You're not gonna buy this for me.  I met all the criteria. Man, you got the paperwork. You got a legit company. You ain't scamming. They gonna give it to you. You be clean. Hey, man. It's all a blow. Welcome back to the 85's house show. Yeah. Yeah, man. It's time to take a whole other direction in here today, man, because, you know, we got a very special guest in the trap with us. Got the sage burn. Yeah, man. Send the sage with the sage. You know, you got to set the atmosphere a little bit. I feel like I'm just gonna let the sage burn a little bit before I even tell him who we got in here with us today, man. No, because I want everything to just hit just right. A little bit more? All right, man. A little bit more? Cool. Yeah. Say what? All right, dude. Cleans. What'd you say? Yeah. All right. I can't hear you, though. All right, man. Very special guest. We got to do it. Man, got one of them smart brothers in here with us, man. Almost one of them smart brothers.  Talking to him from the other side, man. You know? Entrepreneur. Come on. I just want to make up something. I feel like he's in touch with the information. Contact resources. Hmm. He may possess all those things. Always talking. Some good shit, man. I've seen a lot of his videos online. People have been hitting the comments and telling us we need to have this brother stop through the trap. He's doing some phenomenal things in the community. Also, teaching people about wealth and, you know, being financially responsible. Come on. Crypto markets. Metaverses. Social media. Mogul. The list could go on and on, man. We got none other than the brother 19 keys and everything. Appreciate y'all having me, man. At least most of the stuff that you do. I mean, I do a lot of different things. I know. You understand me? I definitely try to guide us in the right direction specifically for the moment. You understand me? And making sure that we're not left behind. Man, we love and appreciate that, man. Keep doing your thing. Appreciate it. Like what you're doing is really impacting people in a real way. See what I'm saying? No, it's a blessing. That's your impact. It's the same. It's some evil spirits leaving. You feel me?  I'm just the phone dropping. Somebody on that phone ain't living right. It's a lot of people on the phone ain't living right. That's probably the biggest issue. You understand me? Yeah. Oh, God, make it hard for people to live right, bro. Everything at your disposal. Man, I think that... They want you to have everything that you don't need. Technology made a lot of people dumber because they no longer rely on themselves. You feel me? You would imagine because we got phones and technology that we would be more productive. You know, but you're not going to be able to define a direct correlation between the amount of smart technology and the amount of productive statistics that you see in the world.  Absolutely. The phone was smart to begin with, really. It's all dependent on who operating it. You know what I'm saying? That's a fact.  You understand me? No value. So everybody thinks because you live in, you know, an advanced time because we got advanced technology, don't actually make you advance. You understand me? Yeah.  What skills would I have? What could I actually invent? Like, what knowledge I got of today I can take back in and do something with because then I can, like, measure what my actual core value is.      What's this? It's called crack, baby. You feel the love, this? You have to know how to crack. It's legal! It's legal, baby! Right, right. It's all that cocaine you snortin' making your nose hurt. You can beat the man to make a Coca-Cola. Come on, man. Stupid. Two, three hundred years ago. Yeah, but I would, yeah. You would be... Couldn't live in the seventeen hundreds, man. He wouldn't know how to hunt. He wouldn't know how to gather. Oh, now there's a black man for sure. Hell no. I'd rather go to the future than the past. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, you could probably go up in the wrong period of time. It's over for you. I'd take a gamble on that future with you, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Send me forward. Uh-uh. You just drop somebody in the past. You might end up a slave. But then you can go further back. I go back to the past a little bit. My end up in some noble society as a black person, so. I want to go back just a little bit. No, no. I think Martin Luther King and the Hill just one Gucci main mix, hey. No. So they're going to lose all hope for the future. No, no. Martin, listen to this. Stay wheel chainin'. What's up? Nah. Nah, nah.  Nah. August 7th. Y'all been waitin'. Y'all been sayin' when we comin' to L.A. The magic, the magic. Johnson and them used to play it. It's the Lake Show. The Lake Show. Don't play that on the motorway. It ain't the Lake Show. It's the 85 South Show, though. Let's see what I'm sayin'.   It ain't meat, but it look like meat. It taste like meat, it feel like meat. I said, Nick, it sound like you describing the deal, though. I don't want none of that. August 7th. Your ticket's still good if you bought them the first time. Yeah, yeah. We can swap it out. That's how we do it. You know what I'm mean? It's your girl Tray and Nicole. And Dallas. We comin' to see y'all on July 30th, and we turnin' up. Period. I ain't from Dallas, but I do, Tom Boogie. Hey! I'm from Dallas. Out there, period.  I can't wait. I'm so excited. Yes. I love Dallas. I love Dallas. I feel like y'all gon' show us a good time. We gon' turn up. We gon' have a good time. It's me. So July 30th, we are at Echo Lounge at Music Hall. The show starts at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6. I'm telling y'all, get there on time because we have some special guests coming through. Yes. It's gon' be so lit. Let me tell y'all. We got the new merch. We gon' have these shirts on sale. Period. If you ain't never been to a Pourmines show, you ain't never had a good time. So make sure y'all get y'all tickets. Go to www.pourmines.com and we'll see y'all July 30th. Period. Man, give our audience a brief introduction of, you know, who 19 Keys is. Man, peace to the family out there. I go by 19 Keys because it represents the way that I unlock minds. You understand me? Okay. But I consider myself to be a thought leader. You know, a leader amongst leaders, you know, oftentimes, I'm in front of the scenes, but I'm a lot of times behind the scenes, giving somebody some knowledge on how to move in the right direction. You know, whether it's celebrities, whether it's other influencers or peers that have platforms and also teaching us how to utilize our collective power. What is the right direction? It depends on what context. But the right direction is always the good. To do good. You understand me? For yourself and for others. I think you can take that as a general and you place that over every action. Then you can be like, all right, am I doing good to myself and I'm doing good to somebody else? That's the right direction. That's really one of the greatest ways to measure somebody's intelligence is their ability to choose the right direction. You understand me? And ability to be able to choose to be with the right people. You understand me? That's true intelligence. And that's why a lot of people have issues with family, with friends, with, you know, making the right decisions for themselves. What's my purpose? What's my direction? Where should I go? What should I do? Right. If they had that particular ability, most people, like it's not that successful people often time on the smartest in the world, they know they have a great ability to know how to choose the right direction.  Who they should be with, who they shouldn't be with. And that puts them in the right room, setting them up in the right situations. So therefore they can win more. It's all about the wins, man. K and D, I had taken a loss. Especially because you lack intelligence with all this technology available. No, that's a fact.  You know, often time they're avoidable, but to consistently make avoidable mistakes that represent that you're slow. You can't keep hitting the same wall, man. Expecting different results. Especially not in today's time. Like, I feel like what we at right now, like, we can look at any point of what we want to do, whether we want to achieve wealth, whether we want power. There is a way that we can do it, but just not individually. Right. Right, so, I gotta pay this, my son phone bill. It's about collective intelligence. He just hit me bad. I was damn in the middle of sending it. No, that's a good father to that right there. You're making a good decision. You know what I mean? So, for me, man, as I try to teach people in, you know, poor man, whatever direction, it's simply just getting them to choose like for a black man, I'm gonna get you to choose to be powerful. I'm gonna get you to choose to be intelligent. I'm gonna get you to choose, you know, your higher self rather than your lower self from every decision you make. It ain't saying you gotta be 100% perfect. You feel me? But if you can choose the right decision more times than you choose the wrong one, you're gonna find your life going in a better direction. Right. You feel me? But the average person just don't know who they are, and that's probably one of the bigger issues that exist. And what did you find the knowledge to know who you are? I grew up, you know, luckily I had parents that taught me I was a God at a young age. You know, my mom and my pops, they both converted into Islam and the nation of Islam when I was younger. And, you know, growing up in that particular type of paradigm, it gave me instructions on who I was. Like, I'm a God. I live in a devil's world. This is what you go out of the deal with. Now, don't get me wrong. I lost the path a couple of different times growing up in Oakland and St. Louis. You go get into some things. But I found it again because I had a platform. You understand me? I had a basis I can always go back. So I really, I like to give a lot of credit to my parents because, you know, without that foundation, when I did get lost, I may not have had the tools to find myself again. You understand me? Because when you're going the wrong direction, when you've been told the right direction, all you got to do is go back to that foundation like, damn, I know I'm going the wrong way. This ain't even the way I was taught. You understand me? So picking that back up said, nah, I want to utilize my skillsets and my strength in a capacity where I want to reach my highest height, my potential. Like, I'm boy-shitting on myself. If I don't take myself from here to here, you understand me? Like, every man got to figure out a way to live in their edge. Like, you can just think about, and this is an easy way to calculate whether you live in there. Sometimes you think to yourself, like, damn, I could be doing more. Damn, I could be at a higher position. Damn, if I actually just focus, discipline, organize, then I can find myself in a much better place. Because that's yourself letting you know, like, it's way more to you than what you're actually doing. You understand me? And we don't know if they respect men who ain't living at their highest level in their highest caliber. Thanks. You understand me? We're judging my brother to be doing way more, but boy-shitting on life right now. And you can't put that in somebody. They got to figure that out for themselves. Then they got to readjust. So, like, for yourself, when you know you can be hired, you can have more money, better social status, have more impact and influence, you will kick yourself. Because you already know you must not be living towards that vision and that goal. And so every day that you will try to distract yourself from that voice to drown it out, or you go do something that's actually going to make that side of yourself happy, like, yo, all right, we committed to it. We getting there now. And so it don't matter if you take losses along the way, as long as you're going in the right direction.  That's all I do. Try to stay going in the right direction. You know?  But people choose it. It's easy for some people. It's hard for some people. Yeah, but some people think they're the exception. Some people think the bullshit's fine now. Yeah.  Environment's stronger than nature. So it's like, if I'm in the hood and I know what goes down in the hood, then most likely it's going to happen to me.   You feel me? But we already know it, but we still expose ourselves to it. You feel me? Because for the most part, we just don't know how to control ourself and change our environment. Man, the damn sage didn't win out, man. Now it ain't deep no more, bro.  Nah, man, y'all got a lot of people right here, man. They say during recession and hard times, people try to, like, oftentimes they start binge drinking. They, uh, play games too much. You understand me? They start binge watching TV shows. Specifically, man, like, we got a hard time dealing with our emotions and stress. So we going to do everything to distract us from accountability. You understand me? And we deal with these times the worst. So I like the fact that y'all show Switch It Up because somebody may have just jumped on here at one time because, man, I rock with 85. They keep me going. Damn, this one time they had bro on there.  Right. People tell us that type of stuff all the time, man. That's what we do it for real. That's why exactly we...  That's why we try to have a wide range of people on the show, man. Just so people can, like you said, form their own opinion. Yeah. Come up with your own concepts because you never know who they going to hear from. But just think before we had, like, the ability to create our own media, we had to listen to watch everything that they just gagged us. Right. You understand me? No ability to project your own thought out there. Like, even I was listening to the game talking about how the fact when he was going through his contract disputes and shit, like, he didn't have a platform to go on social media and voice it and get the people on this side. Like, that didn't exist. Like, our generation got that ability. It could have came to the trap. Definitely. And it should. And every black celebrity that's out there and somebody that got influenced, they should all come to every one of these media sites. So, that's what you're supposed to do. Did you see that Nori Yeager from the Drake Champs called out the black celebrities for not supporting the black media they know? They know some bullshit, man. You know, once they get a part of that bourgeoisie crowd, man, they start to follow in line. But they don't even understand. We plugged in to the niggas. And it's more popular on this side. Hell, yeah. But we plugged in to, like, last time I counted, like, 1,300 communities, separate entities. Yeah. But look at it, though. So, let's say I seen LeBron say he's going to pick, basically, a podcast to go on, whether it's he or somebody else. I hit him up and told him to come to the trap. Come on, man. Yeah, LeBron better. He need to come.   Yeah. So, I had Billy Carson on. You know, we was talking about multiple dimensions. Right.  I had my bro, Blue Pill on. That's when we went deep in. You know, people believe in astrology and chakras and things of that nature, so. Right. I tried to have a wide variety of different subjects and topics at the same time, because, you know, we need high-level conversations. Like, we don't value intelligence at all in our culture. You don't think so? No, I ask, so who... Give me the top five smartest people, smartest black men in the world. Top five smartest black men in the world? Yeah, top five smartest black men fast. Shit, Tyler Perry. Um... Johnston. Michael Jordan. Tiger Woods. And that black dude that invented them super-soaked water guns. See, that's my proof right there. That fine? That's your fine? That's your fine? Yeah. We don't know who the smartest black... It's them two little kids. Tyler Perry, bro. It's them two kids. Who the little kids? They had outstanding IQ. They way smarter than them. That's why I tell you, man. They're like 30 now. They not even kids no more. These old ladies. These old ladies. These old ladies. Every couple years we dropped their memes and we proud of them, too. All the people that I named found a way to finesse the system. But you said smartest, though. That's smart.  So let's say you compare... Let's make smart in a area. Who the smartest five white men? Shit, I have no idea. John Lennon. Ellen DeGeneres. I like this list. Mike Myers. Austin Powers. Adam Sandler. How many left? Bill Ge... Oh, Jeff Bezos. Johnny motherfucking Depp. Can we beat his case? Nah, so in real life, though. Let's say... We talk about, like, we don't even really have a measure on what we were great at, what makes you the smartest in the first place. I think they're just doing, like... IQ, pure... Let's say impact. You understand me? If you're talking white guys, then most people go look at Elon Musk.  Before that was Elon Musk. It was Steve Jobs. It was Bill Gates. Bill Gates held them for a long time. Bill Gates was first and then Steve Jobs. But see how you got actually nine entertainers that you can go towards when you actually look the smartest in their culture for real? It's not even necessarily that they were the smartest. They just had the best idea. What makes it the best idea? My point is, is that when we think about the top, we think about the most popular in our culture. We don't really think about the most intelligent. I think it's because we have to look at it from a different perspective on being black, because it's already hard as fuck, right? I think the ultimate goal was to get this paper.  The ultimate goal was to get to the paper. What were we going to do with the money? We've been getting money, let's be honest. Who is we? Black people think that we're going to all be together. That's why we're losing. It ain't no us. I think we like the idea because we know that our collective intelligence is the only way to get there. But the reality of it is on a daily basis we don't believe in that. If we believed in it truly, we would make it happen. That's the thing about it.  But who is this we that we're talking about?  Not those that agree to the collective idea. Everybody don't agree to it. That's what I'm saying. Like I'm good. I'm straight.  We're doing good over here. We get money.   They already have it within a culture ways for them to collectively succeed. We only have ways for us to collectively fail. You understand me? Which is completely different. So the idea, like I always talk about creating a new culture because our current culture is with a failure culture. We don't know how to win. And we don't know how to win together. See, there's a lot of people winning in the culture. Yeah, individually, but individual wins don't mean nothing. For hell, that's how all the other groups of people that you're saying are winning.  But Chinese people say, you're making Asian people look bad. Because they run the world already. They run the world banks for our education. That's because they don't let themselves be classified as a group. Like all the white people that we named, right?   Because they don't have to save an entire race of people. They could just do their thing and be successful by themselves and just be like, happenstance be white. Those at the top do think about, like right now, they're going into a population decline. They think about maintaining that.  Because they don't ever want to be number two. They don't want to be the minority. They fight against that every single day as a collective. That's the reason they keep niggas down because they know if I get out your way, y'all go win. Hey, you win. You understand me? If we stop collectively creating all of these systems and agendas to lock, kill black men, to grade them, separate the families, we can't allow black men and women to come together. Y'all focus? It's no way to stop y'all. So you got to think about that.  They wouldn't have done that if they know if I just left y'all alone, y'all would win. But anytime we've been left alone to our own devices, and fast, you understand me?   So they make sure that they interest as a group is protected by keeping ours down and keeping us separate. That's the way it works. Like, the greatest collective group will be the unabiliased Muhammad, accomplishment-wise in America. The most influential man ever in America. So if I'm a great intelligence, I'm gonna do it by influence and impact, you understand me? And your ability to create sound solutions and be effective. So we don't have too many ways where we measure like, damn, who's the most intelligent because when we think about problems, we put out the most popular, not the smartest person that can actually solve a problem. So therefore, we never hear the voice of someone in a room just the person that's popping the most. That's a matter of opinion, though. Everybody gonna have their own answer to that question? If we got a problem that definitely deals with engineering, I'm gonna bring an engineering scientist. I'm not about to bring Oprah or Beyoncé to talk about it. You understand me? So I don't want to bring the most popular, I'm gonna bring the most qualified.  But why not just put the top scientists and make that the person that's gonna solve it? How we gonna find them? Somebody gotta be connected. They already educated.  When was the last time we had a scientist in the culture that was like, I... When I say we, when we do like... That's what I'm saying. I use the word we a lot because I'm a rock of black people. And so I consider all y'all we. And you know, we, first of all, if that's the case, we have to establish we first.  We gonna get together to make a collective decision. It's a we whether or not we want it to be a we because they can look at us as a we. That's what I'm saying. We don't have a we. There is a we. Because the moment we come up with a we, it's still like, we ain't going to work tomorrow.  It's all new.  We not together, but they done put us together. N***a, ain't no we. It's just us. No, don't be telling them, hey. Ain't no we yet. Who they get the vote? Who they get the vote? We need y'all to vote. Y'all. Yeah. See? Because they calling us we. They to put the we on us. But then once they let us vote, let us vote, then we find out. And vote, yeah. Amen. We didn't say that. We also don't need everybody. Like, I'm not talking about all 45 million black people. I ain't trying to save everybody. Just those who collectively. It won't happen like that.  You understand me? You go to the people that got their attention and their influence and you get them to change the direction. We don't listen to nobody. We listen to the most popular.  If every black media channel decided to say, okay, every once in a while we're going to sprinkle something about financial literacy on there. We don't start reprogramming the people whether they want to or not, because it's going to be so popular and we just go follow what's popular. We've been failed by everybody. Black and white. Now you're saying we. We. Black people as a whole. The black community. People with black and brown skin. People who had black mothers. I think it is. When I say black, I ain't even really talking about skin. I'm talking about those who share the same ideas and values. You understand me? Because there's a lot of people who may share the same skin color but don't share the same ideas on what's progress. Nobody does. And I feel like that's what's keeping the whole community so stagnant. Because we don't have a collective agreement of what that vision looks like. That I agree to. Let's think about how long it took the Constitution. It took them to lock you into a room and white men came together and they wrote a Constitution for everybody so that they can win over time. And it's never going to change. And so if you look at a blueprint that's already successful, it means that if you implement the same thing, they're already showing you how to win. But who's defining the success? I think statistics. When you look at impact, when we look at how many black men get locked up with our black families generating, how many products do we own? Gross domestic product? What are we actually producing? What's our education level? You can start to look at statistics and be like, okay, they're improving. You understand me? Because if we got 1.6 trillion spending power, we ain't got a problem getting money. We got a problem putting money somewhere where it's productive. We got a problem producing things because everybody else utilizes our spending power.  We not producing, we just spending. It means that if the influence now is, yo, alright, everybody can keep talking about designing brands, but what we talk about just designing our own brands, right? Well, we making our water bottles, we making our draws, we making our soap, we making everything that's essential, products, and then we buy from ourselves. There's no way you can't lose.  You understand me? You keep it in-house. But everybody else they market to us to look how much money we got. We got more money than the whole continent in Africa. So that means that it's a mindset shift that happens, and that ain't gonna happen until the influence shifts where it's like, alright, collectively if you got 5% of people that's only influencing people in a good direction, the other 95 is the ones who pushing them over. So inside the, the courtier, the we, we fighting against each other because I'm trying to cite for attention from you because you putting them in the wrong direction. I'm trying to get them in the right direction. Shit, now I gotta fight my own brother and sister just to keep us in line. So it ain't gonna happen until the dominant influence is like, alright, this what we doing. And it ain't gotta happen in no corny way. It can just be embedded in there subtly of messages because that's how it happened to us. Somebody go sprinkle some seeds in there. Everybody getting high and drunk. Now, damn, breast it or something real.  It must be a sign. It must start repetitiously putting it in somebody head planting the seed. So it's not impossible but we gotta work as a collective intelligence. And then like I said it don't take everybody. It can take a group of 24, 48 people that got enough influence that can move the whole courtier. Mmm. I don't know.  I ain't gonna get a full proof plan on here, but it's too many holes I'm just saying the reality I don't think we're gonna be able to get everybody on the same plan Phil. But you don't need everybody. We ain't gonna be able to get the information now quick enough.  I wouldn't know Facebook. I for fact know you can find 24 or 48 people to show up. It ain't gonna be for everybody. Some people just gonna have to get influenced by the people we bring. Plus, our courtiers ran by money. So, we put our money together.  See, somebody gonna steal the money.  Well, we tried that. Every time somebody steal the money. But that's a fear of money. Every time we put some money together, somebody steal the money.  Oh, that wasn't real. They just stole all the money. That wasn't real. Y'all don't want to talk about it. See, that's not a problem.  It was a power move.  What was ever they ain't gone? I don't know. Exactly. Chid about that crib. So, exactly so. Cribs. Everybody gave money to a car but they never told you what they was gonna do with the money. They bought a crib. They told us they was finna get some money. So, they were successful. They shoulda came out looking. We bought the crib. Thanks for the money. Every time we tried to do something. But they never said, we gonna start creating banks and schools and mental health clinics and they said none of that. People assumed they was gonna do that. You really think they were gonna help? People didn't know it was a group. You thought it was a phrase? No, I never thought that Black Lives Matter was gonna help at all. But education go always help. Because education allow people better options to make better decisions. Absolutely every time. Man, we're talking about a system that's ran by white people. You already see how they treat you when you get a degree from an HBCU. You're not about to get no corporate job. HBCUs ain't really black though. Look at all these colleges that's not about to let you in. What high school did you go to? The black people. Well, they didn't recognize that. It's skill base, not degree base. What you mean skill base?  I'm gonna educate you to get a skill. Like right now, if you teach the average black man or woman coding, they gonna be able to get a job and or create their own business. That's where the system gonna come right back in the place. Or you can create your own business. You don't need a job. But at the same time, I know for a fact what the internet did is it made it to where you personally don't even have to know who you are. They can't even discriminate against you. But people ain't really caring right now if you got the skills they're hiring. Most people ain't got no skills. Like, the top degrees we go to we go on to African American studies and psychology. The top paying degree is engineering. So everybody that's flooding into schools ain't even getting the highest paying degrees when they get out, so they ain't got no skill sets to do nothing. So it's a bunch of educated, unskilled people that went into debt without a skill set to even pay off the debt. They don't represent me. They ever said they did. No, I'm just saying. It just sounds like a long list of complaints about what niggas ain't doing. The solution was the skills.   They done paid $90,000 for a degree that made $40,000 a year.   I never said it did, but we just never knew how to make the right decision because off the time we was doing it because that's all we knew. That's what the family told us. That's what's going to make the family proud. Somebody got us living through them. You feel me? So therefore, we thought we were just in place. By telling them to get the wisdom and figure it out, shit, we already in debt. That's it. But that's the game, though. You have to look at this whole scheme of what America is from the inside out, and once you get to a certain level, it ain't even about colors no more. It's about money. So once you figure out one system, then you've got a whole another set of problems to figure out. Absolutely. So that's why I say if you use the money, you can buy what you want in America. Even if you do use the money to buy what you want in America, where you going to take it? You go globally and in America. Like, I still want to, like, America still ours. Like, we've been here forever. You know what I'm saying? America don't belong to nobody no more. This is what I'm saying.   It's owned by corporate. America. Exactly.  See, that's what I'm saying. That's what's going on right now.     And that's what still got me. I'm just the type of person that will never believe or generate, or there's not going to be a generation that generates an idea that rules the world. Because they was the same folks that got together with an idea, implementing it and now they run the world. So for me to believe that means that I've just effectively, they became God and I'm their slave. You understand me? Like, there's something in the black man that won't even allow him to consistently believe that I've been conquered forever. You understand me? That's the thing that they try to consistently suppress. You understand me?  When I'm focused on my solutions, how to get us together, I start figuring out the whole machinations, how they did it, how the system worked, how to create my own. You understand me? And eventually, while they fighting all the wars, we gon' find the cracks and build our own.  See, that's the thing about it. You said that black men are gods and kings, right? When have any gods and kings ever thought to join up?  You give what I'm saying? Like, these are individual entities. You have a nation of times where you're like the... The 85s. Oh. The idea is that you have people under the same gods. You understand me? Collectively believing in the same thing for a collective vision. But that's the thing about it. There is no collective vision. So that's the goal, the vision that everybody adhere to. It ain't gon' happen.  So if we all different gods, we gon' move godly, right? But it ain't never gon' be like, okay, us as gods, we agree to this. We won't use our powers on each other. It'll never happen. Why not? I mean, not in what you call me. Not in the Christian Bible, man. Right. Yeah, no, but as we already got the same enemy, we really got the same goal, we just don't sit at the same table. But we don't, though. Because listen. And not everybody, so you focus on the people who don't have the same goal. Your goal might be to reach the people. Your goal might be to reach the people. His goal might be to become a trillionette.  Yeah, if you build in with people who don't have the same goals. Okay. If you build on people who got the same mission, the same vision and the same values, y'all go in the same direction. Okay, that's what I'm saying. So as black people, the black community, as a whole, right?    So, yeah. For a limited time, our listeners can get 25% off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more. When you download the DoorDash app and enter code 85SOUTH2022. That's 25% off up to $10 value and zero delivery fees on your first order of $15 or more. For a limited time, our listeners can get 25% off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more. For a limited time, our listeners can get 25% off and zero delivery fees on your first order when you download the DoorDash app and the app store and enter code 85SOUTH2022. Don't forget that's code 85SOUTH2022. For 25% of your first order with DoorDash, subject to change, terms apply. Now, a word from our sponsor BetterHelp. Hey, what's up? That's how our brains work. So why don't we treat them the same way? How we care for our minds affects how we experience life. So it's important to invest time and care into keeping them healthy. There are plenty of ways to support a healthy brain like learning a new language or taking power naps. There's also BetterHelp online therapy. BetterHelp is online therapy that offers video phone and even live chat only therapy sessions. You don't have to see anyone on camera if you don't want to. It's much more affordable than in-person therapy. You can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash 85SOUTH. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp dot com slash 85SOUTH. You separate people. Those who agree, y'all go over there. Those who rock with this, y'all stay. We go build. They're super simple. That's really the best model. Everybody, they vote. 10% of the people say they ain't rockin' with it. Another 15%, they say they won't go do something else. Another 50% fell off. We come down to it. We got 19% left. We rockin' with those. We go build with whoever want to go. You understand me? I think the idea of trying to build with people ain't got the same mission, vision, and values is where you lose. That's why I don't need everybody. We go. There's always going to be some soldiers. Always going to be some suckers. You go build with the soldiers and lead the suckers. That's how it's got to be. But see, we've been some confused for so long, man. Y'all got some water? Oh, there ain't water. Hold on.  Just falling out. No, man, I'm not debating you. I'm just being objective. Oh, mind it, man. I need a little objective opinion.  Well, look, the niggas came from the earth, then. Why ain't no moon? You see what I'm saying? What is the moon? The moon is white. At night, though, they wouldn't even let us have night.  Right? Wrong.  Welcome to the trap, bro. Oh, man, I appreciate it. You gotta keep you on your toes, man. Oh, yeah, I stay on the hoax. So what else we got going on, man? I seen you on the Marvel show, man. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was watching you. Yeah, make some noise for me. Yeah, shout out how it got, man. He a movie star, bro. Nah, we working on it. What you got in the worst mess? Uh... It's a little kids movie. I think that shot a while ago, I don't know. You know, I don't never know when stuff drops. So I do it and try to forget about it. Come on, man. You should do it. Yeah. You should do it.  And I can read minds and stuff.   Yeah, so I start just figuring out ways to change the whole world. I start going big. I stay low. I stay private. Nobody know about it. You understand me? I'm in my hood and I'm just running things. What's the first thing you'll do to change the world? First thing, it depends on what part of the world I want to change, because that's very... No, it's the world. It's the whole world.  Like, what about the world I want to change?  So... And you talking about in my movie sense that shit, right? You know what I'm saying?   You're like, niggas had money the whole time. Mm-hmm. Yeah, now, we've been having money. I think we just don't have self-knowledge and education. You understand me?   You know what I'm saying? It'll have to be educating us to a higher degree. If... If right now, all black people got reparations, we're going to soon lose it and give it back to them folks, because we don't know what to do with the money. You understand me?  Yeah. We don't buy up everything. We don't live, because all we know how to do is spend. We don't know how to produce. That wouldn't necessarily be the wrong thing, though. You got to hurry up and spend it with the money, right? All niggas be straight everywhere we go. They only accept the Bitcoin.   We only take buffalo niggas now, pal. We going by land. We going to make connections with other countries. You feel me? Like, Africans need like people right now.  We swiped over Africans and we make hell, and that's part, like, a today on me knowing what to do with the money. You understand me? They got resources, but oftentimes they don't even know how to take advantage of the resources, and they own back yard. So that's why they always had the Chinese, always had white folks coming in there. You understand me? Pulling they resources, giving them pennies on the dollar, and then shipping it off to make billions. So, like, if you take the intelligentsia of the black community, those who are educated, and go over to Africa and make deals with the different countries, different presidents, you can go build over there. It's right right now. You understand me? Jack Dorsey, he building over there. A bunch of people building in Africa, because they know, number one, African population about the double, right? They got the youngest population over there. They got all of them tech geniuses, and we not really looking at Africa as a source for the future. You feel me? But if we did, that's where all of the new, I feel like the trillionaires in the next billion, billionaires, going to be created in Africa. And it's hella land to build on. Like, it's just we don't have that in our imagination. Like, I really believe in being able to give us certain thoughts, and certain ideas, and certain visions. And everybody ain't going to do it, but it's going to be a small percentage of us that really take that and run with it. You understand me? And if you can impart that wisdom on a few, then you change the world. Not right now, but over time.   Shit, I seen it change a couple of times. This ain't the world I grew up in when I was just young. Everything changed. Hell, yeah. All the men want to be women, all the women want to be men. Not all, though. It's a big change. Not all, but land I got a lot. You feel me? So for me, I didn't see the dynamics change, even principles in the streets. Everything didn't change, though. Yeah. You feel me? Technology didn't change the world. We didn't have what we got now, today. Back then. Like, the world has changed so drastically. And sometimes we don't even look around to see how much has changed. So we don't even take advantage of all the changes and the resources. Because if you really stop like, damn, I'm living in the best time to do whatever I want to. Because I got more access than just about all of my ancestors had at any point in time. Information, media, money, people.  But it's more so just the lack of good ideas and execution that people had. It ain't a lack of resources.  You know, by teaching people financial literacy and educating them, now you give them the options to change their life in a different direction. Because a lot of people just be stuck and don't know where to go. So it's like, alright. Number one, let me even tell you how to deal with yourself. Because before I'm gonna teach you how to deal with money, I'm gonna teach you how to deal with your mind. You understand me? Because that's where all your issues from money come from. You don't know how to stop spending. You got insecurities. You don't love yourself. You understand me? You do all of these different things and then if I can help build that and help you get to know yourself, you stop spending because of your insecurities or your issues. Now I actually can save. I can fast from things. I can stop when I want to do something. But most people ain't got control over theyself. If I ask the average person right now stop smoking. Stop drinking it tomorrow. They gonna say, I can do that. But if they try to, they be back smoking and drinking tomorrow. So who has control over you if you don't have control over yourself? You understand me? And so it's really getting people to see themselves and giving them tools to be able to stop fast, which detox from all of that shit that you got going on in your life and then you start correcting yourself from there.  It's about you going and doing the hard thing because that's what's gonna make you a man. You understand me? If you really grade yourself by them details and you consider yourself to be a man, you have to stop that's not easy.  I'm saying that you a man drop your nuts and get it done. If not, then be happy with the consistent life of a sucker. But I think that, you know, we got that ability sometimes we just need somebody to talk to us. You feel me? And we're under mother, under father, under brother, under sister. We ain't really got that family energy no more. You feel me? And that family energy, we got principal, we got value. Everybody live by this. This is the code of the family. There ain't no codes, no structure. So everybody just trying to figure out life as they go and they just fell in everywhere. You feel me? Families don't work together like they used to, you know, just, you know, for a lot of reasons. No, I love my family. They ain't got stable. But that's the thing about it. It never got bad. It's just like it's been. It's been the same story for the whole time. We always, family actually was solid. Like during the whole time of slavery family stuck together still. You understand me? Really gonna get up all the way to the point of welfare state government start breaking up men and women and family started dispersing, which means that we went through that whole entire time of slavery eons of history and it didn't get to government programs of welfare that started to break up black men and women. So when we really simply look at it it ain't that hard to fix it. Black men gotta get money again. You feel me? And then start doing the right thing with it. But we just can't, for the most part, can't be dependent on. So a woman becomes independent when a man can't be dependent on. That's just a simple formula. You understand me? And now they can't go together. She can't depend on you. You understand me? Because you're not dependable and she's independent. So she depends on no one. So who's she going to at the end of the night? So it's just switching those dynamics in. You know that's the conversation I like to have with the culture. The plot twist is she going home.  They meeting over there. She independent. Not by herself. Independent don't mean single. No, that's a fact. Amen. We'll be single at some point in time.  I learned this about women. If you don't physically say the words that like y'all together like boy, like I'm your boyfriend. We are this. We are in a, if you don't say that verbally. You can get away with not treating. Then y'all are not together in their relationship. It's a verbal contract. We still believe it, even though you don't say it because when you act it, because nowadays men will act apart as the boyfriend, the husband, all of that. And a woman going to make an assumption is what we is. So her feelings going to be caught up in it as if in the way that she assumed. It's only the assumption until she get like if you get caught, then she going to say, oh, I thought we were together.  That's the insurance. On the flip side, she has a dude who's going to say the same thing. Like I never said we was together. But that just makes you sound like more of a terrible man. But as a woman and she says it. But it's the same thing. It's like, oh well you were leading yourself on because I never agreed to these terms. She's going to say it just like that too. They called with it like that. You think you just approach them using logical sense. Hell no. Women ain't based on logic. I never do that. And you know I don't even say women. I say the feminine energy ain't based on logic. Which is completely different. So when you try to approach anything with a woman just based on rational and logical thought you go lose every time. Even if you write an argument you going straight with logic you go lose. You got to go with feeling. That's right. You got to let go with your feelings. You can't be like this is what you did. You got to say this is how I felt about it. About what you did. No matter. You got to speak about your feelings. They don't care about how nothing made you feel man. It's about how they felt. And what you did you weren't supposed to have no feelings. Right.  I think all men should just stop trying to figure women out completely.   We need to really stop wasting time trying to figure out women. It's not. What the figuring out you're wrong.   People ain't that complicated.  But trying to figure it out detail by detail you go lose every time. Right. You just got to understand this is feminine energy it's how I move. You understand me I'm masculine it's how I think. You feel me then when you put them two together it ain't really much to figure out. You just got to act accordingly. Amen. Just leave them ladies alone. Deal with your woman. That's the best advice I can give you. Don't try to figure women out.  But I also think that's probably one of our biggest issues like. Man don't understand themselves women don't understand themselves. I understand me. I got a cool it take a long time though. Like. The older you get the more you learn about yourself and what triggers you and what you don't want and the people you like and you know when it's time to get out of there. It just take a long gas time to come up with a complete list of who you are as a man.


I want to see you today, see what you thought, see what you think the plan is and then I'm going to go into that. I'm going to play.  I have to. Great lead position. Hips back. My arms are tight. Oh yeah, arms in the right spot. Nice. So if the chest is a little more... There we go. Just make sure we're free. Please. There you go. Nice. Right. Quarter turn to the right. Good to stand tall. Up. There you go. Don't fall too much. Just stand tall. Tall. There. Yeah. That's better. Yeah. Still in that position. Just out of the end to the floor. There you go. Good. Blue. Yeah. Crunch on my core. And quarter turn to the right. Lovely. Yeah. Show us down. That's good. Arms forward. Just a tad. There. Yep. There. There. Good. Chest is up. Now arms are right where they need to be. Perfect. Squeeze those hands. Squeeze those boots. Nice. And quarter turn to the right. Very good. Good. Blue. Nice. Stand tall. Right. Quarter turn to the front. All right. Four good quarter turns. That's good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Four good quarter turns. Yeah. I was going to show you a good practice before you came home. Yeah. Yeah. So I was just... No, I need it. I was going to get out of the cage. I wasn't going to do it early. Front double bicep strike. Good. Good. Good. Good. I think I've got... I think I've... Yeah. I needed a plate from there because I am full actually. Yeah. So... We'll follow them a little bit. We'll just see them chest. Yeah. That's... Yeah. Follow them normal. Yeah. Yeah. So just bring them right down from here. Hundred percent correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just for four days. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then bring me a fry and say that in theater. Yeah. Let's do it again. Great. That's a pro. It's nice. Put it into the inside for what side piece. Strike. That's good. Yeah. I like that present. It's really good actually.  So if you dry it's more... Good. Nice. Put it into the rear. Now you're back double bicep. Show him your calf. Great. You're pretty good. Try not to. Show it too much. Yeah. We've got our... We've got some nice on the line. All the hamming that we've squeezed. On the toe. It's in line. Also. And relax. Yeah. Then you're going to that invisible... That's all down there. It's good. Yeah. Try that again. Just a couple of those wrists a little bit towards me. There you go. There you go. Yeah. Lovely. Relax. Everything's good. Much, much better. I'm going to need to practice every day this week.  I've got my song. I need to practice that. Very good. Yeah. We've got Thursday as well.  I've got my song. I need to practice that. Very good. Yeah. We've got Thursday as well. We've got Thursday as well. Yeah. We've got Thursday as well. Not Wednesday. Yeah. Cool. So we'll get that pose and that gain. So you need to come in. Yeah. Tomorrow Wednesday and then we'll go again Thursday. Good. Arms are closed. Nice. Standing tall. That looks good. You're holding a little bit more water. That's all. You wouldn't put on any body fat. Cool. Yeah. Good. Just sort of fill up a bit more water on you there. So what was your weight? What was your weight? Well, if you want to keep it like legit, let's go check it afterwards. Yeah. I'm going to scale. Yeah, we'll go correction. It'll be high. I don't want to check that, but it's all good. That's true. Yeah, nice. No. Just focus on those five poses. Yeah. I like all those five because I won't use that side chest as compared to classic because I'm going to hit that at the same time as I do. Yeah. The transition. Yeah, yeah. So you just change the hand position. Yeah, I agree. It's kind of like... Because what you could do is that and then just transition into the back behind the back. Like you do for your side chest, you get a burn. And then you go, yeah, see? All those is there. Yeah. You could have a load of the hand position and put it in change. Yeah. Yeah, good. So you've got your classic. And then... Yeah, there you go. Boom. Nice. Yeah. See, that transition is really, really well. Because the hands just go up, down, and the leg just goes out and in. Boom. That's what you can do. It's quite cool. It's really, really good. You could even do that. You can pose on your routine to be honest with me. Yeah. So the pose on your routine so far is basically...  So I'll come out and do some sort of like... What do you think of it, mate? Downstage or... Anyway, I'm coming up to the back. Do some sort of just... Static pose. And up to the front. And this is the first pose of the routine. The back leg to... Sorry, which... With that three-quarter pose. Which one? Yeah. Is it the back leg? That's how I use to do the back leg is... Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Tomorrow I'll do my legs. I'll do it like that. Yeah. Because then... Okay, so if I go... Front double. Boom. Yes, that. Yes. And then I'm already in the position for a side chest. Boom. Yeah, no, no, good. It's working on it. And it flows really well. It's really hard to stop. You know what I mean? So when you come... So go to the front row of Y. So you come in. Here's your front row of Y set. Right now. Do the turning one. Right, hold it there. Now point your back hand. You have to go backwards, angle it. There you go. There you go. While it's similar. It's similar because you want to get that flow. So don't go too far to the ground. So just turn it. Yeah, and then point back. Yeah. And then point, and then back to the curl. So you've got both arms. There you go. And then you can point back from there. Yeah. It's pretty much... Because my pose is more down here, like that. But this pose here is foot back here. Yeah. So my pose is that way, more that. This pose is foot back and more angled. Looks really nice. Come a bit more upright as it goes. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Yeah, there you go right there. And then curl from there. Yeah, and then point back. Yeah, then you've got the one like that. And then put your hand over it. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah, then you can do... You've got options here. There's that. Then what you could do is to crush your arms. Yeah. So I'm going to do it. Yeah. And then lean back on it. There you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Perfect. Then you can stand. But that would look really nice down here. Yeah. And kneeling. Some sort of kneeling pose in the routine would be if I can sit. I'd like that. Maybe even if I can start a load. Just so I don't get worried about getting down during the routine. So you could start music on stage. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's perfect. Yeah, we could definitely get the routine down. There you go. Yeah. Nice. Yes, lovely. Perfect. Just go right in nice. Yeah. That's it. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah. That's a little bit safer. Now what you can do is when you come across to that pose and you do this one. Yeah. Do that. Cool. Bring that as a transition. Bring that front hand down onto your hip. And then curl the other arm. So you go boom. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, because I look at transitions and where to go from that pose. Yeah. Yeah, I think as long as I have a routine, bro, that I'm proud of, the placing won't matter.  He was. I didn't want to do it.  You've got to own that. You put all the work in. You've got one minute. One minute. One minute, bro. So I'm actually using the same song as Satchel used. Because I thought it was so weird. Probably. The Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga. Bradley Cooper. So I've just been listening to the first minute of it. Just trying to get me into that. So that's what I'm going to use.  It's a good song, man. You can pose to it. Classic. It's so weird. But yeah. Okay. Now I need to think. Did you bring shorts? Yeah. Got one still. Got one of those. Might as well run. Could we do both classes, aren't we? Yep. Yeah. Had thoughts of if I was only going to do one. Which one would you think means physique? I thought initially I thought it means physique. Yeah. Um. I thought something both. Yeah. Just do both. As long as it's not three. It's fine. No, it isn't three. All right. Let me just do a couple. Just do a mandatory. Four mandatorys.  And the five mandatorys. Classic. Just quickly. Yeah. Ten seconds or whatever. Quarter tune to the right. Quarter tune to the right. Arms forward just a little bit. Chest up. There we go. Quarter tune to the right. All right. Front double bicep. It's like a chest. It's glued. Is that looking good? It's good. Yep. Glue. Hemstra. Down cross. And roll the end. When you do that invisible left corner, it just pops. Everything pops. Yeah. Sweet. Good. Very classic. No one else does that. You know what I mean? Yeah. No one else does that at all. It is both ends. And that's just an easy crossover. Yeah. It's just an easy crossover. Yeah. Arms forward. Arms forward from the car. Yeah. Yeah. Couldn't go up short. And then, yeah. We'll see you later. All right. That's my work.


Hi, and welcome to Rad TV. My name is Noah Detzer, and you're joining us on the last show of the year. If this is your first episode of Rad TV, I'll tell you a little bit about Rad. It stands for Rights and Democracy. Essentially, it's a people-powered grassroots organization dedicated to making long-lasting change. The idea is that we want to get involved on a personal level to advocate for the issues that matter to us. Tonight, we're going to be doing a little bit of a retrospective about the past year. Rad has done a lot, and there's been a lot going on over the course of this year. We're going to be joined tonight by James Haslam, who's the Executive Director, and Grant Taylor, who is a leader right here in Burlington, and the former host of Rad TV. Thank you both for joining us tonight. Just a little heads-up. We're going to be talking about a couple of things. First, the people's platform. It's been an ongoing process to develop basically what we, as an organization, really feel demonstrates the platform that we want to advocate for. That's causes, that's the way that we go about, making sure that people are hearing and understanding what we stand for, and advocating for them on a local level, all the way up to a national level. We're also going to be talking about the National Assembly. Basically, we got together in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and we'll be talking about that, as well as, finally, our endorsement process and how that all played out. First, James, thank you so much for joining us. James is joining us via Skype today, so we'll be seeing how that goes. James, thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me. So, James, first, we just wanted to touch base about how the year has gone for you. I mean, how you feel Rad has developed, has changed, and what we can expect going forward. Yeah. Well, thanks, Noah. Thanks, Grant. It's been an exciting year, although obviously a challenging year. Rights and Democracy got started in 2016. We were trying to go full speed, getting ready for the election. We thought we'd have a little time to rest after that election and plan ahead, but with the national results, with Trump, et cetera, we ended up kind of just shifting it into a higher gear to be part of the resistance and the mobilization.  But looking back, we've grown quite a bit. We're now getting stronger across the state, across both Vermont and New Hampshire, and going deeper into certain communities like Burlington, where more and more folks are getting involved. Not only to be part of bigger fights and statewide issues, but also local struggles. That's been definitely a big development over the last year. And as you said, at the membership assembly that just happened on December 10th in Lebanon, we were able to see hundreds of folks from both states get together and really think about how to strategically build this movement together in 2018. Yes, so we actually wanted to go into that a little bit and talk about how that went, just to kind of get your take on it. First, how did it go? How many people showed up? And ultimately, how did it compare to maybe previous years? Well, so this is the second one. You know, we got started towards the end of 2015 and we didn't have our first membership assembly until the end of 2016. So we had it actually in the same place. So it was easy to see how we had grown. We had over 50 more people. So the first time we had a little bit over 150 people, somewhere between 130, 150 people. And then this year we had well over 200 people. So clearly more people had gotten involved. It was actually kind of a snowy Sunday back on the 10th. So, you know, we felt pretty good about the level of participation, both the quantity of folks that came out, but also the quality. I mean, some really dedicated leaders that came out from places. And it's clear that we're strong in some areas.  We had, you know, caravans coming up from there and also the Monadnok region of New Hampshire, kind of the keen area. So both like the basically the southwestern corners of both states, we were incredibly strong and obviously in the big, you know, kind of urban-like areas of Burlington and Manchester and Concord and Montpelier and so on. There's also, you know, kind of strong representation. So it's definitely looking like, you know, we've made some big strides, but more excitingly for me is I feel like we're really well positioned to grow and take some big steps forward in 2018. That's awesome, yeah. And so looking ahead, as we're kind of going to be continuing on and continuing to push for the People's Platform, which we'll be talking about in just a second, what kind of changes do you hope to see in Rad next year and how can somebody who's watching this who wants to get involved but maybe doesn't necessarily know how, how can somebody get involved and what can they do? Well, you know, in Vermont, we're in an exciting position in 2018. There's, you know, this is the second year of a biennium. So we had an election in 2016, in 2017, a whole bunch of new people took office, including a new governor, but also a new Speaker of the House, a new Senate pro tem, you know, a lot of new legislative leaders. And we have, you know, a governor who's in the Republican Party, Governor Scott, but there's a strong majority in both the Senate and the House of Democrats and progressives. And this is a year where there's an opportunity to put forward some really old, you know, advances for working families. You know, they're talking very seriously about moving a minimum wage bill that would move a minimum wage much closer to a livable wage, closer to $15 an hour.  They're going to be also talking about paid family and medical leave insurance for everybody, which, you know, for any working parent out there, you know, knows it's next to impossible if you don't have paid leave. Be able to, you know, have a meaningful experience with your kids when they're born and not transition. Also, you know, medical leave important, you know, support for other dependents and family when they're in need. So that, you know, that is something that we think that Vermont can play a meaningful role in helping move our country in that direction.  And there's a number of things that we think that the legislature can put on the governor's desk to pass that would be pushing our state in the right direction. And we hope that this can be, you know, really a year of a lot of progress in the first half of the year and then the second half of the year, you know, we look towards the 2018 election and there's an enormous opportunity to continue to move Vermont in the right direction. Our Senator Bernie Sanders will be up for reelection and hopefully we can have the right kind of debate about the future of the state. Right. Thanks so much, James. It's been really interesting to hear about that. And if you're watching at home and you've heard some of the issues that maybe you're interested in, Rights and Democracy continues to welcome and hope that you will take an active part in making those issues a reality. As we kind of go forward in the show, by the way, if you hear something and you want to talk with us, talk a little bit about that issue, please feel free to call in. The number is 862-3966. We look forward to hearing from you. At this point, we're going to segue a little bit into talking about the People's Platform. Grant, thank you so much for joining us tonight. And yeah, if you wanted to talk a little bit about, first, the development of the People's Platform and then just kind of your take on the process so far. Well, when I heard about the Burlington People's Platform, initially I was really psyched to have something that politicians that are going to be campaigning in the future can focus around. In incumbent politicians, they have their own platforms and everything, but this is something to unite, kind of a more progressive viewpoint around. And so to see that focused by Rights and Democracy on Burlington was kind of like a breath of fresh air after a lot of big issues when we're kind of dealt with in the past year and we didn't necessarily have the focus and capacity, like James was saying, there's a lot of crazy things going on and we're working in two different states. The staff is very small for covering two different states. So it's all on the volunteers, you know, after that the members to go out and get a lot of stuff done. So now they helped us to organize around a Burlington People's Platform, which was awesome. We had an initial meeting after some of the platform had been put together where the public was invited, the Burlington Organizing Team and Beyond was invited to come and provide feedback. Were you at that initial meeting? No. No. But the follow-up? Yeah, the follow-up. And so we had the initial meeting. A lot of great things were brought up that were not in the platform yet and so they were incorporated into different sections of the platform. And actually that platform is available at radbt.org. If you go look around there, I think you can find it pretty quickly. But yeah, so a lot of things got added the first meeting and then we were able to communicate with Rad to add more things. We had another meeting about a month, I think it was a month later, which you were at. And I mean, do you want to talk a little bit about that meeting? That was pretty exciting, a bigger meeting. Yeah, I mean, I think essentially it was at the follow-up meeting there was just a lot more of discussion about, okay, here's kind of the basic blueprint for what we're going to be trying to accomplish. Where do we go from here? How do we kind of take these individual facets of things that are important? Some of the issues that James mentioned earlier and how do we represent them in the platform in a way that first people can identify with and that gets people excited about, okay, this is what we believe in, this is how we're gonna go about making that happen, but then also about how do we work together to kind of work through the language and make sure that it comes across as kind of a democratic approach because I know for you and for me personally, I think a lot of the importance of developing something as a group is making sure it has that kind of small D democratic process involved. If it's a bunch of people kind of alone off in a room that doesn't really feel like that kind of basically like the type of change that we're looking for, the type of change that we're trying to advocate for on a local level. So, yeah, if you wanna talk a little bit about the process here and what made it so democratic, maybe good for our listeners to kind of... Well, I thought it was great how it initially started with a plan and they had the outline, but there was a lot of things that were brought up that maybe weren't focused on enough. So even whole sections were added and they took the feedback that was given by the people that showed up to the meetings and the people that sent them information electronically and they did change the platform a lot and they have an additional platform that is probably seven or eight pages long now that's not really the platform that's probably on the website but you can find a link to it on the website and that has many more of those ideas that were brought in by a lot of the different constituents that showed up to add input and that's what I thought helped to be democratic. It is also still evolving, I think and it's not set in stone yet which also is another testament to its kind of malleability and our ability to help add to it if we need to. And just kind of building off of that, I mean what you said in terms of it being malleable it's really been interesting to see it develop first just from kind of that initial draft and then it's really become kind of a living document that's been changing and kind of developing as it's gone forward. So it's been cool to see that happen and it's really been cool to see how people have responded to that most recently in our endorsement process with the mayoral candidates which we'll get to in just a second. James, I don't know if there was anything that you wanted to touch base about in regards to the people's platform but I figured I'd open it up if you had any comments there. Yeah, no, that's great. I really appreciated hearing your reports on it and you know, we did this is the first time I guess I will say that we've been able to do a local version of the people's platform. In Vermont, we have a statewide version you know, some of the issues I was referring to raising the minimum wage to a livable wage the family and medically you know, moving forward with universal healthcare starting with universal primary care you know, the racial justice system reforms that I spoke of, you know, and so on. So there's a whole kind of statewide agenda but the cool thing about what you're talking about is that you know, this local process of figuring out like what is the local things that we need to move forward with and some of the you know, there's a lot of things that impact us on a state level. There's a lot of things that certainly impact us on a federal level but it's amazing to think about how many of the most important things that impact our families are really determined on a local level and this is what that platform is meant to get at and it's a lot of great issue work that is done. People work on different issues housing, you know, environment, climate, different things. The thing that is exciting for us is an organization that really wants to have a full range of impact is being able to not only push for these issues but to push for them during the electoral process. So people that are running for office can be held accountable on this platform and then once they're elected, no matter who's elected we push forward with these issues and we win as much as can be won. So it's very exciting time in Burlington. Glad that not only you're talking about it but both of you have been part of that process. Thanks James. So yeah, it's been really interesting to see how the mayoral candidates have responded and I think this is as good a time as any to bring us to our last segment here all about the endorsement process. Once again, if you're watching and you have comments or want to chime in on anything that we're talking about the number is 8623966. So if you haven't heard Rights in Democracy officially endorsed Karina Driscoll in the race for mayor. So this process is really interesting to see Grant and I were both kind of on the front lines of seeing how this developed and basically how we got to the point of how RAD as an organization ended up endorsing Karina. So first, let's talk a little bit about the beginning of the process. Grant, if you want to talk about maybe how RAD went about kind of talking to the candidates and the process there. Yeah, so this is the second time that I've been a part of the process. A year ago, we endorsed a slate of candidates for state level positions along with a candidate for governor as well in November. And then so now this year, we're headed looking forward to town meeting day in March in Burlington and we're thinking about who are we going to support that's going to help us to implement the Burlington People's Platform. And so what we do initially is we send out a questionnaire to all of the candidates that might even want our endorsement. So we sent out three questionnaires and we received two back and one was from Karina Driscoll and the other from Infinite Coal Pleasure who's another candidate for Mayor of Burlington. And so after receiving both of those candidate questionnaires come back, we invited both of those candidates to come in for a video interview. So they would be interviewed by our leadership team in Burlington and then we'd record those interviews and send that out to everybody. The responses on the questionnaire and the interviews, the recorded interviews. And I thought that process leading up to who wanted the endorsement, how to kind of vet that they really wanted the endorsement and then to do the interview with them in a committee but also have that shared then on a voting platform with over 200 members of rights and democracy that live in Burlington. That was a really great way to kind of go through this process and I think it's the first time that we've done it that way and I think that was really, really great as far as making a commitment to democracy and participatory governance really. And these questionnaires were pretty extensive. There were a lot of kind of shorter answers targeted specifically towards elements of the people's platform but then also just the different issues, some of which James mentioned kind of earlier in the program but it was all about how the candidate would basically stood on those issues and then how they might or might not work with Rad kind of going forward to push advocacy in those specific areas. And just try to make sure that basically that these candidates are reflecting the values of the organization as a whole. So Infinite and Karina sent back the questionnaires. The current mayor, Mero Weinberger, sent back basically a letter talking a little bit about how he hoped to achieve various elements of the people's platform but did not specifically seek the rights and democracy endorsement. So when we got those back and kind of had conducted the video interviews, essentially we segued into the final part of the process. Do you want to talk a little bit about the actual voting there? So we opened up the voting. I think it was at the beginning of one day and we had it open for a day and a half, I think. So everybody got an email with an ID, a voting ID and specific to their identity from a platform and in that email they had the answers to the questionnaires from both candidates and the link to the video on the YouTube platform of the interviews. And so we let everybody get all that information and take their time, view it, look through everything and then cast their vote. And it was pretty interesting. We had to design a ballot to make sure there was obviously a vote for each candidate but then we had to decide if we wanted to put a vote for neither candidate and another section to do a write-in. And so we ended up going with all four options to try to give people the most real choice to voice their opinion in this and not force them into two boxes. And there was a lot of discussion about that too but ultimately, Rad came down on the side of, well, it's best to have as many options as possible so that people really feel like they're being heard and it kind of ties back to what we've been talking about all along, which is all about giving the power back to the people and having that small D-democratic process so that people really feel like their voices are being heard. Looks like we have a caller coming in. Caller, you are on air. It's got to vet it first. Vet it. Yeah. Just kidding, caller's not on air. So it looks like at this point, we'll just kind of segue it back. Essentially, in talking about this process, one of the other important components of it was about at the end, after we had received the votes, we kind of did a final wrap-up basically looking at, okay, in the end, Karina had won by a percentage of, I don't remember the exact percentage. So about 50 people out of 200 viewed the videos and checked out the information and voted and it was about, I think there was 33 people that voted for Karina and then something like 17 for Infinite and then I think two people, maybe four, I think it was two, wrote in Miro Weinberger's name, which was just good to see that people used that section of the ballot and then nobody checked in either candidate. So that was really neat to see the results come back. It was about a 63% for Karina and then about 33% for Infinite and something very interesting that I noticed about that and that we all felt, I think, was that one-third of the people, basically, that decided to vote chose Infinite and that was really clearly representative of a key part of this political revolution that we're trying to push for and this progressive social change. That's a part of our constituency that really voted for that person and so it shows that there's support for both candidates but clearly more support for Karina. So that was really neat to see the results come back and see what people voted and that 25% of the people that we sent out the information to voted and that was pretty good, I think, for the amount of time that we had it out there. Maybe if we had it out there for a little bit longer, it might have been more participation, I don't know. Yeah, but I think ultimately it was really interesting to see this process go forward and really see just how we could go about giving people access to be able to have a say in this process. And I think most importantly, it'd be really interesting to see how this process develops going forward. I thought this is my first time being a part of any kind of endorsement process and it seemed to work, at least on an initial level, just kind of based on the way that things played out but I think it'll also be interesting to see how it develops going forward in the future. I think perhaps maybe a little bit more time for people to vote would be good. In the end, we ultimately want as many people who want to have a say to be able to be heard and I think that's just one of those key parts of what RAD is trying to do here. So, yeah, Grant, any wrap-up thoughts about the endorsement? Well, I thought it was an extremely tough choice for everybody to make but in the end here, I see and heard directly from Karina and we have seen her history. She's been a school board member in Burlington. She was a city council member in Burlington and she was also a state representative many years ago now but she's ready to come back and do some more good work. So, she has a track record of doing some good things for the environment and for social justice and that's something that was really good to see. She was also a successful business owner. Actually, I believe it's a woodworking school with like 40 students or something which that just shows the ability to start and lead and manage people which I think that's a pretty important thing to have some experience with in the mayor's seat but at the same time, I thought that Infinite was a really great candidate as well and he's got a lot of experience that could be extremely applicable in the mayor's seat as well about really connecting to people in the community that are not often heard sometimes. What I found I think most powerful about this process was that both candidates spoke to the need for kind of a movement rather than just somebody getting elected. It's not really about the individual getting elected. It's more about the process involved and basically getting people to agree on a sequence of kind of values and the idea of like working together to get those things done. So I thought it was really effective that both candidates spoke about that and I think regardless of who wins, it'll be really interesting to see if that movement is actually able to take root and to develop as we go forward. Going into 2018, there's a lot going on, especially if you're in the Burlington area coming up. March 6th, I believe is going to be town voting day. So essentially we'll be talking about not only electing the mayor and as we mentioned Karina Driscoll won the Rad endorsement but we are also going to be electing to various different city councilors. All of those seats are going to be up for grabs and so some of those races are going to be particularly interesting and particularly close. So if you are interested in having a say, a couple of months ago we had Max Tracy who's a city councilor for Ward 2 on the program. Other city councilors have been here before as well and so it'll be really interesting to see how that shapes up and if you want to get involved, please check out radvt.org or to search rights and democracy we are a couple of places across the web so it shouldn't be too hard to find us there. But if you want to get involved, please do. We're always looking to work with people to try to make sure that the change that you want and the changes that you're looking for is actually enacted. So again, please seek us out radvt.org and we'll see how that goes. Yeah. Yeah, so awesome thanks for watching everybody. This is kind of the conclusion, the completion of two full years of monthly programming by rights and democracy, only to have been thwarted by a couple of elections or a holiday or two. But other than that, we're here and we're going to keep this going. Rights and democracy has grown as an organization like James was mentioning earlier. I was there at the Labor Day Party two and a half years ago. It's been quite a change and it's been great to be a part of too. So again, like Noah was saying, you can check out the website. You can give money if you want to, if you think that's the easiest thing for you to do. But for me, it's been showing up and just donating my time. And I think that that's extremely important. That's the capacity that Noah's here in and we really appreciate everybody that's volunteering and doing anything to help with events or Canvas or a phone bank or anything. So yeah, come be a part of it. Come on Rad TV if you want. Come be in the audience and stuff and yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of ways to get involved. If you want to run for office, there's a movement politics training that we do basically getting candidates ready to run. I took the training back in September and found it really interesting, really helpful and it ultimately led me to win a race in November. And so ultimately we're making change and if you want to be a part of that change, we look forward to working with you. Thanks.


Cruisin Little did you know YouTube that I have a brother that's actually faster than me Meet meet Joseph I have a Brother he lives up in the mountains. We don't get to run too often. So but All right, Joseph What are you running in? Nike structure at the 20th version and yeah pretty much the same shit I've been running in for a long time since Version 12 since did you hear that? since version 12 Joseph's been running in the structure The struggle now he's in the structure 20, but since version 12, that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, it works for me. Yeah Stick stick to what works, right? I hear you there. Yeah a lot of good shoes out there. So it's fun to try a different ones But pretty much always come back to the structure. Yeah, that's awesome. And I'm in the Solomon Ultras today Trying them out on the trails Haven't worn them in a little while It feel pretty good. It feel pretty good. I got the spin co-ing so By the way, we're at where I Green Mountain in Lakewood, Colorado Nice spot to go.  What does that mean two runs in one day now? This is not the question of the day, but if you have any thoughts on doubling I'd be interested to hear down below I would not recommend doubling up unless you really really have a good game plan for Recovery and for your overall macro level training Outlook training plan so and part of the reason I am doubling up today is not connected to a training plan specifically I am doubling up to test out the Ultra Torrens for you guys I want to put a little more mileage into these shoes so I can give you a full review sooner rather than later I believe I have only about 20 miles in them thus far So I want to I want to increase that before I give you my full thoughts These are the Ultra Torrens 3.5 zero drop shoe So let's go out into the streets of Denver six to seven miles and Doubling up but again be careful. Don't don't go out and double up unless you have a game plan. All right. Come on Come on double dipping today double dipping as I like to say all right folks the Ultra Torren 3.5 I only have 11 miles in this shoe I thought I had 20 so not as many as I thought but listen to this I'm all about communication being clear with you guys and you guys are listening and it's amazing and we're communicating on YouTube Down in the comments, but also on Strava listen to this from Etienne on Strava 10 minutes ago He said this here from YouTube. I'm thinking about getting ultras for trail running I have solomons, but they are a bit narrow for my liking. I would love to get your input Etienne your timing is impeccable. That was guys that comment came through on Strava literally 10 minutes ago This morning ran in the Solomon Ultras for they these shoes I just checked in the gear box on Strava and essentially these guys have 278 miles so I have a lot of experience in these Solomon Ultras and so for Etienne and for everybody else who's wondering of course the biggest difference between ultra and Solomon, well, maybe it's not the biggest difference But it's the drop the drop from the heel to the toe. I believe these Ultras are 8 millimeter I could be wrong on that. I'll double-check and then the Ultras are all zero drop and I notice even though I've only done 11 miles in this shoe Every time I stop running after putting this guy on my legs do feel more tired So keep that in mind if you're considering Ultra But you can put if you want to look at it glass half full It might mean that our legs are getting stronger now I wasn't planning on comparing Solomon versus Ultra tonight But I will because you ask Etienne and keep the questions coming everybody I will do my best to answer your questions whether it's through a comment or through an actual video I have noticed that whenever I wear this Ultra my legs are more tired. They I can feel it I can feel the zero drop. I can feel my Achilles just a teeny tiny stretch Which I think is a good thing now You can look at it glass half empty or glass half full because my legs are more tired Maybe that means I'm getting stronger I don't know because I'm using my calves more my soleus my Achilles all everything. I don't know I haven't put enough miles into the shoe yet to feel a difference I would be personally a little nervous to wear Ultras out on the trails Because usually when I go out on the trails I'm going out for eight miles ten miles sometimes twenty miles twenty five miles and My legs are already tired enough from just running that adding a piece of gear that's gonna make my legs more tired I don't know if that makes sense so I'm not now listen I've only been running on the roads in the tour in three point five and I so I'm not an expert with Ultra but that's just my assessment so far in this shoe and then with respect to Solomon and The narrow feel that you have If you do have a narrow foot, I would lean away from Solomon. I just would maybe look at Hoka and Solomon it's just it's such a different kind of running shoe Very aggressive. I would I would put all Solomon shoes into the aggressive category and a lot a lot more stiff Which you know if you see like most of their marketing and branding for Solomon They're filming runners like in the Alps in Europe or in the Pyrenees or like they're filming runners going up Huge mountains because they want to really target that audience in that market and therefore their shoes I believe are designed specifically for that mountain running now. They do have road shoes Which kind of baffles me a little bit I really do think that Solomon is a great shoe for that more aggressive mountain running as compared to like the Lone Peak which I do not own the Lone Peak But I've heard you could take the Lone Peak the Ultra Lone Peak out for 15 miles and just feel great if if you are used to the zero drop feel and one last thought on the Solomon Basically last week I said I have never thrown a pair of Solomon running shoes away because they are so well built now They're a little heavier and a little little more stiff than a lot of other running shoes But they the build quality of Solomon is it's just second to none now You're gonna pay for it up front. They are expensive like I think these guys might have been of a hundred and eighty dollars but I've got two hundred and eighty miles in the shoe basically and There's no sign of breakdown on the upper except for a teeny tiny little bit by the Pinky-toe here and maybe a little bit by the big toe just a little bit of a hint of a Potential hole forming there, but bottom line build quality on point Solomon so you're gonna pay for the price up front, but I You're just gonna get hundreds of miles out of these shoes. No matter like they're not the upper is not gonna tear on you Like I hate to say it, but like Hoka I've had a lot of I know a lot of people that have had issues with Hoka shoes Breaking down in the upper specifically right here You probably know what I'm talking about if you're a Hoka runner in conclusion I don't know if I would go with ultra for long distance trail running Unless you can build into it and you have the patience to build into it And it could take six months to build up your leg strength. I don't know. I don't know I don't have enough experience, but thus far in the ultra I'm feeling tired after the runs in my legs so far We'll see what happens moving forward and then in the Solomon's of course It's aggressive. It's aggressive and I love it for the mountains for the uphill efforts for the let's go crush The pike speak of said type of race Um, I don't even know if I'll if I'll buy another Solomon ultra shoe, frankly It's almost not quite aggressive enough for the uphill mountain runs So anyway, anyway, those are my thoughts for now for now And yes, the keyword of the day is double double trouble for double-dipping on today's run First in the Solomon's second in the ultras. All right question of the day is coming right up Hold on though. I got to set it up by giving you my ranking of Popularity of running shoe brands, but this is just me like I did not write this down I'm just coming up with this really off the top of my head. All right. Here we go Nike at the top as far as popularity running shoe brands and of course your product You might disagree. Let me know down in the comments and I might ruffle some feathers here, but that's okay YouTube. It's a two-way street We're just communicating here. All right, Nike at the top. Why two words? Michael Jordan the amount of money that Michael Jordan brought in to Nike in the 90s Allowed them. I believe to redeploy that cash to invest in other technologies other sports like running shoes So anyway, I'm putting Nike at the top because of Michael Jordan not because of you know any other runner, but it's it's MJ It's MJ. All right. I'm calling it So Nike at the top tier 2 I'm gonna go with new balance Soccany and I think I'm gonna put Hoka up there It's maybe not quite but definitely new balance Soccany and Hoka. All right, just below them tier 3 I'm gonna put Brooks even though I think Brooks could actually maybe be in tier 2 But I'm gonna put Brooks in tier 3 tier 4. Oh, yeah, and also Solomon in tier 3. All right, tier 4 I'm gonna put Reebok and Adidas Reebok and Adidas However, I feel like both of them are kind of struggling a little bit especially Adidas I don't know like I have a lot of thoughts about Adidas running shoes. We'll get we'll get to that another day All right, and below Adidas and Reebok. We're gonna go with like Mizuno and And Actually, maybe ultra Mizuno and ultra I you know two companies that are just like they're definitely don't have the entire market However, ultra I believe is on the rise. Did you notice that Kara Goucher a former Olympian and also she went to see you Go buffs. She is now running for ultra. That's a big deal big deal. All right I know that I probably just ruffled some feathers I apologize or that I left companies out that I'm just not thinking of right now But the question of the day, let's go with it. Here we go What is a small running shoe company that you have used in the past and or maybe used now that I did not just List off or that people just don't know about like is there any like I'm just curious What is a company out there that we don't know about? For example, for example, and maybe you were gonna comment with this one, but I'm gonna steal it right now In awe in off eight how I and OV eight. It's kind of a unique name. I don't quite get it I think they're based in Scotland. I believe maybe I could be wrong on that Anyway, that's my shoe company that I've never I've never run in them, but I am interested in them So comment below Maybe you have to do a little research on Google to find a company that's like off the beaten path I would appreciate it. I would appreciate it comment below. All right guys. That is it. Thanks for running today twice It was amazing. Oh, I'm a little tired though time for bed seek beauty work hard work hard and thank you for just oh My gosh, I'm trying to keep up with your comments. If I don't get to your comments Immediately just bear with me. I will do my best. I'm doing my best I gotta work out my fingers more and love each other