The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: The Details of Alligator Alcatraz (feat. Congressman Maxwell Frost)
Episode Date: July 15, 2025"If you love something, when there's a problem, you call it out, and you do everything you can to fix it." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
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This is the Dan Leventor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. There is something that is sort of diabolically delightful about seeing Greg Cody with that
particular mustache.
And I've asked video to see if there's any public domain footage we can get of man in late, early 1900s
running away from railroad tracks in black and white movie
because of how sinister the mustache looks,
but also good.
Everyone is telling Greg Cody that this look works for him,
that he looks better and younger than he normally does.
He does look good.
I did say to him, because I saw it before the show, Dan,
and I said, you look like a guy who would tie me up
And leave me on the railroad. I mean that is what he gives off
So if we can find any video like that and pair it against what it is that Greg Cody looks like I'd like that
But to see come from under that mustache the helpful tip as we head into this segment
He's like hey Dan a lot of laughs coming up fun segment with Congressman Maxwell Frost coming up, huh?
To have it come from that mustache,
because we're gonna be talking about alligator Alcatraz
and something that I probably think it goes without saying
that you would know in 2025 feels an awful light,
like something that doesn't feel terribly American to me.
Big shocker, but I'm a huge fan of Maxwell Frost.
You would.
Yes, that is not surprising anybody.
So we're gonna talk to him though,
because I do want people to understand
the conditions down here.
The Everglades are particularly cruel.
It's the entire history of Florida makes it
so none of us should be living on this land.
You guys are feeling it right now
just because the air conditioning has gone down for a couple of days.
You guys are crawling around on your knees
without mosquito issues in here.
And I feel like everyone is broken,
physically broken by the heat in here.
I feel like makeup is running all over the place.
Everyone's having troubles.
Do I have this wrong?
Greg Cody is complaining,
but he's also wearing a long sleeve shirt because he's having a bad arm. Well he thought the AC
was working I mean. Right. You guys don't pay the electric bills? How does that
work? It's not an electric bill thing it is that when the summer gets really hot
down here the equipment is in some danger. It's a common thing in the
Northeast when it gets hot just they have blackouts. It's crazy. Yeah because I
can change the air filter if you need me to. Like I'm versed.
Yeah I know you're handyman as we've established. Chris, I was asking you at the beginning of
the Samson segment and we wandered off. There's some Francesa sound talking about Superman
that I'm told is delightful. Now Francesa does have a real podcast. It's not a fake
podcast. I don't know the name of that podcast. Does anyone off the top of their head know
the Mike Francesa podcast name? I think it's Miked Up maybe. I don't know the name of that podcast. Does anyone, anyone off the top of their head know the Mike Francesa podcast name?
I think it's Mike'd Up, maybe, I don't know.
Okay, good guess, a reasonable guess.
I would have assumed that might have been taken,
but I think Mike Ryan had Mike'd Up at some point, didn't he?
I did have a Chelsea Mike'd Up.
I had a Miami Mike'd Up.
Get this, it's called the Mike Francesa podcast.
Oh, wow.
Really fake.
So let's listen to Mike Francesa here.
He did not like Superman evidently
There's a super dog who came up with a super dog. I mean we all like dogs
Okay, and I don't like the dog getting beat on in a movie it bothered me
But hey who came up with a dog with a cape when did that arrive? I watched Superman for years on television
I never saw a dog with a cape
It's good coverage. He's right. Yeah
Crypto was a big part of the comics
We all like dogs, okay
He didn't want to get too far out there with the take so he made sure that everyone understood look I'm on the side of dog
Yeah, you all like dog. I'm a pro dog dog. Okay, but you don't need to be making them super
That could be just for a man.
The super could be for a man.
We don't need the dogs to also be super.
And I don't like the dog getting beat on in a movie.
It bothered me.
But hey, who came up with a dog with a cape?
When did that arrive?
That's a good question.
They had a meeting and they're like, get the dog a cape.
How are you going to convey that the dog is super dog if it doesn't have a cape?
How are you going to?
It needs to have a cape.
Put it on the poll at Levitard Show.
Yeah, but the dog got beat up.
I mean, once a dog starts flying around, I think it's pretty well established that this
is a super dog.
It needs a cape.
A bulldog without a cape flying around is ridiculous.
It's comic book accurate, and also credit to the filmmaker, because it's hard to cover
new ground with Superman, right?
You don't have a super dog if it's not wearing a cape.
I watched Superman for years on television. I never saw a dog with a cape.
Put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Can your dog truly and indeed be super if it doesn't have a cape?
Now, I have not heard before, you guys, this was something that actually took me back.
You guys, this was something that actually took me back.
I found surprising to hear it. It's obviously not something we can entertain in any way,
but I really appreciated that Pete Alonzo
had thought it all this far through.
We have talked before about the undercurrent,
and it's not even an undercurrent,
the overt way in which hockey fighting is allowed
because it's a bunch of white dudes generally
that are fighting and whenever it is
that basketball players fight, next thing you know,
everybody, all the rules have to be changed
because those players mostly aren't white.
To find ourselves, what are you smiling about, Chris Cody?
I'm listening to you.
Just the show.
Yeah.
You look like you were looking off
into the distance dreamily on something.
Tell you what, all fights should be legal in all sports
if they have to fight on ice.
Right. OK.
And with helmets.
Yeah.
Like, if they have to try to find a leverage
point in a fight on ice, I'm good.
OK, understood that you're making this distinction.
It's not about race.
It's about the skates.
Fine, no problem.
Oh, no, it's about race too. No doubt. But Pete Alonzo, have you you're making this distinction. It's not about race, it's about the skates. Fine, no problem. Oh no, it's about race too, no doubt.
But Pete Alonzo, have you heard any of this?
No.
Pete Alonzo.
The polar bear.
He is advocating for something
that I had not heard anyone advocate for
with this kind of specificity.
He's asked if you can change any MLB rule,
what would you change?
And this is what his answer was.
Water rule I can change any MLB rule, what would you change? And this is what his answer was. One rule I could change, so I don't think people
should get ejected after charging them out for fighting.
So I think it should be hockey style.
So no teams, no nothing, because that's one people
can seriously get hurt.
So I think there's a rule.
If you want to go out and charge them out,
then you should be able to.
But if the pitcher or hitter or whoever charges, if they don't want to fight, they take a knee
and then they don't have to fight. But if someone charges them out, it's one-on-one hockey style,
and then that's it. I love that. That's inspired thinking. And the main reason that you hear about
hockey being allowed to have fights when no one else has fights is, these players are skating around,
they're holding deadly weapons in their hand
with these sticks.
If you don't give them the fighting outlet,
something really bad is gonna happen.
Well, baseball is a projectile
that can do some serious damage.
You got guys with baseball bats in their hands,
essentially clubs.
I think you could apply the very same logic.
And if it's in the state of Texas, you can clear it with police, as we learned yesterday.
The Mariners can do this as well.
You can have a formal duel.
The optics, though, of kneeling.
Who's gonna take a knee?
Like who's gonna be the...
It's also gonna lead to a very ugly incident
where there is a dude taking a knee
and a guy's got a full head of steam
and he's full of rage and he's still got a clock on him.
You're not allowed to take a knee on a field.
We learned that a few years ago.
The thing that Pete Alonzo is saying there is,
I love the narcissism in all of this,
but I also love the caveman in it.
Cause I imagine it's really frustrating to Pete Alonzo
that people are allowed to throw something at him
at a hundred miles an hour
and he's gotta go walk to first base or both.
That guy's gotta go walk to first base or both dugouts are gonna empty.
So wherever it is that his most outrageously stubborn
and dumb male pride resides.
Oh, you give me the right to change any rule in baseball.
Here's the rule, I wanna be able to tear off my shirt
and then tear off the head of the person in front of me
and if he doesn't wanna fight,
get on a knee in front of everybody,
in front of America to say that you're afraid of
me and under those circumstances I can be king of this court. It's such a great
idea for him to have to take out all of his years of resentment because I
imagine Stugats I don't know I don't know as you guys laugh at why should
this guy be in the All-Star game because he throws 104 miles an hour. The idea of
standing against somebody who might hit me in the All-Star game because he throws 104 miles an hour. The idea of standing against somebody
who might hit me in the wrist or elbow
with 104 mile an hour fastball,
if I had to do that as a career for 20 years,
I'd like to beat the holy hell
out of every pitcher in the back.
Like if that was my life,
if I went to bed before games at night
knowing someone's coming inside at 99.
I said who's going to kneel,
but if Peter Alonso is running at you,
probably a good idea to kneel
I know I I think if he's going to say you have to be that publicly coward
Then just run into the outfield because so they lay down so now you're running away
So we avert the situation Mike's talking about which is someone in submission getting ravaged
Anyway, then the teams can get involved authorities just lay down on the grass
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Don Lebatard.
It's all about me.
Stugats. Wee. Thisau. Don Lebatard. It's all about me. Stugats. Weee. This is
the Don Lebatard show with the Stugats. Alright so Greg Cody here prefaced this
segment with a lot of laughs. Yes there are not a lot of laughs here but we've
talked to Maxwell Frost before and to the degree that we could take some of
the politics out of this I don't know that we can. The congressman is joining
us, Florida's 10th district and he's had a chance to take a look at least at the
parts of uh... alligator alcatraz and so i don't know what is factual what is in
humane i know how all of this looks i know how it's all purposely meant to
look what can you give us in the way of facts about what is happening in
swampland when it looks optically from over here that this is just cruel stuff and human beings being used as propaganda pieces that's
exactly right man i mean it's just cruel and you know cruelties and just the
point it's the strategy in this but let me i'm gonna just give you some straight
up facts about my visit and people can make their own term nation right i walk
in uh... and i'm greeted by nothing but private security.
Now this is a facility that they're saying is going to cost about $450 million.
It's probably going to be a lot more.
It's being run by the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
These are the people that help us when we have hurricanes, help us prepare, help us
respond.
They're using pretty much all the money, which is they can use up to $500 million
without going to the legislature if there's a state of emergency. That whole thing is meant to
be there if there's a hurricane so they can work quickly. That's all being used up now for this
political stunt. And that's something everyone should recognize if you're a Floridian especially.
So I walk in, we go in, we're checking out the conditions, and I'll tell you the
worst part for me was when they opened that door to the tent that had all the cages in
it.
And people should know that these men are being held in cages.
The cages hold 32 people per cage, and then there's three toilets in each cage, and it's
one of those jail units where the spigot is connected to the toilet, essentially.
It's like a hybrid with washing your hands and drinking water from it.
And it's hot in there.
I mean, these guys were sweating when they opened that door.
These guys were yelling at me, hey, call my family.
Here's my phone number.
Some guy yelled, I'm an American citizen.
We're looking into that, right?
I mean, when you do this stuff
in the brazen way they're doing it,
sometimes citizens get swept up into the whole mess.
So we're looking into that as well.
But the conditions are not good.
They're, they're, they're a point for a place
that humans are being held in.
And the thing people also have to realize
is when you're an immigrant being held in detention,
it doesn't mean you've been convicted of a crime, right?
They're holding you in detention as you go through a legal process.
And so it's not supposed to be a jail or a prison.
It's supposed to just be a detention center.
So these are very bad conditions.
It's very hot out there.
These are a bunch of tents in the middle of the Everglades.
And the last thing I'll say on this too is they were going to build a full airport on
this location years ago.
They abandoned the idea.
Why?
Because the conditions are so poor out there in terms of weather that they couldn't build
an airport there.
And now they're housing, they want to house up to 4,000 people there.
So I think it's completely ridiculous.
What is your response to the DHS written statement on X Tuesday quote
ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US
citizens all detainees are provided with proper meals medical treatment and have
opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members. The
last part is not true and I know this because I have many constituents in
there and I speak with the lawyers my team checks in with the lawyers on a
daily basis.
In fact, we've been given three to four emails for the lawyers to hit up so they can schedule
in-person visits with their client.
And so that's just not true.
You can talk to any lawyer in Florida doing this work and they're very frustrated that
they haven't been able to really connect with the person that they're representing.
The other thing I'll tell you is, look, mean before Congress. I'm a was community activists. I've been arrested
I went to jail and I'll tell you the jail I went to two people one cell one bathroom in the cell
Okay, these are 32 men with only three toilets in a cage in the hot Florida Sun, right?
And what I'll tell you is this, they keep saying,
well, no, it's a good operation. I'm not debating the operation. It's run by the Florida Division of
Emergency Management. We have one of the best emergency management divisions in the nation.
The operation is great, but at the end of the day, a cage is a cage, right? The conditions are the
condition. And so I don't, I'm not here to debate whether it's not
being run well. I don't want an internment camp even if it's run well, right? And so that's my
opinion on it. And I think everyone, no matter what your politics are, you should be frustrated
that they're using the department that helps us during hurricane season. And we're supposed to,
and I'm not going on wood, but we're supposed to have a tough hurricane season
like we've had the last five.
And so, you know, in these times when you have these storms,
every minute matters.
And the fact that they're gonna have to go back
to the legislature and ask for more money
if there's a hurricane,
just shows the priorities are out of whack
and it's a stunt,
but it's a stunt with real human consequence.
I mean, I gotta tell you from a human perspective looking at those cages
I mean I saw myself in there right like I saw people who looked exactly like me. I'm Afro Cuban
I'm the first Afro Cuban in Congress like I was looking at myself in those cages and as I walked out of the
Facility I told myself I'm gonna be one of the only people that looks like me
that can walk in this place and walk out on my own
accord. And I'll tell you, it's a human, like my heart sunk. And not everyone in here isn't
a violent criminal. We saw what the Miami Herald posted, all the data. You got 250 people
in there who've never done a crime, who've never been charged with a crime. And then
you got a bunch of people in there. The crime is like, you know, they got pulled over
for a speeding ticket or something.
Come on.
How long was your tour?
Were you denied access to any requested areas?
The tour was about two hours.
Yes, I was denied access to a couple areas.
And so people know it is in the law.
It's in federal law, right?
That members of Congress have to be
let into detention facilities,
and we have to be able to conduct our oversight.
And as part of our job is to go in
and make sure things are being run correctly,
that the conditions are good, all of this.
So we had a two hour tour,
but there were two things I couldn't see
that are really important when you do these tours.
One was the medical unit.
That's one of the most important things.
We need to be able to go in there,
speak directly with doctors, understand, you know, I have a lot of questions about mental
health. If someone has a mental health crisis, what happens? Do they have a segregation unit
or are they put with everybody else? Nobody can answer these questions for me and they
wouldn't even let me in the medical unit. They said HIPAA. They said we can't let you
in because of HIPAA. That's bullshit bullshit I've been in many facilities before where they've let me in the medical unit now
I can't sit down in an appointment and listen in but I can walk through the unit and ensure that things are up to par
So they didn't let me into the medical unit
They also didn't let me I could see the cages from the door
But they didn't let me walk in and the reason I wanted to walk in is because one of the top complaints
We're getting are the toilets but they didn't let me walk in. And the reason I wanted to walk in is because one of the top complaints
we're getting are the toilets.
We have a bunch of guys who have called their lawyers
and called their family late at night on the phone
and said, hey, I just wanna let you know
that two of the three toilets aren't working right now.
And one of them is backing up.
And there's like, you know, stuff is being sprayed
or, you know, coming out of the toilet, essentially.
And reportedly, it was hours till it was cleaned up. So I wanted to see the toilets as they were, but they said, oh, we can't let you in there. They'll throw feet. They'll throw poop at you,
is what they said. So, you know, just all these excuses for not letting us go in and check things
out. One point I want to bring up that I didn't, I didn't see a lot of law enforcement in this facility.
What I mean to say is I saw almost nothing
but private security, which means part of the reason
the price tag is so high is we're essentially paying
for a ton of rent a cops to run the facility.
This is supposed to be a federal detention facility.
And so people should be concerned about that.
People are making big money from this thing as well.
When I came in on the airstrip,
two private jets for the companies,
for the contractors that are there,
two private jets on there,
probably hire the CEO or hire executive being there.
So it's just like everything else,
another instance of like our tax money
being siphoned off to big corporations
to make this stunt possible.
The president toured the facility and I guess with everything going on in the nation, there
are a lot of misconceptions that this is a federal facility.
However, just hours after, the administration kind of distanced itself from alligator Alcatraz
after the photo ops and put it all on the state.
So here on the state level, what can Floridians do about this to voice their anger? We've
seen plenty of protests. Is there anything, any additional pressure that we could apply
to local and state leaders?
Yeah, the whole hot potato with the state federal thing is, is insane. And the reason
they're doing it, number one, there's a lawsuit happening right now. A bunch of the environmentalist groups are suing the state
and you know what the state said?
They said the federal government
has no involvement in this, why?
Because it hurts the lawsuit
and that lawsuit could shut this thing down.
I went in there and you know what Kevin Guthrie told me
who's running the whole damn thing?
He said ICE is calling all the shots.
So he's telling me directly
that the federal government's calling the shots.
I'm gonna hit the floor this week
to put this on the record.
I'm also gonna release an op-ed talking about this as well
and do as much as I can to get out these specific quotes
and hopefully it'll help, not just the lawsuit,
but everything going on.
But I would say, of course, the protests are always important,
but honestly, people, especially if you're in Florida,
get involved in one of these local immigrants justice groups.
If you have some cash that you can donate to a pro bono legal organization that's doing
immigrant law, they need resources.
There's not enough resources to go around.
And a lot of these immigrants, look, whatever your belief is in politics, you have to believe
in due process for everybody.
And we live in a country where the amount of money you have is directly correlated to
whether or not you're going to get off or not because you're able to afford an expensive
attorney.
These people can't afford attorneys, even expensive ones, right?
And so if you can, donate some money to some of the legal funds.
And these are just lawyers working a pro bono way
to represent a lot of these immigrants who again,
most of whom have not committed a crime
and most of whom who have been in this country
for over a decade.
Like these are our neighbors, right?
These are people living in our communities.
We don't wanna see them treated this way
and snatched up by mass people.
I mean, it's wild to me that this is even a debate.
We live in we live in the United States of America. Like we don't want the state running
around scooping people up in our unmarked vans. I mean, I, you know, we, we, I don't
care what your political persuasion is. You got to be against that. Cause even if you
don't care about these folks, which you should, but even if you don't, I promise you it's
them today, it's you it's them today,
it's you tomorrow.
I mean, and I'm not being hyperbolic.
We've seen US citizens caught up in this whole mess.
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Shop now at nofrills.ca. You underscored the need for access for immigration attorneys. I know Laura Kelly from the Miami
Day Democratic Party is an immigration attorney herself, volunteering a lot of time fighting
this fight with the TPS expiration or executive order. Presently, what is access to immigration
attorneys for people that are detained? Can they make phone calls?
What is that process like for someone that's detained?
For someone who is screaming at you,
hey, I'm a U.S. citizen.
Yeah, so the way it's supposed to work
is these immigrant detention facilities
are supposed to have what's called a law library.
The law, it sounds fancy.
What it really is is it's a phone
in a place that's not being surveilled in terms of audio
so you can speak with your lawyer privately
through the phone, right?
And this facility in Everglades did have a law library,
but what we've heard is the detainees
are not being allowed to use it.
And so a lot of the lawyers are telling me,
well, I'll randomly get a call
from the person I'm representing,
but it's at like 3 a.m. when they turn on the general phones
for like, you know, your phone call to call your family.
And the way this works is those phones are supposed
to be used to talk with your family.
The law library phones are supposed to be used
to talk with your lawyer, right?
And so, but what we're finding is they're having
to use those other phones to talk with
the lawyers.
The lawyers are having trouble getting in contact with the facility to set up in-person
visits.
But there is a process here because again, deportation is a legal process.
When someone is being detained, they're really supposed to only be detained if they're considered
a risk to society.
They've committed a violent crime, but they're detaining people who have done no crimes, who their crime is like a traffic stop
or maybe they have the wrong license plate and stuff like that and and that's
part of why the cost tag is going up so much. But there is a this whole thing is
supposed to be a legal process and that's why and again I'm not trying to be
super hyperbolic I'm just calling it like I see it.
What we're seeing now isn't even deportation because deportation can take a week to a year
to battle out.
Right.
It's a process.
This is really they're kidnapping people and then they're trafficking them the other state,
other nations.
They don't even have to be from that nation.
And so I'm just really concerned.
I mean, you know, I'm a Floridian, my mom came here
as a refugee from Cuba, she'd be one of the people being scooped up had she come more recently or if
she wasn't a U.S. citizen so it's very concerning. He's representing the people of his hometown in
Orlando and central Florida and he's joining us two days after filing a lawsuit against
DeSantis for being unlawfully denied entry to inspect
conditions of the migrant detention facility that is now
being known as Alligator Alcatraz.
Last notes, and you said your mother is Cuban-American.
The most appalling of the things that you're feeling
are not what this country has ever supposedly been about are blank.
Say it again for me.
The most appalling un-American sort of how are we even talking about this?
How are we even discussing an argument about internment camps and treating human beings this way randomly?
How is this a conversation in 2025?
Could be that part.
Yeah, I mean, for me, it's that part.
I don't, like, and you know, I think about,
this is so politicized, it's so partisan,
in the national sense, but I'm telling you,
like, on the ground, I go and speak with people,
and I speak with people who are,
they say they're conservative,
they're progressive all around.
People are starting to wake up to the fact
that this isn't right.
And that's why Trump's numbers on immigration have tanked.
Right?
I mean, this was a big issue for him in the election.
And so it just, people don't like this cruelty
at this level.
And I just, again, yeah.
I mean, my mom, she talks about like,
this is the stuff I saw in Cuba.
Sorry, that's my voting alarm going off
We can't we we can't turn it off or down people love the boat
Yeah, people love the boat, but this is the stuff that she fled right and now it's here and
And I hear this from so many people. I'm my friend Manuel Oliver his family lived in Venezuela
They left Venezuela to keep their son safe.
They came to Florida.
They went online and looked up the safest community
they could live in to keep their son safe.
And it said Parkland, Florida.
They moved to Parkland, Florida,
and he was murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
His name is Joaquin Oliver.
I hear these stories so much of people
who have come to this country
for the opportunity and greatness we have.
And we are a great country,
but there are things we have to fix.
And if you love something, when there's a problem, you call it out and you do everything
you can to fix it.
Being patriotic is more than just like bald eagle flag and beer, right?
It's about loving the people who live in this place and they're treating our people in just
inhumane ways at these interment
camps. I can't even believe it's a debate but I do think I think the pendulum is
swinging. I think people are waking up to it. From the very name alligator Alcatraz
to the terrible optics of crowded chain-link fence jail cells, this is
aggressively inhumane. Do you believe it's in why is it intentionally inhumane? Why are they?
Doing it in this way
Yeah, the reason the reason why is
It's not part. It's not just the point right?
It's the strategy and this isn't even just for this facility, but it's for a lot of these ice detention facilities
I visited one called Baker and the conditions were horrible at the time
I wrote to President Biden and I told him you need to close this place down
The conditions are horrible. But what they do is the conditions are so bad that
These immigrants who are fighting a legal process that can take like a year they get to the point where they go
I can't be here another month. I'm gonna sign the deportation paper. I'm done fighting it
Send me send me wherever and it's to demoralize them
I spoke with two Haitian men a year and a half ago in baker and they told me, you know congressman
I've been fighting this for eight months nine months tomorrow
I'm signing the paper because I rather fight for my life and live on the streets of Haiti than be in this
Institute in this facility another month and that's a big part of it is it's just such horrible conditions
I mean you're literally in prison and depending where you're at if not worse and
At the same time you're in this grueling legal battle and the whole purpose is for you to go screw it
Send me wherever and it's just me wherever. And it's just,
it's horrible and it's sad. And also one thing, the lawsuit is on the state legislators that went
a couple of weeks ago, they were denied entry. And my good friend, Rep. Ana Eskamani and Carlos
Guillermo Smith, Chevron Jones, there's Michelle Rayner, those are the ones involved in that.
I'm not on that lawsuit, cause I wasn't there,
but my visit was this past week and we were able to get in.
But I am gonna do an unannounced visit soon,
because what I saw was bad man,
but they had three days notice, right?
Like, you know, and when they have notice,
they will make things cleaner.
I mean, I heard from a family that spoke with someone that's there that magically,
the day before we got there, he got his first shower. Oh, and the day before we got there,
he got like one of the first good meals. And so I'm going to be coming back unannounced.
And that's really the only way to do these visits because you see things for how they are.
And it's in the law. I can show up at a time and place in my choosing and I will
do that. Join us after that please. Thank you for the work that you're doing and
the cruel is not the accident. The cruel is the point. Thank you Congressman. We
appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you guys.