Showdown
Showdown Episode 119 8-6-24
(gentle guitar music) - Welcome to Showdown, I'm Mark Casein, and it is Tuesday, August the 6th, and guess what? That's Election Day here in St. Louis, Missouri, so a lot going on with that, and we'll catch up on those things after we do this first section with Nova Walton Marriott, and you are from Cardinal Ritter College Prep, and I've known you a couple of years over there, and we do some great things with kids, and in a moment, we will be joined by Jake Henderson, who I know I spoke to half an hour ago, so I know he's okay, he's probably over there trying to figure out something to do with his little clicker, so we'll check that out, and in fact, I think I, well, yeah, I might be able to, let's see if I can do this, Nova, so Nova, first of all, how do you like this New Year starting out, which, I mean, for non-teachers, it's no big deal, but for all of us, it's the New Year, so what do you think? You excited? - I am, I mean, well, this year I'll be working with the kids in a different capacity, so pretty bummed about that. I think I'm gonna miss being directly in the classroom, but I'm excited about all the mentorship I'll be doing this year, and also the opportunities that I'll be presenting to the kids, the extracurricular opportunities I'll be presenting to the kids, and still be able to work with them. - Yeah, because aside from what we're talking about right now, you actually are running a program called Sisterhood at Cardinal Ritter. Tell us about that while we're waiting for Jake. - Well, Sisterhood is just at a mentorship program. It is, I work with adolescent girls, ninth grade through 12, and it gives me the opportunity to help them gain a little self-awareness, which builds their confidence and their leadership skills, and helps them learn how to interact positively with other people. So a lot of self-awareness, and healing, and inner child work, and you name it, we spend a lot of time together, it's great. - Yeah, and it's all girls, and of course, we also have a group called Brotherhood at Cardinal Ritter, but that's not yours, you're just working with the girls, and it's tremendously beneficial, and it really helps them in their growing up process, doesn't it? - It sure does, and it gives them a safe space when they need to talk about things and make sense of life, because they're at a very volatile time in their lives, so it's good to have adult, positive adults in your life to help you make sense of the things that's going on, because naturally, kids, they think their problems are just the worst problems that they could have in life, so we help them to kind of get a handle on that and help them make smart decisions when dealing with traumatic things. - Sure, and I had a couple of our students, actually three of them on yesterday, Chase Hardin, Tenaya Graham, and Mariah Partlow, and I think you know all of those, right? - I do. - Yeah, and so it's funny, though, because you talk about volatile times, and of course, they are very grounded, sharp kids who seem to really have a lot of direction in their lives, they know where they're going, and a lot of our students really do. Apparently, Jake is having a problem with his internet, he's working on it, so, okay, I just got a text message from him. And actually, Jake Henderson is from the Y, and really, the YMCA is deeply involved in what we're here to talk about. In fact, they support it, and that is a program called Missouri Youth in Government, right? - Yes. - Tell us about it, because you got it started at Cardinal Ritter. - Okay, well, the YMCA and the local Youth in Government piece has just been the gift that keeps on giving. I started the partnership with them for them to bring a program called Back to Basics into my classroom, and they taught my, well, the audience doesn't know what this is, but they taught my B7 class the first year, and him and a couple of law students from SLU, and it was amazing. The kids loved it. They were able to work their way up to creating a bill. They were able to present it. It was just very empowering for them. And in the midst of doing that, it opened up the door for us to participate in and local Youth in Government, which is a conference they do every year around April. Next year, they're gonna be doing it in February, and it's a conference where people from all over the place get together to discuss different topics. Well, that year's topic was a violence prevention, and the kids really ate that up as well. Then we came back to school the next year and was back in contact with Jake to make plans for Back to Basics for the next year. And he said, listen, I love the kids at Cardinal Ritter so much they're so insightful, they're such great kids. I'd like to open up a delegation for Missouri Youth and Government. Do you think your kids will be interested in that? And of course, I said, yes, yes, yes, definitely. So I got together with you and Mr. Reed and Mr. Hood and we set it up where we could be a part of Missouri Youth and Government, which took us to the state capital and allowed some of these kids to participate in a judicial delegation. Some of our kids, Daelyn Brown, Whitney Singleton, Imani White, Maria Smith, Gianna Starch Jackson, Ashton Henderson, Kingston Johnson, to name a few were present for last year's delegation and did very well. Daelyn Brown and Sophia McGuire as well, Daelyn Brown and Whitney Singleton did exceptionally well. And that led to some opportunities for Daelyn. It also led to some opportunities for Sophia. They had some guest speaking opportunities. Daelyn was a guest speaker at this last school year's local Youth and Government event. And he also, the first year we went to the local Youth and Government event 'cause we went two years in a row. This past year was Voting Rights. The year we went for a violence prevention, he was featured on TV. So it just really has been the gift that keeps on giving. And Jake has been a blessing and Caroline Mitchell has as well. The YMC has been really, really great about affording Cardinal Ritter many opportunities to be in partnership with him. - And all that leads to a perfect segue. Timing is exquisite here to Jake Henderson. Hey, Jake, how are you? How you doing, Mark? Hi, Nova, nice to see you all. - Hi. - Thank you for having me on today. I appreciate being here. And thank you so much for everything that you both do for all the work that you all do with our youth here in the city. It's been fantastic to work with you all. So yeah, so I'm Director of Pacific Engagement for the Gateway Region YMCA Community Development Branch. And I oversee all of our Youth and Government programs. And like Nova was saying, it's been a great honor and a privilege to kind of be a part of these young people's journey and their experience, especially with them getting more civically engaged. It's been an excellent opportunity. And so as we look forward to the fall and as we kind of get geared up for Missouri Youth and Government this year, we're looking to expand the program to new kids who have not been, had the opportunity to have the program before. We're also looking to possibly gain new partnerships and new schools. And so this is a great opportunity for kids from throughout the state to come together and to learn more about being civically engaged, about our government, and also to participate in some really great positive program that we have for them. So we're really excited about this fall. - Yeah, and you said the word civics, Jake, and that's so important because in a lot of ways, it has disappeared from our schools. - Yes. - Yeah, talk to me about how you and the why and the partners that you've got have worked to really push this back into the lives of students. - Well, we really proud to put this in the ears by making it something that they can understand and really breaking it down in a way that they kind of can get. When I first met Nova a couple of years ago, I met her through our Back to Basics program, which is a program where we do through mock legislation. And sometimes we look at real and pending legislation and we kind of go through it and kind of do a case study on it and things like that. But we really kind of break it down to the students' level so they can understand, we have a lot of opportunities right now in schools to really kind of work with community partners like the Violence Protection Commission. We also have the opportunity to work with the city. And so we really, really lean into meeting students where they're at, a lot of them are at schools, a lot of them are with our community partners, and we really try to make it so they understand the work that we're doing. And it's really kind of broken down to them in a way that they can kind of give their input. And so we kind of break things down in a way that is very simple for them. 'Cause a lot of them have never really thought about civic engagement. Was it like to be civically engaged? Was it like to be involved in their communities? But when you tell them that being a civic engagement, it can be as simple as helping the lady down the street with her trash or getting people out to vote, getting people more educated around voting. There are different ways that we can be more civically engaged, having face to face one-on-one interactions with our elected officials. So we spend a lot of time with that as well. So we're really trying to meet kids where they are and to kind of give them the opportunities to show civic engagement from different areas and different lenses. - Yeah, and actually at this meeting that we had a couple of weeks ago, where I had a chance to just get together with some kids and say hi and see what was happening, you had the Mayor's Youth Council there and they were an impressive group. Talk to me about them. - Mayor's Youth Council is a group that gets together annually every year. So it's a new group every year. And they apply to be part of this group and their students from all throughout the St. Louis, city area. They get together on a weekly basis. They're being led by LeCucia Robinson of the Tashara Jones Mayor's Office. And they basically work on different projects and civic projects throughout the city. So, you know, they may do a project with like education. They may do a teen summit. They may do different projects around civics. They also kind of work with the city to kind of give the city some really inside youth voice. Sometimes the city wants to know what young people are feeling, what young people are thinking. And so they're really, this is a really great opportunity for them to kind of have a inside track to that. And then they also just kind of get together and have fun and learn from each other. LeCucia does an excellent job of running this program and we've been really happy to partner with the Mayor's Youth Cabinet this year on our program with the Epic Summer Escape. We had at Corona Let Park this summer and then we have some future events that we want to partner with them coming up. So yeah, just a fantastic organization. There also is a county youth council that runs to the St. Louis County. So if kids are in the St. Louis County area, they can also go into the county website and apply through that to that body of young people. So there are all different types of young opportunities for young people to become a part of. - Sure, so Nova, I know I could tell and I'm sure anybody watching could tell as well from listening to your accent that you come from Russia. I mean, I'm sorry, New York. Anyway, can you tell us in New York, which everybody thinks is the leading edge, are they doing the kinds of things that we've got happening here in St. Louis? - I believe they are. I think the advantage that St. Louis has is St. Louis is a smaller city. - Sure. - So that kind of opens up the door for them to reach a lot more of the youth. But they do have programs in New York City, like for instance, the Department of Employment has some of youth employment program, which reaches thousands and thousands of youth every year. I actually worked for some of youth employment program because my grandmother was a city servant, civil servant, and she worked for the city of New York for the Department of Employment for 30 years before she retired. So she's get us all jobs. She hooked us all up. We all worked for some of youth. And one particular summer that stands out for me was a time I worked as a field supervisor where I was able to go out to the different sites to recruit kids and sign them up for summer jobs. And so that's just an example of one of the programs that they have available, that type of program. But I think I definitely have to give St. Louis its props because I feel like they reach youth in a larger way, because they are a smaller city. So they are able to get their hands on the youth a lot more than New York City. - Yeah, this program seems to be very consequential. It really helps these kids in many different ways. And Jake, talk about the difference between the legislative and new people. Talk about the difference between the legislative and judicial and how that really helps guide students to understand some things about government. - So the legislative and judicial at the Missouri Youth and Government, the differences are quite striking. They actually are, we actually do, for the legislative, it is my legislation. And so kids, at their respective delegation, brand meetings, they create different legislation that they see affect their area. For example, last year we were at Missouri Youth and Government and they talked a lot about banned books, which I thought was a fantastic, interesting topic to raise. And they're basically their legislative, their position was this, is that if schools wanted to ban books, public schools wanted to ban books, then they would lose government funding, which I thought was interesting. And so there are multiple different things that the legislative branch and these kids really come up with. And so it's really interesting to see the kids on the House floor really kind of presenting their bills. They start off a committee like most real legislation that starts off a committee. And then it leads to the House floor. And then eventually if it's passed by the government body, then it is passed by the student governor at the end of the convention. And so students are able to really see the whole process of a bill being created, a bill being debated upon in committee, lots of questions, and then a bill being actually talked about on the House floor to a bill being passed. And so that's our legislative side. The other side we have is our judicial side. And for Missouri, you think government, we use the appellate court and we actually get real appellate court cases that have been in front of the Supreme Court. And so young, the state releases the case and judicial delegations didn't have to argue if they are the defendant or the respondent. And so they have to argue both sides of that. And Cardinal Ritter actually last year did judicial and they did a fantastic job. They really kind of impressed everyone. How much they were so really able to just jump in there and to be really, really good at arguing their case. And so it was really great to see that. But judicial is actually a competition. And so how that works is is that, you know, it's kind of like an elimination process. So it's kind of like the, you know, March Madness. Like it starts off with a million schools in and then eventually it kind of wills down to the best. And then who wins this case? And then eventually at the last case, there is a final argument and that case is being argued in front of the student Supreme Court, which the state has its own student Supreme Court that we do. And then so that is our judicial branch. We also have an executive branch in, in Missouri Youth and Government. And these kids actually run for office. So we have a student governor, we have a student lieutenant governor, we have a student secretary of state, we have a student chief justice, and we also have other justices that oversee different court hearings for those court cases, which is explaining, which is a fantastic opportunity because again, it gives the students the real world experience of what it's like to be in a real life courtroom. Obviously there are some things that are changed because these are students, but it really, the process is pretty much the same. And so we're really happy to have the students have the opportunity to run for these offices. These students spend a lot of time and money running for these offices. And they do, at the convention, they do different campaigning. They do banners throughout the hallabi. And so it's nice, they have tables set up with candy and all kinds of stuff. They really campaign for these elected office. And then they have an election. And I helped oversee the election this past year. And it was fantastic. We actually had some runoff elections because we had some people who ran for offices, they got really close. And so we had to break some of those with our runoff elections. And so that's been awesome as well. So again, great opportunities, real world experience. And we're just happy to be of service to these young people. - Yeah, sort of amazing what Missouri is really doing. We had a Missouri Black Caucus group that put together a program with the University of Missouri in Columbia. And they were on the air here about three weeks ago. And they talked about a similar legislative thing to what you all have done. And these kids have amazing poise, all of them. Hasn't it surprise you, Nova? How they just, they really come to this very efficiently. They feel comfortable, don't they? - Yes, they do. - Yeah, they're outstanding. They really like this opportunity to speak. One of the things that we saw, Nova, and I'm sure that you saw it in general throughout the conference, Jake, and that is a lot of kids, and by the way, your leaders talked to them about this at the beginning, but it's hard to get them to respond to this. They want to write a speech, and they want to read it. And what they need to do is they need to get off that paper and they need to just talk out of their heads. And this is something for everybody. I don't care whether you're in school or not in school. Talk to me, maybe. Have you seen that, Jake? - Yeah, so it's funny that we actually had some younger ladies who went to DC a couple of years ago, last summer. And they were trying to, they did a project on the Coldwater Creek in North County. And one of the things they did when they were doing their speeches is that they were trying to do it by word for word with like the speaking from, you know? And I told them, I said, you know, that's wonderful and all, but sometimes people connect better when you just talk from the heart. And they connect better when you are just really speaking from how your experience and with the research you've done. And, you know, it's okay to have some bullet points. But again, really kind to just, like you said, speaking from the heart, speaking from your experience. And I think that really goes a long way. So, you know, with young people, they want to be overly, they don't want to over-prepare. They want to make sure they say it everything perfectly. They want to make sure that they don't miss a moment, which is fantastic. But I think one of the things that they have to also remember is that it's okay just to be very honest and raw about some of the things that we're talking about, because some of the things that we're talking about are very honest and raw topics. And they're very nuanced and they're very deep. And so sometimes it's better to have a very personal appeal and a personal angle on it when you are speaking about it, especially with people who don't necessarily know exactly or maybe familiar with the information that you're presenting to them. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, people who watch television, they get this idea that the courtroom or the legislature, that people are very fluid and fluent in their speaking. And of course, that's not always true. Everybody's human and you can go into a courtroom and these great attorneys can still, they have some skips of words and they're not sure, you know, they got to decide which direction they're going. And so it doesn't sound the way it does on television. We're having scripted. But our students don't realize that scripted part sometimes. I also think it's nerves. It's almost like doing your first speech and going to the podium. You know, you don't, a lot of people, if they're not comfortable initially speaking in front of people, they stay close to the podium. So I think the script is the protection. Oh, it is. I think it's nerves. I think that's really what it is with these kids. It's the nerves. Well, I know one thing. We're going to pull them off that script this year. And even more because they absolutely are totally capable of doing it. And when they do, at the end, they come back. They feel very good about themselves. And then it rolls out into their classroom situations and all the way beyond when they get to college. I've seen doctoral students reading these slides and they just read them word for word and everybody's eyes are rolling and you don't do that. You got to talk, but it's hard. It's hard. So Jake, what else, you know, we're, we're about at the end of this segment. What can you say to the public about the why and its connection with civics and especially with this crazy election year that we're in? Well, I can tell you this is that the why we are committed to being a non-partisan agency and community, we do not support or endorse any specific candidates or any specific causes here at the why we are for all. And so we really want to make sure that we keep that vein, you know, and when we talk about civics, you know, we have done a lot at the why to really kind of raise social responsibility in our own doors and through our own walls and through our own, you know, programs. We are really big at building equity amongst our programs, especially within our employment. And so we are really, you know, looking to really bring everybody together. You know, elections can be very divisive and they can be a time when people don't, because of their political views and their political stances can be very not very partisan. And so I think that it's important to have an agency in a place where everybody feels comfortable, no matter what their beliefs are, no matter what their background is, no matter who they voted for, they should everybody should have a place where they come and they feel comfortable and they feel like they belong. And so one of the things that we really kind of to really stress about the why is that we know we're big on belonging and what does belonging look like? And so we've done a lot of talk about that about belonging within our own organization. We've put that as part of our strategic plan. And so we really are really honing in on that belonging piece and that really kind of coming together piece. This year we had voter registrations scattered through our entire branches throughout the association. And when we also just do a lot of programs within our community partners, within the community to kind of get back to our communities. But again, we think when it comes to elections, again, they can be very divisive and they can be very, you know, polarizing. And so the why has always been a place where we've kind of steered away from that. We've really kind of wanted to create a space of everyone coming to feel welcome and feel, you know, like they can be a part of our community no matter who they voted for, no matter what their political stances are. You think, and you know, I just want to say that you think government is one of the oldest YMCA programs. And so it's really kind of talks about, you know, how the people is really kind of talks about how people have always been in people in the Y have always really been civically engaged and civically tuned in. And so we're extremely, extremely, extremely happy to have so many people participate in this program and to give to this program. I see some questions on there. So this is the youth and government program. And then I can actually send Mark a link and week you guys can follow us on the link on our website. If you want more information about youth and government in our north county, we do have our Emerson YMCA branch, which is in north county right off to 70 and partial road. And we have a lot of great partners there as well. And so yeah, and we're always looking to expand new partnerships into get more kids involved as well. Right. Last word for you here. Nova. I just want to say that anybody that signs up for any of these initiatives is it's definitely a blessing. It will definitely be worth your while it will definitely prepare your kids for the future. Especially college and even going into the workforce as well. I'm another thing that I was privileged to be a part of with YMCA is. Is what is it the youth camp? I participated in their mock interviews where I was able to sit down with kids and interview them and get them prepared for going out into the workforce. The YMCA just has so many things to offer these kids. And I think that's super important. I found in them, I found a way to kind of fuse what I do with sisterhood as well because, you know, I just think back to when I was a teenager. I wish I had a lot of these things available to me and, you know, the mentorship and just the opportunities to shine for my talent to come to the forefront. Because I think that would have definitely influenced my decision-making when I was a teenager. So this is, it's just been a great opportunity. And every, every chance I get to work with Jake and YMCA, I take it. I mean, I chase them down for opportunities. That's how much I love it. Yeah. And I was just going to ask, but I've got it in front of me here, Jake. Apparently GW, this is the website that people can go to for your program, which is GWRYMCA.org/programs/youth-and-government. So I think we'll be able to put that up on the air here in a little bit. Does that make sense, Joe? Can we do that? Yeah. And you can always, and you can always go on, if you always just Google, you can government on Google and put the Gateway Region YMCA. You think government is your pop-up as well. Okay. So we'll have that for the viewers here in a minute. And listen, I thank you both for joining us here. We are doing lots of things with kids. And, you know, we've got a big program coming up at Washington University. And we're going to get some of these youth and government students from all over St. Louis to come and talk at the student town hall meeting at Washington University sponsored by Black Studies at WashU. So lots of great things. And thank you both for being here this afternoon on Election Day. Thank you so much. Okay. See you all later. Thank you, Mark. Have a great evening. Thank you. Have a good one. Thank you. Okay. So with all that in mind, we're going to go do some business here, which means that we're going to go to Wenties. And Wenties is a terrific place to eat at 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road. And they have all the great kind of food that you can imagine, including a fabulous environment in which to enjoy all that good food. You've got chicken wings. You've got the, and by the way, everybody loves the wings. That is a fact. And you've got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, patty melts. Yes, I got you, Jake. We're fine on that. You've got pizza. You've got, well, you got salad. But believe me, my favorite, as everybody knows, is the baby back ribs. And on top of that, I love the onion rings. And also, by the way, the iced tea is really good. A lot of people think it's the best iced tea in town. And it probably is. And that, again, is at Wenties, 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road. And after you're done with all of that, you might want to go to Defiance, Missouri, where they have another great Wenties. That one is at 29.99, South Highway 94, Defiance, Missouri. And again, all the great food at Wenties from Chesterfield Valley, get it all in Defiance as well. It's a great place to eat. Thank you, Ben, and your wife for putting this great restaurant together. Now, if you're looking for jewelry, we say, go to 4506 Hampton, because that is, there it is, Jules on Hampton. And Jules on Hampton is just filled with jewelry, cases and cases, endless numbers of cases, in just this little environment that you would think has not enough room, but actually you walk in and you find out it's got gigantic room. And you can see all their jewelry. But also the most important thing is you can meet Al and AJ, who run it all. And they will, for example, buy and sell jewelry with the public and coins as well. Great prices, because these are just great people who love to deal with the public. And if you go in and ask for Al, he'll take you through everything at Jules on Hampton. He'll tell you all about their designer capabilities, which are outstanding. They design jewelry. And even if you want it your way, they'll do it for you as well. They can do everything when it comes to jewelry. And of course, in the end, if you find that your watch isn't working, they'll fix that too. They'll fix everything at Jules on Hampton. So check them out. And finally, I was at school today and I was wearing my suit, which you can see right now. But what you don't see is that this is the new fashion of 2024, where not only am I wearing my suit, but I'm also wearing a pair of jeans and chucks, not nice jeans, to be sure. These are jeans and chucks along with your suit. And that is 2024 style men's wear at, of course, the St. Louis suit company in Clayton. Now, the great thing about it is you can not be as fashionable as I am and just wear a suit. Or you can get sport coats, because that's really apparently the hot thing in 2024 of these sports coats. Then again, there's one other thing that you could really think about. And that is overcoats, because as hot as it is outside right now, I am telling you that you're going to get to about November, December. And you're going to say, it's cold. I need a coat. And then you're going to have to pay top price when you could walk in right now and get a bargain on an overcoat at the St. Louis suit company. They have been there for 30 years and for good reason. They have great quality merchandise. And by the way, if you're thinking about getting married, that's another thing with the St. Louis suit company, because wedding attire is one of their specialties. They take care of weddings all over St. Louis. And they're famous for it, but they're famous for everything having to do with men's clothing. St. Louis suit company, that is at the corner of Forsyth and central in Clayton, check them out as well. And here we are on election day. And for St. Louis, I guess the biggest story aside from some things that are on the ballot that are important to everybody. But in St. Louis right now, you've got this first congressional district election. And of course, it's Wesley Bell and Cory Bush. And there's just a lot of controversy over this, because everybody seems to know that the APAC group, the Jewish group, they put a lot of money into elections. And they are supporting Wesley Bell. In fact, they put a lot of money into this thing, like $9 million out of the $10 million that have poured into this. And I guess we're going to find out tonight if that money made a difference or not. Cory certainly has been part of the progressive group in Congress. And she has spoken out in defense of the lives of people in Palestine who are innocent. In other words, the ones who were not involved in murdering Jews who weren't in the controversy at all, just trying to live their lives. And they've gotten blown up, of course, because Israel and Hamas are killing each other in very big ways. And so Cory has stood up for just regular people, not the murderers, but regular people. And so that's where the controversy comes from, because some say, well, there are no innocent people in Palestine. But there are, and there are hungry children and children who have been harmed substantially in all of this fighting. No doubt some of it's been caused by the way Hamas shields themselves with this population. But nobody's got clean hands in any of this. And certainly our election today is going to give us an idea of where people locally stand on what's happening over there. It's just a big issue that's come in front of the St. Louis public. So we'll be looking for that at the end of the day. And let me also say that there are some really problem things happening in Israel. I haven't heard any news since I got in here to the studio 40 minutes ago. So perhaps nothing has happened yet, but here's the problem. There have been some killings, murders. The Israelis have shot down some people around the Middle East in Iran. People who have been guilty of being more than just complicit in what's happened in Israel. They've really sort of led the charge on the murders against innocent people in Israel. And so they have been killed in Iran. So of course the Iranians are unhappy that it happened on their soil, but there was sort of no way to get around that. Because if you've got people in the Middle East who are hiding and are trying to stay away from Palestine because they don't want to get killed there, but they're not worried about putting their own people in harm's way. Well, you see, that's a problem. And then the other thing is that Hezbollah has jumped into this. They've got this connection with Iran, of course. And so they lobbed some missiles into Israel and killed some innocent children there. So in the midst of all of this, and of course Israel has shot back against that, and Hezbollah and Iran are promising a new round of retaliation at any moment. So when that happens, we'll all find out, but it's supposed to be soon. It could be very significant in the Middle East. It could have tremendous impact on things not only in the Middle East, but also around the world. We all know in the last few days that worldwide markets have been on edge. Certainly because of some economic issues, but I would suspect that there's some concern about the geopolitical situation as well. So you've got people all over the place pretty worried, and we'll see what the result of that is. International relations is sort of out in front today, aside from the decision on the Vice Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. I'll talk about that at the end here, but I wanted to mention first, Venezuela. And the reason that I'm doing that is because, you know, as usual, Donald has lost his mind. We know that Maduro in Venezuela, who is a dictator, ran for election recently. And according to all of the evidence that anybody can find, Maduro lost by a very substantial margin. He got trounced, but not surprisingly, especially since this is one of Donald's good friends, Maduro says he won. And of course, he won't leave office and there is a problem as a result of that right now. And then, and this is where it affects us directly. Donald, and again, this is all you can find it on YouTube anywhere, just pull it up. It's all there, but then I didn't run the clips on it today, so relax. But here's what Donald's saying. First of all, he says, yes, Maduro is a dictator. But he also claims that Maduro is responsible for knocking down crime in Venezuela to unbelievable lows. And as a result of that, Donald praises Maduro for his great work. And, you know, again, in the case of Donald, he never worries about hiding it. He tells you right up front exactly what he thinks and exactly where everything is in his Earth to environment. As you know, most of us, you know, hopefully live in the real world of Earth one. But in, in, in Donald's Earth to world, Maduro is a hero. And, of course, I guess he's a hero because if, if you can lose an election by a large amount, and then you get to stay in power. Well, that's sort of Donald's, it's his dream, it's his vision. In fact, it's what has gotten him into so much trouble. And it's so interesting how much trouble it is that, that he is in, because as you may know, and if you don't, you'll hear it now. In Arizona, there is a huge case that's, that's being trotted out, where, where Donald has been named as co-conspirator number one. I'm indicted co-conspirator number one. And the important part of that in Arizona has been very smart in this. By not indicting Donald, and by indicting all of his co-conspirators, what they've done in Arizona is they've created a situation where Donald is not able to delay the cases because he's not on trial yet. So, what they've done is they've come after all of these people who work with, with Donald. One, one is, is Jenna Ellis, who is an attorney who got herself in a lot of trouble through all this Trump business. She just pled guilty a couple days ago to all kinds of, of bad acts. But, because she was the first person to step up and, and get a plea arrangement, which involves considerable cooperation with the government, the result is that she's got five years probation, which all the lawyers are saying is really generous of the government to do this. It's very unusual, but the generosity is not for nothing. They want not only cooperation, but they want Jenna Ellis to come into that courtroom and really tell the story. Honestly, because here's the thing. If she lies about anything, that is, if she lies on behalf of the government or lies against the government, it doesn't really matter. A lie is a lie in this situation. If she comes in and she doesn't tell the exact truth about what Donald was doing in Arizona, which is where she's coming up now to have to speak, well, here's the deal. If she doesn't tell the truth, she's in trouble, big trouble, she'll go to jail. So, I think she's going to tell the truth. And then, of course, there's some other people who are being approached as well. For example, Rudy Giuliani. Up until now, every time Rudy's been approached, he has refused to speak. He's not telling on Donald. However, in this case, he may be forced to because Jenna Ellis has told a great deal of factual information about what Rudy Giuliani was doing in these schemes that were attempting to reverse the direction. For example, in this case of the election in Arizona, much like Donald was trying to reverse the election results in Georgia. But again, this is what's so interesting about it, is that by not indicting Donald, and by going after his co-conspirators, it's a whole different story than what's happened in Georgia. However, we saw in Georgia all of these arguments about what Fannie Willis was or wasn't doing, and it led to tremendous delay in the case. And then the immunity plea came up, and all this continued to delay the case. But in the meantime, in Arizona, the immunity situation has already been resolved, so they know what they need to be dealing with. At least they have a pretty good idea of it. And then on top of that, they're coming down hard on these people who are going to be witnesses against Trump. If the day ever comes, the Trump is indicted in Arizona, and there's good reason to think that that's exactly what their plan is, and that they've set this up so that they can move through the courtroom in a very expeditions fashion because they've seen what's happened in other court situations. And by the way, speaking of other court situations, look at Tanya Chutkin because she in the DC case is not playing, because look what happened. The case was delayed for months because the Supreme Court sat on their decision about immunity. And every month that they sat on that decision, Tanya Chutkin was delayed. She couldn't move forward at all. She was stuck. However, the time has now passed since the decision from the Supreme Court, allowing Chutkin to move forward with the case. So the first thing that Donald did, not surprisingly, is he requested that the court dismiss everything. Well, of course, that's not happening at all. And then, of course, they wanted to delay everything. And Tanya Chutkin came through with an order from the court, and I hope that you'll take some minutes to get on the internet. Go to Google, and you can look it up. Just ask for Tanya Chutkin's DC order, which came out just a couple of days ago. And here's what it decided. They're going to move forward on this case on August the 16th. This is not going to sit here and wait for some decision that's going to come months and months from now when Donald thinks that he'll be president, and then he could just toss it all out. You know, like Maduro just did. See, this is what this... You connect all of this. If you just open your eyes and listen to what's being said. Because that's why Donald is praising this dictator in Venezuela because he thinks he could do the exact same thing, get himself in office, and never leave. We'll see. I think that's going to be contested very severely by the lady who has this country on fire with enthusiasm. And that's Kamala Harris and her new vice presidential candidate who has joined the ticket, and that's Tim Walz, and he's the governor from Minnesota. And that's an interesting situation in itself, really, because there were a lot of people who thought, and I actually thought I was one of them, that Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania would be the natural person to be picked by Kamala to be the vice presidential candidate. A lot of people like his ability to speak forcefully, and then also he's got this tremendous approval rating in Pennsylvania. It's like in the high 60%, nobody's that high. He's just very popular in Pennsylvania. And of course, this election for both sides, everybody knows what happens in Pennsylvania is going to be determinant of what happens in this election very likely. So you would have thought, maybe, that Josh Shapiro was the perfect person to bring his popularity into the campaign. But once his name got on the list for a vice president, a lot of groups from around the country jumped up and said, no, we don't want this guy. On one hand, they said they didn't want him because of his record in speaking out about the situation in Palestine, very pro Jewish pro Israel, he's Jewish. Doesn't mean you have to take that position. I know, you know, Bernie has also taken some positions with regard to Palestine. And he, of course, has been, you know, much more in the progressive camp. So, you know, every Jewish person doesn't say the same thing. But in any event, we know the words that have been heard from from Josh Shapiro and a lot of people were afraid that what would happen is that it would lead to enormous problems in Chicago when the convention comes up next month. So, yes, being Jewish, Kurt Josh Shapiro in this situation, that's the obvious situation. And there were some others who said that there was sort of a whispering campaign around the country simply because they didn't want to see a Jewish person on this ticket. I don't know. I don't get really too involved in conspiracy theories unless it involves Donald. No, I'm even kidding on that because I really try to stay away from the conspiracies and try to stick with what's real. But in any event, it doesn't shock me to think that there were people out here that pushed against Josh Shapiro for that reason. And ultimately, I do think that Kamala is looking toward that convention. And the last thing anybody wants is 1968 revisited in the Democratic Party convention. There was enough tear gas and smoke bombs and police beatings and all the rest in 1968. And it certainly disrupted the election from the Democratic Party side. And I know that the Democratic Party wants to avoid that in 2024. And I think that's what put Tim Walts into this position. At the same time, the governor of Minnesota is an accomplished politician. He speaks very well. And a lot of people say he's got this folksy manner that will play well in the Midwest. And there's no doubt the Midwest overall is an area that's got to be won by the Democrats if they or by anybody that wants to win. That is Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. They are essential for anybody to get to that 270 electoral votes. So that's the story there. One more thing, one more story. And that is the situation with Judge Mershaun in New York, because Donald has sent motion after motion in front of Judge Mershaun trying to get the case delayed again. And Mershaun would have no part of any of this. It's not surprising. He's not dumb. He's dealt with Donald all the way through this case. And it's just not going to be so easy for for Donald Trump in trying to derail what's coming up here in September. So here's what it is. There was going to be initially a decision by the court on some of these these motions on September 6 with a sentencing on September 18. But Donald threw all these motions out thinking that it would drag this out into the next century. And so what happened is sort of Allah Judge Chutkin in the DC case. Mershaun stepped up very smartly quickly took care of all of these motions and then said, look, there are some additional rulings that we're going to have to go through. And what we're going to do is we're going to move those up to September 16. So they did get a delay on some of this by about 10 days, but the September 18 sentencing is still there. It is not going away. So keep on your calendar, the September 16 decisions by Judge Mershaun. And then finally comes the September 18 sentencing, which could have a dramatic impact on this election. And I have to tell you that what's so interesting is, you know, Donald thinks that he can play games with Mershaun. Well, it didn't work. It didn't delay anything by a second when it comes to the sentencing issue. And now as we get closer and closer and the pressure comes down more and more on Donald, I think we can all expect to see Donald go berserk. And the more berserk he goes prior to that sentencing, the more chance there is that Judge Mershaun is going to do something that a lot of people say. Probably wouldn't happen because, you know, this is, this is a felony for sure. There's 34 counts involved, but under the circumstances, almost anybody else would have some kind of a probation. They'd have probation, but not necessarily in the case of Donald, we'll find out on September 18. It's coming up. Donald go berserk, enjoy yourself, because Mershaun's got some things to deliver to you on the 18th. In the meantime, I'm Mark Caisen. We've got, of course, Wenties. We've got the St. Louis suit company. We've got Jules on Hampton, and I'm getting out of here. See you later. This is Showdown. Good night.