December 22, 2025 • 29 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is a man
making glasses and a beanie into a fashion trend. He
is the Q in the QR code. He goes by
the name of q War.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You know, you guys listen to Ramses make statements like
that every day. And I have to break off from
introducing him because he can't help himself. But now he's
smiling at me, so he get a free pass. He
is the R in a QR code. He goes by
the name Ramses.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Joh Indeed, and we need you to stick around a
little later on the show. We are going to be
talking about for our entertainment segment, the Anthony Joshua versus
Jake Fall Jake Paul fight and why I think that
a lot of people were tuned into that. There's some
political overtones or maybe undertones, maybe some racial ones as well,
(00:58):
And so we're going to get into the weeds. We're
going to have some dialogue. You know, you and I
we are in the habit of asking each other a question. Well,
I've heard that men are hard to shop for. Indeed,
I confirm that by googling it. But we're going to
ask each other what was your favorite gift and hopefully
that will inspire some thoughts if you're doing any last
minute shopping. Q Ward's going to clap back about how
(01:20):
they borrow from our struggle only to betray us in
the end. For Better, Do Better, We're going to talk
about Donald Trump hanging White House plaques, mocking quote Hussein
Obama and sleepy Joe. That was a story that we
couldn't touch last week because we were pitching, but glad
we're able to cover it now. We're going to share
our opinions about how Trump is moving to dismantle the
(01:43):
Climate Agency and killing the Senate funding deal in the meantime,
and we're going to talk about what's going on in
the culture. Recently, Nicki Minaj and Erica Kirk had a
conversation at a Turning Point USA event and we're going
to share our thoughts there. As always, we like to
start off with a feel good feature, and today's feel
good future, we're going to share some thoughts on how
(02:07):
you can get festive. Now. We know that there's a
lot of different folks that listen to this show, and
we appreciate that you and I are black men. You
may know that already, and we like to use this
as a window into our culture. For folks that don't
know this has made specifically for you, but for folks
who already know enough about our culture, are from our culture,
(02:31):
you know, we want to use this as a moment
to remind you of some classics. So we're gonna suggest
some recommendations that we put together of Christmas shows Christmas
movies rather that have like black you know, protagonists or
like they're kind of you know, around, We're gonna give
you some family footage of what it's like to celebrate
(02:51):
with us. You know, I saw a film, it was
a Korean film recently, and I loved it and I
got a chance to see what life is like, you know.
For Reinfocus it was a film about a flood or
something like that. But I just thought that was special.
So in that spirit, I hope to share this with
you today. So this is what we put together. Some
of these descriptions come from Black America web dot Com. Okay,
first up is the Preacher's wife, Whitney or Denzel alone
(03:13):
could have made this movie a blockbuster hit based on
their individual star power. However, as a duo, they delivered
an on screen chemistry that made The Preacher's Wife an
instant Christmas classic, not to mention a heavenly soundtrack to
boot that only the voice could ever deliver. And so
you know, a classic Christmas film that happened to star
(03:34):
some black folks. And again you'll get to peek behind
the curtain. We're also going to recommend Friday after Next.
This is a little hood but it is indeed a
Christmas film, and it's really funny, and it's also of
course entertaining, and the introduction to Cat Williams. But you know,
Mike Ebbs ice Cube, you know, some favorites in that film.
(03:54):
And then finally Trading Places, which is a snobbish Wall
Street commodities broker and a wily Street hustler find their
positions was reversed as part of a bet by two
callous millionaire brothers who run a brokerage house, starring Eddie
Murphy and Dan Ackroyd. So we hope you have fun
and you pick one or all three of those to
maybe grow in terms of your cultural you know, competencies,
(04:18):
and if you already are culturally competent, you know, it's
fun for the whole family. So all right, so let's
talk about what's going on in the culture. Okay, So
let me paint this picture for folks that don't follow
Turning Point USA very closely. Obviously they're bigger now than
(04:38):
they ever were because they're the CEO. Charlie Kirk was assassinated,
you know, and so Charlie Kirk's wife, Erica Kirk, is
now kind of running things there. And of course she
and Nicki Minaj had this conversation on stage. So this
from TMZ. Nicki Minaj probably wanted a mulligan on her
(04:58):
comments about Jadie Banster a Turning Point USA event, calling
the VP and assassin during a chat with Erica Kirk.
The rapper appeared on stage at tpusa's America First Sunday
Sorry America Fests Sunday, sitting down to heat praise on
the current administration while Charlie Kirk's widow asked her questions
about her foray into politics. At first, Nicki's getting the
(05:19):
crowd energized, telling young men not to be new scum.
A dig at California Governor Gavin Newsom. Instead, she encourages
him to be like the handsome and dashing President Donald Trump.
Nicki Minaj then says, quote, and you have an amazing
role models like the assassin JD Vans unquote. Minaj then
trails off while murmur murmurs course through the crowd, and
(05:43):
the rapper puts her head in her hands, clearly realizing
what she just said. As you know, Charlie Kirk was
murdered in September while speaking on a college campus in
an alleged political assassination, and Erica has been publicly navigating
the difficult past few months. So while Nicki clearly didn't
mean to offend her, her comments were an obvious Faupaul,
Minaj and Kirk also talked about ignoring the haters, bonding
(06:06):
over their indifference to angry social media moms. Nicki's fans
love her for speaking her mind, though she may want
to read the room before her next big event. Okay,
the reason that we kind of felt like this story
was a story worth sharing is not because you know,
Nicki Minaj said something and had a gotcha moment on stage,
(06:29):
or you know she clearly made a mistake Nicki Minaj
doesn't think that jd Vance is an assassin. We understand
that this happens to people regardless of their political affiliation.
This is a human condition. Sometimes people misspeak. But I
think that something that really stood out to me in
Q and I'll let you go first here so you
(06:49):
can kind of fill this in, is that Nicki Minaj
was on this stage in the first place. And for
a lot of people who look at this administration and
see that it has been decidedly anti black in many
(07:10):
facets and in much of the administration's undertakings, to see
Nicki Minaj on stage at a Turning Point USA event
with Erica Kirk espousing the current president and the current
administration feels a little strange. How could a black woman
who is so popular and so well regarded end up
(07:32):
in a predicament like this where she's doing these things
and it happens. It has happened throughout history, and it
is happening now with Nicki Minaj, and for those of
us that historically have been bands of her music, it's
very sad, But we're going to talk about how these
things sort of happen and let you know that it's
(07:55):
Okay to look at this and feel like this feels
a little crazy. So again, Q, let you go first,
and then if there's any time left, I follow up.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It's an interesting thing to witness. And you know, Trump's
first go at it, This would have made all the
sense in the world, Trump's first go at it. I
could see how all the people that supported him supported him.
You and I saw through the facade. You and I
(08:25):
kind of knew what we were getting right from the
very beginning. But imagine being a poor white person and
then hearing someone like Ramses or Q say white privilege
and looking around being very confused, like, what does that mean.
I grew up in a trailer park, my parents are poor.
(08:48):
I've never had any advantage in my life. So then
us saying white privilege sounds ridiculous. It could be enraging
for a person who never feels like they had a
foot up or step ahead, who never had any success.
Right that the people who we point out vote and
organize and rally and chant against their own best interest,
(09:11):
in their own well being and their own personal welfare
because the system did this to me, The status quo
did this to me. Right, so the poor white people
the women, the black people, the celebrities, the conspiracy theorists,
(09:34):
the contrarians, all the people who felt like, yeah, doing
things how they've always been done, led us to where
we are, so that first time around it would have
made sense. I wouldn't have agreed. I would have tried
to tell those people you're being played, but I could
have saw how.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
They got there. Now, Nikki, Like now.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
After the truth is crystal clear, after who this man
is is starkly and vividly revealed in HD four K,
the big screen, the big big screen at the three
thousand inch O, the jumbo tron, after everybody can see
(10:24):
and lights who he really is. Now you, Nikki, this
is when you, This is when you get on stage
with them now, right, Charlie Kirk's wife, I almost want
to throw to you so I can look up the
things that Charlie Kirk said about black women and then.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Come, yeah, that's okay, that's okay, because I got a
couples to share. Yeah please yeah, yeah. So again, for
folks that don't know, proximity to whiteness is very alluring. Right,
you see this happening with groups, every racial group at
(11:05):
different times, you know, you feel like, Hey, if I
can just be more like them, then I'll be accepted
and I'll have all that comes with that. Whether or
not folks acknowledge it, there is a privilege that comes
with whiteness, and that privilege the language is a little funny,
but the privilege is being able to start at zero.
You're not starting behind the starting line. There's no disadvantage
(11:27):
in the circumstances of your birth, right Now, if you're
born female, life's going to be a little harder. If
you're born black, a little heart, if you're born gay,
it's a little hard. If you're born with it some
other sort of handicap, you know, it's going to be
a little harder, right, And this is something that is
born out in the data. But that proximity to whiteness
(11:49):
and that feeling of being accepted and being welcomed in
that world is it's a powerful, powerfully alluring idea. Right.
And if you grow up Nicki Minaj grew up poor
as anybody, right, but that mentality, it's hard to shed
that mentality. Now, I'm not going to say that Nicki
(12:10):
Minaj may not have conservative views and so forth, but
going like like you said, going on stage in favor
of a decidedly anti black administration feels crazy, but bear
in mind there were black slave owners, and those black
slave owners where some of the toughest black slave owners
that made the most sense in terms of getting proximity
(12:32):
to whiteness. It made the most economic sense, and some
people they like the controversy. You know, this is what
we saw with you know, names like amber Rose. For
those who don't know, amber Rose is a Hollywood person.
I don't know, I don't know what she does, but
she's well known for being a Hollywood person, you know,
Waka fly. These people that could not really justify their
(12:54):
position but appreciated being the bad guy or the alternative
and having folks talk about them. So there's an intersection.
There have a lot of different factors where you end
up with black folks that can make sensical arguments. Many cannot.
But that's how they end up in these anti black predicaments,
(13:19):
and they just ignore the anti blackness, espouse the proximity
to whiteness, and then they provide cover for all of
the anti black sentiment because it gives those people a
chance to say, well, look at this person as black,
and they agree with me. All right, Q, I want
to make sure the rest of the times you're just
share whatever you have.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, And he said this in regards to Michelle Obama,
Justice Katanji Brown Jackson enjoy read and Congress from Shila
Jackson Lee. They're coming out and saying, I'm only here
because of affirmative action. Yeah, we know you don't have
the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously. You
(13:58):
had to go steal a white person since slot to
go be taken somewhat seriously. Now, fact checkers like to
say that we are taking him out of context when
we say that he stated that black women do not
have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. And
(14:18):
they say that because they say he was only talking
about those women specifically. But the reason he was talking
about those women specifically was because they were black women.
So it's a little dishonest to say he was taken
out of context.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
But we know what he was trying to say here. Absolutely.
All right, let's move on Trump to dismantle climate agency kills.
Senate funding deal. Okay, so follow me here. This is
from the Hill, a political deal, sorry, a potential deal
to fund large swats of the federal government, including the
Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapse Thursday night,
(14:55):
after Colorado senators demanded that Congress stopped President Trump's effort
to dismant a key climate agency. A Democratic senator involved
in the negotiations over passing a five bill package of
appropriations bills before Christmas, said Trump's attempt to break up
a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colorado
(15:16):
was like a stick of dynamite that exploded any chance
of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending. Now, excuse me. Colorado
Senators Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, objected to
moving forward with the so called minibus spending package that,
if enacted into law, would result in eighty five percent
to ninety percent of the federal government being funded through
(15:38):
September twenty twenty six. Then, it said his Republican colleagues
knew how critical the center is to providing scientific analysis
of weather patterns. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican South Dakota,
made a herculean effort to get the spending package passed
before Christmas, and it looked earlier in the day as
the Senate might be on track to clinch a deal
(16:00):
after conservative GOP senators dropped their objections to the bill,
but Bennett and Hickenlooper took the lead in bringing the
package to a dead halt by objecting to an agreement
to set up a date and amendment votes on the
Centate floor. They were infuriated by the Trump administration's announcement
Wednesday that it plans to dismantle the National Center for
Atmospheric Research in Colorado, a leading research institution specializing in
(16:24):
climate science. Now, this is a much longer article. Again,
it's from the Hill, and you're welcome to check out
the rest of it. But this, I think is something
that we needed to talk about. So I'll go first circuit.
First thing, you know, Q and I, we we see
(16:45):
the world through a decidedly black lens. I only know
how to be black. That's the culture that I come from.
That's the way that my grandma prayed for me. That's
you know, the the music I listened to, and the
way that we speak, and the cultural idioms and those
sorts of things. Right, So we share this content through
(17:09):
that lens. I don't have a different setting, and we
feel welcomed as your brothers, whoever you are, even if
you're black too, we feel welcomed as your brothers, and
we have for a long time. We appreciate you listening.
But there are some conversations that it doesn't matter what
(17:30):
culture you're from, or what race you're from, or what
background you're from. Some stuff matters to all of us,
and science and climate change and data and those sorts
of things, those tend to be Once upon a time,
they tended to be great equalizers and they would neutralize
any division because we were all on the same page
and subjected to the same consequences. And now we have
(17:52):
different interpretations of facts. Q famously says this on our
programming all the time and this administration. If nothing else,
if you were the sort of person that you know,
maybe you didn't just you didn't think of yourself as
a racist. You're like, look, I'm not racist. I just
(18:13):
don't care enough about black problems or Hispanic problems or
whatever other problem, gay problems or women problems. I don't
care enough about those problems to not care about mine, right,
And that's your take. You're like, look, I'm not racist.
I just don't care. Because a lot of people are
like that voting for this administration still is a shot
(18:35):
in your own foot, because we are killing this planet,
and that is verifiable by the vast majority of the
scientific community. Indeed, I've seen changes in my own lifetime
that could only be explained by human disregard for the planet.
(18:59):
It's been so rapid, right, I've seen it. I've lived
in places where the climate is very harsh, and we
see what happens when it gets more harsh. Right, So,
talking about things like this in this administration's stance on
deregulation so that industry can flourish, and the very decidedly
(19:21):
anti science stance and ignoring our just this country's impact
on the world in favor of economic advancement and economic opportunities.
It's like, Okay, well, we're going to run this runway
as long as we can, and the world that we
leave to our children will just leave it to them
to clean it up. Ignoring the fact that runaway climate
(19:44):
change is probably here already and if not, we're very
close to it. And for people not to heed this moment,
to look past the fact that they don't care about
black problems or Hispanic problems or whatever problems want to
focus on themselves and still cast for this administration, You're
still shooting yourself in the foot because we all have
to live here. That is a fundamental component of our
(20:09):
shared reality. This planet is something that we share for
better or worse. And for folks that have not cared,
your apathy has led us to a point where we're
even having a conversation about the president dismantling a key
scientific station, indeed, the National Center for Atmospheric Research. And
(20:35):
that's a lot to reconcile. And again, either it's your
apathy or's your outright hatred, but there's no in between.
And for those of you that did vote for this administration,
whether or not you've come around, this is something that
you have to own because we have to fight just
for data to tell us how far along we've fallen.
(20:56):
And so I'll leave it right there because I want
to give you plenty of time que your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's infuriating, right, InCAR and Boulder is a cornerstone of
global climate and weather science. And that's not a partisan thing, right,
Like it's kind of maddening, right. It's like we talk
(21:24):
about climate, we've talked about it before, and not vibes
math you know, we have to make that, we have
to point out the difference, unfortunately, but we're not talking
about vibes, about math science, data numbers. I mean you
(21:45):
pointed it out. The same people that say that they're
pro life and pro family and pro freedom are running
a political project that treats the actual survival of all
of us like a punchline. You talk about in our lifetime.
We're currently living through heat waves, megafires, floods, hurricanes, all
(22:07):
more intense than what our parents and our grandparents live through.
And the science is very very clear on why we
have the receipts. And you know, their response is pretend
nothing's happening. I guess ignorance is bliss for some of them,
but for others, it's a choice. They've turned climate change
into like a slur, the same thing they did with socialism.
(22:29):
They've trained their base to hear those words, you know,
things like renewable energy and think community, to hear scientists
and think enemy. It's the same play they run on
every issue. They take something complicated like life or death,
they put a partisan wrapper on it, and then they
(22:49):
tell people that admitting the reality is somehow a left
wing plot and Now on top of rhetoric, we got
an administration that it's actively trying to dismantle the research
that proves them wrong. So aiming cuts at these type
of agencies, the type will tell us when there's a
(23:14):
hurricane or a tornado coming. Aiming cuts at climate labs,
the people who help firefighters, farmers a city like, how
can the people who are supposed to save our lives
(23:34):
help when they don't even have the data that they need.
They're yanking data down from websites like imagine watching your
house catch on fire and responding by firing the fire
department because they told people that there was a fire.
(23:54):
That's the level of logic that we have to deal
with round and it's tough. Man.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yes I don't know, but you know here we are. Now.
If that weren't enough, it is time to talk about
who better do better? And once again we have the
President of the United States of America. So I'll paint
(24:23):
the picture. Trump hangs White House plaques mocking Houssein Obama,
sleepy Joe Biden. Okay for what? All right? This from
the bi in. President Donald Trump has installed a series
of plaques in the White House that sharply criticized Democratic presidents,
(24:45):
including one mocking former President Barack Obama. Per NBC News,
the plaques found along the White House colonade lie below
portraits of each past president, including Obama, whom Trump refers
to as Barack Hussein Obama and calls one of the
most divisive figures in American history. Obama's plaque also takes
aim at the Affordable Care Act, which Trump dubs as
(25:07):
the highly ineffective Unaffordable Care Act in its writing. The
plaque criticizes the Iran nuclear deal in Paris Climate Accords
and repeats Trump's long standing claim that Obama spied on
his twenty sixteen campaign and presided over what he calls
the Russia Russia Russia hoax. Obama's plaque is part of
a broader display that includes a scathing description of former
(25:27):
President Joe Biden. That plaque labels Biden, sleepy, Joe Biden,
and the worst president in American history. It further accuses
Biden of severe mental decline, blames his policies for inflation
and immigration challenges, and ties his presidency to the US
withdrawal from Afghanistan and global conflicts. White House Press Secretary
Caroline Levitt confirmed that Trump authored the text of many
(25:49):
of the plaques. Quote. The plaques are eloquently written descriptions
of each president and the legacy they left behind. Onuote
Lived said in a statement, adding that quote many were
written directly by the president himself. Unlike the former Democratic president's,
Trump's plaque praises his first and second terms, highlighting tax cuts, deregulation,
immigration policies, and foreign policy actions. The White House declined
(26:12):
to share how the plaques were funded or installed. Okay,
those that know why we selected this for better, do better. Q.
I see your face and I feel like if I
say anything, I'm going to take something away from you. Man,
go ahead, Why don't you just sit down.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I have a hard time trying to process because we
know who he is. Right every time one of his loyalists,
one of his boot liquors, says something out loud, it
was so eloquently written, like what are we.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
What are you talking? Do you know other people can
see and hear you say that? Do you like?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I heard in our in our pre product, we refer
to this as petty, but that's not We've been petty before.
Like petty can be cool and funny. This is just immature,
Like it's like petulant. It's he's like an eight year
old that's mad. He's the president of the United States.
(27:19):
I have to keep reminding people of that every time
he does something so disgusting and classless. Like, everyone, no
matter how you feel, should not be okay with the
way that he operates. I think some people are like, well,
that's what I would do. That's exactly why you shouldn't
(27:40):
be okay with the way that he operates. You're not
the president. You're not qualified. Neither is he. And that's
the whole point of all of this discussion. It's not
even about his politics. It's not even about the policies
that he does or doesn't pass or write or all
or even have people vote on. Because I think they've
(28:03):
been in I think they've been in session for like
eight days out of the last year something like that,
maybe ninety days. So they're not doing a lot of work,
they're not doing a lot to serve the people that
voted for them. They're making a lot of money, and
they're harming a lot of people. But this is it's
just gross.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Rams. Yeah, So I thought that these were the United
States of America. Okay, we've been through tough times, we've
been through good times, you know. I would imagine that
the Office of the President should look back and celebrate
(28:46):
the presidency. It should seem out to onlookers and too outsiders,
as though this office has held the best that America
has to offer. Now, not only are these exaggerations and
falsehoods that the president penned in his own childish writing,
(29:09):
this isn't eloquent at all. Your point is well made,
but also it makes the presidency look bad, and it
makes us as a country look like we're fighting ourselves.
And how does that look to the rest of the world.
And for what Who does this benefit? The handful of
people that visit the White House that like Trump already,
(29:30):
they're not going to like him more because of this.
It only serves to say, Oh, America's got a problem.
Oh America. This is a divisive man. And I think
that this shows exactly how divisive he is. He feeds
off of it is he can't help himself. And we're
supposed to be united United States of America and he's
dividing us still and he won. There's no reason, there's
(29:54):
nothing to gain here. States we'll be back with more
after this
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is a man
making glasses and a beanie into a fashion trend. He
is the Q in the QR code. He goes by
the name of q War.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You know, you guys listen to Ramses make statements like
that every day. And I have to break off from
introducing him because he can't help himself. But now he's
smiling at me, so he get a free pass. He
is the R in a QR code. He goes by
the name Ramses.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Joh Indeed, and we need you to stick around a
little later on the show. We are going to be
talking about for our entertainment segment, the Anthony Joshua versus
Jake Fall Jake Paul fight and why I think that
a lot of people were tuned into that. There's some
political overtones or maybe undertones, maybe some racial ones as well,
(00:58):
And so we're going to get into the weeds. We're
going to have some dialogue. You know, you and I
we are in the habit of asking each other a question. Well,
I've heard that men are hard to shop for. Indeed,
I confirm that by googling it. But we're going to
ask each other what was your favorite gift and hopefully
that will inspire some thoughts if you're doing any last
minute shopping. Q Ward's going to clap back about how
(01:20):
they borrow from our struggle only to betray us in
the end. For Better, Do Better, We're going to talk
about Donald Trump hanging White House plaques, mocking quote Hussein
Obama and sleepy Joe. That was a story that we
couldn't touch last week because we were pitching, but glad
we're able to cover it now. We're going to share
our opinions about how Trump is moving to dismantle the
(01:43):
Climate Agency and killing the Senate funding deal in the meantime,
and we're going to talk about what's going on in
the culture. Recently, Nicki Minaj and Erica Kirk had a
conversation at a Turning Point USA event and we're going
to share our thoughts there. As always, we like to
start off with a feel good feature, and today's feel
good future, we're going to share some thoughts on how
(02:07):
you can get festive. Now. We know that there's a
lot of different folks that listen to this show, and
we appreciate that you and I are black men. You
may know that already, and we like to use this
as a window into our culture. For folks that don't
know this has made specifically for you, but for folks
who already know enough about our culture, are from our culture,
(02:31):
you know, we want to use this as a moment
to remind you of some classics. So we're gonna suggest
some recommendations that we put together of Christmas shows Christmas
movies rather that have like black you know, protagonists or
like they're kind of you know, around, We're gonna give
you some family footage of what it's like to celebrate
(02:51):
with us. You know, I saw a film, it was
a Korean film recently, and I loved it and I
got a chance to see what life is like, you know.
For Reinfocus it was a film about a flood or
something like that. But I just thought that was special.
So in that spirit, I hope to share this with
you today. So this is what we put together. Some
of these descriptions come from Black America web dot Com. Okay,
first up is the Preacher's wife, Whitney or Denzel alone
(03:13):
could have made this movie a blockbuster hit based on
their individual star power. However, as a duo, they delivered
an on screen chemistry that made The Preacher's Wife an
instant Christmas classic, not to mention a heavenly soundtrack to
boot that only the voice could ever deliver. And so
you know, a classic Christmas film that happened to star
(03:34):
some black folks. And again you'll get to peek behind
the curtain. We're also going to recommend Friday after Next.
This is a little hood but it is indeed a
Christmas film, and it's really funny, and it's also of
course entertaining, and the introduction to Cat Williams. But you know,
Mike Ebbs ice Cube, you know, some favorites in that film.
(03:54):
And then finally Trading Places, which is a snobbish Wall
Street commodities broker and a wily Street hustler find their
positions was reversed as part of a bet by two
callous millionaire brothers who run a brokerage house, starring Eddie
Murphy and Dan Ackroyd. So we hope you have fun
and you pick one or all three of those to
maybe grow in terms of your cultural you know, competencies,
(04:18):
and if you already are culturally competent, you know, it's
fun for the whole family. So all right, so let's
talk about what's going on in the culture. Okay, So
let me paint this picture for folks that don't follow
Turning Point USA very closely. Obviously they're bigger now than
(04:38):
they ever were because they're the CEO. Charlie Kirk was assassinated,
you know, and so Charlie Kirk's wife, Erica Kirk, is
now kind of running things there. And of course she
and Nicki Minaj had this conversation on stage. So this
from TMZ. Nicki Minaj probably wanted a mulligan on her
(04:58):
comments about Jadie Banster a Turning Point USA event, calling
the VP and assassin during a chat with Erica Kirk.
The rapper appeared on stage at tpusa's America First Sunday
Sorry America Fests Sunday, sitting down to heat praise on
the current administration while Charlie Kirk's widow asked her questions
about her foray into politics. At first, Nicki's getting the
(05:19):
crowd energized, telling young men not to be new scum.
A dig at California Governor Gavin Newsom. Instead, she encourages
him to be like the handsome and dashing President Donald Trump.
Nicki Minaj then says, quote, and you have an amazing
role models like the assassin JD Vans unquote. Minaj then
trails off while murmur murmurs course through the crowd, and
(05:43):
the rapper puts her head in her hands, clearly realizing
what she just said. As you know, Charlie Kirk was
murdered in September while speaking on a college campus in
an alleged political assassination, and Erica has been publicly navigating
the difficult past few months. So while Nicki clearly didn't
mean to offend her, her comments were an obvious Faupaul,
Minaj and Kirk also talked about ignoring the haters, bonding
(06:06):
over their indifference to angry social media moms. Nicki's fans
love her for speaking her mind, though she may want
to read the room before her next big event. Okay,
the reason that we kind of felt like this story
was a story worth sharing is not because you know,
Nicki Minaj said something and had a gotcha moment on stage,
(06:29):
or you know she clearly made a mistake Nicki Minaj
doesn't think that jd Vance is an assassin. We understand
that this happens to people regardless of their political affiliation.
This is a human condition. Sometimes people misspeak. But I
think that something that really stood out to me in
Q and I'll let you go first here so you
(06:49):
can kind of fill this in, is that Nicki Minaj
was on this stage in the first place. And for
a lot of people who look at this administration and
see that it has been decidedly anti black in many
(07:10):
facets and in much of the administration's undertakings, to see
Nicki Minaj on stage at a Turning Point USA event
with Erica Kirk espousing the current president and the current
administration feels a little strange. How could a black woman
who is so popular and so well regarded end up
(07:32):
in a predicament like this where she's doing these things
and it happens. It has happened throughout history, and it
is happening now with Nicki Minaj, and for those of
us that historically have been bands of her music, it's
very sad, But we're going to talk about how these
things sort of happen and let you know that it's
(07:55):
Okay to look at this and feel like this feels
a little crazy. So again, Q, let you go first,
and then if there's any time left, I follow up.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It's an interesting thing to witness. And you know, Trump's
first go at it, This would have made all the
sense in the world, Trump's first go at it. I
could see how all the people that supported him supported him.
You and I saw through the facade. You and I
(08:25):
kind of knew what we were getting right from the
very beginning. But imagine being a poor white person and
then hearing someone like Ramses or Q say white privilege
and looking around being very confused, like, what does that mean.
I grew up in a trailer park, my parents are poor.
(08:48):
I've never had any advantage in my life. So then
us saying white privilege sounds ridiculous. It could be enraging
for a person who never feels like they had a
foot up or step ahead, who never had any success.
Right that the people who we point out vote and
organize and rally and chant against their own best interest,
(09:11):
in their own well being and their own personal welfare
because the system did this to me, The status quo
did this to me. Right, so the poor white people
the women, the black people, the celebrities, the conspiracy theorists,
(09:34):
the contrarians, all the people who felt like, yeah, doing
things how they've always been done, led us to where
we are, so that first time around it would have
made sense. I wouldn't have agreed. I would have tried
to tell those people you're being played, but I could
have saw how.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
They got there. Now, Nikki, Like now.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
After the truth is crystal clear, after who this man
is is starkly and vividly revealed in HD four K,
the big screen, the big big screen at the three
thousand inch O, the jumbo tron, after everybody can see
(10:24):
and lights who he really is. Now you, Nikki, this
is when you, This is when you get on stage
with them now, right, Charlie Kirk's wife, I almost want
to throw to you so I can look up the
things that Charlie Kirk said about black women and then.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Come, yeah, that's okay, that's okay, because I got a
couples to share. Yeah please yeah, yeah. So again, for
folks that don't know, proximity to whiteness is very alluring. Right,
you see this happening with groups, every racial group at
(11:05):
different times, you know, you feel like, Hey, if I
can just be more like them, then I'll be accepted
and I'll have all that comes with that. Whether or
not folks acknowledge it, there is a privilege that comes
with whiteness, and that privilege the language is a little funny,
but the privilege is being able to start at zero.
You're not starting behind the starting line. There's no disadvantage
(11:27):
in the circumstances of your birth, right Now, if you're
born female, life's going to be a little harder. If
you're born black, a little heart, if you're born gay,
it's a little hard. If you're born with it some
other sort of handicap, you know, it's going to be
a little harder, right, And this is something that is
born out in the data. But that proximity to whiteness
(11:49):
and that feeling of being accepted and being welcomed in
that world is it's a powerful, powerfully alluring idea. Right.
And if you grow up Nicki Minaj grew up poor
as anybody, right, but that mentality, it's hard to shed
that mentality. Now, I'm not going to say that Nicki
(12:10):
Minaj may not have conservative views and so forth, but
going like like you said, going on stage in favor
of a decidedly anti black administration feels crazy, but bear
in mind there were black slave owners, and those black
slave owners where some of the toughest black slave owners
that made the most sense in terms of getting proximity
(12:32):
to whiteness. It made the most economic sense, and some
people they like the controversy. You know, this is what
we saw with you know, names like amber Rose. For
those who don't know, amber Rose is a Hollywood person.
I don't know, I don't know what she does, but
she's well known for being a Hollywood person, you know,
Waka fly. These people that could not really justify their
(12:54):
position but appreciated being the bad guy or the alternative
and having folks talk about them. So there's an intersection.
There have a lot of different factors where you end
up with black folks that can make sensical arguments. Many cannot.
But that's how they end up in these anti black predicaments,
(13:19):
and they just ignore the anti blackness, espouse the proximity
to whiteness, and then they provide cover for all of
the anti black sentiment because it gives those people a
chance to say, well, look at this person as black,
and they agree with me. All right, Q, I want
to make sure the rest of the times you're just
share whatever you have.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, And he said this in regards to Michelle Obama,
Justice Katanji Brown Jackson enjoy read and Congress from Shila
Jackson Lee. They're coming out and saying, I'm only here
because of affirmative action. Yeah, we know you don't have
the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously. You
(13:58):
had to go steal a white person since slot to
go be taken somewhat seriously. Now, fact checkers like to
say that we are taking him out of context when
we say that he stated that black women do not
have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. And
(14:18):
they say that because they say he was only talking
about those women specifically. But the reason he was talking
about those women specifically was because they were black women.
So it's a little dishonest to say he was taken
out of context.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
But we know what he was trying to say here. Absolutely.
All right, let's move on Trump to dismantle climate agency kills.
Senate funding deal. Okay, so follow me here. This is
from the Hill, a political deal, sorry, a potential deal
to fund large swats of the federal government, including the
Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapse Thursday night,
(14:55):
after Colorado senators demanded that Congress stopped President Trump's effort
to dismant a key climate agency. A Democratic senator involved
in the negotiations over passing a five bill package of
appropriations bills before Christmas, said Trump's attempt to break up
a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colorado
(15:16):
was like a stick of dynamite that exploded any chance
of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending. Now, excuse me. Colorado
Senators Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, objected to
moving forward with the so called minibus spending package that,
if enacted into law, would result in eighty five percent
to ninety percent of the federal government being funded through
(15:38):
September twenty twenty six. Then, it said his Republican colleagues
knew how critical the center is to providing scientific analysis
of weather patterns. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican South Dakota,
made a herculean effort to get the spending package passed
before Christmas, and it looked earlier in the day as
the Senate might be on track to clinch a deal
(16:00):
after conservative GOP senators dropped their objections to the bill,
but Bennett and Hickenlooper took the lead in bringing the
package to a dead halt by objecting to an agreement
to set up a date and amendment votes on the
Centate floor. They were infuriated by the Trump administration's announcement
Wednesday that it plans to dismantle the National Center for
Atmospheric Research in Colorado, a leading research institution specializing in
(16:24):
climate science. Now, this is a much longer article. Again,
it's from the Hill, and you're welcome to check out
the rest of it. But this, I think is something
that we needed to talk about. So I'll go first circuit.
First thing, you know, Q and I, we we see
(16:45):
the world through a decidedly black lens. I only know
how to be black. That's the culture that I come from.
That's the way that my grandma prayed for me. That's
you know, the the music I listened to, and the
way that we speak, and the cultural idioms and those
sorts of things. Right, So we share this content through
(17:09):
that lens. I don't have a different setting, and we
feel welcomed as your brothers, whoever you are, even if
you're black too, we feel welcomed as your brothers, and
we have for a long time. We appreciate you listening.
But there are some conversations that it doesn't matter what
(17:30):
culture you're from, or what race you're from, or what
background you're from. Some stuff matters to all of us,
and science and climate change and data and those sorts
of things, those tend to be Once upon a time,
they tended to be great equalizers and they would neutralize
any division because we were all on the same page
and subjected to the same consequences. And now we have
(17:52):
different interpretations of facts. Q famously says this on our
programming all the time and this administration. If nothing else,
if you were the sort of person that you know,
maybe you didn't just you didn't think of yourself as
a racist. You're like, look, I'm not racist. I just
(18:13):
don't care enough about black problems or Hispanic problems or
whatever other problem, gay problems or women problems. I don't
care enough about those problems to not care about mine, right,
And that's your take. You're like, look, I'm not racist.
I just don't care. Because a lot of people are
like that voting for this administration still is a shot
(18:35):
in your own foot, because we are killing this planet,
and that is verifiable by the vast majority of the
scientific community. Indeed, I've seen changes in my own lifetime
that could only be explained by human disregard for the planet.
(18:59):
It's been so rapid, right, I've seen it. I've lived
in places where the climate is very harsh, and we
see what happens when it gets more harsh. Right, So,
talking about things like this in this administration's stance on
deregulation so that industry can flourish, and the very decidedly
(19:21):
anti science stance and ignoring our just this country's impact
on the world in favor of economic advancement and economic opportunities.
It's like, Okay, well, we're going to run this runway
as long as we can, and the world that we
leave to our children will just leave it to them
to clean it up. Ignoring the fact that runaway climate
(19:44):
change is probably here already and if not, we're very
close to it. And for people not to heed this moment,
to look past the fact that they don't care about
black problems or Hispanic problems or whatever problems want to
focus on themselves and still cast for this administration, You're
still shooting yourself in the foot because we all have
to live here. That is a fundamental component of our
(20:09):
shared reality. This planet is something that we share for
better or worse. And for folks that have not cared,
your apathy has led us to a point where we're
even having a conversation about the president dismantling a key
scientific station, indeed, the National Center for Atmospheric Research. And
(20:35):
that's a lot to reconcile. And again, either it's your
apathy or's your outright hatred, but there's no in between.
And for those of you that did vote for this administration,
whether or not you've come around, this is something that
you have to own because we have to fight just
for data to tell us how far along we've fallen.
(20:56):
And so I'll leave it right there because I want
to give you plenty of time que your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's infuriating, right, InCAR and Boulder is a cornerstone of
global climate and weather science. And that's not a partisan thing, right,
Like it's kind of maddening, right. It's like we talk
(21:24):
about climate, we've talked about it before, and not vibes
math you know, we have to make that, we have
to point out the difference, unfortunately, but we're not talking
about vibes, about math science, data numbers. I mean you
(21:45):
pointed it out. The same people that say that they're
pro life and pro family and pro freedom are running
a political project that treats the actual survival of all
of us like a punchline. You talk about in our lifetime.
We're currently living through heat waves, megafires, floods, hurricanes, all
(22:07):
more intense than what our parents and our grandparents live through.
And the science is very very clear on why we
have the receipts. And you know, their response is pretend
nothing's happening. I guess ignorance is bliss for some of them,
but for others, it's a choice. They've turned climate change
into like a slur, the same thing they did with socialism.
(22:29):
They've trained their base to hear those words, you know,
things like renewable energy and think community, to hear scientists
and think enemy. It's the same play they run on
every issue. They take something complicated like life or death,
they put a partisan wrapper on it, and then they
(22:49):
tell people that admitting the reality is somehow a left
wing plot and Now on top of rhetoric, we got
an administration that it's actively trying to dismantle the research
that proves them wrong. So aiming cuts at these type
of agencies, the type will tell us when there's a
(23:14):
hurricane or a tornado coming. Aiming cuts at climate labs,
the people who help firefighters, farmers a city like, how
can the people who are supposed to save our lives
(23:34):
help when they don't even have the data that they need.
They're yanking data down from websites like imagine watching your
house catch on fire and responding by firing the fire
department because they told people that there was a fire.
(23:54):
That's the level of logic that we have to deal
with round and it's tough. Man.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yes I don't know, but you know here we are. Now.
If that weren't enough, it is time to talk about
who better do better? And once again we have the
President of the United States of America. So I'll paint
(24:23):
the picture. Trump hangs White House plaques mocking Houssein Obama,
sleepy Joe Biden. Okay for what? All right? This from
the bi in. President Donald Trump has installed a series
of plaques in the White House that sharply criticized Democratic presidents,
(24:45):
including one mocking former President Barack Obama. Per NBC News,
the plaques found along the White House colonade lie below
portraits of each past president, including Obama, whom Trump refers
to as Barack Hussein Obama and calls one of the
most divisive figures in American history. Obama's plaque also takes
aim at the Affordable Care Act, which Trump dubs as
(25:07):
the highly ineffective Unaffordable Care Act in its writing. The
plaque criticizes the Iran nuclear deal in Paris Climate Accords
and repeats Trump's long standing claim that Obama spied on
his twenty sixteen campaign and presided over what he calls
the Russia Russia Russia hoax. Obama's plaque is part of
a broader display that includes a scathing description of former
(25:27):
President Joe Biden. That plaque labels Biden, sleepy, Joe Biden,
and the worst president in American history. It further accuses
Biden of severe mental decline, blames his policies for inflation
and immigration challenges, and ties his presidency to the US
withdrawal from Afghanistan and global conflicts. White House Press Secretary
Caroline Levitt confirmed that Trump authored the text of many
(25:49):
of the plaques. Quote. The plaques are eloquently written descriptions
of each president and the legacy they left behind. Onuote
Lived said in a statement, adding that quote many were
written directly by the president himself. Unlike the former Democratic president's,
Trump's plaque praises his first and second terms, highlighting tax cuts, deregulation,
immigration policies, and foreign policy actions. The White House declined
(26:12):
to share how the plaques were funded or installed. Okay,
those that know why we selected this for better, do better. Q.
I see your face and I feel like if I
say anything, I'm going to take something away from you. Man,
go ahead, Why don't you just sit down.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I have a hard time trying to process because we
know who he is. Right every time one of his loyalists,
one of his boot liquors, says something out loud, it
was so eloquently written, like what are we.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
What are you talking? Do you know other people can
see and hear you say that? Do you like?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I heard in our in our pre product, we refer
to this as petty, but that's not We've been petty before.
Like petty can be cool and funny. This is just immature,
Like it's like petulant. It's he's like an eight year
old that's mad. He's the president of the United States.
(27:19):
I have to keep reminding people of that every time
he does something so disgusting and classless. Like, everyone, no
matter how you feel, should not be okay with the
way that he operates. I think some people are like, well,
that's what I would do. That's exactly why you shouldn't
(27:40):
be okay with the way that he operates. You're not
the president. You're not qualified. Neither is he. And that's
the whole point of all of this discussion. It's not
even about his politics. It's not even about the policies
that he does or doesn't pass or write or all
or even have people vote on. Because I think they've
(28:03):
been in I think they've been in session for like
eight days out of the last year something like that,
maybe ninety days. So they're not doing a lot of work,
they're not doing a lot to serve the people that
voted for them. They're making a lot of money, and
they're harming a lot of people. But this is it's
just gross.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Rams. Yeah, So I thought that these were the United
States of America. Okay, we've been through tough times, we've
been through good times, you know. I would imagine that
the Office of the President should look back and celebrate
(28:46):
the presidency. It should seem out to onlookers and too outsiders,
as though this office has held the best that America
has to offer. Now, not only are these exaggerations and
falsehoods that the president penned in his own childish writing,
(29:09):
this isn't eloquent at all. Your point is well made,
but also it makes the presidency look bad, and it
makes us as a country look like we're fighting ourselves.
And how does that look to the rest of the world.
And for what Who does this benefit? The handful of
people that visit the White House that like Trump already,
(29:30):
they're not going to like him more because of this.
It only serves to say, Oh, America's got a problem.
Oh America. This is a divisive man. And I think
that this shows exactly how divisive he is. He feeds
off of it is he can't help himself. And we're
supposed to be united United States of America and he's
dividing us still and he won. There's no reason, there's
(29:54):
nothing to gain here. States we'll be back with more
after this
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