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. To protect our ICE officers and in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies as well. Folks, what you just heard was an absolute lie. So I want you to queue up the video, the first video we played, the four and a half minute video. Okay. And so she said, this is what she said.

She said, oh, the officers were trying to get the vehicle out of the snow. In fact, so before I do that, I'm going to do this here. This is the actual tweet that the Department of Homeland Security also posted. Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting tariff. targeted operations when rioters begin blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them an act of domestic terrorism an ice officer fearing for his life the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public fire defensive shots he used his training and

saved his own life in that of his fellow officers. The alert perpetrator was hit in his deceased. The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries. I want to listen to that. This is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who feel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement who are facing 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats. This is an evolving situation and we will give the public more information as soon as it becomes available. That's literally what they tweet out. Okay, so this is what they tweet.

Then, of course, the liar-in-chief, Donald Trump posted this on his truth social. I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was obviously a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer who seems to have shot her in self-defense.

Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but it's now recovering in the hospital. okay and he said a whole bunch of the crap all right now play the video again i want you to bring the audio down and so when the play the video where the the uh the car pull it pulls up okay stop right there pause it pause it right there okay let it go further let it go further pause it okay right there christie gnome live she literally said they were trying to dig themselves out of the snow Y'all can see there's no snow on that street. The street had already been clear.

You see it right there. So that's an absolute lie that she told. Okay. Now, press play. They're approaching her car. Freeze it right here. Freeze it. Okay.

They're approaching her car. The officer walks up and immediately tries to pull the car door open. Press play. Now, freeze it right there. Now, you already see she was already in reverse. Okay, you saw the brake lights. So she pulls back. Press play.

Stop, freezing right there. So you have two officers. One officer in front of the front of this guard. So this guy fires a shot, okay? Fires a shot. Press play. And fires more shots at her. Now, look at the officer.

He's walking. he's walking now um if you fast forward it what you're going to see is you're going to see maybe there's another angle i think i'd send it to another angle um where the officer he's walking back to his car so trump is lying gnome is lying the officers were not injured they were not run over it's flat out lies flat out lies now here's what's even worse huffington's Post has been given a video. Let me know if y'all have it. If you don't have it, please let me know.

The folks at Huffington Post got a video where a doctor, a doctor, y'all about to, a doctor was came on the scene and they refused to allow the doctor to see the woman. It refused to allow it. In fact, it took 15 minutes before police would allow, before an ambulance arrived, they wouldn't not, because the ambulance was blocked because of police cars. So the paramedics had to run on foot to treat the woman.

Yeah. That actually happened. And again, goes to show you what we're dealing with here. And these folks have been lying. So immediately, conservative media and others, they jumped at it. Oh, my God, they're attacking ice. Nope, that's not what happened. We saw flat out exactly what happened and how this woman was murdered by the ICE agents.

The reaction was quick. It was swift. The mayor of Minneapolis was absolutely angry. Here is Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry. There's a lot of information that is swirling around right now, and we collectively are going to do everything possible to get to the bottom of this, to get justice, and to make sure that there is an investigation that is conducted in full. But what we do know is that a 37-year-old woman is dead and that she was shot by ice.

we've dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ice presence in Minneapolis. Not only is this a concern that we've had internally, we've been talking about it. They are not here to cause safety in this city. What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust. They're ripping families apart. They're sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people. So they are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense.

Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly. That is bullshit. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed. As soon as it happened and we learned of the incident we had several priorities. The first, of course, was to get the victim to the hospital and to get care as soon as possible. To the family, I'm so deeply sorry. There's nothing that I can say right now that it's going to make you or your relatives or the friends of the victim feel any better. There were, I believe, two Minneapolis police officers that responded.

and were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. The second was to get ice off of the scene. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of ICE and federal officers that were there at the time. Having them there was only causing more chaos. Having them there was only making a difficult situation even more problematic, and one that, yes, they created themselves. There's little, I can say, again, that'll make this situation better, but I do have a message for our community, for our city,

and I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized, and now somebody is dead.

That's on you. And it's also on you to leave. It's on you to make sure that further damage, further loss of life and injury is not done. We're going to be working towards justice as quickly as we possibly can right now. And justice is what we've all got to get. Next, a message to our community. Look, we all know that the agenda of this Trump administration is to create chaos. Let us respond right now with our best versions of self.

This is a moment where all of us, in Minneapolis and beyond, we can rise to the occasion. We can show them who we are. We can show them the kind of courage, bravery, love, and compassion. that makes Minneapolis, Minneapolis, and that makes America, America. We are better than a bunch of ICE agents being deployed to cities around the country and ripping apart families and communities. We're better than that. And so we are going to meet that hate with love.

We are going to meet that despair with hope. We are going to meet that injustice with constitutional justice, ourselves and we're going to make sure that in this very difficult moment we do not take the bait that these ice agents are trying to create and that the federal government to be clear wants they want us to respond in a way that creates a military occupation in our city they want an excuse to come in and show the kind of force that will create more chaos and more despair let's not let them let's rise to this occasion let's show them something far more beautiful than the kind of division that they're trying to stoke

let's show them unity of purpose of love and the courage of our conviction our conviction to be clear is rock solid and it is for our neighbors all of our neighbors it's for people who have lived here for 80 years It is for new immigrants who have made this city a better place.

That's the kind of love that we're going to show up with right now. If you're angry, I get it. I am too. If you're feeling that kind of despair, it's understandable. Let's show them who we can be. Let's show up with peace. To march, to protest, to hug one another, to love all the way with peace. do not give them what they want. Finally, you know, we've got a lot of work that needs to happen right now

to make sure that first, of course, the scene was secured as much as possible, that we were able to get the victim now to cease to the hospital. We've got a lot of work to do in the coming days. I want to thank our city enterprise for the work that they have done, but more importantly what they're about to do because this is going to be heavy, and our city has been through a lot. We also know that we're prepared to do right for people. All right, folks, this is how Minnesota Governor Tim Wals

responded in his news conference after this murder. This morning we learned that an ICE officer shot and killed someone in Minneapolis. My deepest condolences to the family, to the loved ones, who had to learn about this tragic event on national television. We've been warning for weeks that the Trump administration's dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety, that someone was going to get hurt. Just yesterday, I said exactly that. What we're seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines, and conflict.

It's governing by reality TV. And today that recklessness cost someone their life. I've reached out to Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Noem, and I'm waiting to hear back. Let me be clear Donald Trump and his Donald Trump and his administration may not care much about Minnesota that's been pretty evident

but we love this state we won't let them tear us apart will not turn against each other to Minnesotans I say this I feel your anger I'm angry they want to show we can't give it to them we cannot

if you protest and express your First Amendment rights please do so peacefully as you always do We can't give them what they want. The hearts and minds of the people in this state are on our side. To Americans, I ask you this. Please stand with Minneapolis. To Minnesotans, know that our administration is going to stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice.

The State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are working on the investigation. We have activated the State Emergency Operations Center. State Patrol of Minnesota National Guard leadership is connected, leadership is connected with the Minneapolis Police Department, the St. Paul Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, the DNR, and Minnesota's Homeland Security and Emergency Management. We have activated dozens of members of the State Patrol's mobile response team. And from here on, I have a very simple message. We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Christy Noem, you've done enough. There's nothing more important than Minnesota

safety I've issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard we have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary I remind you a warning order is a heads up for folks and these National Guard troops are our National Guard troops they're teachers in your community their business owners their construction professionals they are Minnesotans Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight We will not take the bait. Folks, again, just shocking and stunning, and the lies continue to come out of the White House as they try to cover all of this up.

Our panel is Rebecca Carruthers, President, CEO of Fair Election Center out of D.C., Tyler and Middle and Social Justice Leader and Movement Strategies out of D.C., Joy Cheney, Found of Joy Strategy at the D.C., Rebecca, I'll start with you. I mean, it's just lies, lies, lies, lies, pure and simple from Trump's White House. No shock because he's a liar in chief. Well, first, happy New Year, Roland. So with talking with some folks on the ground and getting messages, like on my phone, just getting, you know, asking people, hey, what are you hearing on the ground,

especially to your point earlier, the stark contrast of what the administration is saying that is lies and very inaccurate. Even the idea that this person was protesting, as you can see in that video and what I'm hearing from folks on the ground, Babes, what are you doing? What? I'm just mowing the lawn.

No, it's blazing hot and dry out here. Don't you remember? Smokey Bear says... Avoid using power equipment when it's windy or dry. Where'd you learn this? Oh, it's on... Smokeybear.com with many other wildfire prevention tips. Right. Thanks, honey, bear. Because remember, only you can prevent wildfires.

Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the ad council. social media trend that's landing some Gen Ziers in jail. The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired. I'm going to take Francesco off the network entirely. The massive TikTok boycott against Target that makes no actual sense. I will continue getting stuff from Target and I will continue to not pay for it. And the MAGA influencers whose trip to the White House ended in embarrassment. So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate.

You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Brad versus Everyone podcast hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week, I bring you on a wild ride through the most delulu takes on the internet, criticizing the extremes of both sides from an independent perspective. Join in on the insanity and listen to the Brad versus Everyone podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is,

You can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartpodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. reports that there was a formal protest that was happening. But even saying that this person was a

domestic terrorist, once again, there's no, first of all, a domestic terrorist that really isn't that designation by the federal government in this country. And they're not even able to prove it. So they're just saying words. What this reminds me of, I had a conversation with a colleague last year. And they said, look, we're in a slow moving civil war. It started at Charlottesville. And quite frankly, it's a war between white people versus white people, just like the last civil war that we had. And so what's interesting as a black person observing and seeing what's happening is a white woman was killed today. And yes, they're trying to paint her as super liberal because also in that car was her wife, because this was a white woman who happened to be a lesbian. And the reason why I bring that is that we know this administration is going to try to other her.

They're going to try to say she was extremely radicalized. They're going to say all sorts of things. And so I'm curious what white people are going to do in this country when they see one another being killed by this fascist regime. We sat there and we watched Taelic as Trump and Nome Live talking about the injuries. This is the officer who shot and killed this woman. Oh, oh my God. How did he survive? it doesn't look like he's having serious issues with walking.

Again, but that's how they actually lie. Yeah, absolutely. And I would say the only domestic terrorists that we have seen in this country lately is those who insurrects to the Capitol who was marching here in Washington. And I think when we look at this case, when federal agents kill civilians and walk free, I think the message is really clear. It says that some lives are expendable in the name of enforcement. enforcement and that black lives and folks' lives,

immigrant lives, continue to live under this constant surveillance and this fear and this militarization of their communities. And I think we are now growing up in a country still the same, just in a different fashion, from where state violence is normalized against the most vulnerable and impacted communities. And I think this is not a matter of public safety, but it's really a matter of state terror. And this is what ICE agents are doing across our country.

badge should grant anyone the right to kill without consequence. And I think we must abolish systems that continue to prioritize control over humanity. And our communities deserve safety from these type of armed agents. It requires care and resources and trust. And as the mayor said, quite frankly, they need to get the fuck out of our communities. And I couldn't echo that even more. Joy, the woman's name is Renee Nicole Good. This is, she was 37 years old and then mother of three. Yeah.

And to think, I mean, when she woke up this morning, she was just going about her business, right? Of daily living, being a wife, being a mother, et cetera, being a citizen, and somehow found herself in the crosshairs of someone. To me, what I saw when I saw that video, I thought, like, how many times could you just, just be in the middle of the street. You have people screaming at you, yelling at you. You're just

simply trying to get away and that someone would shoot you. There was no threat. Watch the video over and over again. I know in the coming days, many people will say a lot, but the benefit of this time that we're in is that you don't have to listen to what other people say, including any of us on here. You can just watch it yourself. This man was not at risk. He took out his gun prior to her moving her car in his direction. So he was poised to try to take lethal action against her. And what I found found alarming is that he approached the scene, but then he also left the scene.

You know, I don't know if we could see whether he just moved out in front or he left it all together. But I hope that it's been clear that he should not leave the state of Minnesota. He is certainly, I'm sure he's being deposed right now by the long. enforcement there and by federal officials, but what they're saying about him is obviously a lie. We can see it with our own eyes. And, you know, it's funny, I thought we were supposed to protect white women. This is a white woman like you all. And not like us. We know they don't care about us, but this is someone that's like you. Donald Trump has separated even the white community.

And this is why we have to stick us stand together. Because the same people who saw what they saw and know that's wrong can come together with the rest of us, then, you know, then there's nothing that can stop us. We have a civil war this quickly, a cold war, this quickly becoming a hot one, and I think we saw it today. It was bound to happen. Indeed. Also, folks, on New Year's Eve, 43-year-old Keith Porter was failing shot by an off-do-the-ice agent in Los Angeles following celebratory gunfire outside of his home there. Porter's family is calling for a thorough investigation. The family attorney told a local news station, there's no evidence that Porter fired a weapon towards the agent and questions whether the off-through officer was justified in responding before police arrived. DHS claims the off-through the ICE agent acting in self-defense.

The LAPD is investigating. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk with the attorney or family in Florida, who's demanding answers to a loved one who was shot and killed by a cop in the back. You're watching Roller Mart unfiltered on the Black Star Network. They said the quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat. So they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican legislatures moved fast. New voter ID laws, polling place shutdowns, purges of black voters from the rolls.

Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it. They joined in. In 2018, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased blacked voters, their goal, erase black votes and political power. Yeah, that happened. These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland Martin unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app. Support fact-based independent journalism that centers African Americans and the issues that matter to our community. In this country right now, you have people get up in the morning and the only thing they can think about is how many people they can hurt power, that's the time for mourning.

For better or worse, what makes America special, it's that legal system that's supposed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority. We are at a point of a moral emergency. We must raise a voice of

outrage. We must raise a voice of compassion. And we must raise a voice of unity. We are not in a crisis of party versus party. We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis, and a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what? You've been chosen to make sure that those that would destroy, those that would

hate, don't have the final say, and they don't ultimately win. In the street by cops, and he had his hands up while doing so. A newly released video, the August 3rd shooting, 32-year-old Donald Taylor seen walking. down the street. He goes out of frame, but what happens when he reappears that leads his family to say he was murdered. Now, we want to warn people that this video can be is disturbing. It could trigger some folks. And so I want to give you some time to look away. Again, it's a very difficult video to have to watch. So let's go ahead and play it. All right, folks, do we have the video? Attorney Aryan White, Representative Taylor family, she joins us now from Miami.

Okay, so walk us through this here. Were they trying to execute a warrant? What happened here? We have his video and he's walking away. Is he walking away from a home? Is he in a driveway in an alley? Explain to us exactly what we just saw. Okay, well, first, thank you for having me, Roland.

He is walking away. So the beginning of this video, there are a couple videos. and he is walking towards where we now know the police officers were, but then he's seen walking away, and you can kind of hear the commotion of when the interaction with the officers first begins. It's not an alleyway. It's a street where there's just more street. It's a neighborhood.

It's a community. He's not on anybody's property. He's just walking down the street. And he comes into contact with these police officers, and he walks away, as you saw with his hands up, with his arms out. and he shot in the back once. A fatal shot. I am of the opinion.

I'm not a medical expert, but it appears very clearly died right there. But that is information that we, the family has not even been provided, quite frankly. Every piece of information that we have is because his family has been diligent

in trying to figure out what occurred that day. Haven't gotten any information from the police. We don't know who the officer was. I cannot even confirm that they were executing a warrant. Transparently, there were several felony crimes that Mr. Taylor was suspected of occurring, I believe, the week before this incident. And it is possible that they were trying to execute a warrant, but I'm not 100% sure because the answers that I have gotten from the multiple police departments that are investigating this. And we can talk about that a little bit more if you want are none. Zero. We haven't gotten any information from them.

We were able to get this video because of a good Samaritan who thought it was important that this family have answers for what actually happened that day. Again, what's strange to me is, he's walking away. We're going to play the video again because I think it's important so we properly understand what happened here. His hands are up. Doesn't look like he's reaching anything. So go and play the video again.

Okay, so we see he's walking away. So, and watching that video there, and watching that video, come back, come back. Okay, watch that video, he does not reach it for anything. Now, after he's shot, we hear them say, do not reach. He makes no move.

So I don't understand why in the situation, why do you fire a weapon, your gun is out, not taser or anything along those lines. yeah that there's no reasonable rational or legal explanation from our standpoint there wasn't no reason to shoot him it's my understanding that sometime before this incident there was another interaction where he was able to get away is the way that they explain it haven't been given any details on that either um even in that situation though there has not even been an allegation at that point that he was armed or or anything like that.

Now, at some point later in this video, there appears to be a weapon that's discovered on his body. But I want to remind you, Roland, we live in Florida. People have weapons. I have weapons, right? So it's not illegal to have a weapon to be, I'm going to be a lot more fair to them than they were to Mr. Taylor and say that assuming that they believed, you know,

all the allegations that have been put forth against him, that they approached them as though he was armed and dangerous, right? But in this country, at least, as far as I know, it does not matter if you're charged with a misdemeanor, a trespass, a felony, drug possession or murder, the burden of proof is the same, right? The police don't get to be judged jury and executioner. He was entitled to an arrest, a reasonable response to his behavior, which may, I don't even believe a taser at this point. They didn't even attempt to physically accost him as far as I can tell. But he was entitled to be arrested. prosecuted by the state attorney's office, tried by a jury of his peers, and then if found guilty, punished by a judge, right? And what they've essentially done is they have robbed the public of answers, right? They robbed the potential victims of these alleged crimes of any answers, and they robbed

Mr. Taylor of his life, his family of his life. He was a young man. He was 32 years old. And there's, I just, I sat on this video long enough to try to, figure out something, right, to be a good attorney and think of some possible explanation. And I can't think of one that makes sense, not one. This took place August 3rd. What has been with the response reaction from police department from the district attorney? Yeah. So I haven't spoken with or heard from the district attorney at all.

I will say this. And this is information that I'm not sure it's public at this point. But I'm going to go ahead and say it now. this murder actually occurred. This is the city of Hollywood police department that fired these shots, is my understanding. The actual murder occurred in another city

and an adjoining city, the city next over, if you will. So that city is investigating, but I haven't gotten any information from them. I've submitted public records request to the city of Miramar, which is where this actually occurred, right north of Miami, the city of Hollywood,

and FDLE, who is investigating the shooting right now. The more you listen to your kids, kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the ad council and pivotal. The social media trend that's landing some Gen Z years in jail.

The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired. I'm going to take Francesco off the network entirely. The massive TikTok boycott against Target that makes no actual sense. I will continue getting stuff from Target. And I will continue to not pay for it. And the MAGA influencers, whose trip to the White House, ended in embarrassment. So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate. You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media.

but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Brad versus Everyone podcast. Hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week, I bring you on a wild ride through the most delulu takes on the internet, criticizing the extremes of both sides from an independent perspective. Join in on the Insanity and listen to the Brad versus Everyone podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, You can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeart Podcast Awards.com.

Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. But I haven't received really anything from any of those apartments. So we don't even know the name of the officer who fired this shot. And it is January 7.

This occurred in August. Well, certainly keep us abreast of what comes next to this story. I certainly will. The shooting in there makes no sense. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having me.

Folks, headed to a break. We come back. Councilman Jasmine Crockett tears into Republicans regarding their lack of dazeal attitude when it comes to health care for Americans. We'll talk about that next right here on Rolla Mark on Filcher on the Blackstone Network. Don't forget support the work that we do. Join our bring the funk fan club. Your Dolls make it possible to do the work that we do. And so if you want to join, we're a member of our fan club, we've had nearly 37,000 people who have donated since we launched the show September 4th, 2018.

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203-7-196. Back in a moment. They said the quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat. So they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican legislatures moved fast. New voter ID laws.

polling place shutdowns, purges of black voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it, they joined in. In 2018, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased black voters, their goal, erase black votes and political power. Yeah, that happened. These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland Martin unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app.

support fact-based independent journalism that centers African Americans and the issues that matter to our community. In this country right now, you have people get up in the morning, and the only thing they can think about is how many people they can hurt, and they've got the power. That's the time for mourning. For better or worse, what makes America special, it's that legal system that's supposed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority. we are at a point of a moral emergency. We must raise a voice of outrage. We must raise a voice of compassion. And we must raise a voice of unity.

We are not in a crisis of party versus party. We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis, and a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what? You've been chosen to me. make sure that those that would destroy, those that would hate, don't have the final say, and they don't ultimately win.

In Minnesota, well, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, I had some other thoughts about that. And here is how she challenged the panelist today. I just have one quick question. I have not been here the entire hearing, but I don't think this question has been posed for each of you. and we can start at the far end. Do you believe that all Somalis are engaged in fraud? I do not, and I'd like to- Okay, just yes or no.

Next. Of course not. Oh, absolutely not. We have good Somali people in our state. Absolutely not. Okay, thank you so much. I just want to make sure our level set, because it seems like we want to continue to,

especially as we just heard those particular articles entered into the record, we want to continue to just make it, seem as if you are Somali, then somehow you are a fraudster. And this administration has decided that it wants to target on their backs. And so when my colleague, Ms. Randall, decided that she wanted to talk about the threats that are being made towards various Somali people, the reason she brought it up is because this particular side of the aisle has a tendency of if one person does something bad,

especially if they are an immigrant, then we are going to cast aside that entire community. So I wanted to level set and I appreciate your honesty because that's something that we very rarely get from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. In fact, if we want to talk about fraud, I got a lot of fraud that we're going to talk about because we're going to get into this. But I am very curious to hear. You know, let me, let me ask you, Mr. Ballou, are you aware of allegations that $50,000 in taxpayer dollars have been given to someone that is currently sitting in this administration, by the the name of Tom Holman. Are you aware? Okay, that's a yes. I am. Okay. And last I checked and correct me if I'm wrong, if you have different information, but he was given that $50,000 in exchange for being able to provide contracts and kickbacks to people as soon as Trump was

going to get into office. The DOJ was actually investigating this, but as soon as Trump got into office, last I checked, he actually said, go ahead and throw away that case. So it was a Department of Justice Investigation. and he accepted the money from an undercover FBI agent in cash. Are you aware as to whether or not we ever got that $50,000 back? I'm not. Oh, okay. Are you aware as to whether or not this committee has decided to investigate that?

I'm not. Are you aware as to whether or not any committee in Congress has decided to investigate the fact that we know that he took $50,000 from an undercover officer and yet we still don't have that money, nor does he have any charges? I'm not. Okay. All right. So let's get into it.

We're living through the most corrupt presidential administration and administration American history, a $300 million ballroom, a $230 million payout from the Department of Justice because the president got his fill and cert because he has to be investigated for being a criminal. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent at Trump-owned properties around the country, Trump-branded wine being sold at the Coast Guard exchanges, American taxpayer dollars being spent on DHS propaganda ads on truth social, awarding federal contracts to corporations in exchange for campaign contributions. Cache Patel flew his girlfriend around the country on a multi-million dollar jet that taxpayers paid for.

Christy Knaum gave companies she's affiliated with hundreds of millions of tax dollars, then went out and spent another $200 million on two private jets for her travel. For 12 months, this administration has been taking billions of taxpayer dollars from American people and have been giving it away to their own companies in the form of tax cuts, government contracts, or other government-funded subsidies. So Congress has a role in getting rid of fraud, I will admit that, in any federally-funded government program. However, I think the fraud that the American people are concerned about is that the Republicans

are taking away American self-care so that ultra-billionaires can get more tax cuts. The real fraud is the dehumanization and demonization of the working-class Americans and immigrants to distract folks away from corporate socialism that's happening because of of the Republicans. So this is truly the definition of throwing away the baby with the bath water. The Republican philosophy is that if the cost of living for the average American increases, they're on their own. But if the cost of doing business increases for the wealthiest people on earth, well then it's the government job to bail them out. But I want to get to my last question, because Mr. Ballou, I got to give you a chance. He's been issuing pardons for numerous people who have defrauded the American people.

And Republicans on this committee? Yeah, just as quiet as the room just got, right? So Mr. Ballou, talk to me about how the Trump administration has welcomed fraud across government by purging DOJ attorneys and shuddering ethics office across the federal government. Well, you know, one of the things that's been a common theme in this discussion so far is potential government employee involvement in some of these schemes. That hasn't been proving yet, but it does seem to be alleged. The concern that I have is the office that would prosecute that in the Department of Justice, the public integrity section has been largely defunded and decimated. Thank you so much.

My time has expired, but I do have some U-Cs, Mr. Chairman. You want to do them now? I do. Okay. The first one is from Truthout. Trump grants clemency to executive who led $205 million Medicare fraud scheme. Without objection to ordered. The next one is Trump commute sentence of Dr. Solomon Melgin.

I doctor found guilty of Medicare fraud. Without objection to ordered. The next one, healthcare fraudster, Philip S. Fremaze, is latest Trump clemency recipient to be arrested. He defrauded more than a billion dollars from Medicare. Without objection to ordered. Trump pardons nursing homeowner and supporter convicted of $7 million in tax evasion. Without objection to ordered. And we'll want all that stuff to put in the record.

I will. I got you. Trump pardons cost victims and taxpayers. $1.3 billion House Judiciary Committee Democrats review says. Without objection. So ordered. Wow. That's that's a whole lot of fraud here, Tyler. Republicans as she said are bears sight. Yeah, definitely. And I think if leaders are serious about stopping fraud, as you just said here, they would, you know, first start off

with the corporate abuse and political corruption that we already see. And, and even though we talk about cutting lines to poor and working class people, you know, being at the brunt of this fraud. And even we talking about health care, I think health care is a big thing where affordable health care is under attack and the fact engineering these costs that continue to height costs for families where they have to choose between prescriptions and rent and groceries. And yet the supporters and corporate billionaires are getting ways out. And so I think, you know, it's definitely, and I'm glad that Representative Crockett, definitely pointed that out.

Absolutely. And we see what is happening on the Capitol Hill. I'm looking to pull the story up, Joy. Democrats had to advance a discharge petition extending the subsidies, the Affordable Care Act subsidies. Now, Republicans did not want that to go forward, but the problem is they really can't do much about that. And guess what? Four, four Republicans signed the discharge petition, but nine Republicans voted for it. Passed 21205. And what this calls for, this calls for, guess what, to extend the substance for three years and were wiped out in that big, ugly bill they passed. And here's what I think interesting. Remember Joy, all the different people.

all the different pundits and media folks and strategies who were saying that Democrats were wrong to shut the government to first of all not lift the finger to help the Republicans open the government. They were blaming Democrats for shutting the government when actually wasn't Democrats. It was actually Republicans. And they say, well, Democrats are wrong. Oh, look, you lost the battle. Subses are going to go away. You lost. Well, they're literally moving forward.

These nine Republicans realize they're in trouble. These nine Republicans realize that their constituents are going to have a health care premium skyrocket. And so now, and so the vote took place today, it passed for the discharge petition, the full House is going to vote on Thursday. It passed the House. It now goes to the Senate where Senator Jean Shaheen, they've been trying to put together a bill there. Guess what? This actually might pass. Republicans are in a conundrum.

Sounds to me like it was smart of the Democrats, their government shutdown strategy. Looks like it worked. Listen, not just smart, brilliant. And to be clear, to any senator, hearing the sound of my voice, this is not the time to negotiate. This is the time if we get this bill passed in the House

to vote for the House bill, it's the three-year cleaning extension, right? So you don't negotiate against yourself. The Republican leadership in the Senate should take up the House, bill and move forward because that's what the American people want. This discharge petition is just there where the members can overcome an intransigent leadership, feckless leadership, like what they've had in Mike Johnson.

And they say move forward. And you know who's thrilled? Mike Johnson is thrilled because he can say to the Trump, hey, I did what I could. And yet it could still happen because every single day, Congress people are getting notes from their constituents saying, I can't get health insurance because my health insurance has tripled. I can't get health insurance because it's doubled. They're getting that every single day. And they're saying nothing that's done this year is going to just undo it overnight.

I'm making the decisions now that have an impact for me and my family. And that's everywhere. Blue state, red state, purple state, whatever you know, wherever you, you know, wherever you find yourself, all Americans are experiencing this. And it is just augmenting the uncertainty they already had because of the cuts that we know are coming to Medicaid. So we have health care uncertainty happening all over. And then we're not even talking about the fool in Secretary Kennedy and what he is done

to public health and his attacks on that. All of that uncertainty is happening right now. And we have flu season spiking. fight at a time where people find themselves unable to get health care affordably. So, you know, Donald Trump has caught himself. He knows he made a mistake. Democrats got it right. We need to carry it through.

Rebecca, the other reason is why the strategy was smart. And they were, listen, I remember, remember when, remember when Ashley Etienne came on and said, hey, Democrats shouldn't do this. if they're not committed to the long haul. Here's what it did. What it did was it actually caused them to rally around a singular issue. The time was used to build momentum and to teach the public about what was going on. Those town halls Republicans were having, they were getting crucified in those town halls.

And so here we are now at the end result of that. And that is, the pressure was brought. brought to bear and by remember these same Republicans voted for that big ugly bill they voted for they got rid of the Affordable Care Act subsidies but because of the democrats action the more you listen to your kids the closer you'll be so we asked kids what do you want your parents to hear i feel sometimes that i'm not listened to i would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success listening is a form of love Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. The social media trend that's landing some Gen Z is in jail. The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired.

I'm going to take Francesco off the network entirely. The massive TikTok boycott against Target that makes no actual sense. I will continue getting stuff from Target. And I will continue to not pay for it. And the MAGA influencers whose trip to the White House ended in embarrassment. So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulation. You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things

happening online in media and in politics with the Brad versus Everyone podcast, hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week, I bring you on a wild ride who the most delulu takes on the internet, criticizing the extremes of both sides from an, independent perspective. Join in on the insanity and listen to the Brad versus Everyone podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through

February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeart Podcast Awards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. They came to the government shutdown. They caused the nation to focus on the health care issue.

And these Republicans are scared to death of voting against the subsidies because they know what's going on. And this impacts, not just the House and the Senate. We're talking about a very popular Democrat who may jump into the Alaska U.S. Senate race. Early polling shows she would have a seven-point lead against Republicans. You've got Susan Collins under serious assault in Maine. She could get defeated. You've got Joni Ernst who's choosing not to run in Iowa. The Republicans have been getting their bus kicked in Iowa.

That could be a pickup. You've got former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, hugely popular running on a Democratic. excited in North Carolina, that could be a pickup. You got Republicans have not been able to find a big name to run against Senator John Ossoff in Georgia. And so you literally have the potential. Again, it's not guaranteed. Democrats could very well end up controlling the United States Senate by riding the issue of health care and affordability. Roland, we broke this down two months ago. In fact, I think it was the first Wednesday in November where we talked about where the Democrats were positioning themselves during the government shutdown and why they needed to really explain what

was happening with health care and with the subsidies. This is also why we called out Charlemagne the God on the Breakfast Club for purposely spreading disinformation and saying, oh, well, it doesn't matter. What the Democrats are doing doesn't make sense. And then just saying things that were erroneous to black listeners of the Breakfast Club in regards to what was happening. I think the key there, what we did. The key was walking people again. This is where I think is important. This is what I think it's important. Um, because somebody, a person who's watching today may go, well, okay, I'm not understanding six months from that because remember, remember, we had Congresswoman Law and Underwood on the show. And if I'm correct, if I'm correct, Underwood was talking about,

I think she was introducing a bill that would extend the subsidies for a year. What did Donald Trump say in late November? He floated a three-year extension of the subsidies. Republicans are like, where is this coming from? This particular bill here, it would be two or three years. And so what you have going on here, and again, this is where I think people have to understand. action that you take in October and November may not manifest or show up until March, April, May.

But this is where because this is where the strategy comes in. Because if the Democrats had folded early, they then would not have been able to create and build the resonance around the issue because it would have been, oh, y'all selling, of tickets. It's not going to happen. And Republicans had they folded early, the Democrat, the Republicans could have been like, all right, cool, we survived that. But because they didn't, it was every day. And all of a sudden, you literally saw the story coming like a mushroom cloud. And it got built bigger and built bigger. That pressure is what led to today's action in the house.

Yes. Rebecca, it was that it was that pressure that over days, it had been turned into one month, into two months, into three months. And even though they expired the 1st of January, I'm telling right now, this is going to pass because Republicans are scared to death of getting wiped out in November. Absolutely. What we saw this late fall, late fall 2025 is that Democrats used to. strategy to position health care and health care subsidies as an issue in 2026, not just a wedge issue. And we say wedge issues. So to explain to your audience, it's the issue that you use the drive people politically, right? But what Democrats actually did, they moved it from just a wedge issue, but they turned it into a voting issue. Because one thing that we have learned since, that we

have learned since 2009, 2010 is that health care, health care subsidies, premium costs are a voting issue. It drives people to the polls. It's one reason why in 2010 Republicans were able to use it to beat Democrats over the head and Democrats lost the midterms in 2010. There were other things as well, but those health care town halls was the catalyst that Republicans use. Even though the idea or the name of Obamacare doesn't poll well. The idea of having affordable health care that you can actually go in and see a doctor when you're sick, you can go see a doctor for preventative care. That's extremely popular in both the red states and blue states in urban areas, in rural areas, in suburbs, across all demographics. People want to be able to go to the doctor when they need to go to the doctor

and not have to file bankruptcy because they went to the doctor because they saw health care. And so it's very important. I do agree with you. I do think in the next 10 days, this thing is going to pass because Republicans can't, they don't need this as a voting issue in 2026 because they'll lose on it. They don't want to go into the next presidential cycle in 28 with it hanging over their head either. But the other thing, just to mention Roland, just a preview for your viewers, is that we're going to have another continued resolution to figure out the budget because we're going to run out of money again with the federal budget because we haven't passed. That's going to happen at the end of this month.

And then today, Donald Trump said, hey, you know what? We need to have $1.5 trillion in military spending. And so there are some bigger fights that are right behind the horizon. Right. I do think there's been enough pressure for this thing to pass in the next 10 days. But here's the other thing that I think it's important that we just can't overlook. We saw the better part of 2025. I mean everybody. I mean people in the chat group, television people, radio people,

columnists, bloggers, contact, everybody was saying, oh my God, these Democrats, they don't know what they're doing, they've got no vision, they've got no strategy, they are adrift, and they were. Let's just be perfectly clear. They didn't know what to hell to say or do in February, in March, in April, in May, in June, or July, in August? What changed? I need people to pay attention because we were trying to tell folks this. One, the Epstein files actually centered. Democrats. You had folks like Thomas Massey and Bobert and Martin Taylor Green and these MAGA people who like release the files. All of a sudden Democrats saw a window open. So the audience, most people had never heard of this thing called a discharge petition. Folks, they never heard of that. Remember, I need people. Everybody paying attention. What, everybody, everybody, everybody, kept saying oh they don't know what they're doing schumer jeffreys they're horrible their messaging is

terrible in the house they had democrats had no power but the discharge petition if you could get 218 house members to sign on to a discharge petition you can bypass the speaker of the house bypass the committees and bring a bill directly to the floor what happened and that's what they deal with the Epstein files. Then all of a sudden, Democrats said, well, wait a minute. In the government shutdown. Then they started, uh-oh, they started, wait a minute, hold up, we got a message. Healthcare, health care, health care, affordability, health care.

Then it was, wait a minute, we could put a discharge petition for these subsidies. And that's where we're at right now. So for people, again, for people who are complaining, people who were saying that their strategy in the government shutdown was wrong, I'm like, no, no, no, you weren't getting it. What it did was we finally saw in the last quarter of the year, October, November, December, we finally saw Democrats wake up, come up with a strategy that focused their entire party. and people were literally following that and not just trying to chase Trump on every other tangent.

And now, what do you now have here? Oh, this is the wall. Let me pull it up right here. If you don't think this stuff is important, y'all, how it all plays out. Look at this right here. Boom. Trump moves to ban large investors

from buying single family homes. It's this unclear whether congressional approval will be needed to institute the ban. you might say, wait a minute, hold on. What's going on there? Because he's getting killed on affordability. His approval ratings are low. What did he say the other day? Look, y'all got to save me. If we don't keep control of the house, they're going to, they're going to, they're, uh-oh, they're going to impeach me. Tiley, why would you be concerned about impeachment if you didn't do anything that actually? actually could lead to impeachment. See, this is what we're now seeing is showing up in the polling dam. It's showing up in the special elections. Republicans are going, oh shit.

We spent, we talked, we're doing Venezuela. We passed this big budget bill. We passed all this sort of stuff. And the same thing we criticize Democrats and Biden and Harris about, we're not getting our ass, getting our, our ass is kicked on it. That is what is happening before our very eyes. It's great. And I think framing that in framing the shutdown, you know, around health care and affordability

because I think, you know, in the abstract budgets, when we think about budget sake, it's like whether people are living or dying. And I think that for, in that moral contrast of like protecting people over politics and then I think moving that and understanding the framework of how the Republicans, you know, kind of move the Epstein stuff, kind of using that same framework to really focus in on health care that many Americans care about because, I mean, it's really about life or death. And folks really have to make decisions now about keeping a roof over the head or warning about prescriptions. And so I think it's a smart contrast to make.

And enjoy it for the Joe one second. And for the people who were saying, oh, Trump had this economic plan and Connollaharris didn't. Well, here's a deal. This is Trump's tweet right here. I am immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single family homes. And I'll be calling on Congress to codify it. That was him in a tweet today on Trump's Trump social, whatever the hell that thing is. This is the plan of Vice President Kamala Harris. Stop Wall Street investors from buying up and marketing of homes in bulk. Vice President Harris is calling on Congress to pass the Stop Predatory Investing Act to

curtail these practices by removing key tax benefits for major investors who acquire large numbers of single family rental homes. That's what she was laying out. She saw this. Folks weren't paying attention. They feel for the okie dope of how great and wonderful Trump is going to be on the economy and now they're realizing he's an idiot. Correct. And he's, but he's doing what he should be doing, right? Occasionally. And first of all, he's lying. He's not going to do any of those things. But he pulls them out because they are things that he knows are popular, things that he knows will work. And so if you were someone who chose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, then, you know, you have a little egg on your face now and you feel pretty stupid. But the fact of the matter is we had to sell it.

And, you know, we have had the failures as the Democratic Party. But for once this summer, we realized we had an issue that Americans told us. they cared about. We did sometimes what we don't do. We actually listened to them. And then we stuck together. We united, right? Maybe after three months in the end, there were some who came to the table and took a different direction. But for those weeks, we were united and we were bold. And we didn't allow people to keep putting the government shut down on us. We said absolutely not. We didn't argue on their playing field. We said you're coming to our playing field. We won. And this is the roadmap for going forward. If we talk about kitchen table issues, there people tell us they care about. They care about.

And then we are, pardon my French, asshole enough to make it happen. People will see that we are fighting. And even if we can't land it, then we'll get caught trying. The American people understand that we aren't in control of the House and Senate or the presidency. They understood that. We have got to get caught trying. And that's what Schumer and Jeffries did. They fought for the American people. And that's why people are responding to them. And I think we're going to win the House certainly. But I think we have a chance in the Senate, which we did not think we had. But the thing here, Rebecca, is, again, we've always understood that you have to speak to the economic issues and what you are witnessing right now, you're witnessing a cratering of Donald Trump support from young voters, from male voters, all of these folks who voted for them. And guess what? Steve Ratner actually posted this. And again, this is something that we kept talking about and want of people to realize, but you have to constantly be pounding the message. What are Republicans always do? They're always pounding the message. This was a, uh, this was a, uh,

from KFF. And this is why that what they were doing, doing the shutdown was so important. Because it emphasized this, percentage point increase in uninsured rate 10 hardest hit states. Seven of the 10 states are red states that voted for Trump. Louisiana, the top three are Louisiana, first of all, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona.

Then you have Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma. That's seven out of 10. And so what the government shutdown did was, It crystallized for people, hey, the people who you voted for in the House and the Senate, they're the ones screwing you on the Affordable Care Act. And Rebecca, I know Democrats keep doing this and you know this. I never say Obamacare. I keep, it is stupid.

It is insanity for Democrats. All right, son. Time to put out this campfire. Dad, we learned about this in school. Oh, did you now? Okay. What's first? Smoky Bear said to.

First, drown it with the bucket of water, then stir it with a shovel. Wow, you sound just like him. Then he said, if it's still warm, then do it again. Where can I learn all this? It's all on smoky bear.com with other wildfire prevention tips, because only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the ad council. The social media trend that's landing some Gen Ziers in jail.

The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired. I'm going to take Francesco off the network entirely. The massive TikTok boycott against Target that makes no actual sense. I will continue getting stuff from Target, and I will continue to not pay for it. And the MAGA influencers, whose trip to the White House ended in embarrassment. So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate. You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things

happening online in media and in politics with the Brad versus Edel. Everyone Podcasts. Hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week, I bring you on a wild ride who the most Delulu takes on the internet, criticizing the extremes of both sides from an independent perspective. Join in on the Insanity and listen to the Brad versus Everyone Podcasts on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the

26 IHeart Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeart Podcasts Award. Awards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeart Podcast Awards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. To use the phrase Obamacare, when that was a poll tested phrase to purposely be a negative. You don't reinforce the negative. And so we see it. Republicans, man, y'all get rid of Obamacare, but don't touch my Affordable Care Act. It's the same thing. So again, to me, it's doing stuff like that. It looks like they finally are

figuring out how to actually win the messaging game. So by taking advantage of this moment and really explaining what the Affordable Care Act is. That is for those who don't have an insurance plan from their private employers, that they're able to go out into the marketplace. They're able to get a quality insurance plan. And then there's subsidies that helps make sure that they can pay for it and that they're not priced out of the market. Right. So people now are kind of understand, okay, that's what this thing is. Now, when I worked for Congressman Dingell, one thing that I remember as the Affordable Care Act was going through committees and it was being written and it was being revised is that there was an understanding on the Hill that this was part one, that there had

to be a part two. Part one was, hey, let's make sure, like right now we have a private insurance system, let's make sure that people aren't kicked off because of preexisting conditions. They're able to have access to a quality health care plan. And that's not a junk plan. That's basically worthless. And you have extremely high out-of-pocket costs and a lot of things aren't covered. Right. The second part was, okay, now that we have insurance that's affordable for people, now we have to figure out how to drive the underlying cost of health care, the delivery model, the delivery systems for health care. There has to be a part two to reduce the cost. Because it doesn't It doesn't make sense that year over year that health care costs are going up in this country?

No, it doesn't make sense. Healthcare actually doesn't have to be as expensive as it is in this country, but it's going to take an act of Congress to actually solve that. So what I'm hoping that the Democrats do here is continue this education and this public debate. So then the next time that Democrats have the House and the Senate and perhaps even the presidency, they're able to do the part two to actually drive the cost of health. health care down. Because one thing that we know, and to your point about messaging, we understand through all of the messaging over the last 10 years that people have invested interest in driving

health care costs down. So first, we had to make sure people had access. So making sure that they have a quality health care plan that they could pay for. And then the next step is actually reduce the cost of health care. And so I want to make this last point before I go to break here. And again, this was another Ratner tweet that I thought was interesting. Florida, Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Georgia, all red states stand to suffer the most, he calls it from the Obamacare subsidy expiration because they haven't expanded Medicaid, leaving many low-income households uninsured. Y'all, this, again, this is the thing right here. And this is why you have to connect the dots. And y'all, y'all hear me say this all the time.

You connect the dots, you connect the dots. And that is, and this is Bishop William Barber, poor people, the working class. Guess what? All of a sudden, Republicans make this move. So they passed that, they call the big beautiful bill, or they call it the big ugly bill. He got rid of the subsidies. He got rid of lots of different things. What did I constantly say in 2025?

white people are going to have to experience pain. They're going to have to experience it. They're going to have to feel it. Remember when the government shutdown happened and it was all of this stuff over SNAP benefits? And I said, I know no one wants to deal with this, but they're going to have to go without food. And people was rolling, look, the people who,

These government workers, first of all, the law states the one there's a government shut down, that the government workers are repaid the money when they were out. So here's the thing for everybody who kept saying that, well, it wasn't smart. The reality is Democrats knew that the government workers were going to get the backpay. So you have to make a calculated decision and you had limited power. That's what you have to do. But what this did was, this woke people up. because low income people, middle income people, upper income people, all of a sudden,

when those letters drop, hey, this is what your premium is going to be in 2026, the substance go away. Oh, shit. What, what? All of a sudden, my premium is going to go from $2,400 to $25,000? Yep. Why? They got rid of them. They got rid of them. They got rid of And so this is what we kept saying to people. And so it was important for people to understand strategy, but understand the education process. And unfortunately in America, unfortunately in this country,

we have folk, it used to be a billboard phrase, now it's the size of a tweet or a TikTok video. It takes time to have to explain these things. And what you're now seeing, And again, it's no guarantee it's going to happen. But y'all, this actually happened today. This is the vote.

That was a vote to discharge this vote. This is it. It was 221.4-205 against. Nine Republicans crossed the aisle. Thursday, this and this and this, what does this do? This actually extends the subsidy. This particular proposal that they're voting on will extend the subsidies for three years. I need everybody to hear what I remember doing the government

shutdown. Democrats were talking about a six month extension. If I'm correct, Representative Lauren Underwood when she came on our show, she was saying her bill would have a one year extension. It was Trump who threw out, man, we may want to extend this for three years. You know why? Because if they did six months, what Rebecca said earlier, it's another continuing resolution. You're going to be back at the same fight. Republicans do not want another health care battle in 2026 before the election. That's why, that's why all of those most major things in the so-called big beautiful bill, the big ugly bill, they went into effect after the election in November because they did not want people to have to talk about the pain.

So we are on the verge, folks, Thursday of Republicans and Democrats in the House passing a bill that would extend the Florida Care Act subsidies for three years. It passes the House. It now goes to the Senate where they now have to negotiate. It's going to be one year, two year, three years, and now the pressure shifts to Republican senators. And guess what that means? Well, Tom Tillis is not running in North Carolina. That means if you are Susan Collins, how are you going to vote? Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, how are you going to vote? Oh, if you are running in other states, Florida, we can go on and on

Joni Ernst in Iowa. How are you going to vote? The bottom line is this brilliant move with a discharged petition, getting nine Democratic Republicans in the House could very well cause the bill to pass in the Senate. And then you see the extensions. And so smart, smart play. But that's how you have to understand how the dots are connected and you play a short game versus a long game. We'll see what happens. I'm going to go to a break. We come back. Blackstar Network headlines with Brittany Noble and more on Rolla Martin. I'll filter back at the moment. horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. White people are losing their damn minds.

There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the proud boys and the Bougaloo Boys, America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the proud boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its

attitudes because of the fear of white people. They're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking out women. This is white fear. They said the quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat. So they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican legislatures moved fast. New voter ID laws.

Polling place shutdowns. Purges of black voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it. They joined in. In 2018, his DOD. backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased black voters, their goal, erase black votes, and political power. Yeah, that happened.

These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland Martin unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app. Support fact-based independent journalism that centers African Americans and the issues that matter to our community. Melanie Campbell, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Black Women's Roundtable. And we are watching Rolling Martin unfiltered all day every day. 24-7, spread the word.

All right, folks, late last year, we had the founder of Keroumix on who said that they did not sell a certain number of units by December 31st. They were going to be out of business. And so she walked us through exactly how tears, increase of goods and things along those lines impacted their business. Well, it's January 7th.

And joining us right now is Kim Lewis founder of Curle Mixed. Give us an update. Okay, Kim, what the hell happened? Y'all still in business or are you done? No, we're not done. We're still in business. And thank you so much for having me on the show, Rowland. I am so, so, so grateful.

So what happened? So we ended up getting the 20,000 orders, which was phenomenal. And I'm so grateful to everyone in the community. for all the donations and orders. And my team has been working really hard to get orders out, to ship everything. But we were able to pay down about a half a million in debt, which was phenomenal.

And we were able to add a few jobs to our operations and our manufacturing facility. And we were just able to keep our business open, which ultimately was the goal. And I'm so grateful to my community to be able to do that. So you need to hit 20,000 orders. How many did you actually, did you exceed that? We got about 20,000 almost like on the number.

Wow. Wow. So it was, uh, you, I take it every day you would like watch it. Okay. Let's see. Come on. Come on. Like, like, y'all. Come on. Let's hit this number. I have a ticker in my house that counts every day. So I can see when the order's going up. And I'm like, look, today is slow. Yeah, we got to get on live. We got to send an email. We got to send a text message. Or someday just like every second. I'm like, ooh, like, what's popping? You know, what press went out? What ad. doing well. So yes, we were counting down to the last day for sure. Okay. So what's next? Here we got the 20,000. We're in 2026. What's next? Right now I'm focusing on building Chromex. And so you'll see more come out about that. I realize that our special sauce is building in public. You know, it's always a kind of a fight internally to do it. You know, for those of my team members who are more conservative, they never really want to talk about like the numbers publicly. and my investors are like, ah, we don't want to share things,

but then my crowd wants to know updates, you know, what's happening, what's going on the business? And every time we've done something public with the business that's been successful, from Shark Tank to crowdfunding the first time, crowdfunding the second time, and then protect Chromeix. Now, like, that's our secret thoughts. Why don't we just go all in and build in public? And so I'm going to be bringing our customers along

as we build in public throughout the year. Yes. Challenges. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah. Listen, I have. I have said to numerous people that very issue. I talk about what we do here.

And I was having a conversation with several individuals. And I said, you have to be transparent. I said, you have to be letting people know this is where we are. This is what we're doing. I'm going to have probably tomorrow. You know, I'm going to be, you know, there was somebody who was supposed to build our new sprinter and was black-owned company. This person did not. We sued them.

We just got the default. judgment. I'm going to give the details tomorrow. And so when there's a piece of equipment, when we're trying to do something, I'm like, y'all, this is what this stuff costs, because we, I just, we're in a moment now. And I was having this conversation with sisters who's at a business for more than 20 years. And I keep saying, we got to understand, we say, it's just us. Ain't no cavalry coming for us. We see how they are attacking contracts. We see how they are getting, they're attacking DEI. We see how they are going after everything. They want to defund black America. And so this is where we have to look inward and really

build. And that means being very transparent, open with the public. Let them know that, hey, if y'all want this up to continue, this is what you're going to have to do. No one is coming to save us. No one. And you're so right. And what we learn, though, is that we can save ourselves. It is possible. And I think building in public is going to allow people to just be bought in and really see. like we're being honest because I think that sometimes if we're hiding things, and that's never the intention. You know, it's always the intention to protect the business. But I think you can protect the business and still be transparent at the same time.

Maybe in fact protecting the business is being transparent, you know. So that is my focus for 2026, building Chromex. All right then. Well, congratulations. Glad you hit it on the number. It's still in business for folks who want to check your product out. What site did they go to? Chromex.com. We sold out of a lot of things. The only thing available to buy is our 10 for 10 for 10 for $10 each. We are still getting out the orders from December. So, you know, we had 20,000 orders. A lot of those 20,000, like 10,000 came in right at the end. And so we are focused on getting those orders out. And should be caught up by the end of this month. And then the 10% is the best thing to buy because everything else is out of stock right now.

All right then. Well, look, congratulations. I'm sure that is a huge sigh of relief for you. You, y'all were just, you know, pushing and pushing and pushing. But that's what, I mean, the reality is when entrepreneurship, that's what it all is about. And so congratulations and look forward to a great thing to 2006. Thank you for having me wrong. I appreciate you. All right, folks.

Going to a quick break coming right back. Headlines with Brittany Noble back in a moment. They said the quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat, so they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican legislatures moved fast. New voter ID laws, polling place shutdowns, purges of black voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it, they joined in. In 2018, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased black voters,

their goal, erase black votes and political power. Yeah, that happened. These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland Martin unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app. Support fact-based independent journalism that centers African Americans and the issues that matter to our community. In this country right now, you have people get up in the morning, and the only thing they can think about is how many people they can hurt,

and they got the power, that's the time for mourning. For better or worse, what makes America special, it's that legal system that's supposed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority. We are at a point of a moral emergency. We must raise a voice of outrage. We must raise a voice of compassion. And we must raise a voice of unity.

We are not in a crisis. of party versus party. We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis, and a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what? You've been chosen to make sure that those that would destroy, those that would hate, don't have the fight. Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bijon Robinson. When I'm on the field, I'm feeling the pressure, I usually just take a deep breath when I'm just breathing and seeing what's in front of me, Everything just slows down. It just makes you feel great before I run the play.

Just like Bijan, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field. Make a game plan for your mental health at loveyourmind playbook.org. Love your mind. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the ad console. The social media trend that's landing some Gen Z years in jail. The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired. I'm going to take Francesco off the network entirely.

The massive TikTok boycott against Tar is. that makes no actual sense. I will continue getting stuff from Target, and I will continue to not pay for it. And the MAGA influencers, whose trip to the White House, ended in embarrassment. So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate.

You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Brad versus Everyone podcast, hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week, bring you on a wild ride who the most delulu takes on the internet,

criticizing the extremes of both sides from an independent perspective. Join in on the insanity and listen to the Brad versus Everyone podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who

takes home the 2026 IHeart Podcast Awards podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and play your vote at iHeartpodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app.

Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Let's say, and they don't ultimately win. All right, folks. Time for Black Star Network headlines with Brittany Noble. Roland, the trial of a former Yuvalde, Texas school police officer accused of failing to act during the 22 Rob Elementary shooting resumes on Thursday. Adrian Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment and endangerment stemming from the massacre that left 21 people dead.

Prosecutors say a key witness has changed her testimony, now placing the shooter closer to Gonzalez than she did in statements given to a Texas Ranger during the original 2022 investigation. now if convicted, Gonzalez could face up to two years in prison. A legal showdown is unfolding between a major U.S. County and the federal government over millions in COVID-19 public health funding. Dallas County has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration's health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accusing federal officials of unlawfully reclaiming $70 million in pandemic relief funds. County leaders say the case highlights a broader conflict between local government and Washington. over just how much discretion states and counties have and using public health money approved during the pandemic. Wells Fargo in Dallas, Texas is denying a grandmother's $15,000 fraud claim.

83-year-old Billy Young wrote a check in August of 2024 to pay off her car loan. But she learned that someone had altered the payee's name on the check and had cashed it. After disputing the claim, Wells Fargo refused to reimburse her the stolen check. More than a year later, the case remains unsolved. The bank notified her in May that she had missed a 30-day deadline to file a claim. Her grandmother filed a, her granddaughter, excuse me, filed a police report and an appeal on her behalf with the bank. Wells Fargo says that it is now reviewing the case. Young did close her account after banking with Wells Fargo for 30 years.

The Texas American Federation of Teachers has filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner. It comes after an investigation of teachers' social media posts following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The lawsuit claims that the investigations were unlawful and that the TEA's actions violated educators' free speech rights. The AFT argues that the TEA's policy directed school districts to report reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media leading to disciplinary actions against teachers. The lawsuit seeks a court order blocking the investigations and requiring the DEA to retract its policy. Also, a black Virginia couple is suing Buffalo Wild Wings after claiming their receipt had a racial

slur on it. Get this, Mark and Natasha Limon say that they were dining in at the Woodbridge restaurant. Then they asked for a check. And that's when they noticed the word nigs on their items. The words have been printed on both the bag and the order receipt. The couple is accusing the restaurant of inflicting intentional emotional distress. And now they're seeking $5 million. Roland, back to you. All right, Britt, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Well, guess what, folks? The other day, Republicans in Kansas said, sorry, y'all. Reditioning ain't going to be happening. We can't gerrymandered seats here. Well, guess what? In Kentucky, this news is well, there's one Democratic representative in Kentucky. A Republican leader there said to the White House,

Nope, ain't going to happen either. So that's another issue that they have, Joe, these Republicans, they already ticked off because Indiana Republicans voted it down. Now Kansas and Kentucky, so their whole plan to gerrymander the map is blown up in their face, and they really screwed up with,

because the action that Democrats took in California and other places as well, and so it did not get them the results that they wanted. I don't know. Can you, okay, good, I'm on. No, it didn't get them. the results that they want. I mean, I've long said this on this show in other places. There's only so much you can do and so much you can push. And then sometimes people say, we've had enough. They've clearly heard from their constituents at home that they don't want this. And I think some of

them genuinely are concerned about the nation. I know we kind of poo-poo conversations about democracy, but they're seeing that for every action, there is a reaction. And Democrats can do just what they do. So if that's not the country that they want, it has to stop somewhere. they're saying, you know what, in Kansas, Kentucky is stopping here. The buck stops here. And some of them are doing a great peril to themselves. There are some Republicans who will be primaried and who will not be reelected because of the decision they've made, and yet they're doing it anyway. And it goes to show there are some limits to Donald Trump's power, although sometimes it feels insurmountable. You've got to keep fighting. Well, you absolutely have to keep fighting. And highly, the bottom line is

you know, you know, you can't just conceive them. You must, you must fight on every single level. And I got sick and tired of hearing people say, well, you know, my God, what are they going to do? They can't do anything. You have to figure out every single possible way, push every button, consider every opportunity of when it comes to fighting these folks trying to steal these seats. Yeah, absolutely, because it's in turn done with like surgical precision, as you said before. And I think when things like this fail, I think it exposes how out of step these politicians are with the people they claim to represent.

And I think people are continuing to learning and leaning in that participation plus the pressure can really disrupt even the most carefully drawn out plan or scheme that these elected officials are trying to put in place. And this isn't just about maps. I think it's about whose voices matter the most and whose futures, you know, whose futures decide what's behind what's behind these closed doors. And I think communities are continued to stay vigilant and what it looks like to protect their right to vote and what it looks like to have a democracy that's representative of what they look like. And I think, you know, it all comes down in organizing. It all comes down and, you know, how we show up to really to disrupt these careful, careful schemes that they're trying to do. But what this also says to us, though,

is that we cannot have people just sitting on the sidelines waiting. We can't have organizations. We can't have, and I'm talking about, I'm going, I'm not talking about natural civil rights groups. I'm talking about all these black organizations we have around this country. I just felt that too many people in 2025 were still in shock that, these crazy deranged MAGA people chose to put back in the White House

the intersectionist liar-in-chief. And we had, folks, were talking about taking time off, checking out of the process, doing all sort of other stuff. And I'm sitting there saying, no, no, no, this is a moment where you have to be strategic

in how you battle in terms of what you focus on. And I'm saying the people right now, this is early January. you've got primaries coming up and we better understand we talk about politics and this is the thing i need people to really understand rebecca when we talk about politics we talk about voting we're not the simple saying like if i here's vote and that's what it is no politics is about the delivery of goods and services the delivery of resources on a national state county city level and if you check out of a

it's guaranteed you're probably going to get screwed. So this is not a moment where any of us, any black person can say, I'm sitting this one out. That simply can not happen. Roland, if you pay taxes, you need to make sure that you're getting your money's worth out of your government. And the only way you could do that is interact with your government. You have to show up, you have to show, you have to make sure that those in an elected office, those in appointed office are being held accountable. You were talking about redistricting.

What I saw today is that Governor DeSantis in Florida said he's going to call a special session in Florida in April to get them to gerrymander and try to net some in additional Republican seats in Florida. And so to your point of how different organizations and community groups can get together, well, here's an example. I was listening to Higher Learning the other day. And Bayan Lathen was saying the black church brings about $10 to $15 billion a year, right? And so we have all these black churches in certain areas. We have a black church, you know, in the hood, so on you a store from church on every corner. And then there's a liquor store on the other corner, right? But my point in saying this is that we have places for people to convene and to organize.

We have different places for people to connect. We need to activate all of our points of connectivity in 2020. to make sure we're engaging in the community, it's not just the divine nine. Quite frankly, Democrats try to use it as a cheat code. And being someone within the divine nine, there's more that we could do to actually impact our communities and to mobilize.

But, you know, we have institutions like the Black Church. We have a variety of black institutions. And we're seeing that this governmental regime is trying to defund us, is trying to go after our C3 status or whatever nonprofit status that we have because they're trying to remove all the scaffolding and supports that we built in the black community to be able to actually self-actualize and take care of ourselves. We have to double down on black institutions in 26 because ultimately this government and maybe even the next government is not here for us or is going to take care of our communities. We have to be the ones to show up and take care of our communities. And that requires us investing in black institutions. You know, it's very interesting, as you were talking about, our tax dollars.

And so people have to be, had to be thinking about that in a little different way. I was, over the, a couple of days ago, I was perusing YouTube. And I came across this movie. I had never heard of it. The movie called was playing through the story. of Ann Gregory. And she was the first black woman to play in the U.S. public amateur in 1956. She won some 300 golf tournaments from the country.

I had never heard of her. I had never heard of her. And I saw this movie, her husband, who served in the Navy, taught her how to play golf. So if y'all go to YouTube and just type in playing through story of Anne Gregory, it's phenomenal. I, again, had never heard about her, never knew her story. But she was an amazing golfer. but that was something that you said that she also said so she integrated a public golf course that was in in gary indiana uh it was where a lot of black folks played so african americans were banned from playing was south gleason park golf course and so in early 60s leason gregory walks up

she says quote my tax dollars are taking care of the big course and there's no way you can bar me from it and she said i'll see you on the first team and she went to the first team and she went to the first team and And she was like, I dare you all to call the cops. And then other black people came as well. That's how that course got integrated. The point that you just made there is so critically important. These are our tax dollars. These are our tax dollars.

And for the school district, for the city, for the county, for the state, for this country. And I just need our people to understand this ain't no check out moment. This is the absolute check-in moment. And we have to recognize what's going on. So I need folks to be focused. I need us to be engaged. I don't want to hear the penny party. And guess what?

We already know Republicans don't give a damn by black people. Let's just be perfectly clear. Republicans don't give a damn by black people. That's undeniable. But I made it perfectly clear because people are like, oh my God, you're a shield. I ain't a shield. If there's a Democrat who ain't doing their job,

take their ass out. Listen, right now in North Carolina, there's a black woman who's a state rep. Her name is, I think, Carla Cunningham. Well, guess what? She has voted with the Republicans on a number of bills. Democratic governor, just John Stein, just came out supporting her opponent in the primary Reverend Dr. Rodney Sadler, who comes out of Bishop Barber's movement there in North Carolina. So guess what?

I'm very clear. If there are people who are not doing their job, take their ass out. Ain't got no problem with that. I'm down with that 100%. before I go, some got some sad news right before I came on the show. And that is Deborah owns. She used to host a show called Wealthy You here on the Black Star Network,

passed away after a battle with cancer. Pull the audio up. We in the black community is about making sure that we have assets that can last beyond our life. That's right here on Get Wealthy. on Black Star Network. Deborah, I knew for years, her husband was Terry Owens in National Association of Black Journalist. I knew, of course, Terry's longtime anchor in Baltimore.

And so right before I went on the air, that was one of the reasons why I was actually late coming on the air because I got a phone call asking if I was aware of her passing. Terry actually, give me a second. I want to post this here. Terry actually posted this on Facebook. Give me one second. He posted, my heart is broken. The love of my life, my soulmate has left this world.

Deborah fought a courageous grace-filled battle with cancer and passed away peacefully on January 4th. So many people were touched by her work, and I will always be grateful for the purpose she poured into it. What she did was more than a career. It was a calling. Educating women about investing became her ministry, second only to the love she gave so freely to me

and to our children. Please keep our family in your prayers. As we navigate this unimaginable loss, we are making fewer arrangements and we'll share details when available. Again, Deborah hosted that show when we first launched the Black Study Network in 2022. She hosted that show. We've run, you know, we've run the repeats a number of times.

She did seminars and classes all across the country, spoke at a number of different places, was really about not just terrorists, but women, but also African Americans, about the importance of investing and saving and building wealth. And so, again, condolences go out to Terry, to their family. And we certainly appreciate. all the work that Debris did, just really empowering so, so many people. And so we'll get y'all know about funeral arrangements once they become available. All right. Let me thank my panel for being of us today. TILIC, Rebecca, enjoy.

We certainly appreciate y'all been on the show on today's show. Thank you so very much. Folks, if y'all want to support the work that we do, please join our Green the Funk fan club. Your Dolls make it possible to do the work that we do. And so if you want to support us, please do so. Cash app, Mr. Stripe, QR code. You see it right here. I'll use that QR code.

Click the cash up, pay button, and contribute. You can also use this for credit cards. PayPal's R Martin Unfiltered Benmo is R&Miltered. Benmo is R.M.Filtred Zale. Roland at Rowlandsmartin.com. Roland at Rolandoninfilture.com. Check some money order. Make it payable to Roland Unfiltered.

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Also, support black-owned businesses. All the products that you see in my studio, of course, you can go to shop blackstar network. com for that stuff as well. Go to our marketplace to support those black-owned businesses. And folks, we're down to the Las, I think, is $120,000 left before the raise of fan-based closes. The goals raised $17,000, $16.8 million has been raised. And so download the app.

First of all, let's download the app. And if you want to invest in fanbase, go to start engine.com for slash fanbase, start engine. dot com for slash fanbase. If you look at the map, excuse me, using the app, you see a lot of different changes have happened, a lot of different upgrades and stuff along those lines. And so please download that as well. All right, folks, that is it for me. I appreciate all of y'all watching today's show.

But let me think all of y'all, I got so many text messages from people thankful for the interview with Richard Smallwood. We did December 9th, December 16th, 2019. We thought it had been lost. And it was simply wasn't categorized properly. So we found it. And so we have that. It's another interview that we found going to be airing next week. Former Senator Doug Jones, he was the prosecutor in the case of the white men who kill the full little girls in Birmingham.

at 16th Street Baptist Church. Well, we had interviewed him. Same thing. He thought that was lost. I actually found that before the Richard Smallwood interview. So we're going to have that on tomorrow's show, excuse me, next week as well. And so, but again, thank you so many.

If y'all missed the Richard Smallwood interview. It's a fantastic conversation about his life, his book, total praise. Simply go to our YouTube channel. You can check it out. Just click live. You can see the video there. I go to our video segment. You can see it there as well.

And please share it. But again, so many people were hitting me yesterday and today thanking them for that interview. That's just one of the reasons why we do what we do. Because listen, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS, you could throw all these digital outlets, all these people. They're not going to be sitting here talk on the Richard Smallwood. We know what Richard Smallwood means to our community. We know what that means. And so, and there's so many people like him who would.

never ever get any airtime on any of those networks because for them they were like, who is that? Oh, Richard Smallwood? I don't know who that is. Well, we know what it means to our community. And so having an outlet that allows us to be able to sit down and talk to these individuals and tell their stories as critically important. We're going to be doing a lot more of those interviews in 2006, not just with entertainers, but book authors and business folks and health folks and you name it. And so that's why your support is so important for the work that we do. We've hired, you know, new staffers.

We've got a lot of work done. If y'all go to blackstar network.com, you'll see how we have been, how we have been taking a lot of these stores that we, these interviews that we do on the show, turning them into written pieces on the website, moving a lot faster, loading, getting those videos up. So when you share them,

is important. This, of course, is the COC right here. This is now how Blackstar Network.com looks. And so you see, so you see the interview we did there. We represent Norma Torres, an interview with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, interview with Congressman Jimmy Gomez. We need to get the, let's see, we need to get the Hank Johnson interview up as well. You see us talking there with Mark Moriel and about their museum. And so, well, that's good, the Hank Johnson interview. just right there as well. And so folks, this is what we've been working on. So we completely redid blackstar network.com turned to a news portal. You see our shows right there. We've got some shows we're going to be adding as well. So lots happening here at RollaMont unfilting the blacksternet network.com

and your support is so valuable. I have been out of studio. I've been out of studio because we have been really focused on doing lots of change there. a lot of upgrading on video and audio. I'll show you some of that tomorrow. And so we're trying to make this as best as we can. So we surely appreciate it. Folks, that's it.

I'll see y'all tomorrow right here, rolling on Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network. How? Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bejan Robinson. When I'm on the field, I'm feeling the pressure. I usually just take a deep breath.

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