The Brilliant Idiots - Sibling Rivalry Podcast: Episode 03

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

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We back, we black, the sibling robbery podcast. This is why he gets on my nerves. It's been a few weeks, Shalameen the God, Angela Rye. I've been up for 27 hours. Why? I don't know. I didn't sleep last night because I was coming from the West Coast. I know you did BeautyCon this weekend, so did I.

I did BeautyCon. I don't know why they keep inviting my ugly ass back to BeautyCon. I have no idea. I do not know. Because you got, you know how to skin bleach, so they want to know how to use that product. Everybody thinks I'd be wearing contour. What's it called? No, you know what?

You got your eyebrows microbladed. No, I did not. wear eyeliner? No. You have mascara. None of this is true. And you wear skin bleaching. This is all Dr. Natasha Sandy. Dermatologist, black woman. And you also wear, um, you do contour. Nope. Yeah, and there's bronzer right here. Nothing. If I did wear it. If I wore it, if I wore it, it'd be finty products, though. Yes, that is a good word. Do you wear finty? Um, I like this, especially the highlights, huh? Really? Yeah. I like, I don't, I don't wear makeup normally, but if I get my makeup done, I do that. Oh, that's a pretty baby. It was pretty. Baby is it.

How pretty baby? What was your event at Beauty Con? I have my shoes off in here. That's fine. I got on slides. What was your event at BeautyCon? Because I saw you with the homie Karen Sill. Yeah.

And Ming Lee. I thought it was such a wonderful event because, our conversation because we talked about two black women in business who really figured it out on their own. Not saying that they haven't had good mentors and folks they worked with along the way. They acknowledged that as well. but really figuring out how to make it with their own blueprint and two women who supported each other along the way as friends and have never stood in each other's way,

never saw it as a competition, always figure out a way to lift each other up, and it was just beautiful. The fact that when they met each other wasn't a love-hate relationship, it was like instant friendship, which was really cool. And so it was a conversation on legacy,

on friendship, on sisterhood, on how dope black women entrepreneurs are since we're the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in this country. And I got to sit with two of them who are doing really great things younger than me, younger than me and killing it. It's amazing. I love when you do stuff like that because people get to see you in another light outside of just screaming at white men on CNN.

You know, I really don't like screaming at white men on CNN or anywhere else. That's taxing. Really? I got to be right. Yes. Yeah. I would rather like talk about happy stuff. Or, I mean, and I don't want to do it to the point where, like, I'm making people feel like there's not real ish going on.

But, like, it drains me. I'm wondering about that, though, because I was talking to, um, Miss. I feel like my chair's on a gangsteline. It might be. That's why it's broke, actually. Thanks. So if it falls, it would be great for, um, viral. For the video for?

But I was talking to Iiana present. I create enough viral moments without falling the hell out of a show. That is very true. Although I almost fell out the chair when I sat down talking to Karen and me. I saw that. Who sent me that? Me? I'm self-deprecating. It's fine.

I like sat down and I was like this. I was like, whoop. I was like, I almost died right here. Do you think that I was talking to Ina Presley, and she was talking about how we can't lose our joy for things. Congresswoman Ayanna Presley, who ran against an incumbent of several years with the strength of the people.

That's right. And is the first black woman, black person ever to represent Massachusetts in Congress. And Boston is racist. Massachusetts as a whole is racist. They think that it's just the South. is not just the South, bro. They say nega.

They say nega in Boston. Can you shut? Look at that niga. That's not real. It's not real. I'm going to hit him with my car. Ka is real, but the rest of what you're talking about is not. It's fake news.

Okay, what were you saying? What did she say? She said we should have joy. We got to remember to have joy. And I agree with that, but. It's really hard to have joy right now. And it's not across the board. Like when you see her and Rashida and Ilhan and Alexandria,

who they call the squad in Congress now, I get joy because I know that they're fearless advocates for us. I don't agree with every single thing that all of them do. Ayanna for the most part, yes. But not, and really Ilhan too. Alexandria got some questions about why she wants to run against some of our black incumbents. But I think, like, the fact that they are fearless and we'll take things on, even when, like, you know, Fox and all these other news outlets try to make fun of them

or de-legitimize what they're saying, and they're still there. gives me a lot of, um, um, I'm encouraged by that. It gives me joy to see that, but like, they're not cowardly. No, but like to know that there were kids who started their first day of school and they were separated from their families, that doesn't give me joy. The fact that I'm having to litigate whether or not Donald Trump is racist or he's implementing a white supremacist. Which shouldn't even be a discussion anymore?

Why are we even discussing that? Like, don't ask me that. That's the, you can tell right now. It makes me mad because I feel like it's a form of gas. It's a patronizing question at this point. But not only that, it's like, there's nothing to question. Like, from before he was in the White House, it was a thing. So why is it not a thing now?

Yeah, I mean, it's actually past racism. It's actually, to me, I just think it's fascism. It's a fascist agenda. Yeah, you've been saying that. I don't disagree. I did hear that white dude's name, but I can't pronounce it. I don't trust him. I don't even remember what I thought.

It was like a checklist on how you know it's fascism. I posted on there and people were like super responsive, like, yeah, it's definitely been this. What's the guy named, Scary Mucci? What? The guy who used to be his man. Oh, they called the mooch. The mooch.

What's his name? Is it Scaraboo? Ain't a scary moochy? It's not scary moochy. Scarry moochia. Scarry mooch, which is some of our family members. Scary moochers. Scary moochers.

He is. But you know what's so crazy is he, to me, we had a panel this morning on CNN. I don't know when this podcast is going to drop. But what's today? Is today, Tuesday? So we did our panel is me, April Ryan, Bacari, Sellers. Andrew Gillum, and we were talking about scary mooture. And the thing that's so crazy to me with you saying that, with all the puns attached,

is it's kind of legitimate. My whole issue with him is, like, people want to applaud and, like, patty cake him for his courage right now. He was in the Trump administration for under two weeks. He's coming out saying the things that we've all been saying since before he was elected, really since he used to say crazy-ish about Barack Obama. I'm trying to cuss for Jesus. and what is so crazy to me is like people want to applaud that.

He's not doing anything courageous. He's not going and challenging them on instead of, you know, arresting or taking and detaining the parents and the laborers at these chicken plants. They're not arresting the owners and the operators of the plants. That's how raids used to work. You're not doing that courageous, bro. I do like the- You're really not doing that courageous. I like the fact that he's trying to get a book deal.

You think so? Yes. What is he doing this for? I don't know if I can stand behind Trump. Everybody's like, who gives a damn who are you? Who are you? Why do you matter? Like, let's see how many followers is he?

I do like the fact that he said that Trump should be replaced at the top of the GOP ticket. That's not going to happen. And I don't even think Scaramucci is that his name? Oh, and he made a point on it. I don't even think he was a Republican before he worked for Trump. When I think people were mad about that at the beginning. I don't know what the fuck he is. He looked like he should have been on happy days.

He has 800. What are you talking about? He has 8151,000 followers. 8151,000? That's a lot. Whatever. He does it. He should have been on happy days. He said when someone is dividing the country with racist rhetoric, he's still not calling him racist, by the way, saying racist rhetoric.

And that's like a thing that some white people do so they don't have to call it racism. And giving people a license to hate, you have to call it out. Congratulations. You called it out several years later. Well, that's the point I was getting that on Anderson Cooper last night. He said something that I thought was interesting. He said that he definitely thinks Trump uses a lot of racist rhetoric, but he said he thinks Trump does it just to rile up a certain base. But he said he doesn't feel like Trump is anything.

thing. He said he thinks Trump looks at people as objects. You literally should listen to the last part of my podcast and unprecedented, unprecedented, because that's what Trump treated, unprecedented argument on impeachment because there is a record of racism that he stood on since before he was elected. I'm talking about early 80s. You know, he likes to share these pictures of him and Reverend Al to undermine Reverend Al or him and Reverend Jackson, undermind Reverend Jackson. And my thing is like, regardless of who's standing with you, that may be heroes to me or people who I count as mentors or people I look up to and respect, I don't care.

You are still a racist big at then. Take out three full pages as for Central Park Five. He got sued by Department of Justice, not once but twice. Had to settle with him. I mean, listen, regardless of what you think you are, your actions show what you are. Yeah. So if he's a racist, he's a racist. But I do agree with Carrie Mooseer.

What? I'm trying to ask you what I was looking at. Why did I pick this up? Because you were looking at how many Twitter follows he's had. No, but I was also going to look up. Oh, what was he before he was? I don't think he was a Republican. I do agree with Scarry Mucci that Donald Trump does not give a fuck about anybody.

I don't think he'd be loving and catering to. I don't think he cared about those white supremacists. I don't think he cared about the nationalists. I don't think he care about brown people. I don't think Donald Trump cares about anything but Donald Trump. He cannot care about anybody and still be a racist bigot. Yeah. That's all I'm saying.

I don't think he cares about anybody either. You can't really be mad at a person whose hands of that little. Because God made his hands little. wrong with you. Think about, look how big my hands are. You know why these hands are so big? Because I am able to have a lot in these hands. I can hold a lot in these hands.

Somebody come get him. Trump can't hold anything in those little hands. So how do you expect him to be a loving, caring person who actually cares about the well-being of others with hands so small? Can you please? Is there a buzzer that I can push? You should bring one. Yeah.

So that when you, somebody needs to come get you. I don't have any proof that he was a Democrat, but I thought. Just the disclaimer of. for this particular podcast, I've been up for how many hours? 27 hours. Yeah, and so maybe I might be wronger than normal. I'm wrong sometimes. Now, um...

We were supposed to start somewhere positive. We don't have to start positive. We did start positive. We can get back to Joy. Where was Joy? Not Joy Ann Reed. Actual joy. Like Black Boy Joy, Joy is black people.

But when did we have that part? Oh, when we were talking about Ayanna. You're right. I'm sorry. She said we got to stay in a joyish perspective, but that's something I earn that. I laugh at you all the time. I earned that laugh. Listen, that's something black people have been doing since the beginning of time. I don't give a fuck. Through the most heinous circumstances, we've always laughed.

We've always saying because you ought to laugh to keep from crying. That's it. But I just, I guess all I'm saying is I, it's getting harder. You and April Ryan looked like y'all was having a good old time today. We were having a fight. When y'all was dancing? Oh, yeah, no, no, not then. You didn't watch the panel. On the panel, we had a little battle about scary moacher and whether or not, like, what he did was good enough.

And she compared him and Nikki Haley to her. And I told her, I'm sorry, like, you're the people champ. They're not. They don't get applause because Nikki Haley tweeted, this is too far. I don't know if I agree with that. Well, I'm sure you don't because you like to fight for fighting sake. No, I'm just saying, like, I can't knock somebody whenever they come around. Like, everybody wakes up at different times.

I'm knocking, bulldozing, kicking. Like, you don't get to come. And then it's not really a true come around. He's not really willing to say he's racist. She's not willing to say, like, she had a comment on his post about Elijah Cummings, on Congressman Cummings who is like, man, not just like a hero to me. Like, when I tell you, like, if there was an embodiment of Christ-likeness on earth, it is Mr. Cummings. Really?

He is such a good human being. And to watch him be verbal. assaulted and harassed in the way that Donald Trump has done and then encourage his imps and followers to do the same. It's been so destructive to watch, especially knowing that, like, you know, Mr. Cummings is, you know, he's had a challenging last year or so. Well, the people who hear you say that, and they'd be like, okay, so why is the whole totality of Baltimore and not reflecting this Christ-like individual? Because, first of all, all of what's going on in Baltimore does not lay at the feet of Congressman Cummings. Like, if we're willing

to put all of that responsibility on Mr. Cummings, then we have to put all that responsibility on the House and all that responsibility on the Senate. I'm not willing to say that every city that has a bad area or areas that are struggling is at the feet of the one black elected official that serves there. What about all the money that's been regulated to the city?

You mean earmarked to the city or a designated to the city? I don't know what you just said. You don't get regulated money to the city. I don't know what you mean. Then the federal government give money to the city of Baltimore? I mean, the federal government can give resources to different areas, but a lot of times there are resources that are designated to specific things. And I think what we really have to look at is why in every urban community is it in a situation where it's dilapidated, piss poor, not up to par until folks get ready to gentrify it. That is a symptom of racism and system.

and systemic oppression, more than it is a black politician or the Democrats as they like to demonize Democrats, not doing their part. There are more poor, dilapidated trash areas in Republican districts all throughout the South. Those same piss-poor white people who think Donald Trump is going to change their life. I don't mean piss-po. I mean like they're piss-poor. Like they're very, very poor. Like they're so poor, but for whatever reason, they believe Donald Trump is going to come save them. No, I agreed.

But my only point is like it's not just up to this one elected official. It is about people working together to create opportunity in these spaces. Even like the stuff you were working on with opportunity zones, if we're not careful, those are going to be gentrification zones. I mean, they're already gentrification zones. So what I'm saying is like... Because white people who have the money to come and then... Do you see what I'm saying? And so what happens is we're mad at the victim for not having the resources, the tools, the capacity, the, you know,

the spiritual know-how, the wherewith-all, to pull themselves up by bootstraps that don't exist because they don't have boots. And the truth to the matter is, it's always the goddamn white man's fault. As much as you may not want to admit it, all of this systemic oppression and marginalization we're talking about. You're not going to do this today.

Because last time you got me completely dragged when I don't disagree with you necessarily. The only thing that I will say, I don't. I think that I will say, like, it's not every single white person. But it is the function of how, America. How we were brought here

stolen from a land and brought here and the intention. So whether we're talking about the institution of slavery or we're talking about the institution of Jim Crow or we're talking about racially restrictive covenants in housing or we're talking

about mass incarceration or the war on drugs or the combination. All of those things come from a system that always wanted to treat us as free labor and not fully human. I get that. And what I don't understand is how the breakdown happens logically in people's minds when it's like, okay, all of that is true until it comes to a black area that has a black elected official?

Come on. I'm also not willing to let every black elected official off the hook. I'm not. Because there are some instances where there are people who finally see it as an opportunity where they made it, and they've never had a six-figure job in their life. Right? And they get bribed or, you know, taking advantage of for a fur coat we've seen in some places or, you know, for some low-level check, you know, and that's not cool either, but that's also a function of systemic oppression. Why would we, why would we be, I can't talk, why would we be so easily bought? Why?

I'm sorry to happen on the continent, too. I agree with you, but why are people so easily distracted? I know, and I know it's been a while since that Elijah Cummings, Donald Trump thing happened, but. Has it been in a long? It's not two weeks, right? This shit goes by so fast. But he's doing something crazy every day.

he's smart. No, he's crazy. He's smart and he knows how to manipulate the media. Now, Elijah Cummings was calling him out about the kids and the cages at the border. But that's not all he was doing. You know that he has, the oversight and government reform committee oversees the entire federal government. So they have subpoena power into every federal agency. And once the, the Mueller report was over, it really turned to the House of Representatives like, okay, now you can really focus on what the Mueller report says and go forward to your investigation on tax returns, on this, on that. And I think he really got scared. So the kids was one thing.

But I think he was like, all right. But that's our fault, though. Like you've got to learn to stay on message. If that is what Elijah. No, he did not. Everybody pivoted immediately from the kids in the cages and everything else to, oh, look what you said about Baltimore. Go look at Mr. Comics press releases from the committee. The committee's not distracted.

But this is the problem. What? You got to keep the court of public opinion on message because motherfucking. because it's so simple. And that's what Donald Trump does so well. He's always able to move the goalpost. The main reason that they can't impeach Donald Trump is because the court of public opinion

hasn't raised hell about it. That's what they wanted mother to go up there and do that whole song and dance for. Well, he didn't do us any real favors. We're not doing ourselves any real favors. But I think that the issue is when you are a people who your economic power isn't intact, your political power isn't intact,

your spiritual power and emotional power isn't even intact. The first one is, line is respect. And so when you're talking about what he said about Mr. Cummings or what he said about Congresswoman Waters or what he said about Andrew when he was running, you're talking about communities where people came out of those spaces and all you have is your family, your self-respecting that love, you're going to go for it. We never get in that from these white people. No, I'm saying like they're going to protect that. It's like at least you're not going going to take this for me. But they don't respect you anyway. I understand that. Is this

I'm not going to be like, you're not going to come at me, though, and I'm not going to say anything to you. Yeah, you can say, yo, suck my dick. Baltimore is fucked up. You know what I'm saying? And all of Baltimore is not. Like, Morgan State University is in Baltimore. Well, some parts of Baltimore. But I would have said that you, you're the president.

Help. Central Federal Aid. Yeah, but people said that. Mr. Cummings said that. That's right. And after you say that, you go back to what your main message was. And I'm saying check his press releases. That's exactly what was doing.

Then they sent somebody in his house. Then they sent somebody in his house to break into it. Was it the same person who killed Jeffrey Epstein? I don't know, maybe. They might have been peasants. You can't convince me, but that's not funny. I think... You take that with a setup?

What? Let me show you his wife's Facebook page. This man, the man that broke into... It was convenient. No, the man that broke into Mr. Cummings' house parked his bike inside the foyer of the house. What you mean? I'm about to show you these pictures.

Was it a black person maybe they did he? I can't see his face. And it has some symbol on the hat that's weird. It's not like a sports. teams had. I wondered about that. I wonder whether the coincidence or did somebody send them. And you know we're conspiracy theorists, but we don't be just conspiracy theories for no reason.

We'd be conspiracy theorists with facts supporting it. I mean, it's because actual conspiracies have happened to us in our lives. But that's what I'm telling you. Like, this wasn't a game. This dude is scared of Mr. Cummings. He's scared of Congresswoman Waters. He's scared of the Judiciary Committee and Jerry Nadler. He's scared of these folks.

This is not what we were supposed to be talking about. Boy, you ain't no good after 27 hours. You can't even pull up a Facebook page. I wasn't locked in the Facebook because I'm still mad about the Russia stuff. What Russia stuff? You don't know how they let them buy all these ads targeting black people and so on racial discourse? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you seen the Great Hack?

Here it go right here. Look at this. What, the Great Hack? No, here goes the hat. No, I want to see that. We were talking about, look at this. That's the dude's hat. Look at that.

How do you break in? He's just walking in. He's walking and look how he got his bike right here. Chilling. Okay. Popping a white. really like meat mill? Look how carefully he is with his bike.

What did he take? Nothing. Mr. Cummings started screaming when he saw the man on the camera now. Oh, Mr. Cummings was there. Mr. Cummings and his wife were there. Why the hell he started screaming for? Grab a gun. Because he doesn't shoot.

He ain't going to shoot nobody. The wife supposed to start screaming. What is this symbol on his hat, though? It's like an upside-down horseshoe. What is that? So what did he do? He just broke in. I can't even tell what color he is.

Exactly. I'm going to be honest with you. Russian. I'm going to be honest with you. Russian. Might be the same people who attack Jesse Smolette. I'm not doing this. I'm going to be doing.

This I'm not doing. Listen. Apologize. I apologize for the people that attack Jesse Smolett. Got accused for a beautiful Nigerian. This is not fake. They have this on camera and this is not fake. No, I don't think it's fake on Elijah Cummings part.

This dude's leg looks black. Did they catch him? No, they saw him and found him. Really? This is what I'm trying to tell you. He's easy to blend in in Baltimore on a bike, though. No. He's a black dude.

He's black? Yeah. I wonder how he got in the house. Did he pick the lock? I'm not sure. I don't know all those. That's just weird to me. But there's a whole description on my sense.

The moral of the story is let's not, and I get, I'm sad that that happened to Mr. Cummings. It's not cool, man. Like, this is dangerous. But we got to stay focused on the message. What was Mr. Cummings' original message and what made Donald Trump pivot? What was the original message from Mr. Cummings? It was about the children, child separations and how this is not normal. Boom.

We have to stay focused on that. Again, like I can take you to the oversight and government reform page. They've not deterred from that, man. Here's the thing. I agree with you 100%. But the average person, the average American, does not read that kind of shit. But that's not Mr. Cummings' fault. It's not.

But Mr. Cummings and everybody else in those positions have to learn how to communicate and send out messaging better. He does. Look on his page. News, the last press release that went out here was on August 9th, and it was a joint press release from Chairman Cummings, Thompson. and Raskin, request information on immigration enforcement actions in Mississippi. This is on August 9th. You know the language of politics is dead? But the bottom line is, like, this is just to show you they wrote a letter,

requesting information on the rates. What's the point in the letter if it's not going to be received by the people? You know why you are such a good communicator? It was received by the people. Did you know that this was a Coke Foods plant? A Coke Food plant. Coke Brothers Foods. What was the Coke Brothers?

What are you talking about? Is this the Coke Brothers? What are you talking about? Did you know the raids happen at a Coke Foods place? No, I didn't. What are you talking about? What raids are you talking about? The ice raids in Mississippi.

Oh, that was a food plant they raided. A chicken plant. Oh, wow, wow. I'm about to look up. Because if that's why, I told you that back in the day when they did these raids, it was the owners that got. Arrested. Popped.

Oh, it's not affiliated with Coke Brothers. How convenient. But anyway, the owners weren't targeted. It was the workers. That's what's wrong with this. So what was there? Ice raids used to mean that the owners got fined. Oh, I thought ICE was all about rounding up illegal immigrants.

That is how this president has made their work. It has happened before, but it used to be focused on people who were at least engaged in criminal activity. Now they're just targeting, like, whatever we can do to separate kids from their parents to make life miserable for immigrants. We're going to do that. Now they're targeting people who have legal status, but they have used. food stamps or they use WIC. And now it's like, oh, because you've done this, we're not going to give you permanent status.

I think they're just trying to make it hard for them to come into this country, period. I shouldn't say I hate anybody. They don't want them to feel like this is the American dream anymore. I hate they do that. It's not, when has this ever been the American dream? Well, I'm saying, think about some of these people who come from these countries. They're running from things, right? So they think this is the American dream.

Donald Trump is trying to make it to where it's their American nightmare. So they're like, you know what? I'm just going to stay where I'm at. Because at least if I stay where I'm at, I won't be separated from my family. I really think that's what's going on. That is what's going on. But the other thing that's bad about it is he has a preference for rich people coming here. So he's good with rich immigrants coming here.

And that's why America is going to look like back to the future too. When Biff had the sports almanac and Biff area of time was beautiful and everything else was fucked up. That's how America's going to look very, very, very soon. In the next six to seven years. You know, I would ridicule you in the past for these analogies, but I think you're probably right. If we allow this to continue to happen. And that's the other thing. Like, what do you think we have to do to get people

and understand what their real power is? We don't have to push this. We have to push the house. And we have to push. My hair is crunchy like Christmas trees. Did you hear that? Can you hear that? I hear it.

That track dry is shit. I don't have a track in here. This is not a track. Well, stop trying to make fake baby hairs by using all that gel. There's no baby hair. You was trying. No, I didn't even sleep. this down.

Johnny did. Why you used so much jail? Because it needed to stay in place for my point out for beauty con. And then I haven't changed it yet. I'm Sunday. It's only Tuesday. I lost my, what the fuck was I bought to say?

I know, sorry. This is really bad. It was something about jail. You were not saying something about jail. It wasn't about jail. What the fuck was my point? Let's just move on. Maybe we need the devotion.

Maybe it'll come back. What's the divorce? No, let's, I want to know. What's the last thing that was super good that you like? Oh. I know what you said. What did I say? You said, what do we have to do?

Oh, yeah. That was a good question, too. To get people engaged in. Yeah, so that they know their real power. Like, they know that we can change this. We don't have to accept this. Number one, first of all, Democrats have to realize that the language of politics is dead. Why does it even have to be a Democrat thing?

Because Republicans have figured it out. Donald Trump is talking right to these people in a nice, simple way, and people are buying into it. It's not nice. It's just simple. It's simple. Democrats have to learn how to talk simple, and Democrats have to start with people. They're not being honest. about our motherfucking democracy, right?

Because democracy, as I see it, is dead until they figure out what the fuck is going on with this Russian interference. You said who? Did you ever think it was alive? Not really for marginalized people, not really for black people, not really for women, not really for Spanish people. But I'm talking about that's why America needs to be afraid because you got these white people who has always worked for, it's going to be bad for them in 2020. Like I go out and I vote for some liberal. and, you know, that vote doesn't count or that vote gets suppressed

or as the head of the Senate Intel Committee who stepped down. I can't remember his name. Was it Dan Coach? Not Dan Coach. No, not the Intel Committee. The Intel, um, the Intel, um, the intelligence committee.

No, it's not the committee. You're talking about the CIA. No, the, um, sorry. Send an Intel. Boom, there you go. Directed their national intelligence. He stepped down. He said that Russians have the ability

to change votes. It's like, why? We know that happened. But why aren't people? making more noise about that. Why are you lying? The people are telling them, go vote in 2020,

but you know our elections are compromised. I just want to make sure people understand. It's the director of national intelligence that is very different from the House or the Senate intel committees. Okay, Director of National Intelligence. Yes. But why are we making this more of a big deal?

Why are we letting me... When you say, we, who are you saying? The Democrats, people in positions of power. Like, they're saying... Well, can I say this? Here's one thing that I think is kind of not fair to them. There was a bill that...

It was the first bill introduced when Congress came back and Democrats took over. It was HR 1. It was the I think it's for the People Act. The For the People Act. I'm just double checking. The For the People. For the People Act of 2019, HR1 is an election security bill. The Democrats passed this bill in March, 234 to 193 votes.

The Senate has yet to take the election. that bill up along with any other election security measure. The person standing away of considering those bills. Mitch McConnell. Yes. They call in Moscow Mitch now. As they should, because after Robert Mueller said. But when you say we're not making a big enough deal, I don't think that's fair.

And I'll tell you whether or not, I agree with you that they're not being super courageous or telling it exactly like it is. But they have definitely introduced bills and have at least passed some bills on the House side, then Mitch McConnell could easily take up. But if Robert Mueller says that there's Russian interference in the- Director of National Intelligence says there's Russian interference. And then Mitch McConnell jumps out there and blocks an electric security bill after getting all this information. Is that not a red flag?

The point that I think is important is that I don't like that this is not being talked about as honestly as it should. That's all I'm saying. We had two days of Democratic debate and nobody said anything except for Cory Booker. Here's the thing. I don't understand how right now when I'm agreeing with you, it still sounds like a fight. I don't know. It makes for good content. It does.

You don't have people just think it sounds like a fight. When it just sounds like two people going ahead. I'm going to pray for you. I don't have the energy today. 28 hours. But don't you think it's crazy that you had two days of Democratic debates and only one candidate bought it up? Cory Book is the only person who even remotely talked about Russian interference.

That's sad. And it bothered me when you brought it up. And I think that I think the question becomes, what are the ways that we can talk about this that are responsible, but still honest? And to me, it is, as a black woman who believes in voting has built my career on politics, I understand when black folks say, this has never been a democracy to us. I also understand how the shit could get way worse. Yes.

Like, it may not have ever been a democracy to us as we would have liked it to be, but it could be closer to an authoritarian regime than we've ever seen. Yes, and yes, your buzzword for the day and for the month. That should be the buzzword for the whole administration. Like, we shouldn't be talking about anything else. This is, this is pure, this is fascism at its finest. But I think at the end of the day, like, I don't want to just identify the problem. I want to move towards a solution. The solution is they pass some type of election security bill.

Who's going to make Mitch McConnell do that? And especially if people feel like they're so apathetic, their votes don't matter, their voices don't matter. He's not going to listen anyway. These people. What has to do? What has to happen? These people. they move when they see the general public moving.

I promise you if you can raise enough hell on social media, if, you know, Ms. Presley, Congressman Presley was going to give out Mitch McConnell's number today. She didn't have it on her. Oh, she just has, just call the switchboard. It's 202-224-3-1-21. Raise holy hell from the American people. But here's my question. And this is where, this is my conundrum.

I'm being dead-ass serious. There's only so much fight I have in me. And to me, right now, I don't know whether my emphasis and my energy should be placed on fighting Russia and this faux democracy that we currently have. Or should it be fighting for our folks and moving us to positions of power and then we'll get to that? I feel like both are like so imminent and so urgent. And I just feel like I don't have the bandwidth to fight both. So if you allow this guy to just steal another election in 2020. And I don't want to do that either.

They stole Andrews and Stacey's elections. Will never. Black people will never. That's not just black people. You're right, but you just named two great examples of two people who their positions of power were stolen. Like, Leonard, I'm telling you, I am confident. There's nothing you can tell me that Andrew Gillum and that Stacey Abrams did not win their races. There's nothing you can tell me.

And guess what happened to them? I'm confident. Not only did they get the election. Russia interfered, there's proof of it. Not only did that happen. At least in Florida, I don't know that I had. Let me see if there's... Not only did that happen.

Their campaign started getting investigated. No, I know. By design. Exactly. So what do you think that Donald Trump is going to do? Donald Trump is already trying to set the stage to go after all his political enemies. He saw the guy retweet a conspiracy theory about Bill Clinton getting the Epstein guy killed. Like, no, but he's doing it on purpose.

And he's going to have one. and Barr and all of those guys in the DOJ investigating all his political enemies. And then he's going to start getting his political enemies arrested. You know why? Because he got more courage and more balls than anybody on the left. Because that's what the left should be doing to his ass. I just don't understand. Now we're talking about balls.

I just, I'm not following. I'm not following. I'm not following. Let's talk about something, Joyce. Wait a minute. I just want to look up. Yeah, our monitoring Interim midterm

You go better over larger Yeah, well it says there's fear of it I know for sure that Are you listening? I'm definitely listening I know for sure Florida and I don't see anything They say they suspect Yeah, but for sure they found it in Florida

Oh no no no Feds Russians targeted election websites in Florida, Georgia and Seattle. Iowa. Iowa. No, this says 2016. But if they did it in 2016,

they did it in 2018, too, I promise you they found it in 2018 in Florida. Listen, either way, we know that votes were suppressed in some way or shit before. What was the guy, Brian Kemp in Georgia,

didn't he? Wasn't he over the fucking? Yes, he didn't, he purged hundreds of thousands of voters and there were 53,000, 50-something thousand up to election day that hadn't been told one way or the other.

So my point is, why do we keep telling our people to run out there and go vote when we know the fight is fixed. Let's tell them that the fight is fixed so they don't get discouraged. People have to know that in 2016 they went out and they voted for Hillary Clinton.

She had 4 million more to popular vote and there was Russian interference. Nine times out of ten, she probably won, but the election was stolen from her. We need to know that so we don't get discouraged. Okay, but I think like, here's the thing. Like, to me, was more discouraging than

you knowing that, like, black folks should be the main ones that understand this. The game has always been stacked against us. Yeah, but this is different. No, no, no. This is kind of not different. I'm saying that if you know the game has always been stacked against us and we've always

our ancestors, our direct, you know, the folks who were direct descendants of our grandparents, you know, great aunts and uncles and all of them, parents, they've always figured out a way. We owe it to them to figure out. We owe it to the future to figure out a way. Listen, I agree with you. We shouldn't just be like, oh, well, it's fixed. So I just am going to sit at home. I think we need to.

Dummy? That's not smart. I think we all need to mobilize. But they have people, the powers that be have to make the general public aware of what we're up against. But I think they're not going to do that. And so this is my question going back to it from a second ago. If we know that the elected officials, right, and just understand, if they fear that telling the truth to voters means voter apathy, that it directly impacts their jobs.

voters don't turn out, they don't necessarily win their elections. I get that. They have a conflict of interest in telling the absolute truth. So that means that people who are advocates and activists and otherwise informed need to share that information and say, we're not telling you this to sit at home, we're telling you this so you know what we're up against, and why you need to call Mitch McConnell, why those bills need to pass the Senate, why these bills need to be passed on the state and local level, right? To me, it's the exact opposite, but I understand why elected officials would feel conflicted

about it. I'm not saying it's right, but I get their perspective. Silence has never worked, though. No, it's terrible. It's just, it's almost as, um, as bad as being the predator or the oppressor yourself. Yes. Because it, I think silence is exactly that. It's dangerous.

And I think that, um, you know, they keep saying how black people, like, we're going to be the deciding factor. Yeah. In the election in 2020. And you even see how Donald Trump right now is targeting, you know, you know, you know, certain black media outlets. You know, I think I read an article in the New York Times when a guy was seeing he saw a Donald Trump ad on a breakfast club interview, you know, right?

And if that is what he's doing, because I think I read in the time that he said he wants to target black men between the ages of 18 and 35 or something like that, and they're going to be using the fact that, hey, you know, the First Step Act and lowest unemployment rate amongst black people, if we know that he's targeting us in that way, what happens whenever black people have that type of collective power?

Yeah. They find a way to destroy it. Whether it's Black Wall Street, whatever the fuck, whenever we unify in this group operation, they find a way to destroy it. That's why I think they're going so hard in 2020 to suppress our motherfucking votes. Yeah, well, it didn't start with 2020.

It started. As soon as they realized Barack Obama could win, right after that 2008 election, there were immediate steps being taken for voter ID, cutting back on early voting days, getting rid of absentee bailing in a lot of states. There were over 114 bills by the time we got to the other side of 2010,

which is the same time that the Tea Party was percolating. And I remember at the time saying... One time for the percolator. You know what? One time for the percolator. I can't stand you in time. Tea party was percolating. Around the time it started bubbling up.

The people were like, you know, oh, it's not racism. This is about fiscal conservatism, you know, and all that. And they wanted to ensure that they had health care that made sense. That was always a racist thing. Yeah. Right? Like, I remember walking.

walking my boss at the time up to steps to vote for the Health Care Act. Who was that, Ms. Maxine? No, actually it was before them, but I, was that before I was working there? What here was it? You don't know where you at right now. You've been up for 27 hours. I think it was 2010. It was 2010.

But I remember, I wasn't working for all the members yet, but I was working for, yeah, I was working for Congressman Thompson on the Homeland Security Committee. But anyway, there were other members. and at the time, like, walking with them, hearing about a white man spitting on Congressman Cleaver, who became my boss later. They were walking up the Capitol steps to go vote for the Health Care Act, and a white man spit on him and caught him in word. Yes, they were going to vote for Obamacare. Jesse Jackson, Jr., I think Andre Carson was there, John Lewis was there, and Congressman Thompson. That's why you got to fuck people up.

No, no, no, no, you're missing the point. The point is that Tea Party was all about racism. Voter ID bills and voter suppression measures were always about racism. The Supreme Court decision in 2013 to gut the Voting Rights Act was always about racism. It was always about suppressing the votes. One too many white Republicans have slipped up and said it. Yeah. You know?

Somebody from the Tea Party would have spit on me. We'd have knocked their fucking ass out and spilled that tea all over the House steps. They don't have any tea, Leonard. There was no tea. When we're going to start a Cognac party? Okay, so now let's talk about therapy because we need therapy. We all need therapy today. I love therapy.

What's the last good thing you learned about in therapy? Last time I was in therapy, I was crying my ass off. What happened? The reason I was crying my ass off is because it dawned on me that my father never taught me anything that I can use now. He taught you about an importance to being black. Yeah, he definitely did, but I'm just talking about, I guess, I guess, I don't say being a man, because I don't really know what the definition of being a man is. But I'm talking about, like, the little things, like learning how to change the tire or, you know.

My dad never told me how to change a tire. You're a woman, though. But I don't know if my dad, well, the one time I watched my dad change, or try to change a tire, he was throwing the tire all in the bushes. I remember being about five or six. He's throwing the tire all in the bushes. We got a flat tire on a road trip. And I remember asking my mom, mommy, why is daddy playing ball with that tire?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I didn't know what he was, he was frustrated, but I didn't know what he was doing. I thought he was having fun and I wouldn't invite it to the party. My daddy would chastise me for things that he never taught me about. So you got to think my dad spent a lot of time when I was growing up. He spent a lot of time in rehab, you know. He was dealing with his own mental health issues. You know, he told me last November that he tried to kill himself like 30 years ago,

but he didn't because of me and my older sister we were the only kids he had at the time. You know, he was on 10 to 12 different medications throughout his life. He was going to therapy two and three times a week. So he was dealing with his own mental health issues. Plus he was dealing with drugs and alcohol. So I remember going to visit him in rehabbing stuff

when I was younger. But I'm talking about this. I got older and the streets kind of raised me, right? And I was out there selling crack and wild and stuff. Like it was just little things I didn't know how to do. Like I could think about like one time when I was selling crack, my dude, God bless the dead.

His name is Greg. his father, God blessed the day, had called the house and was like, yo, you know, there's a lot of sales coming over here right now. You need to come through. Can we come over there? And I'm like, yeah. And I remember my daddy getting so mad at me saying,

if you don't know how to handle business better than that, get the fuck out of my house, right? And I'm like, well, at the least, right? At the very least, you could have told me out of cell drugs. Yeah, my dad sold a little, yeah, he sold drugs. Like, they actually raided my,

they didn't raid my mother's house. They came to my mother's house and knocked on the door, and my mother signed a warrant for them to search the house because they had this whole, they thought my dad was some type of kingpin, and they stopped him leaving a section

of the corner called Kiffield where a lot of my family lives, and he had less than a grandma coke in his hat. And then they came to my mom house and searched my mom house, and they found less than a grandma. It was residue on a bag in my trash can, so they took me to jail and had me and my dad in jail for like a weekend for less than a gram of cocaine.

So, yeah, he did his thing. But my point is, I'm in therapy and I'm crying. I just started bawling. I'm like, I don't feel like he ever taught me anything worthwhile. Don't get me wrong, it's lessons that I learned from him.

Like, he was the same man that handed me a message to the black man by Elijah Muhammad. He handed me all the biography of Malcolm X. He, you know, but I mean, I didn't really learn anything directly from him. It's not like how I am with my children. But me and my oldest daughter are riding around and I'm explaining things to her

and we're actually talking, and I'm, you know, talking to her about communicating with people, and I'm telling her books I want her to read, and, you know, books she's reading now, like, it's different. Like, we in Africa together, we in Nelson Mandela's Apartite Museum. Like, it's different. I'm actively always instilling things in my children. I don't think that he did that for me. Do you think that he did the best he could? I think he did the best he could.

And, by the way, that is another thing I realized over the past couple of years of me going to therapy. And then him being open with me about his mental health struggles. And just me realizing like, man, this dude is battling drugs. He's battling alcohol, you know, mental health issues. Like, he did the best he absolutely positively could. So given that, that doesn't mean you don't have the right to be sad about your experience. Can you release him and be able to build? Like, I'm not saying release, like let him go, but like not harbor any resentment and not be,

unforgiving towards him, not be bitter about what he didn't know? It comes and goes. I'm being honest. How do you work on staying out of resentment and bitterness? Like, what is the practice? I don't know, because I don't, I try not to think about it. I suppress it, but then it comes out in therapy. And when I talk to him, I love him, but it's mostly just business.

But then I start thinking about the future and I start thinking about what, Dan, what about when he's not here, how will I feel? You know, but then I have resentment over weird and I have resentment when we're on vacation and it's like my mom is with me because my mom made my mom get a passport. And I'm like, it'd be so dope of her and my dad were still together.

And I could, you know, show both for them the kind of love that I show my mom. You know what I'm saying? So I can't help but think about that type of stuff. Which is one of the reasons that, you know, I am a big proponent of black men not cheating. Like, not only because my wife don't play and she'll kill me, but also because I see how that fucks up the family dynamic.

And we always point the fingers that, you know, systemic oppression and marginalization and that, all of that is true too. All that played a part in breaking up the black family. And why the black woman be the head of the household in many instances. Yes, but we, we, I don't want to be a part of that. Yeah. I don't want to contribute to that. You want to break the cycle.

I want to break the cycle. fuck that dysfunction of black family. Like I think when I see a black family is dope. When I see a black husband, black wife, their black kids, that's strong.

And I think we need that. You know, so I, like, that's, when I, what I saw what my father did to my mom and how that messed up our family,

at least I think it did. I just don't want to, I don't want any parts of that. So all of that does is make me fucking sad when I'm in therapy. So. I hope you keep working on this.

So if you ask me with the last, thing I learned, I learned that that is the root. My father is the root of 95% of all my bullshit. That's hard. He is, though, because you got to think about the things he did teach me. The things he did teach me is just a bunch of shit I'm trying to unlearn. You know what I'm saying?

How do you think he would serve me? If he heard this. I don't know. I mean, me and my father have had come on my father had said things to me like, yo, you know, you having one woman is dope. He said things like that to me, but now I remember when I confronts you about cheating on my mom, you look at me in the eye and you told me, you only got one woman? That's like, you only got one woman?

When you get older, you understand? But I wonder if, let me just, let me put it to you this way. As your sister, you have grown so much in the last year. You have grown so much more in the last two years. when you consider the trajectory of your growth over the last few years, why would you not allow your dad the same bandwidth and grace to grow himself? Because he got to do the work. But maybe he's growing.

It may not be at your pace. But for him to say one thing to you about cheating back in the day and now acknowledge something completely different, that is growth. And that doesn't mean that what he said wasn't damaging, but can you release the thing from before? and honor where he is now. That's for your own good. No, I agree with you.

I listen, I love my father. I think my father, I think he's a great man. I just don't think he was a great father. He definitely wasn't a great husband to my mother, you know. But I love him as a human being. And it's just like when I see him, I see so much of me in him that it's actually frightening. Yeah. Because I'm like, I could go either way, right?

So I just want him to, I want all men to do the work. Like, you got to do the work. Like, you got to do the work to be a better human being, period. But it sounds, I think that the thing that I'm trying to push back on you on is the fact that it sounds like he has done some work. He is. The fact that he even told you that he battled with depression. True. Right?

That means that he had to come to terms at some point with some of his stuff. Well, I had a cousin who killed himself. It was always on Thanksgiving Day. He was, I didn't know him, so I'm not even going to sit here like I knew him because he was young. He was 26 years old. but he used to work with my father all the time. Like my father would give him my odd jobs to do, take him to work, stuff like that.

And that was the fourth time he tried to kill himself. He shot himself in the stomach once. He took some pills once. He cut his wrist once. And he shot himself in the mouth on things given day and killed himself. And between that and my last book, which was Shook One was all about anxiety

and depression and stuff like that. That's what made my father have that conversation with me. But that is a form of growth. And I think that I'm just saying, like the thing that I don't want, want you to rob yourself of is the places of gratitude you have for your dad so that you can appreciate growth. It may not be at your pace. It may not be the type of growth you want to see. You may resent him still for some of the things that you're having to unlearn, but I dare you

to shed some of the resentment so that you can really release that stuff because what it sounds like, the one thing I'll have been learning in therapies about mirrors and how people are in our lives to mirror behavior for us so we can get rid of it. And sometimes it's an inverted mirror. And an inverted mirror is, it's a perversion of who you are, not perverted in like, you know, the best of the kid's way, but it's just, it's an off version of yourself. And so they're there to highlight certain inadequacies in ourselves or certain weaknesses in ourselves.

And so your dad is probably manifesting some aspect of that and it's triggering for you. but the reason why it's triggering for you is because there's something in you still that is activating, that it's registering with that you have to shit. That's not his responsibility. That's your responsibility. No, you're right. I mean, but honestly, that's just being a young,

well, I'm not young no more, but that's just being a black man in hip-hop culture. But I've been telling you that I think you should write him a letter. A long time. I would love to write him a letter, but man. But man, what? niggas don't read That's not true

You think he wouldn't read your letter? I don't know You think he didn't read your book He didn't read the book Come on man He would read your letter You're right And I bet you there's something

Deep down for him That wants to get that relationship Right I'm from when you said that to me This is how I know When you talk about Still fighting things Like going to say

I said some whole shit I didn't write him no letter Why? That's what I'm not That's what my mind said Why? I don't know Well, let's talk.

Okay, stop screaming. It's triggering for you. Why? Because what I was said earlier, that goes back to being like a black man in hip hop. Like, I was raised in a certain era. I was raised in the 80s. Because Tupac said, Dear Mama and not Dear Papa. Yeah, that too.

I mean, you had Shaq who did songs like, you know, biological, didn't bother talking about his father and stuff like that. But as easy as it is for me to be vulnerable now, it's still just as hard for me to be vulnerable. Well, let me put it to you this way. The very behavior you want your daughters to exhibit is the behavior that you have to demonstrate yourself. But it's easier for women to do that. That's not, that's ridiculous. I really believe that.

It's ridiculous. You don't think women are more loving? You don't think women are more nurturing? You don't think women are more caring? No, I think that what you're talking about is an overgeneralization. I think generally that can be the case. But I think that I'm in a lot of ways more guarded than a lot. lot of my female friends. And I've had to do a lot of work to shed that. A lot of it just came

from trauma and triggered. And so I put a guard up so I wouldn't be hurt because I'm super sensitive. But I know a lot of sensitive boys and men, but they were told that wasn't okay. You're sensitive. I am. The reason why you're sobbing in therapy about your dad is because deep down is hurt. You're not mad at him. You're hurt. And so it's just like, okay, the way to resolve this hurt so it does not pass on to your daughters is to do. deal with it. And I'm, the reason why I recommended the letters, because I told you, I wrote my dad a letter because that conversation is still your dad.

You don't want to... You have a fear. And you don't want to, I didn't want to forget stuff. So I wanted to read him everything. So I wrote the letter and then I read it out loud so we could talk through it. Right. And so that doesn't have to be your method, but what I'm saying is I know you well enough, like the reason

why we started this podcast so we can let people into some of our phone conversations, this comes up enough on our phone conversations for me to say this is a block for you and you do not know what it's keeping you from you know like it could it could be a whole another a whole different world out here a whole different way where you could be shutting down violence and communities between black boys if they could realize that having this pain and talking through it and working through it is okay you're absolutely right and your fathers are important and I think that you know they made us they made us believe

that black fathers were so not necessary to the point where you we started to buy into that a little bit. Like you can think about how many men were just forced to be men on their own because their fathers weren't around. How many women didn't have that love from their father? So they had to get it from other guys. So it's just like, yo, when you become a father, it's just like the first thing you want to do

is be a better father than your father was. Especially you, like, you want to be the best at everything you touch. So that's not a surprise to me that you want to be the best dad. I would just implore you to also be the best son, not just to your mom but to your dad too, even if you feel like he doesn't deserve it. Because if you can extend yourself in that way, you being able to be vulnerable in this regard

will only free you up. I will also say, and I don't know if this is true, but this is what's on my heart. You don't have biological sons. That doesn't mean you don't have any in the community. There are young boys every day who listen to you on Breakfast Club,

who are using that, the words that you share as fatherly advice. What if you're, you broke through this other barrier with your dad and you could go into communities and train them up in other ways. To be better men, to be better fathers, to be better brothers and sons.

That might be your call. That might be why you don't have no boys because you got a whole hundreds of them, you know, out here that are looking for that guidance. I can see that. I mean, that's why when my father told me about the mental health issues he was dealing with, it helped me know that I was on the right path

because he was honest with me about that. And I get that all the time. I get these brothers that run up on me and be like, yo, man, I thought it took you to be that vulnerable first. See what I'm saying? Like, just because you're the son doesn't mean that you're not the leader. You know what I mean? Like, just because you're the son doesn't mean that you're not the leader.

There may be tools that you're getting in therapy that your dad never had the privilege to be exposed to. That's true. That's like, yo, we are the first generation that has the luxury of healing. That I know. Like back in the day, good times, they were scratching and surviving. We are thriving. We can't heal our present. or our future if we don't heal the past.

We're carrying that trauma around and it's going to surface. Because what happens is you know how like you, let's say you bake a cake and it's burnt and you just put frosting over it. You know what I mean? You layer the frosting over it because that frosting tastes good. But as soon or later somebody going to bite into the edge of that burnt-ass cake. You can't get past that. Like you have to uncover that.

You know what I mean? Like there's nothing beautiful or nothing that tastes good that you can cold. on top of that. You know what I mean? Absolutely. It's like putting icing on dog shit. We're not burnt cake. Yeah, that's fine. Makes it even worse. Can we shift gears for I cry? So you learned mirroring in therapy. Yeah. And I learned

that the root of a bunch of my bullshit is my father. Well, do you want to know one other one that's more vulnerable? What? I'm scared of this one. I went to this forum called Lamark. And in this forum, and it was a form of therapy, but it also was triggering for me. It really got on my nerves. But I learned a lot. Like, I had. have pages and notes from Landmark. I think you should do it, by the way.

But in Landmark, they didn't say it directly a bit, but they dealt with this concept called rackets where it's like the back and forth that you go through with people all the time. Oh, that's you all day. Shut up. You Serena Williams. Why would I want to be vulnerable?

Do you have to do this? You're right. Okay, you're right. So there is this moment where it like lists out these different rackets that you have. Like, you know, you're trying to make somebody wrong. You're trying to win this argument. You're trying to do.

And I was like, I do every single one of those. And then there was this moment, because I think I've talked to you about this too. Like there's addiction in my family. Like it runs deep. Not necessarily my immediate family, but like alcoholism, drugs, like all of it, gambling. So I was sitting there, I'm like, oh, shit. I have an addiction to being right.

Like the whatever the thing that the adrenaline rush, like when I'm going to, when somebody says you're right, I'm like, yeah. Like that thrill is like crazy. That'll never work for you in a relationship, by the way. I'm just being honest. That will never work with you in a relationship. Anyway, the point is... I might work on TV, but not in a relationship. Shut up.

Well, maybe it does manifest itself in all my relationships. But I think that what's so crazy is, I can think of the moments where my dad is like, you're right, baby. And I'm like, yes. You know what I mean? Like, there are all these moments, and hearing that is like, I won,

and it kind of goes in, there's another, we don't have time for this, but like it goes into... Well, because I'm, there's another, layer to it, which is like this image of perfection, which we've also talked about. So it feeds into that, me being right means is closer to a perfection image, right? But the right thing, what was a breakthrough for me in Lamarck and then subsequently kind of just working through it, I'm not done, this is going to be a hard one.

I've been being right as hell for 39 years, was the question, would I rather be right? Oh, happy. No. Would I rather be right or make the person? whole. And if the compromise is winning the argument so that you can be wounded or tabling the argument so that you can be whole and I could be a part of your healing, I would rather that. But what if you being right is part of making that person whole? Like you might be telling that person something for his own good or her good. But it's the method, right? Like it doesn't

have to be a tear down or a takedown or like, you know, winning at all costs, which is really my thing. Like it would just be like bulldozing to prove this thing. And, and it would just be like bulldozing to prove this thing. And the outcome of it is people thinking, I got asshole tendencies or people thinking like, you're bitch, or people thinking, you know what I mean? And it doesn't mean that I'm like never going to win an argument again or be on a debate on CNN. But I think the ultimate thing is it can't be winning the argument at all costs. You know that's one of the 40 laws of power. It is? Yeah, I'm going to read it to you. It's never, never, hold on. I don't want to misquote it because this is a good one. Somebody can learn from this. Never win. Yep.

It is law nine, when through actions, never through argument. And it says any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a pyric victory. The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not, what's that word? Explicate? Explicate. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

I'm not going to be right right now. Yes. Wow. So I haven't read 40A Laws of Power. When I first heard of this book, I was scared of it. I read it when I was young. I read it a few times. I heard about it when I was super Christian.

So I was like, that sounds like I'm tricking people. But I want to read this. I mean, I've read it a few times. I am still a Christian though. Yeah, I've read it a few times. It's not a bad book. I mean, it's a great book, actually. It's just that it's like anything else.

You take it in. You don't have to live by it. Well, that's the same thing. Like, I feel like I learn with Lamarck, But I'm like, I really want to exercise that. Because, like, also, you know, it gets taxing, like, going back and forth with people. They get on my nerves. I'm probably getting on people's nerves.

It might be on my own nerves. I'm drained after that. And nothing happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nothing was really accomplished. That's why I said it will never work in relationships. Because when you're in relationships and you're arguing, like, when me and Jess are going back and forth, I got to say to myself sometime, do I want to be right or be happy?

Yeah. And just because I feel right don't mean I am right. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I can be dead wrong. But she might just say fuck it. Or I might just say fuck it. But nothing got accomplished.

Now we just sitting around the house, pouting at each other all day until one of us comes over, which is usually me. I'm sorry. That's good. At least you will apologize. Because I know, listen, I know I'm a lot. You are a lot.

You are a lot. I know I'm a lot. And I get upset at the smallest thing. Not even upset. You know what's the worst? I was in Mexico. And I told you I was in Mexico. And every day you sent me

something that you were upset about in the moment trying to destroy my vacation. You were looking way too happy. I wasn't even on my IG story that, but you just wanted to ruin my vacation. You were looking way too happy on your IG story. You know what else I realized about with my wife when I argue? What? I'm never, I don't get, I don't get mad at her. I'm not upset.

I'm not mad. I just be hurt. She hurts my fucking feelings all the time. This is what I'm trying to tell you, even the stuff about your day. You're not mad at him, but you're hurt and you have to have, give your, permission to say it's okay to be hurt it's not that you're less of a man you're not you're sensitive like every other human being now deal with it we really had a cockroach theo moment the other day oh cockroach I was you know I'm tired so I was like oh my god there was a

cockroach and theo this is a Cosby show reference this is a real auntie uncle uh analogy so only a certain ed demo going to understand this but we was uh we oh so we understand yes so we was at the airport and I don't have pre-check, and the reason I don't have pre-check, global entry because I got felonies. They won't give it, which is crazy to me because Wax got it. I don't understand. Wax got kidnapping charges. Stop.

I'm telling my Wax for they revoke his stuff. But, um... You need to call. You know what? I have somebody we can call. I never went, though. I did it online. If I think if I don't went down there. No, when you go online, you have to go in for an interview. Did they give you an interview time? No, I didn't even get to the interview. It was like, no, because you got to type in all your felonies and all that stuff.

So everybody in my family got it. I might have to try to do it. And then if it gets rejected, can you send it to me? We have some people we can call. Yes. So, you know, I get to the, we get to the, we're leaving L.A. And we're at the line. I can go through clear.

She can go through pre-check. But you got clear too? No, she got pre-check. I love clear. Clear is that. You need both clear and pre-check. I agree. You also need greeters.

Yes. But we. I'm serious. Bringing for safety. We usually just go through together regardless of what it is we got. But it was early in the morning. she was tired. So I'm just thinking she's behind me.

She was like, y'amma go to pre-check, you go to Clear. And I didn't pay that no attention. So I just see her walking to Pre-check. And then I'm in Clear. And then like the line was still kind of long. So it took me a little,

not a long time, but a little while to get through and she was already through. And I just, I held that shit until we got on the plane. Until we got on that plane, I said, I really didn't like the fact that you went through Pre-check

without me. Like, I really hurt my feelings. But I was, I was like, you know, that hurt my feelings. Like, you just... You felt abandoned? Yes. For 10 minutes? Yes.

Okay, I'm sorry. I'm not coming from. I did. I did. What is that from? What is that jiggering? I don't know. Did you get left in the store when you were a little kid?

Did you get left in a little? I don't know. But like I'm saying, like I said, it's not things that make me upset, not things that make me mad. I can honestly say I'd just be genuinely hurt. Okay. But I need you to, some of those can you let them go without having to confront them? Like, can you just release?

I tried. We needed to schedule another yachting talk. We went and had muffins. We got on the plane. We said, I was hurt. It's like, I was, I was like. What was your, what was your releasing practice? What did you do?

I just wasn't saying nothing. And then she wasn't really thinking about it because it was early in the morning. So she was like, oh, we just tired. It's like, you know, we understand. When you said that, was she like, what? She was like, I thought you went through clear. And I was like, I even bought it up again last night.

It's two days later. Oh, my God. God. Let it go. So I said, now listen, I really want to ask you something. Not once, when you went through that pre-check, and I wasn't through that line, you didn't think not once, like. You were such a baby.

Where is he? This is ridiculous. I would, I wanted, like, to counsel you through this, but I can't. This is ridiculous. I might have been being a sucker. No, you're being a baby. You're being a brat. And here's the thing.

Like, there are definitely moments where some of this makes sense. This is actually a little nuts. And you have to let it go. Like, it's not good for you. My mom. My mom tells me this all the time, so this will show you where we might mirror each other. My mom is like, Angela, make big things small and small things nothing. Oh, yeah.

My home girl, my vet Brito says, don't major in the minors. That too. But like you really held it for two days and brought it up twice. I did. It's not a good use of your time or justice. I did. It's not a good time. It's not a good use y'all's time.

I need to leave. Oh, no, CNN. What's up with CNN? What's up with this all-black panel show? I don't know about a show. We did the... It was on page six to the New York Post.

Oh, because page six is definitely where you get your facts. You, April Ryan, Andrew Gillum, Bacari Sellas. We did another panel this morning on New Day. Exactly. Is there really a show happening?

They have not talked to us about any show. I've not received any calls, not any emails. So where did the story come from? People's wanting to see Black people on CNN all together in a show slot, probably.

Clearly something happened to know because CNN's keeping you all together got you all together, got y' all together, They like the panel. I promise you. I haven't heard anything else. I wouldn't lie to you.

Do you want that to happen? I think that I wouldn't mind it. I think that what I care the most about is that black people are reflected on every major network in spaces where we control the content, where there's, you know, black EP's and creatives and segment producers. And we're creating a pathway and opening opportunities for other folks. And so if we can ever be a part of that, you know I'm down for that. Yeah, I don't think CNN fully grasp the concept of that there is a different viewpoint of the world that comes from black people. You know what? I think that somehow when they put us all together, I think that what was the interesting dynamic is we don't all agree. It wasn't like we were on it. It was an amen choir. It was different perspectives sometime on the same view or completely divergent views.

And I think for black folks, it was dope because it's like, we've been telling y'all. We're not monolithic. Yeah. Right. And I think that... Even O'Carran and Andrew look exactly alike. They don't look anything alike.

They don't look... They're not even the same shade of black. Like, they're not the same person. They definitely look like they come from... They popped off the same gremlin. All right. It's been real. All right, guys.

Thank you. This has been another edition of sibling rivalry. Write a letter to your daddy. I'm going to think about it. I'm going to ask you about it later. I'm serious. All right. It's Shalameeneguad, Angela Rye.

His name is Leonard. Leonard. McHelvey, Angela. Yeah. A sibling robbery. Yeah.