When Steve Jobs passed away in 2011 it was rumored that he had attempted to use a diet of fruits and vegetables to heal his cancer and at the time I didn't really think much of this because I wasn't following the carnivore diet but this thought came up in my head recently so I decided to read his biography and he was obsessed with the vegan diet it's completely crazy. For those of you that don't know Steve Jobs had pancreatic cancer it progressed into liver cancer he eventually had to get a liver transplant after taking a lot of chemotherapy all that stuff but eventually it spread throughout his whole body and he passed away. He was known as a lifelong experimenter with compulsive diets focusing mainly on fruits and vegetables. The first book he was influenced by was a diet for a small planet which pushed the personal and planetary benefits of vegetarianism. This book interestingly enough also played a role in the advent of the USDA dietary guidelines. It reinforced his tendency to embrace extreme diets. Initially in his freshman year of college he was living off of cereal, dates, almonds, carrots, juices. There was even a story about him turning orange from eating so many carrots and indicated that he isn't metabolizing carotenoids likely due to the lack of fat in his diet and the over consumption of them. He became even more obsessive when he read mucusless diet healing system. That gave him the idea that only eating fruits and starchless vegetables would prevent the body from producing mucus. He was very involved in fasting and eating leafy vegetables. During his first job at Atari a co-worker actually complained that Steve Jobs smelled but Jobs clung to the belief that his fruit heavy vegetarian diet prevents both mucus and body odor. They even contemplated firing him over his smell. Coming back from an apple farm actually motivated the name behind the company. So ironically his diet of fruitarianism, vegetarianism whatever you want to call it actually gave him the idea to name the company apple. His hygiene issues were continuously mentioned throughout his biography though. Steve Jobs developed kidney stones in 1997. I'm assuming from his high leafy green consumption. For those of you that don't know certain green vegetables contain high amounts of calcium oxalate which is calcium bound to an oxalic acid molecule and this pretty much gets stored in the kidneys and can cause kidney stones if your body doesn't have enough of certain other vitamins to excrete but these kidney stones actually led to him getting a scan which detected his cancer in October of 2003. Thankfully it was detected very early but Jobs decided not to have surgery to remove the tumor insisting to see if a few other things would work. This is in his pancreas by the way. So he started working with a natural healing clinic in California and even diet Dr. Dean Ornish who's still alive today a very outspoken proponent of a vegan diet. Even he insisted that he needed surgery but Jobs decided to adhere to a strict vegan diet of fresh carrot and fruit juices acupuncture herbal remedies etc. In July 2003 a CAT scan showed that the cancer had progressed causing Jobs to face the reality and undergo surgery removing part of his pancreas. So he tried a vegan diet for a period of time and his cancer progressively got worse. Unfortunately the cancer had spread to his liver causing Jobs to begin chemotherapy treatments. Jobs is eating disorder got worse in 2008 where he actually lost 40 pounds over the course of spring 2008. This actually caused apple stock to drop when they saw how emaciated he looked. At this point Jobs was very sick and in excruciating pain going through many cancer drug therapies. He was put on the liver transplant list and was lucky enough to get a liver before it failed but they noticed cancer spots on the membrane surrounding other internal organs when they were doing the liver transplant. Despite all of this Steve Jobs continued to really only want to consume fruit smoothies. He had regained his strength in early 2010 coming back to apple to work but the cancer came back in November of 2010 eventually spreading to his bones by July 2011 and then he passed away later that year. On one hand we could say yes Steve Jobs was kind of brainwashed in this vegan vegetarian ideology and he should have undergone medical treatment. On the other hand we know that Steve Jobs consumed a very high fructose diet and here is a study showing that fructose intake is associated with increased risk of pancreatic and small intestinal cancers. Here is another study showing that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation which is cell growth and this study suggests that sustaining fructose consumption should be curtailed as it is detrimental to long-term human health and one final study implicating that high carbohydrate diets increase the risk of pancreatic cancer in women. It only takes six days of excess fructose consumption to cause insulin resistance and eight weeks to allow pre-diabetes to establish. This is because fructose can only be utilized by the liver whereas glucose can be utilized by many cells in the body. What happens after decades of high fructose consumption? The result is a diabetes disaster precisely what I mean we're pretty much having in America right now. Fructose overconsumption stimulates fatty liver and leads directly to insulin resistance. Here's a study showing that excess insulin in circulation can cause progression of pancreatic cancer cells. Of course fructose consumption isn't linked specifically to a vegan diet although with how many vegan day of eatings I've seen a lot of these vegans are putting 20 dates in a shake in the morning and then having acai bowls with all this fruit. So there are plenty of vegans that are obviously overloading their livers with fructose and the frutarians are probably the worst like straight course to fatty liver 100% but there are quite a few vegans who push a diet low in fruit sugar high in carbohydrates and when we look at indigenous groups that consumed fairly high percentages of carbohydrates they were still in adequate health if they prepared the grains properly. That being said they weren't consuming fructose. So did Steve Jobs's high fructose consumption lead to pancreatic cancer? I personally believe so and just the evidence adds up so much. He consumes all this fructose he gets insulin resistance he has some fatty liver and just continues to do things that are damaging his pancreas and his liver and putting so much stress on those organs by continuing this crazy fruterian diet and can we argue that his obsession with veganism and vegetarianism ultimately led to his demise and he was essentially the most famous person to get brainwashed into a vegan cult and die because of it. It's pretty crazy if you put this into the context of it. This guy literally died because he believed so much in a vegan diet. That's what we're seeing now and I'm surprised Steve Jobs isn't brought up that much. I guess a lot of people haven't read his biography but you know these vegans are so confident in their diet. Confident to what point? Steve Jobs I'm assuming one of the most intelligent and successful people to ever live was brainwashed into veganism and it killed him. If he is susceptible to this then who isn't? If Steve Jobs was able to be brainwashed into a vegan diet and ultimately died because of it then who's to say that any vegan is smart enough to understand the diet? You know it's crazy. Like what level of intelligence do you need to be aware that the brainwashing of a vegan diet and the fruits and vegetable conventional wisdom how hard is that to see through for some people? I guess it's very difficult. But just throwing this out there guys to me it makes a lot of sense. I think out of all the videos I make and a lot of things that I try to say this actually falls in line with a lot of truth and it makes a lot of sense. Is it solely because of his high fructose consumption? It could be because he's also lacking vitamins in general evident by the kidney stones. So the combination of the lack of nutrients in his vegan diet as well as the high fructose consumption it's very safe to say you know he's lacking fat type of vitamins he's stressing his liver he's stressing his pancreas and that is I mean if you would if you were going to try to figure out a way to die from cancer the only way you could speed it up is by drinking vegetable oil. So that's all I have to say for this guys so if you guys would like to support the channel please subscribe and share the video. I will be posting the biography below so check in the comments for the link to that PDF file. If you guys would like to check out my amazon shop I have a bunch of products I use in my day to day life from vitamin D3 to various salts I put on my food on my patreon I have some exclusive videos if you guys sign up my hygiene products are back in stock on my website so if you guys are interested in like fluoride free toothpaste things like that definitely check out my website frank-to-final.com and if you guys would like to reach out to me for a one-on-one consultation maybe you don't want to follow the path of Steve Jobs you can shoot me an email frank-to-final at gmail.com or contact me through the form on my website down below thank you guys for watching and enjoy the rest of your week


I just landed. I'm going to make my way to the hotel, so I'll see you over there because I've never been here. And I shouldn't really be vlogging, I should be figuring out how to get to the hotel. I'm here at the Southwest Actors Conference in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Arizona. And today, day one is only a mixer in the evening from 5.30 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. and I was able to check in a little bit earlier than 3 p.m. And the lady that helped me downstairs actually said that there's like a free happy hour, so if I show my key at the bar during the mixer, I can get free drinks and snacks. Let's do a little room tour of this hotel because this is actually like the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in by myself. Bar right here, like a little mini kitchen at. And now I'm in like a living area. I don't know that I've actually had like a living area in hotels. I know I sound so silly. And there's a balcony right here. And right next to the front door, there's a door over here that leads to the bathroom. Nice little shower and then a vanity area. Oh, it's well lit. It's time to get ready. I just showered. I don't feel nervous yet. I don't know. What am I going to do? Say hi to people? Big deal, right? I will tell you guys. Oh, I was going to tell you guys today about how I afforded to be here. I guess I can tell you. I don't think it's a secret. I have got a video sponsor. Tomorrow's video is going to be sponsored by a company that I like. I really like. And I have a lot of friends who really like this company. And that's how I was truly able to afford to come here. And what's my goal today at the mixer? Genuinely to just meet people, whoever these people are, actors, casting directors, I just want to like meet people and make friends, not like expect anything from them, you know, because I think that's how the best relationships are built, especially in a working environment where there's like a lot of people that may want to work with them. I think the best way is to meet people and see if you interact well. And then once if once you interact well, then you can be like, okay, well, maybe we can work well together. At the last mixer that I went to something that I found, this is a tip. If you are a super extrovert like me, by super, I don't mean like amazing extrovert, I just mean very extroverted. Try not to talk to the same person for too long because then you'll only end up talking to like two or three people. People that I know that are going to be here that like, I believe I will get to say hi to them. Bella Hibbs, of course, the creator of the conference, I think I'm going to be able to say hi to her because she's been really sweet in the DMs. Like I DM her like a comment and her stuff.  So she might be too busy. I might not be able to say hi to her. But Heidi Dean, she's also a YouTube creator and does a lot of like marketing tips for actors. She's gonna be here. But that's pretty much all of the people that I like know and I feel 100% comfortable like going up to and saying hello. And I do have my phone with my QR code. So I have a QR code that leads people to my link tree and has my YouTube channel, Instagram, and IMDb. I obviously don't know Bella Hibbs like personally. I just know her through social media, but I have to say she really seems like a nice genuine person and dang. We're the same age, I'm pretty sure. I think we're the same age and for her to have made a whole conference and originally I wanted to do this like a couple of years ago. It's really cool that she was able to do that.  It's time to go to the mixer. I'll try and show you guys as much as possible, but I will definitely tell you how it went when I get back. I met mostly actors, one casting director. Once you checked in, if you were VIP, they gave you a badge. I do wish that everybody else had a name tag, but at the same time, it was nice to just go up to people and be like, what's your name? I met mostly actors. I got to talk to Bella. So one of the things that I was wondering is if I'm gonna get to talk to Bella because she's gonna be so busy. Well, I'm pretty sure she was the first person I talked to. She just happened to be saying hi to somebody else near me and then right after she came up to me and she's like, I feel like I already know you from like social media and that made me feel so good because I also feel like I already know her from social media. So it was nice to just not be awkward and be like, hi, I'm Bellica. You have no idea who I am. So that was that was really sweet. I need to stop talking so loud. I just realized I'm probably talking really loud because I've been like screaming for the past three hours in that room. You also got a little paper where you had to get your significant other. So I got Blake Shelton. So I was looking for Gwen Stefani. But that was a fun icebreaker because I got to go interact with people by trying to find Gwen Stefani and I got really into it. And it definitely got some conversation started. There was a fun little booth and I took a photo by myself. I was not ready for the first one. And then a lot of the speakers were there. I got to say hello to Mel. I believe that was her name. That was super fast just like at the end there. But that was a pretty successful mixer. It was just a lot of people. So I had to be like, okay, guys, nice to meet you. Confirm the names again so I could remember it and then went on to the next group. Everybody seemed really sweet. I did not meet a single person where I was like, so I did get the VIP ticket and today's perks for the VIP ticket was that I got to wear this and I got to talk to people about my dream role. And then we did get one drink ticket. So that was cool. I got orange juice because I didn't want alcohol.  It's $100 gift card. Good towards all audios, albums in the actor inspiration store. And then I got one free Saffron Road snack. $75 off a annual premium with a code for VIPs. Cool. Six month membership for We audition. So it's worth $60 because it's $10 a month. If you guys don't know what we audition is, it's a platform where you can get a reader and then a notebook from Communication Method for Actors. This pen looks really nice. Pretty good pen. Tasty pastry legendary foods. I thought we were supposed to get a key chain. I thought Bella had put key chains on the like on Instagram.   In the video I posted today about me coming to the conference, I asked you guys to let me know any questions that you have. And somebody was like, Well, how do you go up to somebody that you want to work with? And honestly, what you want to do in general with people is just genuinely get to know them and them to get to know you because then you can see if you can work together well. But now I think it's time to relax. I do like how today was the mixer because now you have like new friends that you made today, you're going to be able to see them tomorrow. Maybe it would be cool to do like a mixer after though, like a little after party. One more thing about the mixer. My little screen QR code worked pretty well. I didn't have a bunch of people scan it. And now I'm following and being followed by like 10 or so actors. So it worked.


I think we're all familiar with what Remain in Mexico is. They wait for weeks and months to get across the border to apply for asylum, and then they're given a notice to appear and sent back to Mexico, to some of the most violent places in the world. This is one of the cities that our State Department has declared too unsafe because of cartel violence for United States citizens to travel. And so here we are sending these families, these mothers and children back to this city to wait for their court dates. Here we have no security of any kind. Please help me. I will thank you infinitely, and God will bless you. Madam, I prefer to be an intent as I was without taking bath, going hungry without brushing my teeth, almost without communication, with bad treatment. I feel safe in the United States. Here in this country, there is no security of any kind. Please help me. God bless you. This cruel mockery of justice that's happening at the hands of our government, we came back really enraged, knowing that we had to figure out a way to bear witness. The first thing they told us was, under no circumstances should you go over on the Nuevo Larita side. They said the violence was horrific. The gangs are completely controlling the city. They're riding up and down the streets and they're open vehicles with their automatic weapons, taking over parts of the city. They need to get out on the streets and say, this is wrong and it's gotta stop. As we do something in Laredo, we want each city across the country to do something of the same kind. Each city can do their own thing in their own way.


excited to be talking to you all this evening about the church street marketplace division of the business and workforce um department so our team works to create a vibrant and engaging church street marketplace um for the over 110 businesses that line the church street marketplace as well as the many um visitors to the church street marketplace that come to gather celebrate shop dine and enjoy um this beloved landmark in our downtown um this year we have already hosted over a hundred free events on the church street marketplace in large part to some um funding that we received earliest earlier this year to run marketplace summer um marketplace summer and had about 60 events included in it that ran from the end of June through the end of September those events that we host include both produced events um like our um music on the bricks summer concert series or our halloween dog costume contest that we had last weekend as well as third party events that we host um like the outright vermont fire truck poll um Juneteenth or festival of fools um in addition to that we also permit street performers um cart vendors and artists to be a part of the vibrancy and activation on the marketplace as car mentioned before the marketplace also um does all of its own maintenance um headed by our foreman Jim daly um doing all of the snow removal trash recycling as well as the street decorations including the welcome banners the bright penance that you see and as you look out the window now all the um white lights going up on the trees for the holidays i'm going to talk a little bit more about the marketing that we do for all of the events and businesses on the church street marketplace um we recently relaunched our website so we are always evolving the church street marketplace to meet the needs of the businesses and the visitors to the marketplace um we launched a new website last year we've already seen almost a hundred thousand visitors to that website um we have really incredible numbers on our social um engagements over 45 000 followers on both instagram and facebook where we're talking about the businesses on the marketplace as well as the events and programming that we're running uh we also have a monthly newsletter with um about 6 000 folks opening that which is an incredible open rate um for a newsletter um for um all folks to learn about everything that we have going on on the on the marketplace thank you and then lastly going to jump into the holidays as the first snowflakes fell on burlington just last week the holidays are very big on our mind we are really ramping up for an incredible and robust holiday season ads have already gone out in local newspapers we will be putting posters and countercards out this week we have a lot of programming coming in november and december of course we have the iconic uh tree arriving to the marketplace next friday followed by the tree lighting the following week and santa parade we have a menorah lighting kids train free hot chocolate window decorating contest a holiday parking program discounts for employees as and we are marketing that through a ton of different platforms um print social media radio so a lot going on in addition um i also helped manage the btv winter market in city hall park so the btv winter market will be returning next weekend which is kind of wild november 18th um so that is six weeks of the btv winter market um friday saturday and sunday last year we saw 22 000 people attend uh the winter markets we hope to see that grow this year now on to business support citywide uh the love burlington brand was born um during covid um when the city realized that we needed to um support businesses beyond church street in a more active and engaging manner with the public um and um will clavell assistant director clavell heads up the business support citywide and um and we also have a marketing team who helps with that as well he just reminded me i'm gonna hit a couple of the first two points um our office was also tasked with managing the american rescue plan act funds the 27 million that um the city received during covid um we um engaged in an interdepartmental um process to help um develop policies engage with the administration administer the funds and distribute them um and deploying these funds um was and managing them and as well as managing the federal reporting has also been uh a large portion of what the department's been doing all right thank you car and good evening counselors uh i just wanted to highlight one of the policy initiatives that car just referenced this was the creation of two zero interest revolving loan programs this came directly out of the art book community survey where our community responded to took the survey highlighted the need for access to capital especially for our BIPOC and women-owned businesses in town we after talking to the businesses and our partners it's decided to create two zero interest revolving loan programs to effectively serve businesses of different sizes the first one we run in house it's interdepartmental collaboration between our office REI B CEDO and the clerk treasurer's office we have a volunteer loan review um uh underwriting committee made up of local bankers and industry professionals and the second program is a partnership with kiva kiva started as a micro lender in some of the poorest communities in the world and they now partner with cities in brolington to provide zero interest access to capital to small businesses so between these two programs we launched them both in april so in the last six months we've got 11 loans out the door the majority have gone to BIPOC and women-owned businesses and as long as people keep repaying these loans this will be a tool we'll have to support businesses for many years to come just want to highlight a couple other quick initiatives designed a grant program dispersed a million dollars to 25 local nonprofits we uh helped support the cart vending program and some of the events in city hall park bringing more diverse vendors to um creating more opportunities for them we worked with businesses and nonprofits along north of new ski av with the transition to the bike lane that went in there and we've uh put on a number of classes created how-to guides and other business resources for our local business community along with the um roll out of the new cannabis industry that we saw here and then the other thing we often get requests for is finding space whether it's uh finding a market for a brand new vendor um helping a business find their first brick and mortar or helping a growing business expand to a bigger space here are a number of businesses that we've worked with specifically around their space needs and find it a suitable space for their business operation a lot of the community engages with love burlington through their instagram at love burlington or our website uh love burlington.org we find that people really do take advantage of being able to sort businesses not only by neighborhood but also by ownership whether they're by pock owned or women owned um and uh we have uh garnered quite a following in the short time that this um has been up and running and if you'll see our monthly newsletters actually have a larger open rate than um the church street marketplace um which and these are hyper local um emails and people opening them so we're really seeing um a lot of local engagement um specifically in this brand um we've done some collaborations we um we have over 30 annual opportunities to participate in events and vendor markets we find these vendor markets are a great opportunity for some of our um smallest micro businesses a lot of people are running businesses out of their homes and when we have these markets in city hall park it allows them to access a customer base that they normally don't have access to and it allows them to test out their wares um from then we we can offer them technical support as well as uh access to our revolving loan program and that will often um we have seen success in this they've moved from the markets to taking a loan out from us and getting um a a cart on the church street marketplace and the next um proof of concept there is hopefully to get the next um church street marketplace cart to then have a brick and mortar business the third division of the business and workforce development is the early learning initiative and our workforce development um we've applied for four regional grants we are managing the raise grant um the workforce development portion of the raise grant uh that is uh being used to recon uh to redevelop a cherry street and bank um we also have uh launched our first steps training program to increase licensed child care and home-based child care providers in the city um this also allows we currently have 13 participants they'll be graduating um at the end of the year they will be licensed child care providers and they will also be licensed to open a home-based child care center we have received a lot of feedback um that some of our immigrant population prefers home-based care and we have noticed a decrease in available home child care businesses so our goal is to try and train as many of our residents so that they can open some of those businesses we've cultivated uh multiple community partners um the manager of our early learning initiative program testified at the state um because our program is considered dynamic and it is also considered a model that other communities are looking to emulate um we have nearly doubled the scholarships that we have put out to support um low-income families um we provided a six figure capacity grant to um the one arts school which opened in the old north end um and we're also supporting language access for our non-native english speakers who are um looking for child care by providing grants to the child care providers so that they can better communicate with the families um and last but not least i would like to end on a a bit of a high note given the challenges that we know we are seeing in the downtown i wanted to give people an update on what we have been seeing we have northfield savings bank who made a massive investment in their flagship location here on the tertiary marketplace don't know if you've been to santiagos yet but it's delicious um monel has pulled out of burlington and that space is rented and should be open in a couple weeks a letter of intent has been signed for the slate space we have a an exciting new restaurant coming into the old penny clues space the nomad bakery will be moving to the old red onion space there is a new convenience store coming into the old perky planet space to serve the student population upstairs um the tinkering turtle is a toy store on college street we have a new bar that is coming into mr mike's shortly and we have a restaurant coming into the old majestic car rental spot on the rotary and we have our first asian market that will be opening right off of tertiary on um call it no bank bank um almost full asian market um they just had a baby they were hoping to open in october but they couldn't hit that um i'm open to any questions about the department and the work we do and after that we can discuss um the resolution thanks so much so before we do that we've come to a little bit after the magic hour of 10 30 it's now 10 33 in order to proceed we'll need a motion to suspend our rules um and i would entertain that motion um councillor councillor uh councillor mickey i'm having a brain whatever thank you president paul please go ahead i would move to suspend our rules uh to continue the meeting to finish our deliberative agenda to complete just our deliberative agenda yes please okay so is there there's a second to that from councillor jang is there any discussion on that motion to simply complete our agenda i'm to complete our deliberative agenda okay seeing none we'll go to a vote all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye any opposed please say no okay so we will continue with this and we will finish up our meeting with this deliberative agenda item so questions i'm sorry did you want it oh i was i was going to entertain questions from council yes regarding my department and its work right so if there are counselors who have questions or comments for um the department uh now would be the time uh councillor councillor mickey and then councillor jang thank you president paul and thanks to the three of you for the presentation i knew a good deal about the the work that you've been doing and just seeing it all presented there we haven't had an update in a while so it's very refreshing and i'm just very impressed that the department has um seen such success in a relatively short period of time um and i was also intrigued by the um data that was presented about foot traffic uh i did see that um the sales are down this year and i'm curious if that is just for retail or if that is across the board for all of our commercial um so we're we're seeing so first of all those numbers which i didn't clarify our inflation adjusted um we're seeing less of a dip right now in the rooms and meals and we're seeing more of a dip in the retail so yes those the numbers where you did see the dip that is retail it includes non-taxable items such as clothing but that is captured at the state level okay thank you yes um or i'll have more questions once we get to the uh memo and the resolution but i that is all i have for now just a big thank you thank you councillor mickey we'll go to councillor uh councillor jang yep this is more of a comment and um i think it's one of the divisions which is an early learning initiative i have had the opportunity of receiving the full presentation um and it's unfortunate that many people do not know about it including this council if you knew that this council did we just started that program is only $500,000 from the pilot fund and because of it over nearly 400 students children yeah are better off now and also because of your work you were able to leverage over nearly two million dollars with the state childcare subsidy ccip i think that's a very successful story and a full a better presentation will need to happen i hosted you one thursday correct yeah and miss rebecca and alexander i think it's eye-opening um and it's unfortunate also that this mayor does not talk about it enough he talked about all of this achievement but not that which i think is a great achievement thanks for the work that you guys do thank you thank you so much councillor jang uh councillor adority thanks president paul and thank you thank you for this wonderful presentation i had two questions which i think might be sort of a follow-up to councillor mickey in some sense one probably a dumb question is how you actually measure foot traffic in the downtown marketplace and then two given that foot traffic looks to be at similar numbers to what we see in previous years excluding 2020 for obvious reasons and we see pretty dramatic dip in the gross sales uh numbers do you have do you have a sense as to what can account for that there are yeah relatively similar numbers of people apparently in the marketplace and yet they're not purchasing things we know what they're doing i would say you know it's a bit of a perfect storm it's a confluence of of um of impacts most importantly i would say that businesses aren't open seven days a week anymore although they used to be um and i think that's having an impact businesses also aren't open as late anymore and some of that is related to the safety and security concerns it's also related to the ability to hire right now in this environment not just in the safety and security environment but also in the unprecedented low unemployment rate that we have right now so i'm i'm just seeing reduced operating hours and then of course there's the internet which is you know an ongoing challenge for businesses i do think this community does like to shop local but i think there are still challenges meeting the prices that you're seeing on amazon oh the foot traffic right sorry just reminded me uh we purchased the foot traffic data there is a company called placer ai um that data is cell phone data essentially it's um your cell phone is constantly being pinged um and what that data does not have in it however is um canadian traffic that is attributable to the canadians protect their cell phone user data better than the americans do um so um everything you do is uh so i don't identities are of course not available but um most other data is available including where you came from when you arrived at the marketplace and where you go to afterwards i'm happy to share that report with the council at some time as well thank you thank you councillor dory uh there any other any other comments on the presentation before we go to the memo that we have for um the funds for downtown support seeing none because we have these as one agenda item so given that i don't know um director arnazwari if you wanted to speak to the memo or um if we wanted to go to a motion on the memo i'm happy to speak to the memo um initially i since there will be motions on the amendments to the memo and i thought it might be helpful for me to address the initial memo and then as and then discuss further the amendments um the initial proposal for a more proactive marketing extending beyond the holidays um and uh and to improve lighting for employees that are using our free parking program those ideas were in response to the feedback that my office does get um one of the main pieces of feedback i'm getting right now is that there was a lot not just from my office in the municipality but but throughout the state during covet a large push to get people to shop local and i'm hearing now that there's no real push during these challenging times in burlington to remind people to spend their dollars here i have had multiple dozens of requests for a pr campaign to try to encourage people to differentiate between what they might be seeing downtown and and being able to still come down here and support local businesses um and so those are where those initiatives came from i would like to clearly address that security was not in this memo um because which we can discuss hiring security is a cost that i don't know if these funds will cover um and is also something i wanted to discuss further with the chief okay thank you uh so before we get to a discussion of the memo i guess we can go to a motion first i'll go to councillor um councillor travers and then we can any discussion after that thank you i would move to authorize the director of business and workforce development to accept a donation of $50,000 from the palmer low family foundation and to reallocate $50,000 in arpa funds and to authorize the chief administrative officer to execute budget amendments up to a full amount of $100,000 to support public safety initiatives and economic activity in downtown burlington and stabilize worker retention while considering input from downtown workers and businesses the church street marketplace commission and the burlington business association among other stakeholders and i do not need the floor back upon a second thank you thank you councillor uh councillor travers so we need a second to that motion that is made by councillor jang um if there are councillors who wish to go to any comments on that uh we'll go first to councillor shannon um and then to councillor jang councillor shannon no i didn't need to speak thank you i was seconding that's okay all right so we'll go to councillor jang jang yes um so thank you again for being here you know i think your department is managing the arpa fund correct right and i was just wondering why this was not done a little bit sooner with the $50,000 he's using too much less and second part of the question is did you reach out to parmolo to make that donation or it was just he's a nice person to come and say he is a money um actually uh i believe council president paul um had conversations with the parmolo foundation and council president paul approached me um with these funds and um with the contingency of a match so the arpa funds that would be used this $50,000 um is what is left from several different contingency funds so if you remember when you do approve allocations of arpa for large complex projects they often have a $30,000 contingency and we have some 5,000 some 10,000 some some bits left of projects that have reached completion so pulling those together um gets us to that 50 to match um the parmolo foundation grant so then thank you parmolo and thank you council president paul i appreciate that thank you thank you very much um so we'll go to councilor mcgee thank you president paul uh thank you car for the presentation on the memo i think my question is more for um mayor weinberger or someone else with the administration i don't think it's directly related to the work of your office so um mayor i'm just curious uh this is a pretty sizable expenditure includes grant acceptance and i'm just curious why this didn't go to board of finance before coming to the full council thank you councilor mcgee um it was really largely a question of timing um as um was just noted this is an opportunity that just uh has just materialized in the last uh really week and um appreciate uh president paul's um efforts uh on this and um given the um desire to have a immediate impact and get these funds out um i made the call that we should bring this to the full council tonight we didn't have a board of finance meeting scheduled and we had a busy evening and um adding a special board of finance for just this one item uh didn't make sense to me and and i i'll the whole board of finances is here and can weigh in and um uh i i knew this was a matter that was of interest to the full council as well so it seemed like this was the best way to to handle this fluid situation uh thank you i appreciate that i think given uh the budget constraints that we're going to be facing in future fiscal years and the role that arpa funds play in alleviating those concerns i think it would have made more sense for this to go to board of finance first um and i think it would make sense for us to have a a good sense of the larger picture of where we're at with arpa funds both as a board of finance and as a full council um and so i regardless of how the motions change tonight i won't be supporting this item thank you thank you councillor mickey so uh councillor barlow yeah thank you president paul um and thank you for bringing this to us tonight um and and i guess i count myself among those who think we're like in a critical situation downtown and timeliness especially going into the holiday shopping season as of the essence so um although i appreciate that this should have you could have been brought to the board of finance i'm i'm glad we're deliberating on it tonight um and i just also want to express my thanks for having an explicit mention of um um safety and security in the motion um tonight i think that um it's a good signal for us to send to the merchants who are struggling in the downtown that we're going to try to address some of their concerns thank you thank you councillor barlow we'll go to councillor shannon um thank you president paul i just wanted to say that i appreciate the urgency with which this was uh treated thank you president paul for pushing for this and for um for engaging the pomerolos as well and thank you to the mayor for uh expediting this we often we have a variety of things that sometimes cannot make a subcommittee meeting and we can then bring it to the full council um not necessarily ideal but also not um that extraordinary and i think that this is appropriate um we don't have time to waste with this uh and we still have to figure out you know give the staff time to figure out how best to spend this money so i appreciate that you're taking this on i know you take on a lot so thank you for all the good work that you're doing thank you thank you councillor shannon uh councillor hightower um thank you for the general update um especially yeah for the general update i think that was really informative and good to hear that um i feel like consistently it's like we sometimes decide to paint the most dismal view of what's going on and i think it's just an important reminder that we do have a really vibrant downtown and that that's a message we could be spreading instead of some of the messages that we're choosing um i do i think i think i had a reaction and then we got lots of folks from emails including business owners who were like i don't understand why if we're spending money we're spending on a marketing campaign i think that anytime the city council gets matching funds it's hard to turn that down so i won't be voting no on this but i think um unfortunately i think some sense i don't think that marketing campaigns that are done with urgency are also sometimes all that helpful um and so i i think that um a hundred thousand dollars could be used to boost some of the maybe more specific challenges that the um businesses are facing so i hope that there was maybe some flexibility in how the funds are used but also obviously the three of you are the experts and talk to businesses a lot so i'm sure that um whatever is done will still be helpful so um yeah thank you for bringing this thank you councillor hightower uh councillor travers uh thank you president paul so i i agree with what councillor hightower um just said but we'll be reaching a different conclusion in terms of the motion that i just made um i certainly understand uh the value that could be found in a expanded marketing campaign for downtown um during the holiday season um that said i also think that uh the interest that we've heard from a number of business owners in the recent days as well as community members um has been that to the extent these resources are available that it should be uh placed more directly towards public safety initiatives and so i think that your office has likely heard that as well and so um my my understanding is that by submitting this motion language which is actually actually amended motion language um the language as posted did expressly call out a ap r in marketing campaign but the motion that's now before us removes that language and and expressly puts in public safety initiatives is eligible for this funding and i don't know if you need to speak to it further but my understanding is that with that change that these funds will now be more dedicated to that interest which is to improve the public safety uh security for lack of a better term in our uh church street marketplace in downtown yes i i will express some concern that to pump this amount of money out for just the holiday season is not going to be possible um ads have already been spent and a lot of security has already been purchased we are actively trying to get responses from local security firms uh and we have been doing that for several days now i will however follow this amendment and engage the other community partners and try and utilize these funds as best i can i absolutely the number one concern that we hear from the businesses is um concern over our diminished police force um and that is not within my purview to impact however um i do think there is some value in adjusting the narrative that's out there and i think that councillor hightower said just that that it was refreshing to hear that there were nice things happening in the downtown i'm here generally six days a week i eat downtown at least once a week um and i think that story isn't always out there um however i generally i absolutely understand that this council is hearing from their constituents and i want to react to that as best i can i will caution that a hundred thousand dollars would get us some evening street security on the marketplace but not for very long i i want i want to have some expectation management on what one gets for a hundred thousand dollars for security i think that's my goal that's all thank you thank you uh doesn't appear that oh i'm sorry councilor grant thank you um so as we said we can't really affect what what's going on with the police department it is what it is we don't have the street crimes unit it is what it is but um the issues are on garbage lack of uh of garbage cans receptacles needles not being picked up fast enough maybe coordinating something with uh the department of public works uh they're using c-click fix for reporting needles for reporting tents for reporting garbage if you don't have that the app on your phone it's worth putting on your phone and going in you can look at all the request in the area to see exactly what people are using we we have a large amount of camping going on as you all know um we have in dramatically increased tents showing up on the green belts downtown the last few weeks a lot of people are talking about that um and there's a lot of garbage so those are the things that that i hear about and that is some of the responses that i've gotten it's like what if you do a marketing campaign would you actually asking people to come to because the way things are right now that people may not respond to that so it's these other things that are part of what is resulting from the crisis that we have right now but aren't related to police but still need to be out of control and still need to be handled so i don't know how that works with the staffing that you have i don't know if it's just making staffing aware hey walk around c-click fix get these these requests submitted um so things can be dealt with faster uh would mean a lot to some businesses well how can we work to have more bathrooms open that's a huge issue um there's a lot of businesses talk about having to clean up human waste and we don't have the bathrooms and uh we had someone talking about the public bathrooms down at the the waterfront that were closed and not open when they should have been and we need to we really need to look at that because that right now is a huge problem once you people don't want to do that but once you feel you have to do that and you start to do that and you don't have any other resources then it becomes the problem um but it's something that people are really really deeply concerned about thank you yes i'd like to address that if i may sure of course thank you council president um yes i just wanted to give a quick shout out to the team uh maintenance staff that also is part of my department um i have four employees um who are dedicated to the marketplace and i also manage the maintenance in city hall park um to be clear they pick up every single needle on the marketplace and in city hall park and they pick up everything else including garbage and human feces they have been working through all of this and through covid so i just want to give them a quick shout out so and yes i also want to give a quick shout out to dpw's team who is quite responsive to cclick fix needle posts and i have often and always tell businesses to report on cclick fix all of their needle issues because we do have staff that's quite dedicated to that i know not every corner of the city is being addressed in a manner that we would all wish it was um i just have uh we just want to give a shout out to staff that is really working hard has been stuck by needles um who are going in for hepatitis tests as we speak and are working very hard to keep our downtown clean thank you for that and um i appreciate that staff too i guess i'm thinking about when we talk about downtown i guess maybe my scope of downtown is different because when i think about um extending down to the waterfront and the businesses down there because certainly our waterfront is a huge attraction right so if people can't feel that they can go down there then they might not that might affect them coming into burlington and i think also when we when we talk about businesses that are you know i consider downtown to be parts of the one when you start to go down when new ski avenue there's um there's bars there's restaurants there there's other types of um of businesses and then you can go down st paul street and then lower main so we can we use that money for i guess maybe we call it the greater downtown area uh just something to think about thank you yes i'd also like to clarify that this money would not be going into the church tree marketplace budget i would be taking these funds into the business and workforce development budget which serves the business community as a whole thank you councillor thank you councillor grant uh we'll go to councillor hightower and then perhaps we can go to a vote great and i just do have to comment and say that i know that folks are um concerned about the size of our forest but more police officers does not mean more people are housed does not mean fewer people are addicted so i think sometimes people are confusing the the cause and effect of some of what they're seeing and i did also want to address um councillor grant's point to the like you know most people who come to burlington don't just go on church streets i think even if you know city hall park is doing a great job of getting cleaned up regularly and church street is getting doing a great job of being cleaned up regularly um i think anything that we can do to make the areas around that um really welcoming and using some of the funds for that and or even just appreciating some of the like frontline workers who have been dealing with this um i think those are i think those are all great initiatives that i would support but obviously i'll be supporting this no matter what but i wanted to say that and thank you again so much for staying till 11 p.m to talk to us thank you thank you councillor high tower uh it appears as though we can we should be able to go to a vote on the motion um it's made by councillor travers point of information could you just reread that uh please we can certainly do that thank you um so it would be to authorize the director of workforce development work business and workforce development to accept a donation of $50,000 from the parmalo family foundation and to reallocate $50,000 in arpa funds and to authorize the chief administrative officer to execute budget amendments up to a full amount of $100,000 to support public safety initiatives and economic activity in downtown burlington and to stabilize worker retention while considering input from downtown workers and businesses the church street marketplace commission the burlington business association among other stakeholders certainly uh if there's no other questions we'll go to a vote all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye any opposed please say no no so that motion passes 11 to 1 um thank you so much and thank you all so much for uh for this presentation very valuable um and thank you for your work i know it's these are these are challenging times and thank you for all the all the efforts that you give to the city of burlington um president paul yes councillor travers just before we adjourn i have a parliamentary inquiry for the um city attorney's office yes um during public comment earlier today and in the emails during this meeting um we uh learned as a council of an alleged open meeting law violation that had been submitted to the city um i will say that in reviewing it myself that it doesn't appear to me to be an open meeting law violation but my understanding is that if the council uh takes no action in response to that within 10 days which is tomorrow that it will be considered under the law as a denial of the open meeting law violation which would allow the person who filed it to proceed to take that matter to court and so i suppose my parliamentary inquiry here is whether from the city attorney's office i've accurately recited what um the applicable law is here and if from your perspective members of the council wanted to better understand what are not acting tonight would mean um would you advise that we need to enter into executive session to discuss that item thank you and and yes i do believe that that would be the advice from me and our office that we would enter into executive session should counselors want to better understand the options before them okay thank you so uh so i'm not really sure exactly where that leaves us so if there is a desire on the part of counselors to discuss to understand this more fully um i guess now would be the time to voice that concern and based on that we would then go into executive session so if there are counselors who have concerns about that and wish to gain further information on this um now would be the time to voice that concern window information yes what's your question the question is so the the issue is that there was an open meeting law violation yes and that was that was mentioned an allegation just point i'm sorry i'm sorry thank you so much and um so it is up to us we can either not by not responding to it we are responding to it by saying that we do not agree with that allegation um however if there are counselors who don't feel comfortable making that response then now would be the time to come forward and say i need more information before making that response so that that is what i'm asking i'm asking for counselors if they have that concern yes and hold on just a moment councillor bergman councillor jang has the floor yeah and this is a question about the process i think we amended our role to only do uh deliverable and now we want to add a different item as part of the meeting that's could you please explain in executive session i i don't think needs to be an explicit agenda item there could be an instance in the middle of a debate of a deliberative item where counselors raise something that could trigger a reason for the body to enter into executive session so you could choose to take that course of action at any time i mean it is preferable that if you have prior to the agenda expect for a reason for executive session that you warn and give the public that notice but in this instance as this arose this evening and there is a time constraint there i think there's a valid reason why the body could enter into an executive session should they feel they want to receive information from council are you all set councillor jang yes and my other question is i mean how did we even hear about this just right now during public forum why didn't we hear about this a little bit sooner i believe there was a written communication and again the the reasons why i would like to advise the body in executive session would be to give confidential attorney client privilege communication great thank you councillor jang councillor bergman did you have something to add i did um i think that it is prudent for us to go into executive session to hear confidential attorney communications related to potential litigation on this i i just don't think that as individuals we should be dealing with it i also think that we need to suspend the rules to add this matter having completed our deliberative agenda and having already made a decision to you know like in the meeting pursuant to the rules so i i think that since we have not adjourned that it would be most appropriate for us to suspend the rules and to amend the agenda to add this item which would be an executive session for the purpose of getting attorney communications confidential attorney communications related to a probable or at least a possible possible litigation involving the city i would second that motion from councillor bergman to suspend the rules okay thank you thank you councillor bergman i my understanding is that actually that isn't something that we need to do attorney pelican i think that that's a course of action that you can take yes okay so there is a motion to suspend our rules to take up this item by councillor bergman seconded by councillor travers is there any discussion on the motion to suspend our rules seeing none we'll go to a vote all those in favor of the motion to suspend our rules please say aye aye any opposed please say no okay given that councillor travers if you could first make make the first is it one motion or two i think it'll be two so i would go ahead move to find that premature general public knowledge of attorney client communication regarding the city council's response to an item that may result in civil litigation would place the council at a substantial disadvantage thank you councillor travers is there a second to that motion seconded by councillor jang um any discussion on that motion seeing none um all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye any opposed please say no that motion passes unanimously and with that we'll go to the second motion based on the finding of substantial disadvantage i move that we enter into executive session under one vsa section 313 a1 e to discuss probable civil litigation to which the city council may be a party right thank you councillor travers seconded by councillor jang is there any discussion on that motion and this would include the city attorney um mayors of the mayor staff um is that correct yes yes thank you so much thank you president ball all right um so if there's yes you have a question and the question is about are we coming back up here to adjourn or people leaving where are we doing the executive session that is true what do we do we need to come forward after the executive session with the decision yes i believe that would be part of the action so we will so we will go into executive session and then we will have to come out of executive session and have that vote at the end after okay thank you so much councillor jang a very important question um if there's no other comment uh if there's no other discussion then we'll go to a vote all those in favor of the second motion to go into or the motion to go into executive session please say aye aye any opposed please say no so we are now in executive session um is it that brings us to the end of our agenda councillor shannon i would ask for a motion to adjourn move to adjourn thank you councillor shannon seconded by councillor mcgee all those in favor of the motion to adjourn please say aye aye aye any opposed please say no we find ourselves adjourned at 11 22 keep in mind that our next meeting is monday november 20th thank you all have a good evening


Hi everyone, Joe for jaspyscasewrakes.com coming at you with 2019-2020 Upper deck allure hockey single-pack break number 31 and at the end of the video Giving away seven of those hip parade hockey spots, but first the break Thanks everyone here for taking the risk on this all 31 teams are in and Let's roll it and randomize it three and a two five times for names and teams one two three Four and five it'll be a different dice roll for the giveaway But first we got to do this pack break three or two five times for the teams one two three four And five fifth and final time We got canadian's down to the caps Chad no it has not there's a filler for if you look at the website. You'll see it. It's the first item in the The baseball section. All right, so there's the first part of the list right here And here's the second part of the list right over here Let's just print rip. It's alphabetized by team and Chad there's also a schedule in the chat as well You'll be able to see exactly when that's gonna happen once that filler finally fills so keep Monitor that as well. All right, so there is the final printout right here hot off the presses Cody glass and an autograph nice rookie die-cut auto rim pitlick for Nashville That's Daniel catch with the Preds 267 out of 349 Not bad. We got a Brock Besser right here as well and there you go quick little pack break But the whole point of this is not really the pack But although we've got autograph is nice But given away those seven spots, let's grab everybody's names again new dice new list and it's gonna be the top seven after Seven good luck One two three four five Six and seventh and final time now from eight on down Sad times But I appreciate everybody giving this ago Thank you Good news silver lining is there is another opportunity. There's another pack We got to do before we unlock that break. So if you want to give it another shot Jasky's case breaks calm We'll get him next time Top seven is very happy happy time for them because they're in the break Karen Ryan Tony Robert Kevin Stephen K and Sean M You're in that hip-rated dual case break. We'll see you for the we're soon for that hopefully a little later tonight Jasky's case breaks calm


What's the word y'all welcome back to the call game recap We are just a few days away from the official called game show launching on this channel So do not be surprised when this channel is rebranded from Kenny for real to call games a project We're working on for a long time. We'll talk about that later because we had a lot of basketball today I love these days where the game started off very early We can just sit down and just watch hoops all day long and well though We didn't have a lot of like super incredible super great games I do have a lot to talk about be sure to leave a like subscribe if you are new I had a hard time trying to figure out if the top of this show should we should be talking about the trailblazers? Or should we talk about the Washington Wizards? We will get to both But I think everyone start off with the Portland trailblazers because well, they are struggling They lose tonight to the Memphis Grizzlies who I got to give a lot of love to I've mentioned There's plenty of times with to be on this channel or any of my other channels with my podcast I'm a big fan of what the Memphis Grizzlies are building over there. I mean, it's good to see Jaren Jackson back I know he didn't play tonight But good to see him back on the court the other day putting up 20 points and that one Jamma rant has been shooting 52% from three this month, which is insane If he can somehow obviously he's not gonna shoot He's not gonna shoot 52 for an entire season But if he becomes a a respectable three-point shooter, oh the league is in a lot of trouble Just one of the deepest teams in the league Jonas Valentino suit super crazy good game for him as well And well, let's now transition to the Portland trailblazers Go win for the Memphis Grizz a big one for their playoff hopes their playoff chances But a bad loss for the Portland trailblazers, man They are they are really in a hole right now as in the last 10 games They are two and eight and currently on a five game losing streak It's hard to watch this game today And I think about Damian Lillard playing through some injuries and is at the point now Because he's in this slump since he's come back from his injuries probably better off that he sits the next couple games out To get completely healthy or get closer to completely healthy because out there. He's just not the Damian Lillard We know I did a video on the main channel I was ranking NBA teams and how fun and how enjoyable they are Well, the reason why the Portland trailblazers were relatively high on that list is because of Damian Lillard now Damian Lillard It's not the Damian Lillard from first half of the season There's no reason to watch this team because they are super underwhelming going into the season I was so high on them because they made the trade for Robert Covington I'm like man Robert Covington could really help them out Dear Jones Jr. was a great defensive player for the Miami Heat and the one thing that they really lack was his wing depth His wing defense especially since Moe Harkless and Alfred Camino were gone. So they added these two players I'm like, yes now Damian CJ can do what they do. They have reliable defenders. You some knurkets will be back And hopefully he's healthy for a complete season and they have been extremely underwhelming I understand a part of this is because CJ missed a bulk of the season but even since CJ has been back when they've been back and I guess if you're really paying attention to the events analytics and things you can you could have saw this coming Because even when they were 10 games over 500 I remember looking because we were doing the show and they had a negative plus minus or negative net rating And the reason they were winning a lot of those games is because Damian Lillard had been so incredible in the currents time They were just not losing close games Well that has changed and they're starting to lose close games and now they're back to earth the team that they were Projected to be even when they were really good and you gotta really think about some of the moves The team has made recently Norma Powell, of course, Norma Powell is a good NBA player I am not disputing that but his fit alongside CJ and Damian Lillard is a bit iffy You're starting three players that are 6-3 and smaller and though Norman Powell is not a terrible defender He's 6-3 playing a small forward position This is a team not thought was gonna be better defensively and they've been one of the worst offensive teams in the entire The entire league it doesn't help that Carmelo Anthony is coming off the bench And this is no mellow slander, but we know in his old age He's not a good defender They brought in Ronnie Hollis-Jefferson to play a couple minutes because they just need defenders and he just can't do that They're back up center. It's been a negative on defense his entire career They just can't defend anything Damian Lillard is not the MVP player He had been the entire season because he's coming back from an injury and those are recipes for disaster I haven't even got to the coach Today was so weird and I know they're the bulk of of Portland Trailblazer fandom is very pro fire Terry Stotz And I understand it, but I'm not deep into what the trailblazers are doing every day Of course, I watch games, but I'm not analyzing every single game Especially when there's four on at the same time, but I completely understand it today when I was watching this Memphis Grizzly game There's a situation when they had to end bound the ball They have two timeouts late in this game and it is a closed game They had low key starting to make a little bit of comeback the Grizzlies were kind of Blowing a lead like they kind of did the last a couple games in the last couple weeks So they're starting to do this little comeback from the trailblazers Norman Powell hits a shot they get the ball back They need to get the ball in and with two timeouts left in the late game situation that is close Terry Stotz allows his player who was inbound in the ball to turn the ball over when he's getting close to the five-second count instead of using a timeout I Honestly Couldn't believe it and I was waiting for the post game interview for somebody to ask him the question and and from what I saw Nobody asked him the question.  I don't know and and when I do watch his his post game interviews. It just feels like This is a this is a coach whose job has been secure strictly based off his star player loving him The only reason Terry Stotz has a job right now in 2021 is because Damien Lillard a couple years ago was like no we ride him with Terry And how are you gonna tell your superstar player your MVP caliber player? They were firing his coach the coach that he loved so dearly I think the Damien Lillard needs to come to the realization that yeah We've hit a ceiling with the way this team has performed and with this guy as our coach and And if things continue to go like this because if we take a look at the standings well think they're they're falling Dramatically, they were the fourth seed not too long ago. They are down to the seventh seed They're in the play-in at the moment and if they go or they don't make the playoffs or then the playoffs They get destroyed by the one see yada yada yada They have to come to the realization that Terry Stotz is not the guy and they may have to come to a deeper Realization that maybe the backcourt of CJ and Dame has reached the ceiling the conference finals run for a few years ago Might have been the ceiling of this team because there are things wrong with it Now I could see them going into the offseason be like hey We're firing Terry We're gonna run it back with the same roster and then we'll decide whether we make some roster changes But the idea of trading CJ for for a wing just makes the most sense for a lot of teams or for a lot of people And I'm in that camp too You know I'm saying it is it is hard to be a successful NBA team when you have a small backcourt It just is it just is so I'm super curious about with their future holds I want to take a look at the rest of their schedule because right now like I mentioned there the seventh See that there's some teams beneath them. That's creeping on up. They got the Indiana Pacers the Memphis Grizzlies again Oh my god, how many times they gonna play against the Grizzlies um Brooklyn Boston Atlanta than Cleveland They have a tough stretch now Of course Damien Lillard can turn it on if he's back healthy and win a bunch of these games But it feels unlikely because when I watched them the boys play today He was really really out there struggling again shout to Memphis Grizzlies big time went for them They're three games over 500 and they are I'm excited to see how they play in the playoffs man As of right now, they are the eight seed against the little play in but these last couple positions for the Western Conference I'm pretty sure the Western Conference playoffs are set. These are the 10 teams You're gonna get it's just about the seeding right now because the Lakers are just a game and a half over the Mavericks, which is crazy But LeBron will come back eventually and then the 7 through 10 are all within two games And as I'm recording this video the Warriors just officially won a game So maybe the stands a little bit differently, but those last couple plays Really matter because at the current state of the trailblazers They only have to win one game to secure their spot in the playoffs But if they drop a little bit more they have to get to two wins and two wins is super hard on the win now Situation so I'm curious to how things work and hopefully by the playoffs They've been losing completely healthy then everything I'm sending this video don't really matter Let's transition to the next game And I know I will get to everything I talked about or I watched today But I need to talk about the Washington Wizards because they are the hottest team of basketball right now Or one of the hottest teams of basketball because the Knicks are still going They're in a game win streak the Knicks are on the nine and they win another game with the Cleveland Cavaliers before I talk about the Wizards Let me give my roses to the Cleveland Cavaliers Because their backcourt has been really good recently. There was no there's no college sexes So there's a lot of there's garland play and in this month There is garland shooting like 50% from the field 50% from three and he's averaging like 24 points per game It is crazy how much he has improved from year number one year number two and somebody on Twitter put this in perspective for me And this is why I love everybody on Twitter that be replying to my tweets because y'all be having Observations that I don't even really think about the man play just a handful of college basketball games It was less than five from not mistaken. There's no summer league play for him He just get thrown into the NBA and he's bad and in all my podcast we talked about it a bunch last season He was the worst defensive player in the league according to advanced analytics and it doesn't help that he's super small Right that the worst defensive backcourt in the entire NBA this season things have changed dramatically and a lot of that's probably Do because of the timetable. He's finally healthy for the first time in his career And that's something I didn't really think about when I'm watching this team play He has been amazing and I think it was coach JB bicker staff that was like bro You're good at shooting threes Darius shoot him more And this year he's getting to the basket way more than it did last year He's actually shooting less threes this year than he was last year even though he's way more efficient this year I understand what JB is saying shoot those threes a little bit more because he had a bunch of big-time shots in this game Now he did show his age late into it and that's probably why they lost He had a couple crucial turnovers bad shots here and there but overall There is Garland's game when it comes to transitioning from year one to year two He's got to be one of the most improved rookie to sophomore players in this entire draft for sure So shout to them. I'm still a bit concerned about their size when it comes to three years down in line with Colin section The Dearest Garland are both really great. They could they could be the same thing the Portland Trailblazers are right now We're like, yes, these two these two guards are amazing and they play well together But it's probably a ceiling with these guys in your front in your backcourt because they are so small But they are counteracting that with good defensive players outside of that Jared Allen had an amazing game. Only thing is He's super young. He's got to get better at recognizing things that are Around him that's not just going straight up and ducking the ball You know what I'm saying? Sometimes he gets the ball and he's trying to figure out what to do when he takes so long It's a turnover or he telegraphs his passes a turnover, but he's got a lot of time and of course He's a great defensive player and um and okoro projects to be very very good He's already good now There's a lot of possesses in this game where he switched on the Russell Westbrook and he prevented Russell Westbrook from getting to the Basket, so he's already a good defender and that's a lot of Cavaliers love and the other day in the video I was wearing my sex land shirt. So y'all know I'm watching these games But we do have to talk about the Washington Wizards this season now I saw I heard the statistic on on the mismatch with Kevin O'Connor and Chris Verna shout out to the homies Can I count them as homies? I don't know But they both follow me on Twitter. So technically, yeah, they're homies They were talking about the watch the Wizards and they're up and down season because you do not remember early in the season They're ass Bradley bill is on the bench. She's showing bad body language. He's on the bench She's he couldn't believe that he's on his team and I'm I'm here talking about Bradley bill free yourself free yourself My guy things have changed dramatically and and right now they're in a game win streak And a part of that is because they have the easier schedule in the league But you also still have to win those games. They don't matter who you're going against It's a little NBA roster at the end of the day We just saw the Milwaukee Bucks almost pretty much fully healthy lose to a tray young list Atlanta Hawks The NBA is silly NBA and though you have an easy schedule you still have to put together those wins So I'm listening to the mismatch And I talk about how for the first half of the season before the trade that line the Washington was just one of the worst Defensive teams in the league. I think they were 26 27th since the trade that line. They are second Do you hear that? They are second in the league defensively Who what a thought a team that is playing Davis Bertin's heavy minutes a second They're starting raw NATO in the backcourt because they just don't have enough bodies. They are second What is the determinant factor? It is Daniel Gafford now He doesn't get all the love for this because Russell Westwood Bradley bill I decided to turn it up to but Daniel Gafford at the center position has been Dramatically like when they lost Thomas Bryant a lot of things were lost You know what I'm saying because then you were lying or Robin Lopez you signed Alex Lane Yeah, like you're missing a lot when you lose Thomas Bryant and they make the trade at the trade that line Every Bulls fan that watched Daniel Gafford for the first year and a half of his career Knew that Daniel Gafford was going to be a good NBA player. The only problem is in Chicago He was never going to be given the full lease or the he was gonna he was on a leash He was on a very short lease and the way he plays a game of basketball He's very dependent on his point guard being able to throw him lobs He is very dependent on his point guards to find him on the roll. He's playing a Russell Westwood now Russell Westwood got Stephen Adams paid set a hard screen Play some defense and you're gonna get paid if you're playing a Russell Westbrook and it's Daniel Gafford Now I'm not giving all of Daniel Gafford success to Russell Westbrook because he does still have to set the hard screens He does have to give all the energy that he always does But Russell Westbrook dramatically makes the Daniel Gafford that we saw in spurts in Chicago is being on full display With the Washington Wizards and they're winning a bunch of games I've been seeing a lot of people try to think about the long-term future for the Washington Wizards because they can't trade Any draft picks they got Russell Westbrook as contract. They got Bradley Beale here They don't have a ton of young pieces other than Daniel Gafford And then of course, we're really high she bore when he's back from his injury. I don't really want to project about their future I just think that the fans should be excited about them being a playoff team They're the 10 C right now and honestly, I think the bulls added as race The Raptors may not be out of it They're finally starting to get a little bit healthy But it feels like the watch the Wizards with their scouts are going forward We'll probably be guaranteed the 10 seed is a 10 seed enough for them to end up in the actual playoffs I don't really know but it'll be hard to bet against Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beale in a one game elimination situation So we'll see how they go. So it's out to the for them. It's out to them for continuing to go The Bucks lost the game against the Trey Youngless Atlanta Hawks I don't know what to make about the Bucks this season I know this is a back-to-back game where they had to fly into Atlanta I completely understand that sometimes you get those scheduled losses But even then losing to the Hawks without Trey Young is not it's not great I don't know what to make of them. You know I'm saying because I understand that this team is is a contender type team I don't know if I trust them to be that, you know, I'm saying maybe they're in my mind They might be a pretender and it's not because of this game I don't want people taking this out of context, but this is this entire season They they still haven't figured it out and a lot of that's probably coach But I don't know how you have as many great defensive players that they have on this team And they still allow boat allow bogey to just go out there destroy Still allow Lou Williams to turn up in a fourth quarter fourth quarter Lou They have too many great defenders for things like that to happen as often as it does So given love to Atlanta Hawks I mean Nate McMillan when you when you talk about coaches and their imprint on teams This is insane like that's one of the biggest questions How much the coaching really matter when you look at a team like the Atlanta Hawks It matters a lot because this is not a game that that Lloyd Pierce wins It's just not it's not a game Lloyd Pierce wins bogey goes insane Lou Williams didn't score until the fourth quarter where he put a 15 and they win the game. It's just a beautiful thing. I'm looking at the mix. I'm looking at the Wizards I'm looking at the Atlanta Hawks I'm looking at all these teams that are having runs or playing very good right now as a Bulls fan Everybody else is great and we're just sitting there like what's this the squint were mean when he's looking out the window That's how I feel right now I'm watching the rest of the league Next we have the the Charlotte Hornets win in the game against the Celtics I knew the first two minutes into this game that the Hornets were taking this game The body language from the cap the Celtics were terrible from the very first couple possesses I think it was Jason Tatum who turned the ball over on like the first minute or so And it was just like dad in the water from that moment on but shout out to the Charlotte Hornets for making as many shots as they did I love to see Miles Bridges mic'd up because he's becoming one of my favorite role players in the entire league Terrell's year I've given them a lot of roses so far this season the this team is really good man I can't wait to they're completely healthy because I don't think people want to see them in a seven-game series I wouldn't expect them to get out of the first round But they're not gonna lose in four like a lower C typically does in the playoff series So set out to them. I don't know what to say about the next versus sons I watch this entire game I don't have a single thing to take away other than Stephen Curry Oh, no, we'll talk about Steph Curry other than Kyrie Irvin is great and Kevin Arrant is Unguardable what else can I say about that game? And then lastly we have the Warriors versus the Kings I waited for the end of this game to record this video So that's my boy Reese for the big-time game, but he healed from with the bag Literally when they had a possession where Steph Curry turned the ball over on the double team He's need of the basket the win the game and he missed it Steph Curry missing three free throws and why he's shooting 90% for his career is kind of weird But he did there's a lot of times I'm watching the Warriors play and it just feels like Steph Curry and a bunch of like And I guess that's what this team is Just a lot of possesses bro set out to Dreymon. I think he had it like a 19 assist game They're the night he backs it up with an 8.13 assists 14 rebound game and Kelly Ubrace been a lot better recently than compared to the beginning of the season Still love wants to Scott. Oh Anderson the energy that he gives and that is all the gay is for today Yeah, it was great. It was it was good. It was a good slate of games. Have we been talking for 17 minutes? It's the longest recap video ever, but I guess I had a lot to talk about Call game Wednesday, I don't know exactly what time I've meeting in the morning to determine the time But I'm a super excited for y'all to see this. I just hope that y'all enjoy it I think I'm gonna do a Q&A on like twitch on Twitter and sort of bunch of questions I know I've been very vague about what this project is and to answer this simple question It is an interview based show where I'm having NBA players and people in the media and yada yada on the show Just talk about hoops talk about players careers But even deeper than that, I don't know what this show looks like in a month You know what I'm saying like I I want to continue to evolve the show as I learn how to interview and how I learn How to talk to new people that makes sense So episode one is a banger I tell you that was episode one was a banger and I'm excited for y'all to see that We actually dropping a teaser tomorrow so follow the call game on Twitter. That's pretty much it I'll see y'all some call game. I can't believe this went 18 minutes


When is suicide the only option? Never. Suicide is never the only option. No matter how dark, no matter how bleak, no matter how far, no matter how frustrating, no matter how much it seems that the future will never be good. Suicide will never, ever be the only option. Suicide is rarely discussed but unfortunately in today's world news of people commuting suicide is a regular occurrence. My experience with suicide is one I want to share with you today. Have I ever contemplated suicide? No. Have I ever had a close encounter? Yes. I was having a conversation with a dear friend and we discussed the struggle with suicidal thoughts. My friend mentioned that he was having dark thoughts and dark moments and things were just not going the way expected. And sometimes in 2019, as he was driving on Todd Mainland Bridge, a thought came to him that driving straight into the lagoon would end the hot, the struggle and the pain. But the thoughts of his family, his children and people that loved him came to mind and decided that he would keep fighting this battle knowing that the future will be bright. Today he is in a better part and things are gradually falling in place. We sat down and had a long conversation about this thing called suicide and how it can creep in on people, even people that we see as strong and courageous. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. When the thoughts drag you in, socks you in, you lose focus of how good the past was, how the future is just around the corner. The thoughts drag you down and make you lose focus of the door handle, the door that opens to the light. Forget that all you have to do is stretch further. The thoughts keep you in your present state of mind, the present state of mind that is difficult and dark. Forgetting that is only a phase, it will surely pass. If only we can find strength, close our eyes and reach a little further. Grab hold of the door handle and pull it down, open the door and behold the light. Doing the dark thoughts of suicide, one must remember one's loved ones. You must remember that nothing is permanent in this world so nothing bad lasts forever and nothing good also lasts forever. Obstacles are part of the journey. We must look out for them. We must remember that this is something that can creep up on anyone and distract you from your focus. Suicide also hurts those we love the most. Years after a loved one has committed suicide, the family left behind finds it difficult to heal and there is always no closure for them. If anyone is going through this process, I will advise that you reach out to someone that you love or someone you can talk to. A professional can even help you. Please know that you are not alone and you can reach the Lego State Suicide Helpline. Remember, suicide is never the only option. I take conversations around suicide very personally and that's because I almost committed suicide in 2013 and usually when I talk about it, I am invited to speak about suicide. I like to dwell on the solution. I want to point out two things that I feel can help somebody escape suicide thoughts. The first thing there is that the person should have a great vision. Let me talk about this.  Because they are so caught up in the present frustration that they cannot see a future. So they don't see a future playing out for them so they say, nothing is there for me, so let me just die. But this is what vision does for you. Vision keeps your focus in the future. So for instance, I want to have a vision of becoming Nigeria's president. You mean? Of becoming Nigeria's president and I believe that God has called me to transform Nigeria. That is the vision. When I pass through economic frustration or maybe I'm heartbroken or I'm jobless, my much joblessness being broke or being heartbroken to the vision or the grand vision of becoming a president, I will see that that present frustration is not enough to jeopardize the future I have. So that is the first thing. The second thing is for people to cultivate a selfless thought pattern. Most people who commit suicide are very selfish in their thought pattern. It's about them. Me, me. I'm broken. I don't have this. When you think about other people, family, friends, protigies, mentors and other tendency to commit suicide below. And I think adding to your solutions, I'm looking at one thing that listen, every human being needs we draw strength from two ways. One is internal strength and the one is from the outside. Now the internal strength to me comes in two ways. There's a personal one that comes from experience like the vision you have and everything and the second one is the spiritual. Spiritual in the sense that you are, a lot of people will not even contemplate suicide because they feel how can you take a life? It's impossible. So their brain is shut down against it. Now that's from the inside, from the outside as a family. We were not created to live alone. Whether you are married or not, you are created to be in a society, have a group of people, not gossip friends, but group of people that you can rely on. There were times in my life where I got so broke. But one thing, I always look when I say, one thing that helped me on was that if anything happened, pata pata, no fihola, I'll just go back home. I'll wait for you. That's what's because anything, I'll just go back home, go to my parents. If I stay there three years, I know I'll bounce back. If we shall lie the same way, we shall lie the same way. I found that so funny. But I think that this topic is probably more suited for my son who is a mental health practitioner. But I think for my little experience, I've had loved ones, cousins, relatives who have taken their life from suicide. So it's an area that really it's very deep. I mean, I always say that when I even look at the methods that they used to commit suicide, somebody hangs themselves and I'm thinking that person must be so brave. It's just supposed to show you that sometimes the people are just at the end of the road and the only thing they want to do is go out in like a blaze of smoke really for somebody to do those kinds of things. But also I think the health when there's a lot of family support, like Kairi said that he can actually go back home. So basically Kairi is not at the end of the road yet. But you said something and you mentioned that. They don't even they don't see any option. And it's something because they've been conditioned as well. Okay. But you mentioned that you have family close family that have gone out to suicide. And I want to ask because I don't have somebody so close that has actually gone out like that. What is the healing process like after that? For the people left behind after the process? How do they find closure? How do they heal and move on? It's the most difficult. I think this is one of the things that should be sold to people who are suffering from depression. The people you live behind. Because I remember an episode that happened to me a few years ago a cousin of mine lost a daughter through suicide. And I remember going through the entire ceremony and the funeral and I know how mum was really struggling for answers. Really struggling to say why. The pain that it leaves behind I think survivors of suicide victims should be made to talk a bit more more about the pain. Especially in a Nigerian society where people always kind of push everything to the back. Honestly, we really need to talk about suicide more. And of course I think we're still going to look at this topic and we're probably going to look at it from another angle. Maybe the people left behind after suicide. I think that's something we really should consider. It is. It's important. We'll continue to discuss suicide at least at another date. Social media feedback. Estim viewer, your contributions are integral to this program. Please keep sharing your thoughts on everything we discuss here. On the previous advocacy on the need for boys learning to cook. Otolonewi says you are right. Boy needs to cook. Not only women. I myself also cook even more than my wife. I love cooking and it started from when my mother was alive. Beautiful. Emu Owobete says I love the atmosphere of patriotism in today's show. It only depicts the strong desire to continue fighting for a better Nigeria. Follow us on our social media platforms. On Facebook plus TV Africa. Hashtag the advocate NG or on Twitter and Instagram at plus TV Africa. Hashtag the advocate NG. To catch up with previous broadcasts go to plus TV Africa.com forward slash the advocate NG. Shalakuti is up next after the break.