Well, we've got a question today from Melissa and she is asking. I've been performing reality checks when I wake up throughout the day, so I may catch myself doing it in a dream sometimes. Sometimes I'm not quite sure which reality checks to use. I've been doing the looking at the time and looking back to see if it's changed and trying to put my thumb through the palm of my hand, any other suggestions. Right, I can see that what might be the problem here is that you're trying too hard with the reality checks and you're doing maybe just one or two. What I would suggest to do and this will make them more likely to show up in the dream and therefore more likely to give you a lucid dream is to do a different reality check each time you do one. So, let's say you do them every two hours. The first time you would pinch your nose, try and breathe through your nose. Then two hours later, if you have a totem, maybe refer to my last video, spin your spinning top totem or use your totem in whichever way is designed to be used. Then two hours after that, do a mental reality check. Look around and ask, you know, how did I get here? What was I doing 10 minutes ago? What am I doing in 10 minutes from now? What was I planning on doing? How did I get here? Do I remember going to sleep? You know, these kind of mental reality check questions. Two hours after that, do a combination. Look at your hands. Ask yourself if they feel weird in any way. Try and push your thumb through the palm, as you said. That's a good one. That's probably my favorite one, because it works the best for me. But that's really what it's about. It's finding what works best for you. And so, what I would suggest is just to do that. Just to do a different reality check every two hours. And then notice which one or ones appear in your dream first or most. And obviously write a note of those. And also, and you should be keeping a dream diary. I'm not sure if you mentioned that in your question. But if you're not... Oh yeah, you did. Okay, so you're going to keep a dream diary still. With your dream diary entries. This is what I like to do. And this is a great way of improving your chances of becoming lucid and that sort of thing. At the very top of the dream entry, you will have the space where you should have written the date. What I like to do is write the date of the night before. And write, for example, if it's the 3rd of March. Write the 3rd of March to the 4th of March. And that would cover the 3rd of March is night. If that makes any sense. So therefore that night's dreams. And then you write the title. So description of the dream. It's about, for example, a fight scene with zombies and there's snow. Write the snowy zombie apocalypse. Something like that. You know, something that will instantly make you remember what the dream was about. Without having to read it all. And then next to the title. Write the reality check if you became lucid. That made you lucid. This is important because then you will be able to look back and see which reality check works best. And therefore which one you should use more. And refine and make more, more regular in your day. If say if one particular reality check works the best for you and it's always inducing a lucid dream in your sleep. Then focus on doing more of that reality check so that you have more of the lucid dreams. I hope this makes sense. So yeah, maybe give it a month or so. Every day do several reality checks. You know, not just one or two that you know and that you're comfortable with. Do several and make sure that they're different. But when you're doing them, don't just sort of go through the motions. I mean, I'm not sure if you do. But just for anyone out there listening, if you do a reality check and you're just sort of going through the motions and just sort of, oh yeah, am I dreaming? Yeah, no. Really, really think about it and be mindful because that's what this is all about. It's about raising your consciousness and your awareness and I don't want to sound like a correct record here. But just really be mindful. So when you're doing, for example, the pushing your finger through your palm, as you're doing it, have the intention of genuinely being able to push your finger through your palm or whatever your reality check is. If it's pinching your nose, genuinely have the intention of being able to breathe through your pinched, restricted nose. Just be mindful of it and be really focused on what you're trying to do. So don't just do that and then look around and then that's it and go about your day. Spend a good minute or two on it and really, really try and imagine the feeling of your finger going through your hand and imagine almost seeing it come through the other side or feel that in my dreams when I do this reality check I just sort of see a bulge in the hand and the thumb sort of disappears into the hand but then this part sort of bulges out and that's when I know it's worked. Whereas in real life, it's always the same resistance. It always feels the same and it always is impossible, of course, to push the thumb through. So be mindful of it and while you're doing this bring your eyes into focus and really look at what you're doing. Look at what's around you. Look at the objects and the people and what's going on in the world around you. Does it seem normal? Does it seem like it could be a dream? Are the curtains made of plants, for example? Just a random example, but are there things flying around in the air that shouldn't be flying around? Are the people acting how people should be acting? Are they acting normally? What are you doing? Where are you sitting? Just be mindful of what you're doing and the space around you and it'll be more likely to work and it'll be more likely to show up in a dream and therefore activate the part of your mind that's responsible for awareness. So I hope this has answered the question, Melissa. If you have any questions, please send them in. If you haven't already subscribed, please go ahead and subscribe right now. The link is right here, seriously. It'll take two seconds. It will mean a lot to me and it will help you because I'll be able to give you lots of interesting information, tips, advice, tricks, lessons, techniques, all of that stuff. So go ahead and subscribe. Thank you for watching. I'll see you in the next video.


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Three, two, one. I belong, I belong to you. Hi guys, Raif Darazi here. Today I want to talk about what's been going on recent events in Afghanistan and just processing that as I'm sure a lot of people are. I'm sure a lot of people aren't. I'm sure it's, you know, for a lot of people it's just a headline and it's terrible and then we kind of continue on about our day.   I, when I'm driving I tend to listen to NPR and, you know, I'm hearing the personal accounts, the stories, the reports, the talking with politicians and things like that. So I'm always kind of have some feelers into current events for many reasons, but one of those reasons is that I can stay grounded in what is happening on this tiny little planet that we're living on, not just because it may affect me directly or affect our country directly in a very tangible way, but also just for my own psyche and my own perspective of the world so that I'm not, you know, lost in a bubble as it were, which is easy to do, especially here in the US, especially here in California, especially here in Los Angeles. So I was driving home from work today and I was listening to NPR and there was this Afghan woman who was recording herself over the past several days and just sharing intimately her emotions with what she was experiencing with the fall of all these different cities of not knowing what was gonna happen from moment to moment, not being able to sleep, not wanting to sleep for fear of missing something terrible or extreme happening and checking with friends and family and not just that immediate reality for her, but also the implications of what was happening of the Taliban retaking control of her entire way of life for the last 20 years as it had been built to be free in ways that she never had experienced before and I'm focusing on this woman because I feel like she is probably a very good example of how a lot of women, especially young women, are feeling in Afghanistan, having had this dream of being a free woman who can navigate her life freely as she sees fit in this country for 20 years, 20 years being as long as the US was there since its invasion in 2001, post September 11th and how suddenly, essentially overnight, all of that is disappearing, all those dreams, her way of life, the culture. Regardless of where you stand politically, how you think this was handled diplomatically, militarily, all of that stuff aside, the people who are affected by this the most, the people who have the least say in it are the Afghan people, the everyday people. That's who I immediately focus on and the humanity behind this crisis just really gut wrenched me as I was listening to this story and as I've been listening to the stories and watching news accounts and videos and reading stories and articles, et cetera. Ad nauseam, as anyone of us could do for 24 seven for I don't know how long, because there's will be so much that is out there that's put out there by media, by personal accounts, by social media. And so I asked myself, how does someone like me who is naturally fairly empathic not get completely bogged down and weighed down by this news coverage by all these accounts that are gonna be rolling in and then just feel this sense of despair for humanity and the cynicism, negativity, loss of hope, which oftentimes for someone like me ends up getting reflected on my own life and my own psyche and my own sense of wellbeing. And I find that in these times, I always come back to one thing and that one thing is gratitude. Gratitude is the most impactful way to change my perspective without diminishing or invalidating what's happening, right? So me being grateful for my life and the things that I have and the freedoms that I have and the privilege that I have doesn't invalidate, negate, diminish what is happening in Afghanistan into those people. I saw these images on the news of storefronts where there used to be women who were not fully covered as advertisements, as commercials, normal at that time, normal nowadays, and they were painted over because they knew that the Taliban were coming and that's just an omen for how life is changing and has changed. And it made me think of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I've never read the novel. I have seen the show. I'm totally caught up on it. And I think that's probably, for most of us here in the US, the most accessible way for us to try to relate to what it might feel like, to live your life accustomed to certain freedoms and then to have those freedoms taken away violently and to be living in a literal hellscape, a nightmare land and to see other Western countries around you standing by not doing anything, not helping you and you just wondering why isn't anyone helping us? Why is anyone stopping these atrocities from happening? These countries that purport to support freedom are leaders in the world not doing anything and just how maddening that might feel and then to have to go to your about your daily life kind of living in this oppressed state when inside you're so used to a certain level of freedom. And I mean, that show for me is horrific. Just to try to even like fathom what that might be like is beyond anything I can or mentally will allow myself to feel. If you haven't seen the show, definitely watch it. It's a great show. It's powerful. But I think it's prescient and I think it relates to a lot of things that are going on in our world today and God forbid something like that doesn't ever happen here in the US. I think a lot of us take freedom for granted and we take the life that we live here in the US for granted and then, oh, it can't change. Oh, we're too powerful. Oh, but I think that that kind of tyranny oppression is always just a couple of knocks away and we always have to be cognizant of that. And I think that aids in our ability to be grateful for what we do have. And then on top of having all these rights taken away and your way of living, there's this insidious thing that happens in countries of oppression. It's called brain drain. It's been happening already in Afghanistan, but this takes it to a whole other level and brain drain is just a term for when the young, highly skilled, highly educated, more prosperous segments of society leave and flee to other countries where, you know, they can live happier lives. And what's left in the populace of these countries just makes any hope for future prosperity so much harder. It's an uphill battle at that point and it's hard to stop that cycle once it happens. Once people start fleeing for other countries, it has devastating effects. And the final note that I wanna touch on is the sheer number of people who, when the US was there, were working for the US, for the military, who were serving as interpreters, journalists, you know, putting their lives on the line, trusting that they were investing in their country's future or in a way out for themselves.  They and their families are in real danger. And the fact that so many of them have been left there to their own devices to try to figure out what the heck they're gonna do. And also they're not to mention their families. And I'm just like, I can't believe that we have just left them there.  Not just the people that, you know, worked with the US forces, but then there are people who are on social media, who are activists, who are educators, who are politicians who don't align with the beliefs and the tenets of what the Taliban have set forth and are therefore also in danger. I just keep coming back to how do I stay grounded with all of this?  And again and again and again, I'm just reminded to come back to gratitude, gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. Looking around in my office at work, all the women, at least in the office, working at my job, you know, going about living their lives, me going about living my life. I'm a gay man with HIV and I rarely seldomly worry about my physical safety.  Getting to create videos like this and share them online with you and create these communities where I don't have to fear for my life. I can't imagine that, you know. I have my gratitude journal and I've been struggling with mental health lately and I need to get back to this. So it's important in times like this, for those of you who are like me, to be able to take every on-front-facing value negative event that happens in life and to how do I turn that into a positive for me? How do I turn that into something that's gonna help me grow, evolve, become better? And so for me, oftentimes the answer to that is gratitude. If I'm grateful, I am happier, I'm centered, I'm more in the present and I'm able to do what I've been put here to do and it gives me that purpose too in that drive. Like why am I doing what I'm doing? Why is it important? It's so easy to get caught up into the routine and the rhythm of life and then get blinders on.   So to be able to get out of that and like start fresh and kind of see things clearly and then reframe the narrative in my head. You know, like how do I talk to myself? What, how do I feel about myself? What are the things that I tell myself and say to myself constantly on a daily basis? What's that track inside my head saying is it helping me or is it hurting me? Gratitude helps me to have that grounding. My heart goes out to the Afghan people, those of you who live there, who used to live there, who have family or friends from there and for the rest of us, it's important to be aware of what's happening in the world. It's important to be informed and it's important to remember the humanity behind these stories and behind these headlines and to take a moment to allow ourselves to feel that, to feel that connection between other people around the world and not just some factoid that we read on paper or here in the news and then to be able to take that and then to do something productive with it, not just sweep it aside and continue on about our lives. That's my two cents on that. I wanted to share that maybe somewhere in the middle of all that rambling, there is something of use. Maybe you can relate to some of that, to experiencing some of that. I feel like a larger proportion of my followers, my viewers probably are a little bit more empathic than the general population as I am and that's why you resonate with my content and with me. Oh, I do want to say a thank you to Peppermint for this lovely LED light here, Praying Hands. It's kind of an inside joke because I'm always wearing this blue hat. I might have worn it in some of these videos with Praying Hands on it and I often will send Praying Hands emojis and I just like it if I vibe with it. It's the gratitude thing, right? So Peppermint kind of is like, what's going on with this Praying Hands thing? Why are you always Praying Hands? I don't get it. And I just kind of explained it to her a little bit and I told her that I wanted to get like a neon looking LED sign and she's like, I'll get it for you. And she sent it to me and I just got it. So I haven't put it up yet, but it's there. It's leaning and I love it. So thank you Peppermint and thank you for always supporting me in what I do and believing in me and the things that I'm passionate about and that means a lot. I realized that I forgot to do comment of the day lately. I'm gonna revisit that because I wanna start that again. So in the next video, I will end with a comment from one of you and I will react to it, talk about it on the video. In the meantime, please like this video if you liked it. Subscribe if you haven't already. Please share this channel with friends, family, loved ones who you feel might benefit from the content, might relate, might be empathic like us and I will see you next time.


Hello, everyone. I am here with 2020 congressional candidate from New Jersey's eighth congressional district His name is Hector Oseguera, and he's running against Albio Cirrus, and he's here to talk about his campaign Hector Thank you so much for coming on the program Thank you for having me on really happy to talk to you. Yeah, you're the third. I want to say Politician from New Jersey who I have interviewed and all of them have been recommended by Russ here in Tione So shout out to him also was on the program as well So your history is very interesting You're you're a millennial and you kind of follow this political trajectory where in 2014 you volunteered for Elizabeth Warren's senatorial campaign 2016 Bernie's presidential campaign 2018 AOC's congressional campaign and now you're running yourself in 2020 So I as someone who would never want to run for Congress. I view this as like tremendous self-sacrifice So what made you want to step up and run for Congress? Because I think this is something that is uh, it's very noble considering I just would find it horrible to do Well, I really appreciate that and like I said, thank you for having me on what really made me want to run is Sort of this political awakening I've been interested in politics my whole life I was a polycyne major and Public policy is always something that I've really cared about and I come from a poor immigrant community So there are a lot of issues that are constantly on the forefront with us. Not just immigration, but wages Labor rights a whole host of issues that are always affecting the community gun violence is big where I live and I think it's just time for people who are sick and set up with this system to step up and do something about it I live in an area that's a hundred percent Democrats almost completely run by Democrats And so for a long time a lot of people were sort of complacent and thought that everything was okay, right? Because even if national politics are sort of screwed up, we have all these Democrats and they'll protect us But what started happening with me is I started digging into our local politicians And I started coming up against these really bad horror stories. So my opponent I'll be all theorized He was my hometown mayor. I was raised in the smallest city in America It's called West New York, New Jersey, right? And that is because we are directly west of Manhattan it is a one square mile city and My congressman had activists go to his office When the ICE detention centers were making headlines and these activists made a very pragmatic ask of him They said would you At least vote to reign in ice spending, right? And I'm telling you this is a heavily Democratic district mostly immigrants mostly Hispanic, right? So what do you think someone like that would say right? They'd be like, okay, sure He says absolutely not he says ice does great work And I will never vote to cut a single dollar from ice. That's his Response to activists asking him in the height of the immigrant detention center crisis that's his response to the activists and So the more I dug into it the more horror stories I came up with about my congressman and I just decided that it's about time He didn't have a primary challenger in 2018 So I didn't want this election cycle to go by and for people to feel like this guy's doing such a great job That he doesn't even deserve a challenge. So that's really what made me want to run and to run against him specifically Yeah, that's that's a really great thing to say a lot of people like in Congress they they become complacent They hold fewer and fewer town halls as the years go by and people just get comfortable You think oh, it's a Democrat. So they're gonna represent me, but I mean for someone like that To I mean for one I think that every single politician should commit to wanting to abolish ice But if you can't at a minimum admit to like cutting funds to ice You're irredeemable like your career should be over So I'm so glad that you stepped up like I always like whenever somebody comes on I thank them for running for Congress because it's just such it's such a huge thing to do to put yourself through to kind of Sacrifice your time when you know, you're a regular working American So it's difficult to find time to do this But we have to have people step up politicians have gone on for too long haven't been checked and I'm so glad that people across the country are You know just rising up and they're finally challenging them because these Democrats They benefited from having a D in front of their names and they just kind of felt comfortable But now I think that they're learning we're not going to just accept the status quo We're not going to accept, you know, you barely representing your district and keeping that seat warm. It's unacceptable So I'm so glad that people are starting starting to finally like rise up So I want to learn a little bit about yourself because you have a really robust campaign I've said this before a lot of congressional candidates Have better campaigns than the people running for president Um, a lot of people running for president yours is no different, of course Um, so I wanted you to talk through your campaign and on top of that I wanted you to talk a little bit about yourself because you have like this typical millennial story that I feel like really resonates with people myself included um because you you graduated law school And you couldn't find a job you had to work at five guys. Thankfully you ended up getting a job You're currently an anti-money laundering specialist. So just tell us a little bit about yourself And um a little bit about your platform as well and kind of like how your personal story influenced your current platform because I always think that that's really interesting Yeah, so I think all these things tie in together. So let's just start with uh, the lack of representation, right? My congressman, he has never held a single town hall and is never going to hold one. That's his stated stand So that is off the rip one of the things that really gets my blood boiling about the lack of representation, right?  They're all these systems where you have a county boss Who controls everything from the board of education up to the senator, right? And I grew up in this system and everybody's a democrat. So you sort of assume everything's okay I go away to college and I Go I went to bu and I start meeting all these leftists and I start getting involved in sort of Progressive politics and learning a lot more I eventually found my way to law school like you said and yeah, I come out of law school and the job market is crappy So what ends up happening is I have to pay for rent. I have needs that need to be fulfilled So yeah, what do I do? I had to take a job at five guys. I'm flipping burgers with uh, you know a jb and Like you said, that's a kind of typical millennial story Being hispanic and sort of like being from this blue collar Community my dad was a blue collar worker his whole life. He was a truck driver. He was a taxi cab driver He did he was a plumber. He was a handyman. He did every blue collar job under the sun And so I've never had this sort of like elitist. Oh, well, I have a degree so I can't do that, right? Like that's just not in my reality. That's not in my work ethic so When times got hard I had to get to doing things and I took a job at five guys You know, I'm flipping burgers for a few months and eventually I was able to find a job How I ended up in anti-money laundering is that while I was in law school I had this wonderful professor. Her name is elizabeth spawn and I really owe everything to her Professor spawn if you're listening. I love you. You are the reason I'm here today And she actually is on a list in china Whenever she goes to china, she's followed around by their government because she's heavy into the anti-corruption space She does a lot of writing about anti-corruption and anti-money laundering in general and what I came to see is that corruption Is the sort of in the backdrop of all the issues that affect us if you're talking about Healthcare if you're talking about education if you're talking about the war machine There's always this person in the background who's pulling these strings and the strings are always money that it's always money And it's never legitimate money. It's always money that they've stolen either or gained Illegitimately and now in their quest to make that money look legitimate They engage in all these corrupt activities that end up really hurting working class people Like me and like the people in my community. So one of the key pillars of our platform is affordable housing, right? Why is it so hard to find affordable housing where I live in hudson county or in new york city, right? What you have is all these developments going up these real estate developers are putting up these high rises these luxury High rises and they cost so much, right? So i'm an attorney, right? I Tend to be doing better than the average person Just because of the position that I hold and even I could absolutely never afford One of these high rises one of these condos no way in hell could I afford these things? So who's affording these things, right? You have all these investors coming in. There was a scandal with trump Bringing paying I think it was about a half a million dollars to get these investors coming in from china you have a lot of Corrupt people trying to bring their money into the united states and so what they'll do is they'll buy up all these High rises they'll buy up all these condos nobody lives there But nobody cares because all the right people are getting paid off so Affordable housing is because of corruption if you go into health care the insurance industries It's because of corruption if you go into almost any issue that progressives are talking about today immigration labor rights Any issue that you go into you eventually come up with a guy with a ton of money who's trying to hide it And that's so interesting and i'm glad that you have this background like i'm never someone on my show My audience knows this who will you know command that anyone running for congress have like the right type of experience and whatnot But I think that it's so Neat that you're an anti money laundering specialist because you kind of see like a behind the you know The curtain look that we all don't really get to see like you understand all of these underlying mechanisms That lead to corruption and I think that probably arms you with more knowledge than most people in congress going in To be able to take on these crooks, which I think is great. So, um, I kind of want to expand the conversation Let's talk a little bit about your worldview very very big question But generally speaking like let's say you're elected to congress Um, what would you hope to fix? Are we looking at structurally uh short term long term? Like what do you want to accomplish? Let's say within your first term and what are like long term goals that you think the left can and should accomplish Great question. So there are a couple big ticket items like, uh Medicare for all that I would jump right on to so promila jaya polls bill and bernie sanders bill is Something that I would start pushing day one. We're gonna get that passed in my first term Beyond that now that we're talking up on the anti money laundering stuff I would be really big on a 21st century glass seagull act a 21st century antitrust act antitrust was one of those really important classes that I took in law school that Again gives you that uh behind the curtain look at what are these mega corporations doing in the background? That is so anti competitive, right? So america's supposed to be this capitalist bastion Free markets, right? But what you don't see what you don't hear that much about is all the monopoly power that exists in our economy Which actually makes it not really much of a free market at all. We're actually living under a bunch of corporate thief dumps corporate masters who Are heavily invested in not having any competition in their market because that'll mess up their bottom line It's the same thing with health care, right? Why is there? Only a few Insurance companies when you look at the insurance market what you have is a bunch of state by state monopolies Which is the reason why we can't get affordable health care in this country. It's one of the big reasons So a 21st century glass seagull I'm really interested in the stock act the stop trading on congressional knowledge acts Because what you also end up seeing is a lot of Politicians will go into congress and they will start regulating an industry, right? Now lo and behold the day that they leave congress They will go into being a lobbyist for that very same industry. So john vaner. I think is the best example It was essentially the tobacco industry's congressman as soon as he left congress He became the tobacco industry's lobbyist So that's something that we really need to cut back on like a hundred percent You have a lot of things very similar to that not quite as blatant, but someone's my background definitely has the tools to buy the sort of lobbyist powers because You know publicly funded elections is another one I'm basically trying to get the money out of politics I guess is the big banner you could put that under but that comes under a lot of Shapes and sizes depending on whether we're talking about electoral politics or whether we're talking about You know in the legislative acts of being uh in congress Yeah, I wanted to ask you because the way that you break down like corruption and the way it works It's really simplistic and it helps people like me understand like I have a very broad sense of like What to look for but you kind of really know all the intricacies and nuances of it So when you talk to people, you know when you're knocking on doors and whatnot What's the response because whenever you see like a populist type of campaign in any country, not just the u.s Anti-corruption is usually like at the top of their agenda because people around the world see that global capitalism has corrupted a lot of Institutions everywhere and I would imagine that the response to that Especially knowing who the incumbent is currently it's got to be like you've got to be making a lot of people You know uh want to jump on board with your campaign, right? Like what's the response? Yeah, well, you know, you're not going to make a lot of news talking about corruption in new jersey, right? It's sort of like a running dope that new jersey is like politically corrupt and there is so much we could touch upon in that regard Specifically with my district, right? So one quick story. I'll tell you about is that um, like I said the part of new jersey where I exist is run like a bunch of systems and my congressman Basically has Go down the line the line is something that we probably will talk about It's a mechanism that the establishment uses to perpetuate itself in new jersey But essentially what you have is that these higher end politicians your senators your congressman Will go down to the local level the police the firefighters the teachers the crossing guards And they basically make them feel as if they are only in their position Because that politician sort of pityed them and gave them a job, right? And so you find a lot of Local teachers who you know get into it for all the right reasons. They love children They want to teach and then a couple months into their job They'll come to find out that they have to go canvassing for their local politician Not kidding and These sorts of things Constantly repeat themselves throughout new jersey politics Uh, these are mechanisms that the establishment uses to continually perpetuate themselves So the response is amazing because people know what's going on It's it's like an open secret, right? Everybody knows what these politicians do There was a story that broke not that long ago about people in a town in my district Where the local party boss had people who lived in different towns had moved away years ago But still maintained an address in that town and they would come back and vote there They lived they usually had another address somewhere else in the district.   I see and I think that it resonates with people because for members of congress There's this sense of entitlement like they are the ones who are elected there And if you want to be the next person, you've got to wait your turn You've got to pull all the right strings get to know all the right people and it's so frustrating And to see someone kind of like buck that type of orthodoxy if you will it's really nice um So I want to ask you because you you kind of touched on something that I think makes up a lot of the issues that Americans have with congress So people don't want to take action That help them get elected. So an example is health care, of course, you know A lot of democrats and republicans, but democrats specifically who don't support medicare for all They take money from private health insurers big pharma and then in turn they don't support policies like medicare for all And this is specifically because you know, if they support that policy Then all that donations go away and that reduces the chance that they get elected because if you want to get elected in america or reelected You need money. So my question for you is strategically speaking How do you convince them if that's even possible?  Like what do you think is the best way because I kind of feel like it's in, you know, all Kitchen sink approach. Let's do all of that. But I don't necessarily know what will actually be conducive to victory So what's kind of your plan going in? okay, so I kind of shy away from what conducive to victory because nobody knows What's going to win here, right? We have to do everything we can so I support all the primary challengers You mentioned the other new jersey Primary challengers that you had on russ and zina who I know well and who I'm completely behind But yes When we're in office, we do have to so this is from my anti-corruption career But you have to name and shame them, right? So we have to say This person is taking money from this industry A great one from new jersey is somebody who's running for president quarry boker Someone who I don't support personally because he takes a ton of money from the pharmaceutical industry And that's been well known in jersey for a very long time. So yeah, you have to name and shame them You have to say this person takes money from this industry and that's why they won't vote the way that they should Yeah, and I love that naming and shaming. I think it's important And the reason why like we don't see more of that is because like nobody can really name and shame in congress because they're all corrupt Like aoc yeah, they're all doing Yeah aoc can name and shame, but like if you're let's say you're in congress and you're donald norcross another corrupt Politician from new jersey.  Oh, yeah He's gonna name himself Exactly.  So it's frustrating. So this is why I think like for the first time I feel like cautiously optimistic I stress the cautious because so many people are like standing up and running for congress like I remember back in 2016 When I just started the humanist report, I could count like the number of progressives primarying Uh other democrats like on one hand now It's impossible to keep track and I've brought on like almost 30 people on the program including yourself now So it's it's so exciting because it feels like Finally, there's this sense that America is waking up But my question to you is and this is something that I genuinely don't know the answer to How do we keep the movement sustained?  But I kind of want to get a little bit grim for a moment if you're if you'll indulge Um, so let's say the worst case scenario happens. Um, let's say that we lose in 2020 and trump is reelected How do we keep the movement like galvanized because that's one thing that I'm worried about like Demoralization and just apathy and cynicism. It makes it really difficult Like it's a huge barrier and I don't think that people talk about that enough So how do you keep this momentum going even if it feels like, you know, the situation is hopeless Just from your experience because you're an organizer. You're an activist So what would you say to that because I genuinely don't know it's hard to like keep people um, you know Feeling encouraged on my show when it's like I report bad news after bad news after bad news. So what do you what would you say? Yeah, no, that's a very legit question And I think what we're doing now is that we have a plan for the alternative, right? So Yeah, we're always planning for yet a 2020 bernie gets elected There's a progressive sweep of all congress and we're all in office, right? But I think aoc is actually the model for this is that when you're in that position of power You don't let your foot off the gas. We can't get complacent, right? Because in a lot of ways complacency is what brought us trump, right? All this complacency about the obama years and sort of feeling like oh, we won we won the ideological war The right has been defeated and you know, rainbows and butterflies forever That is what got us trumped because that opens the floodgates for people to organize And to fight back against us. So I think aoc and the squad in general They are the model for what we're doing. They have not let their foot off the gas They've been you know causing mayhem left and right and we're loving it and that's what we have to do, right? Worst case scenario everybody loses 2020 trump has reelected worst case scenario, right? What we do is that we get out in the streets the very next day. We apply pressure We make phone calls, you know, it's it's basically a continuation of the energy that's going on now Because there is a tremendous amount of progressive energy out there And it's going to go somewhere in that worst case scenario, right? Those people are not going to just poof out of existence. They're going to be somewhere. They're going to have priorities There are So many groups that I speak to on a daily basis that have been sort of doing this long slog for a long time when it I mean, if it's uh domestic workers, right if it's gun violence These are people that have been in the trenches fighting these fights for a long time with no fame and no glory And just the sweat on their brow and these little victories that they can pick together. So worst case scenario Talk to people in our communities and let them know that we're not going to go away because they're not going to go away And these problems are not going to go away. So Just applying the pressure and not letting your foot off the gas. I think is the best Sort of contingency plan. Yeah, I would agree with that You know, it's um, it's easy to kind of see where we went wrong At least for myself because like you said, we were complacent after obama. I think generally speaking You know, for me, I was in college. I was working at blockbuster and subway while in college and it's like, okay He's elected. I could just kind of hang out now, but that's not really the way the politics works That's not the way that change happens. And then you do kind of see You know these little windows of opportunity. We had the occupy movement and now with the bernie sanders movement I think that what he created will persist throughout the years. I really do feel confident about that And like you said, it really it comes down to leadership from progressives like aoc that we now have that we didn't really have before Who are very visible and I think that really does make a difference like having people represent a movement It does help. Um, so let me ask you this by now. Anyone who's watching is going to be convinced They're gonna want to support you. So what can we do to make sure you are elected? Give us your pitch and tell us what we can do and where to go Well, if you want to support you can go to my website, which is also get out 2020 my last name also get out 2020.com Please donate sign up to volunteer if you live in new jersey anywhere in new jersey Specifically in my district. Please look me up. I'm very responsive on social media Someone from my team will get back to you where you know, this is going to be a push of all of us So if you're interested if you care about these issues, please sign up Donate uh sign up to volunteer sign up to canvas with us. We'll be canvassing and elizabeth on saturday We have a meet and greet and we halk in next week. We're just you know, really hitting the campaign trail hard We're not going to leave this up to chance. This is a campaign to win We're fighting to defeat the democratic establishment. That is what this is about and if that's something that people are interested in I you know, I will beg you to sign up Do anything you can to push this movement along Absolutely. Well, we will leave that there hector. Thank you so much for coming on the program. It's been a pleasure We will be watching and rooting for you, man Thank you so much my pleasure