So I know that I'm preaching to the choir by saying this but it can't be overstated Bernie Sanders single-handedly has revolutionized campaign fundraising in America by relying exclusively on small-dollar donors and not millionaires or billionaires He demonstrated to everyone that you don't have to sell out to get elected That is no longer a necessary evil You could subvert the whole process and just raise money by going to the people In fact his campaign just announced that they surpassed four million individual donations Which is more than any candidate in US? History now this scares the establishment because it gives Bernie Sanders an advantage that basically no other candidate with the exception of Elizabeth Warren has longevity Because small-dollar donors are propping up this campaign. He can stay in until the very end Right the campaign funds are not going to dry up anytime soon He has monthly recurring donations from people who are nowhere near maxing out Who are going to allow him to stay in all the way until the convention and The establishment hates that so corporate media They're trying to find ways to not only downplay what he's managed to accomplish like we've talked about the segments on CNN before but they're trying to find ways to maybe dissuade people Possibly from donating to Bernie Sanders and Politico published an article with a message that's subtle But possibly nefarious where they want you to maybe rethink the donations that you're giving to Bernie because by donating to him You may be inadvertently propping up the entities and organizations who you claim to hate So they published an article titled how Bernie's small donors are making credit card companies rich Now based on that title when I saw this I thought oh this must be about how poor people are so inspired by Bernie Sanders That they are using credit cards to donate because they don't have any cash on hand they don't have money so they're kind of putting it on the credit card and You know putting themselves into debt to help Bernie because they believe in him that much That's something that I did like in 2016 I donated to Bernie Sanders using my credit card because that was all that I had and I wanted to help him out So that's what I thought this was about But that's not what this is about at all So the article's headline is a little bit misleading What this is actually about is the fact that there are processing fees that apply to every single transaction Now to that I say Yeah, obviously whenever you swipe your credit card or debit card there is a processing fee and You know the more times you donate to Bernie Sanders the more times There will be a processing fee that will go to these credit card companies now I really don't think this is anything that is Too surprising to people nonetheless political linked to a newsy video where they kind of gave you this Objective breakdown that's presented in a very matter-of-fact way that doesn't really dive too deep into you know The implications and what this means for you as a Bernie Sanders donor. Take a look donating to your favorite political candidate online Is easy it can take just one click or if you set up recurring donations You don't have to do anything at all the internet has revolutionized how donors behave People now give more frequently and in smaller amounts than ever before But if you want to be part of getting me on the debate stage just go to yang 2020 comm and donate a buck But every time you donate online There's a processing cost and while it might be pennies on the dollar Those pennies add up and in recent years as small-dollar donations have ramped up credit card processing costs have exploded Jonathan zucker is the former CEO of Democratic payment processor act blue. He's watched this whole transformation unfold He's old what it really boils down to is it's just Easier to make a small dollar donation than it used to be the reality is no one would make out $105 checks and give them to a hundred candidates But you can absolutely do that with online giving on the one hand large numbers of Small-dollar donors investing in the political process is very good for democracy on the other hand They are also good for the the credit card processors between 2008 and 2016 The amount that federal campaigns reported spending on credit card processing fees roughly doubled going from 28 million to 52 million dollars 2020 campaigns have already racked up Millions in fees and they're on track to surpass any previous election cycle since 2008 more than 200 million dollars has gone towards credit card processing fees of course political fundraising overall has been on the rise but More and more of every dollar donated has been going to credit card processing fees instead of to the candidate and This cycle the Sanders campaign has reported the highest processing bills the reality of Card processing is that the smaller the transaction amount the larger the percentage of that transaction That disappears into fixed fees So the first thing I'll say is no, it's not the internet that revolutionized how donors behave. It's Bernie Sanders Exclusively who revolutionized the way donors behaved? Obama ran for president during the internet era and he didn't raise small-dollar Donations he was taking money from Wall Street So don't give the internet credit for something that Bernie Sanders did Bernie Sanders changed the game So give him the credit that he deserves both that being said the video itself I don't really have any problems with that because if they're just going to educate people and explain how yes every single time You use your card There's a processing fee and the more times you use it the more fees that will be going to these credit card companies Like I have no problem with that however The problem is that this video that Politico links to only got 222 views and on top of that It's unlisted which means that more people probably read the article than just watched the video now The problem is the article itself takes a few extra steps To kind of make Bernie Sanders supporters think about whether or not they should continue their contributions They write what these grassroots supporters may not realize is that in making small repeated Contributions they have in aggregate delivered a huge payday for the middlemen often large banks and financial institutions that process those payments It's important that people realize that the more transactions they engage in the more credit card companies are making money Said Jonathan Zucker the co-founder of democracy engine and former CEO of act blue the nonprofit payment processing behemoth Catering to Democratic campaigns while it may only be a matter of sense those pennies pile up Nearly one-tenth of that money came from Sanders presidential campaign Which has paid credit card processors more than 2.3 million the most of any candidate this cycle Second is Warren whose 1.75 million in processing payments narrowly edged out Pete Would a judges 1.73 million donors however appeared to be making a less informed choice and October newsy Ipsos poll found that nearly half of donors didn't know Processing fees were taken out of their donations at least 44% said knowing the connection between donation size and fees could change how they donate If your goal is to reduce the amount of money that you're paying credit card companies with your donations Then you want to limit the number of donations you make Zucker said the more donors combined smaller donations into larger less frequent Contributions he said the more those campaigns are going to have at the end of the day Susan Weisner a Sanders supporter who has already donated small amounts to his campaign dozens of times this cycle Said she had no idea that slices of her donations were never going to credit card fees Never knew they took that deduction Weisner said now that she knows making many small donations instead of a large one Increases the cut going to processing fees. She said she may change the way she donates She said she plans to tell her friends to do the same. I'll pass it along So the implication here is maybe if you are a small donor who has donated repeatedly to Bernie Sanders Maybe rethink your donating habits. Maybe instead of just sending in $5 Put that $5 aside wait until you have you know, $25 to spare and donate that amount to him So that way you're giving less money to the credit card companies and the processing fee itself is smaller and then Bernie gets more money Now that in and of itself It's not the most problematic takeaway, but this is potentially Damaging to Bernie Sanders and the article frankly is relatively reckless because think about this What are people going to do in actuality if they're rethinking their small donations? Well, they'll put it off and if they put it off there's a chance knowing that people are busy and you know, we have short attention spans as human beings We might not get back to it We might not donate rather than you know saving our money to donate a bigger donation to Bernie Sanders We might just put it off and not do it So this could be a problem now I'm not going to argue that this is some nefarious plot by Politico to take down Bernie Sanders all I'm saying is they need to be very careful and Not try to discourage small donations because let me tell you all something that every person who is progressive should know There is absolutely no ethical consumption under capitalism However, you spend your dollars even if you think it's going to a good cause in some way directly or indirectly Your money is propping up some type of organization Institution or entity that is fighting to oppress you, right? So you can't really worry too much about this what you need to worry about is The goal and the goal is getting Bernie Sanders elected and at the end of the day if you can only spare $5 should you put that off? So you can avoid this processing fee No Donate to Bernie Sanders in fact do it right now No matter how big a donation you want to make because remember that that fee that a credit card company is taking That's going to be something that they're going to be paying back when Bernie Sanders wins and raises their taxes So you can't stress the little things like this like this is a necessary evil act blue is something that all candidates use running for Congress or otherwise because it's the easiest way To raise money like what are you? What are you supposed to do? There's no way that you can run a campaign and not prop them up It's either you do small dollar donations or you take money from special interests What matters is the policies that Bernie Sanders and these grassroots candidates are pushing right? So yes, we can acknowledge that maybe in the event we kind of consolidated our donations and rather than Sending in five separate five dollar donations. It would be better if we sent in one twenty five dollar donation That's not practical for everyone like if you have five dollars and Bernie Sanders is asking you for a donation Send him five dollars. Don't worry about the processing fee because again, we're gonna tax these bastards anyway So the regulation is what matters and second of all don't be afraid that your money is helping these organizations because this alternative is much Better than a credit card company Donating directly to candidates and effectively buying them off So if Bernie Sanders is having a portion of my donation go to a credit card Processing fee or whatever I like who cares it is pennies and yes It does add up, but they're trying to basically dissuade you from donating in You know these small sums, but it's that's just practical It's it's what more people feel comfortable doing like we have five dollars here ten dollars there So it's not realistic to expect people to donate like a fifty dollar donation or a twenty five dollar donation So Politico needs to be more responsible and less reckless here and make sure that they make it crystal clear That they're not trying to dissuade people from donating to candidates that they support right do not give less money But they've got to know that if you kind of turn people off to the process itself That a lot of people will see that and think oh, well, I don't want my money going to these credit card companies Fuck them.  Sorry Bernie, but let me stress this He needs money without money He will not win so regardless if you can spare one dollar or five dollars Do it don't wait donate when you can and as much as you can if you can donate twenty five dollars again instead of five Individual five dollar payments do it but Do not be dissuaded by this article Don't think that you're doing something wrong by donating to Bernie Sanders because credit card Companies are gonna take a processing fee wherever you go whenever you swipe your debit card You're gonna be paying that processing fee regardless So again, I don't want to seem like I'm conspiratorial and suggest that Politico is trying to you know hurt Bernie Sanders in a direct way maybe this is harmless, but my Overall argument here and what I want you to take away from this is that we can't be dissuaded from donating to Bernie Sanders Because if we truly want change we have to support him by donating so donate if you can no matter What the amount is put that aside?  This is a long-term investment that we are making in Bernie Sanders campaign So please whatever you do don't let this article turn you off grassroots donations small dollar donations That matters too, right? So if you can only spare three bucks or a dollar to a candidate or Bernie Sanders Donate that don't wait because you know, we have busy lives and More often than not rather than just waiting. We're gonna end up forgetting to donate that money or spend it So donate don't worry. Just do what you can to help Bernie Sanders He needs money. We need money to win and you know, you can't not donate because of this That's what I want to stress donate now


So let's say Ellsbury, I think he's owed $47 million, but just for math sake, we'll say he's owed $50 million. So he has a no-trade clause, so does Cano, but they probably agree because that's close to where Ellsbury lives. Cano loves New York. So $50, subtracted from $120, is $70. So then you've got $70 million divided by $5, which is $14 million a year. I still think that's too much for a guy coming off a PD. Yeah, that's the way he can miss an entire year. If I'm the New York Yankees, if I really am exploring Cano hit $309 last year, here's what I do. You're going to have to make it $40 million. You're going to have to add another. You're going to have to bring our costs down to $8 million a year. Then we'll take them. Now, will that be worth it to the Mariners to do, where they're only saving the $40 million out of the 120 they owe them? And they're getting a player back in Ellsbury, and it's anybody's guess if he has anything left. But if I'm the Yankees, I still believe they're truly in on Machado. And this is probably just due diligence by Cashman and Company. But if I'm the Yankees and I can get Robinson Cano, who can still hit at $8 million a year, I'm doing it. I will do it, because even if he's shot the last two years when he's 41-42, he's just releasing. Even knowing that the next time he gets caught, it's a full year. Right. He won't get caught again. When you say that, he doesn't do it. You can never say never. You can't tell me that it's not possible that it could happen. No, look at Mahia. He took it only half a year and not be eligible for the playoffs. With the Mariners, let's face it, if he didn't get suspended, they could have possibly made the playoffs. They finished above $500. They played well at the beginning without him. It's just very intriguing, but it is a warning to everybody. Harper and Machado are different cases. Because if you look at A-Rod's first contract, that was a great contract. You got great performance out of him because he signed it when he was 26. That's exactly what Harper and Machado would do. The bad contract was giving A-Rod after seven years a 10-year deal when he was 32. The last three, four years would sunk costs. Baseball, I think they've learned from their mistakes, but I think that both Harper and Machado will get 10-year deals because of their age. Because they're young. I get it. It's intriguing because it's Cano. Would you do it if you could get the cost down to $8 million a year? Listen, if you really look at it, Robinson Cano is definitely worth more than $8 million a year. So you're kind of getting a bargain. I'd be scared off a little bit by the fact that the next suspension is a full year. When I'm a win-now team, do I want to invest in this guy? It sounds silly that he would do it, but it happened to him. He had to happen with Cano. He knew he was going to miss half a season and he still did it. This is the guy. They traded Melchie Cabrera away because they knew there was something going on there. So you know something's going on. I still think deep down in my mind that they knew something was up with Cano too. They still made him an offer, but they knew the offer was going to be refused.  I'd probably do it. I'd love the Mets to get involved, but I don't even know if they would go as far as that. For 8 million a year they would. You're getting a guy who, before he got suspended, was a Hall of Fame track player. Hall of Famer. His numbers have been pretty good the last couple of years. That's 300. He's a good player and he's a good defender. But is he going to be a good player in five years? That's why if you're the Yankee sending Jacoby Ellsbury there, it's not enough because 70 million over five years is too much for me to pay for a guy who you would assume is off of PEDs and you wonder how much of a player he's going to be.


Africa to the world, showing positive images of Africa and you know what, I can't believe that I'm in Liberia. You finally made it. I was so scared of coming to this country. And I am here, you know, if one of mine is scared, I guess a lot of people are scared. You know, people are asking me, are you safe? Why are you uploading any video? Is everything all right? I'm all right though. Just because I met the superstar. No, let me get it hard, you know. It's your fault. Ah! Africa to the world. Yeah, thank you so much. Hey, why are you so famous? I'm not famous. You're famous. You're not famous? No way, like everyone were like, hey, have you met already? You need to meet the, like, my whole email, my whole DM, everyone is talking about you. And I was like, let me go check it out. And I was like, ah, isn't it the same lady that O'Shea sent me to do some time ago? Yeah, we went to O'Shea a long time ago. A long time ago, and I was like, okay, finally. I already know her. I'm gonna meet her. Then I reach out to her like, okay. And we made it happen, yeah. No, tell us, why are you so famous? You want to know? You're making me blush.  Wow. For, we're less than five million. So, we all know each other. And as you- No, no, wait. They're not just famous in Liberia, because the people who are testing me are not from Liberia. Okay. But they want to see Liberia, they all see Liberia through you. That's awesome. Why is that? That's awesome. Well, I mean, I moved back. I'm a Liberian. Oh, okay. Number one, I'm a Liberian. So I moved back. And I've been back for about three years now. When I decided to move back from America. Oh, okay. You know, all the Americans are just baffled. Why would you leave this great life in America to go to Liberia? The third poorest country in the world. Ooh.  To come to hell, yes. But are you sure you're in hell? I don't know. Is this what hell looks like? Because I'll take a first plastic in there. You didn't mean to say 10 when it came here. No, but I decided to just start a vlog. And really, I had no vlogging or videography experience. Started on my cell phone and did some iMovie edits, but just trying to show my American friends that were not living in huts and there's not lions and monkeys in my front yard. Because that's the image that we get in America. They thought you have a lion as a pet. Yeah, as a pet. So I was like, you know, maybe I should just show them the real Liberia, the real Africa. And then something happened where it shifted. My audience shifted from that to people, Liberians in the diaspora who haven't been home for 20 plus years. You know, a lot of Liberians were displaced during the war. So people are on programs in the States in different places where they can't even leave the country. If you leave America, you won't get access back. So they're there. They haven't seen home in years. I'm the only person who's making videos and content about what's happening right now on the ground. So I'm like, they don't have a choice. You guys gotta love me. I gotta be famous, right? Now I understand. They've seen the real Liberia through you. And I want to say congratulations. Thank you. Because a lot of people out there love what you do. They were telling me, what am I? You have to meet them. If you don't meet them, don't leave Liberia. I want to know, how has the experience been like since you came back? Well, I mean, again, we're here. You see this, this is Liberia. Everywhere you look, you know, I always post pictures and my friends are like, you're really enjoying yourself. And I'm like, well, that's my country. When you're in town working, you see the Atlantic Ocean. We're surrounded by the ocean. But just like any African country and Liberia even more because of the infrastructure, challenges that we have, it's not an easy move, right? It's not an easy transition. I've talked about this many times on my vlog channel, the things to prepare, how to prepare properly to make the move back. It's not easy. It's not easy anywhere. She's been real. It's not easy.  You know, especially if you're living in America or Europe in the Western world where everything's a convenience, right? You have Amazon, you have this, you have that. I always say it's not too difficult. It's just a change and shift in your life style, right? But the benefits, the benefits are so much more and so much more fulfilling to your soul, right?  So they can see the potential, they can see the country.  I think he has like 300,000 subscribers. I think I have four and I'm like, I'm doing really good. And then I look at his page and I'm like, oh my God, this is a real YouTuber. You know what, no, wait, before I let it continue. Her name is Eury. Reuter Filomena Yuri. And she's a YouTuber.   Welcome back. That was a quick commercial break. Thank you. I want to know, 26 years in America, three years in what? Liberia. Actually, what took you to America? The war. The war. And I know that definitely a lot of people went to various parts of the war just because of the war. Exactly. You've been here three years now. Do you think that Liberians in the diaspora should come back home? Definitely. Wait, if they should come back home, what are they coming to do? Anything, everything, build your country. Thank you. Because if we don't do it, especially Liberians in the diaspora, to come back, bring all the knowledge, all the experience to this country that may not have it, but we can get there. We can get it with our small population that's in the diaspora. If just a few of us come back, it'll be one more Filipina doing something else. Then I won't be the only vlogger. Then there'll be someone else in a different sector. We have to come back. We can't count on our fathers and mothers. They're getting older. We are the next generation. We have to change things. We have to build our country. If no one does, we won't get there. We're talking about we, we, we, we, who are we? We are the young people. We are the ones that were displaced by war. But guess what? We made a difference. We were out there. We got our education. We got our experience. Now bring it back.  Ghana's beautiful. Ghana's developed. You see a lot of young Ghanians coming back. You even see now the year of the return. Yeah, exactly. African-Americans wanting to come back. And the crazy thing is Liberia has a very close tie with African-Americans. And they don't even know because we're so under the radar. Liberia was founded by a free place. Exactly. And they are African-Americans. African-Americans, but they don't know that. But we need channels like this, you know, exposure like this to get people to come back. So if an American wants to come and visit, Liberians should definitely want to come back, invest in your country, and show this. Why not show this?  I just want to know what can they invest their money into? Well, like we've talked about, there is a huge gap in the infrastructure of Liberia, right, since the war. So any sector you can think about, you can probably come here and make something of it, right?  And agriculture is so rich in Liberia, but so not used. We don't use our land. And Liberians and Africans, all of us, we can eat off our land. There's no need to import anything. But we, as Liberians, we import everything, our vegetables, our fruits, our rice. And I don't know if you know Liberians, but we eat rice every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Liberians, in general, there's a statistic. We eat seven times more rice than any African country. I feel like Liberians don't have a lot of similar. We're very close. They're our cousins. They're our cousins. But we eat more rice than anybody, even Sierra Leone. And we import all of our rice. So agriculture, there's nothing but land, rich, fertile land. We can grow anything here. So farming, energy.  I think it's a common complaint, not in Ghana. I was in Ghana for two months last year.  And I don't remember the current going out one time. Nigeria has the same problems that we have. LEC always, you know, fluctuates. So solar energy. I mean, any of you can think of tourism. I have a friend who has a tourism company. She moved from the diaspora as well. Back home, Liberian girl, came here. She has her own tourism company. She sets up tours for things like this. So any sector, it can be from top to bottom, engineer to doctor. You know, we're all here where there's a need for it. And we're looking for our people to invest back into the country.  So I'm not going to cry. Because when I went to Sierra Leone, I realized that most of the things, like any flashy thing that you see in Sierra Leone belongs to, it doesn't belong to the people. It belongs to foreigners. And I came in here and kind of seen exactly similar. And I'm here to tell you that I don't hate anyone, but I feel like we as Africans, it's time for us to claim our land and develop our own countries. So if you're in America, who do you expect to come and develop your country for? Yes, the foreigners are here creating jobs for the people. But hey, you can create better jobs as somebody from different countries to come create jobs. And have a Liberian-owned business. My sister. Do you have any final message for each and everyone out there? Well, just want to thank you again. We finally linked up after many messages, many DMs. Everybody can relax. Voda in Filipina finally met. It's okay. Pause the alarm, but thank you for coming and shining a light on our beautiful little country. But the message is clear. I think he says that I say it. Come back. We need you. We need us to invest in our country. We are the only ones who will rebuild our countries. And yeah, follow me, continue the conversation. Let's keep the conversation going. Hopefully we'll get Voda back here to visit. Now that he's not scared that he's gonna get it, he's not walking to the middle of the war. I said I'm gonna spend five days here. That was the plan, but I guess I'm gonna stay more than five days.  I'm telling you. So which means that they've been lying to us that they said the civil war is still going on. I checked on Google what I saw. I was like, oh my goodness. My mom was like, my son, don't go. I don't want to lose you. But here I am, I've extended my days. So definitely it's safe for you to come in here. And when you come in here, you can definitely meet here. But hey, don't go beyond. I know some of you, that's the things that you do. But hey, it's your boy Mr. Ghana, baby. Make sure you go subscribe to your YouTube channel. Go see more of Liberia through her because I'm going back. And I don't know when I'm coming back. But if you really want to see what is going on in this country, her channel is the best place for you. Thank you again. Thank you. I love Maya.


Hello friends! Welcome back to my channel and welcome back to another episode of Wrapped Up! You might be thinking, Megan, you're not at home, you're in Wales. I am pre-filming me unwrapping, finding out what February and March is wrapped up as, so that I don't have to take all 50 books that are wrapped up with me to Wales to unwrap too. That wouldn't make sense. I'm hoping for good vibes. I mean good vibes, as we know, I need a five-star, my reading. Well, I'm filming this, my reading hasn't been great at the start of the year. By the time it's February, it might have been wonderful. Who knows? Things might be looking up. But right now, I feel like I need something good. I feel like the universe needs to look out for me. So, I'm just gonna grab one and we're gonna unwrap it.  Why do I do- why have I done this to myself for like four years? Three years? Okay, I'm going for whatever this is. I just look and whatever one like I feel cosmically pulled to in that moment, I have to unwrap. Okay, let's see. What is it? No, you're actually having a giggle. There's no way. There is no way. I'm gonna complete state of shock. I forgot what I was gonna say. Guys, no, I did a video where I was like, these books, myself, destruct within- no. I'm not faking this. I promise you I'm not faking this. Okay, I did that video where I was like, these books, myself, destruct and I hadn't read five, right? Of those five, the four books we have unwrapped in T-Bear Kudo are those four, but I'm probably sure I'm not faking this. I don't know what the books are. I haven't- Someone put a comment, I think it was Louise, put a comment on the last vlog, like this is the odds of you unwrapping those three books. This is the fourth. This is the fourth. The Jordan Moff- and I just want you to guys know I just planned out all my videos that I'm doing in February, March, and in the start of February I was going to do a vlog. I've always been doing- I was always going to do this vlog. I'm reading the books I was supposed to unhaul, right? So I had no reason to unwrap these. I was happy to unwrap one or two because then it meant the amount of books for the vlog I don't have to read four or three, you know what I mean? But now the only book I have to read is Alan James Crompton, which is arguably one of the ones I wanted to read the most. Okay, I've got to- I've got to think up a new vlog. I've got to replace something. What? This is absolutely insane. So this is the thing- I was going to be reading this in February anyways. This is not- okay. The woman was too stunned to speak. Okay so this is the Jordan Moff, the second in the Sinclair's Mysteries. I enjoyed the first one. This is one of the oldest books on my TBR. It is these Edwardian middle grade murder mysteries, and I've been really excited to continue on the series. We're continuing on the series. Listen, I'm happy. It's just- we've only unwrapped four books. Oh wait, no, no, no. Sorry, sorry, sorry. This is February's. I'm forgetting. I haven't read Up Rooted yet, but that is January's episode, which you would have seen. So out of five books four of them are from the video. I promise you I'm not faking this. If I was watching, I think I'm faking it, but I have no reason to because I was going to read all the others on a vlog anyway. What am I going to vlog instead? Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. We're reading this. I'm actually very excited to read this, and hopefully I've heard that this middle grade series improves as it goes on. So I'm looking forward to making progress. I just cannot believe our luck. I don't know how that happened, but it's not luck actually. I'd rather run something else. How are we doing? So I'm in Wales now, and it's time to start- well, I have started The Geard Moth by Catherine Woodfine, and I have been so excited to start this. Before I start this, I was just looking forward to it because I don't think I've read a mystery yet this year, guys. I haven't read a mystery, and I'm craving them. Like I honestly thought I've got some really exciting videos coming up. I've got a really exciting vlog coming up this weekend, which I've been working on for like three weeks. Dear God, this vlog's pretty going to be over like the course of a day or two days. The vlog this weekend is like three weeks, so I'm nothing if not a variety, okay. Yeah, but I thought about sacking it all in and just reading mysteries. So I've been really excited to get to this one, and I'm excited for something lovely about middle grade. Here's the problem I've been having this year so far. I feel like as you'll see with this weekend's vlog, I've started actually having some better luck with the books I've been reading. I've given out some higher ratings than we had in January, but I'm still not reading very fast. It's still taking me a lot longer to read some books, than it would usually. And so I'm just hoping that this little short middle grade mystery will kind of like get me going at a better pace, you know? So I was really looking forward to starting this. And as I mentioned before, it is a sequel, but the thing with this series is I can kind of tell you what happened, because like with mystery series, they're kind of all self-contained mysteries, right? There's no, there's like a bit of an overarching mystery in this series, but we're not going to find out the answer to that until the end over like who this baron is, the baron who's like this like gangster, I don't know, some guy who's like making all these businesses pay, and like the criminal, the criminal underlord of London. And then all the rest of the books are like mysteries in each book, you know, self-contained. So A, I don't have to remember too much like the last book, the first book I read like three years ago. This is one of the oldest books on my TVR. I read maybe even almost four years ago. Yeah, almost four years ago, since I read the first one, dear God, that's quite embarrassing. I'm getting older. I don't know if I can, if I want all this drama all the time, if I'm being honest. So the good thing about this is I don't have to remember a lot about that first one, but I actually do remember I think a fair amount. But yeah, we're following these girls who work at London's biggest department stores. I think Selfridges, right? It's that kind of era. They would sit in Edwardian times, they work there, and they last book, they solved a mystery at the shop. And in this one, a local debutante has lost a jeweled moth that she was gifted, and she tasked them, it's been stolen, and she tasked them in finding out who did it. We've only really just got to that point in the mystery. And I'm enjoying it. I love the historical setting. This is Edwardian times those of you who don't know, I don't know if it's like widely known, because it's like referring to UK kings and queens in terms of era, but it's after Victorian times. So I think it's like 1901 to 1911 or 13, early 1915, something like that, is the time period that we refer to as Edwardian. So it's an interesting time period because you're coming out of the Victorian era where you've had this massive increase in an industrial, also what I'm looking for, industrial, the industrial revolution, I don't know, like, you know, the ability, our ability to do things has rapidly increased. And you're kind of coming into this modern era where you're coming into the 1920s. It's a very interesting little pocket of history, I think. And I'm really enjoying the setting as we're focusing very much on this debutante, like the kind of almost archaic, at this point in time, like nature of like girls coming into society and whatever, like it feels almost like Jane Austen era practices. But it's obviously the upper classes are still holding onto these practices. And it's just very interesting pocketed history. So I'm really enjoying that. It's a very easy read. I flew through, oh, I didn't tell you where I am. I'm up to chapter 10. So I'm about 100, 110-ish pages in. And I flew through the start of it. And the mystery, you know, it's like a middle grade mystery. So it's not super intriguing. But I just think back to myself when I was a kid at school, right? And like I read middle grade as a middle grader, I don't know. I see middle grade as stuff I would have read when I was a bit younger than middle grade. So like your middle grade refers to, I think the equivalent to our year six, seven, eight and nine. Whereas when I read middle grade, it like children's books remind me of what I would have read when I was like in year three, four, five and six. Do you know what I mean? In my school year. So I when I think back to myself like in year four, year five, like reading these kind of kids books, I think I would have loved this. I would have loved the glamour of the era, the atmosphere, the storyline, the characters, like I can imagine myself having a really fun time reading this book, not necessarily being the most memorable thing that I like, you know, take into adulthood and be like, oh, I loved that book when I was a kid. But just as a moment in time, I can imagine myself really enjoying this. So I'm going to go continue it. Yeah, I'm having a fun time so far. So I'll let you know what I'm a little bit of the way through because really the mystery has only just begun. So we'll see what I think once we're a bit of the way through. But I am enjoying it so far. Okay, hello, friends. I am now about 220 pages into the George Mouth, so about two thirds of the way through. And I'm going to chat to you about it. But before we do that, let's unbox a few packages I got from my Amazon wishlist. Some of you guys are very funny to me. So let's open these fast. Let's have a bit of fun. I feel like I need a little bit of, um, it's been a tough few days. I don't know how to get into why, but it's been a lot of car insurance calls and I'm stressed. So this is like, you know, very kind of you. It's arrived at the perfect time. So first, oh, we've got City of Brass by SA Chuck Robotti. Let me see if there's a note. Oh my god. Amazon is insistent on not sending out notes. I had this problem loads with my birthday book. Cool. So if you got this from me, please let me know so I can thank you. This has been a fantasy series. I have been so intrigued to read for a long time. Obviously it's like one of the kind of major fantasy series I think. So I'm really excited to read this.  I feel like a lot of the fantasy I'm reading nowadays is not feeling big enough. And I feel like if any series is going to feel like momentous enough, it's going to be this. So thank you so much to whoever gifted me this. Okay.  I just saw a little treat as we're having such an awful start of the reading year. At least you get a gift. Much love from Barley. By the way, read it back. Okay, well, I think it's pronounced Isla. If I'm wrong, please click me on my pronunciation. We have got, we have got Pride by Ally Hayes.  I'm so, I'm actually the soon. I've got a couple of videos this could go in like ASAP. I'm out of food soon. This is Ally Hayes Awards Paranormal Romance debut. As you guys know, I'm Ally Hayes Award girly. I'm actually rereading another Ally Hayes Award like this week in a couple of days. It's sitting right there. I am definitely getting through my Ally Hayes Award collection. And this is another one to add to it. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I've spoken about whenever I speak about this, I used to be a paranormal romance girly. So the idea of like Ally Hayes Award and Paranormal Romance meeting. I'm so excited. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Whoever sent me both of these. That is so kind of you. Wowza. I'm so excited. Okay, now let's chat about the George Moth. I unboxed the years in the video because what I want to thank could have gotten for me, but B, I don't have much to say about this. Really enjoying it. It's just a lovely read. But I don't think there's anything particularly notable to say. I do think this is paced much better than the first book. I'm enjoying the pacing a little more. I think I'm enjoying it more. I think I gave the first one three stars. This is feeling like it could be a 3.5 or a 4 because it's just feeling like the mystery is moving at a better pace. Maybe now that we've met the characters. Obviously I've met the characters for years ago, so I don't remember them that well. But I feel like it's done a good job of like getting me back into the story or remembering vaguely who these people are. And I think this kind of world of the debutantes and the higher society mixed with characters from the east end of London who are living more, not necessarily in poverty. You've got a character, a young girl from Chinatown who has, I don't want to spoil the connection too much, but like is also in the story alongside the characters we met in the first book. And I think it's mixing those worlds in a very interesting way and saying stuff also like with kids, like with big topics. You've kind of like got to infiltrate the stories with them because other than I understand. But like it's introducing ideas of colonialism and why that's bad in like a way that I think is very accessible for kids. So I'm really enjoying it. I think this is kind of what I needed right now. Do I think it's going to be a very bookable time? No. Am I going to remember this book very much in the future? Probably not. You know what I mean? Like it's not, you know, it's not the best bookable time but I am enjoying myself. So I'm going to curl up and finish this now. And yeah, we'll see what rating I set along. But I'm feeling like I definitely want to try and finish this series this year. I believe there's two more. So I would like to finish this series now this year, I think. Get my hands on the second two and just finish it because it'd be satisfying to finish a series that has been on my TBR for so long. Okay, I have finished the George Moth by Catherine Rudd Fine and I'm very excited to tell you I'm going to give this four stars. I really enjoyed it. This in my opinion is such a stronger book than the first book. I don't know if the first book was her debut. I think it might have been. And so maybe it was just struggling with some of those pacing issues. But this series felt so much filler in this book. Like mysteries are starting to seep across the books and give it a great pace. I really enjoyed the settings. This one was actually more outside of the department store. We really weren't in the department store that much. We were like in the rich people's houses basically instead. But I just really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed all the characters we met in this book. Listen, is it really a great book ever? No. It is brilliant American literature and I don't care about anybody. It is. It's lit. It should be taught in schools. But I just think this maybe is what I needed right now. I needed like a quick fun book to like get the ball rolling and me finishing a book in a day again. Because I don't think I've done that this whole year. I've been like reading books so you took me a day like five days and that's a problem. So I think maybe just the pace of this, the ease of this was really something I needed. It's not the most interesting for a vlog because A, it's a middle grade so I feel like there's a lot less to me to say. And B, it's a second in a series. So like I can't tell you stuff that spoils the first in a series. And sequels always I find them a little bit harder to speak about especially when they're middle grade. Whereas it's kind of like it's just an enjoyable reading experience. Do you know what I mean? That's what I can really say is that I had a nice time reading it. But I am so glad, for me personally, maybe not for you and like for the video, but for me personally, I am so glad that this got chosen and wrapped up because this is a book I've been putting off for a long time and I have continued a series that I had not made progress in since 2020. I'm happy I'm making progress in series this year. And I think I can definitely finish this this year. There's only two more books, The Painted Dragon at the Midnight Peacock. I really enjoyed the audiobook. So maybe the audiobook is a way to go going forward. But I would recommend this series if you're looking for kind of a cozy historical middle grade mystery. This is I think a fun choice. So yeah, not the most exciting for a vlog because with middle grade, especially when it's like this, there's not really much to say other than it was nice. I don't know this time, it was enjoyable, it was what I needed in the moment. For me, I think this was the perfect pick because I think I could have gone ages without making progress in the series and then like forget everything, you know? So I decided this is my middle grade series. I'm now going to focus on finishing this year. Thank you guys for watching this video. Let me know what your favorite middle grade series is. Other ones up for me that I need to make progress in are Amari, the Mari and the Nightbrothers series, or the Pages and Co series are ones that are on top of my list to make progress in. But if you have any middle grade recommendations, please let me know. I know a lot of people recommend Nevermore. A lot of people tell me I'm going to enjoy that. So yeah, let me know if you have any recommendations because I really enjoyed the experience of reading this middle grade. And I'll see you guys soon at the weekend with a big vlog, hopefully. I promise. I swear. I swear I'm going to get that video up finally. Like I've pushed it back twice, but it's a really exciting vlog coming out this weekend. So I will see you this weekend with that video. Bye.


let's go how's it going everybody dato do it here back with another round of dragon ball fighters rave matches this time playing a team of both brolies including dragon ball Z Broly Super Saiyan Goku and Dragon Ball Super Broly hopefully arxist eventually adds a third iteration of Broly I don't know I'm thinking maybe a toxic I completely forgot with the other Broly oh bio Broly yeah I did not like that movie too much all right Goku take him away let me I messed that one up still getting used to that assist so far I'm very bad with it and I'm gonna say the assist is weak because of it now but the assist probably isn't that that crazy it's definitely not a top tier assist blocking cell stepping all over me two overheads and I only blocked the one I always get too antsy to block that cell low that low is just a feels bad normal to get hit by on on defense coming in no jump okay you jump grab him okay no once I saw the assist come out I came I came out I realized vanishing was not the proper move don't don't do it bro why would you I'm gonna make you regret that though I still can't switch by the way I've ever told you how powerful snapping is can't assist for the life of me they got a character in Dragonball Fighters wants you to stay with that character we didn't oh we're getting level three which means it's probably sparking glass time for the best cuz we haven't been on offense and quite some time I I tried to click sparking glass I don't know where it was but I should probably always do down block sparking I've never gotten hit with an overhead when trying to spark lows lows have been every day why did he spark oh I get it you want it to be a 1v3 Broly I can respect you dropped it oh no oh perfect attack it was so quick I'm fine with this if there was any character that could 1v3 has to be Broly that would have worked by manage why do I back dashing in cell you should know there's just things you don't do in fighters all right here we go I'm gonna try to spark again remember this I'm going to try to spark no way he can DP I can't spark oh my god thank you for not deepening why am I on this side come here come here let Broly talk to you just a little bit how about you sell what do you think how many Dragon Balls who tried guard canceling at the last second hopefully he can't kill me here but I don't have too high hopes yeah we're we're dead we're dead oh oh round one that sucked bad cell just ran all over me hopefully I'm trying to get I'm gonna correct this let's correct this let's take out sell real quick nice and simple don't let Vegeta's assist catch your vanish that was another big moment Jesus assist is is top tier doing that though all right this is what I like to say this is the kind of pressure I love to see oh what are you doing you want it to come back into the corner huh oh you just love being in this corner I told you I was gonna make it quick let's go oh gee broly I see you're trying to make yourself you're trying to make yourself stand out at this the assist is so slow I was really didn't have to leap 10,000 feet to make this oh I brought the I brought the hand back in just the right time is that gonna hit oh and I did the input wrong that's fine you got combos look at that look at this I don't think I wasted sparking did I I did I was a super dash I meant what was that was that a level three I could have combo'd normally sorry I'm still still not entirely comfortable with the character but I really want to hit that combo I know I don't think he even has enough health to live it so that would be super sick yikes that was fast alright we're getting Vegeta assisted again no what he survived that oh no I have to switch out here is the only way to get the kill Broly did his thing though the way he just picked Goku off the ground that was too much oh my goodness Goku why did you give up let's go do that you can't do that against Broly baby alright that's one one one one the double Broly combo it's working out pretty good I mean they're both nice characters there I definitely like them both a lot and I have a lot of experience with OG Broly OG Broly so good I don't I actually think he's probably better tier-wise than new Broly but you really so exciting okay spark early spark there we go oh that was awful we are arm ring through everything okay like that yikes yikes dude okay Broly's back up I think we should probably get Broly in okay I'm in love with what's happening I messed it up that's fine get him out get him out the air control nice air control is so important in games like this can't I don't ever make them but I never expect the Broly assist to hit that's my problem that's my problem that was nice though that was good implementation can we combo here if we can I'm gonna go no let's go all right I think we all know how I want to finish the second game or second win sorry third game let me show you the grab range on Broly's heavy it's better if he's in the air actually it's a lot faster in the range is better but we definitely wasted a ton of bar doing that do I regret it though yes I actually do block like low block high block lies what the answer was big shame Broly's dad that does that move has a lot of range in the air though obviously I was pushing it there second now that would have been a ton of damage anyway take the win up to one to one to one this is where DBS Broly has to do the best this is where we need to this is where we need to see the most mileage from actually DBZ Broly starting us off so I believe in him to get us a good lead oh oh last time this happened we did not do too well that's the thing my back is too big dude I I want I want to assist I was trying to tag out so bad cuz I need this beam assist in the back okay this is damage okay that's fine bottom get this armor off I love hitting it raw cuz I don't even have to have any setup I just get all the damage all the damage that's really all I want body would jump no success oh there it is jumping back into an overhead okay okay I wonder if he knows we want to spark here come on dude I needed that so bad I got to start just doing the jump cancel there they get him off and I tried rushing in too fast offense why do I always back that's there if I back dash forward dash instantly catches me and it's game over crash will always be trash too slow for the meaty to hit oh and I could have teched it as well but I went for the armor thinking he put pressure on no I'm tight I'm raw tagging by the way I'm holding raw tag there we go that's a good kill Goku GT's down that's a great assist gone and now he even Vegeta's assist is out well he wanted that back pretty quick landed just in time I'm sorry Broly I thought even oh I thought he was gonna be in the air for at least another frame just a frame or two is all I needed probably 10 frames at least oh where yeah where do you think you're going Broly was right pick him up send him over to the velocity trail this is why Broly so good right the zoning power is just too amazing I thought my assistant come out and it's super sad Goku versus Super Saiyan Vegeta classic matchup on a pretty classic stage oh oh I really got a stop super dashing after that for the overhead that's game that's game you went for the overhead what is that 2-2 now drop it I have you to be hard to drop damn 2-2 I need this win I need team Broly to get a win team Broly if you can hear my cries now if you can hear my cries now I need you to perform I need this to be a tip top performance oh no let's go stay optimal keep it off the moon you know what that's a reset all these working together to become one look at the acid that didn't work that did not work why did that not work get them off me don't jump don't jump just stop just stop jumping it off and I won't have to throw those projectiles oh no oh no we got the confirmation that's all he needed to see come up get him Vegeta says so strong I think I'm gonna regret using that sparking I just hope it hasn't already happened and let me grab you dude here we go finally get that punish really handle my man we completely missed I could I'll be honest I barely saw GT go come the ground I thought I was playing old Broly I tried to do the armor of that EX armor move armor crash whatever Larry it bad choice damn not the best start again I don't know why I've run been running into so many GT gokers and Vegeta's lately but it has not been finding me and let me let me assure you that I don't know I didn't get punished there they didn't get punished but defense still is lacking oh no oh no oh we took that three bars down the drain I'm crashing down it's okay Vegeta let Super Saiyan Goku talk to you we go overhead here I think we do right my goodness all right well we have to do this that's how you take a win back the double Sunday exquisite okay that's a good that's very good an excellent start even why why why focus on defense we can just focus on defense for a little while on oh let's go who cares about defense oh please kill yes oh my god the tatsu was just thrown in there for fun hopefully you guys enjoyed this video if you did let me know down below why you're down there let me know some other teams you'd like to see during Broly week on the channel here while you're down there hit the like button and subscribe if you enjoy the channel and its content if you want more videos right away just take a look at your screen there should be some up there other than that I've been Dr. doya and I will see you in the next video