But who would tell, banana republic, butcher box, and glossier all have in common? They power their businesses with Shopify. Shopify is the most innovative and scaled commerce platform on the planet. That also happens to have the best converting checkout on the planet. And that's no industry secret. That's Shopify. Learn more at Shopify.com/enterprise. [MUSIC] Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Hot Topics at 10. We have so much to dig into. I know we're a little bit late, but we're getting some stuff together. I kind of switched to show around a little bit. I was going to start with Donald Trump talking about the apparent assassination attempt, and politics. But I want to start with something that's going to affect all of you. And then we need to exhaust this Diddy story. So we're going to talk about what's going on with Diddy. As you know, he was in court yesterday. We're going to talk about Maggots obsession with children. And we have a couple of clips from our friends over at Morning Joe and on other networks talking about this. And some of the anti-women and the racist aspects of what's going on. And as I said, we're going to exhaust the Diddy story. Remember yesterday in when the US attorney read out what was in the indictment. It mentioned getting these IV drips where we actually had Diddy getting an IV drip. And we have him also talking about his kids who have been prominent somewhat in this story. And then we're going to talk about, did you guys see this, these pagers that went off to, was supposed to be for members of Hezbollah? Just exploding, the way they did this, it's like a science fiction or an action movie, it's unbelievable, okay? So today, the feds are supposed to cut rates. And everyone's wondering, I know this isn't as interesting for you guys. It's not pop culture, it's not, you know, provocative. But it affects you guys. Oh yeah, I see someone is asking you about Godfrey was hilarious yesterday. We're going to talk about Godfrey as well. His appearance on the show yesterday, he's going to weigh in, okay? We're going to play some of that. But this rate cut could really affect everyone. It's not could affect everyone, it's going to affect everyone. If you're sitting around saying, I'll never be able to afford a house. My credit card bills are too high. This is going to be the first time, I believe, in four years that there is a possible rate cut. How does that affect you? Here is a report this morning explaining somewhat what is going to happen with this rate cut, and how it might be politicized, but what it means to you, watch this. In the central bank, expected to cut U.S. interest rates for the first time in four years, a move that's meant to lower borrowing costs for American consumers and businesses. That could mean cheaper mortgages, credit card rates, and auto loans. It signals that the Fed does think inflation is under control, and it's shifting attention to the job market, which has shown some signs of weakness. The expected decision comes less than seven weeks from election day. That breaks a norm to leave interest rates alone in the months leading up to a presidential election. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, both trying to get out ahead of the Fed's announcement on the campaign trail. The economy is now not good, and interest rates, you'll see they'll do the rate cut and all the political stuff tomorrow, I think. And, you know, we'll do a half a point, we'll do a quarter of a point. But the reason is because the economy is not good, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it. As of today, we have created over 16 million new jobs, over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs. Is the price of grocery still too high? Yes. Do we have more work to do? Yes. So, Annie Linsky. Okay, so there's a lot of work to do, right? So, whatever the size of the cut, according to CBS and to the financial experts, I'm not a financial expert, but I've been through this, you know, I've been around for a while. Whatever the size of the cut, the Fed's first rate reduction since March of 2020 will provide some welcome relief for consumers who are in the market for a home or auto purchase, as well as for those carrying pretty pricey, you know, credit card debt, okay? It's also expected to kick off a series of rate reductions later this year and into 2025, which could have lasting implications on mortgage and auto loan rates, but could also have a downside on shaving the relatively high returns recently enjoyed by savers. Okay, so those people who have some money, they've been able to save, okay, they're not going to have as much, you know, they're not going to have as high a saving, okay, fine. But for the people who have been hurting, who have been, you know, really dealing with these high credit card rates, et cetera, there's going to be some relief, no matter the size of the rate cut. And perhaps some people will be able to afford homes. And I know in that soundbite, you know, that Donald Trump said that the economy is terrible. That's not true. We have the best economy in any developed nation in the world. Remember, we had a worldwide pandemic that set the world back. And because it was handled so poorly by the former president, it really hit America hard. And so, you know, we're going to see what happens, but all of this is going to be politicized. And you know, where Donald Trump talked about how terrible the economy is, whatever it's not terrible, our prices up, yes, inflation, yes, inflation is easing, that is the whole reason that they are cutting rates is because it is a sign that inflation is easing, okay. So I want you to keep that in mind, Kamala Harris there saying this is what we have done, right? She doesn't take the bait, which is really smart of her that I've noticed. She doesn't take the bait from the Trump and Vance folks. She just says, here's what we have done, the economy is getting better. And this way, here's what we plan to do, very, very, very smart on her part. Let me know what you think about the rate cuts. Are you happy about it? Are you hoping that, do you think you can afford a home if the rates come down? Is that even the American dream anymore? Because I've heard people saying, you know, it's better to rent. My American dream is not really to own a home anymore, for what? I live in it, okay, you raise a family and then, you know, you start, people get the reverse mortgages and then you sell it and you move, you go back to a small place as you get older. I like the idea of owning a home. I think the benefits outweigh the cons or the pros outweigh the cons, but that's just me, but it's not everybody's dream anymore to own a home and that's where that will help most. And we will start to see those prices come down. So you know, I was in the supermarket the other day and I was buying eggs and I was thinking, you know, for those of us who live in New York City, we have always says buying eggs and I went to get ginger ale and some other stuff. And I said, you know, prices have always been high in New York City. The rest of the country, it's just kind of feeling what we feel we've been feeling here forever, prices have always been high in New York City. Do you know what it costs to rent an apartment in New York City? And then I don't know if you still used to, I think you still do, you'd have to give first month, last month, you'd have to give two months deposit and then you'd have to do it deposit and then two months rent, the first month and the last month, right, in case you move out and a deposit. That's really expensive. And then to live in like a one bedroom or a studio in New York City can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. If not, in some neighborhoods, millions of dollars. For what I pay for my apartment, where my family lives, I could have a giant mansion. So the prices in New York are really high. So you know, it's just, it's interesting to hear people talk about prices and home prices in the rest of the country. In New York City, in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, and in bigger cities, man, what it cost to buy a home is crazy. Oh, and Trey Hicks in the comments says, and a broker's fee, right? Non-liminous correct says Jabbar in New York. Bettina Lester says, "My daughter is a property manager and everything is high." You're right. Will Butte, Jr., says, "Dalam, it is the same in San Francisco. My son's studio was $2,500, which was the size of my closet." Yeah. I paid a, I remember paying, when I moved to New York, back to New York in '19, it was a 2001 or 2002. I was paying for a one bedroom apartment, it was small, $3,350 for a one bedroom apartment. And that was a deal because it was after 9/11. And you know, the housing market and the rental market had gone down, especially the closer you were to downtown where the Twin Towers were, and it's crazy. Atlanta's behind New York NYC says Ann's backyard garden. It's crazy. Even Atlanta prices are going up, since Catrice Mitchell. So yes, the average, on average in Florida, it costs $5,000 to move in since Isaac Torp. So yes, hopefully there will be some relief. So a little bit later on today, you guys let me know if you like the rate cuts, what you think. I'm so glad I did this because I wasn't going to do it. Winky Campbell says, "I live in St. Louis suburbs and I rent a two bedroom apartment and it's $2,100 a month. It's crazy. Do you live off highway, farty, or farty, far? I used to live in St. Louis in the central West End. So people would say, do you live by highway, farty, and farty, far? And I lived near, gosh, what is it? Is it Washington Park? They called it Washington Warsh U. My first apartment was $335 a month says, "Marissa Dan Dritch, well, good for you. Not anymore. Rental prices in New Orleans have quadruples," says Melanie Rice. So thank you. So there you go. Who says it $400 a month? My first apartment is $400 a month. Jay West, man. I wish. I wish. It's $400 for a one bedroom in New Jersey, says Jamie. Canada is $2,000 plus a month. In fact, you're in an exchange rate. It's bad everywhere. It is bad. It is bad. Okay. So watch for that. I'm so glad I discussed it. And Baton Rouge, the same ridiculousness, says Ms. Nicky MD, Nicole Body Treats. Okay. Yeah, I'm from Baton Rouge. I hear it from my family, my nieces, how expensive it is to rent or own a home. So let's exhaust this ditty story because it's going to continue on. Okay. And right now it's going to be a little bit of a lull because they're getting their stuff together. They're filing their appeals. They're doing all these things. And that's what's going to happen. Las Vegas rent is gone up, it should be gone up, okay? Rent has gone up by, but not the wages, says Lee Lee. Thank you for that, Lee Lee. Okay. Okay. So federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Remember, Diddy was in court. He's been charged with all these Rico charges, trafficking, prostitution, gun charges, money, charges, all of these things, right? So a judge ruled on Tuesday that Sean Diddy Combs is going to remain in custody while the case against Tim plays out, a decision his lawyer said would be appealed today, prosecutors. And the defense argued that during Combs detention hearing that federal prosecutor said at least a dozen witnesses personally observed the music mogul's violence against women or the injuries they sustained at his hands, prosecutors also noted that Combs had reached out to victims and witnesses, some of whom are scared of him. This is called witness tampering, trying to intimidate people. That is very, very serious. The assistant US attorney Emily Johnson said that Combs alleged efforts to cover up and obstruct investigations were additional reasons for detainment, citing a March 2016 indictment or incident, excuse me, captured on hotel surveillance that shows him beating his then girlfriend in a Los Angeles hotel as critical evidence of his physical danger. And that is Cassie or Cassandra Ventura. They said that he was, he should be detained because he is a serial abuser and a serial obstructor, adding pretrial services also recommend detention. So he's going to be held in a special unit by himself, a special housing unit in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until his next court appearance. That is on Wednesday afternoon, that's according to a law enforcement official. The special housing unit is separate from the general prison population. It's used to house inmates who require additional protection among other reasons. You have many high profile individuals who have been temporarily held in MDC, including R. Kelly, Sam Bankman Fried, Geline Maxwell of the Jeffrey Epstein saga. So there you go, that's where Diddy is being held. Now, let's talk a little bit more about this. Now, you guys, one of the things in the indictment was Sean Diddy comes talking about IV drips, right? He can't be doing that. He can't be doing that. He is doing it. Now, I don't know if this one is the same as from the freak-offs. They said the freak-offs lasted so long, the duration, they used so many drugs again, allegedly this is according to the indictment, that people exhausted themselves so much that they would have to get IV drips following these marathon freak-offs. Evidence that he is or has gotten IV drips, it comes from, I believe it is TMZ or somewhere, some entity reporting this, but this is him getting an IV drip a couple years ago with his mom. That's what it is, evidence of IV drips. So, there's his mom, but his mom is there getting an IV drip, whether you could see the IV, the bar and the thing behind him and her and then the cord going into them, so they're getting an IV drip, so there's evidence that it does happen, not that his mom had anything to do with any of this, but it's just showing that these IV drips that were mentioned in the indictment, they may use this as evidence as saying, "Not only did we find IV material or have you, but here's some evidence of his mom getting it," but Tina Lester is in the chat saying, "A lot of people do that." Yeah, I know a lot of people, I've heard people, I don't know about a lot, but I've heard people getting the IV drips especially after a long night out or if they, what's an IV, so what's an IV drip, that's when you get an IV drip and it provides some minerals, I imagine some vitamins and to help you recover from what it is that you're doing, I'm just sort of reading the chat as it scrolls by here on my screen, "That's something you do on your honeymoon," says Cosmo, you get an IV drip, okay, I didn't get one on my honeymoon, "Don't know because it's trendy," says Angelique Ellis, "Hmm, sodium chloride fluid," says Carrie King, "Will of you says I'm afraid of needles, it will never happen unless I'm dying," okay, so that was him evidence of that, also. Now remember, his kids were at the house in Los Angeles when it was raided and I'm not sure, I think it was one of his sons, I'm not sure it can't be sure of that, but I think it was one of his sons at home and that was you saw him in the driveway, law enforcement detaining him and some sort of a hold, and this in 2015, Diddy was talking about relationships with his son, with his children saying, "25% of the time, you're gonna hate it and want to escape," check it out. I'm gonna shoot at, I'm gonna relationship with you like 25% of your time, you're gonna just feel like, "Ah man, I hate being here, ah man, this guy, oh man, oh man, he cheated on me, he lied on me, ah, that's 25%, you know what I'm saying?" But then there's 75% of, "I'm gonna make you the happiest woman in the whole wide world, I'm gonna be there to support your dreams, I'm gonna be there to hold you, listen to you, I'm gonna be there to be your best friend," and I promise you will smile the most. You know who I am, this is what it is, 25% percent, 75%, which deal would you choose? Yeah, for most of you guys, don't try this at home. Don't try that at home. You gotta be worth it. It's probably gonna be your worst for you. No, no, no, you have to be honest, marriage is about honesty, marriage is about honesty, this is a different type of marriage, let's go into a new time, a different type of marriage, married men in here don't get, you know, flustered, let's be honest. Don't let me say, "Damn, I'm bringing, I'm bringing 25% of some bullshit, okay?" Okay, so that's Diddy on giving relationship advice. Not only to his kids, his son, but apparently the entire audience over at the Breakfast Club, that was in 2015, all right. Now, uh, Cat Williams, Cat Williams has been warning people at least, you know, he's been saying, he said, he, Cat claims to know a whole heck of a lot about, you know, these free costs, not that he's ever been to one, he says, but I have, he says he, people tell him stuff and he keeps it in a vault in a bank. And he says, he's, he says, "I've been warning you and talking to you about Diddy and what's going to happen and what's going on." He says, "I've been doing it forever and now you're gonna pay attention to, to me." That's what he says. Now, he was on Club Shae Shae with Shannon Sharp, she said a lot about Diddy, but one of the things that he said is for his warning, tongue in cheek, but then you tell me if you think he's joking around or not. I think it's partially, he's joking and then maybe he's serious. Let's watch the clip together and then we can figure it out. Here it is. It turned down 50 million dollars four times, four times, just to protect my integrity and that virgin hole I was telling you about. Right. Because P Diddy be wanting a body and you gotta tell him no. Can I still tell him no? I did. I did. See, I got the receipts for everything I'm telling you, that's why I can say I'm so free. He said he's got the receipts. Now he's saying that he had to tell Diddy no, now I don't know, look, and there's other parts in the clip. If you watch Club Shae Shae, he talks about it and he says that he's serious, right? So Reese Roberts says, Kat was the prophet for the precedence of 2024. He said that he did say a lot of folks were going to be, that they were going to face the music in 2024. Okay? They were going to face the music in 2024. Thank you very much, Will Butte. Please hit the thumbs up, okay? Thumbs up and let's get 75% likes. I would love that. So he's funny, but he wasn't lying, bottom line with Booze says, yes. And he talks about it. He talks about the money that he's had to turn down. He believes that, you know, there are a lot of folks in Hollywood who are doing some freaky stuff. Again, this is according to Cat Williams, not according to me. And he says, you got to be careful and you got to protect yourself. And he said, he was trying to protect himself from Diddy. Again, this is what he was saying. But Julia Thomas says, I believe Cat, major big bud says, I believe Cat. Do you guys believe Cat? That's what he says, shaking my head, says Jay Blake. None of this has anything to do with the case says, Kim Pearson, I know. I said we were going to exhaust the story. We know it doesn't have anything to do with the case. But people are talking about it. This is what people are talking about. So clear Turner says, yes, I believe in Melanie Rice says, yes. Ginny Bean says, yes. Steph in the city says, yep. I believe it says Carol D's. I believe Cat too says Ashanti. Yup, believe him says Tunisia. Cat was a prophet. This is Kerry King. Okay. So there you go. There you go. That is a Cat Williams story. Now, you guys asked me about Godfrey. And you loved, thank you very much by the way, Stacey, do you believe Cat Williams is but that covered up the thing. So you guys, thank you very much for Stacey galore for the generous contribution to independent media. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Okay. Godfrey was on yesterday. He went off. If you did not watch that episode, you missed it. It aired yesterday. We talked about everything from Diddy to Donald Trump to JD Vance to Vice President Kamala Harris to, we talked about racism in America. We talked about reparations. He had some really strong things to say about Tim Scott. He talked about Vivek Wama Swami. He had a very interesting story to talk about that. Great show with Godfrey says Deborah Avet. Thank you. So as it relates to Diddy and he weaves into other things, this is Godfrey yesterday, just a little bit of a clip of what you're going to see if you click on that show and you watch it today or whenever. This has Godfrey on Live at Five yesterday talking about Diddy and other stuff. They confiscated boxes of about a thousand bottles of baby. They're eating dogs. They're eating cats and dogs. P Diddy is greasing dogs and barbecuing parakeets. It's happening. It's pretty disgusting. They're eating the cats and the dogs and there's a lot of baby oil and a lot of dildos. It's pretty pathetic. It's very embarrassing and I love P Diddy, great friend of mine. But it's pretty sick. They are friends. I know. Yeah. But remember, Trump was around when it was live. Trump was a socialite. Trump was partying. I mean, I think Trump is the most mentioned person in the hip-hop. They always would say I'm getting money like Trump and I'm with the Trump Tower. So Trump, this part of hip-hop, Trump was in the mix. You can see he's taking pictures with everybody. He's giving money to some artists to start their labels. Trump was part of that. That's why I was a little disappointed in Trump, just the way he's been. I said, considering you've been around different communities coming up and, you know, but anyway, either way. Yeah. So, and then we went on to talk about black men who were supporting at a higher rate than before. Not that Kamala Harris is not going to win the black vote, she will, and the black male vote, but at a higher rate than before. Thank you. I can't even pronounce your name. She's a prophet or whatever for the generous contribution. But it's not that she's not going to win it, but I think black men are going to vote for her at a vote for Donald Trump or a Republican candidate who happens to be Donald Trump at a higher level than they had been in previous presidential elections. And I talked to him about that and he explained to me what he thought that it was that Donald Trump had been around. He said he had sort of been the goat. He had invested in rap and hip-hop artists that he liked hanging out with him. Remember, he liked being a celebrity. He was a Democrat back then, right? He donated to Democratic campaigns. He was at Hillary Clinton, he was at his wedding. The Clintons were at his wedding. A lot of Democrats were at his wedding to Melania Trump. So there you go. So I'm glad you guys liked it. He also talked about, did he talk about Jill Stein, he didn't talk about Jill Stein. So there you go. His impersonation is better than Alec Baldwin, in my humble opinion, says Janet Davis. I will tell Alec Baldwin today, I'm going to see Alec Baldwin, I'm going to be on his podcast today. So I'll tell him what you said and see if he takes offense to that, okay? Trump 20 to 24 years to life in prison says Cosmo, okay, I thought someone was the same Trump 2024. All right. Well, there you go. So we have exhausted, I believe, for now, and we'll keep an eye on what's happening in the courtroom as it relates to P. Diddy, okay? Okay. So let's talk about what's happening with in politics, okay? So in his first public appearance, since an apparent assassination attempt was thwarted on Sunday, the former president Donald Trump spoke at a town hall in Flint, Michigan with Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his one-time White House press secretary, remember her? Remember, his comments were overshadowed by hers, one that was remarkably cruel, this comment from Sanders, and the cruelty is the point, okay? This is Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Once again, remember JD Vance, steps in it when he talks about, you know, childless women. I don't know, what do they have against women who have no children? Anyway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, yesterday speaking. Not only do my kids serve as a permanent reminder of what's important, they also keep me humble. You can walk into a room like this where people cheer when you step onto the stage and you might think for a second that you're kind of special. Then you go home, and your kids remind you very quickly you're actually not that big of a deal, and ours are pretty good at it. So my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble. Whoa, what is their obsession with women, without children of their biological connection? Yeah, I mean, Kamala Harris is the stepmother of two children with her husband, Doug Emhoff, Cole, and Ella Emhoff. They call her Mamala, they consider as much mother as their own, in response to Governor Sanders' comments, their biological mother, Kirsten Emhoff, wrote on social media, quote, Cole and Ella keep us inspired to make the world a better place. I do it through storytelling. Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working for the people, all families. That keeps you pretty humble. What is this exception? It's just cruelty, first of all, first of all, you know you're turning off an entire population of people, so they just don't want those voters. They are playing for a very small subset that relishes the cruelty. First of all, it's fascinating that Sarah Hooka, Sanders, you still can't pronounce Kamala Harris' name correctly. That's the first thing. The other, you want to make them the other, continue to mispronounce their name like everybody seems to do on Fox News when they know better. Yes. It's Kamala. I will talk to Republicans that will say... What do Mattel, Banana Republic, ButcherBox, and Glossier, all have in common? They power their businesses with Shopify. Shopify is the most innovative and scaled commerce platform on the planet that also happens to have the best converting checkout on the planet. And that's no industry secret. That's Shopify. Learn more at Shopify.com/enterprise. Trump Republicans that will say Kamala, whatever you want, that's interesting. Why do you mispronounce her name when you know it's Kamala? Let's make it seem like they're the other. So she starts there, Kamala doesn't have children, doesn't have her own children. And you know, Willie, it's so patently obvious that... It's obvious what they're doing. Thank you for that. It's patently obvious what they're doing. And you know, Joe is right, and I've said this before, that it's a way to otherwise her. Because it's so easy to say Kamala, it's just easy. And then if you say Kamala, right, and then you immediately apologize, I get it, too. Because you probably hear it so much, people pronounce it wrong. I would imagine that some people may get it wrong. But it's so easy. She's doing it on purpose. She knows better. Sarah Huckabee Sanders knows better. Someone said, Eric Keller, Bravo, you get the award today, okay? Eric Keller in the comments says, "Shouldn't her fate keep her humble?" She says, "Our children keep her humble." Okay, fine. All right. I'll accept that. I don't have kids. I would imagine kids keep your humble. My parents humble. We certainly kept my mom and my dad humble and my stepdad. We had a blended family. I don't understand their obsession with that, with people who don't have kids. I don't understand that. So let's talk about how the GOP only cares about some children, right? Because they certainly don't care about the girls who are molested or raped or the victims of incest. Now do they? Do they? Let's talk about Hadley Duvall. She was raped by her stepfather when she was 12 years old. She became pregnant with his child. And their laws would have forced her to carry that baby to turn. She was featured in an ad for Governor Andy Bashir last year during his re-election campaign and later became a vocal advocate for abortion rights all across the United States. This summer, she spoke at the DNC. Here it is. Watch that. Here's an ad. I've never slept a full night in my entire life. I was five years old when my stepfather abused me for the first time. I just felt like I was alone on a planet with a monster. I was 12 when he impregnated me. I just remember thinking, I have to get out of my skin. I can't be me right now, like this can't be it. I didn't know what to do. I was a child. I didn't know what it meant to be pregnant at all. That I had options because Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade. Girls and women all over the country have lost the right to choose. Even for rape or incest. Donald Trump did this. He took away our freedom. I'm Kamala. What do you say to that? What do you say to that? I mean, how do you refute that? In the strength of Heavenly Devalle to be able to talk about all of this public, can you imagine, can you imagine, I don't even want to say this, but that happening to your child or your niece, your cousin, your sister, your aunt, can you just imagine that happening to anyone? Can you imagine? It just pisses me off. It infuriates me when people say, you know, the right, we want to protect children's lives, the lives of children and babies. Okay? Yes. But don't you want to protect people like Hadley? Because every adult does not have the best of intentions. There are horrible people in this world who take advantage of children. That's all part of protecting children. That's why I wrote what I wrote. That's why I wrote part of why I wrote the book is because we should not be injecting our religion into our politics. Women and girls should have the right, the autonomy, and the authority over their own bodies to be able to choose along with their doctor and their parents or their spouses or whomever what they should do with their bodies and what's best for them. I want to go back to this is another clip over at Morning Joe talking about the cruelty of MAGA for comments like the Sarah Huckabee Sanders made yesterday in Flint, Michigan of all places. That's also one in the chat talking about it. Should they be talking about helping the poor people, especially the people of color there in the water situation, but I digress. Here it is. Morning Joe talking about MAGA cruelty. One of a billion examples. We had Kevin Williamson on with his extraordinary essay on what's happening in Springfield, Ohio. He just talked about how they know they're lying. Everybody on the ground knows they're lying, but they continue doing it and continue putting people who are here legally in danger for their lives. Yeah, well, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, proving with this performance that those who think that she is a rising star in the Trumpified Republican Party are probably right. I mean, this is what, you know, you look at her, you look at JD Vance, you look at, there's so many object lessons, Joe, of the ways in which Trump's corrupt Republican Party on this front. They are both good examples of this. People who clearly know better and are smarter than they appear on television and they all, they recognize they think they have a future in whether Donald Trump wins the presidency this year or reclaims the presidency this year, whether he goes away. This large question of what happens in the post-Trump era, this is a preview of it. JD Vance, you know, is just brazenly, just gets up and does the thing you've been talking about the last two days, gaslights people on the question of what's going on in Springfield, Ohio. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gets up and says this is what it takes. She says what it takes to be accepted in a party where now because of Donald Trump, the cruelty is the point and, you know, it's not just, obviously, you know, the childless cat ladies, it's not just blended families, you know, I sit here as a child of adoption and my mother passed away a long time ago, I can imagine what my mother would have thought about someone standing up saying that that adopted mother is not actual, it does not qualify for somehow his motherhood or that the children of adopted families are somehow not, don't measure up in some way to the standard of normalcy and the standard of completeness that Trump and I don't even think they even think about it this way, they just want to crap on people and there is some, this culture of we own the libs, we own our enemies, we knock them, we ridicule them, that has become the guiding spirit of the MAGA Republican Party and you can see it in not just in Donald Trump and everyone who aspires to be Trump's successor. He said that's it, own the libs and the cruelty is the point, the cruelty is the point. Now remember, it just galled me the other day when, and again, just so people don't take it out of context because they often do, when I said no one wants anything to happen to Donald Trump, everyone to be safe, but for him to respond to this, it wasn't actually an attempt on his life, it was an attempt at an attempt on his life, I mean, I know there's nuance there, the guy didn't fire off a shot, so it wasn't an actual assassination attempt, it was something akin to that because the guy was getting ready to, I'm not saying that his Donald Trump's life wasn't in danger, but the guy didn't get off a shot, they noticed him earlier, what have you, so anyway, that aside, for him to respond by saying that these things are happening because of the rhetoric from the vice president and the president and the former president, Barack Obama, et cetera, makes absolutely no sense to me and it's actually bullshit for them to respond that way. When you listen to these types of comments that are coming from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, again about childless women, the senior, I don't have to make the point to you, okay? About that kind of rhetoric, let's hear it from the senior advisor from the Trump campaign speaking out against Sarah Huckabee Sanders on fake news CNN as Trump calls it, watch. Back to Sarah Huckabee Sanders' comment, I too was blessed to have a stepmother, I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be able to have normal conversations without a stepmother, so I found that comment to be actually offensive. I don't know what more to say about them disappointed, and Sarah was saying that I'm sure I'm probably going to get a criticism from the campaign, but I have to sort of defend somebody who's a stepmom, it's a tough job, people step into that role, it's usually a difficult dynamic, my mom excelled at it, I'm sure your mom excelled at it, I'm sure you excelled at it, and we should reward that in sort of speaking that in a very high tone. Jesus, he's right, every time I see that, I tell him like, "How many people can you put around one table?" He's right, listen again, as I said, I come from a blended family, and my stepdad is my dad, right? I just call him dad, I don't actually don't call him my stepdad, I do that for clarification for this story, right, to make a point, but I call him my dad. Since I was, I think, nine years old, he was my dad. He was my dad. Make sure you hit the thumbs up, please hit the like, I'm seeing folks and they're saying not enough people are liking the, hitting the thumbs up. Okay, so speaking of that, GOP isn't being cruel to children, right? If they're not, it's being, they're being relentlessly cruel and racist to minorities as well. Now I want you to, I'm going to prepare you for this next clip I'm going to play because yesterday's Senator John Kennedy from my home state of Louisiana, a Republican, repeatedly suggested that a leading Arab American activist was a Hamas supporter when she testified Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes, and he told her that she should hide her head in a bag. The activist, as Maya Berry said, repeatedly that she did not support Hamas and was disappointed by the minutes long exchange toward the end of a hearing called a threat to justice everywhere, stemming the tide of hate crimes in America. Watch. Support Hamas, do you not? Senator, oddly enough, I'm going to say thank you for that question because it demonstrates the purpose of our hearing today in a very effective way. Let's start first with a yes or no. Hamas is a foreign terrorist organization that I do not support, but you asking the executive director of the Arab American Institute that question very much puts the focus on the issue of hate in our country. Well, I got your answer and I appreciate it. What is the, you support has blah, too, don't you? Again, I find this line of questioning extraordinarily disappointing senator that you have Arab American constituents that you represent in your great state. It's my understanding that, but it's my time to not apologize, but it's not a yes or a no. Yes or no question to do I support Hezbollah. The answer is I don't support violence, whether it's Hezbollah Hamas or any other entity that invokes it. You can't bring yourself to say no, can you? No, I can say no. I can say yes. But you haven't. I just can't mind if you're so good. Do you support or oppose Iran and their hatred of Jews? Again, I'm going to emphasize Iran, Hezbollah Hamas, none of them is going to this discussion. You keep on yourself to say no, sir. I don't support. It's real simple. Excuse me. I'm going to. If I may as a Muslim woman, as a Muslim woman, sir, I'm going to tell you I do not support Iran. But what I will tell you is that this conversation, I'm running out of time. You, you called our decision to cut funding. You called our decision to cut funds. Well first, what's the United Nations relief and works agency? It's UNRWA, which is the institution that exists to provide services and aid to the nearly six million Palestinian refugees. And you called our decision to cut funding for them, quote, an incredible moral failure, close quote. It is absolutely correct. But again, I would suggest that conversation is about foreign policy. And we did that because nine UNRWA staff members were fired for actually helping Hamas on October 7th, isn't that case? I don't believe that that's correct. I'm going to ask you one more time. You support Hamas, don't you? You support UNRWA and Hamas, don't you? Sir, I think it's exceptionally disappointing that you're looking at an Arab American witness before you and saying you support Hamas. You know what's disappointing to me? I do not support Hamas. You can't bring yourself. I do not support Hamas. You don't support UNRWA. You don't support Hamas. I was very clear in my support. How's it going? You don't. You just said I don't support Hamas. You should hide your head in a bag. Good time has expired. Please, please, Ms. Berry, I'm going to allow you to respond to anyone or all of those questions at this point. Senator Durbin, thank you very much for holding this hearing. And for elevating the issue of hate crime, it's regrettable that I, as I sit here, have experienced the very issue that we're attempting to deal with today. The introduction of foreign policy is not how we keep Arab Americans, but Jewish Americans or Muslim Americans or Black people or Asian Americans, anybody safe. This has been regrettably a real disappointment, but very much an indication of the danger to our democratic institutions that we're in now. And I deeply regret that. And I do hope that my testimony today has been helpful to understanding the need to respond to hate. Now am I wrong? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Did not, producers Andy, Nikki, that, did she say she didn't support Hamas? Didn't she? Wasn't she saying that? While he was questioning her? Yes, right? What's wrong with him? The woman who was sitting there saying I don't support Hamas, I don't support the things that you, okay, repeatedly she said no, thank you, Jim Darth, I'm just wondering, it's, fog horn, he sounds he does sound like fog horn, leg horn that you guys are saying. I hate to disparage people that way, but that's how he, and he didn't always have that accent, by the way, I'm from Louisiana. He didn't always have that accent, he went to an Ivy League school, by the way. Several times says Nina Simone. I hope he turned away because he was embarrassed. Maybe he does have a hearing problem. Wow. Again, I hate to keep saying this every day, right? I'm not a Democrat, not a Republican. I just like to call balls and strikes and BS. That was some bullshit. That was some bullshit. What do you guys think about it? He should have been very embarrassed says, went to be a crop. He's nuts, says Imilemon in the comments. I know her. Dartin Bickley says no, he's just nasty. Senator Kennedy has had his talking points on the sheet of paper and just read the paper and nothing else. You can't fix stupid, says Laura Ruse. Charterner says the disdain and disrespect. Make sure you, guys, please, you got to hit the thumbs up because it helps the algorithm, right? I appreciate that. He's going to help for that, says Nisha Gordon. Ah, boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Okay. Let's talk about something that's happening and this is happening in the war, so to speak on terror, but it's happening overseas. This happened in Lebanon, okay? I am playing it because it just shows you how technology is playing out in these efforts to root out terrorism, extremism, and even in wars, remember they're like drone strikes. In many places in the world now, we don't even have to have troops on the ground. They're drone strikes. The technology here, for me, is something out of the matrix, like out of a sci-fi or an action movie, right? I expect to see like Tom Cruise or the rock or somebody in a movie like this. Thousands of people were injured across Lebanon on Tuesday when electronic pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah simultaneously exploded around 3.30 p.m. the group and Lebanese officials said and what experts said may have been an unprecedented attack by Israel that possibly involved sabotaging the devices before they were delivered. Here's a report showing how it happened and people unsuspecting all of a sudden simultaneously, they were shopping in the grocery store, in the market, in the bank, or whatever, boom in their homes and they go off. Watch. Breaking news, CNN has learned the hundreds of pagers, perhaps thousands, we don't have an exact number, that exploded in an apparently coordinated attack against members of Hezbollah in Lebanon today with the result of a joint operation between Israel's intelligence service, the Assad and the Israeli military. The New York Times tonight also has new reporting, unnamed American and other officials tell the times that Israel carried out the attack, quote, "by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon," some of the officials said that the pagers were tampered with before they reached Lebanon and as little as one to two ounces of explosive material was implanted along with a switch that could be detonated remotely. The Times also reports that the devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding. Now, these are photos of damaged pagers, CNN has discovered online, we can't geo-locate the images, but they were published today, they all appear to be from the same pager manufacturer mentioned in the Times reporting and at least one appears to be the same model as well. Leaders of Hezbollah have had retribution today and we warn you the video of the explosions you're about to see is graphic. In this one, a man can be seen as a supermarket in the lower left, you see him collapse on the ground, the explosion was near his waist, it knocked him down, his bag is torn to shreds, he clutches his stomach, he's groaning in pain. Then in another video, shared on social media, another explosion, this time I'm going to check out another person apparently knocked to the ground, they are standing next to the person with the pager. Lebanese health officials say thousands were injured and at least nine were killed, including at least one child. Hezbollah, which the U.S. designated a foreign terrorist organization, blames Israel for the attack. Got it, got it, got it, got it. We could have picked it up just when the explosions were going off because we could kind of explain what was happening, but listen, so in this suspected attack, it appears to be the latest salvo in the nearly year long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah tied to the war in Gaza. Now it triggered the worst mass casualty event in Lebanon of the war, leaving the country's health system reeling. At least 2,800 people were injured across the country, mostly with wounds to the face, hands or stomach, the health ministries, far as Abayat said, at least 12 people were killed, including a young girl. Now I have seen some reports that were folks were upset, they were saying they were calling this terrorism on innocent civilians and people there, and they were upset by it. Health officials reported bedlament hospitals, as ambulances poured into the facilities, they were overrun, casualties were reported in Beirut, the capital, towns in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, in the coastal city of Tyre, and in the northern part of the country. The wounded included children and elderly people, and electronics manufacturer in Taiwan said Wednesday that a company based in Hungary made the pagers bearing its brand that were used by members of Hezbollah, Hezbollah has vowed retaliation and a severe reckoning for Israel, so it continues. Escalation, I'm sure will happen. A couple of things before I let you go, a lot has been made of the President Joe Biden, and they're talking about his mental acumen and whether he's diminished or not. This is the former President, Donald Trump, speaking yesterday at, it's from Morning Joe, but another clip from Morning Joe, where he's mixing up Alaska and Afghanistan. Let's play it quickly, real quick. We would have been now having so much money coming out of the energy. We just have the best. We have Bagram in Alaska. They say it might be as big, might be bigger than all of Saudi Arabia. I got it approved. Ronald Reagan couldn't do it. Nobody could do it. I got it done. In their first week, they terminated it. Check that one out. Bagram. Yeah. So check that out, Willie. If you go to Google machine, the reason, the reason they couldn't get it done is because Bagram, the reason Ronald Reagan couldn't get done, you know, in Alaska is probably because Bagram is in Afghanistan. But no, you know, hey, selective perception, he's okay, Joe Biden's not. Also one more thing here, we've been talking about the Haitians or as, Godfrey and I called them yesterday, the Haitians, as we played that clip from, from clueless, right? This is from the Daily Show of Trump trying to figure out where are Haitians from. Donald Trump campaign is ramping up its investigation into a question that has plagued GOP scientists for decades. What country are Haitians from illegal Haitian migrants? Nobody knows where they come from. Where do Haitians come from? There's a scientific mystery as old as time itself, however, following a week of forensic analysis, Trump offered a new theory. We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio. We're going to get these people out. We're bringing them back to Venezuela. But not everyone is convinced that Haitians are from Venezuela. In fact, Trump's VP pick JD Vance put forth his own hypothesis as to where Haitians come from. Twenty thousand migrants, primarily from Haitians, have been dropped into Springfield, Ohio. Are Haitians from Haitians? Venezuela? Or what about a third country that we haven't identified yet? GOP scientists caution that more analysis is needed to determine where Haitians come from, though we are sure to hear more about these migrants from our nation's foremost Haiti experts. They're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats. What a much more report on Haysha, or it would be Haitia, man, you got to laugh. I'm so glad that you guys joined us. Thank you so much. Remember, go get it. We talk about all this stuff. I once was lost the book. I'm going to keep, I'm going to keep selling this book because I really think that you need to watch it. I'm pimping the book. And tonight, I see some of you in the comments talking about news nation, whatever. But tonight, I will be on News Nation with Dan Abrams on News Nation. I believe Dan is on at nine o'clock. I'm not exactly. I think it's nine o'clock. So make sure you're tuned to News Nation. I'm sure it's going to be a fiery conversation. Dan is a friend, but look, he pulls no punches, he's going to ask me the tough questions. And I'm going to answer them all. So I'll be on the news nation last night, I was on the MSNBC with the joy read, it was a fascinating conversation. I hope you saw that in the night before, I was on the CNN with the Aaron Burnett. And tonight, I'll be on the news nation. And then is it tomorrow night, tomorrow night of Friday night, I forget one of those nights, I'll be on the MSNBC with the Stephanie rule. So I'm making the cable news rounds, almost like the old days. We have much more fun here though. Make sure you hit the thumbs up before you get out of here. Make sure you like and subscribe. I'm not kidding. Come on, hit the thumbs up guys. What's wrong with you? You know how to do that. Yes, I am a busy man. I will also be on Alec Baldwin's podcast today, later on this afternoon. And there's some other stuff on this schedule. I'll go check it out. So anyways, I thank you guys for joining us. Now you're all caught up. You can go and talk to folks. You can talk to them about Hadia, Haysha, where Haitians are from. You can talk to them about Sarah Huckabee Sanders comments. You're knowledgeable about P. Diddy that he's in court. His lawyers are going to appeal him not being able to get out. The judge denying bail in this situation. You'll be able to talk about that. You'll be able to talk about what happened with Hezbollah and the pagers. And Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all of that stuff, you're going to be able to discuss it with knowledge. They are eating the lemon, says ALS or Al's Jackson. They are eating the lemons. Support Don Lemon's book. I once was lost on Amazon and bookstores. Thank you very much for that, everyone. So hit the thumbs up. Thank you. You're all caught up. I'll see you at five o'clock where we'll catch you up even more. And I'll read even more of your comments. Live at five, coming at five PM Eastern. Okay? Have a great day, everyone. I'll see you later. [BLANK_AUDIO]
