0:00

It's been another busy news week and we like

0:02

to review the major stories of the week here on the Black

0:04

Information Network. Today, we are joined by

0:06

Black Information Network news anchors Mike

0:08

Island and Nicole Deal to discuss this week's

0:11

major stories. This is

0:13

the Black Information Network Daily Podcast.

0:16

Now I'm your host, ramses Jah.

0:18

All right, mister Mike Island, how

0:21

have you been, sir? Welcome back to the show.

0:23

Talk Not bad, not bad at

0:25

all. Good to be with you as always.

0:28

It's only been a couple of weeks.

0:29

This time.

0:29

I came back fast because I wanted to be back with

0:31

you.

0:32

Yeah, and I know there's another

0:34

couple of reasons, but we won't get into that right now.

0:36

Before we get there, let's talk to Nicole. How have you

0:38

been, Nicole Deal?

0:39

I am doing excellent.

0:41

Happy to be here as always

0:43

to join you people with

0:46

your exceptional talents.

0:47

So you're very kind. Well, Nicole,

0:49

let's let's have a conversation. So earlier

0:52

this week, President Biden and former President

0:54

Donald Trump secured the necessary delegates

0:56

to become the nominees for their respective parties

0:59

and punch their tickets to a history

1:01

making and rematch in the upcoming twenty twenty

1:03

four presidential election. So let's

1:05

get things started with you tell us more about this story

1:08

and your reaction to Biden's State of

1:10

the Union address, and then of course Mike will come to

1:12

you for your thoughts afterwards.

1:14

Sure, this is a moment

1:17

in US history that most of us

1:19

saw coming.

1:20

Right.

1:21

We live in a democracy, which means

1:23

we get to vote on just about everything,

1:25

or at least we're supposed to. So

1:28

on the Democratic side, President Biden

1:30

did not have much opposition.

1:32

He needed a minimum of one nine

1:35

hundred and sixty eight delegates to win, so

1:37

he ended up with two thy one hundred and seven.

1:40

On the Republican side, Donald Trump needed a minimum

1:42

of one thousand, two hundred and fifteen delegates to

1:44

win and ended up with one thousand, two hundred

1:47

and forty nine. So I

1:49

think it's important to note that former

1:51

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley gave Trump

1:54

a little bit of heartburn along

1:56

the way, not a lot,

1:58

but just a little bit. But she

2:00

dropped out about a week after her

2:02

presidential primary wins in Vermont

2:05

and Washington, d C. After

2:07

their respective leans, Trump

2:09

and Biden each made a statement,

2:12

and here's I want to share with you a little piece

2:14

of what each of them had to say. Biden

2:17

says, despite the challenges we faced

2:19

when I took office, we're excuse

2:22

me, despite the challenges we faced when I took

2:24

office.

2:24

We're in the middle of a comeback.

2:26

Wages are rising faster than inflation,

2:28

jobs are coming back, consumer confidence

2:31

has soared. Amid this progress,

2:33

we face a sobering reality. Freedom

2:36

and democracy are at risk here at home,

2:38

running a campaign of resentment, revenge,

2:41

and retribution that threatens the

2:43

very idea of America.

2:46

So pretty yeah,

2:49

they're just kind of gunning for each other. Here's

2:51

a little bit of what Trump had to say. It

2:53

is my great honor to be representing

2:55

the Republican Party as its presidential

2:58

nominee. Our party is you and

3:00

strong, and fully understands that we

3:02

are running against the worst, most

3:05

incompetent, corrupt, and destructive

3:07

president in the history of.

3:09

The United States.

3:11

So again, you know, they're both just kind of gloves

3:13

off there, you know, while they're

3:16

taking their victory lap. And

3:18

of course our listeners can form their own

3:20

opinions about those comments.

3:24

As for Biden's State

3:26

of the Union speech, I think

3:28

he did a solid job. He

3:31

hit all the high points. He

3:33

talked about inflation and the economy.

3:36

He talked about jobs, student loans,

3:38

making it easier for people to buy homes,

3:40

healthcare, lowering

3:43

the cost of prescription drugs, which

3:45

he has done. He also

3:47

talked about lowering taxes for working families,

3:49

et cetera, et cetera.

3:52

Excuse me.

3:53

The one issue that I would have liked to

3:55

see him hit a lot harder

3:58

is illegal immigration. He

4:01

did go there a little

4:03

bit, but I think both he and

4:05

his predecessor have misgoverned in

4:07

this area, and I think it's a very

4:10

important issue.

4:10

We have to secure our

4:13

borders.

4:14

We simply just cannot have

4:16

thousands of people flooding

4:18

into our country every day un vetted.

4:20

We just can't

4:23

at solutions, and we need to pass legislation

4:26

that aligns with the interest

4:28

of putting Americans first.

4:31

Not that there were not

4:33

not that we're insensitive, not that we're not considering

4:36

others, not that we're not humanitarians.

4:38

But we still have to put Americans first.

4:40

This is America. So as

4:42

we lead up to the twenty twenty four presidential

4:45

election, President Biden absolutely

4:47

must must just find

4:50

a new gear and a

4:52

new resolve to combat illegal immigration.

4:54

And then also throwing

4:57

the hot potato UH to VP

5:00

Kamala Harris on the issue is just is

5:02

not the proper solution either.

5:05

Okay, Mike, let's get your thoughts.

5:06

Then well we're into the fight that nobody

5:09

wanted, even on both sides.

5:11

You know, Biden versus Trump. Nicole's

5:14

on point where she said that he's

5:17

he's in gear. He was on he

5:19

was on high on the State

5:21

of the Union address. He was running on

5:23

all cylinders and that's been

5:25

noted. But he handled

5:27

the disrespect pretty

5:29

good. The heckling that was going on.

5:32

You know, it sounded like to me, it sounded like

5:34

it was comedy night at the Laughs of Mint

5:36

Club with hecklers out there. It was,

5:39

but instead it was a high level talk

5:41

about our lives in this country.

5:44

His opposition is but the

5:46

State of the Union address and other high level

5:48

discussions basically

5:50

made him a w WF wrestling

5:53

match. You know, I'm more concerned about

5:55

the decorum of

5:57

this election more

6:00

or so than anything else. I believe

6:02

that Biden will find his uh find

6:05

his groove in getting the immigration

6:09

situation resolved. I have

6:11

full trust in that. It's just been slow, a slow

6:14

process, A lot of rhetoric, but

6:16

it's a very slow process. Uh,

6:18

you know, as far as actual instituting

6:22

something that the American people

6:24

can understand that this thing is

6:26

going to be stopped. This flow,

6:28

this influx can be controlled, doesn't

6:30

have to never necessarily be stopped, but

6:33

at least under control. But right now it's way

6:35

out of whack, and we

6:38

just have to respect the process. Sure,

6:41

you know, if an American president trying

6:43

to do his best, I think I think he'll get there.

6:46

But this but that's not what

6:48

we're going to hear these next few months. We're

6:50

just going to hear a little bit

6:52

of back and forth. Maybe Biden can cut through it, but

6:55

Trump is uh, you know, he's going to be

6:58

hurling insults and entertaining his base,

7:01

uh all the way to the White

7:03

House. So I think that's

7:05

all we're going to hear. And we're going to hear little

7:07

policy talk, a little

7:10

discussion, uh meaningful

7:12

discussion about immigration. What is actually

7:14

going to happen. We all we only hear that

7:17

we need to get this immigration policy.

7:19

We got to get together on both sides and get

7:21

this immigration situation resolved,

7:23

and it kind of stops there. Yeah, So

7:27

that that's where we need to go. We need to actually

7:29

meaningful implementation of

7:31

an immigration process.

7:34

Sure, sure, you know it's this

7:37

comes to mind. Okay, Republicans

7:42

Democrats, Okay, we

7:45

have to work together to get

7:49

anything done. Really, we

7:52

need to be on the same side

7:55

of an

7:57

agenda. And

8:00

and I liken it to

8:03

Okay, the Republicans are coming to paint a house,

8:06

and they are bringing the paint.

8:09

The Democrats are coming to paint a house, and they

8:11

are bringing the brushes. Okay. And

8:14

if the Democrats say, Okay,

8:17

I got the brushes, go ahead and give me the paint.

8:19

We'll get started painting the house. And

8:21

then Donald Trump says to the Republicans,

8:24

don't give them the paint, so

8:26

that I can say, the Democrats

8:28

are not painting the house, elect me, because

8:30

I'll get the house painted. It just

8:33

effectively kicks the can down the road,

8:35

and in the meantime, the

8:37

American population suffers. And

8:39

I think that that illuminates the

8:41

degree of control that Donald Trump

8:43

has over the Republican Party, because this

8:46

was true prior to him securing their

8:48

nomination for president. This time around,

8:51

they did have a border bill on the table,

8:54

a bipartisan effort as well, that

8:56

did not get passed because Trump at the last

8:58

second tanked it so that he could run

9:01

on a weak border platform and

9:04

stick that on Joe Biden. Because

9:07

fear sells. We've seen

9:09

that in Donald Trump's playbooks since the beginning.

9:12

If he can make the American population become

9:14

afraid that there is a humanity

9:17

or that there's a crisis, a replacement crisis

9:19

indeed at the border, and

9:21

that these people are coming in consuming all the resources,

9:24

which I won't say is entirely untrue, but certainly

9:26

not to the degree that they are making it seem

9:29

that these migrants are going to

9:31

come through and murder everyone in

9:33

the United States and vote

9:36

and replace all white people.

9:38

You know, because this is really the platform that

9:41

Donald Trump wants to run on, because this is what his

9:43

base causes his base

9:45

to move fear so

9:47

without that, by allowing Biden

9:51

and the Democrats to secure

9:53

our borders, it weakens Donald

9:55

Trump's personal chances at reclaiming

9:57

the White House given his

10:00

strategy, and that

10:02

feels a little bit unfair to America,

10:05

the United States of America, because

10:07

again, this one man wants

10:10

to reclaim the White House and he's willing to tank

10:12

a border deal that, as Nicole mentioned, we

10:14

do need in order to get back

10:16

there. As far as Biden's

10:20

State of the Union address, you

10:22

know, credit where it's due. He came out swinging.

10:25

He needed to show people that he was

10:27

not cognitively on

10:29

the decline. He needed to show people that

10:31

he was still strong,

10:33

he was still a capable leader and capable

10:36

of motivating the

10:38

American population. And

10:41

so I respect, you know, him

10:44

coming out doing that. Obviously, he spoke to

10:46

pretty much every major issue that you

10:49

know, people are picking him apart about.

10:52

I admittedly have been a lot more

10:54

critical of his administration since

10:56

the handling of the war, the

10:58

Israel Hamas war. I don't

11:00

like that one bit. I still don't like it. I think

11:02

that he can do more to stand

11:05

with the human beings on the ground in

11:07

Palestine. But

11:10

for his purposes, what he needed to do,

11:12

he came out and said what he needed

11:14

to say. You know, might have been speaking

11:17

out of both sides of his mouth, but

11:19

the fact that he spoke at all shows that

11:21

he's willing to engage. And that's not nothing.

11:25

And I think, Mike, you mentioned this that

11:27

there really is

11:29

a rematch here that nobody wanted to see

11:32

yes, we're just not excited

11:35

about this, but this is what we got and

11:38

we got to keep going. There are people who will vote

11:40

because they don't like Biden

11:43

or like Trump, you know, and

11:46

or there were people that vote because they don't

11:48

like Biden, and there will be people who vote because

11:50

they don't like Trump, and

11:52

that is a very The nature of this election

11:55

feels certainly different

11:57

from the last election. I was really excited

12:00

I did to vote in, which was when Obama

12:02

was elected in two thousand and eight, and

12:04

then of course the rematch in twenty twelve.

12:06

And so I know that there

12:08

are some people on Trump's side of the equation who

12:10

are excited to vote for him again, but

12:13

I suspect that a lot of the

12:15

enthusiasm has eroded.

12:17

Certainly a lot of

12:18

the numbers would indicate

12:21

that the enthusiasm has eroded. I

12:23

mean, there's still people who are going to vote for him, and he

12:25

still definitely has that base. But

12:28

again, I think you said it best. This is a rematch

12:30

that nobody really wanted. So no

12:33

surprises here that they secured the delegates

12:35

needed to get the nominations for their

12:37

parties. But it's

12:40

onward from here. And as you mentioned. As you both

12:42

mentioned, it's probably going to be a lot of mud

12:44

slinging until until we figure out who's

12:47

going to sit in the White House next. So moving

12:49

on. In Pittsburgh, a hospital

12:52

worker found himself suddenly unemployed after

12:54

reporting an incident of possible racist

12:56

behavior. Mike, I know that you and I talked

12:58

a bit about this. I asked you to pump the break

13:01

so we could talk about it when we're recording. So let's

13:03

telly you and then, of course Nicole,

13:05

we'll get your thoughts afterward.

13:06

I'm cool down a little bit of now, okay, but let's

13:09

give them. The story comes from the Kansas

13:11

City Star, and the

13:13

thing that's not surprised is that someone spoke up about

13:15

racism and got fired. That part

13:18

of the story is no surprise. What

13:21

got me was that this is at UNPC

13:23

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, a children's

13:25

hospital where a

13:27

series of events started actually a year

13:29

ago spring first day of

13:31

Spring in twenty twenty three. Caleb

13:34

Ferguson, he works in the transport

13:37

unit at the hospital. He was

13:39

working there and he came across one

13:41

of his co workers, white woman in

13:44

her late fifties to early sixties, and

13:46

she knitted a lot at work. She did knitting

13:49

things, which is a nice thing. But one

13:51

of the co workers asked

13:54

her what she was making, and she says,

13:56

I'm making a monkey, and then she

13:58

holds it up and said, look, it's Caleb,

14:01

referring to Caleb Ferguson. And

14:04

of course he was stunned by that. And

14:06

uh, but the other co workers,

14:09

no one spoke up for him. So

14:11

this was a thing he had to He was on

14:13

his own to make this claim

14:16

to his employer that something

14:19

just happened here that is really

14:21

wrong.

14:22

Uh.

14:22

You know, discussed discussing racial

14:24

slur. I think it was described as a

14:27

well known racial slur, that slur

14:29

that was uttered in that particular

14:32

moment. But the problem

14:35

here is that it's a

14:37

children's hospital, and you wonder, these

14:39

are all workers there, they're all coming

14:41

in that building. It just makes

14:43

me go to a broader level

14:47

talking about healthcare of

14:49

people. Now, if these people have

14:51

that attitude and their working, they do a lot of

14:53

the pre medical

14:56

ops before someone goes into surgery

14:59

or child goes into another procedure.

15:02

These people have those attitudes.

15:04

I'm just worried about the black children that come

15:06

into that hospital for treatment, and

15:09

whether this kind of attitude contributes

15:12

to the racial disparities in healthcare.

15:15

So it's bigger than someone

15:18

making a monkey. The real

15:20

issue here is the mental

15:23

state of the people who are in a hospital

15:25

charged with giving medical care

15:28

equally to all patients. If

15:30

they harbor these attitudes, I'm

15:32

wondering what happens to the quality of the healthcare

15:35

of the children and people that come into the

15:37

hospital. That's bigger than

15:39

this particular story. What happened here happens

15:42

all over in different ways. This was,

15:45

you know, a knitting you know, not everyone

15:47

knits, you know, at every job. There

15:49

are other racial you

15:51

know things that happen at many jobs.

15:54

But this is bigger than that because

15:56

it took place in a children's hospital,

15:58

in a medical facility, and that's

16:01

the bigger story to me.

16:02

Yeah, yeah, I think you're absolutely

16:04

right, Nicole's get your thoughts here.

16:07

Absolutely a great perspective,

16:09

Michaels. I love that my

16:12

response to this story is a lot more petty

16:15

than Michael's let's

16:17

get it, let's

16:19

go Their story

16:21

right here takes me off of

16:23

my a game a little bit.

16:25

All right, Why are you messing

16:28

with me at work?

16:29

Karen. It makes me kind

16:31

of want to throw hands with you, Karen, And

16:34

now I've lost my job behind

16:36

this foolishness.

16:38

Karen.

16:39

This is completely unacceptable

16:41

on every level. And y'all know

16:43

when I get to clap and I'm excited.

16:46

Listen.

16:47

If I brought a doll to work

16:50

and dressed it up in KKK GARB,

16:54

that in and of itself would be offensive

16:56

to a lot of people, black and white. Okay,

16:59

Strike one. But then

17:02

if I got the bright idea

17:05

and the audacity to name my improperly

17:07

dressed KKK doll after

17:10

one of my white cohorts in the

17:12

office, that would make my

17:15

actions disrespectful and vicious

17:17

and triggering.

17:19

Strike two. But after

17:21

all of that, if I

17:24

then decided.

17:25

To name my KKK

17:27

doll Karen and refer

17:29

to the doll in front of Karen

17:32

and other employees, oh

17:35

my goodness.

17:36

Strike three.

17:38

Employers need to take kinds

17:41

of racist acts and deal

17:43

with them harshly and

17:46

swiftly and make these people

17:48

accountable. You have to discipline

17:51

people for these types of actions.

17:53

They cannot go unchecked. And

17:56

that's strike three. Karen, You're out of

17:58

there. She should have been reprimanded with

18:00

a paper trail and possibly

18:03

fired.

18:04

I don't know for.

18:06

Certain that his firing

18:09

was retaliatory, but I

18:12

mean, let's just call it what it

18:14

is and say the timing of it is suspect.

18:17

Okay.

18:17

I think his lawsuit absolutely

18:20

has merit. I believe he is entitled

18:22

to just compensation. And I also

18:24

have a public service announcement

18:27

to people who are not black

18:29

and brown, and that message

18:31

is, please stop, please

18:34

stop doing this type of foolishness

18:36

at work on social media. Stop

18:39

painting your face black, all that, all

18:41

that, just stop. And to Caleb Ferguson,

18:44

I wish him the best with

18:46

his lawsuit.

18:49

Black Information Network News anchors Mike Island

18:51

and Nicole Dealer here with us discussing this week's

18:53

major stories. All

18:56

right, our next story comes to us from North Carolina,

18:59

where one black woman apparently received some interesting

19:02

feedback on why she didn't get a job promotion.

19:04

Nicole, why don't you go ahead and tackle this one

19:06

for us? And then Mike, we're gonna hear from you next.

19:09

Alrighty, Then, so this happened to a woman

19:11

by the name of Shantel Adams.

19:14

She is a senior marketing executive

19:17

and this

19:19

one really hit home for me, you know,

19:21

as a black woman. So if

19:24

I tell you that there's a job opening

19:26

at your company where you've put in years

19:28

of service, you're well respected, you

19:31

have consistently taking

19:33

taken on extra responsibilities,

19:36

You've proven yourself, et cetera,

19:39

you might see yourself as a good

19:41

candidate, right and

19:43

if you have a master's degree in business

19:46

administration, like Shantel Adams,

19:48

you might see yourself as an even

19:50

better candidate. But

19:53

unfortunately, what happened to Shantell

19:56

reportedly allegedly is happening

19:58

to other men and women across the country.

20:00

They are being overlooked.

20:02

For jobs and promotions

20:05

and what she believes is based

20:07

on their race. Chantell

20:10

says that she was turned down for

20:12

a promotion, with her boss telling

20:14

her she was too articulate

20:17

and sharp and that it was

20:19

intimidating to some people. Just

20:23

just let that let that sink sink

20:25

in for a moment, right,

20:29

It's like, all right, So I would

20:31

think that those would be the same

20:34

reasons and rationale that you

20:36

would use to bring me on board and hire

20:38

me. And maybe that's why you did hire me. But

20:41

now that I'm here and I've proven

20:43

myself and I've worked for you, and now

20:45

someone else sees me as a threat

20:48

because I am smart and I am articulate

20:50

and whatever. Now I can't get

20:52

promoted. What a slap

20:55

in the face. Her

20:57

remedy for that has just been to move

21:00

onward and upward and seek employment

21:02

somewhere else. But even by

21:05

doing so, you know, when

21:07

you change employers, you have to transfer

21:09

your four oh one K, you might have to change

21:11

locations, you might have to move change

21:14

residences. You know, you might have

21:16

to change banks and all those types

21:18

of things, and it interrupts your direct deposit

21:20

and so all of those things kind of go along

21:23

with this as the windfall of that.

21:25

But this is what you're up against, unfortunately,

21:28

or what she was up against as a black woman.

21:31

I mean, you have a decision to make because

21:33

if you hit that glass ceiling in your office,

21:36

where do.

21:37

You go from there?

21:38

When your own boss, the person that you need

21:40

to look to to give

21:42

you those promotions or to give you

21:45

a promotion that you've earned, let me say it

21:47

that way, is really

21:49

betraying you in that circumstance. And

21:52

also, I want to share a personal story. I went

21:54

on an interview once years many

21:56

years ago, and a person

21:58

that does not look like me raved

22:02

over my resume. She told me how

22:04

qualified I was. She even

22:06

told me that I was over quiet overqualified.

22:10

And she says to me, she looks me right in the face, and

22:12

she goes, you know what. She puts her pen down,

22:14

and she goes, can I just be honest with you? And I

22:16

said, sure, of course, And she goes,

22:19

you're overqualified for this position

22:21

that you're applying for, and if

22:23

I hired you, I'd be afraid

22:26

that in a year or so that you would

22:28

take my job. She literally

22:31

said that to me in the interview, and

22:33

I couldn't believe it.

22:34

I was like, whoa.

22:37

And then I found myself in

22:39

that seat saying, oh,

22:41

no, you know, no, I wouldn't do that.

22:44

I'm not trying to you know, I'm just here for

22:46

the job that I'm applying for, you know. And I

22:48

walked out the door.

22:50

Of course I didn't get the job, right, but

22:52

I walked out the door, and I thought, oh

22:54

my gosh, what a travesty.

22:57

And in that instance, it didn't matter what

22:59

color I want was, but it was the threat

23:02

of someone who she saw as

23:04

articulate or professional or whatever. And

23:07

she's already, you know, moved us

23:09

a year down the road and said no,

23:11

I can't hire you because you're a

23:13

threat to me. And I'm like, this is

23:15

really silly. But anyway, in the case of Chantell

23:19

Sean tell Adams, I

23:21

felt sorry for her when I when I read

23:23

this article, but I also felt

23:26

empowered by her strength to

23:28

just say, you know what, You're not gonna

23:30

hold me down. You know, I know why

23:33

the cage bird sings and I'm out.

23:37

All right, Mike, let's let's get you to weigh in here.

23:40

Oh wow, I gotta follow that.

23:41

Yeah right, Nicole, you know,

23:45

yeah.

23:45

It shows the tenor of things

23:48

today because when I was growing up, I

23:51

was told that the more articulate

23:53

you are, the better chances

23:56

of you getting a job, and

23:58

so

24:01

now that's a threat. But

24:03

the thing is, I think there's a comfort

24:05

zone among people

24:08

not of color in management positions

24:10

of I wish I was on camera here

24:13

where I'm holding my hand up high. They're

24:15

here, and you're here. My

24:17

hand is now lower.

24:19

Uh.

24:20

That's where the comfort zone is. If you get

24:22

too close to where they are, you are

24:24

a threat. You're okay as long as

24:26

you're just okay. As an employee.

24:28

But if you uh, you know

24:30

that that articulation and that

24:33

smartness and all that, that is a that

24:35

is a threat. A person of color is a threat

24:38

if you're too good and that, like you said, Nicole,

24:41

a slap in the face, because you

24:43

know, the way I grew up, you

24:45

had to be those things to make it. And

24:48

for a while that was acceptable.

24:50

But now with the tenor of

24:53

the country having changed, with Anti

24:55

Dei going on right now,

24:58

I think there's a push the other

25:00

a way. You can't be too smart.

25:02

Uh.

25:03

You have to be on a level where it's

25:06

your your scene as comfortable,

25:09

you know, like in your place, I guess,

25:12

you know, in your lane, I guess, so to

25:14

speak. But that's uh that that's

25:17

the nature of that story, Nicole. It's

25:19

it's it's crazy. You're very

25:21

articulate, you know, you sound

25:23

great on the air and on the

25:25

air, yeah, you sound great on the air,

25:28

you know.

25:29

But.

25:30

I love your conversational tone. But

25:33

the the thing is, with

25:36

a voice like yours, you probably fool

25:38

a lot of people when they see you in person if they only

25:40

hear your voice at first. And that's the same

25:42

with me, and so I've run into similar things

25:45

because you listen to my voice, you can't really

25:47

tell that I may be a person of color

25:49

because that dialect, that ethnicity

25:51

is just not there. And and in

25:53

most cases, especially when I'm doing

25:55

a newscast or doing a radio presentation,

25:59

so when you're in seen

26:01

in person for the first time, it's like, oh,

26:03

like, why didn't you tell me on the phone? You

26:06

know that type of thing. So it's

26:08

it's it's crazy right

26:10

now. It's I

26:13

I'm at a loss for words up to a certain point,

26:15

and I've reached that point, so I'll leave

26:17

it there.

26:18

Yeah, yeah, last thing before I let you to go. It

26:21

appears that former CNN host Don Lemon's

26:23

latest project has been canceled by

26:25

someone who has a history of pushing

26:27

back against black culture. Mike, why don't

26:29

you tell us more about the cancelation of

26:32

Don Lemon's project and then Nicole

26:34

will come to you to close us out.

26:37

Just makes me wonder that X hire a

26:39

Lemon. But they

26:42

did, But it was Don

26:44

Lemon, a very cool

26:47

gentleman and a very smart one

26:49

too. But he has put

26:51

the really pushed to

26:53

taken the metal, the pedal to the metal

26:56

with you know, his views

26:59

on things and I think that may may

27:01

have been a little strong, too strong for Elon

27:04

Musk. Although at the outset after

27:07

he was released, after Lemon was released

27:09

from CNN, Musk

27:12

welcomed the freedom of speech, but

27:14

apparently it was a little bit too much

27:16

freedom and he pulled the plug

27:18

kind of at the last minute. It sounded like there was full

27:21

support for Lemon, and then this thing

27:24

was going to happen on March eighteenth, not long

27:26

from now, and it's not going to

27:28

happen. I think we will see the interview, I think

27:30

on other platforms, I believe YouTube or

27:33

something eventually. But right

27:35

now, that unique and

27:37

honest voice that you

27:40

know Elon Musk must Musk

27:42

talked about about Lemon. He just really

27:45

praised this guy, sung the guy's praises

27:47

and apparently either someone

27:50

must have elbowed Elon Musk or

27:52

maybe he just had a change of

27:55

heart as a result of this interview.

27:57

Now, this would be better discussed if we actually

27:59

heard the interview. We could probably get a better

28:02

perspective on why that

28:05

Musk may have changed his mind. Until we

28:07

hear that, we won't really know, but we

28:09

can only speculate that maybe his tense

28:13

interview that was described as tense at times,

28:15

but Elon Musk said, I thought it was good

28:17

for people to see and hear our exchange and

28:20

that they we'll learn from our conversation. But

28:23

you know, it's not happening. So I

28:26

think it was Lemon that said apparently free speech

28:29

doesn't apply when it comes to questions about him

28:31

from people like me. So I think

28:33

that it hit a little too close to home

28:36

some of the questions, and if you know Don

28:38

Lemon's style, that could have been

28:40

very intense. So

28:44

we have to wait to hear it, and I think our

28:47

views on that will probably explain

28:50

more about why he

28:52

is not why he's canceled before he got started.

28:55

All right, Nicole, let's get your thoughts.

28:57

Sure, it's like the previous

29:00

story. You know, I have praise,

29:02

praise, praise for you. You're a great You're

29:05

fantastic, you're a great journalist

29:07

until.

29:07

You come for me.

29:08

In any way, I

29:11

don't really have a lot to say about about this

29:13

one because we don't have the perspective

29:15

of Leomen's interview with Elon Musk,

29:18

and we won't have that until, like, like

29:20

Mike already said, I believe it's scheduled

29:23

to air on Monday, March eighteenth.

29:25

But apparently the phrase,

29:28

you know, free speech

29:31

absolutism is on both of their minds.

29:33

Uh, but to what degree and what topics?

29:38

To me, it almost seems like, uh,

29:40

there's there's a bit of sarcasm

29:43

in Leomen's online I mean, you know, maybe I'm just

29:45

this is subjective, maybe I'm reading into this, but

29:47

it almost seems like a little bit of sarcasm in Women's

29:50

online post, and

29:52

in my interpretation, moves

29:55

me toward the word hypocrite.

29:58

But again, I think I think Musk

30:01

ending the partnership after his interview

30:03

but before the podcast is

30:06

oddly coincidental. Makes

30:09

me wonder what the

30:11

financial implications are, if

30:14

any, for Leomen by him doing that. So,

30:17

you know, we just won't know. It's kind of a wait

30:19

and see. Maybe there were

30:21

some hard questions being asked

30:24

and some squirmy moments, but

30:26

again, we just won't know until the interview

30:29

goes to air.

30:30

Well, there was a couple of things that happened

30:33

that kind of give a

30:35

little bit of insight. I think you're both right, We're gonna

30:37

have to wait and see the full interview. But funnily

30:41

enough, Don Lemon went back to CNN

30:45

to report on the

30:47

interview that he did right. So

30:50

on CNN he aired a couple of clips

30:52

from the interview. One clip where he was

30:54

kind of pressing Elon Musk about

30:57

the increase in hate speech on the X

30:59

platforms since Musk's takeover and

31:03

how he felt about that and how

31:07

Musk himself had been pushing the

31:10

great replacement theory and

31:13

how problematic that was. And

31:16

you could see Elon Musk kind of

31:18

pushing back, being a little bit more agitated

31:20

in his response. You could hear it in his voice and seen in his face

31:23

that he was uncomfortable being asked about that.

31:25

And Musk was like, you know, I just don't care. You

31:27

know, we invited you here because you

31:29

know, we thought that this would be good and

31:31

that's why you're here, and you know what,

31:33

you know, and just kind of kind of trying to little

31:36

brow him a little bit. But don

31:38

Lemon wasn't really you know, he's

31:40

not really on that because he's a Titan in his

31:42

own right. And then he asked him about it

31:45

was a drug, like a prescribed drug. But

31:47

I'm not a drug guy, so I don't know the name of it. But

31:49

he was like talking about his this

31:52

this use of this prescribed drug, and just

31:55

some other things that made Musk uncomfortable.

31:57

But again these are things that Musk himself hosted

31:59

on the platform. I think to your

32:01

point that, you know,

32:04

Don Lemon seems like he

32:07

has kind of a jovial attitude

32:09

about you know, the partnership coming undone,

32:13

and you can hear that in his voice. In fact, you know, we

32:15

have a clip here, so I'll share it with you before

32:17

we close out. Hi.

32:18

Everyone, Evon Musk is

32:21

mad at me, and I just put out a statement

32:23

about what happened between him me

32:25

and the interview that he is apparently so

32:28

upset about. But make no mistake about

32:30

this. This is going to be my first episode of

32:32

The Don Lemon Show this coming Monday, March

32:34

eighteenth, so make sure you tune in. This has

32:37

not changed anything about the show except

32:39

for my relationship with Elon and X

32:41

and there there's a whole lot that went

32:43

down and I'm going to tell you about in the coming days.

32:45

I know though, that many of you were not happy

32:47

that I was doing this in the first place, and you told

32:50

me so. I just want you to know that I did

32:52

this deal because not only do I believe in free speech,

32:54

but I believed that this was the

32:56

best possible chance for the work that

32:58

I'm doing to reach the lone just amount of

33:00

people. So, speaking of free speech,

33:02

right, I thought the first person interview no brainer.

33:05

Elon Musk, the man who calls himself a

33:07

free speech absolutist, I asked

33:09

him to do it.

33:10

He willingly agreed to the interview.

33:12

Throughout our conversation, I kept reiterating

33:14

to him that although it was tense at times,

33:16

I thought it was good for people to see

33:19

and hear our exchange and that they would

33:21

learn from our conversation, learn

33:23

more about him, learn more about me. But

33:25

apparently free speech absolutism doesn't

33:27

apply when it comes to questions about him

33:30

from people like me. What did we

33:32

talk about? Why is he so upset? Does

33:35

he even have a reason to be upset? Make

33:37

sure you watch it on Monday on YouTube and everywhere

33:39

you listen to podcasts, and you can decide for yourself.

33:42

You can even watch it on next because I'm still

33:44

going to post it there and I'm sure others

33:47

will as well.

33:48

So again from

33:50

the horse's mouth right there Monday,

33:52

we'll know more. But until then, We're

33:54

just going to have to hold on, so we'll

33:57

leave it right there. Thank you both very much, as always

33:59

for your insight into these stories

34:01

and your perspective once again. Today's Gut

34:04

are Black Information Network news anchors Mike Island

34:06

and Nicole Dial. This

34:09

has been a production of the Black Information Network.

34:12

Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson. Have

34:14

some thoughts you'd like to share, use the red microphone

34:17

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34:19

you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download all

34:21

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34:23

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34:26

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34:28

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34:30

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34:32

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34:35

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