We're Brooklyn at It was alright looked at apartments. We'll never live at and Had an okay weekend. Had a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. I did not I did not but it's quite the experience people talk about it I never done it but people do talk about it. How are you? Good? Anyway, let's move on and talk about the things people like to hear us talk about Jim We are traditionally a baseball company and we are talking about MLB and how they are negotiating this week. No, no one cares about that baseball. No one cares So we're college guys now. We're going going back back to Kali Kali wolf pack throw up your wolves Tommy white true freshman blur that out in his first game He goes five white as a name one to ten three two one seven and a half. Okay, very close. That was pretty good I like when we're on the I like when we're aligned there So in his first game he goes five for six with three home runs They beat the other team like 18 and nothing he was polite about he was like that good pictures over there It's like Tommy the pictures stink. No, I love for Tommy. I love center bombs They weren't like chips like pretending to be cool about yeah But I was like hanging curve hanker block then his next two games he hits two more home runs He gets intentionally walked twice and these are the nicknames that he's going with I need you guys to rank them at home Jake I want your opinion three bomb Tom big country. Mmm. Tommy tanks. Jim. You have it labeled here Tommy tanks is the winner big country has been used before and taken three bomb Tom Just added the end of the day that gets turned on you because you can't hit three homers every game Yeah, he's also Three bomb Tom. He's also from St. Pete. So you can't be big country that ends the baseball some baseball towns They throw beer after homers Clip Jim could where you tell me about this breakdown thing? We're going from North Carolina to Louisiana for almost a breakdown a raccoon Famous song that's act nose. Anyway a raccoon fell into the dining hall at Louisiana State Louisiana University Louisiana State University. So the cooks and the crew is the cooks and the chefs they try to catch this raccoon So we're gonna break it down because the tick that goes fast. There's a guy on the broom He knows what he's doing.  He's ready to go in this situation He knows that action is about to happen. Everyone else kind of doesn't realize Yeah, no one else heard the whistle, so he pops the raccoon in the air It kind of like he gets it good with the broom.  Yeah with the raccoon like dude You're supposed to go lower to catch it So he's an old you got me under the raccoon next time a raccoon goes into this dining hall Out you know you're not helping at all the guy guarding the door He did a great job, but maybe in hindsight Maybe they knew this because the guy guarding the door does a MVP type effort an effort You don't see when you're catching critters So maybe they just knew that guy once sucked gave him a chance knowing that they had the other veteran Zach pretend to be a raccoon on the table go nuts Go as crazy as possible I Put him in the trash So there you go almost a breakdown a good job by the two of them bad job by the one of them and then Raccoon lose weight using noom raccoon was just trying to get into the cafeteria to check on anyone's diets Yeah, I've been weighing myself every single day not in an attempt to lose weight Just to see what's going on and then eventually I am gonna attempt to lose weight and I'll go to noom They're calling them the noom raccoon the noom raccoon. Let's go back to the sports Jimmy Here has frozen his penis Let's go out to Beijing for the report Olympics are still going on. It's hit that way Olympics might be over update I was on TV the other day and this guy's dick froze. So Remy Linholm a finished skier.  He had to thaw it out.  It's gonna live longer. Is it big small? Are there celebrities that are frozen?  Are you picturing it hard or soft frozen either way? It's hard shout out to that guy's dick Jim kind of a similar topic in the not sports today a UK man What's going on UK? Is he British a British man goes on television network to reveal love affair with balloons? The man goes by Julius. He loves balloons and Jim the quotes here are kind of we were a little hesitant on this story But the quotes are electric. I was gonna hate him and I was gonna be like I don't care This is kind of fake and then the quotes were so good that I kind of like him now Yeah, he's married, which is unbelievable So he's got to be doing something right He has more than 50,000 balloons in his home has a special connection to each one. That's a lie No one can count that high nor have a connection to 50,000 different things. He says intellectually I know that the balloons are not alive Trust me.  He's essentially a lawyer that line gets a little creepy. Yeah He says he describes balloons as beautiful soft smooth and delicate. There's no argument against that Yeah, there's no argument against that and you're like, all right point for you guy And then he says there's nothing wrong with love. Let's say it in unison powerful I thought we already were a camera in unison. There's nothing wrong with loving balloons It's not dangerous and it's not hurting anybody kind of good rules to live by those are facts in them's effects Uh, how much does this guy hate needles thumbtacks Static oh so staticky in this house. Oh, I just thought about all the static and I like it. Okay.  You're done. You're out get over balloons man noon balloon The noon balloon raccoon Fun with that if you just were a better raccoon, we wouldn't have to green screen it And the last thing Employees of the week this week the oses the oses go to Joe's McFly and rose chris They are the play-by-play and lead commentary on the blitzball battle for 10k and they're doing a hilarious job I guess wingards involved you on the sideline the later game. She gets way more in play She is not getting this. I'm sorry. We already had an ls go to chris. Yeah, chris chris rose and jose the rose and jose booth They've been hilarious blitzball battle every monday and thursday night at 7 p.m. Eastern. You will find a new game It's a double elimination tournament in the winning game wins $10,000 That was a weekly dump Today's episode was brought to you by noom if you aren't already signed up Noom is an app that uses a combination of psychology technology and human coaching to help meet your personal health and wellness goals If you want to stick to your new year's resolution in 2022 You can get a free noom evaluation and a seven day trial when you use my link at noom.com slash jamboy It's a new year. It's time to take control of your health with noom once again Click the link in the description or go to noom.com slash jamboy to get a free valuation and seven day trial Did you hear about movie pass what's coming back right, but it's like two movies a month or something the guys full rocks No, no, listen to this. So he announced that it's coming back and i'm like cool. It should work. It's like It was just run to the ground and he's like, yeah, i'm gonna do it better this time I am going to make People are gonna watch ads to gain credits to see movies But there's gonna be eye tracking software to make sure their Pupils are actually watching the ad. They're not looking away or blinking to like rack up the minutes It's like, oh movie pass is dead. Yeah came back. It's dead.


The next item of business is a statement by Michael Matheson on the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call Michael Matheson for up to 10 minutes, please, cabinet secretary. I welcome this opportunity to update Parliament on the cycle action plan for Scotland and the work that we are doing in partnership to realise the active travel vision. This government remains strongly committed to delivering an active nation and the vision that Scotland's communities are shaped around people with walking and cycling the most popular choice for everyday short journeys. The Cycling Action Plan for Scotland was originally published in 2010. It set out a shared vision that by 2020 10 per cent of all journeys in Scotland would be by bike. That vision was intended to be bold, aspirational and challenging. We have seen significant progress in some areas, such as cycle commuting in Edinburgh, which is now at 9.8 per cent, but progress towards overall figure has been slow and it is unlikely to be met by 2020. We recognise some time ago that the speed of change was not good enough. That is why last year we doubled Transport Scotland's active travel budget from £39 million to £80 million. To make the best use of the investment to bring about the transformative change that is needed, we are working with our partners to develop a monitoring framework. That will define a range of important outcomes, including to make sure that cycling is accessible for all and to improve safety, health and the economy and the environment. That framework will be a key new measure to help drive forward active travel policy and will inform on-going work with our partners on developing a reliable and nationally consistent way to measure progress towards 2020. We are also undertaking a broad programme of analytical work and engagement with delivery partners to understand better where we and others are succeeding in making progress and to apply those lessons elsewhere. With the doubling of the budget, we now have levels of investment in active travel that match our ambitions. Including match funding from local authorities, Scotland's investment in walking and cycling in 2018-19 was £135 million, which is over £25 per capita. Far more than the rest of the UK and similar to our northern European neighbours such as the Netherlands and Denmark. As well as our £80 million active travel funding, we have allocated a further £5 million for sustainable travel behaviour change projects. We offer £950,000 worth of loan funding for electric bikes and we have secured a further £7.6 million from the European regional development fund for low-carbon and active travel hubs. We have used those increased budgets to step up support for local authorities to build safe, segregated walking and cycling infrastructure and to expand and improve our behaviour change programme. That integrated approach is crucial. Everon shows that combining training and advocacy with high-quality infrastructure and places designed for people is the best way to enable more people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys. We are seeing some sign of progress, as well as the increase in cycling in Edinburgh. We have seen similar increases in Glasgow, Murray and Highland. In 10 per cent of people who live in small remote towns cycle at least once a week as a means of transport. Since 2011, more than a quarter of a million school children have participated in cycling Scotland's bike ability, Scotland Cycle Training. The percentage of schools participating has risen from 29 per cent to 42 per cent. Nearly 500 Scottish schools have received cycling friendly status through Cycling Scotland's cycle friendly scheme. This is before the effects of our record capital investment are truly being felt. It will take time to build equality, transformational places and infrastructure that we need. It is important that we take time to work with communities to ensure that the projects are right, but we will look at ways to streamline the process. Last year, we invested £36 million in Sustrans community links programme and £9 million to Commen's design of six larger ambitious high-quality segregated cycling infrastructure projects. I look forward to seeing the first of those, the South City Way in Glasgow, being delivered in 2019. This year, I am delighted to announce that we will be allocating a record £51 million from our active travel budget for 2019 to our new combined places for everyone infrastructure programme administered on our behalf by Sustrans. As part of the programme, 10 ambitious projects are currently being considered for large-scale multi-year funding. So far, Sustrans has received funding bids from 30 local authorities for segregated paths, improvements to the public realm and projects that make our towns and cities safer and friendly places to live, work and spend time. We hope to announce those projects in the next few months. It is important to recognise, however, that investment in active travel facilities and behaviour change projects won't, on its own, bring about the step change that we want to see. In all of this Government's work on bus services and public transport more generally, on health and wellbeing and planning, the environment and climate change, we need to consider how we can support active travel. This broader, more strategic approach will be supported by the national transport strategy and the second strategic transport policy review. Both will set out a compelling vision for the kind of transport system that we want for Scotland over the next 20 years and the type and scale of intervention that we will deliver to achieve that. The draft national transport strategy, which we will consult on this summer, sets four prioritariats. Tackling taking climate action, improving our health and wellbeing, promoting equality and helping our economy prosper. Those priorities recognise the importance of enabling people to make active travel choices to improve their health and wellbeing. The transport bill will be an enabler of change. The bill aims to improve journeys for people across the country by supporting the development of a cleaner, smarter and more accessible network. By seeking to improve bus services and introducing low-emission zones, it promotes active and sustainable travel for cyclists. The prohibition on double parking will assist in keeping roadways clear. In addition, we have agreed to support a Scottish Green amendment to enable local authorities to introduce workplace parking levy schemes. That is a discretionary power. It has the potential to encourage modal shift towards public transport and active travel, including by supporting improvements to transport infrastructure and services in local areas to provide alternatives to car use. Better integration between modes is important. Bus has a key role to play in joining up active journeys and in spreading the benefits of active travel more widely. If integrated active travel infrastructure and bus routes offer people faster, easier, healthier and more sustainable means of getting to their destination, they are much more likely to use them. That is why I will be keen to see how the new internal bike racks introduced by border buses earlier this year will be taken up. On rail, ScotRail has delivered 1,500 additional cycle spaces at stations and provided bike and go cycle-higher facilities at 12 stations across Scotland. Overall, 97 per cent of stations have cycle parking with over 5,000 customer cycle spaces in total. On climate change, the Government reacted to the declaration of a global climate emergency with amendments to our climate change bill to set a net zero target for 2045 and increase the target for 2030 to 3070 per cent. Scotland already has an ambitious agenda for decarbonising transport, but transport is Scotland's biggest emitting sector, and it is clear that further action will be required to meet the new target. The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland an active nation, and we are now matching that ambition with record levels of funding. There are positive signs of progress, but less than we would like and much more for us to do. I am confident that our ambitious programme of active travel investment will play a key part in delivering the greener, safer, happier and healthier Scotland that we all want to see. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in the statement for around 20 minutes. Would those who wish to ask the question press a request to speak buttons please? I have a lot of people who wish to ask questions, so we have to be concise with questions and answers to get through them. Jamie Greene. I will start by being positive by thanking the cabinet secretary for his statement, but the reality is that, in this 1,230-word statement, there is very little to be cheerful about. What we learned from it quite simply is the following. On the transport bill, the SNP confirmed its support for the much critiqued and hated car park tax. On active travel, it announced an £80 million budget that it already knew about, but it has been miraculously re-announced today. The big announcement is continued funding for a policy that we already knew about, delivered by an agency that we already know and funded by a budget already announced. Perhaps the real news today, buried away in the statement, is the admission by the cabinet secretary that the Government is going to spectacularly fail its flagship cycling action plan target of 10 per cent of all journeys to be made by bike. I will give the minister a chance to give some substance to his statement. What percentage of journeys does he expect to be made by bike by the original 2020 target? Secondly, when he now expects this 10 per cent target to actually be met? Thirdly, if, after 10 years, his current cycling action plan has failed, will he publish a new one? If so, when? Michael Matheson. It stands at the moment. Overall, it is around 4 per cent of journeys that are made by cycling in a way that was set out within the plan. That is at record level, but clearly very much off the target that was set previously at the time when the action plan was published back in 2010, illustrating the need for us to take further action on this matter. That is why I am putting in place a framework in order for us to monitor implementation taking it forward, but also to make sure that there is a much greater focus on outcomes that are being achieved as part of the plan. In addition to that, we are also undertaking a review of the existing cycle action plan, which is being conducted by Cycling Scotland at the present time, which will inform what further actions we need to take forward as a part of that review. I have never made reference to the suggestion that it is a re-announcement of £80 million. What is important to recognise here is that there is a record level of funding that has been invested into active travel within Scotland. Given that it is match funded by local authorities, it invests a significant amount of investment on an ongoing basis into active travel. The highest level for any part of the UK, what we need to do is to make sure that we start to see the benefits that come from that. That capital investment that we are making in order to encourage people to make greater use of active travel options when they are travelling. Colin Smyth. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement. Almost 10 years ago, the Government set a target to increase the share of everyday journeys made on bike to 10 per cent by 2020. Since then, the portion of all journeys taken by bike has increased by just 0.7 per cent to a woeful 1.5 per cent. It is difficult to imagine the target set by the Government being half the level that it expected by 2020. This failure needs to act as a wake-up call to the Government. I welcome the announcement made today about the places for everyone infrastructure programme. Significant projects such as those being considered for funding will be essential to increasing active travel rates in Scotland. Given the climate emergency that we face and the slow progress in raising the number of journeys by bike, does the cabinet secretary accept that all viable projects in the programme should be funded, not just a select few? Michael Matheson. It is important that we recognise the need to make sure that we take concerted action to tackle the climate emergency, including the need to make sure that local authorities have the powers to take forward measures that can assist them in being able to tackle issues relating to climate change. I hope that the member will reflect on what I think was a needy response that the Labour Party took to workplace parking levy and given local authorities the powers to be able to have that option. Given that it was something that I understand was in the Labour local government manifesto for the Glasgow area at the last elections, I recognise that it can be an important measure that can assist in tackling issues relating to climate change, air quality and moral shift. No doubt we will see the colour of Labour's money tomorrow when the amendments are considered in the transport bill to see how committed they are to the climate emergency or not. I assure the member that we have made that record investment into active travel infrastructure. We have maintained that this year. The proportion of that, which is going to capital investment projects, has increased as well in order to support the type of transformational change that we need to see in infrastructure, which I believe is a key part of what is necessary in order to address the low numbers of individuals who take up active travel options. That is something that we will continue to do. No doubt, for those local authorities that want to make additional investment, the option of using workplace parking levies and the money that comes from that, investing in their local areas gives them the possibility to be able to do that in their area. We move to the open questions. I do not want to be cutting people off midstream, so please be concise in questions and answers. The open questions are Alison Johnston followed by Gillian Martin. There is more spin here than you will see in a peloton. You have a vision for 10 per cent of journeys to be by bike by next year. You have declared a climate emergency and yet you have announced nothing new between more monitoring and analysis. You have even failed to acknowledge in this statement that, with just six months to go, the figure sits at 2 per cent, even lower than the 3 per cent of the huge transport budget that you invest in this area. Is it not high time, cabinet secretary, that this vision became an actual target? Can you tell the chamber, as Jamie Greene asked, just when you intend to meet it? That is why we have asked Cycling Scotland to undertake a review of the action plan to look at what further measures need to be taken forward, not to address those issues. That is why we are committed to continuing with the record investment into active travel provisions with the £80 million that we are investing in it. I often hear the member say that we should use a larger portion of at least 10 per cent of our roads budget in Scotland for this purpose. The roads budget in Transport Scotland for our trunk and motorway network is around £800 million. That is approximately 10 per cent of it. It is actually over 10 per cent of that particular budget. No doubt there will be those who will call for greater investment to be made into this area. Clearly, we have sought as a priority, which is why we have doubled the budget. It is, of course, extremely disappointing that we have not achieved the target over that 10-year, what is almost 10-year period, which is why it is important that we have a very clear focus on making sure that we are taking the right measures that will deliver the type of change that we want to see and to do that. That is exactly what the framework and the reviews about doing to make sure that we get that in place. When the member in a secretary position, Mr Harvie, says when, we are doing that right now in order to get that matter addressed. Gillian Martin, followed by Mike Rumbles. A safe route to school is a right for children. Will the cabinet secretary be able to give any details on how we can ensure that a child has the right to a safe cycle route to school? Michael Matheson. As it stands through the £51 million places for everyone programme, we are encouraging all local authorities to submit proposal projects for delivering safer routes to schools for children. In 2018-19, we invested some £2.5 million in infrastructure in and around schools and over £2 million on behaviour change and cycle training programmes for children. This year, such strands have received proposals from 25 local authorities for safer routes to schools and other infrastructure projects around schools, which are presently being evaluated. Mike Rumbles, followed by Emma Harper. Two years ago, the Parliament passed a motion saying that every school child should have the opportunity to benefit from cycle training. Then, only 62 per cent of schools offered some form of cycle training—62 per cent. Now that figure has fallen when it should have increased. How, exactly how, will the transport secretary ensure that we make cycle training available to all our school children as we all unanimously agreed in this chamber two years ago? Michael Matheson. As I mentioned, we have an increase in the number of local authorities and schools that are participating in the bike-ability scheme and the cycle friendly programme. It is a programme that local authorities need to buy into, so we will continue to work with local authorities to encourage them to do so. It is a scheme that can help to support them and our pupils in making sure that they have an understanding of the risks of cycling on the road, the benefits that come from it and to help to support them in thinking about the type of options that they can use cycling for as well. There is a scheme that is available for local authorities to buy into and we continue to promote that with local authorities to ask them to do so, but it is ultimately down to local authorities and schools to decide on whether they choose to make use of that or not. It is available and the funding that is there for it has continued and continues to be made available for them to participate in the scheme. Emma Harper, followed by Liam Kerr. I welcome the commitment for additional funding. Will the cabinet secretary consider infrastructure spending to improve the cycling network along the coast of south west Scotland so that it can be better connected, more accessible and attractive to people in Scotland as well as folks looking to holiday and visit south Scotland? Michael Matheson. As I just mentioned, the £51 million places for everyone programme is a programme that is operated on on our behalf by Sustrans, which local authorities can bid into for cycle infrastructure. I encourage local authorities in the south west of Scotland to consider putting forward proposals for that fund. Liam Kerr, followed by Tom Arthur. Last week, I made the point, which I think that the cabinet secretary agreed with, that a 20-mile-an-hour limit would be ignored and won't get more people cycling. What will, as I think Gillian Martin was saying, is a proper safe segregated cycle lane. The cabinet secretary talked about money to Sustrans, but this is in a context of massively constrained local authority funding. What role will the Scottish Government play in ensuring proper cycling infrastructure is brought in and how much money is the Government directly committing to that? Michael Matheson. The £51 million is much funded by local authorities. For example, the investment that we saw in the course of the past year, which is the vast majority of the funding within the £80 million active travel budget, is capital investment. Most of it is much funded by local authorities. The investment that we saw in the course of this year has resulted in the region of about £135 million being invested between the Government and local authorities. For those who would say that the Government should just pay for all this, I disagree with them. The reason I disagree with them is because local authorities have got a key role to play in making sure that they also take ownership for the delivery of the type of infrastructure that is necessary. The very reason that I agree with the member on is that segregated, separate infrastructure for cycling and walking is one of the critical elements in helping to support people to make that model shift, which is why we have increased our funding for that type of provision within the budget this year in order to support local authorities and why we have also set them the target of making sure that they match fund that so that we see even greater investment in providing that type of cycling and walking infrastructure. Neilson Development Trust, in my constituency of Renfisher South, delivers a range of services to promote cycling, both in Neilson and across East Renfisher, including repairs and maintenance, reconditioning donated bikes and providing training. Can the cabinet secretary set out how work to deliver the ambitions of the cycling action plan will support local community-led groups such as the Neilson Development Trust to promote cycling in their areas and how in turn such groups will contribute to each of our national targets for increased cycling? Michael Matheson The existing cycle action plan underpins the grant funding mechanism that we have in place for a range of different cycling funds that are available. We have invested £7.28 million in 2018-19 on a range of behaviour changing activities to encourage more people to walk and cycle safely and to do so confidently. That includes in that fund some £300,000 in grant funding, which is issued through the Cycling Friendly Communities Fund, which can support small local initiatives of the very nature that has been highlighted by Tom Arthur. I would encourage the Neilson Development Trust to consider making an application to that fund for support for the valuable work that they undertake in his constituency. Claudia Beamish The cabinet secretary failed utterly to even refer to the question asked by my colleague Colin Smith, so let me give him another chance. Given the woeful progress in raising the number of journeys by bike and the need by his own recognition of more segregated on-road cycle lanes, does the cabinet secretary not accept that all the viable projects within the places for everyone infrastructure programme should be funded? Michael Matheson I am conscious of the amounts of calls that are made on government funding for a whole range of initiatives. It would be great if we could provide funding to them all, but we have a limited budget and we can only make investments in areas where we can get the best-most benefit from. That is the same in the transport portfolio that is in health justice education. I recognise that the Labour Party is working the world of a money tree at the bottom of the garden, which can fund everything and anything that anybody requests. The reality is that we have a limited budget, and that is why we have made record investment into cycling infrastructure. No doubt the member will welcome that, and we will do as much as we can to support those various initiatives across local authorities in Scotland to get the infrastructure right. I will leave Labour to deal with the money tree at the bottom of our garden and how they fund all of those things. Mr Smith, can you please stop being so rude to your colleagues when they are being called for questioning by shouting from your seat? The hybridian way has successfully drawn more and more cyclists to the Western Isles since it was opened by record-breaking long-distance cyclist Mark Bowman three years ago. What action is the Scottish Government taking to make provision for this growth in the islands? I am well aware of the increasing number of people who are making use of the hybridian way and the number of people who have been attracted to it, not just from within Scotland or the UK, but from outwith the UK in travelling to make use of that particular route, which is proving to be extremely popular. Part of the funding that we are providing is part of the active travel programme. The £51 million places for everyone programme is a programme that allows local authorities to submit proposals for delivering paths and rural areas for walking and cycling of the very nature that Alistair Allen made reference to. For example, in the highlands, we are continuing to develop the Caledonian way, which is seeing investment being made in order to help to support the route link between North Connell and Oben. We want to see an expansion of those types of strategic tourist routes that we know that will encourage people to travel to Scotland in order to make use of them. The places for everyone programme is the initiative that is in place, which local authorities can submit proposals to in order to get funding support for walking and cycling initiatives. Graham Simpson Cycling Scotland published its own progress report on the cycle action plan in 2016, which stated that the 10 per cent target would not be met even then. It said that there should be a long-term increase in sustained funding with year-on-year increases over time towards a 10 per cent allocation of national and council transport budgets. Is that something that the cabinet secretary agrees with? Michael Matheson On the basis that last year, we doubled the active travel budget and this year we have sustained that in order to see greater capital investment. I recognise that greater funding has been made available for providing the type of infrastructure to support people in making the modal shift from two-cycling or walking. Alongside that, continued investment in other options such as bus, where we have saw further investment by the Scottish Government, and rail, in order to ensure that we have done the right thing. In order to encourage people to make modal shifts from using their cars, we will all contribute to that particular agenda. In those areas, we continue to make significant investment from an active travel point of view but also in the wider transport infrastructure in Scotland as a whole. Jenny Marra A number of school children have just joined us in the gallery. I would be surprised if even one or two of them may be cycled to school, cabinet secretary. Does the cabinet secretary agree that 20 miles per hour might make it better for children to be safe if they are cycling to school? Michael Matheson It is wise that a Government that we support has been introduced in the right place for local authorities to do that, particularly around schools. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach and making sure that local authorities do it in the right areas, we should know that a number of local authorities do it. I am sure that the member would want to recognise that and make sure that councils have the powers and the ability to do that and to support them in doing that. I am afraid that the member is misguided in thinking that we do not support 20mph zones. We do. We just do not believe that the one-size-fits-all approach that was in Mr Ruskell's bill is the right way of going about doing that. Bruce Crawford Can the cabinet secretary confirm that he is aware of the fantastic work that has been done by 4th Environment Link? Stirling cycle hub to promote the encouraged cycling in the stirling area to make Stirling the most cycle-friendly city in the country and the city-wide bike sharing scheme is an important partner for that. What more can the Scottish Government and local government do to help to develop more protected cycle lanes in Stirling? 83 per cent of residents support building new such lanes despite the impact on traffic. I am very much aware of the 4th Environment Link work in Stirling and the active travel hub that I believe may be as good as the active travel hub that it has in my constituency, just along from my constituency office in Falkirk. I am also aware that it is taking forward work on the community links project that is aimed at delivering safer roads and segregated cycle paths and improving the local public realm for pedestrians and other users. I have no doubt that it will continue to pursue that. Additionally, 4th Environment Link is developing the first regional electric bike scheme in Scotland, which will support model shift and the sustainable travel options in the area. I would certainly want to continue to encourage 4th Environment Link on this very important work, which I have seen first hand in my constituency as it has taken place within Mr Crawford's constituency. That concludes questions on the ministerial statement on the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. There were other members who would like to have asked questions that I was not able to take. I would ask all members to consider that when they are giving questions or giving answers that they should be a bit more concise. We will shortly move on to the next item of business.


So, I was very excited to be a member of the NEA Foundation Board of Directors just because of their emphasis on ensuring that every student receives a quality education and really working with school systems in trying to make that happen. As a public educator for almost 20 years now, I think it's important that we give students an opportunity and to really learn and reach their highest potential and really to help them build their capacity to do whatever it is that they want to do in life. I was interested in teaching. I had a daycare teacher actually who inspired me, Ms. Chandler inspired me at a very young age to love reading. She would read with me, she taught me that love of reading so by the time I was ready to go to kindergarten I knew that I was on my way and I was going to be just like Ms. Chandler. I also went to work with her in the summers when I was a teenager and volunteered at that same daycare with her just really helping to build that love of learning, particularly reading and so I think that's one of the reasons why I became a kindergarten teacher. I also have my grandmother to thank for really instilling that value of an education in me. My grandmother, she was only able to go to school until the eighth grade and so she made it her mission to ensure that her children and that her children's children really knew that the way that they could do anything in this life was through an education and so she would always ask me, did you get your lesson? And for her that meant, were you paying attention in school? Did you get everything that you could get on that day so that you can be successful and you can have every opportunity in this world presented to you? And so I made sure that I got my lesson every single day because of my grandmother. I also think it's important working with the NEA Foundation and really just being a public school educator that we're working to interrupt those patterns of inequities that continue to exist in our schools and in our school systems and when we do that, that's when we'll be able to ensure that we eliminate those opportunity gaps that still persist and that every kid will receive that promise of public education. I've been a teacher for almost 20 years. I taught kindergarten and first grade for 14 years and then I transitioned into working with teachers really helping teachers to think about the instruction that they're providing to really find the ways that we can motivate students to learn that we can engage students in the work and that we can make a difference in the lives of students. I feel like it has been extremely rewarding to be a kindergarten teacher and to be in the classroom and to have that direct impact on student lives and it's rewarding in a different way to be able to impact teachers and then see the difference that they're making in the lives of their students. Did you get your lesson?


Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. This is Melissa Arma with The Stocks. What should I'm here today to review the QQQs? And guess what? Market held today. Despite the fact that we gapped down today and broke from yesterday's rally, which I was very surprised to see the gap down today, we did not fall. In a gap like this, it'll look like this, we should have fallen off the planet, we didn't. What did that mean? It means it's a sign. It's a sign the market is actually not gonna fall. I was really looking at this today and I said this is so, so critical. Critical meaning that if we broke Friday's low, we were a goner. What we must do, absolutely without a shot of a doubt, must do when no chances, no exceptions, no nothing. We must gap up tomorrow.  We must gap up tomorrow. We must. We must in order to hold the rally that held today from the gap down, that did not go anywhere. In an ideal world, we actually gap up big tomorrow, which very well could happen because we were supported today in the gap down. The only way that we didn't fall off the planet here today, even though we closed red, was with fine. And it's institutional fine. And I know you say, well, Melissa, we closed red. Yes, but in the gap down today and the look of the gap and this whole configuration, we should have fallen like a rock off the planet and we didn't do it. So what does that tell me? That tells me that we're gonna hold because there's no way we would have been supported in the gap down today in the crappy, look of this chart here in the last week without fine. So the powers of being, the people that control the world, the people that are controlling the market, which is the bulls, even though you may not think it, it is. And this is the thing. I was talking to my broker about this over the lunch period and I called her and I said, you know what?  I forget the reason, but whatever we did and then we fell hard in here and then we rallying yesterday and this and this, actually the last two weeks, last two weeks of trading is the kind of thing that people look at the market and get mad. They get very, very mad because if you didn't see this, you would see this, you say, oh gosh, we're finally okay again and then people start to go long and all of a sudden people go long and then boom and then we fall. But I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong. We're still higher. Why we did this, I don't know. It's only two weeks of trading. It's only a couple of days and if we were gonna fall, we would have fallen today. If we were gonna fall, we would have fallen today and the gap down, but we must gap up tomorrow. But I'm telling you that the action, the trading action today was critical. We had to hold Fridays low. We did, we did. We held Fridays low, we gap down the day, we didn't fall hard and we didn't sell off and the only way that we didn't sell off today is one reason we got bought. I know it doesn't look like we got bought because we closed right, but we did. We came down in here, we held the low at 10 o'clock, we set the low the day, we never broke it. We had a big rally here into this area into two o'clock and then that was it. We just didn't follow through for the rest of the day. This is a massive rally that happened into two o'clock so we just didn't follow through. But we must in the gap tomorrow in much case we must gap up. So institutional buying held the gap today. This gap today would never, never not have fallen if it wouldn't have been for money coming in to buy the market. So the people that control the market bought the market today in order to support it. Show the market's higher. This is the biggest sign of strength I've seen in the market since the day that we saw the turnaround day here. This is the biggest sign of strength I've seen in the market. The biggest sign of conviction that tells you the market's definitively higher because they would not have bought this market gap down today and they would have just let it break. It's just sort of let it break. Buying came in and supported it and it was institutional buying or it would have fallen because everybody else is looking at this and they're screaming, they're upset and they're crying and they're scared because they thought the market was higher here and people are long stocks and then they sell and they're scared and they're scared and they're scared and they're scared and they sell. But institutions are the one that control the market and they bought it today. They bought it in the gap down the day and supported it even though we closed red. But I wanna see more conviction from those supports and I wanna see it happening in a gap up tomorrow and in an ideal world the market gaps up here around this area. Not doesn't have to be over the high today around 106, 106.30. This is literally 50 cents. We gotta gap up tomorrow 50 cents. We do that, we're gonna rally and we'll rally up to this area and have a nice green day tomorrow. And we must. There's just no question about it. No excuses, no crappy bad news from overseas, no foreign, whatever's. I don't care what the rest of the world does, this market must be supported in the gap up tomorrow. It has to. And I do believe it will or it would have fallen today. But I'm telling you it was critical day from the market. It did it, it held. It was institutional buying even though we closed red. I said today as long as we don't trade down over the low Friday we're fine. But I'm telling you if we do it's not gonna be good. But I don't think we do it because we would have today if we would have. But it's very strange though. It's very strange and this is the kind of thing as I was saying I'm talking about broker over lunch that people get upset. They get upset because as soon as the market does this they get all excited and say yay we're finally, finally higher and then the market falls. Ever since F's ended it falls. Then people are trapped again. Then the quick seller is scaring the seller and the market's gonna flip around again and go up and make the new high that it was always gonna make. But just because we fell for the last five days doesn't mean that we broke the trend. We never broke the trend. We never broke the trend at 180. And we break the trend at 180. We don't break the trend, we break the 200 period moving average. We never broke the trend at all this year. And if we are not at 180 I'm sorry I was talking about the spy. We never broke this area over here which was 85. And we got nowhere near that anomaly day in the queues. But I'm saying that's what's so weird about this. It's just so crazy. The spy is stronger overall than the QQQs but the spy retested the anomaly day this year twice. The queues never did. Do you see here? We never did. So even though in the long-term trend the spy is higher, stronger seemingly because it's made the brand new all-time eyes are ready and the queues haven't. Really we retested a critical area in the spy that could have broken the trend of the spy but didn't. But we never got anywhere near in the queues. So it's kind of weird. But all in all if I look at it now and I look at the whole picture and I see everything I say wait a minute things aren't as strange as they seem. Now if you pull that anomaly day out of each chart you say wait a minute things aren't that different. They look different when you look at the year we say wait a minute no they're not. No they're not. We're showing the strength in the queues. They're holding and supporting themselves very very well. Better this year than last.  But when you look at this just in the last month you say oh it looks weak. No not really. We never got anywhere near here here and here we got all the way down there. We tested it twice this year. So do you see it's not as different as it looks seemingly but not really. I don't know if this makes any sense but the other positive thing about this week is Tesla's earnings and there is no chance no chance that Tesla doesn't gap up in the earnings and in fact I think it explodes too bad it's just too expensive to do an option in it. It's absolutely unaffordable but this is going to explode on the earnings this week it's tomorrow night. So if the market doesn't have a big gap up tomorrow morning and rally tomorrow huge which it very well could it will by Thursday. Tesla is gonna explode like a band sheet and there's nothing that's gonna stop this from exploding it will explode in the earnings it will help the market and the target on this is 280. It could gap up to 280 and run it could gap up to 280 and fall it could run up and gap up to 260 and run up to 280, target on Tesla's 280 and this is tomorrow night and this is going to be a bombshell it's gonna just be an explosion of all time. So that is really gonna help the market this week too. It's the biggest name out this week and it's gonna explode. I mean it's just gonna blow away every single member of the planet.  All right so getting back to it queues are higher tomorrow morning have to do it, have to do it and I do believe that we do do it 106, 106.25 that's all it has to do we rally up target tomorrow's 107. I'd love to roll out of bed and see a gap of 107, 108. One of these days we will I keep predicting this gonna happen I said it for the last month I said don't be surprised if one of these days we gap up and have some huge massive gap up in the market but as I was talking to my broker this afternoon I said you know what Julie this is the thing that people get upset with the market then they feel like the market's against them the market isn't against anyone the market is just living and breathing and doing its thing market never broke the uptrend the entire year but people thought it did then people were happy we rallied here people then bought in here and we didn't go far and when we didn't go far then people get scared and scared and sell and panic and sell but this is not institutional panic but this is what upsets people they say wait a minute we just were higher now we're lower screw you market but the fact is the market never broke the uptrend never broke the uptrend anywhere anywhere anywhere never broke it so I mean if you're long you should have been long here but you know anyways the point was to go long here as late and even if you're long here there's no reason to kill it there's nothing wrong here but we could have broken the rule from Friday the day we didn't it's a huge sign of strength we're higher so I see bullishness Wednesday Thursday Friday into the rest of the calendar week they say sell in May not going to happen this year it's going to be unusual it's going to be very unusual and now that I look at the both of the charts of the QQQs and the spy I say wait they're not that different in all and now that I look at everything together and it was institutional buying that supported the market today and that's the biggest thing that I saw this morning that I see now in the clothes and I knew if we did that we were going to be okay this is a very weird look it's a look that people don't know how to read it's a look that people get confused about and people are very confused when we have a rally like this and then don't follow through with it and break but this really isn't a break it's kind of a couple of days sell off I don't remember the reason and I don't even care I just look up every morning and then I look at the gaps and that's all that you can do in fact what was the reason for this stupid sell off day? I remember that I was like what? That was just weird because we actually gapped up and fell and we started to follow through but then we fell in the day I don't remember the reason but the point was that we're not really falling and everything that's strong let's just look at a couple of things here and let's just look at everything here that's really movers and shakers in the market and this gives you a better picture and then ask me any questions if anybody has any questions I'm in here with the class let's just look at everything that I know is really strong okay this looks okay this looks fantastic Facebook where you looked at still looks okay just all these things are this is buying opportunity in the market all these things are buying opportunities let's look at Apple oops Apple looks the worst of all the things I've looked at but Apple is still okay not fabulous but still okay Tesla we already looked at what else? No that's not the one I wanted to look at these things are monsters yep look at that oh yay yay this this look at this beast that looks great this is gapping up with something here tonight what was the other one? Google and Google looks great too all of these things are buying opportunities if you're ready to take the chance ready to take the chance to believe the market hire and if you don't you don't know what to do you sit and you wait in the sidelines but all of these things are great buying opportunities in the market if you're gutsy enough to take the chance because I'm telling you these things are gonna rally and pull all the way around themselves but a lot of people are scared so they're gonna miss the opportunity and that's where the money lies the money lies in the opportunity if you have to pay a million dollars for something where's the opportunity you wanna get a good price in something with a good risk to reward with a good move at good cost of a good risk to reward the risk to reward has to do with the cost of your paying for the thing that you're buying but you gotta know how to read the trend and the gaps really helped me and today's gap down very well could have fallen and broken through everything and I said it might do it and I got up this morning I looked at it and said well fine but that's what we're gonna do then everything will fall off the planet but it didn't and when it didn't and I see it here now in how we closed I realized that we got bought today the fact that we didn't close green doesn't matter this happened and there's no taking it away from the happening of this this wasn't an intraday Wally gag this actually was real money that came in that blew the market over the high today flipped the market green I would be no reason this would go over the high of yesterday today this did happen and it's there and it's real and we were supported so as it's less armed with a stock switch if you're interested in the next golden guy class it's May 15th, May 14th and 15th email me at melissathesoxswitch.com for more information thanks everybody have a great day


Whoa, okay. I am Kristen Embrie from Decatur, Georgia, and I am a world history teacher. Part of the reason I applied to be a peace teacher is because my work teaching world history to students, I often talk about war, ethnic conflict, and genocide. The work is heavy and challenging, and being a peace teacher provided a different lens that was solution-oriented and different. And my students, you know, welcomed the opportunity to hear about something that gave them some hope. Part of this work includes studying influential change makers and a great example of that is Senator Warnock. Senator Warnock was elected to the Senate in 2021 and represents the state of Georgia. Prior to being elected, he served as a senior pastor for over 16 years at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where the great Martin Luther King is once ministered. Senator Warnock has devoted his life to fighting for justice and equality at the community, state, and national level in our country and abroad. His commitment to advocating for the rights of the marginalized and vulnerable echoes in the legacies of Martin Luther King and President Nelson Mandela. Growing up in Atlanta, I was inspired by the work of Dr. King and Ebenezer Baptist Church, their outreach loomed large throughout many areas in my life. This work is represented in the world of peace building and it's an honor to be here and introduce Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock from the great state of Georgia. Thank you. That's Atlanta, Georgia. With your permission, Mr. Senator, we hope to spend the next half hour, 45 minutes, as much time as you'll give us, talking about the legacy of Nelson Mandela and the implications of this legacy for the work that peace builders do. We'd like to start by looking at the relationship between activism and governing. Before he was a political prisoner and later a statesman and Nobel Prize winner, Nelson Mandela was the leader of a political movement, the African National Congress, that at one point embraced violence and it struggled in the Partite and South Africa. Mandela himself was the head of its military wing, a wing that conducted bombing, sabotage, other acts of violence. Mr. Senator, we're very interested in what we can learn from Mandela's remarkable journey from guerrilla leader to peace builder. And we know that the transition from opposition to governance is often a very difficult one, yet it is crucial to societies and to states and to individuals that are emerging from strife and reaching for peace and stability. As an activist yourself, did you find the transition from activism to governing difficult? And any advice you want to share with all of us on how to navigate this evolution? Wow. Well, hello everybody. Thank you so much. It's wonderful, first of all, really, to be here at the United States Institute for Peace. And I am thrilled to be here. I come with a great deal of respect for your mission. And we all know how important that mission is in the world at all times, but especially now. Nelson Mandela was one of my heroes. And I regret that I never got the chance to meet him personally. But I went to South Africa shortly after I actually came to the Ebenezer Baptist Church. I've been the senior pastor of Ebenezer Church now since 2005. I travel back to my church every Sunday because I don't want to spend all of my time talking to politicians. I'm afraid I might accidentally become one. But shortly after I came to Ebenezer, I went to South Africa and I did go to Robbins Island. And I was just deeply, deeply moved by his journey, by standing there at the jail cell that he actually occupied. And I thought about his time as an activist and the depth of his commitment to that work which led to 27 years in prison. And the hard labor, I think, of literally splitting rocks and the effect of that that had on his eyesight. His eyesight was dim, but his vision was always clear. And he took that vision from prison under the president. He went in that jail cell six feet tall. He walked out 50 feet tall. And so as I try to do my work in the Senate, I don't see a contradiction between my years as an activist, as a pastor, as someone whose view of my own faith tries to center justice-making and peace-building. I'm sitting in a different chair now, but it's the same project. And Mandela, among others, is an important example for me. And I think quite frankly, we need more folks in government who are coming there having been advocates and activists. I don't know that, you know, at the risk of offending some of my colleagues. I don't know that a professional class of politicians has served us all that well. There's something to be said about representative democracy. I think there's nothing wrong with folks who've been on that road their whole lives. That's fine. But I do think that they're in the mix, we get something different. So I serve in the Senate, but this is not my first trip there. I actually came to the United States Capitol in 2017, been there on many occasions, but I'm thinking particularly about my trip in 2017. Standing in the rotunda of the Capitol, I was making the argument for food security. Because part of the way you make peace in the world, whether you're just talking about in your own country or around the world, is to make sure that all gosh children can eat. And so I was in the rotunda of the United States Capitol making the case in 2017. I couldn't argue on the floor of the Senate. I was a preacher and an activist. And we were busy giving the riches of the riches of the rich in our country a $2 trillion tax cut. Meanwhile, there were challenges to the SNAP program, which provides nutrition assistance to people who are on the margins. And so I remember going to the Capitol and saying that a budget is not just a fiscal document, it's a moral document. Show me how a nation spends its money and I'll tell you what it values. And if America were given an EKG, this budget suggests that America has a heart problem. And we've come to do moral surgery. So I stood there with other colleagues in the ministry. Well, they listened to my speech. You're not able to stand in the rotunda and sing and pray as we did that day. And so I got arrested that day, the Capitol police listened to my speech and then they arrested me. I'm not mad at them. And they were just doing their job. But I do find it ironic and I laugh sometimes when I'm walking through that same routine tunnel on my way to my office. I have tried to translate my protests in the public policy, my agitation into legislation. And I'm trying to do that in such a way that even as I occupy the halls of power, that I don't lose the sensibilities of an activist, that edginess. And so I'm trying to stay in conversation with the streets. And I think that's the beauty and the power of somebody like Nelson Mandela, like somebody like Martin Luther King, Jr., like John Lewis, like so many others who shook sometimes from the outside, Fannie Lou Hamer, who didn't hold office but who shook the country up so much that when she was on television arguing the case for voting rights, the Democratic president found a clever way to get her off of TV because he was more afraid of Fannie Lou Hamer than he was of Martin Luther King, Jr. So that's what informs my work. Sorry for the long answer, I'm a Baptist preacher. And this is your choir. Mr. Senator, we wanted to look at political pragmatism. And we know that you have made working across the aisle a key aspect of what you do in Congress. In politics and international affairs, the need to speak up against injustice with moral clarity, as arguably, never been greater. And the growing polarization that we're witnessing globally means that doing so increasingly raises tensions with our allies and those with whom we might form coalitions to advance shared interests and solve problems. There's a tension here. And we look forward to your guidance and advice because many of the people in this audience would say about themselves, we're pragmatists. We want to find practical solutions to building peace. So for those of us who are pragmatic, idealists, what advice do you give us? You have to take the long view.  It is difficult. Anybody who's really in the fight and is not just an armchair, a philosopher about change, knows that it's how difficult it is. It comes in fits and starts. You look at our own democracy. There are moments in the history of the American democracy when the democracy expands. We've got these ideals, but we, you know, we struggle to live up to them. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Jefferson said that all men are created equal, that they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights among them, life-liberating the pursuit of happiness. When he said all men, apparently he meant men. When he said all, didn't mean all. But the history of our country is the history of people who are on the underside of that pushing us closer towards our ideals. And so I like the fact that in here in this city, there's the Jefferson Monument, which I love to visit, but I also love that on the other side of the title basin stands a black man named Martin Luther King, Jr., who's standing there looking at Jefferson with his arms folded. As if to say, did you really mean what you said when you said what you said?  Members of the LGBTQ plus community saying we are dignity also deserves to be honored. So in that fight, in the push towards common sense solutions in the real world, whether it's geopolitical or local, you've got to find ways to reach across the aisle to talk regularly to people with whom you don't agree and that's something that I try to do all the time. I went to Congress in 21 and out of 100 senators, it was easy for me to remember my number in seniority. I was 100 out of 100, but I was listed as the 18th most bipartisan senator in the Senate. And I'm proud of that because I was up for reelection, so that means Republicans knew I was up for reelection, but I was able to get enough of them to work with me to get the 100th most senior senator in the Senate to be the 18th most bipartisan senator in the Senate. So here's why I know we can, we can, the world is difficult, conflicts are serious. Here's how I know we can have peace. I did an amendment with Ted Cruz. That means we can get world peace now. Mr. Senator, when we were preparing for... Let me tell you about that. So Ted Cruz and I are both on the Commerce Committee and most of the time when he's talking, I'm sitting there thinking, really, is this why you came here? But one day he wanted to get something done that I also wanted to get done. And we couldn't get it done in committee, so we had to take it to the floor of the Senate the day, the night we passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill. And Ted Cruz stood up to argue about why he thought we should do this thing. We each had three minutes to make our argument, and he made his argument about why we should pass this amendment. The War Knot Cruz Amendment. And then I stood up on my side of the aisle and I heard myself say things that I'd never imagined hearing myself say. Mr. President, I'd like to associate myself with the views of the Senator from Texas. And most of our colleagues laugh like they were in disbelief, but I think they say, well, if he's for it and he's for it, we better pass this thing. They passed it unanimously. I don't know that most of them even knew what was in it, but they said they didn't. If he's for it, he's for it, we'll pass it. So they passed it. And on Twitter, we all live in these silos, which team are you on? Folks who see the world the way I do are wondering, what is this you've done with Ted Cruz and people on his side of Twitter world are asking, what are you doing? And it was very simple. There's a road that runs through Texas, I-14. It's only about 25 miles long. He wants to see that road built. That same road that runs through Texas also runs through Georgia. And so I also wanted to see that road built out. And so we came together to get that done. We didn't get the road built, but we moved a little closer by getting it named a priority corridor. So we got a little closer to getting that work. And so for me, that's a symbol, a metaphor, if you will, for the work that all of us have to do. It is the recognition that there's a road that runs through our humanity that's more important than race, that transcends religious identity, that transcends geographical identities. And our job is to try to make haste to that road, to build out the road. You build the road no matter whether you're a red or blue Democrat or Republican, you can use the road to get where you need to go, with the church or the temple or the synagogue. This road runs through all of our humanity. And as Dr. King said better than no one said it better, that we're tied in a single garment of destiny, caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality, whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. And so there will be moments when your allies won't understand why you did what you did. And that's good too, because they keep you honest about what are your values. But it is in that dance and that tension that you can actually get something done in the real world. Mr. Senator, we took a lot of time to prepare for your fireside chat with us. And we had colleagues from all over the institute that wanted to ask you questions. And one of the ones that came up the most was about nonviolence. And we looked at what Nelson Mandela thought about this, having been the head of a military wing, then eschewing violence and becoming the world's most famous peacemaker. So Nelson Mandela once said of Gandhi, we discovered, he said his philosophy contributed in no small measure to bringing about the peaceful transformation in South Africa and in healing the destructive human divisions, the ones you've just been describing, that have been spawned by the abhorrence practice of apartheid. And Nelson Mandela went on to say, in a world that's driven by violence and strife, Gandhi's message of peace and nonviolence holds the key to human survival in the 21st century. From your experience and your perspective, what role does nonviolent struggle for justice create in building peace? Well, Dr. King said that the choice now is not between nonviolence and violence. He said in 1960 that the choice is between nonviolence and non-existence. It's a recognition that in a nuclear world, nuclear age, with all the other attending dangers, that nonviolence is not only a moral choice, it's a very practical choice, that we all have a stake in trying to set the table for peace. I also think that the commitment to nonviolence is the rejection of a kind of fear-based logic that drives too much of how we work in the world. And I think the fear-based logic is what creates all of these conflicts all over the world. I think it's what's happening in our country right now. And I think in those moments, there are always demagogues who are trying to stir up that fear. And part of what they do is they dehumanize the other. There's a certain kind of language that starts getting used when human beings are getting ready to prosecute the unthinkable against other human beings. They got to make them appear to be something other than human. And so listen, no matter who the actors and who the talkers are, listen to the talk and hear the words between the words, because I think there's a way in which we have to convince ourselves to be inhumane to other human beings. And so I'm deeply committed to the principles of nonviolence. And that I do with a tough mind and a tender heart. The world is dangerous. There is the struggle in real time about how you, how do you hold at bay in any given moment the forces that are inimical to one's humanity. That was the threat that we faced in World War II. And it's not easy, it's not simple. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was somebody who was informed my thinking in my work, he was the German activist and pastor during Hitler's Third Reich. Sadly in Germany, much of the church capitulated to Hitler's Reich, they became Reich Christians. And they gave in to the, to this, they either, most either facilitated it, they certainly didn't put up much resistance. And in the end, as they were wrestling with what to do about Hitler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian pacifist, came to the conclusion that when there is a madman on the street, you know, you can try to be a spoke in the will to mitigate it, but at some point, somebody's gotta do something about the madman. And he came to the very difficult decision of actually becoming a part of the conspiracy, the pacifist, to assassinate Hitler. And with the recognition he said that at the end none of our hands are clean. And that this is the complexity of the existential situation that we found ourselves. So I'm saying that not to offer any, to say that it's not easy, it's not simple, I'm not saying this in any simple way, but the goal has to always be peace. And there's a way in which the means are tied up with the ends, as Dr. King reminded us. And if our solution, our quick solution is always to go to war, to go to the arms, you never get to peace. And in fact, you set the conditions for more conflict. So the last thing I'll say on this point is that in the end, here is what we all have in common. People who have totally different worldviews, I think. This is not the senator talking or the pastor, it's the sappy dad.  Maybe I'm so sappy because I was almost 50 when they were born. Here's what I do believe. I think that at the end of the day all of us love our children. And we love our grandchildren. That's as universally true as almost anything. We all love our children. And I think in this moment when we're dealing with these conflicts in Ukraine, in Israel and Gaza, and lots of other conflicts all over the world, my prayer is this, I wish we could just see each other's children. Like literally really see each other's children and look into the eyes of other people's children and see our own. That won't solve the world's problems, but I think that's the starting point through which we ought to engage questions around very complicated public policy. What do we want for our children? Finally, Mr. Senator, Representative John Lewis tried to get legislation that was passed that would have honored the tradition of Gandhi and King. And after he passed, Congress adopted that legislation. This institute benefited from it. Congress entrusted a mandate to us to create the Gandhi King Global Academy. We're very proud to host it. We've been asked to arrange exchanges with peace builders all across the world through this academy. If you allow me to take a minute and to ask the members of the audience who work for the academy if you could please raise your hand, stand up, let the senator know. They are desperate to ask you this question. They want to know, as the final point, Mr. Senator, what should this academy be doing? Oh, wow. So you should be doing exactly what you just said to me, John Lewis was doing, who dreamed about this, right? And finally, posthumously, you got the funding to do that. Is that correct? So that's a lesson in that point alone. I was John Lewis's pastor, but he was the mentor. And I had the honor and sad duty of officiating his funeral. And the night before his funeral, I asked myself when 23-year-old John Lewis was crossing that Edmund Pettus Bridge with nothing but a trench coat on and a backpack he and Hosea Williams. Don't forget that Hosea Williams was there too. What was he thinking? Troopers armed on the other side of that bridge. And I was talking to one of his staffers the other day and like all the civil rights heroes that I've met and we've got a lot of them in Atlanta. We just walk among giants all the time. They were happy warriors. They always had a sense of humor. One of the things I do know John Lewis's coordinates did say that day was he looked over to Hosea, he looked at the bridge, looked down, and he said, Hosea, do you know how to swim? These folks were amazing. So, but I asked myself what was John Lewis thinking crossing that bridge? Was he thinking that one day at the end of his life the whole nation would pause to observe his funeral and there would be three American presidents there on both sides of the aisle. He couldn't have imagined that. Was he thinking that one day he'd be the recipient of the presidential medal of freedom? That's not why he did it. I think John Lewis that day and he covered it in the humor. Dr. King, by the way, used to laugh and joke about his own death as well. And he would preach in these moments, these private moments, he would jokingly preach his own funeral. It's the recognition that laughter is not the gated things.  But I think John Lewis was just trying to stay alive that day so he could fight the next day. He took the long view. He recognized that he might even lose his life in the struggle, but he took the long view. I think he was just trying to stay alive that day so he could fight the next day, but by some stroke of grace, mingled with human endurance and resilience, that day he bent the arc a little bit closer towards justice. He built a bridge while crossing the bridge and all of us are the blessed beneficiaries of his enduring lifelong commitment. And then you say to me today that he wanted this program. This was his dream. And it finally happened after his death. It's just like John Lewis to teach us not only how to live, but also how to die. You should commit to a life's project that's longer than your lifespan. If your life's project can be done during your lifetime, it's too small. And thank God for those of you who are committed, all of us who are committed to the work of peace making in the world. It's not easy work. There's a way in which people might say you're crazy. Commit your life to bringing peace. It sounds too, you know, ethereal and mystical. But it's the future of our children that's at stake. And I hope that you will continue to dream big and dream of a world and a reality that will take more than your lifetime to complete and that knowing that brick by brick by brick, we build what Dr. King called the World House, the beloved community and all of us are blessed to be on the journey. So thank you so very much. Pauli, we're going to ask if you can stay in your seats for just a moment as the Senator departs. We hope you all join us for the dedication of the Nelson Mandela Plaza. We'll be right outside these doors. I hope everyone joins me in saluting the exceptional Senator Warnock. Thank you very much. Thank you.


Welcome to the session. Today we will discuss the following question. The question says, a suitcase with measures 80 cm by 48 cm by 24 cm is to be covered with a tarpaulin cloth. How many meters of tarpaulin of width 96 cm is required to cover 100 such suitcases? Before proceeding for the solution let's recall the formula of surface area of a cuboid that is equal to 2 into L into B plus B into H plus H into L where L is the length of the cuboid, B is the width and H is the height. Also recall area of a rectangle that is L into B where L is the length of the rectangle and B is the width of the rectangle. This is the key idea for this question. Now let's see its solution. Let us assume that this figure represents the suitcase with length 80 cm, width 48 cm and height 24 cm. So for suitcase length that is L is equal to 80 cm, width that is B is equal to 48 cm and finally height that is H is equal to 24 cm. Now we need to find the amount of cloths required to cover this suitcase. For that we will find its total surface area. And total surface area and surface area are one and the same thing. So let's write surface area of suitcase is equal to Now this is 2 into L into B plus B into H plus H into L. By the key idea we will substitute the values and get 2 into L into B that is 80 into 48 plus B into H that is 48 into 24 plus H into L and H into L is 24 into 80 and the unit will be centimeter into centimeter that is centimeter square that is 2 into 3840 plus 1152 plus 1920 centimeter square that is 2 into 6,912 centimeter square and this gives 13,824 centimeter square So the amount of cloths required to cover one suitcase is equal to 13,824 centimeter square Now this is the surface area of one suitcase therefore surface area of 100 suitcase is is equal to 100 into 13,824 centimeter square that is equal to 13,824 centimeter square Now in question we are given that the width of the tarpulin cloth is 96 centimeters thus the tarpulin cloth will be in the form of a rectangle so that means we need to find the length of the tarpulin cloth so that it covers the area of 13,824,00 centimeter square that means area of rectangular tarpulin cloth is equal to 13,824,00 centimeter square and we know that the area of a rectangle is length into width that is L into B so here we can write that area is equal to L into V and here for the tarpulin cloth L we need to find out and B is given to be 96 centimeters so that means area that is 13,824,00 is equal to L into B that is 96 Now dividing both sides by 96 we will get 13,824,00 over 96 equal to L into 96 over 96 so this will give us 144,00 equal to L therefore we can say that length of tarpulin cloth is equal to 14,400 centimeters now we need to find the length of the tarpulin cloth in meters so let's see now we know that 1 centimeter is equal to 1 upon 100 meters so this implies 14,400 centimeters will be equal to 14,400 upon 100 meters that is equal to 144 meters so length of the tarpulin cloth is equal to 144 meters therefore 144 meters of tarpulin cloth is required to cover 100 suitcases and this is our required answer with this we finish this session hope you must have understood the question goodbye and take care


Hi, everyone. Welcome to a real conversation between two native English speakers. I'm Liz Wade and this is Adam Navas. Hi, Adam. Hello, Liz. And we are going to discuss our program, Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. And you can find that program on our website with a script that you can read along at www.spotlightenglish.com or you can find it on YouTube or anywhere that you get a podcast. So you can listen to it or you can watch it and follow along. And yeah, so we're going to discuss that program today. Did I forget anything, Adam? Where else can you find our programs? Wherever you get your podcast, YouTube and our website, I think you have all of them. Yeah, okay. Okay, I got them all. You see, Adam, I feel like I'm a little, here's an English word that is not common, discombobulated. Oh, that is a good word. It's a fun word, but it is, you're right. It is not a common word. No, but it means that I feel a little bit like my mind is here and there and a little bit of everywhere. A lot of different pieces, not a lot of order. Right, they don't, they aren't fitting together and they're not jiving together. Well, that's the beauty of this being a real conversation, right? Yes, exactly. People are experiencing us less put together, very real. Exactly. So are you feeling discombobulated, Adam, or are you feeling good? I am feeling, what would be, I'm trying to think of a word that's, because you're never, combobulated is not a word. Right. Yeah, that is true. I am feeling more put together than discombobulated. So I'm okay, and I mean that not in a trite way, not in a, just this is the answer I'm going to give you, but I feel good. I have a, when we're recording this, I don't know when you are watching this, but it's going to be my birthday soon, so I'm feeling good. Oh yeah. Yeah, happy early birthday. Thank you, thank you. Adam, that is a great lead-in to what I wanted to talk about next, which is YouTube memberships. Yes. If you want to find out more about YouTube memberships and getting more out of your spotlight English practice, you can hit that join button right underneath the video on YouTube and learn more about what it means to become a spotlight English member. And one of the perks, one of the cool things that you can get from spotlight English is a birthday shout-out. Yeah, just like this. Happy birthday, me. So if I... Yeah, maybe I'll make you a birthday shout-out. Yeah, as a demonstration. Yes, exactly. And so while you're down there, oh. I was just saying to the people who are members already, we've really enjoyed that little community that's starting to form. Yes. And so while you're down there checking out that join button, make sure that you like this video, subscribe. If you haven't already subscribed to this channel and then click the little bell to always get a notification. Because we are not a channel that says subscribe and gives you nothing more. We have a lot, a lot of content coming your way. Yes, that is true. Okay, well, let's get back to Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. Hopefully everyone's had a chance to listen to that program or check it out on our website. I actually wrote this program and I wrote it because I read the book Things Fall Apart. So obviously Chinua Achebe is an author, a writer, and he is from Nigeria. And I think that I had read an article or read something about this book Things Fall Apart. And I had read it a long time ago, maybe in high school or something like that. And I remembered parts of it, but as I read this article and learned more, I really wanted to read it again. So I actually bought the book and read it. And I have it right here. Very nice. And I was looking through it yesterday to refresh my memory. And yeah, then I was thinking, I should read this again. But anyway, I read this book to write this program. And so the program really goes through the history of Chinua Achebe and why he started writing what things influenced him. He was a pretty amazing man, honestly. Yeah, I think it's a great program that talks about this person and their motivations for writing, which were pretty significant. Not just, oh, I want to tell a story, but I got really interested and excited in the program talking about his reaction to some of the ideas and literature that was already out there. I'm using quotes, Africa. Because Africa is, and that's one of the things we can talk about, right? Like when people say Africa, what do they even mean? Because it's such a big country. So I don't know if that's what was interesting to you about this Chinua, but that's one of the things for me that was like this is really an interesting book and author. Well, let's talk about that incident that you brought up. So he saw this very, it's a movie, right? It's a book and a movie. A book, yes. Okay. See, I studied a lot of film in college, and so that's my immediate go-to. But yeah, there's a book by Joseph Conrad called Heart of Darkness. So of course, we're already having a very problematic title about people, I don't know where it takes place, but it is in the continent of Africa. And I'm going to look at the script right now as I describe this so I don't get it wrong. So the book was written in 1902 and it tells of a European man and his travels in parts of Africa. And in those days, many Europeans called Africa the dark continent. They had a very poor view of Africans. So the book showed them as like not intelligent, not well-spoken. And so I'm going to just read this paragraph from the program. It's very good, I think. Achebe tells about the longest group of words said by an African character in Heart of Darkness. The character says only eight words and he's not very eloquent. So not very well-spoken or speaking nicely. The African man says, catch him, give him to us, eat him. So in a book about Africa, that is the longest group of words said by an African character, which is like a tragedy. And Achebe says that this is not his experience of Africa at all, but this was the sort of content that's going out around the world that's popular around the world, well, the Western world, which is just not representing his culture. So he started writing in response to that. It was an insult to his people. Right? And of course, that's something that continues to happen if not just about the country of Africa or the country of Nigeria, it happens if you don't see, if you don't have a means of telling your story, whether through books or movies or podcasts or YouTube, if you don't have that, if you can't put that out, someone else is going to tell your story. So when someone outside your culture, let's just say language, right? It's very easy to say to someone watching this, oh, you don't speak good English. When I experience you, you must not be very intelligent. Well, the truth is the people, spotlight people are learning a second or third language, they're probably much more intelligent than you or I are, let's be honest. And they're motivated and driven and ambitious. But because people in Europe and people in the United States control, let's talk about movies, like what's being shown, how characters are getting portrayed, not just in a book written in 1902, but right this year. Literature and films today. Exactly. And so I think when we say Africa, people say, oh, that means lions and safari, that means tribes, that means the Lion King basically. Even though the continent of Africa is, there's coastlands and there's deserts and there's jungle and there's all kinds of diversity. Yeah, it's actually to sort of emphasize how big this is. I always love seeing those maps where other countries are laid on top of a map of Africa and it is insanely huge. Africa covers so much land mass and so many people and so many countries. It's so difficult to, yeah, I mean, how could you ever think you were telling the story of Africa by... In one book or in one, it's, yeah. But we do it, right? And it's problematic and it's helpful in some ways, like if we're saying, hey, we try to explain to people who might be watching this video, life in the United States. And we suffer the same problem, right? Yeah. We talk about life in the United States, but what we're talking about is some kind of general, usual thing that probably isn't really accurate. Yeah. This is a funny example of this. We have a series of short videos about the differences between UK English and US English and you should check out that playlist. But a lot of people from the US will go on there and be like, we don't use this word or like, I live in England and I've never heard this word. Well, okay, yes, we cannot cover every single language difference, like, especially in England where there are like a hundred different accents in, you know, a span of six miles or whatever. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah, I think, but I think it is important to recognize that that is something that happens and then seek out, be intentional about the stories that we engage with, whether it's through books or television or wherever to say, oh, I heard, you know, pick a country, Japan is, this is, this is what Japanese people like. Well, right. True. But we should maybe go and find a Japanese writer and maybe not just one, but two or three or, or in, because we want that diversity because even one person, even a Chebe, isn't, he, this person doesn't get to tell everyone's story. It gets to tell his story or the character in this fiction story. So I think that's so important because we want to hear the people's, I do, I want to hear people's stories from the, in their own words. Yes. This also reminds me of another writer, Chimamanda Adichie, who we also have a program about who talks about this as well, about telling your own story. And if you're not going to tell your story, then who is? Yeah. So, yeah, I think that, I think that we can, we can have a challenge to our listeners.  I would love to hear, to hear in the comments of this program that you let us know who is, who's telling the stories of your country well that, that Liz and I should, should know about, that we could maybe talk about. Put it in the comments. I love getting book recommendations from our listeners. It's really cool.  And I, I love that. I love that about the people who watch this channel and who listen to this podcast. And I think that is one of the real strengths of this community, is that we are all sort of doing this thing together, right? Like, practicing English, but also learning about the world and your place in it and how you can learn more about it and be a member of the community. Yeah. So, I want to throw out, I want to get the ball rolling with two authors that I like. They're not from, they're from different cultures. So, there's a Japanese writer called Haruki Murakami, who I really enjoy. So, if you haven't read any of his books. I have not. And then there's a, I believe it's Portuguese, José Saramago, which I think won the Summer Warden, you know, Nobel Prize or something in literature. So, those are, they're both pretty famous writers. So, a lot of you might have known about them. So, I really enjoy them. Yeah, they're doing very creative work and are outside my culture. So, I enjoy that aspect of it well. So, I'll get the ball rolling and let us know if there are writers or storytellers of various kinds that you enjoy. Yeah, that's awesome. And we'll put those authors and maybe a few books that you can recommend, Adam, into the description of this program. That would be really great. Again, thank you for watching or listening. However, you're taking this content in, we really encourage you to become a member of the spotlight community if you want to take your practicing and learning another step further. And you can learn more about that by clicking the join button underneath this video. You don't pay for anything until you decide to join. So, just clicking join just lets you learn a little bit more and then you can decide from there. Be sure to check out our website every Monday for a new program and that's www.spotlightenglish.com. We have an app for Android and Apple devices. So, if you prefer to take that in to do your English practicing that way, that's a way for you to do that. Check us out on YouTube, anywhere you get your podcasts. And I think that's it. So, we really encourage you to listen, watch, practice, and learn Spotlight Out.