#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Jaime Harrison tied with Sen. Graham in SC; Bill Barr slams BLM; Russia election meddling confirmed

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

9.17.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Jaime Harrison tied with Sen. Lindsey Graham in SC senate race; Bill Barr slams BLM; Russia election meddling confirmed; FBI Director confirmed that Russia is meddling in the election; Coronavirus is killing minority children at greater rates; Tennessee Rep. removed for opposing abortion; Education Matters: How can we open schools safely amid a global pandemic; Black NYC jogger told to "go back to Africa!" Salt Lake City cop charged with aggravated assault; Correctional Peace Officers post video showing crosshairs on a photo of assemblymanSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partners: 2020 Census In America, everyone counts. And the 2020 Census is how that great promise is kept. Respond today online, by phone or by mail and help inform hundreds of billions in funding for education, health programs, and more. Shape your future. Start here at www.2020census.gov. #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Today is Friday, September 18, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

Sarah McComley Harris kicks off the campaign in Durham, North Carolina, speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee. We'll go to her live. Speaking of North Carolina, they're already rejecting black voters' mail-in ballots more often than white voters. We'll explain to you exactly what is going on. We'll also continue our conversation about Tennessee Representative John DeBerry, who says he was removed from the ballot as a Democratic candidate because of his abortion stance, will talk with a member of the Tennessee Democratic Party and his opponent's campaign manager, who wants to clear up some of the claims he made on the show yesterday.

CNN in the Hillel Town Hall meeting with Joe Biden last night will show you some of the excerpts and talk about some of his celebrity endorsements by Frankie Beverly and the OJs. Also Malcolm Nance joins us to break down the stunning revelations in FBI Director Christopher Wray's testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee. Folks, it is shocking. Let's do this here folks, we're gonna go right now. Let's go live to Senator Kamala Harris.

I wanna just thank all of the friends who are a part of this and the incredible, not only incredible leaders in North Carolina, but national leaders in Congresswoman Alma Adams and G.K. Butterfield, the congressman from North Carolina. Thank you both for your friendship and for your leadership and for everything you do. So, OK, North Carolina, you are my first stop on our virtual bus tour. And I am so glad that you have tuned in for this because we need you and we need you to stay engaged through election day in November. And the great news is that more than 880,000 North Carolinians have already requested mail-in ballots and more than 50,000 have already voted.

Can you imagine? That is so incredible, because we want to make sure everyone votes early. So let me start by saying, please keep up that energy. Keep up that energy and that fight, because the momentum building and the voting early

is going to make all the difference in terms of the outcome of this election. And you can visit IWillVote.com to make a voting plan. And that's what we want everyone to do. Make a voting plan. Look on the calendar and just decide this is the day I'm going to vote and make a whole plan around that day. And also not only make a voting plan, but make sure you're registered and ready to vote. Listen, there is so much at stake in this election. We are, and everybody

knows it, we are in the middle of battling a deadly pandemic. We're in the midst of an economic crisis. People are comparing to the Great Depression. And we are in the midst of a long overdue and a continual fight for a reckoning on race and justice in America. And in the midst of all that, we're also in the midst of a climate change that is supercharging storms in our Gulf Coast states. It's keeping the West, including my home state of California, engulfed in smoke and wildfire. So there's a lot going on right now, including the fact that nearly 30 million Americans are collecting unemployment. And at least 11 million jobs have been permanently lost. So all of that is happening. And ordinary working people, everyday folks,

are looking at the job market and wondering, who is fighting for me? Who's fighting for me? Well, that is exactly what Joe and I are prepared to answer, which is we will fight for you. When President Trump refuses to do his job, spending his time stoking fear and hate and lying to us about the threat of COVID, back when he could have saved countless lives, while Donald Trump has failed us,

we can't let his incompetence cloud our concept of government or what government can do and what we can accomplish together. In a Joe Biden, Kamala Harris administration, we will confront COVID-19 to make sure that the American people are safe. And that means a number of things. It means free access to COVID testing and treatment and, God willing, as soon as we get a safe vaccine, free access to a safe vaccine. It means in a Biden-Harris administration, jobs, additional new jobs for 100,000 people through a new public health jobs core. That's what we're calling it. But to help people in terms of training folks in contact tracing and what we need to do to stop the outbreaks. In a Biden-Harris administration, it means setting a national mask standard.

Because here's the thing, if we are going to live the goal and the spirit of love thy neighbor, well, we need to wear masks. And nobody likes to wear a mask, but we need to wear a mask. And so Joe and I will lead by example, because we know this is what saves lives. Joe and I are committed to reviving our economy, and that means access to $150 billion in low-interest loans and capital, including $100 billion of that going directly to Black and brown communities.

It means helping Black people build wealth with a $15,000 down payment tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Because we know that Black families own one-tenth of the wealth of white families, and one of the greatest sources of wealth for any American family is homeownership. And it also represents intergenerational wealth, meaning that's the asset that gets passed down through the generations. It means also, in terms of our

priorities, ensuring that we don't go bankrupt while trying to pay for the health care we need. So Joe and I will build on the work that he and President Barack Obama did in creating the Affordable Care Act, which was also known as Obamacare. And we will work not only to build upon it, but expand it and create a public option. And now you need to know something about that, which is right now in the midst of a public health pandemic where over 6 million people have contracted this virus, almost 220,000 people or 200,000 people have died from it, right? Probably by this weekend, it'll be 200,000 people will have died from it. While all this is going on, do you know Donald Trump is in court right now trying to end the Affordable Care Act,

trying to get rid of it? And here's what you should know. That means getting rid of what President Obama, together with Vice President Biden, did, which is to make sure that people up to the age of 26 can be on their parents' coverage. It means making... What they did was they made sure that people with pre the age of 26 can be on their parents' coverage. It means making... What they did was they made sure

that people with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, like high blood pressure, wouldn't be banned from health care coverage. Those were the things that they accomplished that Donald Trump is trying to get rid of in the midst of a public health crisis. And why am I bringing that up? Because think about it.

First of all, obviously people need health care when there's a public health epidemic. But also, let's think about pre-existing conditions, something that President Obama, together with Vice President Biden, sought to deal with. Six million people plus contracted the virus. We still don't know the long-term effects of it,

which means if Donald Trump gets rid of the Affordable Care Act, those six million people who may have pre-existing conditions may be banned from coverage because of what Donald Trump is trying to do. So let's be clear that when we fight for these issues, it is going to be about fighting for the more than 130 million people with pre-existing conditions. It is going to be about fighting to make sure that the over 500,000 people in North Carolina that have coverage, fighting so that they don't lose their coverage, including in North Carolina, the 4 million people who are now living with pre-existing conditions.

It means Joe and me fighting for you and fighting for folks with pre-existing conditions. And part of that fight means helping Donald Trump leave the White House through an election process. Our work also means ensuring that we reform our criminal justice system. Listen, we have to create a national police oversight commission. And Joe and I will do that so that we demand police departments be reviewed and be monitored for how they are engaged in practices, how they are hiring, how they are training, whether they are engaged in de-escalation practices. Joe and I will outlaw chokeholds and carotid holes.

Well, listen, George Floyd would be alive today if those were banned. It means creating a national standard for use of force. Because Joe and I know that, look, right now in many jurisdictions, if a police officer uses excessive force, the question that people ask was, was that use of force reasonable? But you and I know you can reason away just about anything. The question, the fair question, the just question is to ask, was that use of force necessary? So Joe and I will create a national standard for use of force. We'll also fight to eliminate the death penalty and mandatory minimums. And we will make sure that we end cash bail, which, by the way, that's about economic justice

as well as criminal justice, because what ends up happening, people who have the money can get out, where people who don't have the money stay in jail. That's about economic justice as much as criminal justice. We will also end private prisons. Why? Private prisons think they're the only way to get out. have the money stay in jail. That's about economic justice as much as criminal justice. We will also end private prisons. Why? Private prisons, think about the business model in that. That's that some human beings are making money off of the incarceration of other human beings.

That needs to end. Joe and I are also going to decriminalize the use of marijuana and automatically expunge all marijuana convictions and also end incarceration for drug use alone. to make sure that among the students who are participating this evening, we want to make sure and the young people who are coming out of high school, coming out of college or just entering the workforce, we want to make sure we're entering a strong and dynamic workforce, free of debt for those who have attended college. And we want to make sure that you are prepared because we have adequately prepared you to compete in a global market. So to that end, Joe and I will invest over $70 billion in HBCUs and minority-serving institutions. And we will fight to forgive student loan debt for people who are making less than $125,000 when you come out of school. And also we will cancel $10,000 of student loan

debt for all students, regardless of what you make. So we've got some work to do. We also, you should know, have a plan that for students who are coming from families that make less than $125,000, if you attend a public school, you will attend tuition-free. If you attend an HBCU, whether it's private or public, it will be tuition-free. So these are the things we can do together. But we have to win this election. And that means making sure that everyone votes, making sure that in North Carolina, you vote as early as possible at an early voting site, that you vote by mail, and remember to sign your name and have a witness add their name and address and signature. And mail that ballot as soon as you can. So that's the early voting,

that's the vote by mail, or vote on November 3rd, which is the final day to vote. I prefer you vote early. And here's my last point. There are forces at work in our country, in North Carolina and all over the country that are dead set on trying to make it hard or confusing for us to vote. And, you know, we say every time, and it is so important, that the importance of us voting includes honoring the ancestors, honoring folks like John Lewis, who shed their blood for our right to vote. And so that is part of what has to motivate us to vote. But here's another thing. In North Carolina, you know, because the Court of Appeals said that that legislature with surgical precision wrote laws to try and prevent black folks from voting.

We know that there are states all over this country where powerful people are trying to make it difficult or confusing for black people to vote. And I'd ask us to ask a question. Why are they going through so much trouble, through so much effort, to try and suppress our vote? And I think we all know the answer, because they know when we vote, things change. They know when we vote that leaders are held accountable. And so I say to us, I say to us, don't let anybody take our power from us. The power of our vote.

Don't let anybody take that power from us. So let's make sure and vote and make sure our voices are heard. And I thank everybody for the work you do every day and the pledge that we're all making to do everything we can over these next 46 days to bring this election home. Thank you all. as the state director for the Biden-Harris campaign, L.T. McCrimmon, North Carolina state director, and Myjah Gary, who is a North Carolina A&T graduate. All right, folks, speaking of North Carolina, just 45 days before the election, 45 days before the election, but voting has already started. As you heard Senator Kamala Harris say there, 50,000 votes have already been cast in North Carolina. The problem is, according to a report by FiveThirtyEight in North Carolina, absentee ballots have

already been sent back, and the state has been updating statistics on those ballots daily. As of September 17th, black voter ballots have been rejected at more than four times the rate of white voters. Black voters have mailed in 13,747 ballots, 642 rejected or 4.7 percent. White voters have cast 60,954 mail-in ballots with 681 or 1.1 percent rejected. In addition, 434 ballots cast by white voters and 127 ballots cast by black voters were marked spoiled, which can mean literally spoiled for something as simple as a voter informing the election office that their address that they requested a ballot is wrong. Joining me now to talk about what's going on in North Carolina is Allison Riggs, Chief

Voting Rights Counsel, Interim Executive Director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Allison, glad to have you on here. Now, this is one of the greatest concerns. In fact, I was just reading a story where Chris Wallace of Fox News was saying that the greatest concern with mail-in voting is disenfranchisement because you have to follow every single procedure when it comes to mail-in voting. Is that what's going on in North Carolina? Well, so since that 538 report came back, we have over 70,000 absentee ballots that have been returned. I want to clarify one thing that was in a footnote in the 538 report, which is that technically no absentee ballots have been rejected yet. What 538 is counting in that category are voters with witness information missing and spoiled ballots.

I do want to note that there's a federal court injunction in place in North Carolina prohibiting the discounting of absentee ballots when voters haven't been given adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard if there's a way they can fix those ballots. So these numbers are concerning. It is absolutely the case that we seem to have a very significant racial disparity in Black voters not having access to witnesses and witness information being incomplete. And I think that's very likely a consequence of the socioeconomic and health disparities we see in North Carolina and across this country. But there are going to be opportunities for voters in that group to correct their ballots. And we will be doing targeted outreach in the counties that we are

seeing the biggest numbers in. I can tell you right now, the four biggest counties where we're seeing ballots not being accepted are Durham, Cumberland, and Pitt counties, and Brunswick counties. So we'll be doing targeted outreach to those counties to make sure those counties are informing voters about what they need to do to get their ballots accepted. And if there is a problem, making sure those voters get the fix in their hands as soon as possible. So walk folks through this because again, rules are different in each state. What does North Carolina require if you use a mail-in ballot? What must you do? You mentioned a witness? Yep. North Carolina has one, you either have to have a witness or a notary sign your absentee application. Your absentee application is the envelope in which you put your secret ballot. So we have,

and thank you for asking because there's a lot of misunderstanding. North Carolina doesn't mail absentee ballots to anyone without a request being made. So it's a two-step process. A voter requests an absentee ballot. The local election officials mail the absentee application and ballot to the voter. The application is the envelope. The voter fills it out. Things that the voter needs to do on that envelope,

they need to sign it. Missing that signature, folks forget that they need to sign the envelope. And you heard Senator Harris mention that on your show just now. They also need to get a witness. The witness needs to sign the absentee envelope and print their name and their address for that application to be completed. So who can be a witness? Anybody? So the witnesses, there are a few restrictions on who can be witnesses, but largely there are very few exceptions to that. If you live in an assisted living facility, as of right now,

you generally can't have anyone who works there. Political candidates can't be witnesses. What I want to distinguish is, though, there's not a lot of restrictions on who can be a witness. There are some significant restrictions on who can request or return an absentee ballot for you. North Carolina law wants you to keep your hands on your absentee materials. So you have to be a near relative in order to essentially take possession of someone's absentee ballot. Okay. And that's the thing that we have been cautioning people. You need to understand the rules in your state because they vary from state to state. And if you skip any one of those things, that can invalidate your ballot. So what's happening is somebody doesn't sign the back, somebody doesn't spell this out, whatever. So they're sending it back, allowing those folks an opportunity

to correct that, correct? Yes, in North Carolina. It's not necessarily the case in every state. So some other state, you might screw up and you never know you screw up. Your ballot gets tossed. That's right. And we want folks to be keeping an eye out for phone calls and mailing from the county county boards of elections, because we don't want you to accidentally miss a notice that there's been an issue with your absentee ballot. I mean, that that all that you're describing, frankly, gives folks a headache. And this is also why what you're seeing. I mean, look, Virginia today began early voting. There are massive lines. There are a lot of people who are really saying, look, you want to bounce Trump. Look, forget Donnie. Play the game with the mail-in ballot. Take precautions. Stand in line.

I can tell you that in North Carolina, I'll be voting early in person. I've already made my plan to early vote. I'm voting on Monday, October 19th. In North Carolina, we have more early voting sites and hours than we ever had before. And our grassroots groups have worked so hard for that. If you go and early vote, not on the first couple of days, there's lots of excited folks wanting to wait in line on the first couple of days. But if you go during the week, especially Monday through Thursday, mid-morning or mid-afternoon, you're almost certain to avoid lines. I'll be wearing a mask and gloves and bringing my own pen, but I will feel 100 percent safe voting in person. And then it'll be done. And I will know my vote didn't get lost in the mail or didn't have any issues.

Allison Riggs, Chief Voting Rights Counsel, Interim Executive Director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks for all of the good work that you're doing there. And yes, grassroots organizations fought Republicans in North Carolina who for the last decade have been screwing over people there. It was an arduous fight. Repairs of the breach, NAACP, Democracy NC, so many others have been fighting to make it fair for everybody have the right to vote. So we certainly appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Thank you so very much.

Let's go to our panel, folks. Rob Richardson is the host. Disruption Now podcast. Michael Brown, former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, Finance Committee. Dr. Neombe Carter, Howard University Department of Political Science. Michael, I want to start with you. Look, this is unlike anything that we've seen before. We've had hurricanes in the past. We've had tornadoes. We've had floods. We've had natural disasters hit areas. We've never had, frankly, a natural disaster hit the entire country. And so a lot of people are looking at voting by mail and we just got to keep pounding every single day, follow every single step, because even Greg Palast was on before. He said even in a normal election, you know, 20, I think was 22 percent of mail-in ballots get tossed. And so it's probably

going to be a lot higher. That could very well be the difference between who wins and who loses in the state. Absolutely. Now, you know, for someone like me who lives in a very, very traditional blue state here in the District of Columbia, I still tell people when I speak to folks, you know what, there is nothing wrong with if everyone in D.C., for example, is going to get an absentee ballot. They do not have to use it. They can go and vote in person. They can go early voting. But what I've told folks, two things. Wear two masks if you want to protect yourself even further. Wear a set of gloves if you need to. And request a paper ballot.

I know folks like the technology. I get that. But the one thing you can't, well, of course, you can mess with anything. But what limits it is a paper ballot. And, of course, going in person. Of course, some folks don't want to take that risk. But, Roland, you and I have talked about this before. That's why when you were just having that conversation about what's going on in North Carolina, that's why there needs to be uniform federal regulations relative to elections. Not one state can do this, another state can do that. And why is an election day a holiday?

So there are several things that can be done. I know we're dealing with this now and those aren't the rules, but folks need to follow, as you just mentioned, step by step. If not, go to the polls. It's too important. If you have to stand in line for a couple hours, stand in line. People are walking through, again, just trying to walk folks through the dots. They're like, okay, if you do this, you got to do this. If you do this, you got to do this. Because this is unnatural for lots of people, which is also why I've been saying to many folks,

look, if your state has early voting, so for instance, North Carolina does, Texas does, South Carolina doesn't. If your state has early voting, forget November 3rd. Don't even think about November 3rd. Get it done through early voting. Absolutely. Absolutely. Dr. Carler. Oh, I'm sorry. I was just going to say, you know, the thing about it is, you know, we hope that people only have to wait 30 minutes or a couple hours. We know that people are waiting seven hours, eight hours. They're making this painful for people to participate in the electoral process. And I think what we what you were all just talking about with North Carolina, but we saw it in Florida as well, is that you have a lot of people who are inexperienced with mail in ballots.

They don't know what to do with them because they're in-person voters traditionally. So I'm with you, Michael, and with you, Roland, that if you can go early vote, go early vote. Don't take the risk on the mail-in ballot if you don't know how to use that particular modality. And, you know, hopefully it'll only take you an hour or two. But on Election Day, we know it will take hours. And we know the folks who are most on the margins are the most likely to get discouraged and give up. And we don't want that to happen. So if you can early vote, do that. And if you can't use or you don't know how to use the paper ballot, if you're not comfortable, you know, it's OK to switch and go vote in person. Well, and the reality, Rob, is that, again, it varies. It varies at what time you go.

It varies. Look, if you decide to go early voting and you do it after 5 p.m., that's when other people are getting off of work. And so you've got to figure out, again, the right time. Also, in your particular place, find out the rules because you may be able to vote at any early voting location in the city as opposed to one particular location that you're assigned to. Yep, it depends. I actually know in Ohio, you usually have to go to your board of elections, but it varies everywhere.

But you can do it like three or four weeks earlier. Know the rules in your state. Each one of them are differently. I agree they shouldn't be, but we have to operate in the world as it is, not how we wish it would be. But we can push it that way, but we can only do that if we actually vote and participate. And everyone here and all the audience knows how important this election is. So I would tell people this. For those listening, you likely know the rules. If you don't, make sure you do. Then get five people that you're responsible for.

Because I can guarantee you that some of us know, all of us know five people that may or may not vote but for our intervention. And so we got to make sure that the people that sometimes vote do vote. And we take ownership of those people. We take agency because this is just too important, period. Well, again, we also can't assume. There are people who follow, who watch this show,

who are informed voters who, because I kept saying, go check your status, went back and realized they had been purged. And so we need you to go to go to vote.org. So there's a couple of sites you can go to, folks. There are several sites you can go to. They're all tied into many of the same databases. Vote.org is one of those sites. This is the site right here where you can check your registration to see if you've been purged. If you have, you can re-register. If you've not been registered to vote, you can do so right here where you can check your registration to see if you've been purged. If you have, you can re-register. If you've not been registered to vote, you can do so right here. You can request your application by mail. You can also fill out the form for the census, all of that as well.

There's another site, Iwillvote.com. You can also go to Iwillvote.com. Another place, same thing. Check if I'm registered. Register to vote. Vote by mail. Vote in person. You can go through all of that. And so take advantage of the resources and be prepared. That's what you must do in order to have an impact on this election. As I said, early voting has started in some places. You know, look, not all places have like, for instance, Virginia starting today. Texas doesn't start until October 13th. And so it varies.

They also don't have voting there on Sundays because they got rid of that because they didn't want souls to the polls. So just understand exactly what is going on. And we talk about voting, folks, there have been long lines. This is a photo someone posted right here in Virginia on the first day. I'm talking about folks in line all across

of Virginia. There was some video folks were posting. And let me tell you something right now. This is the thing that I keep telling people, Michael, that, in fact, somebody actually posted this video is pretty cool. So this is a they actually spit it all up. So watch this. Here we go to my iPad. So watch this, folks. That's how many folks were in line at one particular location across the street. Down this huge path across a second street. It kept going. It kept going. It kept going to a third.

I mean, that gives you an indication where people are. Look, we're going to have huge turnout, Michael. We saw this in the primary. We saw this where Democrats were breaking records all across the country. You've got a high Republican enthusiasm as well. Look, it's going to be, I think this is going to be a record election.

And as the doctor just mentioned, patience is going to be part of it because what 45 is telling his folks is he's showing him the same kind of video and saying, I don't care what you have to do that day. You do not leave. Do not get discouraged. You stay in line and saying, I don't care what you have to do that day. You do not leave. Do not get discouraged. You stay in line and vote, obviously for him, presumably. And our folks have to have that same tenacity on not just November 3rd, but I agree with you, Roland, it can't be just about November 3rd. It has to be also related to early voting. Going early, take care of it early. Then you don't have to worry about November 3rd and those kind of lines.

But patience, tenacity, and understanding the importance of what's going on here in our world. We are the best armchair quarterback after elections. We, as a people, have a tendency to say, oh, you know what, my vote wouldn't have mattered anyway. Yes, it would have. Oh, they weren't going to do anything for our community anyway. Well, when you don't vote, they make decisions on who they're going to help.

So also, one last thing when we were talking about procedures. If you do get to your polling place, and for whatever reason you've been purged or there's some confusion, ask for a provisional ballot. They have to give it to you. You vote yes, it gets put in another box. But when your issue gets resolved, then it's taken out of that box and counted. So don't walk

away. No, no, no. In some places. Because some places, some places only count provisionals if they're within 1% of the candidates. So that's one of the issues. Correct. But still do it because you're definitely not going to get counted if you walk away, take your ball, and go home. Absolutely.

At least make sure it's in that box. Yep. Yep. Yeah, we actually had a race decided here way back with a judge running for a county position. And it came down to provisional ballots. And she won by, I think it was like 15 or 20 votes. Like that happens a lot. I think Virginia had a case. The tie.

The cornflip. Yeah, the tie. Exactly. Which was determined, which allowed Republicans to maintain control of that particular house, that chamber in the General Assembly. One vote would have made a difference. Yeah. Well, just two days ago, they had several progressives won in the state of Delaware. One sister, she won by 30 votes over a 40 plus year incumbent. I mean, so again, folks, every vote does indeed matter. All right, we talked last night,

let's talk about what happened in Tennessee. Well, Tennessee Democratic Party voted in April to remove longtime state representative John DeBerry Jr. from the August 6th primary ballot as a Democratic candidate. DeBerry, who represents District 90 in Memphis, has often sided with Republicans in the legislature in recent years,

and faced a number of challenges to his party credentials. Now, he joined us yesterday to talk about those challenges, and he made a number of claims about why. Today, again, we wanted to hear exactly why he was removed. Kendra Lee is voter protection director for the Tennessee Democratic Party, and Farron Bond is campaign manager for DeBerry's opponent, Tori Harris. Kendra, I want to start with you. And so exactly why was DeBerry removed from the ballot? Okay, Kendra just stepped aside. So let me just, let's see, Farron, you're still there. I'm sorry, Kendra, you there? I am.. I'm just you know, it's been a long day.

Can you can you hear cool situations together? Yes. OK, cool. All right. So can you explain for our folks why was Representative DeBerry removed? OK, so as you may or may not be aware of the formal process that when there is a grievance or when there is a complaint by a person or someone that's in the district, we as the governing body then take the necessary steps that are going to be there. So as it happened to be, there was a member of District 90 that filed a complaint the moment they were able to do that. And so once that was taking place, all the procedures were followed. And as a result, DeBerry was it was the decision was to remove him from the ballot as a Democrat. So what one person made a complaint? What was the complaint? So the complaint was just that as a constituent

who had constantly tried to be able to get in contact with their elected official concerning, you know, some of the issues that are at hand, we've been able to see that Tennessee has had some national press for all of the wrong reasons when it comes to the General Assembly, whether it is the heartbeat bill, whether it is the vote to suppress voters, to disenfranchise protesters. The National General Assembly is just making national news for all the wrong reasons. And we had a constituent who expressed their concerns about what was happening and how Representative DeBerry was voting in support of a lot of the things that the party and a lot of people here on the ground are fighting to combat each and every day.

So if he's been reelected numerous times by obviously more than one person, how is that fair that one person can file a complaint and the executive committee remove him as a candidate if the people, if it's all about the people's will, if they've been re-electing him, how is that fair? So it's pretty cut and dry within the bylaws that, again, that are stated with the Tennessee Democratic Party. And for a point of clarification, Daveri is still a candidate.

Right, right, but he was taken off as... People still get to vote for him. Right, but... He is still a candidate, and he still has the option. And the voters of District 90 are not disenfranchised. I think rather the opposite. They do have the option to have more than one candidate on the ballot.

So they really do get to express their power and have that political power and that political capital that DeVere likes to refer to, to be able to really have an option to choose between candidates. But he but he but he was removed as a Democratic candidate. And how long has he been a Democratic representative? He has been a representative for 13 terms. So that would be two-year terms for 26 years. 26 years ago, I may have been five years old, so I can't really tell you what was going on between there. But I joined the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee January 11th of this year, and the procedures were followed. And in accordance to that grievance and all of the procedural things were in place, Representative DeBerry had an opportunity to tell people what it is that he needed to say. He opted out of doing that. I would have loved to have been able to talk to him. I actually would

have loved for us all to be on the call together right now so that we could really be able to air out a lot of the misconceptions about the process and how that was able to take place. So when the complaint was filed and it goes before the committee, the full committee did not hear from him? No, and that was the option. So it is just like you had it to be able to have a person that is the complainant. It was not a one-sided situation. This is not like a grand jury indictment. You don't have a person that just gets to tell one side of the story and then the decision just gets to be made.

I was looking forward to hearing Representative DeBerry explain to us why these situations were going to take place and be able to hear the explanations as to why some of the things that were the claims that were made against with the excessive contributions to and from Republican candidates and Republican organizations when it comes to the lack of support for amazing candidates that we have here on the ground, being able to be a deciding factor on really important pieces of legislation and then to be able to reserve that again for your political capital because you don't feel as though it's in your best individual interest as opposed to those. I had tons of questions that I would have loved to have been able to ask Senator DeBerry. So did he not appear before the committee? Did he not appear before the committee? Did he not appear before the committee? He appeared before the committee, but he did not say. He did not make remarks, and there was no opportunity to open the floor for questions.

So he appeared before the committee, but he did not speak before the committee, or did he speak and not take questions? He did not speak, and he did not take questions. Um, the, um... Theron, so you say you want to come on to also clear up some misconceptions that he also stated, like what? Absolutely. You know, first and foremost, I want to, you know, set the record straight.

You know, I've been a part of the Tori Harris campaign, who is the current challenger against DeBear in the 2020 general elections, and I've been on that team since 2018. And at no point has anybody from the Tori Harris campaign been a part of the state executive committee. So, you know, as a constituent in District 90 and as a staff member for that campaign, you know, I would really appreciate the honesty to come from the current representative. There were so many reasons why everything he said was not true.

You know, nobody's done anything mischievous with regards to the campaign. Simply put, you know, Representative Deberry was removed because his values and his votes align with Republicans. No one has forced him to be a Democrat. That is a choice that he made. And the governing body that takes care of those things has said, you know what, based on this grievance filed by a constituent who has been referred to as an out-of-towner by Representative D. Berry, said, hey, enough is enough. I am tired. He decided to file his petition last minute.

I now have time to file a grievance. This is where the chips have fallen. So I'm trying to understand something here. You said that his values don't align with the Democratic Party, but his constituents have voted for him. Maybe he, hold on a second. Do you, do you, do you take into account that maybe his constituents, those are their values? Here's what I take into account. A recent poll was done in my change research, and I'll be more than happy to send you that poll after we are off this call. 43% of those constituents have said the district has declined over the past 10 years.

What does that say? Well, if we've had the same representative for those last 10 years, Actually, you're not answering my question. Those people are not being served. No, you're not answering my question. My question was very simple. You say that his values don't align with the Democratic Party, but if the actual voters, not a poll, if the actual voters reelected him, maybe those are also their values.

So, Roland, I'm not sure if you're aware that Tennessee is an open primary state, and there are roughly 1,200 registered Republicans in District 90. That means 1,200 of those votes that are by Republicans can happen in favor of DeBerry. So that is likely why he has won the last several of his elections, at least the last three terms,

because Republicans vote for him. And if we talk about supporting Democratic values, then that's who he needs to talk to. He doesn't talk to his constituents to know what they want. In the last election, how that's who he needs to talk to. He doesn't talk to his constituents. So the last election, the last election, how many votes did he get? Roughly 14,000 in the general election, around 7,000 or so in the primary in the district is comprised of over 65,000 voters. So he got four. So let's do the math. He got 14,000. He got 14,000 votes in the last election. You said that are 1,200 Republicans in the district.

That represents only 10%. That means there are 90% people in his district. That's in the general, Roland. No, no, that's what I'm saying. Where there's only one candidate. In the primary, he got roughly 7,000, and Torrey Harris got just over 3,000. So you're suggesting that Republicans voted for him in the primary? 100%. Based on what data?

Based on the voting data. No, no, no. Based on the numbers, based on the factual data that we can go look up in VoteBuilder right now to see that there are several thousands of Republicans that consistently support DeBerry. Why? Because those are the values that he aligns himself.

But here's the deal, though, and this is I'll go back to you, Kendra, on this here again. So that means that if you're trying to run against somebody, you beat him at the ballot box as opposed to the executive committee. Is this not a backdoor attempt to remove him from the ballot because he's been winning? So are we back to me? Yeah, I said Kendra. Yes, go ahead. Okay, so to answer your question, no. But further to expound on it, this is not the first time that this law or what we have in our bylaws,

we didn't make this up for the sole purposes of removing Representative DeBerry. Unlike the General Assembly, who then retroactively took all of their political capital and put it together to get him back on the ballot, to be able to specifically introduce law to allow an incumbent to get back after the term expires for you to be there. We didn't do that. There was something that was proactively brought to the Tennessee Democratic Party. after the term expired for you to be there. We didn't do that. There was something that was proactively brought to the Tennessee Democratic Party. There was a complaint, there was a grievance,

and we followed the steps. I have no quarrels with Representative DeBerry. I am very cut and dry, and we had the opportunity to be able to allow this process to play out. But given the nature of how DeBerry, the lack of his presence that was there, the lack of the words and the statements that were made, the lack of engaging so that the conversation could happen, so that the other executive

committee members could be able to hear, we just didn't have that. There are, there's an executive council, two council people for each state Senate district. There were over 100 people who made this vote. And so Representative DeBerry had the chance to be able to speak his word and speak his piece to everyone that was there. And there were questions, of course, that were there that people would have loved to have answered for clarification um and just to be able to get really the essence of why there would be this claim against representative debary and he did not answer he did not answer them he literally did not answer the call but don't but for both of you you have it there that you you have that offer furthermore if you have the opportunity to say your piece

and you refuse to say it, what do you offer those who then have to make a decision based on the lack of your presence and therefore just have your silence? What are the next steps? What do you recommend? Well, could it be that again, as the last question for both of you that you've already said it. He got 7,000 votes in the primary. His opponent got 3,000, but here one person files a complaint and a hundred people vote to remove somebody that again, that does that not take the will of the voters out. We often talk about let the voters decide. We always, we about it shouldn't be shouldn't be processed. It shouldn't be backroom deals. It shouldn't be parties deciding who should run, who should who should go up. The voters should decide. So neither one of you see this as you actually not letting the voters make their own choices.

Final comment. Go ahead. No, I don't. I take my role seriously as an executive committee member. And so, again, what was given to us, we were able to work with. I will say it again and again. If Representative DeBerry would like to have a conversation with me after this is all over and said and done, I would be ecstatic. I have nothing against him. I am just here to be able to be the new generation that ushers in and make sure that we stay on track as a Democratic Party. But I'm not here to choose and pick favorites. I'm not here to play politics. I'm not here to be invested in whatever political capital and the best decisions that are made. I'm just here to do what's right. And the voters still have the option. I cannot stress this enough. If Representative DeBerry really is concerned about the will of the voters, they still elect this man come November.

It's not off the ballot. And it's frustrating that we continue to have to circle back to this issue when Tennessee Democrats have have chance to make history with Markeitha Bradshaw being the first African-American woman to be at the top of the ticket in our state, to run for Senate. And we have to circle back for an issue that's already been resolved. This man can get elected in November

just like everyone else that's on the ballot that gets elected. And it's disheartening that we continue to have to do this and beat this dead horse. Those are the ways that the process has been in place in the Constitution. It has not changed. There were no playing favorites. There was no gotcha moment. Nobody was asked to get representative B. Berry. And he still has the option to do the work and get the votes from District 90.

He still can do that. That still can happen. And so I really, really wish that we could just come to a peaceful resolution on this matter. And Roland, I challenge you to then use this platform to highlight the great things that are happening with the Tennessee Democratic Party. Actually, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just bring the backdrop on the show and be able to do that. But here's the deal. Here's the deal. It's real simple. You're talking to the wrong one about challenging that. I've discussed things about Tennessee. We on this particular show, we dealt with the law that was passed that was targeting protesters in that state. We dealt with the law. One second. One second. I'm not done yet. I'm not saying yet.

We dealt with the law on this show that they passed that targeted people when it comes to the collection of balloting. We've done it as well. We've actually gone live from the Tennessee State Capitol with individuals who were also targeted as well. When you had elected officials who had to resign because of comments they made and text messages that were discovered, we've covered that. So we've actually done that. We've had numerous folks on this show.

The sister you talking about, when she won her U.S. Senate seat, we covered that as well. And so trust me, we got I got this. I trust me. And I talked to I talked to I talked to my brother, Pastor Kenneth Whalum. I talked to folks there, Wendy Thomas and others with MLK 50 in Tennessee. And so trust me, we cover what's happening in Tennessee. Go right ahead with your final comment there, Theron.

So here's the thing, Roland. You know, Representative DeBerry has given you more face time than he's given his constituents in District 90 in the last 10 years. He thinks that the voters are supposed to come to him. This November, I firmly believe that the voters in District 90 will have their voices completely heard, and they will elect new representation that's going to listen in power and serve them. Because frankly, Representative DeBerry has not listened to them. He's not talked to him. And the votes will reflect that. All right.

Well, we certainly will cover in the race, see what happens. Thank you so very much to the both of you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Take care. Thanks a bunch. I'm going to go to my panel here. What do you make of this, Dr. Carter?

Well, I mean, look, being on a party's ticket is a privilege. It's not a right. And parties have a right to organize themselves however they want. Now, I'm not privy to the laws of Tennessee and the Tennessee Democratic, you're talking about process versus, you know, what seems fair or what looks like or what we'd imagine in the ideal world. And the truth is, when you're running under a party's slate or under a party's banner, they do have some say over who gets to do that. And I would say, you know, for a person who, yeah, he's been elected, but he was running unopposed. Even in the primary, you're talking about 7,000 total votes cast. Actually, your guest had it wrong. He only won 4,000 votes in a primary. So it was a very few voters that decided who was going to be their general election. But here's the deal. That's most elections. First of all, that's most elections in America. No, but my point is, this is why those early races matter, because if this is not what the majority of that district wants and I don't know, I can't speak to that district.

This is what you get when you don't pay attention to all your elections that happen in the summertime. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I got I got I got to I got to I got to oppose you on that one, because here's the piece. We can actually make that argument on every election. First of all, most of the people who live in congressional districts don't vote. So I'm not suggesting they do. I'm saying that's why they matter, because if you do have a person in office that you feel does not represent you, this is what you get when you're not paying attention at the time when it matters. Let me finish. The messiness of this is a procedural issue, and I get that. I think there is something to be said about how that state organizes its party. But the time to worry about that is not when it doesn't benefit you,

but before it does. When you took up that party's banner, you knew what the rules were. I'm not saying it's right. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, actually, that's not true. That's not true. That's not true. Because first of all, remember, what they said is he doesn't represent the values. There's no listing in terms of what your values are, Rob. That's the difference here. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you know, you said, hold on one second. You said the rules of the party. The party is messy and it does not look fair because people did elect him.

He is a duly elected official. Right. But his ability to run as a member of a party is not a right of his. No, no. I got that. And that's the thing here. And my other point is if you don't like the time to care about that is not in the general election, is not in the primary. But that's the whole deal there, Rob. Hold on one second, Doc. That's the deal, Rob. That's the deal.

If you want to beat somebody, you beat him at the ballot box. And what this looks like, what this looks like, Rob, this looks like an end around to use a rule. One person makes an allegation, committee votes, he out. That's what it looks like. That's exactly what it looks like. And I'll just tell you something. Like, I think people get frustrated in politics. And I look at this as like, look like the activists got smarter and actually outsmarted the institution, which rarely happens. So I guess kudos on that end. But however, if you look at it this way, we often criticize a process just like that, and we criticize them for that. So, look, I think the place to go beat somebody is beat them on the ballot, beat them in the primary, go through that process. Because you open yourself up to this criticism, yes, you can do it. I'm agreeing.

You can do it. It doesn't mean you should do it because then people become disillusioned with the process. Beat people at the ballot, and then there's nothing to complain about. You know what, Michael? The thing is, this here is interesting. They referenced the sister, Markita. Guess what? The Democratic Centennial Campaign Committee

backed this other guy who raised a whole bunch of money. He raised, I think, several million dollars. She raised $8,200. You know how she beat him? She organized. And all I'm saying, I'm just saying, again, let me be real clear.

I don't even know this representative. But if I'm sitting on the outside looking at it and I get here the technical rules in terms of we can remove somebody, here's what it sounds like. What it sounds like is you couldn't beat him at the ballot box. So you found another way to beat him. Now we're going to find out with him running as an independent. Because here's the piece. If he beats you as an independent, then it was the will of the people. And I just think that we can't we can't say will of the people, will of the people, will of the people, and a committee because of one complaint. That's what blew me away. One person made a complaint?

One? Mike, go ahead. Mike, go ahead. Hold on, Doc. Doc, hold on. Michael, your turn. It is, um, I think Doc used the term messy. It is absolutely messy. And, you know, me as a former elected official, if somebody,, the board of elections

called me up and said, one person complained about something, so you won't be on the ballot. You understand logically that those are the rules. And maybe these rules have been in place for a long time, but it does sound like a backroom deal. They don't like DeBerry for whatever reason. Maybe it is because of values or his lack of values related to the Democratic Party, or maybe they can't beat him, so they're trying to figure out how do we get this guy out that's been around for 26 years. Well, here's

a way to do it. We need somebody to raise a concern. We can go in the back room and vote and kick him off the ballot. That's what it looks like. That's what it looks like. That's what happened. And it's a mess. It just doesn't look good. It doesn't seem right.

I get it. We all understand that these are rules or the bylaws that are there. It just seems messy. It doesn't seem right. Well, we'll certainly see what happens in November, whether or not him running as an independent, if his constituents will re-elect him as an independent,

not as a Democrat. Got to go to commercial break. When we come back, we're going to talk with Malcolm Nance. The FBI director testified about white supremacists and how they, more than Antifa, are the big problem in this country. Ooh, but Republicans are not happy at all. Plus, Joe Biden's town hall last night on CNN.

We'll break that thing down as well. Lots more to go to talk about on Rolling Martin Unf on CNN. We'll break that thing down as well. Lots more to go to talk about on Rolling Martin Unfiltered. We'll be back in a moment. As our community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice, I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 Census today at 2020census.gov?

Now, folks, let me help you out. The Census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years. It is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. The thing that's important is that the Census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where

funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means a potential loss of funding or services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency. So please take the 2020 Census today.

Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. It's just that you gotta give and take, and you gotta know, and you gotta anticipate moves. And then I'm saying the most important thing is, it's like, know your damn county. Know your damn county. Know your town. Know your damn county. Know your town. Know your community on the voting tip.

Know where your kids is going to school before they zone them out. Right, know that, all right, man, man, I done paid this money this time. I don't wanna pay a damn bit of tax, but the tax I do pay is going to pay this much. It's like, yo, so at least know that much before you try to catch and say, well, I want to just follow the Super Bowl of politics.

It's like, man, it's like, yo, man, the local, sleepy, boring-ass game in the Sandlot, you better be and figure out what that is. All right, folks, amazing testimony that took place yesterday by the FBI Director Christopher Wray. He was speaking before the House Homeland Committee, often have information that Russia is trying try to influence our elections, primarily through what we would call malign foreign influence, as opposed to what we saw in 2016, where there was also an effort to target election infrastructure,

you know, cyber targeting. We have not seen that second part yet this year or this cycle, but we certainly have seen very active, very active efforts by the Russians to influence our election in 2020 through what I would call more of the malign foreign influence side of things. Social media, use of proxies, state media, online journals, et cetera, in effort to both sow divisiveness and discord and I think the intelligence community has assessed this publicly primarily to denigrate Vice President Biden

and what the Russians see as kind of an anti-Russian establishment. That's essentially what we're seeing in 2020. Thank you very much. The chair recognizes the... Alright, folks, my guest is Malcolm Nance. He's the author of The Plot to Destroy Democracy, How Putin and His Spies

Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West. Malcolm, glad to have you back on the show. Donald Trump pissed off at that testimony from Christopher Wray, was tweeting, oh, why did he bring up China? This is the FBI director. All these people hollering, deep state, all that sort of nonsense. They do not want to say anything, nor does he want Americans to know that Putin, Trump's bosom buddy, is trying to fix the election again for Donald Trump? Well, it's like I always say, Roland, when you're in debt to your bookie, you never bad mouth him, right?

Donald Trump is just playing to his base, which is Vladimir Putin. And in this particular instance, Director Wray has an obligation to tell the nation precisely what the threats are. And right now, the biggest threat that we have is a direct support operation that is going on by the Russian Federation in order to assist Donald Trump and his data team and his field campaign in this propaganda operation to discredit Joe Biden. In fact, they were the ones that came up at first saying, they being the Russians, that Joe Biden had a mental defect. And then suddenly the Trump campaign, all of his supporters start pushing this Russian narrative message. So just like we were warned by Ambassador Fiona Hill last

year, the United States Republican Party is now using Russian intelligence propaganda and attacking the nation with it. So FBI Director Wray comes out and mentions that, and Donald Trump goes nuts. Well, and what we're dealing with here, again, they want to have this constant denial about what's going on. And they're yelling, China, China, China. Look at China. Look at China. And then what happens? Fox News, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Conservative Talk Radio, China, China, China. And it's kind of like, but the FBI director just told you Russia, Russia, Russia. And, you know, that's because Donald Trump's strategy here is to tie the, you know, the Wuhan virus, what he, you know, rac he alleges are Joe Biden's favoritism towards China, which is pretty amazing, considering Ivanka Trump has 19 patents in that country on everything from lingerie, voting machines and coffins. All of these things are part of his propaganda campaign.

But it really doesn't stick anywhere except for his base. His base loves it when he calls the Wuhan virus the China virus. They love it when he says that he's tough on China. You have to understand, Trump and his base see Russia as one of the last bastions of white Christendom, from which they want to align themselves. And we've seen that since the National Rifle Association was penetrated by Russian influence agents, including their spy, Maria Butina, who was just recently sent back to Russia. We found that the evangelicals had been in bed with Russia since 2010, including Jerry Falwell Jr. and others. So Russia is just, you know, facilitating its attacks on the United States.

But instead of them leading the attacks, they let Donald Trump do the busy work for them and they can sit back and rest on their laurels. Well, and his also was interesting here. This is from the Wall Street Journal article. Among domestic extremists, because first of all, all these conservatives are talking about Antifa, Antifa, Antifa. This is what they say. Among domestic extremists, the primary perpetrators of deadly incidents and violence in 2018 and 2019 and, quote, the most lethal of all domestic extremists since 2001 have been those

who are racially and ethnically motivated white supremacists encompass the largest share of such extremists though this year the lethal attacks could all be considered anti-government including anarchists as well as self-identified militia groups. Bottom line is this here. He talked about white supremacy and what the research says with a growing concern about the rise of white supremacy and other far-right ideologies. Don Trump and Bill Barr do not want to discuss that. No, absolutely they don't. Because what you're talking about is not just white supremacist extremism, white supremacist radicalization, neo-Nazi terrorism. You are talking about the people that vote for Donald Trump. I mean, these people,

he understands that they are his base. And as we've been, he's been hinting recently, this is the man, the president of the United States, refuses to condemn a 17-year-old boy who murdered two people. But in Donald Trump's America, it was acceptable for that. There are people out there right now following Trump's lead who call this murderer, dual murderer, a hero within the white supremacist movement. But as far as Trump's concerned, that's just good old-fashioned family fun. And somebody breaking a plate glass window or taking food from a grocery store is akin to al-Qaeda and ISIS, and he wants to use all the resources of the United States government

against them. This is going to prove far more dangerous, I believe, than we had during the secret militia movements of the 1980s that led up to Timothy McVeigh blowing up the Murrah building. We have a lot more people who are armed, a lot of people who think that the police are on their side and that they are siding, you know, they're acting as sort of undeputized, you know, guns in line with the police. And we've seen at least two incidents where the police said that. And in Santa Fe, New Mexico, they referred to the militiamen as friendlies in their radio communications. And then in the dual shooting that happened with Kyle Rittenhouse, they actually said they appreciated them being out there on the streets with semi-automatic weapons in a state that they didn't even live in, guarding property that didn't belong to them, which culminated in a crippling and a dual murder. So law enforcement's got to recalibrate itself also.

But I think Trump is relying on this. Absolutely. Malcolm Nance, the author of The Plot to Destroy Democracy, how Putin and his spies, guys, pull a book up, how Putin and his spies are undermining America and dismantling the West. Malcolm, always a pleasure. Thanks a lot.

Take care. Rob, already conservatives now are going, oh, fire Ray. They literally right now are floating names of people to fire Christopher Ray as FBI director because they're angry and he had the audacity to call Antifa not a movement, but an ideology to speak about white domestic terrorists and to speak about Russia. How dare he tell the truth? How dare he speak facts? How dare he just say what has actually happened and not actually stick to the line of what

Dear Leader says? I mean, the Republican Party, this is what this election is going to be about. It's either going to destroy the Republican Party or it's going to destroy the Republic. I hope it destroys the Republican Party. And that's going to be really up to people, at least for a while, because what's going on right here is very simple. If you look at a small line in the Mueller report, there was a small little footnote about what Russia did to really stoke racial animus. And the reason why they're not going after the infrastructures in this country is because

that's not effective. What's more effective is to make sure that you get people's, that you get racist emboldened and that you try to discourage black people from voting. What they did, one of the things that I want to just note very quickly is that they paid black martial artists to take pictures of what they were doing with martial arts, but only if they posted those pictures and then they would use those posts to get white people to be fearful. They're going to do things like that again and again and again because they know the way America brings itself down is to have Donald Trump reelected because he will destabilize this country.

And when you have bad political leadership, bad economics follow. People think it's good economics and then politics follows. No. If you have poor political leadership in your country, your economics will fall. That's why nations fail. John Carl of ABC asked Donald Trump today about the very issue of trusting experts. Listen to this. Your question on the vaccine and on other issues regarding the experts in your government. Last night, you criticized what Christopher Wray told Congress, your FBI director. You obviously said that the CDC director was flat wrong on a couple of things this week.

How is it that you don't trust your own experts? Do you think you know better than they do? No, I think I have. Yeah, in many cases I do. I think we have a bigger problem with China than we have with Russia. I think China is a far bigger problem. And I said, well, that's okay if you want to think about Russia, but what about China? I think that's appropriate.

I thought that the definition of Antifa was an absolutely incorrect definition, so I speak up. I like to speak up. I have fantastic people. That's why we're able to make these great trade deals. That's why we're able to do things like we're doing today. That's why the country has done so well. The country has done numbers like nobody ever. Had we not had the China plague come in, if that virus didn't come in, the plague, I call it, the plague from China didn't come in.

The numbers we had were were not only record set, they were beyond anything anyone's ever seen in any country. Come on. Whatever. OK. Bottom line is here. Dr. Carter was shameful here. Not a single Republican, not a single Republican will stand up for the truth and say, you know what, I trust the FBI director whose job every day is to focus on these very things and to keep the country safe. But no, we're just going to sit here and say nothing because a dear leader has spoken? Well, they have totally abdicated all of their leadership duties here. And what Donald Trump does is always say, I think. These people actually know.

It's their job to know. That's what we pay them to do. That's why they're experts. But all he can say is he thinks. Remember, he did this last week when he said the world is just going to cool off. It's just going to happen. And that's not the way global warming works. That's not the way climate change works. But this is what he does. When people have independence of thought and say things that

contradict his worldview, then they're all liars and incompetent, right? He wants to discredit them. He wants to fire them. But he's been sowing the seeds of this kind of discontent and disbelief in our institutions for a very long time, whether it be our security professionals or the professionals in the Department of Justice, or now with the public health officials who are really vital to our country right now. He is basically saying all of these people don't know what they're doing. All their years of expertise means nothing. Meanwhile, he's never been elected dog catcher and he knows everything. Right. And all he's managed to do is lose millions of dollars and not pay people and harass people. That's what he knows how to do best.

But we're supposed to believe him. And the Republicans, again, if we ever believed that they would stand in the breach and actually become the leaders that people elected them to be and say, this is not what's appropriate and this is not true, then we'll be holding our breath because they're never going to do it because they think that their electoral prospects are better served by keeping their mouths shut, even though they know this is actually dangerous

to the American people. This isn't just something silly or hyperbolic that he says. These things are dangerous. And when you ignore your security community telling you that white supremacists are the bigger threat to your national security right now, there's some of these other things that you want us to believe, then, you know, we're in for a world of pain. Michael, I believe there's value to having multiple parties. I believe there's value to having debate from multiple sides.

I frankly wish we had more than two parties in the United States. I wish we had several political parties like you see in Israel, like you see in Jamaica, like you see in the UK. But this is probably the first time ever where I've said fire all Republicans. Fire, if you are a Republican who refuses to speak up against Donald Trump and his evil and his ignorance and just let this man say do whatever, I'm serious, fire all of them. I want to see every Republican lose

in the United States Senate. You got Tommy Tuberville down in Alabama, doesn't even know what the hell the Voting Rights Act is. I mean, you've got McSally in Arizona who could be personally responsible for electing two Democrats to the United States Senate. I mean, you've got Susan Collins with her thoughts and concerns and her utter nonsense. You've got Tom Tillis, who was Mr. Voter I.D. down North Carolina, losing to Cunningham. You've got crazy as Kelly Loeffler in Georgia, her nonsense. You've got Tom Tillis, who was Mr. Voter ID down North Carolina, losing to Cunningham. You've got crazy as Kelly Loeffler in Georgia, her nonsense, literally at the rate they will let this man do anything. And if they let him do anything in the first three and a half years,

they damn sure going to let this man do whatever he wants in the next four years. And he can do whatever because ain't no other election that's right no absolutely and that's everything correct i co-sign with what you just said roland i certainly co-sign with what the professor just said as well and it's it's it's unfortunate that the lack of courage that the, and in particular, the Senate Republicans, they're a disgrace. But what we have seen over the last few weeks, different than we saw in maybe the first half of 45's term, was now you have some Republicans,

even from the administration, that are coming out and saying, no, this isn't right. I'm not going to support him. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not buying it. I feel you. I feel you.

Do you know why I ain't buying it? I ain't buying it because your ass coming out now. And you're coming out now because the polls are showing he's losing. And you want to try to get a job when his ass lose come January. Now, see, here's my whole deal. If your ass stepped a year ago, if you stepped two years ago, but all of a sudden, like, oh,

like, now I'm stepping out. No, it's some people trying to cover their ass right now because they want to be able to get jobs in D.C., get jobs in academia, or get jobs in corporate America. So I'm sorry. My cutoff for your ass leaving administration was after the midterms. Okay. Maybe, okay. Maybe if you left in January, 2020, but if your ass left last week, no, I ain't giving you that.

I'm with you, but I'd rather them do it than not do it. I'm at least glad that the Lincoln Project has funding from Republicans. This new group of Homeland Security Republicans also are now raising money to do ads and commercials, as I'm sure

you may have at the end of the show like you usually do. So I, as I'm sure you may have at the end of the show, like you usually do. So I understand. I'm totally with you. But I'm rather I'd rather they do it than not do it. I feel you. He's so nice. That's a Democrat. I feel you. But I feel you. But I mean, my deal is, look, we know this game. Look, Colonel Vittman, respect. Okay? Other folk who all of a sudden, like now you find religion, I appreciate you finding Jesus right now, but you finding Jesus when the boat is damn near underwater,

now you want to say Jesus come save me. But when your ass was partying on the yacht, you ain't know Jesus when you were sitting here partying and having a good time. I don't know. I don't know about that. I gotta go to a break. We come back. We gonna talk about Joe Biden town hall last night.

That's next on Roller Martin Unfiltered. to support the fight against racial injustice, I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 Census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The Census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years.

It is mandated by the US Constitution. The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted,

which means a potential loss of funding or services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential

and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency. So please take the 2020 Census today. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. It's rough out there. People are looking for change, for answers. One answer is at your fingertips, the 2020 Census. Census takers will be visiting households

to make sure we are counted. Because an undercounted community could miss out on billions of funding for schools, health care, and job assistance each year for the next 10 years. Too much is at stake. Respond online today. Shape your future.

Start here at 2020census.gov. All right, folks. In Pennsylvania, CNN hosted a drive-in town hall with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. He was asked an array of questions from voters in the parking lot of PNC Field there. The questions ranged from police and criminal justice reform to protesting and unity. A sister asked Biden a question concerning police relations with young black girls and boys. Roll it. Hello, Vice President Biden. Hi, Mayor? Black parents across America need to know how much different will the talk

be with our sons and daughters about police interaction under your administration? It'll be fundamentally different, but let me make it clear. One of the things people say I know I understand is my mother would say, come walk in my shoes for a mile

and tell me you understand then. Very few white parents have to have to turn and say to their kid once they get their license, make sure if you're pulled over, put both hands on top of the wheel. Don't reach for the glove box. Make sure you do whatever the police officer says. The vast majority of police are decent, honorable people. One of the things I've found is the only people who don't like bad cops more than we don't like them are police officers. And so what we have to do is we have to have a much more transparent means by which we provide for accountability within police departments. As president of the United States, what I will do, I will nationally bring together police chiefs, police officers, the union people, the African-American leadership, the communities, the brown communities, the civil rights leaderships, sit at the table and agree on basic fundamental things that have to be done, including much more rigorous background checks on those who apply for and become police officers. Two, teaching people how to de-escalate. Three, providing for a 911 calls like what happened in Lancaster,

making sure that you have psychologists and psychiatrists available to go out to deal with those circumstances. We can change. We started that process before. I'm confident it can work again. And again, without vilifying, there's bad cops, there's bad police officers. I mean, there's bad senators, there's bad congressmen, there are bad docs. There's people who aren't meeting standards

in every single solitary profession. And I'm confident, I'm confident the vast majority of the police are prepared to sit down in the White House in a commission like Barack and I started to begin to sit down and lay out what the minimum basic requirements are and what is out of bounds, period, including the ability for us to be able to go in and look at a pattern and practice of police departments

so they're completely transparent. Donald Trump has been asked if he benefited from white privilege. That was a conversation that he had with journalist Bob Woodward. Trump laughed it off and said that, oh, that Bob was drinking the Kool-Aid. Well, Anderson Cooper asked Bob the same question, and this was what he said. Sure, I've benefited just because I don't have to go through what my black brothers and sisters have had to go through, number one. But number two, you know, grow up here in Scranton.

We're used to guys who look down their nose at us. We look to people who look at us and think that we're suckers. Look at us and they think that we don't, we're not equivalent to them. If you didn't have a college degree, you must be stupid. If, in fact, you didn't get to go to an Ivy school. Well, I tell you what bothered me to tell you the truth. Maybe it's my Scranton roots. I don't know. But when you guys started talking on television about Biden, if he wins, will be the first person without a Ivy League degree to be elected president. I'm thinking,

who the hell makes you think I have to have an Ivy League degree to be president? I really mean it. I found my backup. No, I'm not joking. I'm not joking. Like, guys like me were the first in my family to go to college. Up here, my dad busted his neck. My dad came up here, worked here, lost his job like a lot of people did here. There used to be a bad joke in the 60s in Scranton.

Everybody's, no one's in Scranton. Everybody's from Scranton because so many people lost their jobs. We are as good as anybody else. And guys like Trump who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited are the people that I've always had a problem with, not the people who are busting their neck. Fact check, if elected, he'll be the first president since Ronald Reagan not to have a degree from an Ivy League university. Always got to have a fact check, even with Joe Biden. A retired police chief of Wilkes-Barre Police Department

in Pennsylvania told Biden his concern about the violent protests taking place across the nation and the lack of respect for law enforcement. He asked Biden what was his plan to address the situation and bring our nation back together. Hmm. Check this out. First of all, protesting is one thing. A right to speak is one thing.

Violence of any kind, no matter who it is coming from, is wrong. And people should be held accountable. Burning down automobile lots, smashing windows, the president's has yet to condemn, as you've probably noticed, the far right and the white supremacists and those guys walking around with the AK-47s and not doing a damn thing about them. This is absolutely, look, his own former press secretary, Kellyanne Conway, said, I'm paraphrasing, chaos and violence are good for our administration. They're good for us. The president talks about in Joe Biden's America. I got to remind him.

He may be really losing it. He's president. I'm not the president. This is Donald Trump's America. Do you feel safer in Donald Trump's America when he incites these kinds of things? The idea is it's wrong no matter what the source is, where it comes from. I condemn it all and people should be held accountable. But folks, I'm waiting for the day when he says I condemn all those white supremacists. I condemn those

militia guys as much as I do every other organizational structure. And by the way, Chief, when you put that badge on and you walk out the door, you have a right to come home to your family safely, period, period. Biden also condemned Attorney General Bill Barr's comments likening coronavirus restrictions to slavery. You know, what Bill Barr recently said is outrageous. That is like slavery. We're taking away freedom.

I would tell you what takes away your freedom. What takes away your freedom is not being able to see your kid, not being able to go to the football game or baseball game, not being able to see your mom or dad sick in the hospital, not being able to do the things. That's what costs our freedom. And it's been the failure of this president to deal, to deal with this virus. And he knew about it.

He knew the detail of it. He knew it in clear terms. Imagine had he at the State of the Union stood up and said, when back in January I wrote an article for USA Today saying, we've got a pandemic, we've got a real problem. Imagine if he had said something. How many more people would be alive? A voter asked Biden what is his plan to make health care affordable

so that Americans don't drain their savings. First of all, in the middle of this pandemic, what's the president doing? He's in federal court, federal court, trying to do away with the Affordable Care Act. 100 million people with pre-existing conditions like your mom would not have to pay more for their insurance under now. But guess what happens if, in fact, he wins? That's number one. Number two, what I would do is make sure that we reinstate the Affordable Care Act, number one, and add a public option to that Affordable Care Act so that nobody, nobody in the United States of America

would go without being able to be covered for what they need. With regard to COVID, for example, I don't want to get too personal. My son died of cancer. He came home from Iraq. And I have to tell you, it really, really offended me when he volunteered to go there for a year,

and he came home because of... with stage four glioblastoma. And the president referred to guys like my son. He won the Bronze Star of the Conspicuous Service Medal, referred to him as losers. Losers. Talk about losers. My point is this. The idea that health care is debated as whether or not it's a right or a privilege,

it's an absolute right. And so we have to make sure, particularly in the moment of COVID, that any costs relating to COVID are, in fact, free. The federal government guarantees be taken care of. Folks, we've got some breaking news. We have to separate from all of this here. Wow. Stunning news.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87. She had been battling metastatic pancreatic cancer. She has fought pancreatic cancer for a number of years. She had been in and out of the hospital. This is a stunning announcement that just came down literally one minute ago. Supreme Court announcing that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneer on the Supreme Court, one of the leading attorneys in this country, clearly the leading women's rights attorney of the 20th century, has passed away at the age of 87. This, of course, is shocking. Dr. Nam, it is, let's go to actually, before I go to my panel, Eli Mistel, who is with The Nation. Eli, this is just, I mean,

this is, it's shocking news. I don't want to get into the political piece of it yet, but let's first talk about this woman. When you talk about a pioneer, the documentary that was done on her, the movie that was done on her, what she did to change the laws of this country to make women equal, she has no peer. She has been the foremost fighter for women's rights and women's equality for 30 years. She fought for it before she was on the Supreme Court. She fought for it while she was on the court. She has been the person who's held that light the highest um it's devastating uh that she's gone um let's just be clear she had been holding on um she wanted to see a democrat elected for her to be able to retire um this is the one thing that literally progressives were praying for her health, that she could live past the election if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris could win

because Republicans, they, by replacing her, you're talking now having a 6-3 majority on the United States Supreme Court. Yeah, and there's nothing that I foresee the Democrats can do to stop that from happening. If Mitch McConnell had any decency, he would use the same rules that he used to block Merrick Garland in Obama's last term. McConnell invented a rule that you can't change Supreme Court justices during the election year. We are, you know, Antoinette Scalia died in February of 2016. Ruth Bader Ginsburg appears to have passed away in September of an election year. so we're closer to the election than when Antonin Scalia passed away. If McConnell had any decency or consistency, he wouldn't put forward a nominee until the presidential election was sorted out. Obviously, we know he doesn't.

Obviously, he's promised, and his Republican sycophants will follow along. Trump will have somebody nominated, I imagine, by Monday or Tuesday. And, you know, that nomination will be pushed through very quickly, I think, either right before the election or in the lame duck if they want to keep it open as an election issue to motivate their base. Legally, I don't see any way to stop that. When you think about her career, when you think about the cases she argued before the Supreme Court, the creation of the Women's Law Center with the ACLU. Again, when you just look at case after case that was immortalized on the big screen as well. I mean, again, if you talk about the legal giants in America, there's no doubt Thurgood Marshall is on that Mount Rushmore. I would dare say Ruth Bader Ginsburg is sitting right next to him on

that same Mount Rushmore. Absolutely. She's the only the second woman ever to sit on the Supreme Court, the first kind of openly liberal or openly progressive one, if you will. And she's had a storied career. I think that she's, you know, one of, I'm starting to, it feels a little bit early to kind of get into her judicial legacy. But, you know, one of the things that I think she will be remembered for in a way that's a little bit different than some of the other great justices that she's remembered is her fierceness in dissent. People don't always understand the value of a good dissent, right? Because either you win the case or, you know, you're lost. And so why do you write about how you lost? RBG's dissents made it clear the liberties conservatives were taking with the law, the harm they were doing to the law. And in often cases, I think, in many situations,

I think her dissent pointed the way forward to changes in the law and to strengthenings of the law. She never let being on the kind of losing end of a 5-4 decision stop her or darken her moral clarity on an issue. And that's intensely valuable. Not everybody can do it. She did it particularly well.

Dr. Nyambe Carter, this is of course shocking news. She had been again, battling significant health issues over the last several years, but it really in and out of the hospital in the last year, earlier this year, she was in Johns Hopkins University a couple of times. And I mean, this is, I mean, anytime you lose obviously one of nine Supreme Court justices, it is big news. But the fact that we are sitting here almost at the end of September with an election on the horizon,

and any political operative would know that when you look at what is happening here, likely Donald Trump loses this election, Democrats will win the White House, Democrats, not only that, likely are to take control of the United States Senate. They were hoping that if they were able to win White House and Supreme Court, that they would be able to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. The same feeling was that, and she was thinking that this was going to happen four years ago, that Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump, and she could have retired at that particular time, but she stayed on hoping Democrats would win, and it's not going to be the case, as Ellie just said. Look, Republicans, and let's be clear, Donald Trump has been waiting for this. In fact, clearly there must have been a heads up for Donald Trump. Was it earlier this week to all of a

sudden, the last week, to all of a sudden come out and announce his Supreme Court list? That came out of nowhere. Yeah, and that list is terrifying if you actually looked at that list of Tom Cotton is just one of many. Judge Ho was on it. There are a lot of conservatives on there that would give many people pause. And, you know, I first want to give my condolences to the Ginsburg family and to all those who knew her, because she was such an icon for so many people and such a beacon, especially in her latter years, who was fighting valiantly because she knew what was at stake. Should she pass away on the bench? And Mitch McConnell told us a year ago in 2019 that if she died or, expeditiously, right, to get this seat filled as quickly as possible with one of the most conservative names on that list that they

can find. And this is what you've been talking about all year, Roland, about why elections are important, because what this enables the Republicans to do is extend their reach over the arc of history. Right? Long after Donald Trump is gone, these people will still be installed on that Supreme Court and are, you know, dead set against any of the things that most Americans care about,

like protection of voting rights, women's right to choose, all these things, you know, criminal justice reform, right? These people are there as a stopgap against progress, quite frankly, and that's why they're putting them in these offices. That's why that list that Donald Trump circulated last week looks the way it does. And it just circulated last week looks the way it does. And it just

right now, right now, right now, this is the headline on the front page of the Huffington simply two words, Ginsburg dead. I mean, it's just, it's just, it's terrible news. I mean, it's, it's, I mean, obviously too. I mean, you're correct about a pioneer, obviously thoughts and prayers to her family. But it's just, this is awful. It's awful in so many different ways. I know the professor touched on some, but if they move with dispatch, which I think we all know that Senator McConnell will,

this Supreme Court, the 6-3 Supreme Court, has the opportunity, if it gets to that point, to potentially decide this election. If there are critical issues related to states, obviously they're not going to be in session. They'd have to come back for these kind of matters as they did in 2000 with the Gore-Bush decision. The ramifications are terrible. And keep in mind that, yes, elections have consequences, clearly. Republicans have always cared much more about court appointments than Democrats have. And when they put on their appointments, they put on folks in their 40s and 50s, which means they will sit on the court for four decades. So this is a problem so wide and so huge.

And Justice Ginsburg did everything she could. You don't think she wanted to live her life peacefully, relaxing, reading books, writing her memoir in her last days. Of course she did. But she wanted to hang tough because she knew the importance of her seat. And now that seat is going to be filled by a far right wing conservative. This is terrible.

Rob Richardson. Rob, it is. And again, I don't want to have a hardcore political conversation, but you have to. Today is September 18th. We know exactly what Mitch McConnell is going to do. I can tell you right now, there's no doubt in my mind that the final vote will probably take place October 23rd. They are not going to wait on anything. Look, they play for keeps. And look, she was unabashedly liberal. And she was valiantly trying to hold on to see who won. That's what I mean. She was she this woman was fighting for her life to hold on. Yeah, there's no question. And first of all, obviously, blessings out to her family and they have lost her.

But she meant a lot to so many people. You know, she, her legacy was about like, I think it's too simple to say she was a liberal. She was a person that fought for values that I believe are American. She fought for the equal rights of women. She fought for the equal rights of African-Americans. And she did so in a way that was able to sometimes bring people over. She would, you know, what I, what I think is being missed is that there are a lot of really close decisions that have happened over the last couple of years that went 5-4 that really shocked people. And I know she had a lot to do with that because she had an understanding of how to talk to the justices and make them understand the bigger picture of why they are here, even some of the conservative justices that she could reach. Now, missing that,

I mean, I'm afraid of the consequences that are going to come out. And this is going to be 30 or 40 or 50 years. And, you know, even when you and you do need to change these branches of government. So this election still matters a lot. But now we have an area that I hope people understand because they will begin to understand because there will be some really, really awful decisions that are going to really affect people's lives in a way that they will see it. But I hope people understand and Democrats understand the fact that they have to play. They don't play the long game when it comes to judges.

They act like this is something they can wait on. Judges are almost the most important thing you have in your legacy when you're a president and you're in the Senate, period. There are people that are going to decide these cases. They're going to decide whether people have a right to a jury. They're going to decide whether police can come and search you for any reason. These laws have been decided by the Supreme Court, and they affect everyday people. But people act as if these things are somehow far away and they don't affect you. So I hope we learn a lesson from this, because sometimes you have to go through a lot of pain. And I do think that we'll

be in pain in this country based upon what's happened. And it's not going to just hurt Democrats. It's going to hurt Republicans. It's going to hurt common, ordinary people. And I hope folks understand that these decisions matter. But for now, definitely God rest her soul. She made a difference. Her legacy will definitely outlast her and her ideals will still be pushed forward. Ellie Mistel, are you still there? Elie still there folks? Okay, sorry, Elie is gone there. This is, again, it is a shock. The news came down just several minutes ago.

The Supreme Court announcing that 87 year old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, died as a result of pancreatic cancer. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several years ago. In fact, she previously had cancer. And the reason her cancer, the reason her cancer was caught was because of that particular cancer. Pancreatic cancer happens deep within the body. Typically, once they discover it, it is too late. You might recall Congressman John Lewis died of pancreatic cancer. But in only about four to five percent of people with pancreatic cancer live upwards of four to five years. Congressman Alcee Hastings,

he was diagnosed more than two years ago, pancreatic cancer, and is still a member of Congress and is still fighting. And so she was, like I said, when she was diagnosed, she had been fighting it for a significant time. You know, she was, of course, married to Martin Ginsburg, was a tax attorney who helped her, you know, with her first arguments before the Supreme Court. He passed away of testicular cancer, which of course developed in 2010. She was, as I said, a prominent attorney, one of the first women to go to law school, was a fierce fighter when it comes to the courtroom, smart as all get out.

She attended Cornell University. That's where she graduated from. In addition to that, she enrolled in Harvard University in 1956, only one of nine women in a class of 500 where they did not even have female bathrooms at Harvard University. She of course was ignored. She eventually transferred to Columbia Law School where she actually got her degree from there. She earned that degree in 1959. And no shock, she graduated first in her class. Dr. Carter, again, when we look at her, when we look at her career, when you look when you look at history, when you look at the laws that were struck down, there were laws. You know, we talk about African-Americans, but but also we always say this nation was built for white male landowners.

And there were clear laws in this country that were designed to keep women in their place, to keep them in the home. And that particular lawsuit where she actually represented a man who was a caregiver utilizing tax law to actually lead to equality when it comes to women. And then they went after law after law. This is this woman was a legal giant before she even got on the Supreme Court. Absolutely. And I think, you know, when we think about where women are today, we don't think about the fact that not very long ago, women couldn't have credit cards, right? Women couldn't insure vehicles. I mean, basic things that we take for granted that we can do now are largely because of the advocacy and the fight of a Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the many women that, you know, she brought along with her. I mean, she was also responsible for bringing in a cadre of women to the legal profession and nurturing those young legal minds. So I think, you know, you cannot, you know, properly memorialize someone who had a career

as great as hers and as long as hers. And I think Rob is exactly right. I mean, the thing about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, more than sort of her ideological positions, was the fact that she was always thinking about what was just. What was going to make this democracy more robust? How can we expand the boundaries of who we are so that we can actually be the best of who we think we are, right?

So that we can actually be the America that we claim and we purport to be. And I think that's what made her great. And I think, you know, as you detailed her last years, I mean, made her so much more courageous than people appreciated because she pushed past her pain and her discomfort and sacrificed time with her family and her loved

ones in order to make sure this country didn't fall by the wayside, right? And didn't slip into the dumpster fire, quite frankly, that is this particular moment. And I think it's, you know, it's really frightening to think of what's going to come next, because that's all I can think about at this moment. And I'm thinking about all of the political jockeying that will the way of what they were trying to do. And so I'm just I'm in awe of all that is Ruth Bader Ginsburg's career and all that she was able to do for people like me and others, quite frankly. And I think, Michael, that unfortunately, I think a lot of the focus is not going to be on her career. I think a lot of it is not going to be on the laws that she shepherded, that she had changed through judicial decisions. And I think that what people also have to understand, we talk about these very laws. Remember, she had to go before the Supreme Court to change these laws.

People keep hearing me on this show. Yale at the top of my lungs. Voting does indeed matter. Presidents pick Supreme Court justices. They are confirmed or denied by the United States Senate. Elections matter. And this is a woman who, again, was first in her class at Columbia, yet a Supreme Court justice, Frankfurter refused to hire her as a clerk because she was a woman. Forget the fact that she was number one in her class, smarter than any other guy at Harvard or at Columbia, he refused to hire her because she was a woman.

And so, and this woman later, who gets refused as a Supreme Court clerk, later gets appointed by President Clinton to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. And it is going to be a lot, a lot of political jockeying. I haven't even checked, but I guarantee you, I guarantee you white conservative evangelicals. They are have in a moment of glee right now because this is what they, this is why Mitch McConnell blocked Merrick Garland. Yeah. This is why they elected Trump, uh, but Neil Gorsuch, and then of course Kavanaugh. And now with this, they will hold a, and they will pick somebody who is not a moderate who is not a centrist they are going to pick someone who is just as conservative as Clarence Thomas and conservatives will hold and and here's the other piece what this what this does we look at it

John Roberts had turned into the so-called centrist now they don't need his vote. That's correct. It's, you know, for the late, I hate to even say the late, Justice Ginsburg is a giant, clearly. And the consequences of this, as I mentioned a little earlier, we all mentioned affirmative action on the table. Roe versus Wade on the table. HBCU funding, public funding on the table. All these issues are now on the table. Stop and frisk on the table. NRA gun rights back on the table relative to loosening some of those restrictions. All of these issues that the courts have fought so hard for are now on the table. And you're going to see suit after suit, even once President Biden and Vice President Harris are in office, even though

the country is changing demographically, even though our world is moving in a different direction, the Supreme Court will now be there, as I said earlier, as an incredible backstop to slow that progress. And now that all these issues are on the table, and we use conservative groups groups sue states, they know that at least they may have a 6-3 margin. And that is terrible for women, for people of color, for immigrants, for people trying to get a second chance, returning citizens. It is, this is terrible. And for folks, I know you're're right we're only exactly right the folks on the right are completely gleeful because the only reason some of these folks even participate

in politics is so their president can support federal judges or appoint federal judges on our side we which we don't take as seriously now you'll see why for the next half a century. This is terrible. Terrible. I'll just say this to conclude this. She said real change. This is RGB, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Real change and enduring change happens one step at a time.

And it's not a linear process. So we're going to have to keep fighting here. And if you're able to win the Senate, if you're able to win back, if you're able to keep the House and you get the presidency and we actually move the ball forward, then we have people we can hold accountable to push. Because there's going to have to be more progressive laws to counteract these things that are the judges that are trying to prevent progress. I don't even like saying conservative. They're going to appoint a radical person to that position that does not believe in our humanity or that doesn't believe in equality under the law for women. That's not conservative to me. That's something else. And that's going to be bad for America. So at least people will be, I think, more awake

and they will need to fight harder than ever because, you know, this, we've taken a step back, but we've got to keep moving forward one step at a time as she would have wanted us to do. Indeed, folks, the breaking news just moments ago. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87. The second woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton,

a pioneer lawyer within her own right. She, of course, the subject of books, of documentaries, She Will Rise, of course, also the big screen movie as well. An absolute amazing lawyer, a legal giant, someone who, of course, women looked up to in this country. Men as well, but women absolutely because of her pioneering status. We will have more on the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Roland Martin Unfiltered on Monday. There were some additional stories we were going to get to, but we will show those on Monday as well. Typically, we close the show out with our charter member list. We will not do that today, nor the appeal for you to join our Bring the Funk fan club. We will simply fade to black.

Again, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice, dead at the age of 87. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.