#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Neb. Blocking Fmr. Felons From Voting, Axios' Border Control Lie, JD Sets Record Straight

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

8.27.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Neb. Blocking Fmr. Felons From Voting, Axios' Border Control Lie, JD Sets Record Straight MAGA lawmakers in Nebraska are making sure to suppress to voting of those re-entering society by reverting to 19th-century voting restrictions that block former felons from voting.  But we have one running for the highest office in the land.  I'll talk to a Nebraska State Senator about how the state's attorney general and secretary of state are implementing lifetime disenfranchisement. Axios called Vice President Kamala Harris a "flip-flopper" regarding her stance on border control.   I'll tell you why that's a bald-faced lie! I'll show you my conversation with Jermaine Dupri, who was murdered on social media for his comments after the Vice President's acceptance speech last week.  A Latino civil rights group is demanding that the Justice Department investigate Texas "voter fraud" raids led by state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Tennessee's top Republican leaders are threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding from left-leaning Memphis for their plans to place three local gun control initiatives on November's ballot. And the former Florida deputy who killed a black airman will stay behind bars after a judge denies him bond.  Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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.

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Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Thank you. Today is Tuesday, August 27th, 2024. Coming up on Roller Barred on the Filter, streaming live on the Black Star Network. I told y'all Republicans would do whatever they can to rig the election. Now you have two Republican state officials in Nebraska telling the legislature the law they passed don't matter when it comes to voting rights for formerly incarcerated. you have two Republican state officials in Nebraska telling the legislature the law they passed don't matter when it comes to voting rights for formerly incarcerated. Really?

Yeah, we gonna talk about that. Why is Axios saying Vice President Kamala Harris is flip-flopping when it comes to securing the border? We gonna break it down for you on the show as well. Plus, Jermaine Dupri and I talk about a controversial video he dropped. A lot of people felt he was actually speaking against Vice President Kamala Harris.

He wasn't, but the video will explain exactly what's going on. Also, Republicans don't like local control. Republicans say they like local control only when they are in control in In Tennessee, Republicans in the state are saying to Memphis, oh, y'all pass a gun control measure, a non-binding measure,

we're going to withhold $80 million. I told y'all these people don't play fair. And a judge in Florida says no bond for the former cop who killed an airman. We'll tell you about that as well. It's time. Oh, yeah, by the way, Jack Smith refiled, has re-indicted Donald Trump

for what took place on January 6th. We'll break that down for you as well. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on Filter, the Blackstone Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, let's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all

Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now The best you know, he's rolling Martel now.

Martel. All right, folks. On July 19th, Nebraska's legislature had a bill that would take effect that would restore voting rights for about 7,000 people. Well, the Nebraska Attorney General and Secretary of State, they were like, yeah, those laws don't mean anything. And it really declared them unconstitutional. I'm sorry. So how does the Attorney General, Secretary of State tell the legislature that what they have done is unconstitutional? I want to talk about this right now with State Senator Terrell McKinney of Nebraska. He joins us.

I'm confused here. So walk us through here. Last I check, when the legislature passes a law, unless the Supreme Court of Nebraska says it's unconstitutional, how the hell does the Attorney General and the Secretary of State decide on their own? That's exactly what they're doing. Attorneys of the General's opinions are just opinions, and the Secretary of State is just going along with that opinion,

but that opinion isn't legally binding. The legislature passed LB20 during our last regular session to make it a law to restore voting rights for returning citizens in our state. And once it was about to come into effect, the attorney general filed an opinion stating that it was unconstitutional and also stating that a law that was passed in 2005 was unconstitutional as well. Right. That's where I'm really confused. How can the attorney general just on his own say 19 years later, oh, yeah, that law is unconstitutional? If somebody wanted to challenge it, you would think they would have filed a lawsuit and gone to the courts.

But he just decides on his own was unconstitutional, and what is it? Exactly. A lot of these things didn't come up during the session. None of these claims, and especially none of the claims that the law in 2005 was unconstitutional, I had never heard it before until that opinion came out, and a lot of us were surprised of it. Are Republicans in Nebraska saying what the hell is going on? Yes, even some of my colleagues, because Nebraska is unique. We have a unicameral. We don't have a two-body system.

And the bill had passed with bipartisan support, so even when my colleagues— Looks like you're a signal for your signal like what is going on hold on one second your signal froze you said you said my colleagues and you froze go ahead oh sorry yeah my colleagues once we had uh got called back for a special session a few weeks ago and talking to some of my colleagues, they were having the same concerns we were having, like, what is going on here? We passed this law, and then the attorney general and the secretary of state just comes in and tries to tell us what to do, what happened to the separation of powers. So what's next? What's next?

It's in the courts right now. There's legal challenges happening. It's up in our Supreme Court. We're hoping that the Supreme Court rules in favor of the voters, rules in favor of the people, and rules that the law is constitutional and that those individuals can have their rights restored and they can vote in the November election. Okay, now I'm confused because normally when the legislature files a suit, the attorney general's office defends legislature. So who's suing who? So there was the ACLU in our state filed the suit against them. So it's not the legislature filing the suit, it's the ACLU and some other legal attorneys filed the suit against the Attorney General's office. This is absolutely crazy.

I want to bring in my panel, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EBA out of D.C. Dr. Nola Haynes, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, also out of D.C. Dr. Larry J. Walker, assistant professor, University of Central Florida out of Orlando. First up, Larry, you get to ask the first question of State Senator Terrell McKinney. Yeah, so this is just obviously another example of, you know, Republicans not being inconsistent about what they say they actually believe. I guess my question is, when you look at the individuals who were this bill passed and, you know, sort of restore, you know, for returning citizens, restore their voting rights. What is the do we have a breakdown

in terms of the racial demographics of those individuals? I think it was 7,000 individuals or so. Like I said, do we have a racial breakdown of those individuals who maybe have the opportunity to have their voting rights restored and be able to vote? It would more than likely be disproportionately Black people. Our state's prison population is currently disproportionately, it encompasses Black individuals, mainly people from my district and the district of the only other Black senator. There's also Native Americans and Latinos as well. But disproportionately speaking, based on our prison population, I would say Black people.

Nola. our prison population, I would say black people. NOLA. Thank you so much for talking about this this evening. I'm really bothered by this. So my question is, is the ACLU filing their lawsuit, is it a voting rights lawsuit? What type of lawsuit? Is it civil rights? Like, what type of lawsuit is it? It's a class action suit. It's three individuals they're using for the suit that would have been affected by the law

or were affected by what the attorney general did. Okay, thank you. Mustafa. You know, my question is always why. So what do they get out of this? Does it impact local races, county races, races across the state, based upon where you sit and your sets of experiences? Why would they do this at this time? If you're thinking political, so Nebraska is unique. We split our electoral vote. In Omaha, we have what we call the blue dot. We have an individual running for Congress right now who could potentially flip a seat. And if you're thinking political, if we allow for more individuals who are returning home from, who have returned home from incarceration to vote,

they could potentially help in flipping that seat to a blue seat. Again, if you black, you likely going to live there in Omaha. More than likely. And so to your point, that's exactly what's going on here. And this is the, let me one second, I want to show this here. I showed it yesterday. This is the Electoral College map. And there are two states there because there you based it upon who is a congressional district, right? Yes. So that's why, folks, if you look at this map right here, you'll see right there.

You'll see why Nebraska right there. See that blue dot. And if we go over here, Maine is the same way. Maine does the exact same thing. Will they split the electoral college votes based upon who wins a congressional district. And so what these Republicans are clearly trying to do, they want to impact that as a way to try to win that one because that one electoral college vote is critical when you look at the map and how it all plays out

for Harris versus Trump. Yep. All right. Senator, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch Harris versus Trump. Yep. All right. Senator, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Keep us abreast. What happens with this case? No problem.

Thank you for having me. Folks, again, I hope y'all understand what's going on. I mean, this is the sort of stuff that Republicans do. Same thing is happening in Tennessee. You know, it's just nonsensical what's going on there. Remember, last year we told you the Republicans in Tennessee. You know, it's just nonsensical what's going on there. Remember, last year we told you the Republicans in Tennessee, actually earlier this year,

they actually outlawed in Tennessee a police review board in Nashville. So the Republicans in the state capitol telling Nashville how they can govern themselves. And also remember, earlier this year, after, of course, Memphis passed a law when it came to police stops in the aftermath of the Tyree Nichols beating. Well, guess what those Republicans did?

They were like, yeah, Memphis, y'all can't do that. So they passed a bill in the Tennessee legislature telling Memphis how they can respond. Now what they're doing is the same thing. So in Tennessee, they have a Memphis wants to do a non-binding measure regarding guns. Republicans are like, yeah, no, no, no, no, that's not going to happen. And if you do that, we're going to withhold sales tax money from you, almost some $80 million. This is the dastardly stuff these folks do, Mustafa.

We saw this when it came to Confederate monuments in Alabama, in Florida, in North Carolina, in South Carolina. This is how these white conservative Republicans want to control majority black cities or Democratic cities. So in Mississippi, Jackson, when it comes to Tennessee, Memphis, Nashville. And so Republicans want to use their power in the state capitol to tell democratically elected people in cities how they should govern. So they are imposing their white conservative values on these largely black or democratic cities. And, you know, it brings forward that overseer mentality that has often been utilized inside of our communities. This is a power play. And they're trying to make sure that they control the dynamics that happen inside

of our communities. Those dynamics, of course, often based upon the decisions that they make, can have deadly consequences inside of our communities, especially when we're talking about guns, even though—and let's give credit to folks there who have been able to lower the rates of crime that have been going on. You would think that if you see a location that is being able to find success that you'd want to support their decisions to continue to enhance that success. Of course we understand that when we have guns inside of communities and we have all the other dynamics that go along with that then it creates these

these stressors and these pressures that often lead to negative types of things. So they should honor the voices of communities and local legislators who know what's best for their communities. But they don't care about that, Nola. They care about power and they care about control. Exactly. That's all that this is. Even when you think about the way that the Second Amendment gets distorted, it is so far from the original intent that it virtually makes no sense. It's one of the things within the kind of American culture that runs counter to so many other values that we have within American culture. And for folks who believe that you should be able to have any type of gun, all types of guns,

and if you say anything about that, then you were trying to snatch away my Second Amendment right. That is so extreme. It's such an extreme point. And then absolutely, this is a power play. Anytime any Black person in this country makes an inch of progress, here comes the other side reminding us, oh, but we still have, you know, we can still control levers of power. It has absolutely nothing to do what's best for the community. They could care less about what's best for the community. It's about power and keeping foot and keeping their foot on folks' necks because they can. Oh, absolutely. Larry? So it's really interesting, you know, this particular issue, Roland, and you highlighted

some of the challenges just, you know, these mostly Democratic, you know, jurisdictions, particularly cities, are encountering throughout the country. And what I find interesting about this, it's like an extremist approach to government. What I also find really contradictory about it, Roland, is that if I remember correctly, the United States fought for its independence because of the monarchy, right? So, but what we're seeing is these extremists, you know, governors, super majorities are essentially saying to predominantly Black communities run sometimes by Blacks or individuals who support issues that negatively impact the Black community

that it's not about democracy, as Mustafa and Ola highlight. It's about power. And so obviously from a policy standpoint, we have to chip away at these supermajorities. But I think the other thing is you have to realize what kind of hypocritical this is in terms of what the original intent is in terms of, like I said, United States fighting for its democracy. And now what we have here is, like I said, governing by extremism, which is essentially what it is. Well, that's exactly the case. And they are very extreme. And so this is just how they roll. They want to dominate these cities, want to control them. And this look at me in Missouri. The letters that you're there almost took over the St. Louis Police Department. They already control the Kansas City Police Department. And it was so shameful there. In Missouri, they passed a statewide ballot measure increasing the amount of money that the citizens of Kansas City

have to pay to the police department. How you got people in other parts of the state telling St. Louis, excuse me, Kansas City, how to spend their money? That's because Republicans want to keep the city under control. And again, they have been trying to get control over the police department in St. Louis. And so that's what happens when they do not want black folks in power. Can I go to break? We'll be right back. Roland Martin on filter, the Black Star Network.

When we come back, why is Axios saying Vice President Kamala Harris is flip-flopping when it comes to the border, when she and President Joe Biden supported a compromise bill with Republicans that Donald Trump told Republicans don't vote for because he wanted the issue, the campaign on? Axios is full of crap for it, and we're going to call him out. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered,

the Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare. We'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

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

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

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let's do it. Let's just jump into it. And it has worked. It's a thing of beauty, literally. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Next on Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach. Women of color are starting 90 percent of the businesses in this country. That's the good news. The bad news. As a rule, we're not making nearly as much as everyone else. But joining us on the next Get Wealthy episode is Betty Hines. She's a business strategist and she's showing women how to elevate other women. I don't like to say this openly, but we're getting better at it.

Women struggle with collaborating with each other. And for that reason, one of the things that I demonstrate in the sessions that I have is that you can go further together if you collaborate. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Me, Sherri Shebra, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin, unfiltered. So So I don't understand why media outlets are pretty much full of crap and just lie. We keep seeing this over and over and over again.

And it's actually pretty stupid. So the folks at Axios, okay, folks at Axios, dropped a tweet today that said this. Y'all have it? Pull it up. In their tweet, fine, pull the article up. Harris flip-flops on building the border wall. This is their article.

Now, they're saying that she has changed her position because she said in her speech that if, you know what, I'm not going to say it. This is what she actually said. All right, so y'all, she said in her speech, all right, she said in her speech that, well, you know what, that was a compromise bill, and Republicans backed out of it,

and I'm going to reintroduce that bill, and if it's passed, I will sign it into law. It was the bill by Senator James Lankford out of Oklahoma. It would provide 22,000 new Border Patrol agents, 41,500 new detention facility beds, and again, Republicans tanked it. So I don't understand how they can say she's flip-flopping when, as vice president, she and President Joe Biden compromised on the border bill. See, Nola, these are the games we see playing with these media folks by they're trying to they're playing Republican games by saying, well, she's a flip flopper when as vice president, they compromised.

The woman said, yo, I'll sign it into law. I'm trying to understand where's the flip flop? You are mute. My bad. So she's not flip flopping, you know, Vicky wears chucks. She doesn't wear sandals. I see this two ways. I see this as the media trying to poke her to have to have sit down interviews with folks, because that seems to be the latest talking point. That seems to be the latest thing that people are concerned with. I can't tell you how many people have texted me and said, well, you know, it does kind of look a little bad that she hasn't talked to anyone. And I'm like, are you saying that, or did you hear that from somewhere? You know, so that's one part of it.

It feels like they're trying to force her hand to have to respond in the way that they want her to respond. And the second point is, this is a national security—this is a national security argument in that part of what the Republicans are trying to do is say that she's weak on foreign policy and national security. And the border is all about national security. And so it's this combination of trying to force her hand to have a conversation with someone in the media to explain her position, which no one will hear anyway. Their minds are already made up. And then secondly, trying to say that she's weak on national security. So it's a twofer. And neither are true.

So, again, this is the games they're playing, folks, here. So they're trying to criticize this commercial that her campaign put out on the border wall. So let me just play this for you. Check it out. Kamala Harris has spent decades fighting violent crimes. As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border. As vice president, she backed the toughest border control bill in decades. And as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on

fentanyl and human trafficking. Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. I mean, she literally is speaking in support of a bill that she agreed with. And just in case anybody forgot This is her in her speech After decades in law enforcement. I know the importance of safety and security especially at our border Last year Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans

To write the strongest border bill in decades. The border patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign. So he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security? And here is my pledge to you. As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I

will sign it into law. I know. So, I'm confused, Larry. She was a part of a bill that was negotiated. It was a compromise bill between President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Republicans. They agreed to it. They advanced it.

Trump said kill it. But Axios is like, oh, she's now flip-flopping. From her position in 2019, hello! That's five years ago! Roland, this is a political shell game. And, you know, some of these media outlets, whether it's television or print, really need to be ashamed of themselves. As you highlighted, we all know she was a senator and a state attorney general for a border state. And as you talked about, Senator Lankford, we already know he said consistently among Romney and among others, former President Trump killed this bill.

And another important thing as it relates to this border bill we're discussing, it's not like a lot of Democrats, liberal Democrats, were on board with it. The U.S. Border Association was in support of this bill. And so it really, not only in terms of hiring individuals to secure the border, but overall, it's not what you would consider a bill that, you know, a lot of liberals will be jumping up and down about. It's a conservative bill, moderate at best. So it would certainly have been, you know, a win for securing the border and certainly a win for a lot of Republicans. And so when you hear, you know, a diehard, red-blooded conservative like Lankford say that former

President Trump killed the bill, that tells you everything you need to know. But once again, this is a political shell game. Once she does this interview, we see she's going to do an interview with Dana Bash. When she does that, they'll shift the coconuts around. It'll be something else and something else to say, well, she's not doing this. But the bottom line is they don't hold former President Trump accountable, Ellen, when it comes to issues like this in terms of pressing him why he killed the border bill. So here we are again, once again, a political shell game. And Mustafa, this is literally Senator Lankford on Fox News. Watch this.

I know you're not trying to zing your colleagues, but it's your colleagues in your party, sir, who torpedoed this, who didn't get the facts right on what you just outlined was in that measure. They killed it. Ironically, not Democrats. Right. It was, and it was painful to be able to watch it. It got stirred up in all the presidential politics, and several of my colleagues started looking for ways.

After President Trump said don't fix anything during the presidential election, it's the single biggest issue during the election, don't resolve this, we'll resolve it next year, quite a few of my colleagues backed up, looked for a reason to be able to shoot against it, and then walked away. I get that. That's a decision everybody makes, and my issue is if we're pursuing everything, we very often end up with nothing. If we're pursuing someone coming later to fix it, later seems to never come. When we have a moment to fix things, we should fix as many things as we can then,

then come back later and fix the rest. That's on Donald Trump, Senator. Again, he's got an office that he's running for. He's got a campaign that he's running. I'm already in office. I've got a responsibility to be able to carry on this. So that's what you're dealing with right there, Mustafa. Well, you know, they often talk there's a crisis on the border.

And if that's true, then they should have moved forward expeditiously to actually get that to pass. If Trump actually thought many of the things that he says about the border are true, and I've worked on the border, so I know some of the dynamics that are going on there, then he should have been fully supportive of making sure that that got passed and implemented. It was the most conservative border bill, at least that I've seen probably in the last 30 years. There are others who, of course, are experts in the space. So they had an opportunity to do something they chose not to. Axios could have waited until after both the vice president and the governor have their first

press conference or sit down, and they could have heard what she talked about. And then if they wanted to run the story based upon what they heard, it might have had a bit more legitimacy or at least it would have been something to talk about. But again, people are so interested in getting eyes on the things that they're putting out, trying to be the first to get to a position, even if there's not real truth in it. So as the other panelists have shared here today, it's not just a shell game. You're doing a disservice to journalism. You're doing a disservice to people who are trying to make decisions about whom they want to give their vote to. So if you call yourself a credible media organization, then you have to do better. Well, you were making a point about media, and here's the same Senator Lainford actually talking about how he was threatened by a conservative commentator.

I'll put $100 on it with Sean Hannity. Listen to this. Some of them have been very clear with me. They have political differences with the bill. They say it's the wrong time to solve the problem. Or let the presidential election solve this problem. In fact, I had a popular commentator four weeks ago that I talked to that told me flat out, before they knew any of

the contents of the bill any of the content none of nothing was out at that point that told me flat out if you try to move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year I will do whatever I can to destroy you because I do not want you to solve this during the presidential election. By the way, they have been faithful to their promise and have done everything they can to destroy me in the past several weeks. It's what we're dealing with. They do not want to solve this issue, Larry, at all? It's a game, Roland. I mean, and what bothers me most about this issue and other issues is the American public are not hip to what's going on at the bottom line.

And, you know, listen, once again, Langford, he's a red-blooded conservative, right? It's not a moderate. He votes with former President Trump probably 99.9% of the time. So this idea that he's being attacked and trying to solve an issue we know was an issue we need to solve for decades speaks volumes about in terms of where some of the media outlets are and how much power they have as it relates to influencing policy. Absolutely. Kamala Harris, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Goer Tim Walz have announced that they're going to do their first sit-down interview with CNN's Dana Bash taking place on Thursday. A lot of media folks have been whining and complaining, oh my God, they're not doing any interviews,

they're not doing any news conferences. And Mustafa, they've been whining, saying, we don't know what her policies are. Actually, we do. They kind of talk about them in speeches. They've talked about them at the convention. So I'm sort of confused by these people who are so clueless that they say,

we don't know what her policies are. Are you? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

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

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the it really does it makes it real listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast season two on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content subscribe to lava for good plus on apple podcast Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else.

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

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

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

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I mean, there's no way not to know at least probably 80% of what her policies are. There may be additional things that she will share after she's had the opportunity to think more critically about them. And she's in conversation with advisors that more critically about them. And she's conversation with the advisors that she has a part of her committee. But Vice President Harris is a brilliant, brilliant politician. She is a brilliant strategist. And I'm sure that she will have policies that resonate with the vast majority of Americans. You know, we just continue to see this game, and we'll see it for the next couple of months, you know, where the media continues

to take these jabs at her, but they don't have the same level of concern when it comes to former President Trump. So, you know, we know that there's disproportionality in the way that they approach things. We know that there is, you know, we know that there's disproportionality in the way that they approach things. We know that there is, you know, second set of ways that they put more pressure on her than they do on the other candidate. But I'm looking forward to hear what she has to share. And then folks will be able to make their decisions based upon that if they want to continue to give consideration to her or to one of the other

candidates. NOLA? You know, I'm so happy we're talking about this because I see this as part of the larger conversation around the campaign using content creators at DNC. And I know many of them, you know, they are wonderful. The way that they deliver information to the American population is a way that I definitely can't do it, you know, a way that a lot of people in legacy media cannot do it. And I think some of this is that, you know, even with the Tulsi Gabbards and Nikki Haley's of the world, some of this we are seeing is just hating on BP, period. You know, they're hating on her non-traditional way of actually communicating with everyday

regular-shruglar Americans, right? It's not those of us who are glued to MSNBC all day. That is not necessarily the audience that policies are being communicated to. You know, the way that some of the content creators, the way that they talk about VP's policies are in a very relatable way. Her economic policies, her domestic policies, you know, what she's trying to do in the housing industry to, you know, to equalize it. These are, in fact, policies, right? Do we know, you know, like Mustafa said, do we know the entirety of her policy portfolios regarding

foreign policy and everything else? We don't know everything yet. We are still 70 days out, right? And we literally just got here yesterday. So, you know, all of this definitely will take time to cultivate. And I know for a fact that VP has a lot of smart people around her that are working on these things every single day. But none of this is as it seems. It's all a smokescreen. Number one, it's about not communicating in the traditional sense. Number two, you know, keeping in line with that, using content creators to deliver her policies and her messages, you know, bucking traditional media. And then also she's pretty fly. Let's just keep that a buck. They're upset about

that, all of it. And, you know, that's how I see a lot they're upset about that all of it and you know that's how i see a lot of these women out here who are hating on her for absolutely no reason they just bother her she bothers them when she wakes up and breathes in the morning so that's just going to be there unfortunately but this is some of this is hate some of this is jealousy it are lies and they are really afraid of this woman. Larry. Yeah, this is, you know, like I said, I mentioned earlier in terms of a shell game. It you know, it's going to if it's not this is it's going to it's going to be a number another issue. But, you know, I'm glad she's going to finally do an interview with Dana Bash because I'm sick and tired of hearing.

And hopefully, Rowan, I know you tweeted about this. You're next on the list to ask some questions that impact the Black community. I damn sure hope so. Listen, we're calling it out. If our folks are watching right now, you need to come on Black Star Network and talk to Rowan so you can ask some of the questions that people

want answers to. So let's get it out there. But just overall, Rowan, this fascination with her doing interviews, like she's been BP for four years prior to she was U.S. senator. It's not like she doesn't sit down for interviews or doesn't discuss important policy issues. Once again, it's just smoke and mirrors. And I agree with Nola. There's some there's a lot of hate and animosity based on some of these content creators getting getting getting access. Exactly. Well, first of all, I think it's stupid.

All of these people, you know, who are complaining, who were complaining at the convention, they were complaining about the amenities and all this sort of stuff. Man, let me tell you something, okay? We paid for our space. We paid for the Internet. If y'all wanted some snacks, bring your own damn snacks in.

I did. I brought my own damn water, brought my own damn snacks. I didn't expect anybody to have some seat warmers for us and all this sort of stuff. I just can't stand all these old whiny-ass media people, you know, from a lot of these other places who, oh, we got treated so much better at the Republican Convention than the Democrat Convention, and, oh, we didn't like our seats at the Republican convention than the Democrat convention,

and oh, we didn't like our seats, and we were too high up, and we couldn't go onto the floor. Oh, my gosh. Shut the hell up. I mean, just the constant whining is utterly ridiculous. These people actually drive me crazy with all of this crap, as opposed to, you know what, do your jobs.

And also, let's be clear, it ain't like you're getting a lot of news at a political convention. Okay? You're not. You're not. It's not happening. So I just got tired of all this sort of stuff, and we're living in a totally different world, Mustafa. The fact of the matter is there are individuals who are on TikTok, who are on Instagram, who have more influence than the rest of these people. Listen, that was a story the other day.

I got a kick out of this. A mediaite did this story, and they were talking about, they were talking about, oh, how, what's that silly-ass child? Megyn Kelly. Megyn Kelly did 116 million views on YouTube, and she did more views than NBC and CBS. And then the guys at Midas Touch were like, alright, that's nice, but we did 350 million views last month.

And so I hit Mediaite, I said, hell, y'all should say your story should be Midas Touch does three times as many views than Megyn Kelly. If you, if you, if a Midas Touch can do 350 million views in a month, then guess what? That's what you do.

All of these other media outlets, they're mad upset because the game has changed. And look, listen, YouTube sent us, so last week when we were in Chicago, I met with our YouTube representative at the Google office. This is what he told me. He said, Mustafa, he said, out of all of the progressive groups, he said, you guys do. He said, you guys do more views. He said, more views than the other progressive groups. He said your average watch time per viewer

is higher than all of the progressive groups in your category, including Young Turks, including all the rest of these shows. Some of them, they get more views, but average watch time per viewer, we're higher than all the rest of them. That's what that that's the difference where we're living in. And so it's CNN, MSNBC, the others can't say.

Yeah. And I really appreciate how Nola laid this out, because I think she actually was taking us in the right direction. You know, with evolution, either you can adapt or you become extinct. And we find a lot of the reporters and these commentators, they utilize a technique in a way that's from, like, the 90s. So folks want flavor. And if you can give them flavor and you can give them information that helps them to see themselves represented and helps them to have an understanding of why their vote matters and how it can help to make change, or if they should be calling somebody out, then that's what people are looking for. And they're looking for it in new platforms as well. They want stuff at their fingertips. They want to be able to get information,

think about it, and then go deeper in other places. But unfortunately, you know, sort of the traditional mainstream media has not yet caught up with, you know, what folks are asking for. And then they get frustrated. And when they get frustrated, then you see some of the things that we've been talking about today, where they kind of, you know, just do things that you're just like, wow, really? Where were you trained? And who actually were your mentors and guides and how you engage with folks and how you have honesty and authenticity in the information that you share? So I applaud all these new content creators who are doing it authentically and who are reaching a whole new generation and helping

them to think critically about what do they want for the future, who are the leaders that they want for the future, and how they play a role in helping to make that happen. You know, and it's just, it's just, it's crazy. It's just nuts. And all they do is complain about it, but it's a new day. You have to reach new audiences in a different way, Nola. Absolutely. I mean, evolve or die. It's that simple. Right.

And it's not you know, this is the same sort of argument with digital media. Remember when real journalists were up at arms at journalists who would, you know, pump out stories very quickly for online, for people that wanted to get their news quickly online. They evolved there. So for me, it seems like someone should be saying, wait a minute, there's an opportunity here. Like a lot of these kind of streaming platforms did not do well for some of these legacy media networks. Maybe if they had a Kenny, if they had a Condi, maybe people would have tuned in on some of those platforms because they're being talked to the way that people talk to each other at home.

I mean, the way that I express myself here is definitely not the same way I express myself with friends. You know, it's just a different type of conversation. But people want that realness. People are tired of the kind of stale, robotic way of communicating information. This is the last thing I'll say, and I'm still upset about this. I got dinged for being too happy. Excuse me? When all I do is talk about death and war and conflict, and the one day I show up having a little bit more energy, have a smile on my face, it's a big to do. And in the, you know, in all the conversations with

producers and stuff like that, that bothered me to my core. So when I think when I see my friends in Chicago and the content creators doing their thing, and let's let's keep this a buck. That is a hustle. They hustle for those interviews, right? It's their own creativity. There isn't a team around them helping to put packages together, to help them put shows and ideas together. This is coming from them. So they are a threat, and I understand why they are a threat, because they are creative. People are watching them, and they're tuned into them. And VP understood that, and that is one of the reasons why legacy media is

coming for her. Yeah, and they don't, they hate the fact, look, if she does an interview with me later, they're going to be like, oh my god, how dare you? They want to be the gatekeepers. So, they don't want her talking to black radio. They don't

want them talking to bloggers. They don't want them talking to bloggers. They don't want them talking. And here's what's so funny. Ezra Klein used to be a blogger. Oh, so now all of a sudden he works for the New York Times. Oh, now he's great and wonderful. And so these are the games they play. They want to control everything.

They want to control. They want to be the ones. And guess what? Their influence is not what it used to be. It's just not. CNN's ratings are at lows they haven't seen since the early 1990s. Sorry. That ain't my fault. A popular New Orleans saying. Larry, go ahead. Yeah, so Rowan, you know, you talk about legacy media platforms.

They're about to become the new blockbuster. So if they don't get it together, listen, you know, it's one thing about capitalism is it eats its own. So if, like I said, Noah said, if you don't adapt, you adapt and die. So what's happening is we're seeing a, and I think COVID helped accelerate this, we've seen a transformation in how we communicate. And so these platforms, and I know some of them have tried other smaller projects to try to get people engaged. It's not working. And I think, Roland, why your platform is successful and you are is that it's organic and authentic.

So where you engage with people on social media and where we engage, we have conversations here. This is all authentic. And so a lot of what you see on legacy media is very stern. As Nolan said, it has to be a certain way and segmented a certain way and people just don't live their lives like that anymore kids want to be entertained and they want authenticity and a lot you don't you're not getting that anymore um and because strictly a lot of these platforms owned by these large corporations but what you get a

black star network on this show you get authenticity what you get in a Black Star Network on this show, you get authenticity, and you get people who keep it 100 while giving you honesty and truth. Well, they also don't want to be bored to death. And again, to show y'all how things are different, go to my iPad. YouTube sent me this. You know, remember, they told us that

out of all those other progressive sites, we have the highest average view duration out of all of them. This is what the view duration was during the convention. We normally average nine minutes and 45 seconds. During the convention, it was almost 21 minutes. That's the difference between folk who understand how to engage with their audience and these other people. All right, y'all got to go to break. We'll be back on roller on filter. The Black Star Network. Don't forget, support the work that we do, folks. Your contributions are critically important to our work. And so please send your check and money order. P.O. Box five seven one nine six. Washington, D.C. two zero zero two zero 7196 Washington DC 2002 0037-0196 Cash App is Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal R. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo

is RM Unfiltered, Zelle Roland at RolandSMartin.com Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com Be sure to download the Blackstar Network app, Apple Phone Android Phone, Apple TV Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. We'll be right back. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr.

We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vletia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other?

The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. Coming soon to The Black Star Network. I still have my NFL contract in my house. Having a case. It's four of them. My four-year contract. I got a $600,000 signing bonus.

My base salary for that first year was $150,000. Matter of fact, $150,000. bonus. My base salary for that first year was 150. Matter of fact- 150,000. 150,000, that's what I made, $150,000. Now, think about it. My signing bonus was a forgivable loan, supposedly. When I got traded to the Colts,

they made me pay back my signing bonus to them. I had to give them their $600,000 back. Wow. I was so pissed. Because, I mean, I try to be a man of my word. I had to give them their $600,000 back. Wow! I was so pissed. Because, man, I try to be a man of my word. I'm like, f*** you. I'll give you your money back. You know, even though I know I earned that money, I gave them

that money back. I gave them that $600,000 back. But yet, I was this malcontent. I was a bad guy. I wasn't about the money. I wasn't about the money. It was about doing right. Because I was looking at I looked at, because you look at contracts. Look at John Elwood. John Elwood's making a million dollars. $800,000. I't about the money, it was about doing right. Because I was looking at, I looked at, cause you know you look at contracts. Look at John Edwards, John Edwards making a million dollars. 800,000, I was making 150.

I mean, I was doing everything and I'm like, but yet I was, man, I got so many letters, you know, you, you, so I just play for free and all that kind of stuff. I mean, you don't forget that kind of stuff. Right. That stuff is hurtful. Me, Sherri Shebritt. This is Tammy Roman.

I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I've told y'all on numerous occasions how Fox News is absolute trash, and one of the most despicable individuals there is Jesse Waters. This is what this sexist asshole actually said yesterday. Listen to this crap.

It's been three years since Kamala boasted about being the, quote, last person in the room when Joe Biden decided to go ahead with the Afghanistan withdrawal. Jesse, people consider you to be the last person in the room because that's because everybody keeps trying to ditch you. Yeah, they just left. They just left. Right. But you understand the reference, Greg.

Yes. Is that she was somehow involved in the decision, and it was her wise guidance that he was relying upon. Listen, she was the last in the room in Afghanistan. She was the border czar, and she was the deciding vote on trillions of inflationary spending. On those three most popular Joe Biden items, she's basically like a conjoined twin. You cannot separate the two. And let's talk about foreign policy. What is her foreign policy? This is where the president has his most impact. You have a lot of room to maneuver there as commander in chief. We don't know who she is. We don't know what she THIS IS WHERE THE PRESIDENT HAS HIS MOST IMPACT. YOU HAVE A LOT OF ROOM TO MANEUVER THERE AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF.

WE DON'T KNOW WHO SHE IS. WE DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE BELIEVES. SHE'S GOING TO GET PARALYZED IN THE SITUATION ROOM WHILE THE GENERALS HAVE THEIR WAY WITH HER. RIGHT NOW... JESSE WATERS.

JESSE, I DON'T LIKE THAT. TAKE IT BACK. TAKE IT BACK. HAVE THEIR WAY WITH HER. CONTROL HER. NOT IN A SEXUAL WAY. Not in a sexual way. So, Janine Pirro, Jesse, take it back.

Dana says, Harold Ford says nothing. And then, at the end there, this little, oh, I didn't mean it in a sexual way, this little smile. Oh, yes, you did. And you know what? Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News, won't rebuke him, won't call him out, won't admonish him, won't take him off the air.

This is the kind of stuff they encourage. Nola, here's what everybody needs to understand, and this ain't even September yet. You're going to see far more sexist, misogynistic, and yes, racist attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris the closer we get to the election. It's going to happen on Fox News. It's going to be on social. It's going to be on other conservative platforms. It is going to happen. Yes, it will happen.

And I needed to take a deep breath because I am so bothered by that clip. I am bothered by the clip as a black woman in foreign policy. Who knows generals who sits at tables with them? And to portray them as if somehow they wouldn't listen to the commander-in-chief, you know, to have some sort of sexual innuendo and then giggle about it is also insinuating that somehow the generals will do what to her if she's the last person in the room, OK? So it's problematic from the positionality of them making a joke about it, talking about her being the last person in a room, and then also making generals seem like they are sexist

and they will do some sort of harm or sexual violence to VP. That's what my ears hear as a woman. OK? So that's the first part. The second part is, regarding Afghanistan, I've been talking a lot about this, because, you know, the Afghanistan case means a great deal to me. I worked on that mission for two years after the withdrawal. And what I've been

trying to remind people of is how we got to where we are in the first place. While they were sitting there making gross, violent, sexual jokes, because that's how I interpreted it, they didn't say anything about the Doha agreement. They didn't mention anything about what we gave up in that deal in turn for no terrorism. And let me sit here and tell the American people right now, there are 24 terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan sitting here today as we speak, not because of President Biden and VP Harris. It's because of the Trump administration. And I'm not saying that to be divisive.

I am saying that as a policy person. I am saying that as a person who was once a global terrorism expert. This is my wheelhouse. So for them to give, you know, their viewers and their watchers part of the story, which is what they do, and then to laugh and joke about generals not, you know, respecting her and, you know, possibly wanting to do some sort of sexual harm to her, the way in which they created that visual for their viewing audience not only made her inept, you know, made her ineffective, but then you just completely demeaned her and took away all of her agency, all of her strength and

intellect. And while I know that's going to continue rolling until the, you know, to the election and beyond, that right there was a different level of growth. And I really hope somebody at the Pentagon contacts news and let them know that was not OK because it wasn't. And see what this does is what this does, this does, Larry, it contributes to this notion that a woman cannot sit at the table, which is pretty stupid because you've got a woman vice president. We've had multiple women secretaries of state who have been in the situation room, who have been at the table. You've got women governors who have overseen the National Guard. But this is this is the kind of sexist, ridiculous stuff that happens in this country.

And this goes to also show you why this nation has yet to elect a female president. It's a very important point. And we should highlight that, you know, various nations throughout the country, Liberia, Germany, UK, currently Barbados, among others, have had women as leaders of the government. So the United States, as you know, is behind the majority of other countries in the world. And that's because of the government. So the United States, as you know, is behind the majority of other countries in the world. And that's because of sexism. Let's just call it for what it is. Also, as you played that clip,

Roland, let's refresh the memories of those who are watching. That's a cultural issue with Fox. Because they have a cultural problem with sexual harassment. Yep. O'Reilly was fired. They had several lawsuits.

They had to file. Oh, my God. Bill O'Reilly, Eric Bolling. God, used to be at CNN. It was just on to my... Ed Henry. I mean, we can go off-air people as well. A whole lot of folks, they had to pay out a lot of money for sexual harassment at Fox News. Yeah, so this is a cultural problem that they need to address.

And as Nolan noted, you know, this is going to accelerate the closer we get to the election. And unfortunately, black women always don't have faced the brunt of this, whether it's in this, in this, you know, on TV or quite America or in higher education, let's be honest, wherever sisters are and wherever they excel, there are often those particularly white males who struggle to adapt because their you know their beliefs are rooted in these ideas about uh sexist ideas about what women can and can't do so we need to continue on like on this platform to call it out for what it is and instead it's sexism and we won't have anyone speaking of talking about the vp like that yeah and it plays in about putin's of the world roland that's who he's really talking about. He's talking about those so-called strongmen of the world.

That's what he really wanted to say, but was too cowardly to say. Well, and again, Mustafa, if you're a man sitting at that table, you immediately check that fool for that kind of crap. If you're a man involved. If you're somebody who just goes along because you want to keep getting a check, then you allow that type of foolishness, that trash to continue to be spewed and move forward. You know, we highlight, you know, different media organizations and entities that are falling short. We did that earlier on the show.

Often people will say, well, that's just Fox News. You know, that's just part of the culture. That's just the way they get down. You know, the question becomes, when do we reclaim our power? Even though probably the vast majority of folks are not regular Fox viewers, you are in many instances probably contributing and purchasing from the advertisers who support this type of stuff. Oh, first of all, if you have cable, if you have cable, a significant part of your bill is going to Fox News. Yeah. So we've got to find ways of actually addressing these things, because if we're just going to ask for their humanity and their character to move into the 21st century, it's probably not going to happen. You got to,

unfortunately, hit people in the pockets. And it has to come in multiple ways. And it has to come from folks not just saying, well, you know, that's just too bad that they said something like that, to actually getting active and taking a look at who are the advertisers and stop giving them your money. And then, of course, having those conversations also with cable companies, which I know based upon a number of shows that we've talked about here, you know, a number of times here on the show that is not as always easy in dealing with some of the cable companies. But we have to raise our voices to what our sets of expectations are

and what we will allow and what we won't. And until we do that, you're going to continue to have these types of folks saying these types of things and demeaning folks who come from our communities and others. Well, absolutely. And it should be called out. It should be blasted. And again, executives at Fox News should have the guts to actually say something and do something about it. Unfortunately, they have yet to do so because, guess what, they consider him to be one of their stars. And so they allow this kind of crap to go on.

And, of course, the other male and female hosts at Fox News don't say anything. And so you'll never... You know, Harris Faulkner's not going to say anything. You know, Will Kane is not going to say anything because they are silent. They will sit here and allow that nonsense to go on. All right, y'all.

When we come back, I'm going to play for you a video. Jermaine Dupri, let's just say, got a lot of people hot with a video that he dropped on social media, on Twitter last week. And I saw it. I tweeted something about it. He called me. And then we actually had a live on Saturday talking about it. So I want to play that for you and talk about it with our panel as we continue our conversation, presidential politics.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. And what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them

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Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until then. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

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

I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

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

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast

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Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. All right, folks. Jermaine Dupri has been prominent in supporting various candidates over the last several years. He was on the campaign trail in 2020 and 22 with U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock

and he also has been supportive of the Vice President. Well, the day was it Wednesday a day, was it Wednesday? It was the day before her speech on Thursday in Chicago. He dropped this video that got a lot of people lighting him up. Real quick, I wanted to talk about the DNC. I feel like the DNC has been going amazing. But I also feel like tonight Kamala Harris has a pretty difficult job, right? And it's interesting because the Republican correspondent that's been doing the roundup after the DNC has ended, he asked the question

that I kind of asked Kamala when we had our second meeting, you know, if, you know, the fact that she's already, she's in office right now, she's in the White House right now. And the guy, he said, what makes y'all believe that she's going to get this stuff done if she becomes president and she's already in the house? And it's a tricky question because I asked Kamala basically the same thing, right? In so many words. And I asked her, like, as the vice president, why they don't let her talk when, you know, Biden seems like he needs or he needed someone to speak up for him, I thought that's what the role of the vice president was, was to help the president.

And basically, she kind of let me know that her hands was tied, that they didn't really allow her to be a voice like that in that space. And tonight, I don't know if she's going to, you know, I want to see how she, if she even touches on this, because if she doesn't touch on it, that's the question that I feel like the people that are, that have mixed decisions about voting for her, this is one of the questions. This is the top question that they had. And like I said, this is what the Republicans are saying. And they never heard the part about her hands being tied.

And if she says something about her hands being tied. And if she says something about her hands being tied, then it makes it look like it makes it look like the White House or the Democratic Party didn't really want her to exceed. So she can't really say her hands was tied, but she does have to step into that space. This is something I do believe. Well, boy, after that video dropped, man, he got cooked on social media. I mean, folk were dropping all kind of videos going after him. And I had tweeted. I was like, yo, Jermaine, before you drop something like that, hit me in the future before you do.

And so Friday he gave me he hit me up. We talked on Friday and he said, hey, let's do a live chat on Saturday to talk a little bit more about this with the general public. And so we did. And here's that conversation. I need you to give them a little context on how you view what actually was happening as opposed to what actually happened. So here's the deal, folks. The Republicans, so when Jermaine posted the video, he referenced a Republican commentator on CNN who was saying, well, she was there. Why couldn't she do this while she was president? She was president. And so he and I talked last night. The Republicans, their strategy is to blame her for everything.

So their deal is, well, if OK, if any of y'all say you can't hear, it's on your device, y'all. Trust me, everybody else can hear. So if you can't hear, it's on your device, all right? So just let y'all know, okay? So here's the deal. The Republicans, J.D. Trump, J.D. Vance, Republican Party, all of them, their strategy, yes, Scott

Jennings, is to say, well, if she's announcing these things, why didn't she get this done? Well, and then when Jermaine talked about in his video, what she said to him, that's actually true. The vice president serves at the pleasure of the president. The vice president can have their own views. The reality is the president sets the tone. A lot of people have been saying, well, the vice president, she needs to be doing this and saying this. She can't. She has to toe the line of the president. The vice president is not a separate elected position. There are some

states in the union where the lieutenant governor runs separately from the governor and they can take whatever position they want. In Texas, it's that way. But in Maryland, in Illinois, the lieutenant governor runs with the governor. And so that person has to support the line of the president. But people don't realize this. The vice president can't just decide. She wants to just, okay, I'm going to go give a speech

on gun control in Florida. She can't do that. Because the White House, his advisors may say, that's not what we're focusing on right now. That's not our strategy. So the vice president is really handicapped in a way where it's really a position where

your job is to support the president. And so I think what happened was, I think a lot of people, when you mentioned the Republican guy, they thought you were saying, oh, I'm agreeing with him why she ain't getting this stuff done. So I think that's what happened. Yeah, so, and then like I said, I explained this to him yesterday,

to the rival yesterday, and I, I, I, um, I mean, it's crazy, these messages and everything that people saying, so you said it was cooking me on, or you woke up, and they are, they going crazy, but you know, one of the things that I said to you last night that really shook me crazy was that as many people have so much things

to say about me, it's crazy that the DMs that are our voices, they're not saying this with the public and you told them. And that's the part I want everybody to understand. I'm sitting here watching TV. I'm watching CNN. I'm not sitting here looking, saying CNN. I don't do all that. I just watch TV. You know what I'm saying? I'm watching TV.

I see people who have an opportunity to say exactly what you say and they're not correcting these people that's on TV. When I was on CNN for six years, when I was on CNN for six years, black people would say, man, you talk

the way we talk. Then you say what we say in the barbershop. You say what we say at home. So you're right. When you're sitting opposite of Scott Jennings, you've got to jump in his ass. You've got to push back immediately. Otherwise, he is controlling the narrative and he is setting the narrative.

And that's really what you're talking about. What you're talking about is you want folks to, yeah, because like when we talked, you were like, got it. Like it wasn't that hard because it's also a part of what their strategy is. And so here's the other piece. Now that she's the nominee, so she now actually has two jobs. So she is the nominee, but she's still a vice president. Vice president. This is the part I was saying was tricky when I said it's tricky in my video this is exactly what I was talking about people

so he gonna explain it to y'all so vice president Harris if she has her own view on Israel Gaza she has to She has to be nuanced because she's still the

vice president. There's only one president at one time. The president sets policy. The president sets the agenda. She can't state exactly how she feels or where she will go until she's sworn in.

So she put that right hand and she raised her left. And so she has to do a dance in terms of what she will do. So what she's saying is, if I'm president, I'll do this. If I'm president, I'll do this. If I'm president, I'll do this. No, y'all, I'm not trying, y'all, listen, I'm not trying to help Jermaine save face. I'm telling y'all, I saw the

video, and then when we talked, I said, Jermaine, here's what I think happened that caused people, and he was like, yeah, you're right. I said, like, a couple things got just sort of, I understood it. This ain't no different than when I talked to Stephen A., and he said something, and I think a couple of points sort of got messed together.

So, y'all, we're not. By the way, anybody out there, I don't have to say it, Face. I asked a question. That's all I did. If you're scared to ask questions in America, you ain't going to never be nowhere close to me in status. Understand that. So the whole point of this is that, so we're talking about it being tricky. It is tricky.

Because, listen, I'm going to go back. Biden and Obama running as Democrats, because of where the country was, they said publicly they were against gay marriage. Truthfully, they actually were for gay marriage. In fact, Obama had signed a pledge when he was a U.S. Senate agreeing with gay marriage. But he knew when he ran for state senator. But he knew when he ran for U.S. senator, he couldn't support gay marriage. So he said, I believe in marriage between a man and a woman. He never

believed that. So what happens? He runs for president. He says, marriage between a man and a woman. Well, Biden, when he went on Meet the Press, Biden actually came out for gay marriage. Obama didn't approve that. So what happened was that's a perfect example of where the VP got ahead of the president and the president was forced to actually come out.

But guess what? The polling in America had shifted and a majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage. So it wasn't no big deal. But it's rare, it is very rare that a vice president will take a position as opposite of the president and not get in trouble. And that's what people don't have to understand. And so the nuance for her is a lot of the people who are supporting Palestinians and

they want her to support an arms embargo. They want her to call for the ceasefire. Well, here's the deal. Biden is trying to negotiate a ceasefire. Biden ain't calling for arms embargo. She can't say yes to arms embargo because that's opposite the president. He's still the president

of the United States, and he has final say-so. Like I said, I hope... This is quick, by the way, people. This ain't a long conversation. He and I spoke last night. We got it clear. I just wanted to make sure everybody hears what's happening and

understand. I am not a Republican. I was there in Georgia covering Warnock when Jermaine was out there. Portia Williams was out there. Y'all, we got the video. I covered the rallies. And so, out there, and so so again, when he said, well, and he said, the vice president told me, hey, it's this, that, and the other. That's what's going on.

And so even when y'all heard her speech, she's still, she's saying, if I'm president, I'll do these things. But the reality, but the goal of the Republicans, they want to tag her with any failure. So that's why, and look at the talking points, Scott Jennings, Charlie Kirk, J.D. Vance, Trump, Republican Party, they all say the same things. Well, if you do that, then why don't you do it? Why don't you do it? Why don't you do it for the last three and a half years? I've heard a bunch of black people say, well, why she ain't done this? Why she ain't done that?

Because she can't. She's the vice president. And in fact, his was crazy. And people don't understand this. You've seen, to his credit, President Joe Biden has put her out front more than any president I can remember in American history. Let me say that again. I don't think y'all heard what I said. President Biden, in numerous cases, she'll speak, then he'll speak. That rarely happened with obama and biden it didn't happen with trump and pence it didn't happen with clinton and gore bush and cheney reagan and hw bush hw bush and dan quayle it didn't have i mean you can keep back. It just doesn't happen a lot. So a lot of people had, a lot of people, including black people, have had expectations for Vice President Harris that does not go with the job.

And some of y'all said, well, they must have heard. Y'all, I'm trying to tell y'all. Okay, let me just make it real. Jermaine has a company. I got a company. If somebody works for our company, they can't just run out and say, oh, yeah, we're going to sign so-and-so to Roland Martin's Blackstar Network.

We're going to sign so-and-so to Jermaine's company. Jermaine's like, your ass don't talk for the CEO. You are an employee of the CEO. It's the same thing. And if they get out of line and they mess up the business, they out of line. So folks don't understand that. So they got to stop acting like

she can say whatever. You have more freedom to speak as a U.S. Senator or a House member than you do as the vice president because you don't have the pleasure of the president. Because the president could have dropped...

See, people don't understand. The elite Democrats, remain, went to Biden and said, take her off the ticket. She's a drag on the ticket. Find somebody else. The president can... listen to everybody clearly. Joe Biden, President Joe Biden could have said, Kamala, I'm replacing you for the ticket.

And there was nothing that she could say or do because it's his choice. That's crazy. And I want to talk about. So as I'm sitting there watching TV and the Democratic convention ended, they had 10 people that CNN claimed were, what was the name of these people? That was the focus group. Yeah, the focus group. It was seven or eight

undecided people. Yeah, undecided people. So at the end, the last person was a black man. And the black man said, see, I'm still voting for Trump. And the guy said, why? Like, what made you say this?

Right? And he said she spoke well. She sounded intelligent or whatever he tried to say. He said, but she didn't really lay out no policies. And this is the part that I feel like, like I said, they continue to keep harping on this. And this is the part that you told me about yesterday,

is that from the, because I keep hearing people say, but she still hasn't put up policies on the website, right? This is something that I see them keep talking about. And you told me yesterday she can't write up policies as of yet because she's still under the policies of Joe Biden. That's correct, right? I'm saying that, right? Right. So here's the deal.

Here's the deal. And real quick, Vicki Dillard, you're a liar. I wasn't fired by CNN. Nice try because you ain't never been hired by CNN. So here's the whole deal here. I mean, I love people that just lie and they just lie. Is she lying? So here's the whole deal here when it comes to again. So, first of all, CNN screwed up that guy, all he had to do was check his Twitter feed. He was a Trump supporter. He wasn't undecided.

He got mega crap all over his social media feed. So that's a lie. It ain't no different than Fox News interviewing people by saying so-and-so is undecided. And there's a lie. They literally recycle people. So CNN needs to come out and admit that they screwed up by having that guy on. And then he said, well,

you know, she not ready. I'm sorry. Let me be clear. She's been a district attorney, state attorney general, a U.S. senator, and vice.S. senator, and vice president for four years,

but she ain't ready? Donald Trump had never served in public life in his life. Never. But he ready? Oops, wait a minute. J.D. Vance has only been a U.S.

senator for two years. He was elected in 2022. So, he ready? Get the fuck out of here. But see, again, this is a narrative that they're trying to frame to say not ready, but she's absolutely ready. In fact, I'm about to hurt some of y'all's feelings. Vice President Kamala Harris

has more political experience right now than Obama did when he was elected. He was a state senator, he was a U.S. senator for four years, and then he was elected president. So she's been DA, Attorney General, U.S. Senator for four years and then was elected president.

So she's been D.A., Attorney General, U.S. Senator, Vice President. That's a resume. But again, the Republican strategy is to, so what you heard, and again, so what you're saying is, why don't the other commentators hit back? Why don't y'all, like you, like? Why don't y'all like, listen, the position that I had when I was on CNN was I'm putting people in rhetorical body bags. I ain't

letting nothing slide. We hitting everybody every single feed. And in fact, somebody sent me this text and they're right. Remember Mike Pence refused to go along with feed. And in fact, somebody sent me this text and they're right. Remember Mike Pitts refused to go along with Trump in a certification

of the ballots and Trump was going to let him get killed. Trump was going to let him get attacked. So everybody got to understand what's happening here. The political game. The right wants to frame her as being weak, ineffective,

inexperienced, and what you're saying is, you want to see folk on the left, progressives, fighting for her and hitting them back and push them back on their BS. Yeah, because I see someone just comment, they said my comment of me

saying what she told me couldn't hurt her. And I'm like, I'm not. That's a lie. God, every person, listen, people know the vice president is a limited position. I mean, it is. I mean, we all know that. The vice president normally, the joke for decades has been the vice president does two things cut ribbons and go to fields that's literally the joke of the vice president

in fact there are a lot of people politically who never wanted to be vice president because they think it's a horrible job if you're a governor you're like one of 50. You control the state. I know some people say, you know what, I'd rather be governor than be vice president. So it's a thankless job. You really don't control your staff. You really don't control your policies. And you're really, you are working at the behest of whatever the agenda of the president and his advisors decide. So people don't understand, you don't have a lot of room.

You can't do your own thing as vice president. Everything that you as vice president is under the offices of the president. They decide in terms of what you do, where you go. For example, Biden had that fundraising in Los Angeles. It raised $30 million. I know for a fact, Whitehall said, hey, VP, we need you to go to this conference in New York. She literally,

I was in Detroit with her. Bruh, she, I think it was that trip, she came home, landed, changed banks, and went back to the airport and flew to New York for a conference. That decision was made that quick. When the Tennessee Three got expelled, when they got expelled, what happened there? It was a Thursday.

White House was like, yo, when did you go to Tennessee? Next day, she in Tennessee. So you don't really control your movements or where you go. You do it in consultation. But really, the president's staff decides what the VP does. All right. Well, look, I'm in Vegas. I'm going to go party. You know me, it's the middle of the day. I just finished my speech in new orleans the group here so i give it to them both i i wanted i wanted you to come on so we could get

this out of the way of people you know i mean it to stop you know i mean trolling me and try to drag me what you what you said it was uh whatever you said they was doing up to me on my page uh you know i mean uh but i'm saying anybody out there that don't understand this conversation, from this conversation that we just had, I feel sorry for you. You're just a sad individual because it's very apparent to me by CNN or whoever else that planted that black guy that they're trying to make the world believe that black men such as myself, Roland, and any other black man out there

are not with kamala harris and i think that that's what a lot of y'all reacted to me yeah when y'all thought as a black man that that's what i was doing that's not my stance that's not my stance that's not why i'm back and i'm not part of that and and that's why I brought that guy up, because they showed him last deliberately. Right, right. They showed him last deliberately. And I also want people out there to understand, y'all understand, when I saw it, I tweeted, Jermaine, text me, we talked last night. There are other celebrities who hit me up, say,

Ro, give me a breakdown on this here. So people need to understand, there are celebrities like hit me up, say, Ro, give me a breakdown on this here. So people need to understand there are celebrities like Jermaine, Michael Bivens, Johnny Guillo, and others who I've talked to. We communicate. We trade notes. And some other people out there, they just go off like Waka Flocka hit me. It was like, yo, we need to talk. I was like, yo, hit me.

I ain't heard from him. So this is about, again, when I saw people's response, I saw the video, and I knew what he was saying, but I also knew how a couple of things sort of got messed together and why people responded. So that's why I was like, yo, let's talk. So that's what this is all about. And I hope a lot of people got educated who didn't know about the stuff we just talked about. They got a better understanding of what the role is. That's right. All right, my brother, thank you.

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this is what i pan on mustafa larry nola i mean it's been a lot of this it's been I'm just with our panel, Mustafa, Larry, Nola. I mean, it's been a lot of this. It's been, you know, you got folk around here. I saw somebody sent me a video, Don Lemon running around and some of these brothers saying stupid stuff. And what kills me, Mustafa, you got these bros running around. Yeah, I had some dude on some, he was on some, I think it was on Jermaine's page. He was like, yeah, you know, we had more money in our pockets, you know, when Trump was president.

Then I had to say, okay, so who fixed the economy that Bush left us in a recession? Obama, Biden. Who handed Trump a thriving recession? Obama, Biden. Who handed Trump a thriving economy? Obama, Biden. What did Trump, Pence, leave Biden, Harris? An economy that was in the toilet. Unemployment rate, 17%. Then I had to say,

all y'all fools keep talking about stimulus money you got. Trump didn't give you that money. It was democratically controlled Congress that actually approved the money. And again, so you got these people who are advancing lies, who are pushing that nonsense, won't do any real research, and they're just throwing stuff out there, and it's just absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, some people just want to be contrarian, but other folks, you know, everybody knows me. I'm an optimist. I like to see the best in people. And I like to think that for some of these folks, it's just that they're not educated. They really

don't understand the rules of the game, if I could say it that way. So they continue to just, you know, hear things and share them without actually thinking it through and asking the, you know, the real critical questions that are so important. You know, I like facts and facts have shown that when Democrats are the ones that are in office, that the economy continues to thrive. And often, as you just talked about, after they had to fix the mistakes that Republicans had done, that's just the way it is. Look, Bill Clinton said in his speech that since the end of the Cold War,

51 million jobs created in America, 50 million under Democrats, 1 million under Republicans, and people came back and they were like, that's got to be, he said in a speech, I checked three times, when it was over, all these different media outlets said, that can't be true. It's true. 50 million to one. So how in the hell is Trump and Republicans

bearing on the economy? Nonsense. Some of it is perception also. And because, you know, they've had individuals out there, they've had networks that continue to share this, infuse this misinformation and disinformation because they know they don't have any policy to stand on. When you look at the economy, that they can't stand on that either. So they try and reframe

everything. And unfortunately, you know, we live in a society where people don't read. And because they don't read, if they hear something, then they assume that it must be true and then it just continues to build. So we've got to change that dynamic. The other part of it is our educational system. You know, at one time in this country, civics was a part of the curricula in a significant way. And now people have no idea how their local governments work, their county governments, the state governments or the federal governments. So therefore, they have these ideas about, as we just went through

in this previous session, about what the president can and cannot do. So we really need to make sure that we have all the information that's necessary for us to make the best decisions for our community and stop relying on others to share with us their information, because a lot of times that information is tainted. Sometimes it's unintentional, but more times than not, it is intentional. There is real intentionality in planting false information inside of our communities. Yeah. And the thing here, Nola, I've had the encounter of black women and black men, and I've seen folk throw out some absolute BS. When I listen to some of these fools say,

you ain't getting nothing for your vote, that's a lie. First of all, if you sit your ass on your couch at home and you don't vote, you absolutely ain't getting nothing for your vote. But the reality is, when we talk about what do you get for a vote, that also means that after the election, you must stay engaged and then begin to demand change. That's what folks don't seem to understand. That is definitely one part of it. And I think it's not so much that, well, no, I think it's

very accurate that they don't want to understand it because the information is out there. And I think it's not so much that—well, no, I think it's very accurate that they don't want to understand it, because the information is out there. And I think this points to a larger problem. So on the Republican side, you don't have a coalition that's going to hold them accountable for anything. It really is a cult mentality. It really is whatever the dictator, whatever the king says, then that must be true. And then you have a lot of sycophants to go out there and be surrogates and to forcefully, forcefully push these narratives through. And, you know, part of the conversation you would have with Jermaine, which I thought was very kind of you and very diplomatic, the first part of that video, he was parroting—he may not want to admit it or not, but he was parroting a Republican talking point.

And why was he doing that? Because they are very forceful in the way that they say things, in a way that you're like, oh, that's a very good point, and completely distract you from reality, right? So we've had this conversation many times about how Republicans, their forceful and aggressive way of messaging has a way of penetrating through all the noise. And I'll just say one last time, this is something where the content creators, where they cut through that noise.

They absolutely do. You do it, Roland. Recy does it. Clay Kane. Karen Hunter. There are some folks out there who are doing it. But the aggressiveness is what the people are asking for when a when a when a what a democratic surrogate says no this is actually the truth

they they don't they don't want they don't want that person saying that to be sitting there on prim and popular uh uh prim and proper and let should i say demure um they want somebody, like you said, that's going to dig in that behind. They're going to keep that foot on your neck and not relent. That is what the people want. So in terms of people not wanting to understand, you're absolutely right. But the moment they

are entertained, you best believe they are going to sit up and listen. So if that's the game we have to play, guess what? Checkmate. Larry, I've had more people, I've gone at it with more people on social media and you'll sit here and you'll knock down

their lies and they try to throw out more BS. And listen, this is real simple. If you want to vote for Donald Trump, knock yourself out. But the reality is this here. He is a sexual assaulter. He is a liar. He is a narcissist.

He is an insurrectionist. He is the one who's kept stolen documents that were classified. He is somebody that inflated the property, the assets of his property. He is somebody who led a fake university. He is somebody who led a fraudulent foundation. All those things are true. Yeah, that's all accurate. And so, Roland, I'm just going to keep it real as it comes to people putting this misinformation out and VP Harrison, former President Trump. For people I see on social

media who are posting nonsense, I'm coming for that neck. There's no time for games right now. And, you know, so, Roland, the other thing is I want to kind of echo what Nola said about your conversation with Jermaine. And listen, I give you a lot of credit because you certainly educated him, but he deserved to get cooked. And because I think that what's happening is in terms of, once again,

we have a position about misinformation, and particularly as it relates to Black men, what I'm seeing disproportionately is I'm seeing brothers, as Nola said, echoing these talking points that have nothing to do with making sure we continue to make sure that Black people have the political, social, economic resources to be successful. So we have to, and we're going to have to continue to critique individuals who are putting information out there with large platforms. I think this is the really big difference between the past and today. And the people may have posed questions, but when you pose them to 500,000 million, 2 million people, that could make a difference in the election, literally, in a couple of months.

So I implore anyone who is watching this room, I know a lot of people are actors, etc., who are watching this show, if you have questions, like if you're in a hotel, go to the house, Spelman, Clark Atlanta, and speak to a political scientist or history professor or somebody. Don't post things on social media that may not be accurate and may prevent someone from registering to vote or voting if they're registering to vote

because we cannot afford it. But Roland, shout out to you once again for coming together, giving the opportunity to platform to discuss these issues. But we don't have time to be putting any information out there that might be destructive. And here's also what's interesting. Germain also had posted, he had posted that this video here was his most least viewed video. So it also goes to show you about how political content is being suppressed on the platforms,

but it also goes to show you how folk will quickly look at mess, look at gossip, look at entertainment, before they look at factual information. And so, I mean, that's just what we're dealing with, and we just have to understand, you know, what's going on here and recognize it. And so people need to understand why we have to give legitimate, truthful information. And again, if I'm debating somebody, and if you say, I don't care, I'm voting for Trump,

that's fine. But I'm going to give all of the factual, relevant information about how much of a thug he is and how awful he was in the Oval Office. And so you're going to have to deal with it on your own. But I'm still give it to you. Going to break. We'll be back.

Roland Martin unfiltered. The Blackstone Network support the work that we do. Join the Bring the Fuck Fan Club. Senior check and money order. P.O. Box 57196. Washington, D.C. Two zero zero three seven dash zero one nine six.

Cash Shep is Dallas. R.M. Unfiltered. PayPal. R. Martin unfiltered. Venmo is R., RM Unfiltered. PayPal or Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

We'll be right back. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us. White people are losing their damn minds. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting.

I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist

in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. I have a couple. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder.

Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me? All right, folks. Anthony Edwards has been missing from Chicago since August 7th. A 13-year-old is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 115 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Anthony Edwards should call the Chicago Police Department at 312-745-5020. 312-745-5020. The nation's oldest

civil rights organization, Latino Civil Rights Organization, LULAC, is demanding a Department of Justice investigation into raids in Texas targeting Latinos. That's right. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led this particular raid, alleging voter fraud. LULAC is requesting the DOJ investigate Paxton's office for violations of the Voting Rights Act. The organization is accusing Paxton's office of carrying out illegal searches based on voter fraud. The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the letter

from LULAC and the ACLU, but declined to comment further. Last week, Pax's office announced that it was launching undercover operations and an investigation into reports alleging some organizations in Texas are unlawfully registering non-citizens to vote in violation of state and federal laws. Here's what's crazy here, Larry.

This was based upon a false report, a lying report on Fox News by Maria Bartiromo. That's what started this whole deal. It was based upon a lie. And so what you have here, especially with data now showing Vice President Kamala Harris bringing Trump's lead in Texas down, significant Latino support for her as well. This is absolute the targeting of Latino voters trying to scare them. So I want to say the first point I want to make is I hope people realize this isn't happening to healthy democracies. That's the first point. And so secondly, Roland, this is all about the win in November. That's all it comes down to. Thirdly, Roland, you know this is a Texan. Paxton shouldn't even be in office right now. He should have been impeached. He should be,

and really he needs to be in jail for all the laws he's broken. So when you give someone like this a pass, you empower them to continue to break the law. So breaking into some 70 year olds, not having police kick in the door. She's actually 87. Her name is Lydia Martinez, 87. She's been a member of LULAC for more than 35 years. And she and she works to expand voter registration among seniors and veterans in South Texas. Yeah. Having the police show up at someone's house like that, who's in their 80s, who's had a commitment to civil rights, highlights what this is about. This is not about the rights of people. And we know in terms of, you know, Texas trying to prosecute women for making choices about their bodies. This is consistent along that line about when it comes

to actual freedoms and who's deciding who's free to do what. And once again, this is another issue relating to individuals trying to register those in the Latino Latino community. But once again, as I said, this is not a sign for my healthy democracy. And this is why people may need to make the right choices in November for the election for president and U.S. Senate right there in Texas. Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, he released this video because it's happening in his district. I want to be very clear here on what I have to say. Ken Paxton is nothing more than a crook, a liar, a cheat, an indicted felon that was placed on deferred adjudication for fraud.

And what he did in the last week, in the last several weeks, going after Latinos in my district with police officers' guns blaring into grandmothers' houses is beyond the pale. It's beyond that. It is an outright injustice what these Republicans in Texas are doing to perpetuate their fraudulent story that people are voter harvesting. We've seen this age old story over and over again and over and over again. It's proven wrong, but what it does do, it keeps Latinos from voting. Well, I'm telling you here right now, if you're a Latino and you're out there listening, you must wake up and you must vote and you must stop this injustice from happening. And the only way it's going to happen is if we raise our heads and raise our voices and raise our pens

and we fight against these charlatans like Ken Paxton and others that want nothing more than more money and more power. We will fight and we will win. Right there, what you're seeing here, he's absolutely right. Ken Paxton, he should be in jail. He's an absolutely thug. He was died it. I mean, I swear that case went on for

damn near half a half a decade and Republicans they want to impeach him. But folks got bought off like Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick who got a $3 million donation from Paxton's biggest donor as well. He was like, oh, no, that didn't impact my view on this. You're right.

And then Paxton and Republicans targeted the people who voted against him for impeachment and took several of them out. This is the kind of crap you have going on in Texas. The Republicans there, led by Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, are running a corrupt thug political operation. First of all, si se puede, honey. I am with

Roland. You better go, first of all. Second, would a plight say today you're either going to vote for the KKK or AKA? I mean, we have seen these thuggish tactics before. None of this is new. None of these scare tactics are new, which is why my response to all of this is, Roland, I am tired. And the only course of action cannot just be voting. Some things and laws have to change.

The way that rural communities are constantly targeted over and over and over, every single election cycle. How is this OK? That's where I'm at with all of this. I think we will get through 24 just fine. I think that we will. But the tactics that are happening in these states and on the ground, that needs to be a different type of mediation. Something needs to happen where our communities are not constantly under threat. And, you know, while I know that the visualization of the KKK versus the AKA might be offensive to some people, when you think about the long history of nation and violence and the type of tactics that are used to keep people from voting,

there was a certain group in this country that participated in those types of activities. They don't want to be branded that way. Maybe they shouldn't act that way. Well, but what you have here is you have a media entity that is behind this. Here's a read. Go to my iPad. It was Maria Bartiromo who says right here, Fox News' Maria Bartiromo admitted she did no reporting

for spouting lies about illegal voting. Her lies on Fox News launched this action by Ken Paxton, and she is still on the air. Fox News allows this blatant lying to happen. And guess what? There is nothing that happens to these people. They just lie with impunity on Fox News. Yeah, we've known that that's not a real news service for decades now. Again, for me, it goes back to what are you going to do about it? And that means that you got to get engaged. So yes, we got to make sure that we're voting. Yes, we got to make sure that we have a strong Department of Justice. But we also got to make sure that we have a strong Department of Justice, but we also got to make sure that economically that when we have individuals, entities that continue to attack our communities,

that continue to try and destabilize our opportunities to fully participate in the civic process, then we got to hit them in the pockets. And we've got to make sure that we understand what that looks like. And you've got to make sure that you're also, you know, it's not an overnight thing. It's not one day where you. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Sir, we are back. In a big way.

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

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

It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers.

But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Say, we're going to do X.

It has to be a part of a strategy. Yep. When we don't do that, then we leave ourselves continuing to be X. It has to be a part of a strategy. Yep. And when we don't do that, then we leave ourselves continue to be vulnerable. And just understand that this is what Ken Paxton said on Steve Bannon's podcast. If you want to understand how these people are using their power to steal and rig elections, listen to this. It's certainly critical to my state, and that's why we fought off these 12 lawsuits. We had them in Houston. We had them in San Antonio. We had them in Austin.

We had them in the counties where you'd have the most liberal judges. And it was a concerted effort nationally with lots of money going into it. And just knowing that we had 12 lawsuits that we had to win, and if we had lost one of them, like if we lost Harris County, Trump won by 620,000 votes in Texas. Harris County mail-in ballots that they wanted to send out were 2.5 million. Those were all illegal, and we were able to stop every one of them. Had we not done that, we would have been in the very same situation. We would have been on election night.

I was watching election night, and I knew when I saw what was happening in these other states that that would have been Texas. We would have been in the same boat. We would have been one of those battleground states that they were counting votes in Harris County for three days, and Donald Trump would have lost the election. So what he is saying right there is, it's real simple. If people are allowed to vote freely and fairly, Republicans lose. So they can't make an argument.

Their way to winning is to suppress votes. Texas has put a million people on a suspended list. We keep telling people to check your status. Florida, same thing. They need to cheat to win. We're seeing this in Georgia, in Florida. We're seeing this in Arizona. We're seeing this in Georgia, in Florida, we're seeing this in Arizona, we're seeing it in Texas.

They cannot win if people vote freely. This is the game that they always play over and over and over and over and over again. Tomorrow, we're going to start doing something every single day. We're going to be showing

you the early, we're going to first of all be single day. We're going to be showing you the early, first of all, we'll be giving you the voter registration deadlines in every single state. So you have that information with you. Now, the last day to register in Texas is October 7th. October 7th. October 7th. So we're going to be giving you voter registration deadlines,

telling you when early voting starts, all of that important information so you can be fully armed. Let me thank Larry, Nola and Mustafa for being on today's show. Y'all see me rocking my shirt. Vote like your ancestors died for it. Again, y'all, we see what they're doing. They do not want as many of us to vote as possible. And black people, we cannot be sitting on the sidelines. We cannot be sitting on the couch. We cannot be offering excuses and making excuses. No, yeah, I'm not going to vote.

Because you know what? The other person, they're going to vote. And if you're one of those people and you say, oh, you want police reform, understand Donald Trump has said he is going to give cops 100% immunity. That cop, that former cop who shot the Air Force, Air Force senior airman in Florida, still sitting in jail because the judge is like, nah, nah, you're not getting out of here.

He was charged with manslaughter. Again, a cop like that, Trump is like, yeah, you're good. The cop who killed Sonia Massey, yep, you're good. So y'all go ahead and play around if you want to. Play around with civil rights if you want to. Play around with redlining if you want to. But I'm telling y'all, this is real. Product 2025, real.

This is no joke. And I don't care what Waka Flocka got to say. I don't care what M.I.A. or any of what Waka Flocka got to say. I don't care what M.I.A. or any of these other so-called rappers got to say. They don't mean jack. Because you know what? They got money. They ain't going to be impacted.

But when you look at bread and butter issues that impact our community, I'm telling you right now, this election, it's for the whole ballgame. And not just president. U.S. Senate races, congressional house races, gubernatorial races, state representatives, state senators, county commissioners, city council, school board, DAs, district judges, municipal judges. Everybody's on the ballot. And I'm telling you right now, we cannot play games when it comes to voting. And I'm not saying voters to be all to end all, but it is

a part of the process, and you better be engaged. Folks, that is it. I will see y'all tomorrow right here, Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Tomorrow also, second hour, tomorrow's show, we will be live with the Win With Black Men call. So that's happening tomorrow as well. We've got a huge

call tomorrow. It will be our largest since we met about a month ago. And so that's going to be the second hour of tomorrow's show. So be sure to check that out. If you're a brother, go to winwithblackmen.org to register for tomorrow's call. We really want you to do that. Again, folks. Folks support us what we do.

Your contributions are huge. I cannot tell you. I mean we fight the battle every single day for advertising money, political money, all of that. Well, I see these ads running and all these other networks. You don't see him here,

so we're fighting the battle every single day. So your dollars really play a huge part. We wanna be on the road in the battleground states. We wanna go to Florida. We wanna go to Georgia. We wanna go to North Carolina. We wanna go to Michigan, go to Pennsylvania,

but it requires your support. So please again, assist us. Send your checking money over to PO Box 57196, Washington, DC, 2007-0196. Cash, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash, Happers, Dollar Center, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo, RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com.

Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Download the Black Star Network app. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Available at bookstores nationwide, Ben Bella Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Bookshop, Chapters, Books A Million, Target. Download the audio version on Audible. Folks, I will see you tomorrow. Holla!

Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. I love y'all. All momentum we have

now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scary. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs

home. You dig? 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. 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 star-studded 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. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.