Thank you, Henry Fowler, Elm Laird, distinguished guest. Welcome to the White House complex. For many of you, the White House is an old stamping ground, so this is really welcome back. It's not often I could just about form a new cabinet from people who are with me here in this room. This year we mark 42 years of general peace in the world, and that doesn't mean there has been conflicts in that time. Obviously, there have been, but it does mean that for 42 years mankind has not seen the likes of the world wars that in the first half of this century twice tore civilization apart. This peace has not come without sacrifice. Many Americans have fought and some have died to maintain it, and it has not come without resolve. It's come because America has been willing to shoulder the responsibilities of leadership. No one understands better than you here today that, like it or not, we are the leader of the free world, and that is not a role we ask for. It's a role that was thrust upon us by history and by the hopes of those who aspire to freedom throughout the world. It's said that geography is destiny, but let me say that destiny is much more than that.  We can ignore, but we cannot escape this basic truth. And any retreat from our responsibilities endangers both our national ideals and our national interests. All Americans can agree on the fundamental objectives of our foreign policy. We want to promote democracy because it's right and because democratic governments are less likely to become involved in wars of aggression. We want a growing world economy where free enterprise works because that's the kind of world in which men and women will live the best and most materially, and I would submit spiritually decent lives. And we want to work with our friends and allies to prevent regional conflicts and enhance the security of friendly nations. These goals have something to do with, or have to do, I should say, with something that's more enduring than day-to-day headlines or the narrow special-interest politics that too often dominate Washington's agenda. It has to do with something we call the national interest, which is something every American has a stake in. Yet in the last few years, every old and worn excuse for not giving adequate financial support for these goals has received a new and more sympathetic hearing on Capitol Hill. You know the excuses we can't afford foreign aid anymore, or we're wasting money pouring it into these poor countries, or we can't buy friends. Other countries just take the money and dislike us for giving it. Well, all these excuses are just that, excuses, and they're dead wrong. Give away too much money without return? The truth is that now and historically we spent very little on foreign affairs in terms of the overall budget of our government. The late 40s and early 50s during the time of the Marshall Plan, we spent eleven cents of every federal dollar on foreign affairs. That figure has dropped to four cents on the dollar by 20 years ago and has continued to fall until in recent years we've been spending less than two cents of each dollar to support our foreign policy. And that's money that gets a big return. Is there anyone who believes that we in America would live in as good a world and be as secure if we could turn back the clock and undo the Marshall Plan? Today our economic development aid goes to those same countries in the developing world that provide some 35% of the market for our merchandise exports. More than the total volume of U.S. goods purchased by Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and China all put together. And for every billion dollars we export, we support 26,000 jobs for Americans. Just as important, Latin America, for example, will be as pivotal to our peace and prosperity in the next century as Europe is in this. If we ignore it now, we'll pay the price later. So what about the charge that we waste our money trying to buy friends? Well, the truth is that the money we spend on security assistance means our allies around the world can join us in defending not only their security but ours. What they can do because of our assistance, we don't have to do. And we should never forget that we aren't buying friends. We're helping friends. We're helping them open the roads of enterprise and opportunity for their own people, helping them build their own institutions of pluralism and democracy, and helping them defend themselves against externally sponsored pressures and subversion. And anyone who doubts how the peoples of Central America, for example, feel about this should have been here at the White House last week when El Salvador's President Duarte, on behalf of his nation's people, stepped down from that reception platform over on the lawn and walked across the lawn to the color guard and kissed and saluted the American flag. Or maybe they should have been in Managua with our former UN ambassador, Gene Kirkpatrick, last week when cheering crowds greeted her. And as one of them said, we want what she wants for Nicaragua. And that's what I want, too, democracy, true, full, and real democracy. In the last few weeks, the Congress has been cutting foreign affairs funding to where it damages our nation's interest and security. We've already had to severely cut back economic and military support relationships with allies and friends who are very important to our security. And this is happening even as spending on many domestic programs is going up. For example, the entire federal budget increased by almost 2% in 1987. By contrast, foreign aid was reduced by 29% in 1986 and another 11% in 1987. Congress throws money at its own priorities, but ignores the priorities and the commitments this nation has to help build our national security. When it comes to special interests, too often, Congress is like Adu-Ani in Oklahoma. It can't say no. For the budget year beginning this October, I submitted a rock bottom request that would still allow us to undo some of the harm caused by cuts in previous years and return to a level of funding that will not put our security at risk. But now the Congress is cutting again and the amounts approved by the committees in both the House and the Senate are being considered by the Defense Authorization Conference are more than 15% below what we requested as the minimum amount necessary to do the job. In fact, as it stands now, the foreign affairs part of the budget is one of the few that has decreased. All the others have increased. And just recently they did even more damage when the Senate attached 86 amendments to the State Department Authorization Bill. It's time for Congress to shove the special interests aside and return the national interest to the head of the class. So I've just stopped by today to thank all of you for what you're doing. If we can get this message out, I think it'll change some minds. It's not that the folks on Capitol Hill don't want to do the right thing. Most of them do, but they sometimes need a little encouraging. And as I've so often said, if you want them to see the light, make them feel the heat. I could go on with this and some of our things, but just to give you one set of figures over the last few years that might interest you. For every dollar of defense spending that they have cut, they have added $2 in spending to the domestic programs. And it comes out to about $125 billion cut from defense. $250 billion have been added to the domestic spending. So I think we're all on the same side on this particular issue. And I want to tell you, I feel much better as I now say thank you and God bless you and get back over to the Oval Office for what you're doing. Thank you.


Following the recent claims by the Department of State services of state services, people seeking interim government in the country, the Adho State Deputy Governor Shraib Philip has tasked the secret police to parade those involved within three days. Shraib shared his thought while playing host to the leadership of Niger Newt Council, explaining that such allegation is to be treated with kids' glove. that will be raising alarm over nothing. We are supposed to be seeing who they have arrested, paraded, and we are seeing that these people have been arrested for doing XYZ. Iteric government is treasonable. It's against the law. So, and if a security service will be the one raising alarm and there's no proof, then you know that they are collaborating with those who have stolen our mandate. We should not listen to them.


Hello again. This is Katnay with your weekly Python on Hardware News. Every week we put together the Python for Microcontrollers newsletter. It is available through AdafruitDaily.com. Head over there to sign up and see all of the past and current newsletters. Or tune in each week to hear what's going on. Adafruit is continuing to operate as an essential business under New York City Executive Order to provide assistance with the COVID-19 outbreak. Most employees are working remotely while a few are working in the Adafruit factory to help manufacture and ship desperately needed PPE to the surrounding area. This week Adafruit received a literal ton of plastic so the Adafruit team and teams around New York City can continue manufacturing face shields for the New York City area and beyond. Thank you to Novolex for the donation. Noah and Pedro have been 3D printing headbands for face shields and shipped a set to Adafruit where the team added the plastic shields and readied them for distribution. For more information and photos, check out the Adafruit blog and social media to find the latest updates. In the world of Python on Hardware News, Circuit Python 5.1.0 stable was released this week. It features MicroLab, a NumPy-like fast vector module that allows for performing mathematical operations 10 to 50 times as fast as Circuit Python alone, and F-strings, a more convenient way to build strings dynamically. These new features are enabled on nearly all the Circuit Python compatible boards except those with SAMD 21 microcontrollers. It also includes two new Circuit Python compatible boards and various bug fixes. Check out the blog for more details and visit circuitpython.org to download it. A group of Stanford University computer science instructors are coming together as an active community service to offer their teaching services free of charge for people who want to learn introductory coding in Python. The course runs from April 13th to May 22nd and is available to those with no programming experience and time to dedicate to learning. The student application deadline is April 8th. The learning experience called CS106A, Code in Place, will be an introductory programming course using the Python language, using material from the first half of Stanford University's established intro course. Code in Place requires no previous background in programming, just a willingness to work hard and a love for learning. Adafruit hardware is now being certified as open source. Adafruit is an open source hardware and software company. The open source hardware association provides a certification process, the results of which offer an easy and straightforward way to indicate that your hardware meets a standard for open source. To that end, we've been working on submitting certification applications for Adafruit hardware to Oshawa. We've submitted a significant number of applications and we're super excited to announce that the first approvals have been granted. This week, 15 new boards were certified, all circuitpython compatible microcontrollers. Check out the Oshawa certified projects directory for all the details. The CircuitBrains Deluxe by NullBite Labs LLC has gone live on crowd supply. CircuitBrains Deluxe is the smallest solder while Atmel-SAMD 51 cast-related module on the market at 29 millimeters by 29 millimeters. They've taken care of the tough work of pin mappings, power and decoupling layout, clock, flash, assembly, bootloader, and firmware. The core of CircuitBrains Deluxe is the Atmel-SAMD 51J19 Cortex M4 microcontroller and it ships with Circuitpython. Check out the campaign on crowd supply for more details. Sean Heimel shows how to build a temperature logger with the Adafruit Feather STM32F405 Express and the PCT2075 Stemma temperature sensor. Learn how to read data from analog sensors using an MCP3008 with a Raspberry Pi and the Adafruit Circuit Python library using Adafruit Blinka. Unlock four mysteries of the use of self in Python with a thorough post on Medium, including examples. Send emails using Python with a tutorial and accompanying YouTube video including using a secure connection and Python's built-in SMTP lib to send basic emails. Learn how to create a virtual on-screen keyboard using Python and TKinter. Drew posted slides from a presentation he gave on MeGen, Litex, and how Python is useful for chip design. Esden livestreamed how Litex, based on MeGen, lets you use the power of Python for FPGA design. Sophie designed a dodecahedron made of custom milled PCBs with 55 neopixel LEDs, all running Circuitpython. Create your own Godzilla monster light-up handwashing sign in this Instructables posted by Caitlin's dad. The tutorial includes multiple examples of easily adding LEDs to different types of projects. Meet Alice, a connect-controlled FPV mini-tech powered by Circuitpython on an Adafruit Feather. In the virtual RepRap Festival 2020, user Renny Tinkerdork prints 3D frames and embellishes them with electronics. This one uses a Feather M4, Datalogger Featherwing, and Dotstar and Neopixel LEDs. In his Friday fun blog post, Les P posts a series of free projects to do while you're at home, all from his Pi user section of Linux Format Magazine, including hacking Minecraft, creating GUI apps, and using Dropbox to share sensor data. RK blog posts a tutorial on thermal printers for makers and programmers, covering a number of different thermal printers and including a section on Circuitpython compatibility. Diode Magazine posts part one of a series on learning MicroPython on the MicroBit, learn the basics of MicroPython on the MicroBit, and how to create some cool electronic gadgets along the way. Createronix posted a tutorial on using MicroPython on the FireBeetle ESP32 microcontroller board. Learn how to connect and get data from an MLX90393 magnetometer with an Adafruit Feather M0 running Circuitpython on the Learn MicroPython website. Check out LearnMicroPython.com for that and many more examples. This week, one new board was added to Circuitpython. The SEED Studio shall. If you are interested in adding a new board to Circuitpython, check out the Adafruit Learn system for a series of guides on getting your board added to Circuitpython and Circuitpython.org. There were three new learn guides this week. First up, Melissa put together an epic guide on adding a single board computer to Blinka. Blinka allows you to use the Circuitpython libraries with various single board computers, but there are so many out there that not all of them are included. If your favorite one is missing, there is now a guide to walk you through how to get it added. Kevin documented a project demonstrating plotting the clues wide variety of onboard sensors and analog input pads using Circuitpython and DisplayIO. And John Park wrote up a guide including creating a no touch hand wash timer with Clue, DisplayIO, and Circuitpython. We added two new Circuitpython libraries to the bundle this week, BLE MIDI and IBBQ, bringing us to a total of 224 Circuitpython libraries. Head over to Circuitpython.org slash libraries to download the latest bundle. A couple of updates from the Circuitpython team this week. Jeff has made progress on protomatter and currently has it working on the NRF 52840. It is adapted to work with DisplayIO. He's still dealing with a memory issue that has been difficult to sort out but is making headway. Melissa published the aforementioned learn guide and then turned her attention to Circuitpython.org to add a few updates, including adding a date sorting feature so boards can be sorted by the date they were added. This allows you to find new boards more easily. The PyCon 2020 team announced planned talks, tutorials, posters, and much more available online. To participate, visit the PyCon US 2020 remote page and subscribe or subscribe to the PyCon US 2020 YouTube channel. They are aiming to begin releasing content around April 15th when the conference was scheduled to begin. And that is your Python hardware news for this week. Go to Adafruit daily to subscribe to the newsletter or tune in again next week.


By the time most of you see this video I'm guessing that Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin will have already killed voting rights legislation for a second time this month now They'll kill voting rights legislation, but simultaneously maintain that they definitely support voting rights legislation Is that so well? Let's let's see the way that Democrats tried to actually get them to go along with voting rights While maintaining the filibuster as much as possible So Democratic Party officials proposed meeting them halfway by specifically carving out an exception to the filibuster keeping it intact But just carving out an exception when it comes to voting rights Manchin and Sinema both rejected that So then Democratic Party leadership proposed keeping the filibuster entirely and letting Republicans block legislation But the catch is it returns to which are to its original form where you actually have to talk if you want to obstruct the Legislation guess what Manchin and Sinema objected to that as well, but yet they support voting rights legislation It's comical now to pour salt in the wounds Joe Manchin knows that he's aggravating people and he literally went out of his way to Taunt people who are angry with his unwillingness to support voting rights legislation He says I've been primaried my entire life. That would not be anything new for me Bring it on Manchin told reporters asked about some of his colleagues not ruling out supporting a primary opponent Quote the majority of my colleagues in the Democratic caucus have changed their minds. I respect that they have a right to change their minds I haven't I hope they respect that too. I've never changed my mind on the filibuster Manchin told reporters now first and foremost He's lying because on his own website he stated that he supports changing the filibuster sooner rather than later and Second of all for him to essentially taunt people by saying you know that there's nothing you can do You can try to primary me bring it on but you know I'm gonna win that and you know that I don't care because if I am successfully primaried I'll just go become a lobbyist He knows that there is nothing you can do and he's throwing that in your face. It's just truly Despicable and let me remind you that we're not even talking about getting rid of the filibuster We're just talking about reverting it back to its original form So he's getting what he wants technically but still he does not support that he doesn't support the talking filibuster But here's what he says about that Manchin told reporters that I love a talking filibuster But reiterated that he wouldn't support getting rid of the supermajority Requirements so he refuses to even entertain the idea of modifying the filibuster or reverting it back to its original form where you had to talk to obstruct the legislation it's truly absurd and Simultaneously, he's taunting people saying go ahead primary me. I dare you We'll see how that turns out either way. I win It's truly ridiculous and just to really show you how unreasonable he's being Amy Klobuchar of all people made a really solid point about the history of the filibuster and how it's been changed throughout time To make exceptions for certain pieces of legislation Here are some examples of how the cloture rule has changed over time in 1949 cloture was extended to cover all issues pending before the Senate not just bills in 1975 the vote threshold for cloture was reduced to three-fifth of all senators in 1979 total post cloture debate was limited to 100 hours And then it was limited again to 30 hours in 1986 and in the past decade the cloture rule has been further reduced for various kinds of nominees most recently By our Republican colleagues across the aisle. This isn't something from a hundred years ago This isn't something from before we had cars and people arriving here on horseback This just happened in addition to changes to the cloture rule itself The Senate has put in place exceptions to the rule in fact over time the Senate has established over 160 Processes in statute that allow a final vote with without requiring 60 votes for cloture to end debate in other words You get to a vote without the 60 votes as a result We have expedited preset procedures including get this Reconciliation to spend to pass spending and tax legislation the Congressional Review Act to block regulations Disapproval of arms sales, I guess someone decided that was okay to do for less than 60 votes Even approving compensation plans for commercial space accidents doesn't require 60 votes my friends, but while the 60 vote threshold was carved up 160 times so senators could pass things like tax cuts under President Trump block regulations and confirm supreme court Justices when it comes to voting rights We are told that traditions and comedy means that we should hug it tight this old rule Throw voters under the Senate desk and go home, and I hate to say it, but Amy Klobuchar is right Almost threw up saying that and look if somebody as milk toast and corporatist as Amy Klobuchar can make another Democrat Look unreasonable, then you know that that Democrat Joe Manchin is out of line. So he's not gonna much He's made that abundantly clear. He's not going to allow voting rights to pass period end of story It's not really about the filibuster. It is about voting rights. He supports voter suppression He supports the demise of democracy because Joe Manchin is not a Democrat Joe Manchin is a Republican He is as extreme as the voter suppression Republicans in states like Georgia He is as extreme as Mitch McConnell, but the only difference is that he has a D in front of his name So what do we do now? Well now it is incumbent on Joe Biden and Democratic Party leadership to break Joe Manchin And there is a plethora of things that they can do a plethora of different tools They can use to exert pressure on him as Nina Turner pointed out on Twitter Why is Joe Manchin still the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee time to stop playing games with these folks? Take his power Exactly disempower him because he's in that position which is beneficial to his corporate donors It's nice that he has this role. So if you take away his power Then what's that gonna do? That is going to threaten his position that is going to at least make him acknowledge that this is serious And maybe I should reconsider But you can do other things as Walker Braggman suggests take Manchin into a back room Tell him federal investigators are going to look into his daughter's price fixing Tell him the military bases are moving out of West Virginia. Tell him he's off his committees or he can play ball So there's also that or maybe Joe Biden uses his bully pulpit to exert pressure on Joe Manchin By calling on everyone throughout the country to protest in front of his offices and do not leave until Manchin supports voting rights There's that and also on top of that Maybe Biden tells Joe Manchin that he's gonna re-examine the position that he gave to Joe Manchin's wife Gail Maybe he finds someone else for that job.  I don't know I'm not advocating for violence, but that's what Amy Klobuchar has been known to do or a binder something I mean, there are different things that you can do to exert pressure on Joe Manchin now I Acknowledge that none of these strategies are guaranteed to work But the point is that now we know where Manchin stands unquestionably. He's not going to budge He is an obstacle to voting rights So now the onus is on Joe Biden the president of the United States to push to exert pressure No signaling that you're going to roll over and die no saying I don't know if we can get this done No, you are the president of the United States You will reassure people that you are going to get this done because not getting voting rights accomplished is not an option Because if we don't get this done democracy in the United States erodes even further and it's already hanging on by a threat So now it's on Joe Biden Actually fight actually step up and meet this moment and at a minimum accomplish voting rights But Joe Biden doesn't want to fight. He's kind of just given up I mean, there are things that he can do outside of voting rights to really improve the lives of the American people Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sonoma aren't keeping Joe Biden from cancelling student debt He can do that with a stroke of the pen But Joe Biden is choosing not to do that because he doesn't support it So really I think that more pressure has to be exerted on Joe Biden to then exert pressure on Joe Manchin But I think that Joe Biden likes that mansion in cinema are kind of his scapegoats Perhaps he doesn't feel as strongly about voting rights as he says he does I have no way of proving this but his actions indicate that he's not taking this seriously So there are a plethora of things that you can do a number of ways that you can exert pressure on Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sonoma If this doesn't get accomplished then at the end of the day. Yes, we blame Manchin and Sonoma But we also and more importantly mostly blame Joe Biden for not putting up a fight when it comes to one of the most important issues facing the American public democracy itself


Everybody forced here ripping a box of twenty one twenty two select basketball hobby for Matt K Thanks for the order Matt and good luck All right, we got silver concourse rookie down on a Banton God Chris Duarte to 25 tie-dye RPA. Very nice card. Good stuff there 25 a 25 Insert there Josh Primo Thompson premier level try color rookie James book night silver concourse Anthony Edwards Try color concourse Kyrie Irving blue premier level Mitchell Robinson Number 181 of 249 So he's got silver concourse rookie Jalen green was Moody rookie court side Kevin Durant artistic selections very nice short print card there. We go KD Those are probably rarer than what a case I would think JT Thor light blue rookie concourse number 181 of 299 really collated packs there Cara silver jersey card for the Pacers there not never game worn down the vet premier level silver LeBron James Try color concourse rookie James book night Sire Williams premier level Terrence Ross throwback jersey and scope concourse rookie Kai Jones That will do it appreciate the order Matt. We'll get it right out to you


Hey Gems welcome back to my channel so today I'll be sharing with you guys what I eat in a day while pregnant. If you've been a subscriber to my channel for a while you know I've done this with my past pregnancies and if you've watched my recent videos you know I'm currently pregnant again five months. So these are quick videos that I find that you know people enjoy so I'm going to share with you all what I eat today and I'm starting off with breakfast so for breakfast I have my tea in this cup and it's actually, what is it, elderberry, nettle, dandelion and alfalfa everything which are all great herbs to drink while pregnant, very nutritious, helps keep your immune system up, all that good stuff. So I'm starting with my tea and then I'm going to have my fruits. So I have my fruits, pear, apples, grapes, raspberries and blackberries. So I try to get all my fruits seeded, organic or at least local and now that I'm back in St. Croix I could find way more fruits than just papayas, mangoes and bananas which is all I ate when I was in Ghana. Well that's a stir for another day but I am happy to be able to get back in my berries and my apples and pears and just all the other local fruits like star fruits and all of that. So that's what I'm having for breakfast and I did cut up my grapes and take the seeds out because my one-year-old is also digging in my bowl. Yeah I'm going to have breakfast and then I'll be back to show you all what I'm having for lunch. Hey Gems, so I am now preparing my lunch which is going to be some mushroom kale wraps. My sister made me some wraps before she left and I just sauteed some kale, no not kale. I sauteed some mushrooms, onions and bell peppers and I did a kale salad and I'm just going to put it all together. So boy I didn't mix this in but this is my kale salad. It just has olive oil, lime, sea salt, some onion powder, some sumac and a little bit of tahini. I'm heating up my wraps that she made. These are homemade wraps made from spelt flour and then here is my saute mushrooms with onions and red bell pepper and then she also made this like homemade barbecue sauce. It looks not so appealing but it tastes good so I'm going to add that to my wrap as well and yeah that's about it. I'll show you all how it looks when I'm done putting it together. It's nothing fancy but it's going to taste good. So that's what I'm having for lunch and then I'll show you all what I'm having for dinner later which my dinner is pretty much already prepared so yeah you always see what that is later. Look how good that looks. Simple but tasty. So these are my wraps. So those are my wraps and listen my son is resting right now so I don't even know if he's going to get any of this.  So this is a gallon of chlorophyll. My father made it for me before he left and I'm not talking about the powder chlorophyll you buy. This is chlorophyll he makes from scratch island style with the guinea grass and tarragon and basil and just all that good stuff. So I'll be drinking this before it goes back because it does not last long it probably lasts about maybe two or three days what I'm going to do is pour out half of it and freeze half so that it lasts me like the entire week but I'll be drinking this today as well. So in between my meals I'll be drinking this and I don't sweeten it I make sure he doesn't sweeten it and I don't put any sweetener in it. The most I'll probably do is squeeze a lime in it and that's it. So this is a really good source of iron and you know iron is very very important during pregnancy so this is what I'm going to be drinking. Hey Gems so I didn't get to finish filming yesterday because life happened and I ended up not even eating dinner all I had was chlorophyll at the end of the day and that was it and I went to bed well I didn't even get to bed and it's sweet but I'm having what I was supposed to have for dinner last night for lunch today so I still wanted to show you all what I'm eating so I'm going to show you all I'm having I'm in the car so excuse all of that. I'm having a homey lasagna and a kiel salad this lasagna is made with chickpea lasagna shells veggie crumbles made from scratch using the spelt flour and turning it into the gluten seasoning it baking it grinding it all of that and then I use what do you call it brazil nut cheese and what else sauté kiel and organic tomatoes and all of that good stuff so yeah so this is what I'm having now for lunch that I was supposed to have for dinner last night but yeah this lasagna is so good it might not look as appetizing because it was in this container I'm on the road and I have to bring my lunch with me but it tastes so good so so so good so I'm probably not going to eat all I don't know I might because I didn't eat dinner last night I'm very hungry right now yeah that kind of wraps up this video I'm just getting back into this so y'all be patient with me my life is crazy right now as I'm still getting settled being that I just recently moved back so my videos might be spotty it might not belong whatever but I still want to share my journey and you know share with you how you can have unhealthy pregnancy because that's what it's all about it's about the babies so that's it for this video I hope you all enjoyed if you haven't already make sure you like comment and subscribe and you'll see me in my next one


The character creator we are looking at today, and totally ignoring the public poll that I set up, is the me creator on the Nintendo Switch because dang it, it's really good you guys, honest and I gotta talk about it. But first, this silence is deafening. Let's put in some of that classic me maker music. Yeah. Note that I will only be covering the Switch version of the me maker, as all of its incarnations are fairly similar, aside from maybe a few available selections, but otherwise I'm pretty sure the options available to you are more or less the same across all of the Nintendo consoles. So to start off with, we can not only create a new me, but we can also have the option to send or receive a me from someone else, I assume who also has a Nintendo Switch since it does not work on my 3DS, which is where I'm guessing this option comes from. You can save a me to an amiibo, presumably from a 3DS or Wii U, and use that same amiibo to copy that me over to your Switch if you have a me that you are particularly fond of and don't feel like recreating for some reason. Also a side note, if you're playing in handheld mode, this creator also has touch screen functionality, so that's pretty neat. Now here we have two different ways to start making a me, you can start from scratch with a character with pretty much the default options, or you can choose a look like, which is a sort of random button, a pretty good random button at that, since most of the time these me's will likely look like a me you'd find somebody else making, and never really pushing any of the options to a ludicrous degree a la dark souls and its freaks of nature. Speaking of, the me's are designed to be very minimalistic and exaggerated cartoony style that pretty much has not changed since their introduction all the way back on the Wii back in 2006. If you want to feel old, that's 13 years ago at the time of this video's production, so yeah. After selecting a preset, or choosing male or female, if you choose to go from scratch, you then have all of these face options with multiple submenus. Face is head shape, makeup and features, wrinkles and skin color. Then you have things like eyebrows, noses, eyes and other things where you have a selection to choose from, but also some additional adjustment sliders to change their size or color or rotation or height or position, all that good stuff. The preset colors are not to your liking, there is also a show more option that provides a slew of additional colors to choose from, and that goes for pretty much everything that can be colored. And in addition to that, you also have some minor accessories and characteristics like glasses and a single mole that you get to play with. Look at it go. You can also play with the Wii's body shape and size, and you can choose a favorite color of your Mi, which will determine their shirt color. This option does not have a show more colors option, unfortunately. Now it may seem like I'm eager to gush about this creator, but no creator is perfect, so let's go over the Mi Maker's flaws. Spoiler alert, it's gonna be a pretty short list, but we gotta get out of the way, so here we go. Firstly, regarding the face category, it feels like there should be some sort of option to adjust the head size in some way, like some sliders for height and width, even if it's just a handful of presets, like three or four. As some of these shapes may seem to perfectly fit if it weren't for the fact that they were just a smidge too wide or too tall, this is admittedly fairly subjective and might not be applicable since that might be the point, you know? This cartoony art style is slightly exaggerated and maybe they want to keep it consistent with the head shapes. What I feel is less subjective is the slight annoyance that the makeup and facial features are mutually exclusive from each other. Sure, there are combinations of makeup that you might like, but not every single combo is accounted for. If you want freckles, then you gotta say goodbye to your makeup. Same thing with the five o'clock shadow, you can't have both freckles and rosy cheeks and also a rough shave, I guess. Freckles is a similar deal. Perhaps there's a combination of wrinkles that you would like, but can't have because you essentially only get one slot for it and the combination you'd like might not be provided. Now here's kind of a weird thing for the adjustment sliders, like mouth and eyes and stuff. You have a height slider but not a width slider, which is really strange. I understand you can achieve the same effect as widening the specific characteristic by shortening it and then making it as a whole larger, but I feel maybe a dedicated width slider would be nice too, just for a little bit more control. Here's a nitpick. I feel as though the amount of favorite colors available is a tad too limited. They probably keep the selection this small for resource purposes, like if they wanted to implement me's into a game a la Smash Bros or Mario Kart, this makes sure they don't have to worry about too many colors to keep track of when designing costumes for the me's in those games, but still a minor gripe that I have. And lastly, in the Switch Me Maker, there's no music. Me Maker background tracks have always been one of the most iconic and relaxing things to listen to, and it's a darn shame. There's none for the Switch, and I think that's a travesty. You can fix this, Nintendo. It's never too late to release a patch or an update that gives us some sweet elevator action to relax to, and if that all sounds like I'm really trying hard to find negatives or that I'm nitpicking, that's because it is. And I am. If you can believe it, this thing is a fantastic character creator.  Basically everything above the neck of the me can be messed with. Heck, even things below the neck of the me can be messed with. Nothing is off limits, which is great for making each me unique from one another. And the options don't stop there. You not only have a lot to change, but a lot of things you can change them into.  Eyebrows! It extends to most of the other face options, too. You've got loads of noses. You've got loads of mouths. The facial hair is a little bit lacking, but you can combine a decent chunk. But I mean, come on. Look at these hairstyles. Four and a half pages. And one of them's a beanie. Just about every facial feature has additional adjustment options, which is always appreciated. Especially with how much control they give you. When you choose a nose, you're not just picking its shape. You're choosing its size. It's orientation to the face. Same goes for the eyes. Like a set that looks nice, but it's not tilted the way you like it? Tilt them as much as you want. And it's not just minuscule adjustments, either. They're fairly significant. And you can basically have these facial features floating off of the face if you would like. Even the hair has the option to mirror itself, which is something I never knew I wanted. It's a lot of control, and it's very, very cool. Minor praise, you can change both the height and weight of your me. Now, the much to say is just really nice that you can do that. Here's something the MeMaker does that's pretty great. Nothing. Not the facial hair, not the hair styles, not the makeup. None of the features. Nothing is gender locked.  Go nuts. Literally the only thing that's changed from male to female is whether or not you have a dress. Because of the MeMaker's crazy amount of control and little to no restrictions, believe it or not, it's surprisingly great at recreating stylized versions of people and iconic characters in media, which I think is thanks to its simplistic cartoony aesthetic, which I really like. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I think there's enough to mess with and so many ways to make your me that I don't think anyone's going to flat out hate it. No, it's no Xbox avatar or Black Desert Online, but there's a reason the MeMaker has not fundamentally changed since the Wii, nor do the Miis back in that era look any worse with age. The art style, regardless of its subjective preference, has held up tremendously well and is a strength more than anything else. And the nice bow that just ties this whole thing together is how pleasant the user interface is. Visually, sure, it's nothing special, but the layout is clean, straightforward, gridded out, and you can tell what you're selecting. It's really easy to work with. No need to fiddle with anything. You want something to happen in the menu. It happens. No hassle, no second thought. It's a quality of user interface that often goes unappreciated because when it's done right, it's unknowlessable. And guess what? The MeMaker has selectable preview, which is very, very important when you have so many options to compare with each other. Conclusion. The minor flaws in this creator are easy to overlook. It's something that almost anyone can pick up and understand how to use immediately. There's a massive selection of options and ways to play with set options to make pretty much anything you want. And it's all held together with a very nice, simple, appealing style that will age very well. This has been CharacterCreator Critique. Be sure to vote for which character creator you would like to see next. And I'll see you then.


Hello everyone. I am here with Representative Ro Khanna of California's 17th Congressional District. He's a Justice Democrat and he is also the National Campaign Co-Chair for Bernie Sanders 2020 Presidential Campaign. Congressman Khanna, thank you so much for coming on the program. Thank you. It's my second time and I appreciate you're having me back on. Well, thank you so much for reaching out. Let me just say something about you. Unlike pretty much every other politician and human being for that matter, when you are criticized, your first instinct is not to shut down. You always engage with people and you don't just talk to people who have very large platforms on social media and YouTube. Like you individually engage with people on Twitter who you don't know, who may not even be in your district. So I truly find that so commendable because most people do not do that. And of course what I'm referring to for viewers who don't know is the BDS vote that occurred on July 23rd. This is House Resolution 246. So first of all, thank you for your willingness to engage with people. I appreciate that. I know we're going to have some tough questions and I welcome that. But my view is it's a huge public trust to be a member of Congress. It's an extraordinary privilege and you should be open to criticism. You should be open to people pointing out your weaknesses. I don't think any human being has a monopoly on the truth and it makes me better and often makes me think of an issue differently. So I actually genuinely welcome criticism. As long as it's somewhat civil and not someone cursing out or being obnoxious, I think it's very helpful. Absolutely. I totally agree. And I think that the overall point that's important is that we are all on the same side and our allies in Congress, they're not going to do things that we always agree with 100% of the time. But when there are these disagreements, I think it's incredibly constructive to really hash them out. And basically even if we can't agree, at least understand where the individual is coming from. So just before we get into the BDS vote, I just want to get my audience caught up. This is the vote on July 23rd. This is House Resolution 246, where the House voted to condemn BDS. In that same day, the House passed 1837, which is another APAC endorsed resolution, which authorizes an additional $1 billion increase to Israel for five years over the next five years. That is, for the US War Reserve stockpile, it gives Donald Trump the ability to essentially unilaterally transfer over additional weapons to Israel. There's no stipulations when it comes to human rights. So there's that as well as the BDS vote. So my audience knows where I stand on this. So I just wanted you to be able to kind of give us your take and why you voted to condemn BDS. Sure. I'll answer the direct question on BDS, but first let me just put into broader context where I stand on the Israel-Palestine relationship. I have called for an end to any new settlement. I've been opposed to demolition of any villages and have written a number of letters calling for Israel to stop the demolition of villages, and I will be leaving another letter soon about that issue. And I have been for lifting the blockade in Gaza to allow for humanitarian aid and economic activity. I also have not supported any effort to penalize or criminalize BDS. So there are a number of laws and resolutions. I think Rubio had one and floating around in the Senate that would actually make it a crime or make it a penalty to do that. What I did vote for is a resolution that I disagreed with BDS as a tactic to get peace in the Middle East. And the reason I did that is one, I think it was it's overbroad to boycott the entire state of Israel. I mean, you're not even targeting settlements. You're targeting the entire state. And I, you know, just like I actually, I'm not for usually sanctions. I've been against sanctioning people in Venezuela. Why would, why would we publish collectively an entire country? I also think it's somewhat selective. Why do Israel and not the oppression of the Uyghurs in China, a million people who are being oppressed or Saudi Arabia, where there's huge oppression in the Yemen War. So I think there is absolutely suffering and abuses with the Palestinians. But I don't think that calls for the boycott of an entire country. And finally, I think culturally, I mean, when you walk under the House floor, the first statue you see overlooking the entire house is Moses, the lawmaker. And I just think that culturally recognizing the relationship with Israel and then moving them into a direction, a more progressive direction, a direction of human rights and direction of peace is a more effective strategy to get to the goal of a two straight solution and a Palestinian state. So let me ask you this, because I don't, I don't agree with what you said, but I can, I can understand your position. And I think that some of your points, you know, in terms of why single out Israel, I think that that is persuasive to a lot of people. But this is what I would like to know. If not BDS, you know, this is a Palestinian led peaceful movement. If not BDS, what can we do to put pressure on Israel to end this occupation, to actually get peace, to get them to recognize Palestinian human rights? Because it seems like BDS is really the one thing that has gotten the attention of US lawmakers of, you know, the Netanyahu government. So this seems like it can work. So I mean, if you're against BDS, what do you think we're able to do as US citizens as allies to the Palestinian people to stop the suffering, essentially? Well, I'm not sure it has worked. I mean, I would argue that Netanyahu has committed more abuses and been more destructive to peace than probably any other of his recent predecessors. And now partly I think the Trump administration has enabled that. But I don't think you can argue that the situation start with the BDS movement has led to a more peaceful outcome. Maybe one day it will. But certainly the facts on the ground don't suggest to me right now that it's achieved the end. I think what has achieved ends in the past has been when presidents, whether it was Dwight Eisenhower, going back to the crisis with the side I put in, Ronald Reagan or George Bush Sr., or Bill Clinton at all different times, they said that whether it was conditional loans or certain forms of United States assistance, they said, look, we reserve the right to suspend that. We reserve the right to block that if you don't comply with the framework that the United States has set forward. And if that's not a novel idea that something American presidents have done, going back as I said to Eisenhower, and so I would say that you need a president who will articulate a clear vision, stop the settlement growth, get to the peace table, lift the blockade and the demolitions, and be willing to leverage our extraordinary role there to get that done. Well, when it comes to the effectiveness of BDS, I think that you can argue that it has been effective in some ways and it hasn't been effective in others. But I think that what really is important about this is the Palestinian people, they modeled this after the apartheid boycott in South Africa. And even though that wasn't necessarily in and of itself the one thing, the one catalyst that ended apartheid, it was a crucial tool to ending oppression. So I just feel like when we are emphasizing peace, peaceful resistance, BDS is essentially the one tool that Palestinians have. So if we essentially take that away from them and we tell American allies that they also shouldn't participate in that and there may be penalties in the United States, then I just don't feel like there's much that we're leaving in terms of actually putting pressure on Israel who is the occupier and there's this imbalance of power. So it feels as if the situation is already hopeless, but when you remove BDS, when you have U.S. lawmakers voting to condemn it and in some instances criminalize it in multiple states, it just feels like we're in this never-ending hopeless situation where this will always be the status quo. Now, I don't think that you and I will see eye to eye when it comes to the issue of BDS, but there is one area where I think that we can kind of put our disagreements to rest and it was something that you said with regard to the criminalization. So individually, you disagree with BDS. However, you did state that you are against the criminalization of BDS, is that correct? The criminalization or civil fines, I'm against any statutory penalty for engaging in BDS. I have no desire nor do I think it's appropriate for the United States government to interfere with what any citizen wants to do in their protests. I just think as a lawmaker whose goal ultimately is to try to see a resolution, a peace in that area, that I may have a different perspective than a citizen in a different sense of where I think will be most effective for the peace process. People may disagree with me, but that's my personal opinion, but I certainly don't think I have the right or we have the right as a state to penalize people for engaging in protests. And I refuse, last term, I never cosponsored or supported the BDS bills that APEC was supporting that a number of many other of my colleagues if you go look at who all supported those bills, there were a lot of people who supported the penalty or criminalization of BDS. I never did. And that really, it does make a difference. We don't have to necessarily agree, but so long as you are using your power and platform as a lawmaker to not criminalize it, that is important. So let me ask you this. Since you are against the criminalization, can we count on your support for House Resolution 496? This is sponsored by Ilhan Omar, and this quote affirms that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. This is something that actually after Tulsi Gabbard and Ayanna Presley had voted with you to condemn BDS, they signed on to this bill. So can we count on you to do the same? I am not co-sponsored that bill for the simple reason that I think it's self-evident. I mean, I don't I don't know why we need to affirm the right that's constitutionally protected. I support the principle. I support. And what you can count on me on is that I will never in my public career vote to criminalize or penalize a boycott against any country, including our own. But I think that's a violation of the Constitution, and I think a law is redundant. I told that to Ilhan when she asked me about it. And it is like I agree with you, it is self-evident. And this really is something that we shouldn't have to do. We shouldn't have to affirm that U.S. citizens have the right to protest and engage in political activity that the government may or may not deem as inappropriate. But unfortunately, that's not the reality currently when we have 25 plus states that actually penalize people who don't sign these anti BDS Israeli loyalty pledges. I mean, there's a Texas school teacher who was fired and she's now suing because she was forced to either sign a loyalty pledge to Israel or lose her job. So I feel like at this day and age, when lawmakers are voting to condemn BDS, it really is important to affirm that support.  I'll take another look at the initial reason I haven't. And because other people have asked me, I just think it's a it's a constitutional principle. And I guess I don't see what, unless we're going to pass something, what the value, it's almost diminishing the constitutional protection. What I would be happy to do is sign on to an amicus brief for someone suing in one of these states. And if it's going to the Supreme Court to support someone's right to, to boycott, I'd be happy to support legislation that said that the states need to remove these restrictions. But to affirm a federal constitutional right, legislatively, I think is actually to, to diminish that right. It'd be like if someone said let's pass a statute to affirm Roe versus Wade. I mean, we wouldn't do that because it's a constitutional right. I mean, that's my that was my perspective on it. But but in terms of the commitment, it's a it's 100% there. And you can hold me to it where we're being recorded, that in the entire course of my public career, I will always stand up for people's right to boycott and, and the government shouldn't be ever penalized. But on one hand, you know, you voted to condemn BDS. But now it seems contradictory that you won't vote to affirm our right to engage in BDS. So do you kind of see why it seems as if there's this double standard? And again, I think that the fact that you're willing to say, I will not support the criminalization is important. That goes, you know, a long way. But to take it a step further and say, not only do I not condone the criminalization, but I affirm the right to protest. It just it may be symbolic, but I think that it would demonstrate to people that you're really committed to stopping any efforts to curtail freedom of speech. I hear that. I don't think a singular bill is the only way to do that. I think I can make the constitutional argument for that. And there'll be numerous cases. I've made that case. And if you talk to constituents in my own district that I said I would vigorously oppose any efforts in California to criminalize BDS and penalties. And I can be active in doing that in other states. I'm not I'm open to when I get back after recess to to looking at the bill when I but I am 100% committed to affirming the the right to a boycott more broadly. Well, thank you for being open. I really I do appreciate the fact that you're being open. And unlike other other lawmakers, when you say that you're open, I genuinely believe that you are open. So thank you. And I just really hope that you do consider that bill one more time. That is HR 496 sponsored by Ilhan Omar for viewers who don't know. I do want to move on because we have a limited amount of time. And I want to get to something that you did that I absolutely applaud. And really, this is historic. So after the house passed your resolution to end US complicity in Saudi Arabia's genocide in Yemen, this is what you said, quote, this is the first time in the history of this nation that a war powers resolution has passed the House and Senate and made it to the president's desk. And in an interview with San Jose inside when Nicholas Chan asked why Americans should care about something that seemingly doesn't affect them.  Your answer was two words, human rights. So here's what I want to ask you about that because ultimately, everyone knows that that was vetoed by Donald Trump. But still, the fact that you got that passed was a tremendous almost legendary feat. So what was it that got Republicans on board? I'm asking in terms of argument sake, was the human rights argument what resonated with them? What tactic did you use? Because I think going forward, I want to use this strategy to get Republicans and even more centrist Democrats on board with other proposals that are I think common sense, but apparently not everyone agrees. Donald Trump, especially. But what was it that got them to budge on that? Because it seemed like there was no hope. I think it's the most consequential thing I have done in Congress. And I, of course, I worked with Senator Bernie Sanders on it. And it would never have happened if up for his leadership in the Senate. We passed the war powers resolution the first time in the history of this country since 1973 that a war powers resolution has passed. And even though Donald Trump vetoed it, he voluntarily suspended the refueling of Saudi planes and Mattis, the Secretary of Defense at the time, called the Saudis and said, you better get to the peace table. And if you talk to Special Envoy Griffiths, he'll tell you that that's in part what led to the peace deal in Hodeidah. Now, there's still a long way to go, but I'm convinced that the passing of that war powers resolution had a major impact by stopping our refueling and leading the pressure on the Saudis to come to the table. Now, the UAE has withdrawn from the conflict. And it's also said a precedent that in the future Congress may act when it comes to asserting our constitutional rights. We're not going to allow a situation like Libya to happen again where a president just goes into war without congressional authorization. Or we can name a lot of these instances and now Congress has a much greater authority on war powers. I think there's an emerging consensus that even Republicans have about Congress having the constitutional authority to opine matters of war and peace and that that should not be an executive decision. There's also an emerging consensus that we've been intervening too much militarily overseas and that that has not made us any safer. And I think in the case of Yemen, the Khashoggi murder really highlighted for a lot of Washington the human rights abuses of the Saudi regime. And so there's a greater skepticism of the relationship with Saudi Arabia. But I do think there is an opportunity for a left-right coalition in keeping us out of these endless wars. And that really is encouraging to hear. And I think that the way that you and Bernie sold this to the American people, it absolutely made all of the difference. Because one statistic that you cited on the House floor about the number of deaths that are happening in Yemen every single hour, that statistic haunted me and it stood with me. So thank you for being a leader on this. And really, I think that this was a huge thing. And to see it, to see everyone come together for this, it honestly was shocking because I think as someone who has followed politics very closely, I'm incredibly cynical. So I wouldn't have expected any Republicans, let alone Democrats to get on board. But the fact that you were a leader here, it was great. So thank you so much. But I know that you are running short on time. So we've got one more issue that I want to get to. Now, this is about Bernie Sanders actually, because you are a national campaign co-chair. And just an observation that I've made is that Bernie 2019 version is exponentially better than Bernie 2015. I have less criticisms of Bernie Sanders now than I did back then. But there's still one area where I'm wondering how easy it would be or difficult it would be for us to get the needle to move. And as a national campaign co-chair, I'm wondering if you could be... I thought you were going to give me all the credit as national co-chair, but Bernie's campaign. Well look, hey, the speeches you've made have been fantastic. So you absolutely get credit. And the campaign is doing a fantastic job. And look, everyone who watches my podcast knows I absolutely unequivocally endorse Bernie Sanders. And he's exactly what we need. And I commend you for being courageous and endorsing him like a matter of days after he announced. But here's what I want to ask you. So this is in relation to foreign policy and human rights. And this is about a quote that Bernie Sanders said in 2015 of August in an interview with ABC's This Week. And it's rubbed me the wrong way and I haven't let it go. So let me read you that quote. So he said this about drones. I think we have to use drones very, very selectively and effectively. That has not always been the case. What you can argue is that there are times and places where drone attacks have been effective. There are times and places where they have been absolutely counter effective and have caused more problems than they have solved. When you kill innocent people, what the end result is that people in the region become anti-American who otherwise would not have been. So on one hand, this is better than Trump. This is better than Obama. You see his concern for human rights. However, I don't think that this is very realistic because when you look at the statistics, it just doesn't seem like there's any effective way to use drones. So in March of 2019, the editorial board of the New York Times cited Air Wars that claims 7,600 to 12,000 civilians have been killed due to our drone strikes since 2014. And that number since this article was published has increased. It's now 8 to 12,000. 90% of people killed according to a 2015 report by the Intercept were not enemy combatants. They were civilians. And Pentagon documents obtained by the Intercept revealed that there are various technological flaws as well as dubious intelligence that is often used that results in human beings dying. And that's just what we can quantify. I mean, there are psychological issues that we are causing kids in Pakistan who have PTSD who are afraid to leave their homes when it's sunny because they know that drones will be patrolling. They're going to hear the buzzing and they'll immediately feel fearful. So my question is, can we get Bernie to actually move and come out and say unequivocally, we will not use drones because unfortunately, this isn't something that has been effective. What do you think just as a national campaign co-chair? Is that something he's movable on? Well, first of all, I certainly will take some of the data. I mean, if it's the case that 90% of the drone strikes in Afghanistan have killed civilians, and I think Bernie Sanders would say, based on his quote from 2015, that it's not working there. If there are, you may not want to take the option completely off the table. If there are areas of counterterrorism where it's been effective, it hasn't caused massive civilian loss of life. But I think it's a very different approach from any of his predecessors where there was too much of a willingness to rely on drone strikes without a sufficient understanding of the civilian laws of life. So I will talk to him about it, my instinct, and again, I don't want to commit Senator Sanders to any position. Also, he makes these decisions. My instinct is that he would say that we need to evaluate them region by region, case by case. And if there's evidence that you're citing that in places where they're being used, their massive civilian casualties that they are attacking or targeting terrorists, then he wouldn't use them. And thank you. Thank you for raising this to Bernie Sanders, because I think that he is someone who, like you, responds really well to constructive criticism and feedback. And one other thing that I want to add is just the legal issue. This does violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of these countries. And Pakistani courts have ruled that these drone strikes in their home turf, it's illegal. So really the way that I picture this is in the events, you know, in my state of Oregon, I saw Russia doing drone strikes, I would absolutely unequivocally be appalled, I would be rebelling. So it's not even just a matter of counterterrorism tactics. I mean, I think that we see that this is making people more radicalized in the region because this, they see this as a threat to their lives, because this has affected them very personally. Again, if they don't know anyone who was killed or injured by a drone, they have that psychological, you know, fear of drones embedded in their heads for the rest of their lives. So the way that I see this is, this is still warfare. This is wars. This is an invasion. This is occupation. But we're just calling it something different, you know, under the guise of fighting terrorism. And it's not really effective. So I will sort of respectfully disagree with you on the Oregon analogy and that there were terrorists in Oregon that were attacking Russia. It would probably be a different case.  But I think the effectiveness argument is a different is something that's more to me more concerning. I mean, if it's the case that we're sending drones and they're killing 90% civilians and only 10% terrorists, then I think we're just breeding more hate, more anger, and people are going to grow up without their parents or their brother or their uncles are going to end up growing up hating the United States. So to me, it's counterproductive if the statistics that you're citing are true, which I don't doubt. And I think what we need to look at is very objectively, are these strikes working in our goal, which is to get terrorists, or are they killing civilians and further radicalizing a population? Because of that, I can tell you this Bernie Sanders is going to approach things with a great concern for human rights and with a great concern for constitutionality. He is not a pacifist. He believes we need to go after the terrorists. And if we're hit, if we're going to strike terrorists, and he believes that that's a very legitimate use of American military force, but he also has a deep understanding that that has to be done really respecting the civilians. Okay, that's that's good to hear. And look, let me just say this for the record. I am not saying that Bernie would be as bad as Donald Trump because it's gotten worse under Donald Trump. You know, drone strikes under him have increased by more than 400% according to some estimates. And there's also a lack of transparency that the Obama administration had finally put into place towards the end of his administration. So I know that Bernie will be better. But my concern is better still isn't good enough. So just the mere fact that you're willing to bring this to Bernie's attention for now is absolutely good enough, you know, for me. And Bernie is he's still one of the best when it comes to foreign policy. So just a matter of, you know, making him even measurably better. That's great. So look, Ro, before we go, is there anything left that you want to say? Bernie Sanders, if I can, I mean, I've been, I was just in South Carolina for him. I've been in New Hampshire. After New Hampshire, he has got incredible energy on the ground. There are hundreds of people showing up in rural towns for him. There are thousands of people showing up in cities for him. He has tremendous momentum, despite what some of the media narrative is. And he has more grassroots support across this country than anyone else in the democratic field. To beat Donald Trump, it's my honest view, we're going to need someone who can draw crowds, who can get people energized, who can get people out to vote, and who can connect with people in rural communities and small town communities and working families and communities of color. And Bernie Sanders, I believe, is the best person to do that. And I do think if he wins, it will herald in a new progressive era in this country, the type of which really will reverse finally the Reagan legacy. So more than anything else, I believe electing Bernie Sanders is probably the biggest thing we can do for the country in terms of a lot of the policies we need. I could not agree more. And watching your stump speeches for Bernie on the campaign drill, they're amazing, Ro. So thank you so much. Thank you for your advocacy. And thank you for your willingness to always engage in dialogue, even if we may not always agree. We always, you know, we have a respectful conversation. And that's just incredibly commendable, especially in this day and age. I appreciate it. I hope that service and one thing you can count on is that we may not always agree, but I will always be honest with you and where we disagree, point that out, but you'll always get an answer that's how I feel and where I stand. Well, I appreciate that so much. Thank you so much for coming on the program. We're talking to Ro Cona of California's 17th Congressional District. Have a great day, Ro. Thanks.


Would you choose to ride on an airplane with an uncertain destination? Would you wonder why you are traveling at 600 miles per hour with no one on board sure where you are going? How does this relate to the average cattleman? Too many cattlemen just along for the ride are only hoping for a better future in the cattle industry. The more successful, established ranch management goals describing the future they want, determine how they can achieve the goals, and then manage for goal achievement. It can be done, but it takes a plan. The first step is to commit your goals to riding. Begin by making a list of the things you want to accomplish with your farm or ranch operation. For example, to make a living from the farm or ranch operation. To provide supplemental income. To expand, maintain, or reduce the farm or ranch operation. Or to improve the natural resources of the land. The second step is to categorize the management goals that you have listed. An easy way to get started is to categorize your goals into personal and business categories. Personal goals are statements about what you as an individual want to do in the future. They may deal with the landscape or appearance of your farm or ranch, a certain level of production, or the quality of life on a farm or ranch for current and future generations. Business goals are statements about what you want the business to do in the future. These are commonly expressed as a certain level of return on assets, equity, or management, farm or ranch growth, business organization, or retirement. It is necessary that you develop accurate financial statements and monitor them closely to achieve most business goals. Some personal and business goals complement each other while others may be conflicting. In the event that your goals conflict, you must decide which one you want most, revise your goals, or settle on some compromise which would allow you to have a measure of both. The third step is identifying short-term goals that will allow you to reach your long-term goal. An example of a business goal for returns to management and labor could be to make a profit 10 years out of 10. This is a long-term business goal with the time period definitely noted. The short-term goals that will contribute to the long-term business goal could include to achieve an average of 500 pounds of weaned calf per exposed female, to attain calf market prices that are 5% above average, and to minimize unit cost of production. These short-term goals provide the cow-calf producer with the roadmap of how to attain his or her long-term goal. The fourth step involves the written details and plans of action for achieving these goals. This is a sample format for committing your long and short-term goals to writing. Draft a plan of action for each long-term goal. List the short-term goals that you believe will contribute to reaching your long-term goal. In addition, note possible conflicts, ways to resolve possible conflicts, resources needed, assigned person or persons, and time allowed to achieve each short-term goal. By giving some serious thought to what you want to achieve with your farm or ranch operation and committing these thoughts to writing, you will be able to manage for goal achievement more effectively. The final step is putting your plan into action. Without taking action, it is only by chance that you will achieve your goals. Ranch management goals change over time due to numerous considerations such as births, deaths, marriages, divorce, age, health, economics, and government policies and regulations. Therefore, developing and achieving management goals is not an event, but a process that must be reviewed and adjusted as it is applied over time. Identifying and achieving your ranch management goals requires being honest and realistic about what is important to you in the future. You may begin by answering the question, are you just along for the ride or do you have goals you want to achieve? Like the pilot who needs to know where the flight is going, what route to travel, and when it is to arrive at its desired destination, beef cattle producers should know where they are going, what plan will get them there, and when they can expect to be there.


Success Saturday, welcome back. I heard Rantz say something earlier this week that got me excited. He said something to an agent. He said, leads are best worked when fresh. That's kind of a wild idea that when you get a lead, it's hotter today than it will be in a week. Believe it or not, wild thinking that when you get it, it's time to work it. We get agents all the time. We'll send them leads on a Friday. They won't work them until a Monday or Tuesday. It's your fault, not the lead's fault. If you don't have successful leads, leads are better worked when fresh. When you get them, call them. Call them again, call them again. Pound them, text them, email them, door knock them. Saturday morning, I don't give you the Friday night at 8.30, call it. Saturday morning at 8.30, call it. Call it again that day. Call it again that day. Call it again that day. Leads are best worked when fresh. Let's work them.


it's too bad and it's too sad well my name is Tino D'Agostino and I was invited by Betsy Shramm to participate in this phenomenal concert series that she has done for many years and she asked us to do this a jazz concert and I'm both first my dear friend and colleague of many years Sergio Bellotti and he had this brilliant idea since the concert that we're going to do with this concert series is going to be on March 8 it's International Women's Day to invite women to perform in jazz and here we are we'd like to share this event with you one of the stars of that night is going to be Christy Scott shows a fantastic horn player singer and she'll be on piano as well that night now we're very grateful of course to Betsy Shramm who invited us to town hall to ACMI doing this what we would like to invite you to this event is going to have Sergio Bellotti and me Tino D'Agostino being some sort of the facilities of this event this concert and having this four stars Christy Scott show Jane Potter Terry Cote and DD Simonelli all four fantastic singers and one of them Terry Cote and Jane Potter have a duo and it's going to be a super interesting duo jam prof that they're going to play their own original music and DD Simonelli is he's been singing in the in the jazz in the Boston area for about 30 years and maybe I can have Christy talk about her repertoire for that night yeah so I'll be assisting in representing the Italian heritage in within our group so Tino D'Agostino and Sergio Bellotti are both from Italy and I have family ties way back into my family tree into Sicily and so we will be singing and playing some Italian traditional Italian music and I will be able to you know make my debut as a vocalist in Arlington as well as a little bit of a pop tune and you know some other jazz and non-jazz and all kinds of different music styles that we'll be playing for you on that day also all of the women who are performing that night are going to have such a diverse plate of repertoire to give to you to serve to you and it's going to be a really fantastic concert very entertaining there's going to be so much talent up on that stage from you know women of all backgrounds and it's going to be a really great time and in addition to that I'll be super happy to have the Arlington High School Honours Orchestra to open up for us I mean be part of this concert the Honours Orchestra is a group here from the high school that it goes by audition they're going to perform at Carnegie Hall next next month and they're also were chosen to perform at the Old State Concert which is it is a big deal for for high schoolers and they will play a couple of jazz pieces so the Arlington High School is going to be heavily represented that night as well and just to give you some info about the when and where again it's going to be on March 8th and it's going to be starting at 730 at Arlington Town Hall and we hope you can make it donations are of course very welcome and again it's going to be the Arlington High School Honours Orchestra opening up and Kristi Skaccio, Sergio Bellotti, Jane Potter, Terry Coté and Dee Dee Simonelli with a final surprise