Hi everyone, welcome to this talk. My name is Vasrin Hadipur, and I'm going to present our paper entitled Improved Rectangular Tax on Skinny and Craft, which is joint work with Nessu Bahri and Ling Sank. I've divided my talk into six parts. As you can see, I will start with giving a short introduction to boomerang sandwich extinguishers, and then I will introduce our new method to search for sandwich extinguishers for espion black ciphers. Next, I will brief the review of the BCD framework and introduce our new method tools in BCD framework. Then I will discuss about the application of our method on to lightweight espion black ciphers, including craft and skinny, and lastly conclude the talk by summarizing our main contributions in this work. Let's start by the first part, where I'm going to give a short introduction to boomerang and sandwich extinguishers. Given the black cipher E is black size of n bits, if we have a long differential transition with probability smaller than 2 to the minus n, we cannot exploit it to distinguish black cipher E from random permutation. However, what if we can divide the black cipher E into two smaller parts, namely E0 and E1, such that for each of which there exists a differential transition with a very high probability? For example, in this case, what if there exist differential transitions for E0 and E1 with probability p and q respectively, such that p is square q square is much greater than 2 to the minus n? The core idea of boomerang kept analysis is combining these two short differential transitions in adaptively chosen plaintext cipher testing to build a distinguisher for black cipher. In boomerang kept analysis, it is assumed that the attacker has access to both encryption and decryption oracles. Let's see how boomerang distinguisher work. In boomerang distinguisher, we firstly provide a pair of plaintexts with difference delta and ask the encryption of these pair of plaintexts to derive the corresponding cipher taste C1 and C2. As you can see, the differential transitions delta 1 to delta 2 is happened with probability p. Next, we apply the same difference and derive the cipher taste C1 and C2 to generate two new cipher tastes namely C3 and C4. And then we query the decryption of C3 and C4 to derive the corresponding plaintext which are denoted by p3 and p4. And then we check the difference between p3 and p4 to see whether the difference between them is delta 1 or not. If the differential transitions in the upper part are independent of the differential transitions in the lower part, the probability of observing delta 1 on the other side of this shape is actually the multiplication of the probability of these four differential transitions which is actually equal to p2 qs2. However, the upper differential transition in boomerang kept analysis or in boomerang distinguisher is not independent of the lower differential transition in practice. The dependency between the upper and lower differential transitions can have either a positive or a negative effect and the resulting boomerang distinguisher. For example, Faisal switch which was first introduced in the seminal paper of boomerang kept analysis by Wagner or ladder switch and spike switches are some kind of dependencies that has a positive effect and the resulting boomerang distinguisher. Using which attacker can derive a boomerang distinguisher with a higher probability? On the other side, dependency between the upper and lower differential transitions can have a negative effect and, for example, implies some kinds of inconsistencies between the upper and lower differential transitions which spoiled the boomerang distinguisher. Therefore, considering and formalizing the dependency between the upper and lower differential transitions in boomerang distinguisher is of great significance. That's why the idea of sandwich distinguisher was proposed. As you can see in this shape, in sandwich distinguisher, instead of dividing the black cipher into two slice we divide it into three slices, including E0, EM and E1. Where the middle slice is considered to model the dependency between the upper and lower differential transitions. In the sandwich distinguisher, the probability of getting delta 1 on the other side is p square q square r, where r is computed using this formula and r is actually the probability of sending boomerang over the middle slice and getting it back on the other side. Given that the intermediate differences in sandwich distinguisher, namely delta 2 and delta 3 can take an arbitrary possible value, taking the clustering effect into account we can estimate the probability of sandwich distinguisher using this formula more accurately. As you can see, this formula is actually the summation of this product over all of the possible intermediate difference values. Now, I want to draw your attention to the middle slice of sandwich distinguisher and discuss in more detail about one of the switching effects which is called ladder switch and plays an important role in our method to search for sandwich distinguisher. This shape represents the middle slice of sandwich distinguisher and you can see that the probability of boomerang switch over the middle slice is computed using this formula. It can be seen that if delta 2, which is actually the difference coming from the upper differential transition, is 0, then the probability of boomerang switch is 1. It is also the case when nobletree is equal to 0. As a result, if you compare these shapes, as a result, you can see that the probability of boomerang switch over the middle slice is highly dependent on the common activist boxes between the upper and lower differential transitions. And then the entire probability of sandwich distinguisher is actually determined by the number of activist boxes over E0 and E1 as well as the common activist boxes over the middle part. More precisely, in P square Q square R formula, P is mostly determined by the number of activist boxes in E0, Q is mostly determined by the number of activist boxes in E1 and R is mostly determined by the number of common activist boxes between the upper and lower differential transitions in EM. Taking this formula into account, you can see that the cost of activist boxes over the outer parts, namely E0 and E1, is more than the cost of activist boxes over the middle part because the exponent of P and Q in this formula are 2 raised to the exponent of R is 1. With this brief introduction, I'm going to introduce our new method to search for sandwich distinguishers for SVM black ciphers. Our method to search for sandwich distinguishers can be divided into three main steps. The first step, which is actually the most important step, is devoted to finding two appropriate upper and lower differential trades, minimizing the number of activist boxes in outer parts as well as the number of common activist boxes in the middle part. I will discuss about this step in more details in the next slides. The second step of our method is instantiating the discovered truncated trades with concrete differential trade. And finally, when we have concrete differential trades in hand, we can compute P, Q, and R and put them together in P, S, Q, S, R formula to compute the internal probability of sandwich distinguisher. Let's take a look at the first step in more detail. The aim of first step is finding appropriate truncated upper and lower trades. To do so, we divide the black cipher in two three parts, including E0, E1, and E1. Next, we encode the propagation of truncated differential trades over the first R0 plus Rm rounds with an MLP problem. We do the same for last Rm plus R1 rounds and encode the propagation of truncated differential trades over Em and E1 with another MLP problem. Now we have two independent MLP models with independent binary variables. Next, to detect the common active sparks in the middle, we define some additional variables such as S here and then assuming that you denote the activities of sparks in the upper trail and L denotes the activities of sparks in lower trail, we link these two MLP models to each other by including these three inequalities for each sparks in the middle into our MLP model. According to these three inequalities, you can see that S is equal to 1 if and only if U and L are both equal to 1. It means that S is equal to 1 if the corresponding sparks in the middle is active in both upper and lower trail. Therefore, using this technique, we can detect and characterize the common active sparks in the middle. Taking these constraints into account, we also define an objective function aiming at minimizing the number of common active sparks in the middle as well as the number of active sparks in the outer parts. We also assign some weights to the, for example, active sparks in outer parts as well as active sparks in the middle part to adjust the probability of the resulted sandwich extinguisher. We can, for example, play with the weight of active sparks to drive wound-range extinguishers with different probabilities. After discovering to appropriate truncated upper and lower trails, we come to the second step where we instantiate the truncated trails with concrete differential trails. After, for example, instantiating the truncated differential trails, we compute P, Q, and R, and, for example, we do it by fixing the differences at the input-output of each single slice in the sandwich extinguisher. And next, we put P, Q, and P, Q, R together in PS squared, Q, S squared, R formula to compute the entire probability. It should be noted that we never use differential characteristic to build our distinguisher. As you can see in this shape, we only fix the differences in four positions of sandwich extinguishers, which are the connecting points between the three slices of sandwich extinguisher. The probability, the differential effect, for example, over E0 and E1, which are denoted by P and Q, can be computed using the automatic methods for differential kept analysis. However, to compute the probability of boomerang switch over the middle slice, we need a new framework, which is actually the BCT framework. BCT framework provides for us some new tools, which makes us able to formulate the probability of boomerang switch over the middle slice of sandwich extinguisher. This shape represents the boomerang switch where it includes only one slice layer. And on the right-hand side, you can see the four involved differences in this boomerang switch. Besides the DDT, using which we formulate the probability of differential trails in basic differential kept analysis, BCT framework introduced a new table, which is called BCT, and it actually encode the dependency between the upper and lower differential transitions for one spark layer, as you can see. However, BCT can only be used to formulate the dependency when the boomerang switch includes only one spark layer. To encode the dependency between upper and lower differential trails in boomerang switch where it includes multiple rounds, we need some further tools, which are actually upper BCT and lower BCT. Using these building blocks of BCT framework, we can formulate the probability of boomerang switch over the middle slice of sandwich extinguishers. However, in addition to these tables, we also introduced a new table, which is called double boomerang connected to table, which is denoted by dbcity in this slide. And dbcity is very useful to compactly formulate the dependency between the upper and lower differential transitions over multiple rounds. We defined different variants of dbcity, for example, dbcity left, dbcity right, and dbcity. Now, we come to the end of this part, and we are ready to discuss about the application of our method for craft. Craft is a lightweight, tickled by Cypher, which was introduced in FS8 2019, and this shape represents the round function of craft. The black size of craft is 64 bits, and the tweaked size of craft is 128 bits. As you can see in this shape, the round function of craft applies five basic operations on the internal state, which includes the diffusion layer, as well as the non-linear layer. The internal state can be viewed as a 4x4 area of nibbles, and the non-linear layer includes the... for example, is consistent of applying the same formulas versus on every single nibble. And the diffusion layer includes, for example, some XORs between the rows, and, for example, 2EK addition, and round constant addition, as well as a pyramid nibbles, which is a permutation over the position of nibbles. I just skipped the description of 2EK schedule of craft because our boomerang distinguishers are in the single 2EK setting. This shape represents our six round, deterministic distinction for craft, which is discovered by our tool and our method. Yellow square in this shape represents non-zero differences, and green square represents any possible difference, which means that in green square, the difference can be zero or non-zero due to the differential cancellation over the diffusion layer. This shape represents the activeness pattern over the upper trail of sandwiches single share. And this shape represents the activeness pattern over the lower trail. Now let's put them together in one shape. As you can see, there is not any interaction or any common active sparks between the upper and lower trail. And as a result, due to the ladder switch, the probability of this distinguisher is one. This is another example, which is actually the seven round distinguisher for craft. And interestingly, it can be extended up to 14 rounds of craft, like this. Now let's take a look at the middle slice of this shape to see how we formulate the probability of boomerang switch over the middle part. If we follow the propagation of upper and lower crossing differences over the middle slice of this shape, we can see that the probability of boomerang switch in the middle slice can be encoded using four DBC tables, as well as some additional DDT, which is a very compact formulation of probability of boomerang switch over several rounds of craft. This table summarizes our boomerang distinguishers for craft. And probabilities which are marked in red have been experimentally verified. As you can see, in comparison to the differential kept announces of craft, the boomerang distinguishers have a great advantage. For example, let's compare our 10 round boomerang distinguisher with a 10 round differential effect of craft. As you can see, the probability of our 10 round boomerang distinguisher is 2 to the minus 19, 0.83, whereas the probability of 10 round differential effect of craft is 2 to the minus 44, which reveals that boomerang distinguishers have a great advantage over the differential distinguishers for these rounds of craft. We also applied our method to a skinny in the related tweak setting to find boomerang distinguishers. A skinny is a lightweight to equilibrate ciphers and has different variants, depending on the black size of a skinny, which can be 64 bits or 128 bits, and depending on the number of involved tweak is, a skinny has actually six main variants. This shape represents our 22 round practical sandwich distinguisher, which is discovered by our tool for one of the variants of skinny. For example, in this shape, as you can see, we have included the first air rounds in E0, we have included the last eight rounds in E1, and we included the six middle rounds in the boomerang switch, or namely, EM. The probability of differential effect over E0 is computed using the automatic tools based on a mild P or SAT, which is 2 to the minus 2.41 here, this is also the case for the differential effect over E1. It should be noted that to compute a differential effect over E0, we only fix the difference here and the difference here, and then we compute the probability of boomerang switch over the six round middle part using the BCD framework, which results in, for example, 2 to the minus 2 and E, 0.02. If we put these three terms together in P square, P square, Q square, R formula, we can see that the probability, the entire probability of this distinguisher is 2 to the minus 38.84. In comparison to the probability of best previous sandwich distinguishers for 22 rounds of this variance of a skinny, you can see that we have significantly improved the success probability. This table summarizes our result regarding the boomerang distinguishers of a skinny. And again, the probabilities marked in red represents the probabilities that have been experimentally verified. As you can see, in all cases, we not only significantly improved the success probability of sandwich distinguisher, but also we improved the sandwich distinguishers by one or two rounds in all cases. We also provided curicory attacks upon our distinguishers for a skinny and craft. The bottom of this table represents the previous results and the top of this table includes our results. As you can see, in all cases, we could improve the rectangle attacks by one or two rounds, or in only one cases, yeah, we could improve the success probability dramatically. We also provided rectangle cryptanalysis for craft for the first time. Now, we come to the end of the cycle where I would just like to summarize our main contributions. The main contribution of this paper is introducing a new heuristic method to search for sandwich distinguishers. We also introduced new tools in BCT framework, including DBC team. And we applied these new tools and this new method to two SPIN black ciphers, including a skinny and craft which was resulted in significant improvement in boomerang distinguisher or rectangle attacks on this cypher. I would just like to mention that all of our codes to reproducing the results or experimentally verifying the results are publicly available in this GitHub repository. Thank you for your attention.


Before you get too serious about selling items on eBay, you should buy items on eBay for a while first. Parts 1 and 2 of these videos covered buying on eBay. So at this point, we'll assume you've bought some Model Railroad and goodies on eBay, and you now understand the buying process. So let's sell something. Follow along as I sell these two ENC shops SP High Cube Boxcar kits. These cars are too new for my 1980s layout, so I'd like to sell them on eBay. They're essentially brand new, although the boxes themselves do have some wear. To determine what price to set, I first do some research on eBay itself. I find most ENC shops kits sell for between $8 and $15, so I set the price for my cars at $10. Actually $9.99 to keep the price ever so slightly on the $8 side of $10, instead of on the $15 side. I also look at what people are charging for shipping, and I'll be looking to set shipping in the $4 to $5 range. Before I list my boxcars, I take some nice photos of the two cars with my digital camera. I also empty the contents of one of the kits out and photograph that to clearly show what's in the kit. The more you do with photos to help people see what they're buying, the smoother your auctions will go. It's also important to be as honest as possible if the item has a defect. To be upfront about it and include a clear photo of the defect. I make sure I get a good photo of the kit boxes so everyone can see the wear. It doesn't hurt the kit inside at all, but keeping any flaws, no matter how insignificant, secret is not a good idea. To set up my listing, I log into the eBay site and at the top right, click the menu entry, sell, sell an item. I'm first asked to determine the category for the item, so I type in HO Southern Pacific SP boxcar. And eBay recommends a list of categories to choose from. I select Model Railroad Trains HO Scale Other. The other categories are vendor specific, like Bachman and Athern. ENC Shops is too small of a vendor to have their own category, so other is the best choice in this case. I then get two options for entering a listing. More listing choices or keep it simple. I select More Listing Choices. I work my way through the info about my item. For title, HO Modern Boxcar Southern Pacific SP ENC Shops. I did later change this slightly. Condition New. Used was my other option, and this is a new unassembled kit. So knew it is, even though the box is a bit worn. Grading. C9 Factory New or Brand New. eBay provides a 1-10 grading system for item quality. And C9 fits this item the best since it is new, although not in mint condition because of the box wear. For photos, eBay makes it easy to upload any number of photos. Generally at least two images of the item are advised. The first image is free, and each additional image costs 15 cents. I also opted to go with Gallery Plus for another 35 cents. Since that allows people to display the pictures in a larger format, which I think helps sales. For description, here's the description I entered for each of the ENC Shops boxcars. It's important to describe the item clearly and to point out any flaws, such as the box wear. It also helps to give potential buyers more confidence if you can explain a sensible reason why you're selling the item. Since I have two very similar listings, I also wanted to minimize the confusion by clearly spelling out the road number on each car. For listing designer, I just took the default. And for visitor counter, I chose the basic style, again the default. For my starting price, I set it at 99 cents. You'll generally get more interest if you start with a low starting price. For the buy it now price, I set it at $9.99, just in case there's someone who can't wait for the auction to run its course. For duration, I set the auction to three days, even though the default is seven days. In this case, I wanted to sell the items fairly quickly. For payment type, I just took the default, which is PayPal. For return policy, I chose allow returns for up to seven days after the buyer receives the item. For refund policy, I chose money back, buyer pays, return shipping. My listing cost me a total of 50 cents. I used the sell similar item link to create the second listing for the other kit I have, road number 286022. Once I've created both listings, I go review them using the My eBay menu on the upper right and select selling. I can see both entries and I can easily track views, how many people added the listing to their watchlist and any bids that are placed. So now, I just wait for the auction to run its course and see how it does. So how do my auction do? Well, I got one question asking if I could do combined shipping because the person wanted both kits. So I said, yes, I'll do six dollars if you buy them both. No one took me up on the buy it now option, so the sale of both items became a bidding war. Once the dust settled, I sold both cars to one person for seven dollars each and a shipping of six dollars. The actual shipping charges were 550 and eBay charged me 50 cents. So I made 14 dollars from cars that were otherwise just gathering dust in my stash.


Welcome to this episode of talk of the town. I'm James Milan and joining me today is an Arlington native. Sarah Kamiya has started a new project that I think has taken, well, let's go ahead and be dramatic here and say it could take the world by storm in a certain way. It certainly has the makings of that in these early stages. Sarah, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's a delight. It really is. So I'm actually going to just ask you to describe the project itself that I have alluded to in a suspenseful way here. But no, tell us what it is that you were up to. Okay, so basically I came home at the start of April because of COVID and quarantining. And I am a school counselor in New York City. And it was just, it was getting a lot to be in the city. And there's something about being home and having the space. So needless to say, I came home and I just found myself going on walks through the neighborhood before my day would start or when my day finished. And I would pass a decent amount of little free libraries in the neighborhood. And for those who don't know, little free libraries are these little pop up wooden bookshelves, if you may, and people can take a book or leave a book. And it's completely free. And there's many across Arlington. And so I found myself just checking out the books, seeing what books were there. And I started to notice that there was just the same couple books in these libraries. And they kind of became a place for people to just leave books that they don't want anymore, or books that just didn't really have what I was looking for when I would get excited to see or come across the library. And I thought in the wake of George Floyd's, George Floyd's death, and, you know, the Black Lives Matter movement really taking off and the protests and the racial injustice going on, I thought this would be a really great way to educate people about Black culture, African American history, and fill these libraries with books that speak to these issues, but also highlight and celebrate Black authors and Black children and people of color. And I just kind of looked at the library and I thought, I have some books that I can put in here. And maybe someone will take a book and learn a little bit about a different culture. And I didn't expect that, you know, the five books I thought I was going to be putting into these libraries turning into over 700. Yeah, I mean, we're going to talk about, you know, a lot more about exactly how that has unfolded in that way. But I think many people probably in the audience are familiar with these Little Free Libraries. Do you have a sense of, you know, what it takes to create one of those? Can anybody just decide to put one up? Do you know? Yeah, so Little Free Library is an organization that started in 2009. And basically, they make it possible where you can purchase a Little Free Library from them. So it comes May, has its door on, you just kind of have to put up the post, or you can build your own. So they kind of welcome any creativity. There's no like specific kind you have to have. But for the most part, if you have space, you can put it up. They encourage you to check with the town so that you're not like putting it in through like a pipe or anything underground. And if you were to put it at a school or like a public space, I believe you need some, you know, you have to confirm that with someone. But yeah, they're free to kind of go wherever. And it's kind of up to the owner of the library to, you know, check on it and make sure it's being stocked, you know, but it really is for the community. And it's for everyone to just kind of take from. Yeah, we have one, as I mentioned to you earlier, one just to the side of our own driveway here. And I know that there's been a proliferation of these in Arlington in the last five to 10 years, for sure, just more and more all the time. What a wonderful inspiration, I think that you had to recognize that right in people's front yards are the opportunity to get knowledge, awareness, to increase awareness, and get, you know, put things in front of people in a way that they're now used to taking things in. Yeah. It's kind of nice that there's been that you come to this project after there's been a certain amount of time that Little Free Libraries have been there. So people are aware of them, people are using them already. And then you insert within that kind of channel, you insert invaluable, I was going to say valuable, but I actually think it's invaluable content for people. I imagine you wouldn't have been aware of all of that in following your initial impulse, but take us through a little bit what happened from those first five books. What was the next stage that happened from there? Right. So it really, I thought I was just going to kind of take books that I had in my house already. And then with the money donated my parents, like I came to them with the idea, they gave me $100. And I thought this is another great way to support Black-owned businesses. So my plan was to buy books from Mahogany Books, which is a Black-owned bookstore in Washington, D.C. And I purchased like 10, 10 books about, and I was really excited about that. And then I decided, why don't I see if other people in the community would want to donate so I can put more books out there and support more Black-owned bookstores? And then in the first hour, I raised $1,000. People were sending me Venmos. And then it really just continued, and it hasn't stopped since. And so with all the money donated, I purchased books from Black-owned bookstores. So now I purchased from Mahogany in D.C., the Lit Bar in the Bronx, Semi-Colon in Chicago, Frugal Books, which is in Boston. Yeah. And do you find, like, I'm interested drawing from sources all over the country, are you finding that the literature, that the books that you're getting from those places are different books and different takes and in some way reflect kind of regional interests or cultures? Well, so like the bookstores have their highlighted books of the month or books that they're putting out there. And I noticed the Lit Bar, since that's in the Bronx, there's a lot of books about the Bronx and things that have gone on in New York City. So sometimes when I buy books from there, I kind of gear towards more books like that, or I know in Chicago, there's a lot on the history of redlining and stuff like that. So I've kind of seen more of those books just on their forefront page. But for the most part, you know, all these books carry a lot of the same books. And it's exciting though to, you know, find new ones and then just continue to add to the collection of books that I'm sending. Yeah. Talking about continuing to add to the collection, we can see split out behind you. Obviously, you know, not specially set up for this interview, I'm sure, but rather just kind of how things are. And clearly a mark of the success of this campaign and the way that it is resonated with people. I am curious, it looks to me like the books that I can see right behind you are children's books, or at least it looks that way from the kind of width of them, so to speak. Is that a primary focus of yours? How have you decided what kinds of or genres of books you're going to be putting out on these shelves? That's a good question. So, you know, I thought a lot about how growing up, I was one of the only students of color in school and that there were not books that I saw myself represented in, and not even in the sense that, you know, there's a lot of great books that teach you about your hair and natural hair, and there's books that, you know, discuss what black culture is like, and those books are so important, but there's also not books where you just read about a ballerina and she's black, or there's not books about, you know, a scientist who creates a rocket ship and he's black. And so anyways, I really take into liking children's books because I think that they're, you know, for a parent who's reading that book to their child, they're learning, or they're seeing it, and then for the child who's reading it, they're realizing that people of all colors can, and especially people of color, can accomplish these things and be seen in these ways. And I think that one of the biggest takeaways from this is that if you can't see yourself represented, then it's hard to go after those dreams and those goals. And so I don't know, I think I honestly actually started with adult books because I was like, oh, adults, if they learn, they can, you know, change their thoughts and their ways. And then in time, their children can learn. But I think that it's so important to do both and start conversations with your children and discuss things that maybe haven't been talked about before. And I found that the children's books are, you know, I've learned so much from them, and it's really fun to get them and be like, where was this when I was... Yeah, it's very interesting that you bring that up because we in fact have a public affairs series at ACMI in which we have deliberately gone to talk to and highlight the work of people of color who are working in fields that would confound, you know, standard white, I think, expectations or perhaps the expectations of young children of color around for what they can do. And so we have highlighted, in fact, ballerinas and people working in areas that just aren't associated well enough with that. So this is a superb example of the same kind of effort. That's a wonderful thing. The other thing I noticed is that at our little free library on our street, it just kind of naturally evolved. It didn't seem like it was by design that we had the upper shelf became adult books and the lower shelf became children's books. And so there is this, the little free libraries themselves, it seems, are a great source for people of all ages as it turns out. All ages. Everyone, I mean, I think what also I love about this project is a book is so tangible.  I wonder if they've gotten to this part. And I think that books just have such a great way of sending a message and creating conversations and just taking you to another place that maybe you haven't gone before. Can I ask you a question that I admit was going to come out of left field a little bit because it just occurred to me, but because it is literally impossible to escape the shadow of COVID-19 over everything going on these days, I'm wondering whether you have had any feedback at all from people concerned about little free libraries as places where people share, like you said, and pass on and things like that, tangible items without there being any, you know, there are no policies or procedures in place to, you know, safeguard those. Yeah, I actually haven't had anyone say anything. I remember at the beginning of COVID-19, I saw that like people with little, because I had followed little free libraries account on Instagram for a while, and I saw that people were leaving out Clorox Wives where they were individually wrapping books, leaving gloves, and I saw that that was being done, but since then seems like that hasn't been happening as much, and I think people, some people have been saying like I'll disinfect the books, but it hasn't been an issue as far as I know about people like going to the libraries, and maybe at one point they, some people were shutting down their libraries or using their libraries as food storages for people to come and get canned goods and stuff like that, I remember that was going on, but no one's really said much about that. When I do get a lot of boxes, I think about that because I'm so excited to unbox them, and I, you know, people at one point were waiting a while to unbox things, but I wash my hands, and yeah, I get it. Yeah, again, I didn't, I don't want to divert our conversation. No, I hope you get that. It's a good question. But I'd like to get back to something you said a little bit earlier, and that is of course, we are here, our ACMI is an Arlington based organization. You are, you know, we're born and raised in Arlington, and there's a lot of concern in the community and conversation important going on right now in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and all of the, of the rest of the lamentable or worse deaths at the hands of white police officers, et cetera, as we look at ourselves here in this community. These conversations are happening. They are very important as said, also uncomfortable for so many people in a very necessary way. I want to dig into a little bit of what you said. You were talking about how growing up in this community, you really felt like there weren't a whole lot of people older than you, your age, et cetera, that you could turn to and feel that kind of affinity with. Tell us a little bit more how that feels, or how you carry that at this point. Yeah, I think that, you know, I work, so I work in a school that is primarily students of color, and I just, I see in them so much that I didn't have, and this, you know, growing up being the only person of color you realize struggles that other people don't have to deal with. And now, you know, with my students, like, if they need their hair fixed, they come to me to fix their hair. But when I was in school, I didn't have anyone to do that, whether that was a teacher or a friend. So when I came into school, and I would either have to deal with like my bun falling out, or people staring at my braids for the next five weeks that they were in, and questioning it, or thinking it's weird, whereas at my school now that I work at it, if you come in with your hair and braids, everyone's loving it, celebrating it, they're so excited to talk about it. Whereas I was like, I don't even want to go to school if I have my hair and braids. And so I think that, you know, I had a great group of friends who I'm still very close with. We've been friends since kindergarten. It's kind of crazy how long we've known each other, and we had a lot of good conversations about things that weren't said or ways that in some ways being younger back then, there was almost this idea of, I don't see color, me and my friends I talked about, but now looking back, we fail to recognize it. And we realize that now, but when you grow up with someone for so long, you really start to know them as a person. And that's the great thing, but so many conversations weren't held and said, and I don't know, looking back, I don't think I ever had a teacher of color, so that changes how I view education and leadership. And I had great teachers, but there's just this difference. And, you know, I still feel like Arlington has a long way to go. I go on walks, and I rarely see people of color. And I don't know, I just think that there's a lot of work to be done, and it has to be intentional at some point. You have to make choices to show that people of color are valued and worthy, and that they are able to fill these roles and be in this community. So I don't know, it's interesting looking at it. You know, without putting you on the spot, but appreciating the thoughtfulness of all of your answers so far and clearly the fact that this is something that you have reflected on with others and in yourself for a long time. I'm curious, if you had an opportunity to speak directly to the decision makers here in Arlington and or a large mass of the kind of white majority here in Arlington. Are there any steps or actions, I guess, that you would say this is what needs to happen and as soon as possible? What could you share from your own, you know, reflections on this and from having grown up in this community that you feel would be particularly not just pertinent but useful to pushing things forward right now? Because I think that we all recognize there's a more receptivity to this at the moment and we need to take advantage of that. I think that a lot of it goes back to the schools and it goes back to, you know, you can see there's a difference in certain schools and the representation in those schools and students. So in lower income areas of Arlington, you notice what students are going to those schools and I mean it's been a while since I've been in elementary school. I don't know the makeup today but I know that it's not that far off and I, you know, I did a read aloud at Robin's Farm the other day for this project and with a mom who lives in Arlington and is raising a Black son and she was saying I don't know if I should send my son to Bracket because, you know, at Thompson there's just a more diverse group of people and that really struck me because I'm like I love Bracket. I went to Bracket. It's right here. She lives right here. How nice would it be for your son to walk to school and walk home and have a play with his friend and when he's older, you know, that kind of thing but then I was also thinking myself how great would it be for your son to go to school where there's another Black boy like him and, you know, the struggles of that or not feeling isolated or alone or, you know, getting to connect with others that look like you and I thought if it was up to me, what would I do nowadays and I don't know. I think there's something to be said about surrounding yourself with people that look like you and are represented and, you know, the growth that comes from that. So I don't know. I think it starts with schools and I think it starts with how the town prioritizes where money goes to and, you know, the communities that are impacted or unsupported and, you know, I was also thinking about when I was in high school like the Metco program that went on and how those students were so, you know, segregated from the school in some ways and how they were, you know, we get penalized for being late and it's like they're coming from a bus. Right. Completely unable to control their arrival time. Things out of their control and we could have done so much more and I wish I had done more and I wish that more conversations had occurred like at the high school level we can be having more conversations and we didn't. I find that that is a really the first example that you gave there of, you know, you know, does the boy go to Bracket which is a great school and convenient and close by or does he go somewhere, does he go to Thompson where he'll find more people like himself. I mean, what a great illustration of the thing that white students and white families never have to worry about counterbalancing and where families of color almost always, certainly in a community as homogenous as Arlington, those are the kinds of choices that are right at the center of lives and I think that that's a, like I said, a great illustration for, you know, people in the white majority just to try and put themselves in a position where they're having to make those kinds of decisions from the beginning of their children's education or, you know, that's that really is something.  Hopefully, hopefully we go back to school in September in some fashion, but one way or the other, you'll be getting back to that.  Yeah, I mean, it's hard because I'm going back to New York City, I don't live in Arlington, I don't live in Boston, so in some ways I feel like I'm abandoning my home base of this project, but I think that this project, you know, has already expanded so far through social media and through the work online. And I can send books to people online and I don't need to be in Arlington to do that. And I've actually had some really exciting conversations with Little Free Libraries, the organization, and we're in the works of creating something that would make it really possible for people to dedicate themselves to having these diverse libraries. So I feel as part of my project will carry on there, hopefully, and that, you know, my project becomes a space to continue to uplift and amplify these black voices. Every week I share a book on Monday, which I call my Black Magic Monday, and then on Wednesday, it's my Stay Woke Wednesday book. And that's a great space for someone coming and wanting to learn about a book that they may have not heard about. So I hope to use my platform as that. And I also would really like to see more of these in New York City. I think that it's a city where, you know, there's a lot of foot traffic everywhere. Oh, it might be hard to keep these stopped, but they are libraries in the city. And there's so many communities that could use these books. And I really think that that would be important. And it's another next step for me. But I just I want to hear the conversations that people have when they finish a book, I want to hear about where the book goes or if they never put it back because they love it so much and that their family needs this book. I want to hear those stories. And I want to share these stories. And I want to share stories like that mom deciding between her schools and just bringing awareness to these facts and really trying to empower others to, you know, make change. A lot of people have reached out and now have started their own branch of Little Free Diverse Library. So there's Little Free Diverse Library Canada. There's Little Free Diverse Colorado. And so it's really gone all over. And so just continuing to spread that mission and people will come to me and be like, how did you do this? And just letting them know because we can all do better when we work together. That's what we wanted to know, right? How did you do this? And, you know, I love the fact that you have a vision that would encompass trying to get these Little Free Diverse Libraries into the streets of New York, for instance, because I think that Little Free Libraries in general are kind of suburban phenomenon still. And it is, I mean, for sure now that they are also Little Free Diverse Libraries, suburbanites could use that kind of education. But there's no reason that they wouldn't be as valuable or more so in the streets of our cities, for sure. Okay, we have taken up enough of your time. I can't resist noting for our audience that I've been lucky enough. I've known Sarah since she was a very young child when she was friends with my daughter. Sarah, I couldn't be more impressed with this, both your initial inspiration and then how things have unfolded and how you have stewarded this movement up to this point. I wish you profoundly wish you the best of luck in, you know, getting back to your work, but also making building this further. The fact that it's already made a mark in Canada. West, you know, you're clearly onto something here. And it's one more step in a very large project or projects that need to happen. So best of luck with it. Thanks so much for spending some time with us today. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I really appreciate it. I have been talking to Sarah Kamiya of Arlington Mass. I'm James Milan. This is Talk of the Town. Thanks for joining us.


Hello everyone. I'm here with another fantastic candidate. His name is David Kim running in California's 34th congressional district against corporate Democrat incumbent Jimmy Gomez, and he is here to talk about his campaign David. Welcome to the show Hi, Mike. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be on. This is great I'm excited to have you on because there's been so much excitement and momentum surrounding your campaign Right before we went on the air. You were just talking. We were just talking about The Bernie endorsed Kim campaign that was trending on Twitter and that's actually how I got To know you about your candidacy because there's so many Campaigns that are phenomenal so many people running for Congress that I have like a really overall sense of like who's running but It's difficult to keep track, which is a really good problem to have when there's so many people running But when I see your campaign what really stood out to me is that you're running on three points financial freedom Love and justice and like after browsing your platform. This is my impression. You can correct me if I'm wrong It looks like if we like extracted all of the best elements from Mary Ann Williamson Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang out and we made like a candidate in a lab That would look like you correct like all of those campaign components are combined So so talk about those three key points What they mean to you and how you came up with them Yeah, um, Mike, what's funny though is you kind of took it a step further. So I've actually heard That analogy a lot. Oh David, you remind me of Mary Ann Andrew and Bernie all put together But now actually tying it to the financial freedom love and justice part it actually sort of Kind of financial freedom. Who would you say it is? Andrew Yang Love would be Mary Ann justice Bernie or or whichever way you want to characterize her Categorize that but I actually didn't think of it in that aspect, but that's pretty cool So for our campaign Mike so unlike other campaigns where it's just paid for by and then your name For me, I just really felt that there's a lot of power and identity in a name And that's something that I learned from my parents So our campaign committee name is paid for by David came for Congress financial freedom love and justice for all The financial freedom part addresses the 35 plus 40 year income wage stagnation the disparity in Income the widening wealth gaps with that. What are we doing to address this? Why is it that people have two to three jobs and no matter how much they work whether it be several months or a few years? They still can't see the light at the end of the tunnel They barely increase their savings by 50 bucks 100 bucks Whatever that is and then they keep on blaming themselves when it's actually something bigger than all of us It's systemic, but no one's doing anything to address that so it's starting to talk about what what what does financial freedom?  How do I make that extra money to pay for it? Well, how do I do this? Like why is why are we subjecting our people to that to more? Suffering increasing upon their suffering and then having that then be felt amongst their family inside their families in their communities Why are we doing that? Overall, it's not good for the health of our people and that's I think the overall health of our people something We've neglected it's too long and it just so happens to be right now when we think about Cash and money money actually means power power and it means freedom to give money directly to the people So it's the financial freedom part the love part is we have a lot of elected officials saying hey We love we love the people we're fighting for the people But it's like I don't know your status, but when I when I say to my boyfriend I say hey like I love you or when I say to my mom Hey, I love you like love isn't just a word. There's always action There's always like you can see if it's just lip service if it's all empty or if the person really loves you or if you really love the person whether that be a family member or your partner or whoever and There's action that needs to show forth for it, but in a time like this where Millions are don't have insurance where we're in the Los Angeles several hundreds of thousands are about to face eviction Where we're in times like this like to me love from elected official looks like making sure that the people have access to health health care education To to housing with the room and a roof to be able to pay for their basic expenses to be able to to to have Access to good food and so ensuring that our people are able to get those needs That's the love component So love isn't just a word love looks like something and then the justice part is to ensure that the people's rights are always The people are prioritized at all cost above corporate interests above the military industrial complex Above the private prison industrial complex above all of these corporate interests and party leaderships at play in order to prioritize the people We need to really take money out of politics. That's the justice component. We really need to abolish private prisons That's the justice element. We need to do a criminal justice overhaul. We need to do immigration overhaul We need to grant amnesty to those in our immigrant communities who are undocumented have been working for years and contributing to America Taxing them without representation is tyranny. Why aren't we talking about that? There's so many elements We need to end our regime change on this words. That's justice and and that way We're not Continuing the oppression of other communities and and lives abroad But then also that way we're able to take care of our own people back at home And so that's the justice part to ensure that we can continue This achieving of financial freedom and love for everyone because none of us are less than another So so those those were those three components Mike Yeah, I like that and I think that when you kind of like merge all of those together You kind of see like this really big picture when you look at that and you look at your platform Like it is this concern for human beings I mean the thing about all of this like you mentioned that you live in the 10th poorest district in the country on your website The saddest part is that this is so unnecessary. We live in the wealthiest country on the planet So all of the suffering that we're seeing all the deaths due to COVID-19 all of the medical bills All of this is unnecessary and that to me is I think one of the worst parts about this Like if we were struggling as a country financially and we didn't have the means to take care of our own people I mean that would be one thing But the fact is that we do have the means and we don't so that's why you know finding candidates like you It is honestly made me a little bit less cynical and I'll admit at first when I heard Mary Ann Williamson talking about love My reaction was like oh, I don't I don't want to hear about love because like I'm angry right now Like there's so much wrong in this country so much that we need to fix like I'm in the tear everything down mood Not good vibes and love, but I think that over time that approach really has She sold me and you sold me like these types of approaches like I think it's important because really When when we only see red when we look at politics and the in the anger sense not Republicans You know it it kind of clouds our review and we have to really get back to why we're doing this in my opinion And I've tried to recenter myself and it's about a love of people You know trying to make sure that we take care of our people So one thing that I want to ask you about because your district may be disproportionately affected because you know A lot of the people who you will be representing don't have the means to take care of themselves. What do we do? economically speaking with regard to COVID-19 If you were a lawmaker, what would be your immediate?  Yeah, well first I would prioritize in regards to there should have been Monthly cash relief past when when the ABC act came out or when different versions of it came out now We're in to our fifth month of paying rent Five and a half months the the eviction moratorium here ends in California in two days We have several hundred thousand about to be evicted in Los Angeles We should have already given them and recurring monthly cash relief and with depending on whose version That's whatever version it is. We should have passed it and I know that Senator Markey is Is as for the two thousand dollars a month and then retroactively from the beginning of March to onward So so with that being said also like that's something that the people need right now Because the people if you're taking money away from the people, how are the people going to survive? And in what ways are they able to sustain themselves when they're actually the local lifelines and the economies of every community that we have And it's just forgetting like hey the economy isn't the stock market the economy is the people like these cities We're built by the people like and what are we doing for them? And so it's it's first that component the second component is people aren't able to get free health care right now Or even have health care. So that's the thing millions already lost their jobs. We have Millions both pre-covid that didn't have health care And so we need to ensure like at least and I'm not and and whether over that compromise could be at least for the entirety of the Pandemic people need many care for all right now like it just makes sense. That's what needs to happen and and and I think Because one solution is not the end-all solution to anything and that's why we've crafted our platform with I mean not one issues Particularly way important than the other one that the other one's not that important It's not to say that but but of our flagship issues are UBI why it's for basic expenses and to be able to give you some Breathing room in your life to be able to to to live a life because life isn't here just a toil to the last day That you breathe life is here for you to experience And and to thrive and to do what you you feel like you've been called to do as Whether it be multiple dreams or purposes that you feel like you have and with Medicare for all taking care of health care with the homes Guarantee with the green you deal with jobs. And so in this economy, I mean in this pandemic We need a rent to mortgage cancellation where bills like representative Ilhan Omar's are being supported and talked about Continuously, but we don't hear about that from our from my opponent. We don't hear about that in our district We hear about general. I mean why support a hundred billion dollar rent really fund when you could be supporting rent and mortgage cancelation right now when hundreds of thousands and millions are about to be evicted and so in regards to those are the basic three in terms of Increasing PPE in terms of covering hazard pay and all those other elements Those are yes those are all needed But these would these would be my top three in terms of if I were in Congress right now and ensuring that people are getting at least these three right now because I mean I was just on a Just talking with somebody else. I don't know what's gonna happen in two days when these evictions start happening and we're Unfortunately, we're going to have to find out while protesting and and that's what's gonna happen. So it's it's very I mean I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but we're in serious times. And so with serious times it comes We need to Strategize better. We need a plan better. We need to organize better. And so our campaign is really set on winning this election We have a good chance The incumbent only won a total 52% of the primary election vote and his challengers He had four challengers including myself the four of us won a collective 48% of the primary vote and so with there being mail-in ballot voting and and whatnot and us also Increasing the awareness about our campaign about what it really means to support and reelect a corporate elect corporate incumbent again What that means and looks like what is a universal basic income? What is a homes guarantee? Why is it that we we Los Angeles? We've had many people experiencing homelessness for years and that increasing Why is it that? We continue to reelect officials, but that hasn't changed and so I understand Mike when we're making calls People immediately hang up when they think it's a political candidate and I get it I'm not offended because our elected officials locally. They're so corrupt and paid to play schemes developer money Everything you can name it. It's so deep like and you could continue to vote you continue to show up But nothing's really changed I can see where the apathy and difference comes and it's and it's yes It's partly us the American people not not being more engaged But I can see what the cause of that was too and so I think though if but for us like what we do is we We were smiling we're sharing and it's not and it's really helping each of us realize that if we the sleeping giant We're to actually wake up as the American people we could actually bring so much change in in our district in our communities like all around and to realize like We can't just continue waiting for that savior person or whoever to come along Like we need to step up ourselves because we're we can actually do it and once we take that first step things will start playing into action Um, so yeah, so that's that's sort of I know I went from a tangent to answering the COVID-19 part But we really just need elected officials that are really hearing what the people's needs are during a pandemic like this And being very fast and swift and and deliberating on that in a timely manner Yeah, no, I'm glad that you actually kind of um expanded that because like if you're running for congress Like you have to be able to speak at length about these issues And you demonstrated that and I think that one thing that really sets you apart And candidates like you apart from the establishment is that you actually Can empathize with people who are feeling apathetic about the political process and even turned off by it because You know, you do see this general sense of well I want to check out of electoral politics because it's not working I don't want to vote and even I felt that instinct that I had to fight You know earlier this year when joe biden started to push ahead. I'm sure we all felt that way, right? So it's like I I think that the fact that you're able to Empathize it puts you in a unique situation to where you're able to communicate with people Who feel the same way because like when you look at individuals within the establishment like your opponent jimmy Gomez, you know, they have no idea why people are so turned off by the political process Like some of the comments that I've seen um more, you know from out of touch elite celebrities Is how could any millennial be upset with joe biden as the nominee? Look at his platform. He has the most progressive platform in american history But I mean if you ask them to name three policies on that platform that was written by consultants He probably couldn't so I mean like things aren't changing and where things are changing for the better They're not changing fast enough So i'm so glad that you're able to speak to that And you know people know about that and they know that you're aware of this But I want to talk a little bit more about jimmy gomez because This is an individual who he is losing popularity And he just he he hasn't met the moment now I alluded to the fact earlier in this interview that he is a corporate democrat But can you expand upon that because During covet 19 if you're not there for your constituents when they need you the most I think that that really speaks to a failure in leadership and speaks to the necessity of replacing him So talk through in your opinion why you think He needs to be ousted because a lot of people don't necessarily know who jimmy gomez is He's not like one of these high profile democrats You know, that's a rising star with a lot of name recognition So people may not be aware but in terms of like the need for your future constituents How has he failed in your opinion? It's gonna be a long list i'm i'm sure Well, I mean to me. I mean just to make clear I don't know and personally i've never met him and i'm sure he's he's a great guy and a great friend to a lot of people But when it comes to Legislating on the behalf of 700,000 people in your district it becomes a very serious matter So if you don't have If you don't have a plan on what's your first 100 days of congress or what your first two years will look like Why are you in office? And what does that look like like what are you standing for? We need to see that in an elected official and a representative and before I go to the corporate aspect I think the corporate aspect is just an example of what i'm getting at is just this lack of conviction this this This urgency that's that's lighting a fire inside of you where Everything you do is is for your community right now because It's really a life or death for a lot of people In terms of finances and debt and where they're going And and to realize that this job and position isn't a position to be taken lightly at all That if it were a job at like all of us that had jobs But we understand that if we Performed below a certain standard or certain levels of expectations that our time would be very up Would be up and so what what got us to to shape up and do our jobs Is is that fact and realization and knowing that but because our elected officials Continue to be reelected continue to not be challenged continue to be elected into the office by campaign and corporate funds There's no there's no measure of accountability or oh, I should actually be doing what I was called to do or a reminder system in place Because we have all of this corporate money. And so there's there's also the campaign finance part of that Where for a community or a district no representative should be determined based on how much Corporate money they were able to fundraise like that's ridiculous Shouldn't somebody that's elected from the community be elected based upon their platform their visionary ideals What they envision and and their track record and what they've done and how they spent their time and what they've learned Like isn't isn't that more all more important when it comes to electing somebody into office and so Even and and so these are these bigger things where we have they're not able to really take firm stances on policies for the people and an example of that is And that's also because they're tied to their corporate interests Because they just basically are puppets and and when I say corporate dems or corporate republicans. I think they're all the same because In the at the end of the day You're just part of the status quo and you're enabling the transfers of wealth that are happening between the masses of working people to the few and privileged that are that are wealthy And even in this pandemic we've seen the biggest transfers of wealth happen to the wealthy and the privileged and the few where this oligarchy doesn't is Doesn't seem like it's going to be ending soon if the people really don't rise up and so the thing about My opponent jimmy is he's not taking firm stances on issues that hurt and That hurt the district the most. Yes, he might have done this and that but where are we in our People experiencing homelessness. Why is it that we have 45,000 brothers and sisters living unhoused? Why is it that people continue to live in financial distress? What have you done during the 78 years that you've been in office including your assembly years? Has our district gone better? No, and it's not and I know it sounds unfair to put it on one person But if you're in a situation where los angeles is known for being local corrupt politics with the pay-to-play developer scheme and and if los angeles is known for its homelessness crisis and the lack of affordable housing and And and that wouldn't that be your main goal in fixing and addressing heard? Addressing the areas where people are hurting the most and so when you're not doing that either it makes you think Is this person really connected and hearing the constituency in the communities Or even able to relate to the suffering or is even making any effort and engaging in regular office hours for the constituents or regular town halls And when you look at it the questions are all no he hasn't fought for housing legislation of any kind He hasn't taken a stance on recurring monthly cash relief. He hasn't taken a stance on rent and mortgage cancellation And in all of these things it's like come on like We're supposed to be one of the arguably the most progressive districts in the nation But you're not like you say you're progressive, but I don't really see it I don't see you being big and bold and I'm not saying you have to scream and Do everything all day like not in a physical sense, but I don't see that I don't see that that that conviction that passion where you really want to fight for the people happening Um, why is it that you're doing town hall sessions right before reelection time? Why is it why is it that you're doing it at once a year? Isn't it something where if you're representing to the people it's not you doing your job and giving the people an update You're doing the job with the people you're listening to the people in terms of what are your concerns and issues? What are you going through? What's your suffering? Oh, are those are your ideas? Okay, let me go back to dc and this is what I'll try to fight for that's the conversation that should be happening But it's not happening with him It's not happening with all of these corporate incumbents that are in office right now And that's the thing we need to bring that focus around to the people where it's not just lip service anymore and one of the things that prevents them from Being able to carry out their promises to be able to carry out where it's not like my opponent where he's like I'm for Medicare for all guys, but then his biggest donors are pharmaceutical companies and healthcare companies Are they for Medicare for all? No talk with your donors first or cut them off. Um, I'm for free education. It's like But your donors are student debt collectors. What are you talking about? Like what are you saying? Why are you at black lives matter police police brutality? protests or labeling them as police brutality when you're taking money from police union packs and private prisons Why are you doing this? Why are you saying that you're leading and speaking at usps rallies when you're taking money from its competitor? And it's not to say that they can't coexist. Yeah, they can but when you're taking money from both Conflicting conflicts of interest like how are you going to say that you're fighting in the best interests of usps? So here's your claiming and so I think it's just a deeper realization of like what are elected officials doing Yes, we talk about being progressive on social issues But what does that mean on a practical level as well? Like are we putting our money where our mouth is? Why do we continue to? Fund the Pentagon as it is and I am actually I give I give him props for voting for the 10% decrease and a lot of people I've been saying it's because Um, I mean it's reelection time and and what that's that's one of the benefits Mike us running for office Is to push them closer to the needle to do their job? And that's what he's feeling and that's a great outcome of it and and And that's a great thing But for I think right now it's for us to really realize like what's going on Bernie's called it out in the early 90s when he said hey guys Like we're being run by an oligarchy and an oligarchy is one where just the few and the privilege are controlling everyone That's what's going on right now. We are being controlled through poverty Through through money right now. Why is it that ubi? Which seems something that could be just so easy and simple where bam it goes through your Maybe set up a separate direct federal bank account where it goes separately just straight to you Where that happens and you're able to get instant access to that. Why is that something so hard? Because it bypasses the government It bypasses hands that can make money off of it that can all of these bureaucratic Types of things it goes straight to the people and that would be giving the people too much freedom Too much money too much power. It's not even too much money But too much power because when the people start waking up We know that with all of these protests that have been happening even within communities when people start waking up They know how to organize and protest and so imagine if Each of us were given pre-covid a thousand dollars a month This would give us the levers to say hey, I don't want those kind of minimum job Horrible working conditions. I don't want to be taken advantage of like that I I I will be able to now start for a different career lift for that It would empower even labor unions because now they have a bigger leverage power in that sense as well So it would empower everyone and and give that extra hope and give that extra Assistance But the thing that's going against it is that's not the priority of our elected officials right now That's not their priority. Their priority is to their corporate donors. Their priority is to passing a $1,200 stimulus check for the people and then passing Huge transfers of wealth that they won't talk about in their town halls to you because they don't they probably didn't even read those pages Because they were fumbling just to even give you what the benefits of the $1,200 stimulus check were Because they barely read the bill. I've seen my opponents stumble trying to answer very basic questions about Major highlights of a bill. So it's like why are you not doing your job in congress? And so I know I kind of beat around the bush. I mean not beat around the bush but answer that in so many different ways But with this corporate Incumbent idea. It's so dangerous. It's it changes everything Why is it that corporate interests like All a lot of his corporate donors were bailed out first in this pandemic Why why do we continue? Why did we give away 20? Why are we giving away 20? 20 plus billion dollars to defense contractors in a pandemic like this And yes, they might say on the on the superficial on the surface level. It's coven 19 related But if you see how the payment scheme and what they could have done to do all of that No, it's just another handout Like why are we not calling out these handouts to corporate interests? But then talking about where are we going to get the money when we're when we're talking about prioritizing the people And it's this brainwashing of manipulation that we've also undergone as the american people right now and so The corporate, uh, I think the biggest thing that in addition to Proposing all of these flagship policies that are prioritizing people We really need to take money out of politics because we can't have Our elected officials pledging their allegiance to corporate interests to the few in party leadership that are controlling the entire congress and house And all of that really needs to stop Yeah, I think that really you hit the nail on the head in calling out the conflict of interest. I think that a lot of people they They know that there's this, you know, they have the sense of money in politics being an issue But like really directly tying votes and specific legislative actions to specific donors That is something that I think is missing and I'm glad that you did that because it's important Like when we live in this late stage capitalist society and we have commodified every single sector of society Healthcare education even human beings, you know, we are viewed as commodities now with regard to our labor like You you have to speak to the money angle with regard to governing Otherwise, you're going to miss the mark. You're not going to be able to diagnose the problems The many of which we face. Um, so I think that by now people who are watching this, they're already sold on you Um, I think there's something there for everyone. You have a housing guarantee green new deal Medicare for all UBI There's a lot and I think that we need someone like you who has this like robust Holistic approach to politics because you know, a lot of people oftentimes they have like their one or two Pet issues. I have mine like mine is Medicare for all and uh climate change, you know, green new deal but I think you really like you You pay equal time to all of these issues, which I think is super important because you can't really leave out anything There's so much like we need criminal justice reform We need uh to take immediate action on climate change if you know, when you and I are older, we're going to be able to Uh, you know survive and not see more of an apocalypse So I mean like we need so much action right now So what can we do to help you out? Um, can we fund bank for you for can we canvas? Basically, can you tell my viewers what we can do to pitch in because I think we all want to see you in congress Yeah, uh, for sure. Um, thank you so much again mic for giving me this platform For those like for grassroots and dam ballot candidates and for this particular campaign season We um, it was so amazing just to see so many people run and also see some victories with that with jamal future representative Jamal Bowman and uh, Cory Bush and and many others, but it's it's it's continuing this movement and so Realizing that we are going up against a corporately funded incumbent who has a campaign war chest of a million dollars and We are grassroots 100 people powered So donations help, but I totally understand if you're If you're having tough times then don't donate we have volunteering opportunity as well There's other ways you can support as well. So just visit david kim 2020.com You can go ahead and find volunteering opportunities and phone baking opportunities there All right. Well, thank you so much david kim running in, uh, california's 34th congressional district against jimmy gum As we will be watching and rooting for you Great. Thank you so much mic


We've been talking about personal finance investing, making sure your antifragile, your community's antifragile, your society's antifragile, right? Basically resilient and making sure everyone can be as independent as possible, right? Now one thing that has happened in our city, the city has, I think, starting last year or the year before, I can't remember when it was, okay? They started setting up times where they were giving away cuttings, seedlings, to the community, right? So you would go there, they would have like a two-hour session, three-hour session, and usually a couple of places I went to, they had like a six-hour window where you could pick up seedlings. The first three hours was for senior citizens, immune-compromised people, and people who are more fragile in our community, right? So the first three hours was for them, and then the next three hours was for everyone else, right? So I went into the second hours and we picked up seedlings, right? That they were given away for free, for people to grow their own food, okay? Which is fantastic. One way any community can become more antifragile and more independent and less dependent on centralized industrial food chain, really, military industrial food chain, like the huge conglomerates, right? Very, very important. Like we had, last summer we had so much lettuce and tomatoes and cannabis, group four cannabis plant that were all in Canada, ended up getting like 11 ounces of cannabis, which is a fair bit of money, right? So it made us more independent, okay? Elder God, whilst we are on movies, please never watch Breach with Bruce Willis. I am saving your life. I stopped watching Bruce Willis movies. How's your health? Doing good, brother. Thank you very much. Bit monkey. Hope you're doing well, also. And thank you for asking. Let me show you what we got in terms of seedlings. Ding Bobber, such a good idea. My cousin, boyfriend, has started a pepper seed business. He already has 100 different varieties available. It's the second year he's doing this and already has over 100. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Check this out. Ended up getting 6. And we're gonna go more next, next, I think two weeks, three weeks. Lettuce, right? So we got six of these batches, okay? So we're gonna plant these. We're probably gonna split them up as well, right? So split them up and plant them so we have a bit of lettuce going because we ended up eating a lot of lettuce. Yeah, the fifth element, Bruce Willis was fantastic.  Romaine, is this romaine? I think this is romaine lettuce, yeah? I don't know if this is romaine. I want to get, last year, they gave us butter lettuce. Butter lettuce was phenomenal. Butter lettuce is like thin, crispy, not crispy, thin, leathery lettuce. It was butter lettuce is so good, so good. China has recently been sending some treated seeds to Aliexpress customers with some bad rate. Yeah, I personally, I'm not buying any veggies and fruits and stuff from basically only buying organic or local as much as possible, right? Except for bananas and avocados, right? And oranges, I guess. Ooh, butter lettuce. Yes, my dad would grow that butter lettuce gang. Amazing. You can't buy butter lettuce in the grocery store. I've never seen it because I think it's too fragile, but when you grow it, it's amazing. Grown mine, veggies is certainly a goal of mine, seems very rewarded, extremely rewarding math, extremely rewarding. Yeah, Cheryl, butter lettuce, you must grow, yeah? Here, check this out. This is mustard, so we're going to grow some mustard. Okay, fantastic, really nice. So we've got two of these things for mustard. We've got this. This is really good. You can actually eat the flowers as well. Nasturtium, get growing, get growing Victoria. Nasturtium. So this is, and it gives flowers and you can eat the flowers. Super good, super good, right? Very delicious, okay. Moringo, Moringo. I don't know what Moringo is. Three of these guys, which is cucumbers. So we're going to grow cucumbers. What kind of cucumber? Cucumber, market more 76. I have no idea what that is. Moringa. You can find it at farmers' markets usually if anyone is interested. Oh, the butter lettuce. I've never seen, oh, that's a good idea. I've never seen it around for our farmers' markets. Two different types of tomatoes. We've got two different types of tomatoes. How many do we have? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight of these ones and one, two, three, four, seven of these ones. So we got eight. Well, this is nasturtium. I don't like this one. I don't like this one. So we've got seven of each, not eight. So seven of each. We've got seven early girl tomatoes. Seven early, early, early girl. Okay. And we got seven sweet million. Very nice. So we should have lots of tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are easy. We got zucchini as well. Watercress I've had as well. I think Bob is super delicious. What is the easiest vegetable to start growing if you've never grown? Tomatoes are really easy. Tomatoes are ridiculously easy. Which garden do you go to on the island to buy plants? I live in a couch and base. So always ended up in one. These ones we got Victoria is giving them away. They've set up places where you can just go, they give away these seedlings. So that's what I ended up doing. We just went to the seedlings. But Dan's, we go to Dan's farm market. It's like a local, in the summer, late spring summer, we go there. It's like a local farm where we get a fair bit of stuff. We've got to get more of these guys. Take a look. Mary gold. Mary gold is good for fighting off bugs. Okay. So Mary gold. We've got to get more of those. Chives. Chives is amazing. Right? Chives. Nice little comic. How are you doing? Chicho? It would be funny if you dressed in a mountain uniform for a stream one day. Oh, I can't do it, brother. I can't do it. What this is? We picked this up, but I don't know what it is. They didn't have labels on these ones. I forget what this is. Broccoli. So we're going to plant these. Oh, that might be a pepper plant. And we do have basil as well. Basil is over here. This is basil. That one I think could be a pepper plant. Good call. Good call. This is basil. Basil Ginovis. Right? Or Chicho, the centralized version. Well, basil looks so... Basil is amazing. We've got to get a couple more of these. We use up a lot of basil. These ones I don't know either. I don't know what these ones are either. Any idea again? So this one might be pepper. I think you're right. It might be pepper. Thank you for that. A street name. We've got four zucchinis. Black beauty. We've got four of these guys. Black beauty zucchini. The other one... Hey, let's find out what we're doing. I don't know if the other one's lettuce. Oh, it might be... What's it called? So we've got four of these ones. It might be greens, like edible greens. Not lettuce, but... Oh, man. I forget what it is. Like arugula type of lettuce. These ones. Good call. Let's find out. Nice book. Chicho. All free. Yeah, all free. All free. The last four things that we're gonna grow. And we grew these from seed. Let me bring them over and show them to you. We've got four of these guys. Anybody know what these are? Anybody know what these are? What are these things? Arugula. Yeah, I think so. The other ones are arugula. We've got four of these babies that we grew from seed. I think a cannabis. Cannabis? 420? 420? More broccoli or cauliflower. The other one was a cauliflower? Maybe.  Where do we go? So we've got four of these guys we're going to plant.  What do you call it? Like mint already planted. Black currant, raspberry, gooseberries, chives. Chives. Chives. Maybe some chives going on here already.  Right? Cannabis. You gotta grow in Canada. We can grow for rock and roll. Right? Apologies about missing some of the chat gang. The real MC Mike. Their potted plants. Any clones you want to hand out? No clones yet. We don't have any clones. And we have to figure out if these are going to be female or not. We want female, right? And you won't know if they're female until they start flowering. And you see the hair on the flowers. Once you see the hair on the flowers, then you know it's female. If you get flowers and you don't see the hair coming, then it's male. So male is for pollinating, generating seeds. We don't want that. We want the bud. Right? I'll take a clone. Now we have extra... It's yours. Bacai tree, Cheryl says. You have lemongrass. Lemongrass? No, we haven't planted lemongrass. Did we have lemongrass last year? No. That's a good idea though. Lemongrass is really good. Thyme? No, we got the... What do you call it? Rosemary. We have rosemary. We have mint. And we will plant greens, herbs as well. We just haven't got around to doing the herbs. We're going to fix things up. We have a bed there and a bed here. And we've got lots of pots, lots of soil, compost in buckets right now. So we're going to do some planting today, this week anyway. And sort of arrange things and then have a bed where we're growing chives and herbs and lemongrass, thyme, lavender. Lavender, we have lots all around the neighborhood, so we can pick that up stuff. Easy peasy. Dingbobber. My friend just gave me some of his homegrown northern lights. It's bomb stuff. Nice, nice, nice. Mr. Banana Monkey, you're inspiring me to want to start a garden now. Good, good. That is one of my intentions of doing these. Just like it is my intention, one of my intentions when I make comic book videos to get people turned on to comic books. My intention for doing the math videos is to get people to learn mathematics. My intentions of talking about personal finance and investing is to get people to think about investing in their personal finance and how to become antifragile. One of my intentions for doing the patio is to get people to grow their own food. But instead of yelling and screaming it, my thing is I'm not a politician. So I don't say do as I say, not do as I do. I say do as I do. Try to grow your own food. Become antifragile. It's healthier. Physically, you're moving around. You're lifting things. You build muscle. You're getting fresh air. You're away from technology. You're growing healthy good food and that in turn will make you more antifragile and that in turn is more of a personal finance investing decision. So thank you. I'm glad it's doing that.


The early arrival of INEC officials and voting materials at some polling units in the Goumoshou area led to early turnouts of electorates that cast their votes in peace without any rancor. Virtually impaired people also cast their votes in Unit 13, Oshuba Ward 9, or Goumoshou area of Oya state. Some of them who were aided by their friends to cast their votes complained not to have been given quick attention, saying they waited for too long before casting their votes. Meanwhile, virtually impaired Barrister Tunde Fadi had lamented that INEC did not give their staff adequate training on bright voting materials which was meant for virtually impaired people to vote. To cast my vote here, when I got here, one of the challenges that I met here is that I discovered that a person with visual impairment, that is, blind people are not given a quick attention. It took us time before we can get to the point of voting. So far it's been peaceful and as you can see everybody is in high spirits to exercise their rights, know who the girl is, it's going free and fair. Yes, the turnout is massive but usually we've been voting here for years so it's normally more bumper than this but people refuse to come out, some people, you know, so we started sending people in because and the excuse they're giving is they're hungry. So far so good, the biggest problem we have in this country is a policy somersault. Policies somersault in the center, when we are trying something, we discontinue but the time we do this, I was eager and anxious to vote not because of winning election, I wanted to see how that be vast works. Yes, people do not turn out the way we expected it but I mean it's still early for us to judge whether it's going to come out or not but I think it's still fair a little bit.


Coach, what aspect of the way the game unfolded was most disheartening tonight? Yeah, I mean, I think we obviously started the game poorly. I don't think we had the same sort of level of hunger to start the game as we did in Boston. I think the turnovers was obviously a big part of that as well. So we found ourselves in a big hole, and then just had some sloppy patches throughout the game. But we showed we can play when we had more of a sense of urgency, and we're willing to play together and find solutions together. So great, great look at what it takes to play at the highest level in this league. I know each game is unique. Personnel might have been a little bit different. But against the teams with the better records that we're seeing in the league so far that you've been able to face so far, you notice in a common thread and the performances with your group? With our group or their groups? With your group? Yeah, I just think we're a team that's still forming, still trying to find an identity. This team is a clear identity, a clear understanding of what they're trying to do offensively and defensively, something that we're still in the very early stages of. You couple that with sometimes we get away from our game when we go behind. Those are signs of a new team, a team that's trying to understand each other and form some clarity. An identity out there? Obviously, your sloppiness and offense kind of fed them getting into transition. But was there something that they were doing that took you guys out of what you wanted? Or do you attribute those turnovers to kind of more sloppiness on your end? You're just looking internally at that. Yeah, I mean, I think they're a very good defensive team. So I don't want to take any credit away. But a lot of the turnovers I think you'll see we're just sloppy. We're careless. Against a team like that, as a good defense, you need to try to get as many shots of the basket as you can, one and not fuel their opportunity to create good looks. Just in general, they created better opportunities than we did. And then that's compounded by the turnovers where they can get out and run. Steve, at DeAndre's impact seems to kind of keep growing and growing game by game. How important was his just kind of energy on both ends in terms of helping you guys get back into it a little bit? Well, he gives us some speed and athleticism. He gives us a defender out there who can guard number one options on the other team. And he also is a cutter offensively for us. So he's been great. We've been working with him to really understand his role. And I think he's been fantastic with his willingness to compete and to grow as a player. So I'm really proud of his effort. And he's getting better. Steve, would you make of James's game? Obviously he struggled offensively, but then he still runs up with a triple double for you guys. Yeah, I mean, it was a tough night for him. You know, some turnover issues and didn't get a lot of good looks. But that's a part of our growth, too, is trying to figure out ways for him to be effective, even if he's not getting to the rim all night. Can he draw a crowd and get off it and generate offense on the second side? And as you see, he still can rebound and make plays for others. But can we take advantage of those nights where he gets into the pain and it's not all or nothing on him? He can move it out and we continue to play on the second side. So I think that's a part of our growth.


My name is Julian Davies, I'm the captain of the Wairirua River Fire Brigade. It's predicted to be a really bad day. Fire hit here around about 11 o'clock at night. I basically went through like a steam train hitting the little district. I'm David Gridley, I'm captain of the Westbury Fire Brigade. We had a fire brigade meeting last Wednesday and from that we decided we wanted to support an area and we chose Wairirua during the connection that we had on the night of the fires when they came through. We started off initially with just a tool drive to get donated tools from our area. What we were doing went a little bit viral and we started to get a bit more money coming in. It's fencing tools, sledgehammers, shovels, rakes, things that are going to help them be able to clean up their properties and get an immediate benefit too. And then combined with that we've just donated about $10,000 worth of fencing materials. They're the items that the Wairirua community said to us that they needed straight away. So by doing it this way they tell you what they want and then you supply that to them. I highly encourage people to get a connection with the communities that are affected. If we can choose a little area or a little township and support that township after the fires are out come and visit these communities. We want to make sure that in a month's time, in two months' time, six months' time these communities aren't forgotten. It'll just make their situation so much better.