HOW WE KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN!

Welcome back to the pod. I’m Mike Dreyden Figueroa and this Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I share my take on events of the day, things that I’ve seen, heard and experienced.

This week’s is a tough one. We, the United States, have got to come to an awakening. Everything we fought for and against in the 1940s is being spit, pissed and shit on. I have some thoughts, but first…

Reviewing the week: Willie Colon Died. USA Men’s Hockey Team Ruins Gold Medal Win! Partying with Patel. The Rational National dives in . Didn’t go to the White House: Colorado Avalanche forward Brock Nelson, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel, Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe, Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger and Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor have all declined President Trump's invite and instead have returned to their respective NHL teams. STATE OF THE UNION. Rep Al Green holds up sign! Black People Aren’t Apes! HOW THE FUCK!? Stowaway Svetlana Doli. BLIZZARD w/ CONNER STORRIE.

TOPIC 1: The Civil War! The North stopped short. The Civil Rights Era! Third time’s the charm? TOPIC 2: Education is Key Here! We must keep teaching history! Black innovators and investors. Latino innovators and investors. TOPIC 3: Take Action! Shop local. Stock up on essentials. Call/Write to your Senators! Become community oriented! V O T E ! Register at the post office, DMV, library, community center. Register online!

NOW YOU TELL ME: How has the current political climate affected you? What are your hopes for the midterms? Do you even care… No judgements.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It may not seem like much, but I've got tips on how to help us from going through this again. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the pod. I'm Mike Draden Figueroa, and this is Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I give you my take on the things I've experienced, seen, and gone through and witnessed. Okay, look. I feel like. Alright, it's this is gonna be a tough one this week. I feel like we're gonna be doing some adulting. I feel like we need to come to an awakening as a nation. Um I feel like everything we fought for is being during the Second World War, the First World War, all of us to me it everybody's spitting on it, shitting on it, trying to undo it, unravel it. I don't understand. And I have some thoughts, but first after I posted last week's episode, uh the news came through that Willie Cologne died, and I was like, ugh, this is this sucks because I would have liked to have included him in last week's post, but you know, sometimes I hate it when when my news feed doesn't come through right away, or I come to things uh too late for from my knowledge. I feel like I should have known this hours ago, but anyway. Yeah, he was Willie Cologne was one of the most influential Puerto Rican musicians New York ever produced. Um he was influential in a lot of artists' paths and where they ended up, and most recently, of course, um Bad Bunny, uh Benito. Um he was an incredible Latino advocate for the Bronx and mostly because that's where he was from, uh, but mostly for you know, Puerto Rico's Latinos in in New York City. Um, but he was very right-leaning, um, very machismo, very homophobic, very it was a lot like my dad. Um, my father was sexist, homophobic, anti-gringo, and and and that's a whole other conversation. Um and it broke my heart to find these things out about him because I I really didn't know. Um but yeah, um, he died. And his music was uh a lot of music that I um learned how to dance salsa and and and merengue too, mostly salsa, but um, it was part of my growing up as a teenager, living with my father's family and getting to know them and experiencing that part of my culture. Um but yeah, he voted for the turd in 2019. That blew my mind. I'm like, I don't understand, but a lot of his posts, from what I understand, started to be very uh right-leaning and um and uh MAGA. For a Puerto Rican man from the Bronx, I don't understand how how your your vision changes like that. Being anti-immigrant, bro, your your parents were from the island, they immigrated here, even though they were American citizens, they immigrated here. Back then it was a whole different understanding. Um so yeah, he died. Uh the other thing that really pissed me off this week, and I gotta be honest with you, okay. Someone posted this on their their one of their I'm sorry, I lost the word there for a second. On Instagram or wherever it was, I saw it. The the re in the re- the new interest, the reinterest in hockey and and uh bringing people back to the game or bringing new people to the game uh it because of heated rivalry was off the charts. The NF, the NHL and other uh hockey uh organizations were seeing an influx of interest and and little minor leagues, little leagues you know, getting it was a boom for the friggin' sport. Until the men's hockey team decided, after they won their gold, Mozat's off to you guys, because hey, fuck, you you how many years? Since 1980, right? Or whatever it was? Uh no gold medal. You got your asses handed to you every time. Here they have this dimwit partying with them on our dime. Because it is our dime, and that's not, you know, some conspiracy bullshit stuff. It costs us, the American people, money every time an official travels somewhere to do some work. That's we we pay for that. Where do you think the money comes from? We pay for that with our taxes, right? Keeps the country going, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All right. So you've got Cash Patel partying with them. Does not look good because any other official who had done that, they'd have their assets handed to them, right? Okay. Um, and if you check out the Rational National's um YouTube post on that, with on his channel, he he goes into a deep dive into that. I'm not going to reiterate it here. Um, but then taking the call with the president and and shitting on the, like, oh, you know, we're gonna have to bite the girls too, because you know, they want the women's hockey team was kicking ass for years. I'm glad it didn't go. I'm disappointed, and I I don't know if that carries any weight anymore, but being disappointed is far more heavy than being pissed off at somebody because it's like how we look at each other after that. You can make a mistake, you can make a faux pas, you can try to fix it, but there's levels to that, and this was like way up there. Um, do you have daughters, you have sisters, you have mothers. There would be no men without women. That's a biological scientific fact. There would be no men without women. You know what I mean. Um, and I think the strongest men are mostly raised by their mothers. You know, I know I get my resilience from my mother. For sure. Uh I'll tell you who didn't go, and kudos to you guys. Uh, Colorado Avalanche forward Brock Nelson didn't go to the to the White House. Tampa Bay Lightnings forward uh Jake Grensel. Sorry if I butchered that. He didn't go. Um, the Anaheim Ducks defensiveman, Jackson Lake Lake didn't go. Dallas Star, uh, the Dallas Stars goalie goaltender, Jake. Sorry, Auton Tenger, he didn't go. And Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor have all declined the President Trump's invite. And instead have returned to their respective NHL teams. Good for you guys. You know, fuck that dude. Um, yeah, I don't recall seeing any of these people at the State of the Union, which brings me to my next topic. I tried to watch, I really did, but every time that man starts talking, I like my brain folds in on itself because it's a he's a parody of himself. And he's when he speaks, he sounds so uneducated and unintelligent. Even when he's reading off the damn teleprompter, he you can tell he doesn't believe anything he's saying. You can see he's like, he's not excited about anything he's reading or telling us. Um I can't handle the look of his voice. The look of his face and the sound of his voice just I can't. I honestly I can't. Um I'll tell you who really killed it though. Uh, Representative Al Green, my man. This this man right here, right here, this man right here did the thing. But he got uh ushered out and um escorted out, whichever way you want to say it. I listen. It takes some balls to do that shit and more power to you. I am glad you're there because black people aren't apes. That's crazy, crazy shit, crazy shit. And how the okay, how the fuck, how the fuck did this woman, this woman, get past airport security again onto a goddamn flight again? How all of all of all of us, all of us have to go through TSA security. You have to show your ID, your passport, your your boarding pass, your everything to get past them, to get screened, to get to the gates. How? Does she have fake shit on her? She's on a watch list, right? She's she had a uh a security uh bracelet put on her the last time that she cut off and got in trouble for. Svet Svetlana Dal. How? How? The rest if it was anybody else, anybody else, you'd be in jail. You would be in jail already. This woman, this is not the first or second or third time this woman has done this. Well, you think, oh, I'm just gonna go, I'm going to Paris this weekend. Oh, I'm going to Europe this weekend. I don't care. How the fuck? How the fuck? The way security is you can't even fucking fart without them stopping everything in like what what was that sound? There's vapors in the air. So, so frustrating. It's ridiculously frustrating. But what makes it all worthwhile is knowing that while we were having our blizzard, Connor's story was here in New York, stuck with all of us somewhere in Manhattan in the hotel room. Hopefully with um someone sexy who plays a hockey player too. Because I'm not talking about Hudson Williams. I believe I look, I if if he and Francois are a thing, I love this for them because why not? He's fucking hot. Look, um, yeah. I'm not talking about the any um uh I'm not talking about SNL at all. I'm not I'm just that's for me this week. I'm not talking about it. But I enjoyed the skit that came out last week with the accent off. Uh yeah. How is how is how is the world without these people? Before Bad Bunny and hated rivalry, Debbie tirama photo and hated rivalry. The world didn't exist. Now it does. Alright, folks, listen. I need an infusion. I love my coffee in the morning. Feel so good going down small. How's my nerves? Alright. The Civil War. Let's talk about it. I feel like the North stopped short after we won, right? I think this is this is what I mean. And I don't, and I mean this with um a strategy behind it. I think the South should have been sterilized of races, racism, all of that. I think because there was there was a different sense of decorum when it came to um came to uh Congress and leadership and what people were trying to accomplish back then and their the level of respect they held for the offices that they they hold or held. Um but there were some who were conniving and and okay, look, I'm not giving people a pass here, but uh people did what they did, right? I just think to stamp out all of that further, I think they should have just removed people from office, they should have put them in jail, they should have deported them because some of them were, there was like no real sense of a nation yet. So, you know, send them back to where they came from, their ancestry from. Some of the, you know, we were already entrenched here and building a nation. I understand this. But maybe having everything they held dear taken from them, especially their land, I think that would have set the tone. That we will not be tolerating that here. We all built this nation, we're building this nation for something better. All of that, aside from, you know, the slavery and the massacres and the displacement of indigenous people, I understand this. But that this moment that's keep that has us here where we are now was, I think, an allowance of people letting people allow to still fly the Confederate flag, to still hold uh a nostalgia for for whatever and how they treat people of color, right? Okay, I think that should have been stamped out way before. Um, again, clear out the politicians, have them removed from office. You cannot represent where you're from because of what you wanted or how you see people, right? How you're using people as slaves, how you didn't, and what was the civil war? It was because the South didn't want to give up their slaves. They looked at people of color, black people, as property. Right? That's in part, right? Okay. Not to give northerners a pass, but that's what they were trying to change. And they said, okay, we're going to war for this. We're gonna, we, we're gonna fight for this. All right. Um, I think they should have jailed the financial supporters of these southerners who continued their campaigns. They should have jailed their generals and their uh uh military people. They should have been jailed. It may have cost money, but use the money that they had to build the prisons to put all of them in jail. Or build prisons up north and keep them there, or say, hey Canada, can you hold on to these people for a little bit, just a few years, and then we'll take it back. I don't know why I said that, but that makes no sense. Pardon me. And I think it should have been, unless it is, no, it's not a crime, it should flying the Confederate flag or allowing it to be part of a state flag should have been criminal. Criminalizing the Confederate flag. And if anybody's made noise about that, jail, because you're continuing to fester. Am I saying this right? You're allowing these people to fester in this anger that's misdirected, right? They're you're allowing them to say, we may have lost, but we're still legitimate. No, you're not. So I think that's right. So that was, you know, during the Civil War era. Now, civil rights era, again, I think we had a second chance to to to do this, to stamp it out, right? Um uh equating uh southern lawmakers and and politicians, same difference, but you know, uh equating them to Nazis, yes, absolutely, would have set a tone. Because we had just come off winning a second world war, right? Treating people of color and black woods just like what the Nazis did to the Jews and to the gypsies and to everyone else who was not German, or blonde-haired and blue-eyed, or you know, pure-blooded German that could be traced back, right? Um equating them that way. I think clearing out those politicians again and seizing their assets because money talks. Money talks. Right? Seizure you want to continue this way? You know, that's not what this country is about. And so now we have a third time's a charm situation, maybe right? Here we are, again, in this moment, dealing with these kinds of people who are manipulating the financial systems, who are raising prices to the point where they're gonna have us fighting each other for resources, right? Um can we stamp it out? Yeah, we're working on it, I think it seems that way. Um I just had a brain fart, like uh not a fart, but uh like I got lost in thought that like what what is it that I'm aware of? I don't want to come off as sounding like I'm I'm drinking the Kool-Aid of one side or the other. It's just my sense of what I learned in history, colored as it may be, um, or shaded toward one side or another. Why do I keep saying those leaning toward one side or another just seemed to me when growing up, it seemed like it was progress happening, how we were growing as a nation, how we stopped all these bad things that we used to do, right? Um and it's the the cycle is just repeating itself because the younger generation now are not aware of where we came from. And that is the most dangerous thing if you don't know where you came from, you don't know who you are and where you're going, and where you could be going or where you end up, and you're wondering how the hell did we get here? It's because people are not being educated as to what happened before, so that it doesn't happen again. I may be preaching to the choir to a lot of people right now, but that's how I feel about it, right? Okay, so um what we need to do, what I think we need to do, is in this election cycle, the midterms, if it's not messed with, is voting in a lot of Democrats or left-leaning people, uh, getting control of the Congress again, um, clearing out all of the right-leaning politicians. I just had a thought, like um Marjorie T Marjorie whatever. Uh there were many reasons why she dropped out. Um, I think she may have come to an awakening a little bit and saw some shit that scared her, and like, nah, this is not why I got here. And then constantly being, you know, um shut down, whatever. Um people like her, Bo Bert needs to go. A lot of these people running these committees need to go, and they cannot be given a voice once they're in the minority. They cannot be given a voice anymore. They cannot, they cannot hold position, you know, they're gonna make a lot of noise and like decorum this and decorum that when they gave none. You know, like how do you how do you look your constituents in the face and say, okay, you've had healthcare all these years and you're feeling better about your life and you're feeling better about yourself and you're you're making progress now. I'm gonna take that away from you, and this is why, because they they are giving it away for free over there. Meanwhile, you can't put food on your table because you're spending all your money on trying to stay from being thrown out in the street. And maybe you've got these exorbitant uh uh medical bills. In my head, it all came out fast. I don't I hope it made sense when it came out here. I'm just saying, how do you look at your the people who put you in office? You're gonna stamp out waste and abuse, but they're starting to turn around and say, wait a minute, I'm not wasting and abusing, I'm paying my taxes. You know, my biggest argument, too, as a side note, is I'm all for people coming to this country to seek a better life. That was the whole foundation of this country, right? Part of it. They got rid of the criminals and you know, they shipped them off to the new world and you know, sink or swim people. Um, some of them came here and you know bought up the land and all of that, right? But they came here for a better life. And they scraped and and they I'm all for that. What I'm not for is that you become a burden on the System. There's steps, and I'm sure there are. There are there are many steps involved in how you get to services and all of that. I think that as an American citizen, we should automatically be given these things to help us get on our feet, not jump through a thousand hoops. Once upon a time, I was really down on my luck and I had to get services and I had to get food stamps because I had no money for food. I can get to and from work, keep my a roof over my head, but I had no money for food at the end of the day. The experience, and growing up when we were kids, we had food stamps. You know, my mom had a, you know, she did what she had to do to keep a roof over our head, but she did what she had to do to get food in our bellies, right? And back then we had the coupon books and it was like different colored money, looked like Monopoly money. And I was so embarrassed to have to go to the supermarket or the deli to use to use that. But she explained it. She's like, you don't use this, you don't have dinner. You choose. Right? Okay. So moving forward, I had to go through all these foods and show them why. I'm like, hey, lady, I don't want to be here, but I literally have no money and I'm hungry. I haven't eaten today. I had no pride in doing that, but I was willing to go through the process to do that. So what I'm trying to say is that if for people coming to this country, they should go through a process, get services to get them on their feet. Yes. But as an American citizen, that should not be twice as hard for us. If you find yourself down on your luck and you're trying to get out from under that, right? I don't know if that came out horrible or not. But I just think it should be easier for us than for people who come here doing everything the right way. But it should be easier, right? And not take advantage because people take advantage. Okay. I think we should seize their assets too. Because that will straighten them up. And I think they should be jailed for everything that they did that allowed Where We Are to happen. I think we should release the Epstein files. And I think we should jail Musk or deport him because wait, is he a citizen now? I don't know, but I know he's from South Africa. Get his ass out of here because he he's fucked a lot of stuff up. I don't think this episode's gonna go very far, uh, but I hope you get to see it. Hey, listen, this all brings me to education, which I think is key. Um we have to, we must keep teaching history. Regardless of how you feel about how it's been presented or written or created or however, we have to teach the younger generation get off your damn phones, get off your damn video games, and read a book. Or at least Google World War II, World War I, uh uh the Civil War, um, the war of 1812, all of that, the Spanish-American War. Google it, read the blurbs and stuff so you have at least an understanding of how this country became it just didn't poof, there it is. You know, it a lot of evil shit happened for us to have this country. Yes. A lot of great shit happened for us to have this country. But education has to be, you know, I re I my god, I I I don't know if this is doable now, but I mean, because of the way things happen, but I would get my ass beat if my fucking homework wasn't done. You're watching TV with a bowl of cereal, did you do your homework? Wham, upside the head. Get the get, you know, it was not it was not a joke. And I think for us too, because you know, we're we were who we were growing up and where we grew up, it was more my mother instilled that you have to do twice as much. So this way, not only our family, but the rest of the world respects you. You're not gonna get far if you don't know anything. I mean, would there would be I couldn't do it now, but there would be weekends where they would, depending on how we did in the week in school, the weekends would be all about memorizing our multiplication tables past the 12 times table, because it it blew my mind there's more. Oh my god, there's more. There's more. And yeah, there has to be education has to be still, and not just the that stuff. It we need to teach a younger generation as well that people of color were part of the innovation of this country. Uh, for instance, and I have a list. Um, black innovators and and inventors, uh, the the six triple eight. Watch that movie on on Netflix. That shit blew my mind. I had no idea. That was amazing that these women did what they did and the hardship that they had to go through to get it done. But they got it done. Right? The the six triple eight. That was great. Hidden figures. I had no idea about this. Black women were doing the math that got the spaceships and the rockets flying. I didn't know this. Why did why didn't they teach us that in school? I keep looking at the calendar, like it's gonna some miraculous memory sheet. Um calendars are a major part of who I am. I love a calendar, and anyway, anyway. Um, yeah, the the 688, the hidden figures. Um, Garrett Morgan invented the three light stop sign. Garrett Morgan, black man. Lewis, oh I need my glasses for this one. Sorry. Alright. Uh oh, Lewis Latimer. He invented the light bulb filaments that Edison used to make the light bulb. Created the filament. He needed something to spark the that. Dr. Charles Drew's blood bank technology. He invented the technology they used to create blood banks. Latino inventors and innovators. Louis von An, A-H-N. He created the capture and Duolingo. Did you know that? Yeah. Duolingo. Helping the world communicate. We'll get help. Ellen Achoa, she was uh NASA, she created the NASA's optical systems that they use on the ships and stuff like that. Julio Palmas. He invented the uh balloon expandable stint that they use for, you know, when you have heart trouble or you have a blood clot. Yeah. Julio Palmas. And Alejandro Saffaroni, I think he may be mixed, but um, he created the transdermal uh drug patch. Like, for instance, they use this technology for uh testosterone patches, for nicotine patches, for blah blah blah blah blah, all kinds of patches. These are the people who created these things. And more. There are other people who have created so much more. Do you remember encyclopedias? I mean, we had to, there were times where my mother just to, you know, I feel like she did it just to fuck with us because we fucked up and we're getting on her nerves or whatever. She's like, You're gonna write a book or report, pick a subject, go to encyclopedias, pick any book and just write something. But it made us smarter. I think that's probably why I was hated so much because I'm like, uh-uh, that's not true. I read. Yeah, we need to take action, people. We need to take action. Now, this is the part where you know I said in the beginning, it may not be much, but I think these little things add up if many, many, many more people start doing it, and it really comes down to money. The little bit we have, hold on to it, don't spend it. I know it's hard, I know it's hard, but if you're gonna have to spend money, shop local, go to your local pharmacy. I'm I I think I mentioned this before and I just forgot to do it, but I've been having my uh refills going to the CBS that's like close to the the clinic that I go to just to save time and energy. But I'm gonna go to a local clinic around the corner and see if they carry what I need. And if they do, just have it sent there just so I can go over there and support them, uh the pharmacy around the corner. Go to your local grocery store. Do not use, do not use these delivery services. Do not use, I know I know it's hard and your life might be crazy. But hey, if you have a day off, get up early in the morning. Set set the night before. Your day off is coming. The night before your day off, set up your your push cart, your everything you need for the supermarket, leave it right by the door. You gotta do is you know, shit, shower, shave, whatever you're gonna do, throw something on and walk out the door with your stuff and hit the supermarket before the crowds do and get it done. You will save more money and you will choose better food. Uh, budget yourself that way. I I love going to the supermarket. I just forced myself to start doing that again because well, the blizzard was coming. And I was like, prices are crazy, but you know, I planned for that. I got my essentials, I have a fridge full of food, I'm not spending money eating out, maybe a couple snacks here and there. But yeah, do that. Go to your local grocery store. Get to know these people so this way you're like, hey, do you happen to have this thing, or can you order this thing? Or, you know, they're I'm sure they'll do that. Avoid chain businesses as much as you can. If you're, I don't want to say their names out loud, but those food delivery trucks, one is green with all kinds of fruit on the side, the other one has uh reminds you of math equation. Just try to avoid them. So this way they can see why are our numbers dropping. Remember what I said about Target last episode. You know, the boycott is happening is working, they're noticing. They're noticing. Stock up on the essentials, you know, get go to your supermarket, get generic brands, don't buy the the fancy whatever, whatever. Um, they're just as good. Sometimes they're from made by the same company, and it's just you know, the same product and different boxes. Um take your lunch or dinner to work with you. I try to do that, but I just don't feel satisfied when I do that. I prefer to buy my salad from the the deli. But it's a local deli who makes my salad. You know, they import everything into the store, so I feel better that way, and it's not that expensive. Um, just don't spend a dime. Don't spend a fucking dime on anything chain or big. Call and write your senators. Um, I meant to have a link, um, but they're so it's so elaborate, and of course, it's depending on where you're watching me, um, it may not, it may not be the same for you guys. But Google who your your senators are, who your your leadership is, call them. It's okay to call them. Don't be afraid that they're gonna trace you or you are you voted for these people in office. You can say, hey, listen, I voted for you, and this is how I feel about what what's going on, and this is what I feel you should be doing or might try to do. Have you considered this? How come we haven't heard from you? I voted for you, how come I haven't heard from you? Even I get all kinds of messages, five dollars this, ten dollars that can't keep us in the fight. What are you doing for my five dollars? What are you doing for my vote? What are you doing? Talk to me, come to a chat, to a child meeting, a chat, when you town hall, do it. Let these people know. Because the more you hear from they, the more they hear from you, the better, I think. And I think that's what we call good trouble, right? Speaking up. We've got to speak up. We have to. And I may punk out sometimes, but I will, I will, I'm a good, I'm good for an email. I am good for email. Schumer and Gillibrand, and everybody knows, I'm sure they know my name. There, here he comes. And I don't send them long, so I'm like, hey, listen, I just saw your your conference on this, blah blah blah. That whole fiasco with Schumer's name. We stand with Israel, we stand with Israel. Um, do we? Because I remember not what 80, 90 years, no, how many years ago? They were doing that to our people. They were doing that to our people in Germany, in Poland, and everywhere else. Do we stand with Israel? The government is okay. I'm not gonna lose just because you're anti-a government doesn't mean you're anti-a per a people, a religion, or an idea, unless it's if it doesn't sit with you. Governments are governments, they're not the people per se. I hope that makes sense. That's how I feel. Even our government, with the shit that they do. I don't I don't support this government. Even when Obama was off in office, there's some of the stuff that went down. I'm like, bro, that was not right. I did not agree with that. I do not agree with that. That's messed up. Um, yeah. Become community oriented, find out where your local community center is. Um, find out where what your local church is doing, find out what your local food bank is doing. Um, volunteer, get involved, like get, you know, and mostly if you're a Latino or a person of color, whatever, I know you're probably doing this already, but do so more in your neighborhoods. So this way the gentrifiers too are seeing, oh, these are my community members as well. Because I feel like, you know, out of sight, out of mind, and then they start thinking a particular way, or they start like, oh, well, that doesn't work for me. Be visible in a good way in your in your neighborhoods and your communities. Umate if you can. Um check in on your neighbors, especially your elderly neighbors. Find out what they need. I think that's important too to help us keep strong together. Vote. I know you probably think, what's the point? You have to because with all the shenanigans that they're trying to pull, your vote matters. You can register, you can go to the library, you can go to the post office, you can go to the DMV, say I need to register to vote. When you change your address or you move, it asks you on the change of address form from the post office, would you like to register to vote? And they would they put you down to your new address and get in the mail, your new district, your new blah blah blah, all of that. Register. Even if you don't believe in what they're saying or what they do, find a reason to vote because it's important. It really is important. Yeah, this is this is a big deal. I I feel like I don't want to talk about these things because so many other people are talking about these things, but I don't want to seem like I'm out of touch or uneducated on what's going on. Sometimes I do get lost in my brain with with all this stuff going on. I want a better world for everybody. I do. Um my coffee's cold, blah. Um yeah, I don't I don't wanna be a womp womp, but I feel like I needed to do this episode just to like be a reminder. I think I'm gonna have up on my on my socials, you know, places links that you can go and register to vote. Um I'm I mean I'm in New York City. I don't know about you guys or where you I don't know why I'm looking at the calendar for I an answer to that, but I mean I know. Oh my god, I just realized happy March everybody. I forgot to put me. This month I wear my my birthstone earrings the whole month. Aquamarie, baby. Yeah. I don't know. I think I think I I blew through all of this really fast and it was I thought it was gonna be longer, but I I guess I guess I made the point here. What we can do. Um so let me ask you, what you what how do you how do you how no how has the current political environment affected you? How how do you do is it making you stressed, upset? You know, how how are you handling it? How's it affecting you? What are you doing to keep your sanity as well as staying informed without being overwhelmed? I'd like to know that. Um uh what are your hopes for the midterms? I'm hoping that we flip this shit hugely, bigly. I want to say flip it bigly. Um and I would like for us to stick it to them so hard. And then the the the time for decorum is done because I think everything that uh the Republicans do and the right-leaning people do is they will push and push and push and push, and and then the Democrats are like uh we need to be the have a stip off our lip and you know be the moral center. No, no, this is not 1940. This is not 1812, this is not the beginning. They're doing shit that needs to be stopped. And the balls that need to be grown need to be bigger and more steely than anything ever before. But yeah, I wanna know. Tell me. Tell me how you I'm gonna rant. I'm gonna try not to rant. But um, what are your hopes for the midterms? I do know this much for myself, and one more thing before. And oh you know what, even if you if you don't give a shit, no judgments. Tell me, hey Mike, I don't give a fuck about this. I just do my thing. Um Yeah. I was gonna say before, uh, all I know is this. If I know it's a while before his his term is up, I'm not voting for Schumer. I'm not voting for and I couldn't vote for um Hocking Jeffries because he's not in my district, but I'm not gonna support any of that. We need we need. We need people with brass balls, man. I mean brass. Yeah. I hope to hear from you. Listen, if you made it this far, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate it. Um hit that like button, please. Um a comment with a courthouse emoji. Now, I say courthouse, but you would have to type in temple, and you'll see what looks like a Roman temple. To me, it looks like a courthouse. Put that in the comments below. Yeah, I want to do that. Because law and order, people. Um like you too. Please remember. If you I always feel weird asking, but everybody, I see other people's videos, so they I'm gonna do it like they do, you know. So uh please like it, subscribe, hit the bell so you get known warned about new episodes and um share and I don't know why I'm embarrassed to ask. I you know, I'm I'm not used to asking for things. I try to do what I can on my own, but this part I need your help. So I want to keep doing more and I want to be able to, you know, make better content. Uh so yeah, share it with everyone. And I I'll I'll tell you that the people those of you who have been sharing, I appreciate it. Um, I just looked at analytics the uh this morning, and um what's considered Oceania, uh that's like where Australia and uh New Zealand is. I have I have a listener, I think in Australia, in New Zealand, sorry. Um the majority of you guys are here in pardon me. The majority of you guys are here in the states. Um uh the far east, I have uh one listener in Taiwan. Hi, Taiwan. Um, and in Europe, I think I have one. Uh, but the majority of everybody is here in the states, and I appreciate you guys. Um so yeah. Um, I don't know if there's gonna be a bonus portion of this episode, but this is what I would like for you to do. Even if you if you don't listen or like or watch or whatever, just at least download the episode. Um, give me five stars, it helps keeps the keeps me going up in the algorithms. Um share with a friend, all that all that great stuff. And it you can head over to Patreon. Um, I have some bonus episodes there, um, or bonus content for episodes that you might find interesting. Um I'm trying to really keep this from being uh full of ads or have ads on there, although they're some are offering cool stuff. And I I don't want to be I hate ads. Unless it's I don't know, unless it's maybe it's useful. I don't know. I just unless I'm doing it, have to be something that I'm proud of. Of, I guess. I don't know. Yeah, I'm trying to keep it from being ads. So, you know, follow on, join Patreon. You can join for free. There's no no fee to join. Um, anything extra is extra. Um, you can be a friend of the show, and I think that's a$1 a month or whatever. Uh uh, follow me on Buzz Buzz Sprout. It's uh uh a distribution site for where the pod ends up on audio uh sites like Apple Music, uh iHeartRadio, their own platform, uh Buzz Sprout. Um where else? Uh and Patreon. Um full episodes, you know, no we can listen and watch on on all the platforms. All the extra stuff is extra, right? Uh what else? And these are the the stuff that you'll get to when you when you become a supporter, whatever level. Mostly if you become the the VIP level, you I'm gonna start doing a monthly Zoom with everybody who's supporting me that way, so we can all get to chit chat. And on any subject, she said it's gonna be like, you know, a half hour or an hour of well, I think Zoom only allows you a half hour if you're it's the free content, so um, or free access. Yeah, we can bullshit. Talk about heated rivalry or um who knows? It'll be fun. All right, have a great week. Happy March, everybody. Oh, one week to J Light Savings. Later, you can't do it.