On Part 2 of today's podcast, Ramses and Q discuss elections in Florida and American Idol news
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Still broadcasting from the Civic Cipher studios. Welcome back to
the QR code, where we share perspectives, seek understanding and shape.
Outcomes the man on the other side of the microphone
over there, the man who is an excellent father, a
man who has always been very kind to me. He
goes by the name of q Ward and he's your host.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The man he just described, his name is ramses Jah
and he's the host.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I just work here.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
And stick around. We've got a lot more showing store
for you. We are going to be discussing the American
Idol winner who had to deny the acceptance of the
key to his city because of some Mississippi reasons. We're
also going to be talking about the cancel They're they're
(00:51):
canceling elections in Florida, and that feels a little weird
but also at the same time consistent with what we know.
But right now we are going to hear from the
illustrious Ora Tour, the one and only Q word talking
to me at least about the folks celebrating freedom the
(01:11):
loudest are also the folks denying freedom to others.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Q first thing, Rams is you have to stop lying
to these people.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
That's an insid joke. That's the first thing.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That's an inside joke.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Secondly, man, the hypocrisy of the term freedom in Mega America. Yeah,
and somehow the blending of freedom and lawlessness, right like,
being free should not mean being above the law. So
as the right you know, loudly celebrates they love to
(01:52):
talk about the idea of freedom. They wave the flag,
they wear the hats, they sing the nat anthem with
tears in their eyes. But somehow their version of freedom
always seems to mean freedom from consequence and accountability, freedom
from rules, freedom from the truth, because when it's time
(02:15):
for accountability, suddenly, oh my god, they're the ones being oppressed.
The weaponization of freedom has been a very interesting thing
to watch rams like let's discuss the idea of freedom.
The right uses it like a shield to dodge responsibility.
(02:36):
When they get indicted, they call it a witch hunt.
When they get subpoena, they scream tyranny. January sixth, If
they get fact checked, you're censoring me. Okay, they get
called out and held to account, Oh my god, counsel
culture by the woke left. They want you to agree
that accountability and persecution are the same that consequence says
(03:00):
are actually oppression and that the rule of law itself
is some deep state conspiracy. This is what we know
to be true. Freedom without accountability is not liberty, it's lawlessness.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's corruption.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It is no longer just a threat to democracy, it
is actively, in real time destroying it. Democracy only works
when the rules apply to everybody, not just poor people,
not just black people, not just the powerless, not just
protesters in the street, but the proud boys, the wealthy,
(03:42):
the connected, the politicians, and even the president. Because the
second that you carve out individual immunity for powerful people,
you no longer have freedom. You have a monarchy. You
have the rule of men, not laws. And you can't
wrap yourself into constitution while also wiping your feet with it.
(04:07):
You can't preach patriotism while refusing to answer for your actions.
So there's this strong man fantasy that we've discussed a
couple of times on the show already. And they idolize
these guys because they break the rules. You know, he
says what he thinks and he doesn't play by the rules,
(04:29):
and he's fighting the system for the people, which directly
translates to he's above the law, and he doesn't have
to answer to anybody, and they celebrate that. That's kind
of a part of his appeal. They love it because
deep down they think those rules only exist to hold
(04:49):
them back. That freedom gives them permission to dominate, to silence,
and to punish. So they don't want freedom for everyone.
They want license for themselves, license to abuse power, evade scrutiny,
(05:12):
and never be held accountable. And here's the part they
won't tell you, because it's not a part of their marketing.
When the power for are above the law, the rest
of us, yes, even you that voted for it, are
beneath it. You'll still get a speeding ticket, even with
your Maga hat on. You'll still pay those fines when
(05:34):
the rent is doing you don't have the money. You
will still get evicted. Even if you show them that
all three times you voted for Trump, that foreclosure, that arrest.
It'll hit you too, even if you had your Latinos
for Trump flag on your lawn. Because the law never disappears,
It just stops applying upward and only applies down. When
(05:58):
leaders evade justice, corruption grows, Cronyism is the new norm.
Your tax money gets stolen, your rights get trampled, and
your vote diluted. The same people screaming freedom will jail
you for protesting, will silence you for criticizing, and surveil
and detain you for resisting.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
A little bit of truth.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Real freedom requires accountability. Real patriotism demands facing hard truths.
Real democracy doesn't work when some people are untouchable. If
your idea of freedom is never having to answer for
anything that you do, that is not liberty people. That
(06:47):
is tyranny. Ramses and I have decided we don't want
any part of that, because loving this country does not
mean excusing it that it's worse. It means demanding that
it be better and that it be its best for everybody.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You know, sometimes when you talk, I'm like, did you
did you write that? Did you type that out? And
obviously I know how you produce the show, so I
know that you didn't. That is just well said, well stated,
(07:27):
And the truth of the matter is that you know,
I mentioned January sixth. I think that those are the
people that really like they're upright now because of all
the pardons, But they they are like kind of the
physical embodiment of the people that kind of espouse that framework,
(07:50):
and it's so hypocritical and it's and it's very nature
because on one side they'll cry oppression. On the other
side and they'll say, yeah, I deserve this or whatever.
So in any event, let's move down to Florida.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So canceling elections in Florida, now this sounds crazy. It
sounded crazy to me too. When I first saw this,
I was like, but there's no way. But then I
took a look again and I was like, okay, Florida.
Who's the they in Florida? Oh okay, So maybe there
is something here. So I uncovered it a little bit
(08:31):
more to see what was going on. So I'm going
to just get right into it and share it with you.
This from the Black Information Network. Miami officials are facing
a lawsuit after they voted to cancel the city's upcoming
November election, pushing it to next year. On Monday, June
and thirtieth, Miami mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez filed a lawsuit
arguing that the move to postpone the city's election to
November twenty twenty six gives incumbent Mayor Francis Suarez and
(08:55):
the city commissioners an additional year of power without the
consent of voters. Per the Miami Herald quote, the commissioners
unconstitutionally bypassed the democratic will of the people in a
way that the Florida Constitution, the Miami day Charter, and
the city's charter expressly prohibit, reminiscent of regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia,
or Cuba, the very places so many of Miami's people
(09:18):
come from those in power. While in power, forced upon
those voters what they think is best for elections going forward,
and secured for themselves additional time and power without a
vote of the electorate. That that cannot stand. Last week's
city commissioners voted three to two to move the city
from odd to even year elections, effectively canceling the scheduled
(09:39):
twenty twenty five vote. Proponents of the mood argued that
aligning the city's elections with federal ones will increase voter turnout.
City Attorney George Weisung defended the election change as appropriate
and legal. Critics of the move have accused city officials
of pursuing a self serving extension of their terms. Florida
Governor Ron de Santis and Attorney General James eth Meyer
(10:01):
both warned against changing the election date without asking voters first. So, yeah,
this idea that I am now a politician and as
(10:23):
a result, I know more and I know better than
the people who voted for me. Is I see that
kind of sentiment growing with elected officials. And this one
is just like the latest, I guess because when it
(10:45):
comes to like, certainly like the Maga folks, the passage
of the Big Beautiful Bill, you know, there were a
lot of folks that voted for it. Famously, Marjorie Taylor
Green looked as she was I might've been c Span
or something like that, or she was like, I wouldn't
have voted for this bill if I had known this
was in it right, meaning that she didn't get a
(11:06):
chance to read it. She just kind of felt like
she's an extension of Donald Trump's will and this is
what Trump wanted and so forth, and then ultimately found out, hey,
there's some stuff I actually do fundamentally disagree with in
this bill, and that's something that is commonplace. That's just
another example. But I think what I'm seeing is that
(11:30):
the nature of the job of elected official has changed
from let me represent the interest of the people. Let
me be an extension of the people's will. Let me
be a representative of the constitution of the United States,
or the constitution of the city or state or whatever
that I'm representing. Let me be a representative of the
(11:52):
laws of the land. Rather, now it's more, let take
place from Donald Trump's playbook. So when people said, you know,
he fundamentally changed politics in this country, I think they're
absolutely right. And you know, doing something like this city
(12:14):
commissioners voting to change the elections without consulting with the people.
I'm not sure what the terms are in the city,
but imagine I can imagine if I voted for a
two year term for a person and I was not
fully sure about that vote, but I'm like, all right,
we're going to give this guy a chance two years
and they did something I didn't like, I would definitely
(12:35):
be looking forward to voting them out. And these people
are denied that they have to wait another year under
whatever government is there, and they didn't vote for that.
And there's so many other ways you can do this.
You can say, hey, next year, we're going to elect
people for three year terms so that we ultimately can
(12:55):
switch to even years instead of odd years, and so
there's so many different ways to approach this, but there's
this kind of veneer of I guess, credibility to what
they're saying that they use to hide behind a power
what's effectively a power graph. And this is something that
we see quite a bit, you know, because we have
(13:17):
to consume right wing media as well, and the way
that things are packaged and presented to the right in
terms of media outlets Fox News in particular, is there's this, again,
this veneer of credibility that there's this almost like benefit
of the doubt for legislation, for politicians' actions for whatever.
(13:41):
And even if we know that it's nonsense, even if
we see the video, you know what I mean, they
provide that cover so that the people reading it or
the people consuming that media can say, Okay, well, at
least I have an excusable reason. No one else has
to buy it, but I at least can say, well, yeah,
they're trying to switch it to even years so they
(14:03):
get greater voter turnout, instead of looking at it for
what it is, like, hey, look, these people are holding
onto power longer than they than they were elected to
govern boor So those are my initial thoughts there.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
But you got to add you.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Will you provide a little bit of bail and cover
for Marjorie Taylor Green by saying she didn't have a
chance to read it. That's nonsense, Donald Trump. So yeah,
Donald Trump says, so, so this is what we're doing.
The idea that she didn't have a chance to read
it is ridiculous. Yeah, I think she said that didn't
because Trump endorsed it. So whatever Daddy says we're doing,
(14:45):
or she absolutely knew what was in it, got some
backlash from her constituents.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And trying the back Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I think it's important to call some things out right
because we keep hearing this both parties are the same argument.
I think it it's important to point out that for
a lot of politicians, the desires of their constituents and
the people that voted for them went out the window
as soon as they got elected.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
That has been normal for a long time.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
As long as there's been money in politics, and as
long as there's been lobbyists and people who can buy
their interest into our legislators, that's always been a problem.
So until and I'm saying until like this will ever happen.
It'll never happen. They're never going to take money out
of governing. It's why most people run. It's not so
they can serve their constituency so they can be rich
(15:31):
and powerful. That's the whole game for people on both
sides of the aisle. We've always known that. The difference
is one of those parties has said we're not going
to work full time for you. The other party has
says we are going to work full time against you,
(15:52):
while brainwashing their base into thinking everything they do wrong
is the other party's fault.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
And that is what we're witnessing.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
This power rout won't be met with a bunch of
disdain from the people that voted, because the type of
people that would say, you know what, we're not even
gonna do the election this year are Republicans for certain Yeah,
and their base has shown whatever they say the rules
are are the rules. They literally cannot disappoint the people
that vote for them, even when they act directly against
(16:25):
their best interest. We saw them gut services that would
help predict, navigate, and respond to storms. Because they did that,
people died, and their constituents blamed it on secret weather
powers of the left literally so they can. There's a
(16:52):
gentleman Trump supporter, Trump voter flag still waving in his
yard who his wife was arrested and detained and I
think deported by ice, if not deported, absolutely arrested and detained.
You think this man took his MAGA flag down and
spoke out against his Lord and savior Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
No, he did not.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
He extended that benefit of the doubt that you talk
about and said that his president was trying to do
the right thing. There is nothing that they can do
to lose their base. And this is another use case,
another test. Hey, let's get rid of elections in Miami
to see what happened real quick.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Sure, we did that and it worked. Oh, run it.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's what we're on now. Now let's get rid of
the other ones. Beautiful you guys, you wouldn't need to
vote anymore. He told you. He is now out loud
multiple times that they rigged the election. Nothing's happening. This
is the worst nightmare that we've never been able to
wake up from.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And funnily enough, in the big Beautiful Bill, I think
that they extended his capacity to postpone elections.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
So of course they did.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, all right. Well for our final segment, little entertainment
news here. American Idol winner denies receiving key to the
city as from the Atlanta Black Star. What should have
been a moment of joy for American Idol winner Jamal
Roberts instead became a painful lesson in how celebration can
quickly turn into hostility when racial bias and resentment near
(18:26):
rear their heads. In the Deep South, fresh off his
history make In Season twenty three victory, where he pulled
in twenty six million votes, more than any other finalists
in the show's long run, the Mississippi native found himself
under fire not for something he did wrong, according to
The Clarion Ledger, but for simply being honored by the
town of Laurel in his home state. The recognition a
(18:46):
ceremonial key to the city. For many, such a gesture
would be seen as a high honor, but for Roberts
it became a source of stress, disappointment, and fear. He
declined the offer after receiving threats that made it clear,
even when you make your people proud, not everyone is
happy to see you shine. Roberts's win was more than
just a TV moment, the former pe teacher brought his
full self to the idle stage. He consistently gave credit
(19:09):
to Mississippi for shaping him and never shied away from
representing where he came from. But when news broke that
he would be presented with a key to the city
during the upcoming nor and Blanc concert in August, things
took a bleak turn. The announcement, made by event organizer
Drake Page on social media sparked immediate backlash from some
Laurel residents. Critics claimed that Roberts didn't deserve the honor,
(19:30):
arguing that others who had contributed more to the community
should have been considered instead. The criticisms, however, didn't stay respectful.
What started as online grumbling quickly escalated to threats, some
so serious that Roberts had to publicly address the issue.
Quote you have people sharing the post making threats, talking
about they have guns at the event. Unquote this, according
(19:51):
to Roberts. On a Facebook live he continued, quote I
worked with kids before American Idol, and it's crazy that
kids can compro and how to behave more than grown folk.
It's a sad world we live in unquote, the threats
were real enough to make Roberts reconsider attending the ceremony altogether,
and ultimately he declined the key. He made it clear
he never asked for the gesture in the first place.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I did not ask for a key to the city.
He told his followers, y'all should get it and give
it to them somebody that's deserving. I guess, you know,
been working in the community for years, but I don't
want it unquote, he said, so. Yeah, you know, as
a person that has been through Mississippi, I'm connecting some dots,
(20:38):
most most notably of folks saying that they're going to
have guns at the event. That's pretty telling. Obviously Roberts
is black, Jamal Roberts, and you know, people feeling like
somebody else is more deserving or whatever reason they don't
(21:02):
want to see him get the key, like the key
actually does open the door, or that they run out
of keys or at some point or something like that.
It just feels kind of like silly. It's like baseless.
Why people would be upset about this other than we
just don't want to see him get that shine because
(21:25):
he's black. Now, normally we wouldn't talk about stuff that directly,
but this one, it kind of just feels like it.
And I think that for me, at least, I need
to start saying things a little bit more plainly, because
you do a good job of that, Q. You do
say things very plainly. And one of the fears that
(21:46):
I have, it's not really a fear, one of concerns
I should say. What I have is that if I say, oh,
such and such is because I'm black, I feel like
people have heard that so much that it might not
really feel real to them, or they they've kind of
created enough distance emotional distance from that sort of approach
(22:10):
to where it doesn't really land. Hence the very fact based,
very very well documented approach that I have to journalism
as a whole. Right, I try to lead people up
to the line that they call it racism, you know,
you know, and obviously you can't do that without saying racism.
So of course I use that word, but you get
(22:30):
what I'm trying to say, because if I say it's racism,
people are like, Okay, you're black, you got to affro
of course you're gonna say that. But the truth is, man,
I try try try not to see racism. I try
not to because I know that that won't be an excuse,
especially if I lay it at the foot of just
(22:51):
you know, officer White.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
But again, having spent some time in Mississippi having and experience,
I only have one memory from Mississippi. It was with you,
and it was one of the most traumatic experiences of
my life. I know that Mississippi is a place where
prejudice is strong, racism is strong, and that's the only
memory that I have. And indeed, the type of prejudice,
(23:20):
the type of racism that I'm referring to, is very
decidedly anti black, so much so that even black people
have the capacity to be anti black, as was the
experience that I endured. Now, I don't want to talk
this one all the way up, but this one feels
kind of sad to me because you know, two things
(23:43):
can be true. The people that are honoring that are
helping you know, children in the community or whatever, and
people that are winning American idol. You know that both
of those things can be true. You can have two
people honored in the same ceremony, right, But to say
I'm going to bring a gun to this ceremony, the
threat being that I'm going to end your life if
(24:04):
you actually do receive this key feels like it comes
from really only one facet of this country that is
a decidedly racist facet of this country. Because there's no
other excuse, no other explanation for it. I wouldn't even
say in my view, there just isn't there's no reason
to threaten somebody's life for being honored for this. And
(24:26):
the worst part about this is that now we live
in a society like politics, like the framework, the legislative
framework of this country turns a blind eye to this
sort of thing. It says this isn't happening, which means
that everybody who I would be concerned about not being
(24:47):
able to lay this at their feet, also have more
grounds to turn a blind turn a blind eye to this.
And the sad reality is that people like me with
our big afros can't because it actually still very much
shapes our lives. So my thoughts yours.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Cue, I wish the most obvious answer wasn't always the.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Answer, right, That's what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I wish, and I wish we didn't get made to
be the bad guy for calling out the very obvious answer.
You know, the most frustrating and sad part about that
Mississippi memory as that it was completely expected. Yeah, I
recall not wanting to stop in Mississippi at all when
(25:30):
you wanted to stop and take a photograph, because my
fear was exactly something like that happening to us. So again,
just proven right as immediately as we could be that
this was not somewhere we wanted to be, especially at
the time that we were. There instances like this where
(25:51):
it's just so flagrantly racism happened daily, multiple times a day,
for so many people all over this country, and because
we get accused of seeing racism where it doesn't exist,
we're shy to say.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
It when it's obvious.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
As you've probably noticed if you're listening to this show
for more than the first time, I am not shy
about calling it exactly what it is, because in most
cases it's very obviously what it is. It's the only
thing logically that could apply. This guy from your city.
Those are one of the most popular televisions in television
shows in the history of television, and wins a contest
(26:33):
that people that look like us are very unlikely to win.
People from Mississippi, least likely to win, and instead of
that entire community being proud of this young man, they
see the black guy, and for some of them, it's
against their very upbringing, their very culture. They're very genetics
(26:53):
to celebrate someone black having some success. So I don't
care that you're from here. I don't care that you
amplify our community, that you make our whole town look better.
I don't care that you shine a positive light on
everything that we do here. You're black, so you don't
get to come here and be celebrated. You don't get
to come here and celebrate and have an honor in
your name, not with that skin, not with that hair,
(27:18):
not with our heritage, because we will still fight to
fly the Confederate flag here before we will celebrate you
having some type of victory and representation of this town.
As a matter of fact, if you show up, we'll
be there with guns. This is America, folks, and somehow
(27:40):
we're one hundred years ago. It is a really really
crazy place to be, man.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I know, I know, man, But you.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Know our job is to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Again, I couldn't ask for a better teammate, you know,
I think that for a lot of folks, we provide
some insight into how things look from a different perspective.
You and I we get to see the world from
a let's call it a white perspective, you know, but
not very many people get to see the world through
someone else's perspective. And so, you know, for better or worse,
we do provide that, and in our own small way,
(28:24):
I hope that we're helping. So yeah, let's keep going.
All right, that's going to do it for us here
at QR Code. Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson.
If you have some thought you'd like to share, please
use the red microphone talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app.
While you there, be sure to hit subscribe and download
all of our episodes. Also, be sure to check us
out on all social media at Civic Cipher civ I
CEE C I p h E R. I am your host,
(28:46):
Ramsey's Job on all social media.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I am Qward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
And join us next time as we share our news
with our voice from our perspective right here on the
QR Code
Still broadcasting from the Civic Cipher studios. Welcome back to
the QR code, where we share perspectives, seek understanding and shape.
Outcomes the man on the other side of the microphone
over there, the man who is an excellent father, a
man who has always been very kind to me. He
goes by the name of q Ward and he's your host.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The man he just described, his name is ramses Jah
and he's the host.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I just work here.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
And stick around. We've got a lot more showing store
for you. We are going to be discussing the American
Idol winner who had to deny the acceptance of the
key to his city because of some Mississippi reasons. We're
also going to be talking about the cancel They're they're
(00:51):
canceling elections in Florida, and that feels a little weird
but also at the same time consistent with what we know.
But right now we are going to hear from the
illustrious Ora Tour, the one and only Q word talking
to me at least about the folks celebrating freedom the
(01:11):
loudest are also the folks denying freedom to others.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Q first thing, Rams is you have to stop lying
to these people.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
That's an insid joke. That's the first thing.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That's an inside joke.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Secondly, man, the hypocrisy of the term freedom in Mega America. Yeah,
and somehow the blending of freedom and lawlessness, right like,
being free should not mean being above the law. So
as the right you know, loudly celebrates they love to
(01:52):
talk about the idea of freedom. They wave the flag,
they wear the hats, they sing the nat anthem with
tears in their eyes. But somehow their version of freedom
always seems to mean freedom from consequence and accountability, freedom
from rules, freedom from the truth, because when it's time
(02:15):
for accountability, suddenly, oh my god, they're the ones being oppressed.
The weaponization of freedom has been a very interesting thing
to watch rams like let's discuss the idea of freedom.
The right uses it like a shield to dodge responsibility.
(02:36):
When they get indicted, they call it a witch hunt.
When they get subpoena, they scream tyranny. January sixth, If
they get fact checked, you're censoring me. Okay, they get
called out and held to account, Oh my god, counsel
culture by the woke left. They want you to agree
that accountability and persecution are the same that consequence says
(03:00):
are actually oppression and that the rule of law itself
is some deep state conspiracy. This is what we know
to be true. Freedom without accountability is not liberty, it's lawlessness.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's corruption.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It is no longer just a threat to democracy, it
is actively, in real time destroying it. Democracy only works
when the rules apply to everybody, not just poor people,
not just black people, not just the powerless, not just
protesters in the street, but the proud boys, the wealthy,
(03:42):
the connected, the politicians, and even the president. Because the
second that you carve out individual immunity for powerful people,
you no longer have freedom. You have a monarchy. You
have the rule of men, not laws. And you can't
wrap yourself into constitution while also wiping your feet with it.
(04:07):
You can't preach patriotism while refusing to answer for your actions.
So there's this strong man fantasy that we've discussed a
couple of times on the show already. And they idolize
these guys because they break the rules. You know, he
says what he thinks and he doesn't play by the rules,
(04:29):
and he's fighting the system for the people, which directly
translates to he's above the law, and he doesn't have
to answer to anybody, and they celebrate that. That's kind
of a part of his appeal. They love it because
deep down they think those rules only exist to hold
(04:49):
them back. That freedom gives them permission to dominate, to silence,
and to punish. So they don't want freedom for everyone.
They want license for themselves, license to abuse power, evade scrutiny,
(05:12):
and never be held accountable. And here's the part they
won't tell you, because it's not a part of their marketing.
When the power for are above the law, the rest
of us, yes, even you that voted for it, are
beneath it. You'll still get a speeding ticket, even with
your Maga hat on. You'll still pay those fines when
(05:34):
the rent is doing you don't have the money. You
will still get evicted. Even if you show them that
all three times you voted for Trump, that foreclosure, that arrest.
It'll hit you too, even if you had your Latinos
for Trump flag on your lawn. Because the law never disappears,
It just stops applying upward and only applies down. When
(05:58):
leaders evade justice, corruption grows, Cronyism is the new norm.
Your tax money gets stolen, your rights get trampled, and
your vote diluted. The same people screaming freedom will jail
you for protesting, will silence you for criticizing, and surveil
and detain you for resisting.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
A little bit of truth.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Real freedom requires accountability. Real patriotism demands facing hard truths.
Real democracy doesn't work when some people are untouchable. If
your idea of freedom is never having to answer for
anything that you do, that is not liberty people. That
(06:47):
is tyranny. Ramses and I have decided we don't want
any part of that, because loving this country does not
mean excusing it that it's worse. It means demanding that
it be better and that it be its best for everybody.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You know, sometimes when you talk, I'm like, did you
did you write that? Did you type that out? And
obviously I know how you produce the show, so I
know that you didn't. That is just well said, well stated,
(07:27):
And the truth of the matter is that you know,
I mentioned January sixth. I think that those are the
people that really like they're upright now because of all
the pardons, But they they are like kind of the
physical embodiment of the people that kind of espouse that framework,
(07:50):
and it's so hypocritical and it's and it's very nature
because on one side they'll cry oppression. On the other
side and they'll say, yeah, I deserve this or whatever.
So in any event, let's move down to Florida.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So canceling elections in Florida, now this sounds crazy. It
sounded crazy to me too. When I first saw this,
I was like, but there's no way. But then I
took a look again and I was like, okay, Florida.
Who's the they in Florida? Oh okay, So maybe there
is something here. So I uncovered it a little bit
(08:31):
more to see what was going on. So I'm going
to just get right into it and share it with you.
This from the Black Information Network. Miami officials are facing
a lawsuit after they voted to cancel the city's upcoming
November election, pushing it to next year. On Monday, June
and thirtieth, Miami mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez filed a lawsuit
arguing that the move to postpone the city's election to
November twenty twenty six gives incumbent Mayor Francis Suarez and
(08:55):
the city commissioners an additional year of power without the
consent of voters. Per the Miami Herald quote, the commissioners
unconstitutionally bypassed the democratic will of the people in a
way that the Florida Constitution, the Miami day Charter, and
the city's charter expressly prohibit, reminiscent of regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia,
or Cuba, the very places so many of Miami's people
(09:18):
come from those in power. While in power, forced upon
those voters what they think is best for elections going forward,
and secured for themselves additional time and power without a
vote of the electorate. That that cannot stand. Last week's
city commissioners voted three to two to move the city
from odd to even year elections, effectively canceling the scheduled
(09:39):
twenty twenty five vote. Proponents of the mood argued that
aligning the city's elections with federal ones will increase voter turnout.
City Attorney George Weisung defended the election change as appropriate
and legal. Critics of the move have accused city officials
of pursuing a self serving extension of their terms. Florida
Governor Ron de Santis and Attorney General James eth Meyer
(10:01):
both warned against changing the election date without asking voters first. So, yeah,
this idea that I am now a politician and as
(10:23):
a result, I know more and I know better than
the people who voted for me. Is I see that
kind of sentiment growing with elected officials. And this one
is just like the latest, I guess because when it
(10:45):
comes to like, certainly like the Maga folks, the passage
of the Big Beautiful Bill, you know, there were a
lot of folks that voted for it. Famously, Marjorie Taylor
Green looked as she was I might've been c Span
or something like that, or she was like, I wouldn't
have voted for this bill if I had known this
was in it right, meaning that she didn't get a
(11:06):
chance to read it. She just kind of felt like
she's an extension of Donald Trump's will and this is
what Trump wanted and so forth, and then ultimately found out, hey,
there's some stuff I actually do fundamentally disagree with in
this bill, and that's something that is commonplace. That's just
another example. But I think what I'm seeing is that
(11:30):
the nature of the job of elected official has changed
from let me represent the interest of the people. Let
me be an extension of the people's will. Let me
be a representative of the constitution of the United States,
or the constitution of the city or state or whatever
that I'm representing. Let me be a representative of the
(11:52):
laws of the land. Rather, now it's more, let take
place from Donald Trump's playbook. So when people said, you know,
he fundamentally changed politics in this country, I think they're
absolutely right. And you know, doing something like this city
(12:14):
commissioners voting to change the elections without consulting with the people.
I'm not sure what the terms are in the city,
but imagine I can imagine if I voted for a
two year term for a person and I was not
fully sure about that vote, but I'm like, all right,
we're going to give this guy a chance two years
and they did something I didn't like, I would definitely
(12:35):
be looking forward to voting them out. And these people
are denied that they have to wait another year under
whatever government is there, and they didn't vote for that.
And there's so many other ways you can do this.
You can say, hey, next year, we're going to elect
people for three year terms so that we ultimately can
(12:55):
switch to even years instead of odd years, and so
there's so many different ways to approach this, but there's
this kind of veneer of I guess, credibility to what
they're saying that they use to hide behind a power
what's effectively a power graph. And this is something that
we see quite a bit, you know, because we have
(13:17):
to consume right wing media as well, and the way
that things are packaged and presented to the right in
terms of media outlets Fox News in particular, is there's this, again,
this veneer of credibility that there's this almost like benefit
of the doubt for legislation, for politicians' actions for whatever.
(13:41):
And even if we know that it's nonsense, even if
we see the video, you know what I mean, they
provide that cover so that the people reading it or
the people consuming that media can say, Okay, well, at
least I have an excusable reason. No one else has
to buy it, but I at least can say, well, yeah,
they're trying to switch it to even years so they
(14:03):
get greater voter turnout, instead of looking at it for
what it is, like, hey, look, these people are holding
onto power longer than they than they were elected to
govern boor So those are my initial thoughts there.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
But you got to add you.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Will you provide a little bit of bail and cover
for Marjorie Taylor Green by saying she didn't have a
chance to read it. That's nonsense, Donald Trump. So yeah,
Donald Trump says, so, so this is what we're doing.
The idea that she didn't have a chance to read
it is ridiculous. Yeah, I think she said that didn't
because Trump endorsed it. So whatever Daddy says we're doing,
(14:45):
or she absolutely knew what was in it, got some
backlash from her constituents.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And trying the back Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I think it's important to call some things out right
because we keep hearing this both parties are the same argument.
I think it it's important to point out that for
a lot of politicians, the desires of their constituents and
the people that voted for them went out the window
as soon as they got elected.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
That has been normal for a long time.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
As long as there's been money in politics, and as
long as there's been lobbyists and people who can buy
their interest into our legislators, that's always been a problem.
So until and I'm saying until like this will ever happen.
It'll never happen. They're never going to take money out
of governing. It's why most people run. It's not so
they can serve their constituency so they can be rich
(15:31):
and powerful. That's the whole game for people on both
sides of the aisle. We've always known that. The difference
is one of those parties has said we're not going
to work full time for you. The other party has
says we are going to work full time against you,
(15:52):
while brainwashing their base into thinking everything they do wrong
is the other party's fault.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
And that is what we're witnessing.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
This power rout won't be met with a bunch of
disdain from the people that voted, because the type of
people that would say, you know what, we're not even
gonna do the election this year are Republicans for certain Yeah,
and their base has shown whatever they say the rules
are are the rules. They literally cannot disappoint the people
that vote for them, even when they act directly against
(16:25):
their best interest. We saw them gut services that would
help predict, navigate, and respond to storms. Because they did that,
people died, and their constituents blamed it on secret weather
powers of the left literally so they can. There's a
(16:52):
gentleman Trump supporter, Trump voter flag still waving in his
yard who his wife was arrested and detained and I
think deported by ice, if not deported, absolutely arrested and detained.
You think this man took his MAGA flag down and
spoke out against his Lord and savior Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
No, he did not.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
He extended that benefit of the doubt that you talk
about and said that his president was trying to do
the right thing. There is nothing that they can do
to lose their base. And this is another use case,
another test. Hey, let's get rid of elections in Miami
to see what happened real quick.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Sure, we did that and it worked. Oh, run it.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's what we're on now. Now let's get rid of
the other ones. Beautiful you guys, you wouldn't need to
vote anymore. He told you. He is now out loud
multiple times that they rigged the election. Nothing's happening. This
is the worst nightmare that we've never been able to
wake up from.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And funnily enough, in the big Beautiful Bill, I think
that they extended his capacity to postpone elections.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
So of course they did.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, all right. Well for our final segment, little entertainment
news here. American Idol winner denies receiving key to the
city as from the Atlanta Black Star. What should have
been a moment of joy for American Idol winner Jamal
Roberts instead became a painful lesson in how celebration can
quickly turn into hostility when racial bias and resentment near
(18:26):
rear their heads. In the Deep South, fresh off his
history make In Season twenty three victory, where he pulled
in twenty six million votes, more than any other finalists
in the show's long run, the Mississippi native found himself
under fire not for something he did wrong, according to
The Clarion Ledger, but for simply being honored by the
town of Laurel in his home state. The recognition a
(18:46):
ceremonial key to the city. For many, such a gesture
would be seen as a high honor, but for Roberts
it became a source of stress, disappointment, and fear. He
declined the offer after receiving threats that made it clear,
even when you make your people proud, not everyone is
happy to see you shine. Roberts's win was more than
just a TV moment, the former pe teacher brought his
full self to the idle stage. He consistently gave credit
(19:09):
to Mississippi for shaping him and never shied away from
representing where he came from. But when news broke that
he would be presented with a key to the city
during the upcoming nor and Blanc concert in August, things
took a bleak turn. The announcement, made by event organizer
Drake Page on social media sparked immediate backlash from some
Laurel residents. Critics claimed that Roberts didn't deserve the honor,
(19:30):
arguing that others who had contributed more to the community
should have been considered instead. The criticisms, however, didn't stay respectful.
What started as online grumbling quickly escalated to threats, some
so serious that Roberts had to publicly address the issue.
Quote you have people sharing the post making threats, talking
about they have guns at the event. Unquote this, according
(19:51):
to Roberts. On a Facebook live he continued, quote I
worked with kids before American Idol, and it's crazy that
kids can compro and how to behave more than grown folk.
It's a sad world we live in unquote, the threats
were real enough to make Roberts reconsider attending the ceremony altogether,
and ultimately he declined the key. He made it clear
he never asked for the gesture in the first place.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I did not ask for a key to the city.
He told his followers, y'all should get it and give
it to them somebody that's deserving. I guess, you know,
been working in the community for years, but I don't
want it unquote, he said, so. Yeah, you know, as
a person that has been through Mississippi, I'm connecting some dots,
(20:38):
most most notably of folks saying that they're going to
have guns at the event. That's pretty telling. Obviously Roberts
is black, Jamal Roberts, and you know, people feeling like
somebody else is more deserving or whatever reason they don't
(21:02):
want to see him get the key, like the key
actually does open the door, or that they run out
of keys or at some point or something like that.
It just feels kind of like silly. It's like baseless.
Why people would be upset about this other than we
just don't want to see him get that shine because
(21:25):
he's black. Now, normally we wouldn't talk about stuff that directly,
but this one, it kind of just feels like it.
And I think that for me, at least, I need
to start saying things a little bit more plainly, because
you do a good job of that, Q. You do
say things very plainly. And one of the fears that
(21:46):
I have, it's not really a fear, one of concerns
I should say. What I have is that if I say, oh,
such and such is because I'm black, I feel like
people have heard that so much that it might not
really feel real to them, or they they've kind of
created enough distance emotional distance from that sort of approach
(22:10):
to where it doesn't really land. Hence the very fact based,
very very well documented approach that I have to journalism
as a whole. Right, I try to lead people up
to the line that they call it racism, you know,
you know, and obviously you can't do that without saying racism.
So of course I use that word, but you get
(22:30):
what I'm trying to say, because if I say it's racism,
people are like, Okay, you're black, you got to affro
of course you're gonna say that. But the truth is, man,
I try try try not to see racism. I try
not to because I know that that won't be an excuse,
especially if I lay it at the foot of just
(22:51):
you know, officer White.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
But again, having spent some time in Mississippi having and experience,
I only have one memory from Mississippi. It was with you,
and it was one of the most traumatic experiences of
my life. I know that Mississippi is a place where
prejudice is strong, racism is strong, and that's the only
memory that I have. And indeed, the type of prejudice,
(23:20):
the type of racism that I'm referring to, is very
decidedly anti black, so much so that even black people
have the capacity to be anti black, as was the
experience that I endured. Now, I don't want to talk
this one all the way up, but this one feels
kind of sad to me because you know, two things
(23:43):
can be true. The people that are honoring that are
helping you know, children in the community or whatever, and
people that are winning American idol. You know that both
of those things can be true. You can have two
people honored in the same ceremony, right, But to say
I'm going to bring a gun to this ceremony, the
threat being that I'm going to end your life if
(24:04):
you actually do receive this key feels like it comes
from really only one facet of this country that is
a decidedly racist facet of this country. Because there's no
other excuse, no other explanation for it. I wouldn't even
say in my view, there just isn't there's no reason
to threaten somebody's life for being honored for this. And
(24:26):
the worst part about this is that now we live
in a society like politics, like the framework, the legislative
framework of this country turns a blind eye to this
sort of thing. It says this isn't happening, which means
that everybody who I would be concerned about not being
(24:47):
able to lay this at their feet, also have more
grounds to turn a blind turn a blind eye to this.
And the sad reality is that people like me with
our big afros can't because it actually still very much
shapes our lives. So my thoughts yours.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Cue, I wish the most obvious answer wasn't always the.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Answer, right, That's what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I wish, and I wish we didn't get made to
be the bad guy for calling out the very obvious answer.
You know, the most frustrating and sad part about that
Mississippi memory as that it was completely expected. Yeah, I
recall not wanting to stop in Mississippi at all when
(25:30):
you wanted to stop and take a photograph, because my
fear was exactly something like that happening to us. So again,
just proven right as immediately as we could be that
this was not somewhere we wanted to be, especially at
the time that we were. There instances like this where
(25:51):
it's just so flagrantly racism happened daily, multiple times a day,
for so many people all over this country, and because
we get accused of seeing racism where it doesn't exist,
we're shy to say.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
It when it's obvious.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
As you've probably noticed if you're listening to this show
for more than the first time, I am not shy
about calling it exactly what it is, because in most
cases it's very obviously what it is. It's the only
thing logically that could apply. This guy from your city.
Those are one of the most popular televisions in television
shows in the history of television, and wins a contest
(26:33):
that people that look like us are very unlikely to win.
People from Mississippi, least likely to win, and instead of
that entire community being proud of this young man, they
see the black guy, and for some of them, it's
against their very upbringing, their very culture. They're very genetics
(26:53):
to celebrate someone black having some success. So I don't
care that you're from here. I don't care that you
amplify our community, that you make our whole town look better.
I don't care that you shine a positive light on
everything that we do here. You're black, so you don't
get to come here and be celebrated. You don't get
to come here and celebrate and have an honor in
your name, not with that skin, not with that hair,
(27:18):
not with our heritage, because we will still fight to
fly the Confederate flag here before we will celebrate you
having some type of victory and representation of this town.
As a matter of fact, if you show up, we'll
be there with guns. This is America, folks, and somehow
(27:40):
we're one hundred years ago. It is a really really
crazy place to be, man.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I know, I know, man, But you.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Know our job is to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Again, I couldn't ask for a better teammate, you know,
I think that for a lot of folks, we provide
some insight into how things look from a different perspective.
You and I we get to see the world from
a let's call it a white perspective, you know, but
not very many people get to see the world through
someone else's perspective. And so, you know, for better or worse,
we do provide that, and in our own small way,
(28:24):
I hope that we're helping. So yeah, let's keep going.
All right, that's going to do it for us here
at QR Code. Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson.
If you have some thought you'd like to share, please
use the red microphone talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app.
While you there, be sure to hit subscribe and download
all of our episodes. Also, be sure to check us
out on all social media at Civic Cipher civ I
CEE C I p h E R. I am your host,
(28:46):
Ramsey's Job on all social media.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I am Qward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
And join us next time as we share our news
with our voice from our perspective right here on the
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