Boston Public Radio Podcast

BPR Full Show 9/17: Attorney General Q&A

Attorney General Andrea Campbell answered questions from listeners. NBC Sports Boston anchor/reporter Trenni Casey discussed Caitlin Clark's 35 point game. Media maven Sue O'Connell takes a look at Trump's misinformation campaign beyond the rhetoric around Haitian migrants in OhioCNN's John King on the latest political headlinesWe opened the lines to discuss heading back into the office

Broadcast on:: 17 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

Support for Boston Public Radio comes from Imagine Exhibitions. Harry Potter, the exhibition, is now open. You can experience the filmmaking of Harry Potter through interactive sets, props, costumes, and more. Tickets at harrypotterexhibition.com And The Trustees, presenting Halloween on the Hill. Attendees can celebrate the beauty and fun of autumn in Massachusetts at The Trustees Long Hill in Beverly, advanced tickets required. Learn more at TheTrustees.org/Halloween [♪♪] It's your party. I am Marjorie Egan. Welcome to Boston Public Radio 897GBH. We are broadcasting live from the Boston Public Library and streaming online at youtube.com/GBHNews. Good morning, Jim. How are you? We're all clapping here. The podium. Okay, before we get started... I like that we let our own clap. That's right. I thought you got to make sure... No one's sad is that nobody joined you. That's what's really sad for the show. I'm closer to the microphone, so it sounded like a big enthusiastic clap. You know what I mean? Anyway, before we get started, we want to remind the sorts of our text segment later in the show. Today's prompt, "Can you explain crypto to us?" Former President Trump's latest money-grabbing scheme is core family businesses now. Decentralized finance, aka crypto, but we are a little suspicious. Do you think that the former president has any idea what crypto actually is? You can weigh in on that. Maybe you can explain what crypto is to everybody else, including the former president. I'm sure he's tuning in. Anyway, you can text us at 877-3018970 and help everyone understand all about crypto. Thank you, but right now, more pressing matters are joined by Attorney General O'Connell. Andrea Campbell, she's here for the hour taking our questions. Yours, you can reach Andrea Joy Campbell at 877-3018970. That's phone or text. And if you're here at the library, you can find our colleague Hannah. That would be right over there. If you have a question, talk to Hannah about it, and you might be able to address the Attorney General. Directly, Attorney General Campbell, it's great to see you. Thank you. It's great to be here. Thank you. Great to see you, Attorney General. So let's start with a very upbeat story, actually. I read this on CNN, saw a lot of the pictures. I did not realize that Kamala Harris had been a mentor to you and a lot of other black women coming into politics. You campaigned for her when you were seven months pregnant out there in Iowa in 2020, so tell us. Yeah, so I'm, of course, not only out here supporting her and Tim Walts to be the next president and vice president of this country because what is at stake in this election. But personally, I'm also supporting her because I know she'd be an incredible president and incredible leader. And I've seen this over the years. So I sort of full circle, actually. So I'm obviously the first black woman, Attorney General of Massachusetts, and I never take that for granted. It's an honor and privilege to serve and represent Massachusetts. But if you go backwards, when I graduated from UCLA law school, she was my commencement speaker. And at that time, she was the first black woman elected as District Attorney in San Francisco. And then, of course, went on to be the Attorney General. And there's only been four black women elected AGs in the country. Only four. I didn't know that. Only four, and I'm the most recent and just James before me in Kamala before her in Pamela from Indiana before her. And so it's a small group, obviously. But in addition to the mentorship, I consider our vice president to be a good friend and advisor. I was just at an event last night in Concord. Talking about what's at stake in this election, everything having to do with the rule of law, democracy. If you care about climate justice, gun violence, prevention. If you want everything related to economics and affordability to actually be dealt with in so much more. If you want a country that is coming together versus someone who's dividing us and calling for another candidate to be assassinated. That's what's at stake in this election. But I stress that she's good on the substance, she's good on the issues. But it's also about who you surround yourself with. And so some of this mentorship work that she has been doing around the country to make sure our political leadership reflects the demographics of people we serve. Also demonstrates how she'll show up as a leader. She's got to hire people that are compassionate and empathetic. She's going to hire people who know more than her, who are experts. Hire people who are not yes folks or enablers, but push and challenge her to do the best on behalf of the constituents. And most importantly, don't enable her to do bad things that harm the constituents and the residents of this country. So I'm just excited to get out here. I'm just reminding folks, there are 49 days into this election. Some states of course start voting early. And yes, we're a blue state in Massachusetts, but you can phone bank to other states. You can travel to battleground states. You can mobilize folks. It's going to be important that everyone does their part to save our democracy. And most importantly, to elect leaders who care about folks and who will get things done while bringing us all together. Can you give us an example of a moment with Vice President Harris that meant a lot to you? Well, one, being in Iowa campaigning with her when I was seven months pregnant with my second son was incredible. Because it was the Iowa caucus season. It was just the energy on the ground there. Advocates and political operatives and those who run community-based organizations, do grassroots, get out the vote. They were all there, so you felt this groundswell of support. But this was also at a time when folks, I think, counted Kamala out. And I remember going to Iowa was all hands on deck to really push her candidacy and to push volunteers and to inspire them to continue to get out there on her behalf. And at this point, of course, everyone was running, including Biden, Senator Warren, Cory Booker and so many others, Pete Buttigieg. And I remember her walking onto that stage, and she was the best that night. And I remember getting on the plane, seven months pregnant, and looking, I will be very candid with you, looking at the media coverage. And asking myself, was I in the same room in the same space? And so later on, when she decided to drop out of the race, she called me, extended gratitude for my support from the beginning. It was the first elected action in Massachusetts to endorse her for President in 2020. She was extending gratitude, and I just remember her saying she didn't know it was going to come next, but for me to keep fighting in the fight, to keep pushing. And I remember thanking her for putting herself in the race, talking about the media coverage. And I thought she did an incredible job in Iowa, and to keep staying in the course because her leadership was still needed. So those moments of encouragement happen. They're needed. To be a black woman elected is hard, it's harder to raise money. You still, of course, get threats of all different kinds that can come your direction. So there is a group of folks who support each other, and I feel incredibly blessed to have such a deep connection with an incredible human being. Who is for the people and about the people. >> Have you gotten a lot of threats since you've been in general? >> Well, who knows, frankly, because I think- >> You would know. >> Well, no, what I mean by that is I have a state police detail. That is a new reality. So things don't necessarily get to me and come to me as I go to various events where there are threats that may be happening or things going on. But who knows? I also don't monitor the comments on media articles or on social media. I'm very faith-driven. I stay connected in my faith. I don't get distracted by the noise because I know I am protected by something bigger than me. And I just stay focused on the people and the work. >> But have any threats been brought to your attention by the state police or others? >> No, I think sometimes, I think you can go to certain places and folks who may be disgruntled about something may be present there. But we treat everyone with respect by the grace of God and, of course, the incredible detail I have. We've been fine. >> Okay, in a minute, we're going to get to your calls in Texas at 877-301-8970. The Treasurer, Deb Goldberg, just fired the head of the Cannabis Control Commission. Shannon O'Brien. Months-long investigation. Fires are, at least as a member of the public, shared, it appears to me, very little information as to what was the motivation for a decision. You're her lawyer. >> Yes. >> And hers being Deb Goldberg. So I guess the questions are several. One, is this due process? Two, was the process fair? And three, am I not entitled, I, and my fellow tax fairs, entitled to know more about why an appropriately appointed commissioner was fired when the rules for dismissing commissioners are, at least from my estimation, quite rigid and tight. So answer any and all, please, if you would. >> So, before I get to the chair conversation, I think, I want to just talk about the commission as a whole. >> Yeah. >> Because it's been in the news quite a bit, and that's not lost on me. There is dysfunction in different ways, as described by folks who are there. I think there is a culture where some folks get along, some don't. And so we have actively, as one of the appointing authorities, working with the Treasurer and the Governor, we all share appointments to work with the legislature. And I said to the legislature, we have to come together and we will, on ways to improve the commission so they can do their job. And that includes some possible structural changes. They need to hire more staff and hire more staff quickly. So we're getting more in the weeds on that. Because if they do not figure that out, we're all in trouble. And obviously there is an appointment of an interim chair. So there's just the instability that exists, you cannot do your job effectively. And everyone agrees, they want to change that going forward. So we're actively involved in that. On the specifics related to the removal of the former chair. Obviously the Treasurer put out a public report that is, I think it's public. Oh, it's not. >> Exactly my point. >> Okay, well, it will be public at some point. I have to be careful. >> You know that for a fact? >> Well, I have to be careful because this is where I get in trouble and my team is like, excuse me, you can only say so much. We don't know where this is going to go. Obviously I've represented it in my capacity as AG, the Treasurer, before. That has to continue, and so that's ongoing, and I can't say more than that. But when I can, I will, and when we can release that report, we will. >> So, but- >> And it is a lengthy one. >> But don't you believe that we have the right now to know why a commissioner in a public position was fired? >> Yeah, I don't understand what the delay is. It's not a low-level employee where you might keep their personnel records private. Aren't we entitled to know what the motivation was? >> At some point, at some point. I mean, I think what we're figuring out in all of our investigations and representation of either a state, a constitutional officer. Obviously I've represented the Secretary of State and others. There is due process, there's discovery, there's a layers of every case, and our government bureau does an incredible job. So when we can share things publicly, we will, and I just will stress this. It is also one of the frustrations of my role too, right? I come from local government city council where I could share more freely. That's not the case when we are undergoing various investigations or affording folks through process, and there may be hiccups along the way and frustrations from the public vantage point. But when we can share it, we will, and we will make that clear when we can. >> Here's one last thing about it. I think it's been, how long has it been now, 20 months or something? >> It's been a long time. >> Okay, so Shan Lebron, first woman elected statewide in Commonwealth of Massachusetts long distinguished career has basically been hanging. For 20 months accused of gross misconduct, nothing I read seems to be gross misconduct. I mean, maybe she said some things she shouldn't have said, but it doesn't seem to be gross misconduct. She's kind of been, her reputation has been, I think, grossly shattered in public opinion. Massachusetts, we are one of the most secretive states going. I mean, we can't know what the government is doing, we can't know what the legislature is doing. We can't know what judiciary is doing, I don't mean in every sense. But we're very secretive here, much worse than other states. Not only as your office represented her, but she's gone off to Skolberg and paid another $800,000 to another, so that's a lot of taxpayer money. >> To another what, other lawyers. >> Other lawyers, right. So I guess the thing is, how long should Shan Lebron have to hang in the wind being accused and getting fired for gross misconduct before the state gets its act together and says what the heck she did? >> Well, I will say that, I want to, in the representation of the treasurer, she has, I think, been very thoughtful here and she can't obviously express everything publicly that she would want to at this stage because it is active and it is ongoing. And that's thoughtfulness I've seen President, of course, representing her in her office. And there have been delays for different reasons that I can't even speak to publicly that have delayed this. And it's not just one person's fault as to why it's taken this long. And so this is ongoing, more will come out publicly. And I've always stressed that on the transparency, whether it's public records, context, conflict interests, whatever it is, we go above and beyond in terms of disclosures. We think that is important for all agencies and all parts of government, crystal clear. The difference between an attorney general though versus other constitutional offices is we do have processes, legal rules, statutes, regulations, court procedures, you name it. That dictate how we can talk about things publicly and how we cannot. But I've always said when we reach a conclusion in something, we will absolutely share sooner than later. Not only with media, but with constituents, especially about the things that they care about the most. And so that will happen here too. >> Let's go to the Coles 877-301-8970. Don, you're in Southboro, you're on with the Attorney General, Andrea Campbell, hi. >> Hi, good morning. Thank you, Marcia and Kate and Attorney Campbell for taking my call. My question is about something to do with more modern technology, and that is being hacked. And I have a situation where I've been my phone and my email has been hacked. And I have an IP address that those hacking belong to. But I've taken it to my local police station, and they are not really that interested in investigating. And I'm just wondering, who is in charge of investigating this? And what can one do about it? It's very concerning, it's been going on for two years. >> We got it, Dawn, let's hear what the Attorney General has to say. >> Thank you, Dawn, for calling it. Because yours is so specific in nature, if you could stay on care from my team. And Raisa also here from our ISC team, our Information Services Division. So if you could stay on because yours is so specific and frankly we'd want more details, that would be helpful. We do have a data privacy team, we have different parts of the office that address data breaches, etc. So it's robust work, so if we can be helpful, we want to be, and if we can't, we of course want to do a warm referral. >> So you can stay on, Dawn, and thank you for calling in. >> We'll get your contact information and share it with the Attorney General's colleagues. Dawn, thanks for the call. >> Yeah, Attorney General, there was an awful story this summer about the Southwick Regional High School, where her mother said her daughter's first year in the eighth grade has been full of racial threats and bias and hate. And there's been a lot of reports about anti-Semitism in schools and I know you're very concerned about that, so what's going on? >> There's a lot going on and I appreciate you actually naming Southwick because as I crisscrossed the state to talk about, we're going to do everything in our office to, of course, keep people safe from violence. We are actively taking guns off the street every single day and drugs and addressing drug trafficking cases. So this public safety, public health work is ongoing. We're going to make sure you have access to good housing, and we're going to make sure your parks and your water is clean, and that you have the goods and things you would need to thrive. But at the end of the day, I've been stressing, who cares about all of that tangible stuff? >> You don't feel safe as a student in your school, and if you don't feel safe in your community, just walking around being who you want to be, as my uncle says. And being free, and to identify and represent yourself however you seem fit. So Southwick, I have been stressing as one place where, sadly, some black students did not feel safe. And there were things before what led up to the ultimate incident where they felt like the culture at the school did not warrant, create a safe school and supportive school environment, which led also to a mock slave auction. So folks are usually in shock. This happened at a school where a group of students, using their fellow students, created a mock slave auction to auction off these other students. And I talked to one of the students who is just amazing. Not only excelled and graduated on honors and went back to that school, but most importantly, I talked about the detrimental effect on her and what that felt like. And the violation of her humanity and the trauma she's still dealing with and grappling with that she will have to overcome as she pursues her dreams. So we don't just talk about the problem though in the office. And I think it's important to name that that happens here in Massachusetts. This idea that we're progressive and we don't have racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia here in Massachusetts, it's false. We do. But in our office, we also want to address and be a part of the solutions. And so I'm really proud of our children's justice unit and our civil rights division in particular. Our children's justice unit is really on the ground every single day, working with school districts, including Southwick. Not only work with the school district, work with community based organizations, including the NAACP and so many others who are involved, the parents, the students, in a very intimate way to push for the school district and only go through some of our trainings that we host around bullying and harassment. Which they have done, but to also put together a plan on ways in which to develop training and protocols to prevent this from happening in the future. And then pushing them in the response of how they respond to things before it reaches that point of a mock slave auction. And so that work continues. We've put out some information for our school districts and what they can do. We've put out information for our students, which is equally important. Including working with those students who perpetuated this, you can't forget them. We've also put out information for our parents, which is equally important. What our kids are learning at home, I stress this, I'm a mom of two boys, not just an AG. I have a seven year old and soon to be five year old, who I absolutely love, Alexander and Aiden. And we are teaching them early on how to respect their classmates, how to respect people, how to love them. Our faith dictates that too, and we connect those dots for them. That is critically important. It's carry things we know and they learn quickly from us and how we model our language and how we model how we treat people and how we talk about folks. So if we're using words of stereotypes and bias, that's going to trickle down. So we also have training materials and materials for parents. And so I just have to give a shout out to the children's justice unit in my office. You know I'm always giving shout outs to my team, I'm sorry. >> I think that's actually the solution. >> Liza and Casey and the whole team, they used to be a team of one. Liza eventually expanded the team. They are doing significant work, responding in real time to complaints, and then of course going back to these districts to do meaningful work on the ground. That we know will have an impact in changing school culture and climate so that everyone feels safe, regardless of the municipality you live in in Massachusetts. >> Thank you for that. Tom and Worcester, you're next with the Attorney General, welcome to the show, hi. >> Tom. >> Hi, Tom. >> Thank you for taking my call. >> Sure. >> My question is about the large footprint that the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital has in central Massachusetts. Given the issues with Stuart Healthcare, they used to be about six hospitals in Worcester. Now they have merged or been given to UMass. I don't know if UMass is run by the state, I suspect that it is not, that is not clear to me. And I'd like to know from the Attorney General whether her office or any other entity she knows about is keeping an eye on this group. >> Well, keeping an eye, we're keeping an eye on all institutions that do healthcare in Massachusetts. We usually respond when we get complaints from either patients or providers at these institutions, and we follow up on those. Sometimes they're individual complaints, and sometimes there are several folks talking about concern related to an institution and the quality of care. UMass Memorial is not rising to the top in terms of complaints. I would say, Tom, if you want to stay on, if there are specific things that are concerning to you that, of course, would take longer than this call, please do. Of course, first and foremost, we are actively and intimately involved in everything related to Stuart, which is a painful situation all around and has been for patients and providers for years. I often say I inherited this mess in that accountability review to hold them accountable as a for-profit institution that put their profits above residence is ongoing. It will be something that we have to come back to the public on, but I can't say any more than that. We obviously have inserted ourselves in the bankruptcy proceedings to ensure that the sales of some hospitals happened so that patient care can continue, and I stress from the very beginning the hardship of the possibility of closures, which is very difficult and very difficult and challenging. So I say, Tom, you know, Stuart's at the top of the list, but if you have specific concerns about UMass Memorial and the quality of care, do let us know. Tom, stay on hold if you choose to. Can we stay on Stuart for a second? We had two of the spotlight reporters for the Globe the other day who added to the story that Brian McGry and some reporters at the Globe have told about grotesque self enrichment by Ralph Delatori at the same time, patient care was suffering, but they make a pretty credible case. I would say the Globe spotlight team that the misfeasance or malfeasance, I would argue, has directly led to the deaths of at least 15 patients, I think they did in that report. Is part, you say you're doing an investigation. Malta has indicted Delatori on a number two. The U.S. Attorney's Office, the Globe reports, is looking at possible criminal charges are you? So I can't speak to the specifics of our investigation. Obviously, I work with the U.S. Attorney quite a bit. We collaborate on a lot of different things, and each office speaks differently about what they can speak to. And I think you have to be actually very careful when you have an ongoing investigation. We have to be very careful here. I will say two things though that are at the top of the list for me right now. Number one is doing the most thorough and thoughtful investigation of not just principles but of Stuart overall. That is ongoing, and I will absolutely come back to the public and everyone because they deserve to know not only what happened, how we got here, but how we're going to hold them accountable. The second is the legislative solutions here. This is a for-profit institution. I have been at the active at the State House pushing for not just language in a bill that has stalled a bit, but staying active in conversation with the legislature is also equally important. To ensure our office as Attorney General, for example, has the authority to review certain transactions in real time versus later or after the fact. To be able to hold folks accountable and make sure that patients and providers are protected every step of the way. So those two lanes, who are actively working and will absolutely come back to the public. We have more to share on Stuart in a way that is robust and responsive to all of the reporting, to all of the information we're receiving from various stakeholders, and to all of the concerns we're receiving from constituents as well. >> You said a minute ago, I don't know what your language was, but something like it's been a bit delayed in the legislature. The legislature, I know I'm a broken record, is on, despite what they call it, a five month vacation. The Speaker of the House comment on this legislation regulating places like Stuart is it was too important to rush it, which I think Margin and I would respond, don't rush it, don't take a five month vacation and do your job and make sure that places like Stuart are regular. Are you troubled that they, I know they say they didn't go home, but essentially adjourned except for informal sessions without having dealt with. I would argue the most serious healthcare crisis in Massachusetts in years. >> I can't speak to schedules and all that. I will say some still positive things are happening. I chair the Mova board, which is victim comp, they just got their bridge funding, which is a big deal to close significant gap to ensure they have the resources to help victims of crime as a federal government steps away. So they're doing some things, but going to keep pushing them. And they know time is of the essence here because as you have conversations about one for-profit institution and healthcare, more conversations of course are happening now as a result of what happened with Stuart in terms of other for-profit entities. Not just in the traditional healthcare space, but also in the long-term care facility space, elder care space. And so these tools that we will need to hold folks accountable, not after the fact, but prior or during, will be significant. So we will keep working with the legislature to get this done. >> Or if I may, respectfully, unless there's unanimity, as you and I'm sure listeners know, not one dissent, they won't even be able to address this until January, as the Stuart situation goes on. As people continue to suffer in the Shelby Valley, and obviously with the closing of Carney. Do you not believe they maybe should have extended their session long enough to address the Stuart situation? >> I'm confident based on all the calls, they read the papers too. They understand what's at stake when it comes to Stuart. Lives have been lost, lives are still damaged right now, as I stand here. Folks have lost their jobs, are wondering what comes next in terms of care. The Carney, where I would send my voice to the emergency room, is now closed in the show with the same thing. There is tremendous heartache in these communities that DPH and the governor have to deal with. I think they get that, and so what we're stressing is we have to be able to expand our tools to deal with this. And that's my message to them and everyone else. That that's just as important as our accountability review and holding Stuart accountable. They both are equally important. >> Attorney General, we've had several texts about a story that I think stunned and shocked a lot of us. A 25 year old Worcester would be state police officer Enrique Delgado Garcia. I'm sure you know he died in a training exercise at the academy, and they said it was a boxing training exercise. But when you read the story, this young man had a broken neck, was missing a bunch of teeth, and that bruises all over his body. The initial reporting, it's made it sound like, well, it was a tragedy, and he's died, and we're going to support this guy. But now there's an investigation into what happened there. Because apparently this young man had told friends it was kind of like a hazing deal. Up there, obviously, it's very rough training for the state police. But will you be running that investigation, or who will be in charge, or who will look into what happened? >> That runs up with a broken neck in a training exercise. >> This case is devastating. I actually was coming back from a conference when I got the news from some of my fellow troopers. And all of us were heartbroken, and I cried that night. Thinking about the parents, right, who, obviously, you do your best to make sure your child has access to everything they can pursue their dreams. And what I learned more about Enrique, including the fact he was a victim witness advocate in the DA's office for years. Beloved in that office in the community, worked above and beyond, but dreamed of being a state trooper. So left that to then go, of course, through a grueling training to become a state trooper. You do need training, of course. And I think now the MSP has an opportunity to say, okay, while we make sure our folks have rigorous training, how do we ensure it's safe? So they're going to have to go back to the drawing board on that, obviously, and I think they will. But I thought about just this dream of becoming a state trooper. He's training, he's close to being done, working to protect and serve us here in the Commonwealth. So we are all heartbroken about this in the office. I have a state police unit in the office, they are heartbroken. I know fellow trainees who work with him for months are heartbroken, and absolutely his family is heartbroken. And so I'm a praying woman, I pray and continue to for them and offer my condolences. On the work side, what I recognize now is that we have to figure some things out, and we have to figure them out relatively quickly. The number one thing is I am in conversation with a DA early, who obviously is the Worcester County DA and other agencies to talk about who was best positioned to take on this investigation. >> Because he will not, because of his relationship as a victim. >> That's right, and rightfully so, we all agree he has a conflict of interest, he knows the family, it's too deep. And he recognized that early on, so we have been in conversation. And sometimes in these cases you can go to another DA in another county, that's a possibility. Sometimes you can come to me in my office. And the question though becomes, are there conflicts in all of our offices? >> Because they all have state cops. >> And what does that might look like? And so ultimately where I'm at is as I'm driving this, talking to everyone, there are a lot of stakeholders involved. And we'll have a decision point very soon to figure out who was best to lead this investigation. I want to say that not just to the family and the community, I get the sense of urgency here. They have a lot of questions, they need a point of contact to go to, to get those questions answered. And someone to navigate that investigation on their behalf, they will do that. But the other piece I want to stress for just an educational point for our constituents here is that is one, that's a criminal investigation because someone died. That the DA can't do because of a conflict, so I have to figure out, well, who is best positioned to do that? And then there's a civil side, and so as a state's attorney, I also have the other side. I represent state agencies, I have represented the state police, of course, in different matters. And so if, for example, that comes about and I have called to represent them, that creates a conflict. So it's a dual role here that I have to navigate very carefully, and we will, and we will get to a place where the family, of course, has answers and an appropriate appointing authority to investigate this on their behalf and with them. >> One last state police question before we take a break, Attorney General. I want to read you the first paragraph of the Globe's story, written by Danny McDonald's, Shelly Murphy and Sean Cotter. This is about Jeffrey Noble, who was the person picked by the governor to be the next mass state police colonel next month. The veteran policeman tapped to helm the scandal plague Massachusetts State Police as a subject of at least four discrimination complaints. It alleged he bypassed qualified candidates who were gay, who were female and people of color for promotions while fostering a culture of cronyism during his time as a leader of the New Jersey state police. Does that concern you? >> I want to take a step back. I obviously was not involved with this election of the new colonel. And I expressed to him when he was selected, I look forward to working with him because I work closely with the colonel. Not just because of the unit in the office, but the work we do to investigate all kinds of crimes and other things. So I'm unaware of any of this. I will say, I think it's a more appropriate directed to those who appointed him. Who are more intimately involved with the background check of him, with the interview process. I was not privy to any of that, I'm an outsider like everybody else. What I do know is we need a permanent colonel. You can't address things within an agency if you have interim leadership. Colonel Mon has done the best he can, I work with him closely, he is interim, he knows that. Doing the best he can, but we know if you're going to bring about culture change. You're going to ensure that there's a diverse state police operation. They have the resources and tools to do their jobs effectively and appropriately. You need permanent leadership. And so that's where I stand back and say, this is who it is. Other questions have to go to the government, the team and the committee that was responsible. And I'm sure they have, I hope, have something more to check in. >> But you're the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in Massachusetts and you do know about it now. I don't mean firsthand, obviously, but obviously you've read the Globe accounting. So have you voiced concern to the Governor? Is that, do you not consider that, or do you have concern? Do you consider that appropriate to voice concern? >> Of course, I read the paper like everybody else and I take everything with a grain of salt, no offense to the Globe in the media. But obviously, we have to do our own due diligence, et cetera. And so I am expecting, obviously, the governor, the committee that did this process, that they will respond to these with a thoughtful response, with one that offers a response to this, and that they're best positioned to do it, because I was not involved. If I hired somebody, and someone said, excuse me, ma'am, we found A, B, and C that is concerning. Then of course, I owe the public and folks a response. >> Do you have to take a break? >> That's the voice of Attorney General Andrea Campbell, she's going to be with us to the top of the hour. You can reach her at a texter at 877-301-8970. We'll get to as many calls as text as we can. You're listening to Boston Public Radio 8977GBH, broadcasting live from the Boston Public Library and streaming at youtube.com/GBHNews. >> Welcome back to Boston Public Radio, Jim Brody and Marjorie, and we're live at the library streaming online at youtube.com/GBH. We're back here tomorrow at the library with former Mayor Kim Janie, the NAACP's Michael Curry, and Ted Landsmark on 50 years since Boston Bussing. By the way, we have a text question, which we're going to get to at 1255, and the one is Donald Trump says he's all in on crypto. We want to know if you think he even understands what crypto is, and if you can help us out by texting, explaining a little, which we can share with our audience, we'd appreciate that too at 877-301-8970. We continue to be joined by the Attorney General for the rest of this hour. You can, well the phone lines are full, you can text her at 877-301-8970. >> Alison and Cambridge, you are on with the Attorney General, thank you for calling. >> Hi, Alison. >> Hi, thanks so much for having. I'm really concerned about all the talk about removing the MCAS at the graduation requirement. I taught high school English during the pandemic, and I saw firsthand what happens to instruction in the classrooms when the graduation requirement is removed especially for our most marginalized kids. Really is scaring me, so I'm interested to know, Attorney General, what your position on this is. >> Thank you, Alison, for the question. I will say, I haven't taken actually a public position weighing on it, but in the past, I've spoken to the value of the MCAS system. I was reluctant in the beginning to speak on this one because, as you know, probably Alison, it goes through the office as a ballot review process. And so, but in the past, I have said there is tremendous value in testing our students and the MCAS, using MCAS, and if we think it needs to be revamped and improved, we should do that. >> Alison, thank you for your call. 877-301. >> Thank you for being a teacher. >> It's a tough job. >> The Attorney General's maybe very happy. But it's a tough job. I'm telling you, I dropped my boys off at school. I just, I praised the teacher, the assistant teacher, the principal, and God bless them. They have a tough job. They work hard to educate our youngest, including my youngest just graduated from his daycare. And we don't pay them enough, so I'll just leave that at that. >> We do not. >> Especially daycare folks and family providers. So thank you, Yaya and Ms. Varena for taking care of our Alexander and our Aiden. They're doing well at BPS. >> Beth and Jamaica Plain, you're on with the Attorney General. >> Hi, Attorney General. I was very happy to know that during moreahili's administration, you've enacted an environmental justice policy for the state of Massachusetts. And I wanted to talk about that pertaining to the White Stadium project, which is going to have huge impacts on the environmental justice communities of Mattapan and Roxbury and Dorchester, as far as loss of tree canopy, impacted traffic on state roads, as well as local roads, and noise and congestion. Mayor Wu is saying the project that's exempt from MIPA review. And I want to know, I feel like the environmental justice policy should be applied specifically in these neighborhoods and being taken a look at related to this project. >> Thank you, Beth. >> Thank you, Beth, for the question. We're not intimately involved in this one, because it really is right now, at least, you know, advocates and various residents on one side and the mayor on the other, and they are figuring that out. That being said, we did meet with some of these advocates, and we'll continue to stay in touch with them about their concerns related to the project, including -- so on the EJ work, that continues, but we've got to be careful, because some of it's in our wheelhouse, and some of it is not. But that being said, on the environmental justice work, that continues. I now have a Director of Environmental Justice within our EPD Department and Energy Environment Bureau, which never existed before. And with an intentionality -- I would say greater intentionality of where we are showing up across the state, not just Boston, across the entire Commonwealth, in terms of our climate work, our energy work, our transition to clean energy, all of that is happening with greater intentionality. And we meet with stakeholders all the time. We have a stakeholder advisory group that informs our work. So we are in conversation with some of these folks, but careful to navigate, particularly where there is lawsuits and things between other stakeholders. And then one other thing I do want to mention, that is a success story that I don't think has gotten enough attention. Through our EJ work, we, of course, use federal laws to enforce environmental protections across the Commonwealth, and we have the ability to take that money through settlements and put it back into communities to address environmental injustice, designed grants with communities to help them. We couldn't do that for a long time with our state settlement dollars. And we now have, through the advocacy working with the legislature, including Senator Gomez and Rep. Brandi Fluker Oakley, Environmental Justice Fund, Trust Fund, which allows us to take state money that we went from settlements and put it back into communities. And I know that's not direct to your point, but that is a big lane that we have, where we continue to prioritize EJ. And on this particular issue, we'll remain in touch with all stakeholders on their concerns. And hopefully, you know, as sometimes we are able to do, be a convener and be one to broker some conversations where people can get to a conclusion that they appreciate. Beth, thanks for the call. We spoke a lot last year about the vote in Milton to not comply with the MBTA Communities Act briefly. That was the thing that was advocated for by Charlie Baker. You can explain in a minute exactly what it does. There's litigation between you and Milton now. There's some other communities that are non-compliance. I think the Milton case is being heard by the state's highest court in October. Could you use a brief summary of where we are on this compliance and what percentage of communities are complying, Attorney General? I can get you the numbers. Roughly. But I would say overwhelmingly, we're still in the place, we're overwhelmingly the majority of communities are in compliance and taking steps to get into compliance. And where we are, of course, is filing briefs with the court, the highest court, the SJC in this case. October is their decision point. We're looking forward to that because we think it would be extremely helpful. We obviously wanted it sooner, but the court decided to delay it. And we think it would be helpful because we think they will say, and we're hoping that, and pushing that through all of our filings, that not only is the MBTA Communities Law mandatory, but that our office and my office has the authority to enforce it. And because it's mandatory and we have the authority to enforce it, we also have an obligation and responsibility to work with municipalities as in violation of that law to get them to come into compliance. And so we're confident in our arguments and waiting for the court, which will help us, of course, with other municipalities that still have question marks. But I will stress this because a lot of folks still don't know, MBTA Communities Law is a law passed by a Republican governor at the time, Charlie Baker, a Democratic legislature, where they came together and said the housing crisis in Massachusetts is significant. And the voluntary tools that we have are just not working to get more housing online that is affordable and available to public employees, to young families, to seniors who want to downsize, et cetera. This law will make a difference. And they made it mandatory on purpose because most previous laws were voluntary. So I stress that because it's important and why. Right now, the number one issue in Massachusetts is affordability. Everything is too expensive. My home, my health care, my housing, my education, student loan debt, you name it, the median income rate, the median, I should say, sales price for a home in Massachusetts is close to a million dollars. That means more people will leave our great state, more of our talent will say goodbye. This is a major issue. This is just one tool to help address it. So we are going to insert ourselves. And the other piece I have to mention is we have now an housing affordability unit, which we never had before. It's the first time in the office's history where it's going to demonstrate to folks publicly that we're going to prioritize the issue of housing, the enforcement of our laws, but also work with municipalities and developers on zoning, land use, regulations, et cetera, which we're doing to bring about more housing. And I just got, so right now, 175 are taking steps to come into compliance. So kudos to all of those municipalities that will never make a list in the news for the work they're doing with our office. That's almost every community that's covered by the -- okay. One last quick thing, and I'm hoping you forget that I asked this question last year. If this law is mandatory, as you just said, could you explain briefly why people are allowed to vote, to comply? Well, robbery is illegal. Do they get the vote, and whether or not robbery is going to be -- I'm serious. I don't get this at all. So we did not go after the ballot process, et cetera. There are pros and cons in doing that, and we don't want to be in the business, at least our office, of overturning local elections, et cetera. So we are focused on the law itself and our lawsuit, of course, against Milton. There are, of course, concerns about it, but each process is different. But we didn't want to be in that business. We have enough going on at the federal level where you have a former president who was talking about not only not accepting the results of elections in a presidential election, but also using violence as a result. So we didn't think that was necessary to even go there. We think the merits itself in terms of the law itself, the history of its passage is sufficient to make it clear that it's mandatory, and folks need to come into compliance, because all of us have to do something with respect to this housing crisis. I don't know about you. It wasn't not too long ago that the price was closer to 500,000. Yeah. And quickly has come to be close to a million. Millions, crazy. And so everyone who lives in Massachusetts should be absolutely concerned about this affordability question, and asking what are their elected officials doing to address it? You know, Attorney General, one of our colleagues, Serena Wintersmith, did a terrific story about this company based in Roxbury, this Blue Hill, a Blue Hub, excuse me, capital, and about a dozen homeowners have said that they were basically duped by Blue Hub capital. They were trying to get escape foreclosure. They thought they were being rescued, but then they wound up getting this, signing up for the separate second mortgage, known as a shared appreciation mortgage in the bottom line that they were going to be paying these monthly payments, lower monthly payments, exchange for a share of the value of the home going down. They basically think they were duped by this company, our buddy, Bruce Marks. We have him on the radio from time to time. He's from the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, NACA, who's a big guy for homeownership. Said you're not doing enough to prevent Blue Hub from basically ripping off these people. What's happening? I know Bruce, I know Bruce well, and I would emphatically push back on that argument that we're not doing enough. We take every consumer protection case very serious. My consumer protection division works really hard, and particularly on this predatory lending, these predatory lending schemes. I even hired someone at the executive level to even think about how we can use these type of tools to close the racial wealth gap with greater intentionality, not just on protecting consumers generally, but also on the racial wealth gap. So specifically Blue Hub, I learned about Blue Hub when I was on the city council. It's because some of these constituents live in District 4, the council district I used to represent. At that time, took their information and concerns and brought it to the AG's office. I'm now, of course, the AG presented with Blue Hub. Our consumer protection division is aware of the complaints. The challenge is, right now, there's a class action suit against Blue Hub, which we think should unfold. It's currently before the court, there's a summary judgment motion, and we're going to follow and see what happens with that, which is another way, of course, to get accountability. So we're keeping our eyes on that, and we're following that closely, and that was not mentioned in a flyer. I appreciate folks advocating and saying where we come up short, because we will work to fix it. There are no egos here. We do great work, and we can always do better. But in this case, we're following this closely and following what's happening with that lawsuit. The second piece is there is a piece of legislation at the State House, and in the flyer, it was inaccurate, and I would say this to Bruce and others, in this idea that we didn't take any stance on it. We had made it-- It would make that shared appreciation model explicitly legal. That's right, and we said absolutely not. We're against any industry going to the State House, including a Blue Hub, and looking to create an exception from our consumer protection laws. If anything, we stand with the constituents and Bruce on this issue, because no one should be exempt from our consumer protection laws, and if someone's trying to do that, we should all have flags go up where we say, "Well, why is that?" Because we always want to have that as an avenue to hold anyone accountable if something goes wrong in a model, in a lending product, or anything they think initially is a great thing, but then causes harm, whether intentionally or not. We oppose that, and that aligns with Bruce and the advocates, so we will continue to stay in touch with folks. We're going to continue to follow this. It is absolutely in our radar, and we think this class action suit is going to move quite quickly, actually. >> In time to prevent people from losing their homes? >> Well, I can't speak to specifics on anyone's individual case. They can bring that to us. So, for example, we have a constituent who absolutely is in a bind right now. Our office always works with folks. We are always creative in keeping people in their home. Even when the laws are on their side, we can call various folks and advocate and use our office to protect our people. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but we do our best to keep people in their homes, especially in Massachusetts. And so that was not what was presented to us. If we have specific cases in that instance, we're happy to look into those. >> I never heard about the shared appreciation thing. When asked by the judge in the case, whether the disclosures that borrowers sign at closing show the percentage of sharing that the lender is going to get from the appreciation, the spokesperson for Blue Hub acknowledged they did not, but said customers do receive formulas that can be used to calculate appreciation. It's outrageous. >> So, I will just say this is why we're following it in the courts, and I think it's a thoughtful judge, and it's of course a thoughtful process, and we will continue to follow that closely. But on the larger predatory lending schemes, that is a priority of the division of consumer protection, not just looking at companies here who are offering products that will harm our constituents and steal their money without transparency and full disclosure on what that product will look like, the tactics they use to sign people up. We're also looking at companies that are not based here, who are coming here to take advantage of folks and to take their money from them, frankly. And we've been really thoughtful and creative on how we help folks. So, if I would say if anyone has concerns about that, they should reach out to our office as well. >> Do you want to say something nice about your kids' teachers one more time just so they do well in this? >> They're in a Boston public school, and the teachers, the principals, they all work very hard. Aidan just started kindergarten and Alexander's in second grade, and so far so good, and the teachers work hard, and the daycare that had them before, they helped us grow our little guys, and we miss Yaya, Miss Marina, and Zia Mora, and they don't get the pay they deserve. >> They do not. >> They don't get the credit they deserve for shaping the lives of incredible human beings. >> Your kids just got two eggs. >> To all the early care providers, and remind folks to keep getting out to mobilize around this election critically important. >> By the way, we're going to tell you 12, there's voter registration happening right here in the library. >> Yes, wonderful. >> We'll tell you about it at 12 o'clock. >> Thank you. >> That was Attorney General Andrea Campbell, we thank you very much for giving us your time. She comes here once a month, and we really appreciate it. After the new news, Caitlin Clark keeps breaking records in another hit season with the WNBA. We're going to talk about that and a bunch of other sports news. We're 20KC of NBC Sports Boston, you're listening to Boston Public Radio, 897GBH, broadcasting live from the Boston Public Library and streaming at youtube.com/GBHNews. >> I'm Jim Brady, head on hour number two, Boston Public Radio, live from the Boston Public Library. It's NBC Sports Boston's Trending Case Young, yet another concussion for a star NFL quarterback. And he apparently is not considering retiring. Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark continues to build a legacy in the WNBA, scoring the most points ever in a rookie season after a game Monday against Dallas. >> I'm Marjorie Medium, medium maven, and our favorite local woman, NBC 10's Sue O'Connell, and right-wing darling, Laura Loomer's Moment in the Spotlight. Plus, how a tough undergrad is helping us all find the cheapest cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Then our text question of the day, former President Donald Trump has exciting new business venture, crypto. Only problem, Trump cannot seem to explain what crypto is or how it works. Can you? Can any of us text us your crypto explainers? It's all next on hour number two of Boston Public Radio, 897GBH, live from the Boston Public Library. [MUSIC] >> I'm Marjorie Egan. You're listening to hour number two of Boston Public Radio, 897GBH. We are broadcasting live from the Boston Public Library, where I should say members of Boston's election department are on site right now for National Voter Registration Day. You can register right here at the Boston Public Library from noon to 4pm in the lobby right here, right near where we are broadcasting. We also want to say we are streaming at youtube.com/GBH. News is going to be back here tomorrow with former Mayor Kim Janie, the NAACP's Michael Kern, and Ted Landspark. You might remember he was the black lawyer in the three-piece suit who was attacked by an American flagpole on City Hall. >> A Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph. >> A Stanley form, and yeah, formerly at the Boston Herald, we want two Pulitzer Prize actually. We're going to talk about the 50 years since Boston Bussing, and one more thing before we get started here. Here is our text prompt of the day. We'll read your responses just before the one o'clock news. So, former President Donald Trump's latest money grabbing scheme, his core family business is now centralized, finance, aka crypto. But let's say Jim and I are a little suspicious. Do you think Donald Trump has any idea what crypto really is? Texas at 877-3018970, and if you can explain crypto to me and Jim in one sentence, we'd love to hear that too. Hello again, Jim. >> Hey there, Margie. We're joined now by Treni Casey, anchor and reporter for MVC Sports Boston and a BPR contributor. Welcome, Treni. >> Hi, guys. Just emptying my savings account to invest in the crypto. >> Yeah. >> But you can explain it to us, too, if you don't. >> I don't really understand it. I don't get it. >> I'd stick around a part of you. Okay, fine. >> So, Treni Casey, a lot of us saw on television, the Dolphins, Miami Dolphins quarterback, to a -- >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Basically, Ram, his head into another player when he was playing the other night, it was a gruesome to watch. This is, I believe, his fourth concussion, and his now-facing decision, whether or not he should keep playing. >> Yeah, and he said yesterday that he is not going to retire from football. And this comes after, I mean, a dozen current and former coaches and players. His mother has encouraged him to retire. To his not -- you know, listen, for a quarterback, he's not huge, right? He's a big guy, but not big, big. Not that that matters anyway. But he has been susceptible to concussions. He had one documented concussion in his final year of college. And, you know, it says that he's had three documented concussions, well, with the Miami Dolphins, but really he had four. He had one in a game, and I can't remember if it was against the Bengals or against the Bills, and then the second injury came against the other team. But he had one where the red hat, the concussion spotter, the neurologist, did not pull him from the game, even though he seemed dazed and confused. They put him back in to the football game, and a week later he took a hit and was knocked out cold. And then in retrospect, you know, people looked and said, he probably shouldn't have been playing. He was suffering a traumatic brain injury, and you put him back out there. He has since suffered two more, including the one last Thursday night. You know, and it was a routine play where we see this all the time. He had a lane to run, and he was going for a first down, and he just sort of plowed -- he didn't even plow head first, really, into -- of all people, Demar Hamlin. The guy almost died on the football field. Right, Marty, I'm impressed on the football field, the plays for the Buffalo Bills, the safety. He rammed into him, and just kind of hit his neck in an odd way, fell backwards, and had a telltale sign of a traumatic brain injury, which is called -- it's called a fencing off, which means your hand sort of clutches and then straightens, which set, you know, is a signal that your brain is sending to your body. He looked woozy when he got up. He did walk off the field on his own volition, but he certainly didn't look like he had all of his faculties about him. And listen, I know Jim, I have a feeling I know what you're going to ask, you know, can the NFL prevent him from playing? That's exactly what I mean. I know they can't. No, you know, I mean, these are the end of the day they are grown men who have -- who can make decisions with their own -- you know, we talk all the time about women in bodily autonomy, and right or -- you know, right or wrong, these guys have bodily autonomy, and if he wants to keep playing, now he doesn't have to get cleared. Right? So it's not like he can say, hey, I want to play Sunday. He needs to clear concussion protocol, and I do wonder if the Miami Dolphins will be more conservative considering the number of concussions he's had, and just not clear him as quickly for his own sake, but they can't force him to retire. You know, a couple of things on this. We've talked about this in the past one. There have been other horrible circumstances. I just want to promote this wonderful organization, the Concussion Legacy Foundation. Founded by Chris Noinski, who was a football player at Harvard, a professional wrestler, suffered concussions himself and Dr. Robert Cantu and a whole host of wonderful people who, by the way, recommend that kids should not play tackle football until they're 14, which should be a good start because we've learned in recent years those hits, even at early age, are cumulative and pile up. I have to say -- Excuse me, can I say one thing while you mention Chris Noinski? Yeah. Did I want to say our colleague Shirley Leon has a great interview with Chris Noinski on her podcast? Podcast, oh, great. Same more. It's a great podcast, and it's addressing this very issue. Concussion expert, Chris Noinski. Can I tell you something, I'm sure people are going to say mind your own business. This is so grossly irresponsible by this young man. He's got a family. I know. He would just sign a $240 million contract, and by my reading, even if he were to retire tomorrow, he'd get $120 million, which I would say would take care of the next maybe 40 generations of his family, three concussions that we know about. There may be more. Four, if you count them. No, three and five. I mean, in the pros, in five years, in addition to wherever he was, Alabama, how many of these people who have had three concussions we know about are in good shape when they're 50, when they're retired, trying to live -- it is just -- and I understand the desire to play, and he's a great player, and people say that image when he was walking off the field after the concussion, when the coach kissed him on the head, almost -- I mean, this coach really seems to be a mensch. Having said that, he should talk his lead quarterback out of playing. It's just -- and by the way, a lot of other football players who are huge stars, Hall of Famers, who said, don't play anymore to it. We had to pare down the number of -- this led our show last Friday, and we had to pare down the number of reactions we aired because there were so many calling for him to retire. Football players. That's what was different to me about this incident than other previous incidents where guys suffer concussions. Like, I think there is a true understanding now of the long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury. Like, forget about how you feel five weeks from now, when maybe you'll take the -- if you're ready to take the field again, how are you going to feel 10, 15, 20 years down the line? I just -- you know, and I understand that it's -- it's difficult, right? I can't imagine -- I appreciate that, too. -- You know, I can't imagine playing a sport for a living and knowing that your career could be over before you're 30, right? Around the time that you're 30 -- That's very sad. -- And unfortunately, we don't -- we've talked about this on the show before. We do not prepare our -- especially our top-tier athletes. We don't prepare them for life after sport. We don't -- the school is not emphasized. These guys are not student athletes. They're athletes who happen to be students at a university, especially now with NIL money. You know, education, internships, job experience, none of those things are emphasized. So I think for a lot of these guys, you know, and while we look at the Rob Gronkowski's and the Tom Brady's who go on to sign these $100 million deals to be broadcasters, how many of these guys actually end up in broadcasting? Maybe two or three percent. So what do all of those other people do with the rest of their lives? I can't imagine. It's daunting to start thinking about retirement when you're my age and you're actually like within sort of a window of when it might happen. And, you know, you do something forever and you have to think about it maybe ending at some point. But imagine having that thought and that conversation with yourself when you're -- again, you're 27 to 32 years old. It's very, very difficult. And the league and our society does not prepare these guys. -- Speaking of Brady, one more second on this because it's really important. One, Tom Brady, in an act of grotesque irresponsibility when he was playing in his prime, after somebody suffered horrible after effects from a concussion, was asked by a reporter, what do you tell your kids, your son, I guess? Is it Jack? Is that his right thing? Yes. And his answer was I tell him, follow your heart, whatever you want to do, you do. And the impact of a player, assuming two, it goes back and plays. To me at least, I don't know what experts like Noinski and Dr. Cantu would say. It seems to me, if you're a kid who idolizes football players, you watch your god get his third concussion in five years, his fourth concussion at least that we know about. And he went back and played, well, it must be okay. It must be okay. He got a concussion, he did serious brain damage, but now he's well enough, says the 12-year-old who loves football playing the game. Maybe I don't have to worry about that either. And by the way, the other thing, I'm sorry to rant, but I didn't know, he was wearing a helmet, not that extra protective thing. We discussed with you a few weeks ago. Which, more and more players, by the way, have been wearing. I know, one, I saw one, Patriot wearing it, which I was so proud of the guy for it. In any case, he was wearing a helmet to both the players union, which is one of the weakest unions in professional sports, and the league had both said was the safest helmet. The point of it is, there's no safe helmet. It's safer, but the guy still got a concussion. So I hope for the good of his family and kids in this country, he re-thinks his thing. You know what I don't know, and you probably don't know it either. So why am I asking? Just because I can ask anyone. Go for it. Maybe I do. I'm wondering if all this talk about concussions and how they can start very early in your career. I mean, kids in high school, you know, can have these repercussions from concussions. Is this impacted little kids like Pop Warner? Yes. Football. I do know the answer to this. I mean, this is maybe a little anecdotal, but yes, I do think it has in some, in some senses. I went home to Wisconsin like two weeks ago, a week and a half ago. My nephew plays flag football. They play flag football until they're 12 or 13 years old. They are not allowed to play tackle football until a certain age. Mark Bertrand, who's on the radio at 98.5, the sports have all three of his boys play flag football. I don't think in his area, they're allowed to play tackle again until 12 or 13 years old. So there are communities that come together and they're really, and listen, I don't like to give the NFL too much credit, but they are. They've really partnered with flag football and they do see flag as maybe the future of the game because it is obviously, it's, it's, it's a less, I don't want to say impactful is not the right word, but impacting, it's, it's a, it's a less violent sport. That's a better word. It's a less violent sport. You know, when I'm watching these little nine year olds run around, you know, they're still kind of following into each other because that's what you see on TV, but it's not their repetitive, repetitive, repetitive hits. They're running, they're pulling a flag off of a kid. Maybe a kid falls or a kid accidentally, but you get penalized if you tackle somebody in flag football. So it is discouraged to do that. So yes, I do think it is having, I think it is having a change. Okay, so can we talk about something good? Caitlin Clark, this kid is on, here's some sound of this rookie who probably wasn't good, be good enough to play in the WNBA well, breaking first the scoring season record and then breaking the assist record. Here's a little sound from announcers on both. This is trying to frustrate Clark. Oh, but Clark, but three more. Right over the rookie. Caitlin Clark has six to six. Has set the record. I mean, it is unbelievable what this young woman has done, especially because of how she started. Like the conversation around Caitlin Clark, when she entered the league and really the first month that she played for the Indiana fever, wasn't about how great she was playing. It was, is she overrated? Is she really ready? You know, you know, the veteran players warned her, this is a different game than college, but really since right before the Olympic and all-star break, and then, you know what, I think it's a good thing she didn't play in the Olympics. She had some time to rest. It's really the first time she's probably had and well over a year. She finally knows her teammates a little bit better. And now she's broken the rookie scoring record. She has 746 points total, and she still has a game to play, but you know, it's exciting. Well, I mean, it's obviously well hoped that the Connecticut son would finish one or two in their division, but it looks like they're going to finish three, which means they're going to play Caitlin Clark in the Indiana fever in the postseason. So it'll be a really exciting postseason around here and look out because the Indiana fever are on a tear right now. Like they have gone from a terrible team with the worst record in the WNBA and having the first overall pick to being a legitimate playoff contender. I don't know if they're good enough to beat, although they did take the ACEs the other night. I think they lost on the road in Vegas to the ACEs by only three or four points. They haven't beaten them this year. They haven't beaten them yet this year, but they have gotten close to keep an eye on that team as one that, you know, could make a little noise and score an upset in the postseason. It's really it is unbelievable. And I think I'm a perfect example. I don't think I watched a WNBA game. Not only do I watch when I counter go online, when I go to ESPN's website, I check to see how some of the key players whose names I now know did not just cut in Clark, by the way, but a ton of this great women athletes. Asia Wilson on the Las Vegas ACEs just set another WNBA record. She scored a thousand points for the first time ever in a season in the league. She's arguably the best player in the WNBA right now. It certainly has gained a ton of steam. The ringer has recently, which is it, you know, for those who are really into sports, that is the Bill Simmons who's from here originally. It's his media venture. It's podcasts in a website. They're doing a WNBA podcast about it. I mean, it's just it's getting more and more attention. It'll still take a while. Unfortunately, these things do, but it has certainly gained a ton of traction this year. Okay, let's move on to the two things. Not as bad as we thought segment of the show today. Let's start with the New England Patriots. Yeah, I mean, they're one in one to start the season, which is better than anybody. Like I had them starting 0 and 4 with a possible win against Seattle. So it's kind of funny that they actually beat Cincinnati and lost to Seattle. The problem is with the Patriots is that listen, they're better. If you watched the game, watch, watch, watch both games. They're they're more fun to watch. They're certainly less maddening to watch this year, because they're not making stupid, bone-headed mistakes. They're not committing penalties, you know, at crucial times. I know they had a DPI that's defensive pass interference and over time against the Seahawks. That was kind of a that was kind of a that was the end of the game. That was the end of the game. Kind of a bogus call on Jonathan Jones there. But listen, those things are going to happen, right? They happen to the best of teens. Like at least they don't look like a dumpster fire. The problem is it's a hell of an endorsement, isn't it? I know. They're just not talented. They're just not talented enough. Like your wide receivers, all of your wide receivers combined for three catches for 19 yards. The other day, like you just you cannot win football games and everyone's like, oh, but they can run the ball. Yeah, you can except for when everybody knows that you're going to run the ball, then in crucial situations like we saw on Sunday, they they get stopped. And now they have a season and an injury to Jawaan Bentley. This comes on the heels of losing Christian Barmore to blood clots and trading away Matthew Judon. So that's a problem. I guess the one thing and everyone's kind of been looking forward to like, okay, if they're not great, but they kind of hang in it enough, like when will we see Drake May? Does anybody want to see Drake May out there behind that offensive line? They lost the left tackle against another down to their third string left tackle. I know this is really in the weeds for people like listening to NPR, but those are your big sports fans, you know, or aren't you can always like, regurg this at the water cooler. Like, it's just it's kind of a mess. Like, I don't know if I want to throw I don't know how close you've been following the other rookie quarterbacks in the league, but like Caleb Williams is behind a not great offensive line in Chicago. And he has looked like trash. Kid in Washington won this week, Jay Daniels number two back. Yep. Yep. He's he, you know what, though, everybody said he was the most NFL ready because of his legs. He only threw for like 229 yards. What's up with his legs? Well, he's got he can run. That's what he said when he when he's got legs, it means he can like run and he's got really good legs. That's what she meant to say. Yes, some games. Yeah, we saw him in his Bermuda shorts and he was looking good. He's got legs. He can run. So he can create plays with his legs, which, you know, I think Drake may can't also. It's just like you don't like do you want him to end up being like Bryce Young, the quarterback in Carolina, who is the number one overall pick last year? Nice and bench to games in this season. I feel like I don't know. It's just but you don't want I just I hope they handled Drake may write and they don't screw him up. Okay, let's talk about these not so bad part too. This involves, of course, a former Tom terrific. Well, he's always Tom terrific. I guess we're back to the Patriots. Tom Brady, we were trashing him or we weren't trashing him. I guess people trashed his first appearance as a sportscaster last week. But here he is. This is week number two, breaking down a pass from Derek Carr to Olave. Olave, Chris Olave, thank you to set up a touchdown for the New Orleans Saints. Here here's Tom Brady. You're always looking to find chunk plays in the game. Kupiak, his whole systems on display here. Fast motion across the field. Get the linebackers to communicate. Cars stepping up in the pocket. The speed of these two wide receivers forces separation in this zone coverage, which we're looking for chunks like that. Is that the improved Brady or the horrible Brady? Yeah, that's the I think it's a I think it's a little rough. Like, listen, I know people look at people who are on television or like a bunch of dummies. All they have to do is read a prompter. Like how like how hard can it be? It's hard. It's not easy to to talk for three hours just just because you can see something doesn't mean you can explain it succinctly for the audience at home. Like again, I'm not saying we're road scholars or anything like that, but like some of you are some some of us are maybe the Sue O'Connell is. I certainly are you are you a road scholar? Well, not quite. Unless for that one, let's say you're kidding me. Oh, no, no, I didn't know. Maybe none of us are really yours. Anyway, it's a difficult craft to learn. And he is so I read a really great article after his first appearance. Then I might even have been John Tamasi who wrote this on NBC. He's really a great talent. You want to use to a radio show together in the weekend, which I actually listened to, which was great back in the day, but go ahead. You know, he pointed out like this is someone who is like he watches all this film and he over prepares like part of being a good broadcaster is sometimes not over preparing and just reacting naturally. I love how Sue does. That's my motto right here. Don't prepare it all. No, I think there's a delicate balance of preparing too much and then preparing too little, but I mean part of what you know and I know Tony Romo now is like kind of his act has grown tired. I don't really like listening to him on the CBS broadcasts. But like I think what people liked about him in his first year before he kind of got a big head was that it was really authentic, right? Like he could predict plays before they happen. His reactions to big plays were really exciting. Like that first week for Tom Brady, there was like a 72 yard field goal hit and even Scott Hanson, who's a really great guy. A 72 yard field wild and Brady and Brady like had no reaction and they took it live on Red Zone, which is this NFL like NFL network thing where you can watch all the games. Well, it's on like they pop between all the live games. So if you don't have a package, you can see all the games like the crucial, crucial moments in every game that's happening in that window. And Scott Hanson was like, get excited Tom Brady. And that's what everyone's thinking like I'm listening to him there. The guy who apologized the next day for saying how pathetic is that? God, the way they kissed Tom Brady's butt like to like learn first of all, you're our broadcaster. So you're going to people are going to criticize you. That's just part of the industry. Right. But also like you sound like a robot there. By the way, that is exactly a robot. Yeah, he does. I mean, I think it was interesting, you know, we all wrote him off. There was a great piece about this. Who wrote the piece about them saying it was lousy and his second thing. And he asked a lot of guys thank you. But here's what I wanted, his voice does sound weird. But on the other hand, if I were a real football nerd, I would love to hear Tom Brady, a really great quarterback analyzing quarterbacks. They're different moves and how they do it and stuff like that. Now maybe they all do that really well. So he's nothing unique. I mean, some people are just again, like I'm watching Troy Aikman and we watched the Monday, I watched the first half of the Monday night game last night like Troy Aikman and Joe Buck just have this really easy flow between the two of them because they work so long together. But something Troy Aikman's really good at and I think Greg Olson was really good at this. That's the guy who was playing Brady. He was like this 30,000 feet view. Like tell me something that honestly I don't know is a viewer. Like I want to learn something from you that I didn't know before. Like for example, he should say in the middle of that play, the pass from whoever to whoever, here's what I broke up with Giselle. I mean, that's what we want to know. We don't give a damn, but by the way, you know what should happen. I know I'm not the first. What should happen to him? Two is down for at least four or five weeks. I think you should never play again. Tom Brady leaves the broadcast booth, signs with the Miami Dolphins where I think he lives for a dime and he becomes the quarterback at age 83 or whatever else. We all over that last week. Okay, fair enough. Okay, fair enough. Okay, fair enough. Goodbye, Troy. It's great to see you. Thank you so much. Trenty Casey. Thank you very much, Trenty Casey. Trenty Casey is an anchor and reporter for NBC Sports Boston and a regular weekly Boston public radio contributor. Okay, up next, me, Maven Sewell Khan. She's going to tell us about Donald Trump's latest pal that we could conspiracy theorist, racist, bomb thrower, 9/11 inside job, kind of a nut, Laura Loomer. And of course, this fascinating story about where to get the cheapest duck and donuts coffee, etc. You're listening to Boston Public Radio 89.7 GBH Live from the Boston Public Library streaming online at youtube.com/GBHNews. Me, Maven, Sue O'Connell is next. Welcome back to Boston Public Radio, Jim Brody and Marjorie. You are live at the library streaming online at youtube.com/GBHNews. Before I say we're doing tomorrow, Marjorie, do you know the Heimlich maneuver you don't? I sort of do, yes. I have a piece of lettuce called my thrower. So if I go down, can you come over here and do you know what I do? Yes, I do, I do. Perfect, do we? Hey, guys, we're back here tomorrow. So am I. We'll be back tomorrow with former mayor, Kim Jane. I don't need to let us. A piece of lettuce is enough to do it, you know? Well, maybe a couple pieces of lettuce. NAACP's Michael Curry and Ted Land's Mark on 50 years since Boston busing. We're going to be doing our little text prompt on crypto, the latest business scam from the president, former president Trump. Join now though at the BPL desk by our favorite local woman Media, Maven, Sue O'Connell. She's co-publisher of Bay Windows in South End News, co-host with Corey Smith of NBC 10 Boston. Is that issue? Every Sunday at 11.30. Following Meet the Press. Hello, Sue O'Connell. Good day, good day, thank you, good day. So, Sue O'Connell, you know, with the second assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump, there's been a lot of talk about the violent rhetoric in our talk. You know, he's saying there won't be a country if Kamala Harris is elected and several guys have said some tough things too. I don't think they're quite right as a level of Donald Trump. But in any case, this one just knocked my socks off. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire posted then deleted a message endorsing Kamala Harris's assassination saying, quote, "Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero." And I guess they were mad at her for wanting to ban assault weapons. What did you make it? Well, we should say there's an update to this. Yes, they did. That they put out a statement today, "We're not pacifist libertarians," goes on to say, "It is morally correct to use violence to stop aggression if you celebrate the so-and-so of the War for American Independence or the assassination of past tyrants like Abraham Lincoln. You believe the violence is sometimes necessary to advance or protect freedom." That's these people in the miniature. So, listen, I have a lot of complicated thoughts about this. Okay. Many, many complicated thoughts. Number one, it's important to remember we are living in the safest period of American history in terms of, even with the attack on January 6th attack, fewer people are being lynched, fewer people are being assaulted, the crime rate is very low. We live in a very, very safe society. Number one, number two, much of the problem that we are having with these assassination attempts and the threats of violence and all of this are because of our access to guns. We have, for many, many years, and our democratic cousins across the world also speak in very hyperbolic rhetoric, and they don't end up having as many assassination attempts and as much violence as we do because they don't have access to guns. And I think that it's clear to say that the alleged assassin this past weekend and the one before didn't fit into a political ideology. They were whack-jobs that believed certain things and they acted on it. Was it the prime minister of Japan that was assassinated? And the guy made a 3D gun in order to do it. He had to go through many, many steps in order to do that. So, our society is both very safe and very dangerous because of our access to guns. As abhorrent as the New Hampshire libertarian statement is, they are absolutely right that on one hand we celebrate the American Revolution. On one hand, we celebrate the violence that brought us our country. And then on the other hand, we say, you know, and I think we should, that we don't want to move forward with political conversation that would incite violence or celebrate violence or urge a nut job, whack job, to react to it in some way that is going to be violent. This is the contradiction that is the United States of America. We teach all of our children how great the American Revolution was. And when we kill somebody like Osama bin Laden, we celebrate it, right, as we should. I mean, I'm not saying we shouldn't do it. But these are the contradictions that I'm not sure our country is sophisticated enough and smart enough to process when we're hearing this. When I'm playing sports when I was in high school and they told me to get out there and kill them, get out there. And, you know, we speak in this language all the time. Unfortunately, some people hear it and are vulnerable for one reason or another. On all sides, you know, Representative Scalise was attacked by someone who fit into a Bernie Sanders supporter. And those people need to be reached. There needs to be mental health intervention. We need to keep guns out of their hands. I think we need to stop thinking about the people who participate in political violence. I'm using finger quotes as people in political violence. But more like we do mass shooters who are reacting to something, have access to weapons, and then are doing it. This is irresponsible. I want to be very clear. This is incredibly irresponsible. But what they're saying in terms of what, you know, their distance from this is not incorrect. Okay. Let me be as respectful as I can. Are you kidding? I mean, this is, and first of all, both of you seem to have said something like, you know, on both sides. Donald Trump is telling people to beat up people at his rallies and celebrating it. Donald Trump is celebrating the January six insurrectionist, sweet goals, hostages, who led to the suicides of police officers who were so damaged that particular day. Here's what J.D. Vance had to say. But, you know, the big difference between conservatives and liberals is that we have, no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months. Musk said almost the same thing. It's almost an invitation to go. There have been two assassination attempts on him. Go try and see what you can do to Harris. Yeah, that's a libertarian thing. And since we're not going to solve the gun problem anytime soon, unless they're Democratic House, Democratic Senate with 60 senators, which there won't be, and a Democratic president, and we're surely not going to address the mental health crisis because it's too expensive. We don't care about these people. This is a real serious. I worry about, I'm no fan of Trump's. Everybody knows this. I worry about his health because of how much I care about democracy, and I sure as hell care about Harris's health because we saw what happened with a comet ping pong pizza. A guy dries up because there's allegedly, according to some nuts like General Flynn and his son, there's a pedophile ring in the basement of this pizza parlor that Marjorie and I went to a couple of years ago during Trump's inauguration, and he comes with a loaded gun and is shooting up the place. This is a real threat. It has been the very first violence that was because of something that Trump said happened in South Boston when those two guys beat an immigrant, a Mexican immigrant, I believe, who was here with a poll, with a metal poll. They were, I think they were brothers, and they were both convicted. I'm talking from memory here, so I'm directionally correct. And they cited what Donald Trump said, right? This is what Donald Trump has been doing. He's not going to change. And again, the Republicans and other people can point to words that people say, like, we're going to fight until we're going to take it to the streets until we have to. We know, like I said, 85% of us know when we hear take it to the streets. It doesn't mean go about fighting the streets. It means it's, you know, but when he says it to his followers, that's what it means. But again, this is the conflicted life of American politics right now. He's not going to turn it down. There's, we just have what do you mean, term, what? He's, Trump is not going to turn the rhetoric down, you know, he, he posted right after the assassination attempt there. Oh, for two. Yeah, you know, I think I think to your point about the guns, this guy, this latest guy in the golf course, seemed to have something wrapped, seemed to be mad about the war in Ukraine. I mean, that he was thought that Putin was a terrible guy. Maybe that had something to do with why. And he voted for Trump in 2016. He said he was a Republican at one point. Then he said he was not going to vote for Trump. And he was, he was upset about what Trump was doing in Ukraine. He doesn't fit into a political box, but the kind of stuff that really gets people going, we're still seeing this out in Springfield, Ohio, right, where Vance and Trump are still repeating this people, people's dogs and cats being stolen to eat. And they had to, I think again, today, the schools were shut down and they're getting bomb threats and all sorts of threats out there. And kids are like, in a panic and the parents are in a panic, those kinds of things. So this is a different type of speech to me. The language that Trump, J.D. Vance, and a whole number of other people that are using around Springfield, Ohio, is insightful lying, right? This is not, you know, you're a socialist or you're a capitalist or you're a fascist, which, you know, is indicating someone from a political position, right? I don't think necessarily calling someone a fascist is an extreme insult, nor is saying you're against democracy. That might be what you believe. But when you are demonizing people who are in this country legally, I just want to be very clear. They are here legally. Even the migrants who are living in the center down the street, they were allowed in this country legally. But even if they weren't here legally. Even if they weren't. But I mean, just you're lying about the status of these Haitian immigrants or migrants, they're probably migrants would be the proper term. They were practically invited to Springfield, Ohio, because the businesses couldn't hire people, the factories were closing, and they wanted to work. So they came to Springfield, Ohio. Many of them are living three or four in a apartment. It's driving up costs. There's a number of challenges to the school system. But they are both the normal stresses that happen when a lot of people and influx of people come into a town. It can be fixed. It can be balanced. They could get some federal funds. But what J.D. Vance and Donald Trump are doing right now is inciting violence by lying. And that's not political speech. And that's an entirely different thing. So can we talk about speaking of Donald Trump, his traveling partner, can we talk about Laura Loomer for a couple of seconds here? Can you share with the three people who haven't been following this saga for the last couple of weeks? What is she famous or infamous for? Give us a couple of more. Laura Loomer is a complete conspiratory whack job. She just makes up stuff. I don't really know how she got to be famous. I know that I read. She was a Trump sick person. And he's like a magnet for people regardless of where they are on the issues who idolize it. There was a New York Times of Washington Post profile on her a few months ago. And she laid out how she was going to Mar-a-Lago every day so she could get close to him. I mean, you have to salute her. She accomplished her goal. And she is, as many people have experienced and reported, the last thing that Trump hears is what he says next. And she is filling him along with Kelsey Gabbard with a whole bunch of crazy conspiracy theories that are not true. And then he goes out on stage and says them, which is where they think this idea, this wrong idea that migrants are eating cats and dogs in Ohio. She was on the plane with him. He went to the debate and then he said it on the stage. And he went to the 9/11 memorial. She accompanied him. And she is the person who's called 9/11 and inside a job. She has talked about how, if Kamala Harris was to get in the White House, it's going to smell like curry. And there'll be a call center or something talking about, obviously. She's also called her a drug using prostitute and said that she's probably had so many abortions. She has a damaged uterus. I mean, absolutely. Here's an injury. So here's the kind of look at this, which is fascinating. Donald Trump's campaign actually has real campaign managers on it right now. This is the first professional campaign staff he has had. They have lost. And he listened to them up until the first assassination attempt and up until the Republican National Convention. He actually said during his remarks at the RNC, they don't want me to say Joe Biden. They don't want me to do this. And then he just lost it and brought Corey Lemondowski back in. He's got Laura Loomer next to him. They're trying to keep her off the plane. And here's the damage. I mean, besides the damage that she is just doing and causing chaos that can have actual results for actual human beings, this election in these battleground states is going to be a battle of inches, right? Just a few votes. And by insulting Indian Americans, by insulting Middle East Eastern Americans with these curry comments and these call center comments, she could actually lose North Carolina and Michigan for Donald Trump, even though the percentage of voters who are Indian American and, you know, Middle Eastern American Arab American are small, that would be enough in some counties, in some areas, in some electoral districts for him to actually lose. But it's almost like he doesn't want to win because he's still winning. Well, you know, especially since there's some people like Lindsey Graham, Senator Graham from South Carolina, Margaret Taylor Greene, Congresswoman from Georgia, who never criticized Trump. And they have criticized the fact that he continues to allow Loomer to be around saying exactly what you're saying. This could cost him the election. What about JD Vance's wife? Who happens to be Indian American? You don't see JD Vance standing up and saying, well, here's what he had to say, by the way, this is, he's asked by Kristen Welker on NBC News. She's host to meet the press. I don't know if you're aware you come right after that. I do. Yeah, she's very nice. So he asked, she asked Loomer, pardon me, Vance, about Loomer's tweet that Kamala Harris is White House. Again, we'd smell like curry like we just said a minute ago. And here's how indirectly Vance responds. Do I agree with what Laura Loomer said about Kamala Harris? No, I don't. I also don't think that this is actually an issue of national import. Is Laura Loomer running for president? No. Kamala Harris is running for president. And whether you're eating curry at your dinner table or fried chicken, things have gotten more expensive thanks to her policies. It's a nice pivot. But I will also point out, remember when the Republicans were all, like, all twisted up because Barack Obama had a minister who might have said some things that might have been a little anti-white or pro... Went to my high school. Who was it? You remember his name? Reverend Wright. Reverend Wright. They thought Barack Obama was not able to serve as president because he had this minister. And now they've got this traveling, you know, it's basically a traveling circus with a bunch of clowns on the Trump plane that just land everywhere and cause this chaos. You know, you just said that maybe Trump doesn't want to win. And you're not the only person that said that. I mean, I'm reading more and more that he doesn't really care because he's going to just protest. You know, if he doesn't win, that he'll be protesting and he'll have his operatives. And every single state he can get them into claiming that there was, you know, shenanigans with the voting machines. I don't disagree with it. I mean, I just don't understand how he can go from a winning strategy. You know, he's not a stupid person. I know he has no control. I know that we're concerned about how incoherent he is. But at the same time, these people know how to win elections. Why do you say he's not a stupid person? I think the moment that every I go back and forth between thinking, Oh my God, this guy is totally a dumb, dumb and we're and then I think he's orchestrating so much of it. During the debate with Joe Biden, when Joe Biden was failing, if you go back and watch the first few minutes of it, you can see Donald Trump look at him and think, I'm not, I'm going to let this happen. And it reminded me that, you know, under underestimating Donald Trump is not is the wrong thing to do. So Sean Diddy Combs just got arrested, at least five women have accused him of some kind of sexual assault raping them. His former girlfriend, and we've seen some of the footage of this is accused him of beating a rock and we've seen him beat her up. What happens now? Well, we, I don't think that the the documents have been unsealed yet by by the the supposed to be this more. I don't think it was unsealed yet. We heard reports that he was arrested, he was supposed to be arrested today, he was arrested yesterday, which, you know, is curious if they were concerned, whether or not there was a flight risk or something. You know, he is charged with some very serious serious federal crimes here, men raping them, you know, sex trafficking. There had been for years, open rumors about his parties. There are a number of comics and performers who have openly said that, you know, you don't want to go to his house because you don't know if you're ever going to come out alive if you go. So, I mean, obviously he's innocent until proven guilty and we just have to wait to see what the charges are. And if they implicate anyone else, which is also, you know, in these situations, are there other artists that are either victims? Are there other artists or producers or people in that industry who were witnesses and didn't come forward? I mean, I think we need to buckle our seat belts for this. So the indictment was unsealed. I think while you were walking to the set here, this morning Combs is also described as the boss of years-long criminal enterprises in New York Times that threatened and abused women, of course, and am going to participate against their will and drug-fueled orgies with male prostitutes. The 14-page indictment against Combs includes three counts of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors said to commit these acts, Combs and his employees engaged in kidnapping, forced labor, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice. Wow, that's a major, major charges there. 54 years old. And one of the most influential artists. Yeah. Well, in businessman, I mean, you can't, you can't, another, another, you know, this is the complicated world of these, when so much charged with these heinous crimes. I mean, he also was a merchandise. He was an actor. He performed on stage in New York, in the theater. He went to college and decided he was going to be a businessman and famous, and he was able to do that. And it's just, it's horrific. So let's, let's, before you go, let's talk about something that'd be very exciting to all you Duncan fans around here. The way to get the cheap coffee, what's this about? Yeah. So, you know, for those of you who drink a lot of Dunkin' Donuts, and I'm a Dunkin' Gal, you might note that when you go from place to place, the price is sometimes different. And of course, it is different because they're all franchises that are owned by their own people, and you, they have a range of things. And this is true about most, most franchises as well. But this, this very incredible, tough grad, undergraduate, Jack Burton, you know, when you're kids are in college, you're like, "What are you guys doing? Are you learning anything? Are you helping people? How are you going to help people when you graduate?" And Jack Burton has now decided the best way to help us is to come up with this new free tool, this app, called Dunkin' Scout. And what it does is it lets you know where you can get the cheapest Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee, because the range is pretty high. There are gas apps like this. There are all sorts of apps that help you do this. But you know, this is definitely a tool that I'm going to be using to let us know where we can find our Dunkin' Donuts at the best price. It's a great club story about this one. Dunkin' Scout, is that what it's called? Is that where you go to Dunkin' Scout, type in your address and the product that you want and you get the best price? And you know, unlike us, you know, we went to Logan Airport, you saw how expensive the prices were, it upset him, and rather than complaining about it, he did something. Why does he go, you know, they said he frequents the Dunkin' at Logan Airport, I assume they're set. Why does he do that? Maybe he tried it a lot. Maybe he's going home, maybe, you know. But if you're just there, you got a park, you got to get it expensive. Well, they write it all off in his investment. That's a very... That's how you do that, Jim. You write it off as a business expense. How proud do you think his parents are? Very proud. I was telling Jamie earlier, your lovely producer... Jamie's our lead producer, you mean him? Yes, I was in the car with my daughter Ruby when she was 18 once, and we were listening to a new story about an 18-year-old who had become, this was five, six years ago, a millionaire through cryptocurrency. And Ruby was listening, and she said, "Why aren't you a millionaire?" And I said, "He's 18. He did this when you were 14. Why aren't you a millionaire? Why aren't you a millionaire?" That's right. What'd you say? She hasn't spoken to me. Okay. I'm always asking her why she's not a millionaire. Well, she was a woman of principle, obviously. Yes, clearly, clearly. So, Connell is wonderful. Hey, thanks for having me today. Thank you so much. Thank you, Stuart Connell. Media Made in Stuart Connell is co-pubbership babe windows. Media Made in what do I call it? No, I'm just repeating, I love that. Oh, Media Made in Steven. I thought I called you the wrong thing. No, no, no. Media Made in Stuart Connell is co-pubbership babe windows in south end news. Co-host with Corey Smith of NBC 10's, Boston at issue, which you can see every Sunday at 11.30 right after. Meet the press, which, by the way, is on channel 10, too. That's what they call it. She mentioned she's a local woman? I didn't mention she's a local woman. She's a local woman. She lives in Roxbury. Everybody knows her. The coyotes, the people the part, the dog. Would you not say mod? Mod. Yeah, the long suffering mod, attacked by coyotes from the coast coast. Not really. Okay, coming up after a quick break, Jim will finally explain to all of us what cryptocurrency is, how it works, and why Donald Trump is somehow involved in it now. Our texting segment of the day is next, listening to Boston Public Radio 897 GBH Live from the Boston Public Library and streaming at YouTube.com/GBHNews. Welcome back to Boston Public Radio, Marjorie and Jim Bradley. We're live at the library streaming online at youtube.com/GBHAs. Back here tomorrow with former Mayor Kim Janey, the NAACP's Michael Curran Ted Landsmark on 50 years since Boston buzzing. It's time for our tech segment today, and we've asked you to help us understand cryptocurrency, because here is Donald Trump, attempting to explain his new cryptocurrency family business on Twitter spaces very recently. Here it is. We're going to do it, and we're going to make our country greater than ever before, and you're going to be happy, and you're going to love your crypto. We have to be number one, and I think AI is really important, but I think crypto is one of those, one of those things we have to do. Do we like it or not? I have to do. Just to add a third element, I have a lot of friends, very smart people, some very smart people, and they're believers, so it means something to me. In other words, let me be fair. I want to be fair to Donald Trump. He obviously has no idea what crypto is, and so what we decided to do, which is why we value our listeners, we asked the listeners to text in Marjorie and explain crypto to our other listeners. How well do they do? Well, we only have a couple of people that actually tried to explain it, Jim. Oh, what happened? Most of the people were suggesting that Donald Trump does no idea what he's talking about. What they say. John Nashlin says he thinks Donald Trump thinks seeking asylum means people are coming from and saying asylum, so no way he knows what crypto is. It's not a bad point. Yeah, Emil in Marlborough says, "I think a better term for Trump's latest scam is kleptocurrency, which fits in with its other ventures." And anonymous textor says, "Trump's crypto is easy to explain. Give me your money. All you suckers and losers." Okay, so let me ask you something. Do you share? I want to be fair here. Do you share my opinion, listening to what he had to say? His response, when he was asked the question I heard the interview, why is crypto important? He said, well, I would say under the circumstances, crypto is important because crypto is important. That is exactly what he said. So you share my sense that he has no idea. I think he probably has no idea, but his son Baron, I suppose he knows all about this. He does? Yeah, Baron apparently has four wallets. I don't know what that means. And Don Jr. apparently knows something about this too. Okay, now let me ask you. Let me just say. No, I want you to say anything, because what I want you to do, because you believe we have an educational function here. We have only two and a half minutes. Could you take the two and a half minutes and carefully and deliberate, no, I'm serious, deliberately explain crypto to our listeners. Jim, I have no idea what crypto is. I don't really understand it. My four won't. Kay is doing what the IRAs are doing here. I can't do my taxes. You can't do that. I'm not the person to tell anybody about crypto. No, it's over my head. Oh, how about you? I, of course, know what crypto is. Really? Yes, crypto is a digital currency that is decentralized and encrypted and based on blockchain technology. It is a medium of exchange that is not control. Excuse me, Margry. It is a medium of exchange that is not controlled, despite what you think, by a central authority, such as a bank or a government Margry. Crypto currencies are used as an alternative payment method or as an investment. That's just off the top of my head. Okay, that's very good. We do have a couple of people that attempted this. What do they do? Well, I have no idea if Cynthia from Wakefield has any idea what she's talking about, but here what she says, here is my crypto explanation. Please. Think of each as a country, which creates a new currency. Sure. Investors decide which country is likely to succeed and invest accordingly. This metaphor easily extends to farming mining crypto, which each country does to produce more for investors to purchase. And she says, good luck. You know why? Can I clarify something you said before? The reason you don't understand 401ks, I mean this respectfully, is because we don't have 401ks. We have 403b's here. Oh, thank you. That's number one, right? That's why I couldn't find my 401k. That's because you don't have one. That's one. Two, this will interest you because you're a climate change. 403b, I bring that down. Okay, I got it. I got it. Okay. And the second thing is, this is actually interesting. How much energy does all of the Bitcoin, I don't know if production's the right word, how much energy does all the Bitcoin production take as compared to, let's say, Greece? Well, all I know is that Elizabeth from Rhode Island says, what'd she say? Of course, Trump knows nothing about his latest grift. But the most important overlooked thing to know about crypto is the ridiculous amount of energy it consumes. If we ever want to solve climate change, we should not be expanding crypto. So I guess that means a lot. The same quantity of emissions as the country of Greece. What do you think about it? I think that's much too much. Yeah, much too much. So, I mean, I think that maybe we shouldn't get to a pretty good job. Thank you very much. But no, Jim, I'm grateful because that's why I couldn't find my 401k because I have a 403b. So, I think that's a good. Don't you learn something here? I got the attacks extension, you know, so I'm not fine. If you're at the library at two o'clock when we have more time, Marjorie will give a fuller explanation of crypto. Right here, you'll do that. So stick around. Yeah, that's right. I'm not going to be doing that, Jim, but Trump, according to an anonymous text, or has a concept of crypto, lucky as a concept of the health plan, he's going to replace Obamacare. Can I just say blockchain to you, Marjorie? Blockchain, that sounds good. We're done. All right, we're done. Coming up after the one o'clock news going to be joined by CNN's John King, we're going to talk to him about the latest on the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and a bunch of other news on DC, you're listening to Boston Public Radio 897 GBH broadcasting live from the Boston Public Library and streaming at youtube.com/GBHNews. I'm Jim Bradley, head on hour number three of Boston Public Radio live from the Boston Public Library. John King, CNN's chief national correspondent, joins us. We'll talk about broader implications from the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump is the secret service equipped for the moment and how might it change the dynamics it played for November. We'll also visit a shocking poll from Iowa and the effect of Trump's endless stream of misinformation. I'm Marjorie Egan, then we're ending our show with you. Amazon has just ordered all its employees to return to their offices five days a week. Could this signal the end of a COVID-era luxury working from home even just a few days a week? And would you be willing to leave your job to stay in your home office, leaving that bumper-to-bumper traffic behind, phone and text lines are open 877301 8970. That's all ahead. Hour number three of Boston Public Radio 897 GBH live from the Boston Public Library. Eastern Bradley, I am Marjorie Egan. Welcome to hour number three of Boston Public Radio. We're broadcasting live from the Boston Public Library and streaming at youtube.com/GBHNews. Going to be back here tomorrow celebrating or looking back I should say in 50 years since Bussing began in Boston. We're going to be joined by the former mayor of Boston, Kim Janie, the NAACP's Michael Curry and Ted Lancemark, the black lawyer in the three-piece suit. You may remember the famous photograph, iconic photograph of his being attacked with a flagpole for an American flag on Boston City Hall Plaza. Poll and surprise when you're photographed by your former colleagues. Yes, Stanley forming a great photographer at Boston Herald and Channel 5. We're now joined on zoom by CNN's chief national correspondent, John King. John is beyond two great reporting projects this election cycle all over the map of the battleground. John King, good to see you. It's good to see you too. I was in the first Bussing class at the Boston Latin School. Is that right? First year of Bussing, yes. Wow, what a memory. So what is your what is your memory? I didn't know that, John. What is your primary memory 50 years after, John? My primary memory is, well, I remember my dad saying that Judge Garrity was trying to do the right thing, but he was doing it in the wrong way. I remember that very strongly. My dad saying the goal was right, but the way they did it made a lot of people mad in both the white and the black community across Boston. And I remember how ugly it was. When I come home to Boston now, I'm so grateful. It's a better city. It's a far from perfect city, but it is so much better now than those days. I remember people in the neighborhood who you thought were icons of the neighborhood screaming the N word and throwing things at buses, throwing bricks at buses. It was a horrible, horrible time. One of the defining lessons of my youth, and I'm grateful every day of my life for a mother and father who just looked us in the eye and say that is not how we judge people. We judge people by what they do, not by how they look. I'm forever grateful. That's John King from CNN. Well, John, let's get back to the news out of Washington, D.C., or the news most recently out of Palm Beach, Florida. We had the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump yesterday. A lot of talk about the Secret Service being under-resourced, being not up to the job. What do we know? Well, there's going to be yet another review, obviously one after Butler and the actual assassination attempt, meaning gunshots fired toward the former president. In this case, the alleged shooter did not fire shots, but was at the fence line, and apparently the Secret Service saw him stick at the barrel of a rifle, a long gun, through defense. The former president, I'm not blaming him. The former president has been told many times that his golf courses and that being out in public in golf courses is a security risk, but I do think without a doubt, and I think President Biden tried to assure the former president and a phone call yesterday, without a doubt, the Secret Service number one needs more personnel and has a funding issue. There are many who also believe it has a cultural and a training, has cultural and training issues that have to be dealt with, and it's sad that you have to get to these moments of peril, these horrible incidents, to get people to focus on the challenges. And so some of this is going to be funding, some of this is going to be personnel, and one could hope, Washington is a strange town, you hear me say this all the time, but one could hope that something like this would get Democrats and Republicans in a room with really smart people who understand security and say, what do you need? What can we do to make it better tomorrow? And what do you need for us to think about this over the next six months, you know, year and beyond to make it a better, smarter agency? Because it also shows, unfortunately, we have a country on edge, we have a country on edge, and we have people who clearly have, you know, mental health issues and other grievances, and that part of it's sad. Well, you know, some people do have mental health issues, and some people do horrible things and do not have mental health issues. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire posted on Twitter on Sunday, anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero. J.D. Vance said the other day, the big difference between conservatives and liberals is no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris. Elon Musk made an equally irresponsible comment and then pulled it down, saying, borrowing a page from Donald Trump, I was just joking, it was a big joke. It seems to me was horrible as these kinds of comments are at any time. In the wake of two attempts to kill a former president and a leading presidential candidate, they do nothing but make the situation worse and well, one would hope for round and bipartisan condemnation of these comments, even if you don't want to criticize Vance because he's running, at least Musk and the others. I'm not hearing it, am I missing something? No, you're not missing something, and that sadly I think is part of the climate we live in, in the social media age and the polarized age, and people who think no matter what the issue at play, no matter what, whether it's a tragedy or some other incident, how do I take advantage of this? How do I either get attention, some of it's just people, I call them attention seeking missiles who want to do it to get attention and they don't care that it's negative attention, or people who think that somehow there's political gain here. And again, I'm spitting into the wind, I've done this for a long time, that every day somebody in leadership and somebody with responsibility, that includes three of us, we're in a public setting, we're speaking to people, there are people out there who are listening to us, the people out there who, you know, might respect us and think, oh, that was smart, I'm going to follow that point. Well, with that comes responsibility, you know, we're three journalists. If you're Elon Musk, you're the CEO of this giant company that has millions and millions and millions of people, if you're JD Vance, you want to be the number two elected officer in the United States of America, and you are a United States senator at the moment, you have an even higher bar, I would argue of responsibility, we also just have individual responsibility, am I going to, am I going to pour gasoline on the fire, or am I going to walk away from the fire, am I going to hold my tongue, or am I going to make the fire hotter? And unfortunately, a lot of people, either for personal publicity gain, or what they perceive to be political gain, are happy to throw logs on the fire when I would argue, this is more as a citizen, and a human being, that you should take a deep breath and walk away, and try to try to calm things down, not stir them up. You said a minute ago, when you're talking about the Secret Service in response to a comment from Marjorie, they've got to decide what to do tomorrow, which Congress is not very good at, anything about tomorrow, and obviously in the future, there's seven weeks left in this campaign. The rhetoric, the acts, I would assume this is a pretty scary time for people on both for the Harrises, the Walzes, the Vances, and the Trumps, so what's being discussed that you're aware of, John King, about making sure that these people are safe as one can make them for seven weeks, and beyond, but obviously seven weeks. I think after Butler, the conversations began, and after what happened in Florida, I think they're accelerating, as you know, we have some long-term issues here, but what can we do in the short-term? How can we surge resources, whether those are intelligence and communications resources, whether they're surveillance resources, whether it's just manpower, and if you can't, obviously you can't hire 50 Secret Service agents or 100 Secret Service agents, whatever they come up with the number, you can't do that between now and the election, so can you borrow from other federal agencies? Do you have to do more with local police? These are the urgent conversations that are happening now, and I think you make a key point. I mean, every second we get closer to the election, the legitimate tension, the stress of a very comparative election is there, and then those other factors come into play. And so, you know, this is one of the, I mean, I respect Donald Trump, but he says I want to do rallies outside. That is his right. Anyone running for president should be able to have an outdoor rally. You know, the Secret Service has been saying, sir, you know, we need your help, so they'll figure each candidate will figure that out on their own, but the government has to have, in terms of the security personnel, has to have an urgent conversation about what can we do today, you know, for the rest of today, and then the rest of the campaign to make it better, and then they have a much more longer-term conversations they have to get to. I covered the White House for 10 years, and I hold that agency in the highest of respect. I will say that former agents I keep in touch with, former people who work there both in uniform at the Secret Service, and it's under cover the agents, their officers and agents, agents are the ones who wear the suits, and part of their job can be protecting people like the president of the United States. They do see a big cultural problem at the agency and a whole bunch of issues with staffing and with stature, but those can't be solved between now and the election. So you have to have urgent meetings first about what do we do to keep our president, our vice president, and our candidates for president and vice president, and the other people the agency protects. What do you do? You know, John, can we always, when we introduce you, we always talk about how you're doing this great reporting project all over the map and the battleground, and talking to voters about their ideas about things. And you've talked to a lot of Trump supporters who, you know, seem like lovely people, really, all around the country. But I was looking at this U-govern, it's just one poll, and, you know, a lot of polls make mistakes, but they talk about the spread of Trump's misinformation to people that are his supporters and how they believe a lot of things that he says, he keeps saying, he's out of the debate, and he's said it many times that Democrats want to kill or okay with executing babies on the delivery room table after the birth of a child. That's absolutely untrue. It's infanticized, illegal everywhere. But 43 percent of Trump supporters, at least in this poll, say they think that that's true and more believe that it's true than it's not true. And in terms of his big issues on immigration and inflation, 70 percent say that they think millions of undocumented immigrants are arriving every month, which isn't true. And 70 percent believe inflation is at its highest rate ever, which is not true either. It has not been true anywhere close to what it was back in the 70s. So the point of this is that you can see where maybe, and I wonder if you finding this, that a lot of people support him because they do believe these kind of crazy things about dogs and cats and, you know, Haitians from, I mean, people from Venezuela that are being a lot of prisons, et cetera, et cetera, they believe it. There are a lot of people who believe it, or at least three will say, I believe it, nugget of it. Some of it must be true, right? There must be a nugget of truth to it. Yes, a lot of that. I interviewed, I was in Nevada last week for a piece. I'm in Georgia right now for a piece, and I interviewed a woman last night who was delightful, who said she's not sure she give off a Kamala Harris because she was wearing earrings during the debate that have a listening device in them, and they were giving her the answers. Their staff was giving her the answers to the questions. They did that to Joe Biden in 2020. You know, he had a hearing aid that was actually a speaker, and they were giving him the answers. The rabbit hole is deep on a lot of these questions, and again, gets back to the previous conversation about what should people and responsibility do when there's a moment of crisis, like an attempt at assassination, attempt on a former president. I would argue that people in a leadership position should do it every day in what they say, and that truth should be paramount. We know, we've known for a very long time, but that's a silly sentence to say in the context of Donald Trump, because this is just a fact. This is not a partisan position, but he lies, and he lies constantly, and he lies pathologically, and he lies by design, because he believes it helps him. You're absolutely right about that. I will also say, though, Marjorie, that when he talks about infanticide, when he talks about, you know, countries letting all the people out of prison and having them flood across the United States border, there are some that may help him with some people. It may some people think it's some of his supporters think it's funny, because it drives us crazy, and it drives the opposition crazy, and it's, you know, and the fact people are fact taking their time, waste, you know, in some ways wasting their time fact checking things that are obviously not true. It hurts him with a lot of voters. When I was in Nevada, I'll give you one example. So I was sent as a Reagan Republican, an ever Trump voter, but she was just like, she's an immigrant to this country, and these immigrants are proud, and they're contributing to the economy, and they're amazing remarkable people. They are what makes America great, and forgive my language, he pisses them off when he insults them like that, and he insults their families, he insults their heritage, he insults where they come from, so there may be, and Donald Trump wouldn't do it if he didn't see some political gain in it, but I would argue, in some places, there's a price, and in some of these battleground states, they're going to be decided by 10, 15, 20, 30,000 votes. That's why I'm out on the road trying to, you know, trying to find that balance, if you will. In Nevada, I was really struck by a number of voters who were undecided when we first met them way back in December, and last December, we've kept in such sense who, when he goes, he's back in that mode again about, you know, they're eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, which everybody in Ohio says is not true, that people right there, he pays a price for that too. Yes, he gets a benefit with a certain slice, but he pays a price, and it tells me that he has decided that he doesn't think he's going to win many swing voters, he doesn't think he's going to win many people in the middle, and so that he is trying to maximize turnout among the people who respond to that messaging, even when it is just flatly not of this galaxy falls. Well, yeah, you're, you wrote a piece on the 11th of September, and you wrote none, you're talking about the people who you've been tracking in this all over the map project, when 70 voters across 10 states, and you wrote none of our voters who had settled on a candidate before Tuesday's on stage meeting, were swayed to change their minds, all those several Trump supporters shared concern about his performance. So it's sort of underlines what Marjorie's saying, and I guess what you're saying is if you're with him, you're with him. I mean, either CNN or the Washington Post or both said he lied, what was it, 33 times during the debate, not to mention saying some grossly offensive things, but it appears based on your anecdotal but thorough reporting that it doesn't really matter if you're, as I say, if you're with him, you're with him. Is that fair? Yes, and I'll add the but. Yes, it appears that way that people who are locked in or locked in, and if you're a Trump voter, you've kind of invested in him, right, in the sense that even the ones who know a lot of it's not true, as I said, a lot of them say, well, he's trying to make a point. J.D. Vance even admits, he says, so even if it's not true, I'm trying to draw attention to things. I mean, think about that. Think about that. Think about the message that sends to your children. If you don't think you're getting enough attention, lie, just lie about something until you get attention. But that's what he said. He said that to my colleague, Dan, about just the other day, that, well, maybe it's not true, but you're not spending enough time focusing on these issues. So we say these things to get attention. That's nuts. That's nuts. Number one. The part is this, though. I will say that again, in the states where these elections are going to be decided by so close, what is the price? All right, I'll give you two examples. Joan London is a conservative attorney, a Reagan Republican. She lives in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Her plan, because she thinks Harris is too liberal, was to write in a conservative, because she can't vote for Donald Trump. She watched the debate. She watched what he said about Ukraine. And she said, conservatives do not negotiate with Putin. I'm voting for Harris. I'll come back to the Republican Party when we get rid of him. But in the meantime, I'm voting for Harris. In Nevada, just the other day, Antonio Munoz is a restaurant owner. He was undecided when we met in December. He says, listening to Trump, demean immigrants. He's of Mexican heritage, listening to Trump, demean immigrants, and talk the way he talks, and to beat down on America. He said, I'm a proud American. I love this country. The people of what make America great. And he says, we have the worst president. We have the worst this. We have the worst that. He says, frankly, it just offends him so much that he's now leaning Harris. He wants to hear more about our small business plan. But you can see his trajectory. He's going that way. So he does pay a price. He does pay a price. And that's the fascinating part of these seven weeks from tonight. We come votes. And that's the fascinating part about this final stretch. It's a tiny sliver of people who are movable. But the ones I've, you know, I just gave you two examples there. And I'm sure there are examples of people going, you know, Trump's way over economic concern or something else. But that, to me, is the big question in these final seven weeks. And he is, he has very smart people around him. And he's accelerating this rhetoric, which tells me they've made a calculation. They're not going to win the middle. And they're going for a high-base turnout. But on the other hand, you have Kamala Harris, who does want to get people that may be Republicans or former Trump voters who don't, as I said before, debate didn't know enough about her. And she gets some questions, some very straightforward questions on why she changed her mind about fracking, for example, or health care or some of the immigration policies she should talk about in 2020. She didn't give straight answers, which I don't, and I'm wondering, this has become almost an epidemic of long politicians. I mean, we interview politicians all the time. And some of them give you straight answers. But a lot of them don't. It's obvious they're evading the question. I'm not sure whom that helps. And I'm wondering, since you've been covering these kind of campaigns since 1988, I think we do caucus, is this a new thing or, is it's always been true that we don't want to answer any questions, fooling nobody? I think rare as the politician who says, I was wrong or I need to win Pennsylvania. And so, I can't have that position anymore. I mean, whatever the answer is, that's a fracking reference. Whatever the answer is, where is the politician who looks you in the eye who says, I was wrong. I was wrong. Or the party pressure when I was running in the primary in 19, you know, in 2000, 99, 2000 was to go left. And I went to, and you know what, I caught up in that wave and I went too far left. And no, that's not who I am. They don't want to say things like that. I actually think if you look people in the eye and say, I made a mistake, aren't you? Think of all the perfect people, raise your hands, right? That people will give you grace and respect if you're candid about it. But you hit a margin on something I think that is very important because we have a number of voters, the couple of Nikki Haley voters, for example, in the Philadelphia suburbs, who don't want to vote for Trump, but who watched the debate and make the exact same point you said that I did. I don't feel she's being direct. I don't feel she's answering the questions. She ducked the questions. Why didn't she answer directly? She just went to talking points. So there's an opportunity to win some people with either more specifics about her plans or more candor about her changes. Those are the two things that come up quite a bit. You know, John, before you go on an optimistic note for those who would not like to see Donald Trump return to White House, Iowa is a pretty red state and there was a poll just the other day from what I'm told is a respected polling source, the Des Moines Register, the major paper there, showing that unlike Joe Biden, when he left the race, he was 18 points behind Donald Trump, that Kamala Harris is within four points in a very red state of Donald Trump. One, do you buy it? And if you do, what does it say to you about what's going on? Iowa. What did I say? Donald Trump. Oh, I'm sorry, Iowa. What does it say? Yeah, no, it's a very respected polling outfit and it shows her within single digits in the state like Iowa. Remember Barack Obama won Iowa back in my first campaign, Michael Dukakis won Iowa. It's one of 10 states he won. Think about how much the world has changed. Dukakis won Iowa and West Virginia among the 10 states. Wow. The world has changed a lot in '35, but what it tells you, Jim, is that the switch from Biden to Harris has given Democrats a lot of energy and yes, Iowa is a red state. I expect Donald Trump is going to win Iowa, but I think the gaps in some of these traditional red states are going to be closer than they were in the last election because you have Democrats who are much more energized. I just finished a couple of interviews here in Atlanta, a couple of African American voters who were going to vote for Biden, but they were lethargic about it or ambivalent about it. They were going to vote for Biden because they like his policies, but more because they wanted to stop Donald Trump. They are excited to vote for Vice President Harris. That energy and enthusiasm makes the difference. In a place like Iowa, if you know my candidate is not going to win, maybe you don't vote, maybe you skip, maybe you're working hard, you don't forget to do your early ballot or whatever it is. I do think you're going to see closer margins in some of the traditional red states because you will have a higher, if not maximized, democratic turnout. In some of those red states, Iowa is not one of them. You also have the abortion ballot initiatives. That could bring out more voters too. I'm not saying it's going to flip a state, but it could make the margins closer. Does that force Donald Trump to spend resources in those places? Probably not. You have to spend a little more time thinking about them and triple checking places that you would have long ago forgotten, maybe. We're giving me for ramming. One place it could make a difference. I'm not saying it will in Iowa. The House and the Senate are on the ballot, too. There are some good places on the ballot. I do think if you have increased democratic turnout in red states where democratic turnout has maybe gone a little flat in past cycles, it could make the difference, whether it's in a statewide race for some office or in some of these contested congressional races. Democratic party optimism, not just at the presidential level, but down ballot is much higher now than it was back in July. Trust me. That's the one constant from our travels, no matter which date we're in. I was in Iowa just several weeks ago, and Democrats were saying it's much better here now. I'm not saying they were going to win, but it's much better here now. That is the Harris effect. You're going to see higher democratic turnout in places where it might have flatlined if they just didn't think they had a prayer. Okay. The question you posed to yourself is what does it tell you about those numbers in Iowa? The final thing for me is what does it tell you that your red socks yet again are not going to make the playoffs and that your New England Patriots can't throw a downfield pass? What does that tell you, John King? We're back to my childhood. You mentioned buzzing at the start of this conversation. Yeah. I grew up in an age when the red socks and the Patriots weren't all that good. Life is a cycle, Jim. Life is a cycle. I think we're going to see Drake May in about three or four more games. The Patriots to win have to hold the other team under 14 or 17 points. That ain't really a great formula. The Red Sox team, they played over their head, go back to the tape, but when we talked about coming out of spring training, they were not expected to do anything and they at least kept us engaged for a while. I think the single biggest thing the Red Sox need is to think about anybody who's getting paid to evaluate pitching, because a lot of their decisions about pitching have not worked out well. Some of them have, but they're going to need almost an entire new bullpen and I think they might need some new metrics, new evaluation systems, maybe new personnel. I'm not available. I got an election to cover otherwise, but everybody needs a six-year-old catcher. Maybe they get that washed up pitcher like Chris Sale back from Atlanta. What do you think about that? He's going to open the saiyan war there. I think the polite word for that, Jim, is karma. Oh, gosh. Is he going to win the saiyan war? Yes, he is. The best pitcher in the national league. Oh, my goodness. Hey, John King, it is wonderful to see you and thanks for sharing your insight. As always, we'll talk to you next week. Thank you, John. Be well. We've been speaking with CNN chief national correspondent, John King. He's behind these two great reporting projects, this election cycle. Oh, really? Well, and the background. Well, it's just fascinating because I, as you know, I'm not a fan of the former president, but you hear people talk with such passion about their feelings for him and I find it amazing because they look so normal, Jim. I just don't get it. Anyway, up next, Amazon has ordered its workers back to the office five days a week. We're going to open the lines to ask your thoughts on a strict in-person work policy. Has this happened to you at your office? Are you worried it's going to happen soon? Is the era of W, F, H and hybrid offices coming to an end? Much to Jim's delight? Yeah, Jim, you're such a... I'm a stickin' book. Really are. Collard, Texas at 877-301-8970. What do you want to work? Two days in, three days in, four days in, you want to go in every single day or listen to Boston Public Radio 897 GBH live from the Boston Public Library and streaming at youtube.com/GBHNews. Welcome back to Boston Public Radio, Jim Brody, Marjorie, and we're live at the library streaming online at youtube.com/GBHNews. We're back here tomorrow with a segment we're really looking forward to. For mayor, Kim Januil joined us along with the NAACP's Michael Curran Ted Landsmark, and you know Ted through not only his wonderful work in the last 50 years, but that iconic photograph of the flagpole that won a Pulitzer Prize 50 years ago. We're going to talk about Boston busing 50 years after. So in a memo to Amazon workers this week, the CEO Andy Jassy wrote this. Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward. Our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances. So starting in January, all Amazon employees will be back in person Monday to Friday. Peers are also cutting out some middle managers, meaning more direct reports for some and who's against having fewer useless managers rambling on about synergy or whatever else they do in Zoom calls. What do you make of this? We have talked often on about the merits of being in person for some lines of work. I think ours is a good example. Is returning to the office like Amazon is mandating the right way to proceed or have we proven in the last several years that a hybrid setting for most, not for all obviously, is a totally valuable and appropriate way to go. The numbers 877-301-8970. What's happening in your office? What are you doing? And how do you feel? If you're not at work, how would you feel about ordering being ordered to go back? Would you stay there? Would you quit? And again, how do you feel about the hybrid world that I think roughly, almost half of workers are still doing a hybrid thing. I think it's like 41 or 42 percent. Yeah, I love this story from Fox Business. It says some bosses admit that they return to office mandates for all about getting people to quit. Isn't that incredible? I know, I know. They wanted people to quit. Yeah, so they figured if we're going to make them come in five days a week, they'll refuse them. They'll be gone because they'll quit. But okay, let's go ahead. Where are you on this? I think it depends on what you do for a living. We have added it as of October. A mandated additional day has been added here at GBH. And by the way, a lot of people at GBH don't do news kinds of things. But I think in our business, it's important to be there. You know, one of the things the Amazon guy says, which I, oh, here I do have it in front of me, he says things like, it's easier for teammates to learn model practice and strengthen our culture, collaborating brainstorming and inventing are simpler and more effective teaching and learning from one another more seamless. If you're together, if you're physically together, I totally subscribe to that. In some lines of work that is critical to your advancement. In other lines of work, I think you can do it most of the time from your bedroom or your kitchen. So I think it's a concept, not as a concept. As a reality, hybrid is proven to work for a lot of people. I don't think, and this is what you were asking, I do not think people are at work, especially young workers enough. It's how I felt after the pandemic. It's how I feel now. How do you feel? I feel firmly three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, have Monday and Friday at home. Or if you want to go to four days a week, go to four days a week, but then we'll give your workers an opportunity to either have Monday off or Friday. What happens on Monday and Friday if you have to go in three days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday? For most worries, you have to show up because you're doing a radio show. I think they'll know if you're not there. What happens to the average worker if the days you have to physically go in or Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday? That means that they will be doing less work on Monday and Friday from home. Yeah, or network, or no work. But you know what? I think it's fine, because I think we have this. We have such a work culture in the United States of America. I think it's fine to be able to go home and catch up while you're working with some of your household duties, maybe throwing a load of laundry, maybe baked sprouties, put the roast chicken in the fridge, maybe have a little less strain on the budget because you don't have to have your kids in after-school programs on Mondays and Fridays, or you don't have to, well, if they're older, they can come home and be on their computers and they're bedroom all day long. And who knows what they're doing in there. But also for the traffic issue, for the commuting issue, for all those kinds of things, I think it's a terrible idea. But what's a terrible idea? Five days, yeah. Well, by the way, let me give you an inch here. Yeah. I totally agree that in almost all settings, there's no need that to do five days a week. The key thing is everybody has to be there in the same days, because there's no point in saying, in rotating, because you're not really there with your colleagues. You can choose Tuesday or Wednesday. Well, that doesn't work. It has to be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Everybody's going to be there so you can get the gossip, you can go and meet the people you haven't met since Tuesday. You hate when I repeat myself. So let me repeat myself. When I started doing this stuff, I was doing cable news. This is my first job in the news business. I would say 50%. I don't know why I picked that number. A large percentage of what I learned that was good, that has made me fairly decent at this, was from sitting next to Chet Curtis, a legendary newscaster, and 15 feet away from Artie Sol, who I would argue is the best newscaster we've ever seen in our lifetimes here. And it's because, not because, I mean, I could contact each of them on Zoom, but that wasn't how it worked. I heard Artie saying something. I yelled across the question, "Why are you making a mocking face?" Because every time I think of the great late Chet Curtis, who was such a wonderful man, I remember how many times you told me that he would yell across at you when you were on both of the aggregates together, "Will you shut up?" It was like Joe-- He didn't say, "Will you shut up?" He never said, "Will you shut up?" Yeah, he was glaring at you, saying, "When am I going to get a question?" No, but that was not-- Is that really necessary for this discussion? The point I'm trying to make is by being in the presence-- I am guessing, when you were a little cubit reporter-- Oh, absolutely. --being in the presence of more senior reporters of value to you. Yeah, absolutely. And by the way, it's not just in news. Almost anything where you need an ounce of creativity or outside the box thinking, in my opinion, you learn most of that by being in the presence of older workers. It's not-- It could be five years older who've been doing it. That is when you're young and you don't have quite as many responsibilities with home or kids or whatever, I mean, how much fun does it go out after work with your colleagues and trash the bosses? That's what we want to do, right? You want to go down to the local bar, have a great time, and also, where do so many people meet their future partners is at work. And if you're sitting at home alone, it's a little bit more difficult. You have to go on to, you know, hedge, whatever the heck it is, at all the kids do. Hedge, okay, whatever that is. Hedge, hedge, hedge clippers. Sounds like Bill Belichick. HedgeClippers.com. So let me just say-- How many people on hedge? Okay, no, nobody's on hedge. Okay, let me tell you. Hinge, hinge, that's what it is. What kind of hedge? Hedge is not hinge, and hinge is-- Hinge, that's right, hinge. The shirtless young men on hinge. Yeah, how do you know about that? Because I've seen people on hinge. Like who? Young men, believe me. Well, who are we talking about? What young men do you see on hinge? Young women, I know, they flip, flip, flip, flip, flip through hinge. Yeah. And a lot of young men had no shirts on. Can I tell you something? Every time, I think you all know this is faithful listeners. Every time Marjorie says something like that, and I ask, who'd you hear it from? And she doesn't make eye contact. That means that she is the one flipping through hinge. Yeah, she's not making eye contact again. Please, please, please. How was that? Andy in Florida, thanks for calling. Andy in Florida, hi. Hi, can you guys hear me again? We can. So Amazon is pretty rich doing what they're doing. First of all, they're a well-greased company. I worked for Amazon just by the pandemic. They did. It was an ultimatum before the pandemic to get rid of people because of the liability of the pandemic. And now they just want to get rid of their overflow of Amazonians. Because the money that they pay out, the distribution center, they have billions and billions of dollars. So Amazon must be losing money. That's why they're doing that. By the way, I totally subscribe. It's one thing if you're working a warehouse. It's another thing. If you do other things at Amazon, I'm with you. There's no need to be doing it across the board mandate. They're doing it because they figure it's the easiest way to get rid of people they want to get rid of. So I am. And Andy, before you go away, how many hours would you say you've spent on a hedge in recent times? Like, not a precisely, but how many hours on hedge? Exactly. That was the answer. Well, think about it and get back to us. Thank you, Andy. We appreciate your call. A lot of people say that they hate the idea that if you're working from home, you are not working as if sitting in a cubicle, you are working son up to son down. And that's one of the things I think we learned during the pandemic. That oftentimes you get a lot more done at home because you're not running around gossiping with your coworkers. By the way, my primary concern is not productivity. I was being semi-joking about the Mondays and Fridays, even though there is an incentive to do less. The issue to me is not productivity because I think most of the research has shown that people are productive in hybrid settings, at least. The issue is learning. If you're young, the best way to learn is by osmosis from the person you're sitting next to or across from. I think it's a really big deal. Listen to this. This is from Lowell, who's usually working in Ipswich Mass. However, I've been working remotely now for about 10 days. In fact, yesterday, I was working hard from the nosebleed section of St. Andrews Stadium in Birmingham, England, Birmingham City versus Rexham. Not a bad day at work when Tom Brady shows up at the workplace with David Becca. Oh, I saw that picture. I vote to continue working remotely, says Lowell, who usually works at Ipswich Mass. Good for you, Lowell. So the guy was in the UK yesterday pretending does it work? Yeah, I think he might still be there. That's excellent. Yeah, that's pretty good. That was another thing is it has enabled people to go take vacations in exotic places or even just someplace close to home, like doing an Airbnb thing. I don't know, Southern Rhode Island or something like that and pretend that you're working from home because you are working from here Airbnb. Let's go to Kay and Duxbury. Hi, Kay. Hello, Kay. Hi there. Thank you for taking my call. Thank you. I just wanted to say I worked from home before COVID and I found I worked more hours than if I had gone into the office because I'd get up in the morning, go get my cup of coffee, and I'd go right to my email. Yeah. So I would start working at six, six, 30 in the morning, and then at the end of the day, I'd want to finish up what I was doing. I didn't have a commute sometime, but I'd end up working until six, 37 o'clock. So I think there's more of a balance that some people actually end up working more hours. I was very happy when they said I needed to go back to the office because I found I worked a lot less. Well, that's really quite an interesting take. I think that is true. Kay, thank you for the call. How do you work one day at home? Most weeks, not everywhere. Yes. Yes. Yes. So how does that happen? I love it. I absolutely love it. You don't have to worry about getting all dressed, what you're going to wear. You're not to wear it between your makeup on. So why don't you home more then? Because I don't say, do you tell you the truth? Yeah. I shouldn't say this. Well, no, then say it. I think it's better when we're not at home, the show. So why shouldn't you say that? Because it's the biggest question. What am I doing at home one day? Well, that may ask you a question then. What are you doing at home? I need to break Jim. I need to break. That's why. That's why my blood pressure is better when I at home one day. Because, let me say the obvious thing is we do something that is, listen, I may not agree, that is a creative thing allegedly. And when you're surrounded by your coworkers, and we have quite a number, and us, that that give and take, which is a lot harder to do when you're on a screen than it is when you're physically in a person. There is a, by the way, if people want to see, can we post that photograph? There is the image that Marjorie posts on Hedge. That's right. When she's on it, which is actually a very attractive, I can see how you get a lot of response. Yeah, I think it's coming on. I look like, I need a hedge clip is what I look like. I think that is the point they were making. John Beverly is disgusted with us, Jim. He says, shut us off because he says, he works six days a week in all kinds of weather. You know what he does? No, he's a post person. He delivers the mail, and he says, he's want to hear about this. And obviously, there's people like that do deliver the mail. I love the people that deliver the mail, or teachers, or hairdressers, or people that wait tables, whatever they can't, they don't have that option. We're lucky to have that option. How about your, but, except- Why don't you ever want to work at home? What's up with that? Because, as you said a minute ago, I actually want there to be a good show. So, as opposed to some of my colleagues, Marjorie, we're willing to sacrifice quality. We have great technology where you and I can see each other on Zoom, and I have wonderful little studio there, and it's kind of nice, especially in lousy weather. Aaron from Hopkinson, thank you for calling. Arjorie's trying to realize, she realized she made a huge mistake. I did, I made a huge mistake. HR has asked for me at 205 with her own Zoom. Actually, they prefer you to come in person, Marjorie. Go ahead. Aaron and Hopkinson, thank you for calling. Oh, yeah, thank you for letting me call in. When I think about young people entering their workforce today, I hear what you're saying, but for a lot of jobs, particularly like my job is a corporate job where I'm like reviewing technical reports all day, and young people, younger people coming in. I think that they are so used to using all these tools at this point that I don't know that that in person they really get to when it comes to the sacrifice of commutes and all the other times lost. I'm just not sure that the benefit is worth the talk. You know, Aaron, you know what my problem is? I hear you and I respect your opinion. I didn't explain well what I'm saying. I don't just mean learning the craft or the job or the whatever. You also, I think, learn how to deal with co-workers. You learn how to, you have also deeper social connection to co-workers, and I'll say I've been in the workforce a long time. I would say the quality of my work no matter what I've been doing is better when I had good and solid relationships with the people with whom I work as opposed to sort of casual half-assed kind of relationship. So I guess I didn't articulate well. I don't just mean learning how to do what you do, but learning how to be a good and productive and happy workers. Is that a change of view a little or no? No, because how many people pre-COVID are free remote working? We're bringing it, we can't bring headphones with it. It didn't have to listen to the guy shouting. That's, yeah, that's unfortunately true. Yeah, it's a good point. I had a couple of those at the Herald, of course, canceling headphones. Listen to this. Aaron, thank you for your point of view. We appreciate it. We should have brought this up already, but thank goodness one of the e-mailers of the textures rather did. This person says, "I'm a coffee badger." And that means... Explain what that is, yeah. This person explains, "My office is 15 minutes away from home, and I don't have any of my direct co-workers in my office. So I go to the office, swipe my badge to get credit for going into the office. I stay there long enough for a nice cup of coffee, and then go back home to my puppy." So you checked in? Yeah, I think... Now the only reason you can't do that, obviously, you in particular, is you have to have your badge to... And that you... Is that... Jim, I believe that the most recent person who have lost their badge is not I. Maybe it was me. Maybe it was me, Margarita. 877. It was you. 301-897. This conversation was inspired by the decision by Amazon to direct it as of January 1st. Everyone in the company comes back based on calls and texts here, including people who worked for Amazon. There seems to be a consensus. The goal is not to have a more effective workforce, but to have a smaller workforce that people will refuse, and it will allow Jeff Bezos at all to reduce the number of people who worked for the company. Now we have some people here who don't have a good experience at the office. One, Texas says that they're happy to skip the bigotry and misogyny in the office. Another Texas says, "Jim has her own managed size image of the workplace, not true for most of us." And apparently a lot of our textures are really taking advantage of this work-from-home thing. Here's a texture anonymous, of course. I'm in the UK a few times a year, Wales, actually, and I have been doing it several times during the year since the end of the pandemic. If my organization decided I need to be in weekly, I would immediately find another job. Okay, we just got a text from someone anonymous. This is fairly interesting. I am, quote, working remotely for a company in San Francisco, which is how I can be in the audience of this live-taping of Boston Public Radio at the beautiful BPL, anonymous, so as not to blow my cover. Well, whoever you are, you are welcome, and we are thrilled you are here. Again, because you're trashing me all the time saying, "I don't want people to have to go to work five days a week unless it's absolutely critical. Hybrid is working." And if you know, I've said this a thousand times, but I want to say it again, because it impresses me. If we had said we, collectively, workers in this country, had said to all of our bosses, let's say in February of 2020, obviously, COVID, the pandemic became full-blown in March of 2020, I have an idea, Mr. Ms. Employer, let us work three days a week from home on, well, they didn't know what Zoom was then, but something like Zoom, and we'll come in two days a week, the employer would not just have said no, but they would have said there is zero chance that could possibly work. And so this radical relationship to our workplace was something, by the way, I would not have been convinced it could have worked, but it does work, right? Did you read where even the people that run Zoom have demanded that you just come back? I know. Madras, I know. Well, not five days a week, but they spend some days a week at work, I think. Call people back to the office at least part time. Now, listen to this. Hello, Jim and Marjorie. Long time listener, first time reaching out. My daughter and son-in-law work from home in their lovely little home with their lovely little three year old. They are very productive, great parents. It's so terrific to see the experience of a family living this way right down the street from me. Oh, that's nice. That's very nice. By the way, our staff, which has nothing better to do, is has an image of marking our work from home day, clipping the hedges out there. I'm quite a good hedge clipper, actually, just got a new pair of hedge clippers. I really like it. It's missing the point, but that's okay. It's a gratification kind of thing. You understand the concept? You know why they did that? Yeah, they're making it fun with me. They are making it fun. I get it. Not because of hedge clipping, but because of hedge. Of hedge. It's supposed to hinge. Yeah, exactly. Which just goes to show my familiarity with with hinge is not what it is. Oh, so you were insulted because I said you were the person you were talking about? Yeah, it was not the person. Marjorie, for those who don't know, she denies this. Every time we used to have, what have any guys named this old house guys? When this old house guys used to be on our show, this is true. Tell me how this is not true. This is true. Every time, by the way, we have never gotten more phone calls faster. Whenever they're all, we should have them back. Whenever they're on, they're about six million phone calls. Marjorie in the middle would say a textor from Methuen once in oh, so-and-so. And what did we learn 15 seconds into the question? No, it wasn't. What did we learn 15 seconds into the question? I was masquerading. I wouldn't. As a textor from Methuen. Yeah, I was I was not masquerading textor from Methuen. There were those what do we used to have during the blizzards where the whole side of your house is those ice stamps. I was very concerned about ice stamps. Now, Aidan are one of our producers. I know who he is. Right. He says young people and that's true that I heard this from someone once someone that was 20 something and someone who was like 30 something young people are unhinged. You and I, Jim, are unhinged. Who said they weren't unhinged? You said they were unhinged. That's why that's why there was a dispute. You didn't say they weren't unhinged. You said they were unhinged. And then you said you observe young people unhinged and not only is it not hedged but it wasn't young people. That's right because I am not unhinged. Although when I have seen hinge, I have seen a lot of shirtless. That's true you have. It's unusual, I think. Now she says she's seen it actually. I have seen it. Which she denied 10 minutes ago. No, you did. I mean for her, it's worth. You did. You said I hadn't been unhinged and now you are. I'm not unhinged. Children, not children. Young adults I know are unhinged. You're children. And I just think it's odd that there are so many, I've said this five times. Say it again. Say it a few more times. I think there's probably an enormous generation gap in this topic. Show me a Gen Z or millennial who agrees with going back in the office. Boomers in Gen X see the value and the little thing called human contact. We would raise pre iPhones and even computers in some cases. The compromise has to be in the hybrid model. There's something lost in one cases. And that's it. There's something lost in most cases if you're 100 person word from home or 100 percent in the office. I totally agree with that. That's right. So that's why my compromise is perfect. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And everybody can have a long weekend without a commute. And obviously if you're responsible Monday and Friday on hedge, that's the perfect balance. I think for, let's see if we can beat this to death. What's the work one day a week? In a hedge. In a hedge. Okay, this we're really losing control of the show. It's Margry's full as always. Let's go to Connor and Framingham, your own Boston public radio. We're talking about Amazon ordering all of their workers to come back to work five days a week come January. Then Margry has always got off topic. Go ahead, Connor. Hello. Hello. Hello. Unhinged people on a hinged. Thank you in a hinge world. Yes. Yeah. I I've been working professionally for a decade now and I actually was able to work remotely as an intern. That's how hip I was 10 years ago. How come? What do you do? How did that happen? I'm in software. So that basically could be anywhere in the world in this job. But despite that, my company last year instituted a three-day RTO, much to this a grin of a lot of my peers. But despite what the texture of whoever had most recently said, I actually don't mind being in the office, but millennials just like anybody hates rules. So all I'll say on the topic really, my point was that we just we're happy to be there. We just don't want the man telling us what to do. I know it's not like such a hippie saying that. No, no, no. Can I tell you some, Connor, when we started having these conversations, which we have roughly quarterly since the beginning of the pandemic, I'm so glad you called because you reminded me. Do you want the most common complaint from people who didn't want to go back to the office was the contempt they had for their incompetent and in some cases abusive supervisors. And they said they didn't want to return to that anymore. And that was not one call or one text. So there was a lot of people. So it's not dissimilar from what you're saying. So you don't sound like a crazy hippie. You sound like a sane hippie. Connor, thank you very much for the call. Now, we have some, I am of the opinion. I believe Jared does his excellent show. You may be aware at airs after us every day, two to three. I believe he does it in person five days a week. You do, don't you? I do do it in person. I never thought to ask you why I know you got to be here Friday because you're at the library. Why do you never work from home on day to Thursday? Because I feel like there's a better collaboration when we're all in the office together. We also all happen to have a lot of fun together. Exactly. Which is a great incentive. Okay. But do you have a home studio? I do. It's funny that you should ask that because I was talking about this today. And Kate became with the winter approaching, but no, I don't have a home studio. There you go. Well, it's a little hard to work from home. It's a little hard to work at home. And let me tell you, the home studio is very impressive. When people come over to my house, they say, "What's that?" I said, "Oh, that's my home studio. I'm on the radio." Everyone is always very impressed with that. Now, one last question. I showed up my microphone. I showed them my GBA show, Comrex box. You're the logo, fine. Okay. So, Jared, before we get to whatever it is you're doing on your show there, when you were younger, let's say 10 years ago, on an average week, how much time do you spend on hedge? I was just asking, what is it? You're talking about hinge and hedge? No, she's talking about hedge, apparently. I was talking about hedge, but you mean hinge? I meant hinge, as I called it, hedge. And everyone has gotten quite a job. So, answer anything you want. You can hedge, hinge, whatever. I have spent no time on hinge and no time on hinge. Perfect. Okay, that's good answer. What are you doing on that show? What is hinge? Digging website. We're a lot of young men. Without shirts. Margry knows a lot about this, apparently. No, it doesn't matter. I mean, that's the only thing she knows about it. Young men without shirts. So, we established where hinge is. What's hinge? Do you remember when we slept on the Russian tall ship and all those young sailors without shirts? Do you remember that? This is real, by the way. I don't know why you're bringing this up, Jim. Okay, so what's called there? Jared, what are you doing today at two o'clock? That's a true story, by the way. We're starting with comedian Hannah Gatsby, whoa, is weighing in on the state of the world as we experience it right now. Yeah. Their new show is called Bluff is in, it's a tough world. And they were talking about Library Lion. I don't know if you're there at the BPL studio. If you've seen a lion roaming around. No, but there has been a puppet created by Jim Henson, his labs and for this new play. We'll talk about that. And then the secret Boston, an unusual guy, to all the things we pass every day in the city and have no idea about. Like, did you know you could take a tour of the sewage plant on Deer Island? No, I didn't. And I don't plan to go there, actually. So, it's the perfect. But thank you for sharing that with me. It's your first day. Jared, we'll be listening. It sounds like an excellent show. I don't have it wrong, Jared. I mentioned say hinge and I said hedge. Say goodbye to him. I've been ridiculed ever since. Goodbye, Jared. Nice to see you. Good luck with the show. What's up? Thank you all for listening to another edition of Boston Public Radio. Thanks to the folks that came down to the Boston Public Library. You can keep up with this 24/7 away of our podcast or check out our TikTok page at Boston Public Radio. Tomorrow, we're going to be back here at the Boston Public Library with TPH Executive Art Senator, Jared Bowen. You just heard us talking to him. Harvard Nash is a security expert. Juliet Khan, I can't wait to talk with her about the Secret Service. The ACLU of Massachusetts, Carol Rose, a Boston busing segment before Mayor Kim Jamie, the NAACP's Michael Curry, who are both bused themselves and have stories to tell. And Ted Lesmarki is the black attorney who was assaulted with an American flagpole during the busing crisis captured now in an iconic photograph by the great photographer, Pulitzer Prize winner Stanley Foreman. I want to thank our crew. So I'm Matthew's, even though they've made fun of me non-stop. Hey, the Conling, Nicole Garcia, Hannah Lawson, her engineer, John LeClaw Parker, our executive producer, Jane Bologna. Special thanks to the BPL staff, Maddie Geyer, Bill Francis, Juan Jose Cadenia, and Sandra Lopez-Berg. Stay tuned for The Culture Show with Jared Bowen, starting right at the 2 o'clock news. Thanks to the folks at Newspeak Cafe and the Lennox Hotel, I'm Marjorie Egan. We'll be doing a live stream on shrub.com/jim and margarine tonight at seven. See you tomorrow. [BLANK_AUDIO]