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
with incredible taste in music. Trusts me. I know, uh,
the former Phoenix suns In Arena DJ, the one and
only q Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
The voice you just heard. I'll put this simple. He
taught me everything I know. So when he used all
those tricky fancy words to describe me and big me up,
know that every single thing he's describing he taught me.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
He's the R in the QR code. He goes by
the name ramses Jah.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And we need you to stick around a little. Later
on the show, we're going to hear from our sister,
well my new sister, CU's longtime sister, Piper Overstreet White
of the Las Vegas Raiders. She's going to discuss the
Raider's role in bringing the inaugural Procter and Gamble Las
Vegas HBCU classic to the city's Elie Stadium. We're also
(01:01):
going to hear Qwards Clapback talking about live fire being
used in a military demonstration and just how scary that
ended up being. But this half of the show, we're
going to be talking about a few things that I
think are really important. We're going to start off talking
about how to get over your dislike of liberals. We
came across some online content that really inspired the thought
(01:24):
that we might be able to offer something to folks
that really they try to oppose us, and they find
themselves kind of caught in that cycle. So we're going
to try to help them get out of that short loop.
We're going to also talk about how Fox employees are
saying that the network intentionally aided Donald Trump. There's no
(01:46):
surprise there to those of us that know, but hearing
it straight from the horse's mouth, I think is really
important in eye opening. And a little later on we're
going to be talking about how Donald Trump commuted the
sentence of Jordan for our Better Do Better segment. But
as always, off with a feel good feature. Today's feel
good feature we are going to be discussing or actually
(02:12):
are a feel good feature comes from CBS News. We're
discussing how a court in Cook County, sorry in Illinois,
has interfered with ice arresting people at courthouses, and so
I'll share a bit Cook county's top judge has signed
an order barring ice from arresting people at courthouses. Cook
(02:35):
County include Chicago, which has seen a federal immigration crackdown
in recent months. Detaining residents outside court has been a
common tactic for federal agents who have been stationed outside
county courthouses for weeks, making arrest and drawing crowds of protesters.
The order, which was signed Tuesday night and took effect Wednesday,
bars the civil arrest of any party, witness, or potential
witness while going to court proceedings. It includes arrest made
(02:58):
inside courthouses and in parking lot surrounding sidewalks and entryways. Quote.
The fair administration of Justice required that courts remain open
and accessible and that litigants and witnesses may appear without
fear of civil arrest unquote. The order states. The US
Department of Homeland Security defended the practice of making arrested
court houses, calling it common sense. Quote. We aren't some
(03:19):
medieval kingdom. There are no legal sanctuaries where you can
hide and avoid the consequences for breaking the law unquote,
DHS said in a statement. The statement goes on and
say nothing in the constitution prohibits arresting a law breaker
where you find them unquote again, the rest of the
article you can find at cbsnews dot com. I just
(03:40):
think it's important to mention something that q has made
very clear to me is that these are people that
are trying to do everything the right way. Typically, you
come to the country and then you know, you get
your immigration status sorted if you are fleeing something that
(04:01):
was problematic in your home country, right, and you go
through these court proceedings to get everything done the right way.
So to get arrested while in process of doing the
right thing feels especially cruel. And I mean, I agree
with the judge. I'm glad that this judge intervened with
what Ice was doing because it just completely is not fair.
(04:22):
So makes me feel good. All right, So let's talk
about how to get over your dislike of liberals. The
first thing I want to do is disclose everything about this. Okay,
First off, this comes from a website called Quora. Okay,
not scholarly, you know, it's typically not where we go
(04:44):
to get our content for this show, but we are subscribed.
Me in particular, I'm subscribed to some really far right
almost like nazi KKK sort of forums on this side
and sites. I don't like being in those places, but
it helps to do this show if I know what
(05:07):
the people that want me and my children dead think
about us, right, because I feel like you listening to us,
you know, you may not look like us. You might
be able to interact with these sorts of people more freely.
They might be your bosses, or the police, and your
communities or your elected officials, and they might listen to
(05:31):
you where they wouldn't listen to me at all. And
so me knowing how they think and what they feel
helps me to give you the talking points and the
perspective that you might need to perhaps influence their walk
through life. I do believe that people are redeemable, or
(05:52):
at least I try to believe that. In any event,
these websites will also send me stuff like this, and
I thought this was worth mentioning. So I do want
to mention that this article, I guess we'll call it,
basically explains how to get over your dislike of liberals right,
and the author is a person named Reading Ashton. I'm
(06:14):
only saying that because I want to give credit to
the person who wrote this these aren't my words, Q,
and I will reflect on this.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
After the fact.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I'll read it, and I'll let you go first, because
I'm sure you has a lot of potent stuff to
add here. All right. The response to the question how
to get over your dislike of liberals, this author writes,
you want an honest, truthful answer. You aren't going to
like I'm going to assume that you are a conservative
Republican and we're raised that way. The answer to your
question is, do research, real research, not Fox, not On,
(06:44):
not Newsmax, not what your family has told you since birth,
Real factual, actual, truthful research. Why Because here's what you
are going to find out. Probably eighty five percent of
your dislike of liberals and what they stand for is
based on lies, period. Bullstop. I've had this talk or
tried to with hundreds of folks like you. One of
(07:06):
the things they all had in common was a belief
in things that were not true. That's all in caps.
More importantly, many of the things they spewed at me
were incredibly easy to prove untrue, but it didn't matter.
That's how indoctrination works, and it's incredibly hard to overcome.
So yes, start by questioning everything you think you know
about Liberals. Now, I don't get me wrong. They aren't perfect,
(07:29):
no one is. But they aren't coming to take your guns.
They don't want open borders, they don't want to kill
babies for no reason. That's usually the top three, and
as I said, can be proven even as things historically
in the conservative camp folks sorry, even the things historically
(07:49):
in the conservative camp folks site are incorrect. Republicans for
the last forty years haven't remotely been financially responsible. For example,
they've trusted the economy every time they've been in charge
and the Dems had to bail it out. Fact easily proven.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Fact.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
They buy and large claim to be Christian, but behave
in a very unchristian like manner. They claim to be
the law and order party, but screen bloody murder and
conspiracy and witch hunt anytime one of their folks is
caught breaking the law. I could go on if you like,
but here's a start if you are really interested in
an answer. One of the things I also want to
say too, is that before I give it to you
(08:27):
Q another one of the talking points that really comes
up a lot for in Republican circles that I've seen
is that Republicans, a lot of Republicans, i'll say, believe.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
That liberals.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Wish to change the sex of children. And that is
just not a widely held belief. That's an extreme belief,
but it's not one that people just jump to.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Typically, and those handful of cases where a parent and
you know, a child both decide, hey, this is what
we want to do. That's a family decision. It's not schools,
it's not liberals at large. You know that it typically
it doesn't concern people that it doesn't affect, but liberals
have a tendency to say, hey, look these people, these children,
(09:20):
rather than them grow up and hate themselves and end
up ending their own lives, there's got to be more
solutions than just simply saying this is what the Bible
says or this is what you know, our limited version
of science says. Right. So that's another thing that I
think that people can do a lot more research on it,
and they realize, okay, sexuality and a lot of things
rely on a spectrum, and this binary that makes a
(09:41):
lot of people very comfortable just doesn't really translate into
the real world. And so that's what I'll say for now, Q,
I want to make sure that you have plenty of
time to weigh in.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, I don't have a whole lot on this, as
you would expect, because you really just hit the nail
on the head in a way that I don't even
think you realize. It's not the liberal agenda to indoctrinate
your children or you to do anything. It's just also
not their position to dictate what you can and can't do. Right,
(10:12):
we will say, I will say we because I'm a
liberal person. Me and my house will do this. You
and your house are allowed to do whatever you and
your house does as long as it's not actively harming
me and mine.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I'm fine. And what the other side is trying to.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Get people to collectively think is that you know, as
you said, the liberals are out to take your guns
and to.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Indoctrinate your children, to.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Quite ironically oppress you, take away your freedoms and your
right to decide. When that's what they are actively doing. Actually,
so it's like trying to convince you with a thinly
veiled confession. Right, the other side is trying to do
(11:11):
to you what we're already doing. Don't let them, and
they could almost say it like that, and it seems
that they still wouldn't hear what they just heard. Yes,
let's stop the liberals from doing what you're already doing.
So it's a really it's a really lazy sleight of hand.
(11:32):
Actually right, they're not even doing the magic trick. Well,
but it is and has been effective. Liberal people, and
as this gentleman said, are not perfect, but that's kind
of the point. None of us are, so you're not
being held to the perfect standard either. Go ahead, Rams,
(11:55):
I say you chomping at the bit.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
For people that feel like they want to know the
difference between liberal and conservatives, but their foundational belief in
conservativism is based on their religion. They're Christian, Okay, Christian conservatives.
I want you to ask yourself, if you had to
picture Jesus somewhere, would you picture Jesus at January sixth
(12:27):
in the capital or would you picture Jesus at No
King's protest? Okay? Or I mean I know that you
might say that's a false equivalency January sixth or the
BLM protests. And I'm not specifically talking about the outpouring
of you know, violence, because I know that you've probably
(12:49):
been fed a lot of images that show the most
violent parts of the BLM protests, a lot of which
were started by the police. I was there. I know that,
but I know that that's a lot for you to
digest talk about or consider rather the the push, the
thrust of the of the the demonstration. Okay, which one
(13:15):
is easier for you to see? Your Jesus said, okay?
Q mentioned something about taking away rights. Okay, So the
abortion thing, you have to decide what is a life
and when does a life count? Is a life count
(13:35):
when it's a cell Because if that's the case, you
got to stop scratching your body because you're removing cells.
You know that sort of thing, right you. So you
have to really have some foundational re examination of your
belief system.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
You can't smash bugs. You got life is precious, So
life is precious, right? And then I think the long
and the short of it is that if you recognize
that the people that really run that party, like the
(14:10):
meat and potatoes, the fiscal conservatives, the people that are
the business owners and the landowners. And I'm not saying
there aren't any in the democratic base, but a lot
of the responsibilities that Republicans espouse for their party have
to do with limited government, you know, less taxes, that
sort of thing. Right, people keep more of their money.
(14:34):
That's a rich person's philosophy. And for folks that are again,
their beliefs are consistent with the Bible. The Bible itself
says it's more difficult for a rich man to enter
into heaven than it is for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle. Right, So a top
(14:56):
to bottom re examination of what you hold to true
relative to liberals, and I think that you can hate
them a little less. I know you're not going to
change your mind, but you recognize these are two people
just kind of pursuing the version of the world that
works better for more people. And that's something that I
(15:16):
hope you get there. I hope you get there. Nobody,
nobody wishes you any harm. Our hearts were broken when
we saw a shoot I forgot his name now it
sound like a bad person, but he got assassinated the
other day. Our hearts were broken when we saw that.
You know, we don't want to see anybody hurt. So
people telling you that we're like want this violence is nonsense.
(15:39):
Nobody wants that who wants who wants to live in
that world? Anyway, let's move on. I know I've talked
up a lot. Unless you have something to add here, you.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I mean, it's just ironic that you point out how
much our hearts were broken when we saw that, because
his heart was never broken when it happened to someone else, never,
like aggressively.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Never.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's just the cost of me having my guns, I
think was his position.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
The irony.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
All right, well, yeah, let's talk about this. Fox News
employees say the network intentionally aided Trump. Okay, so, folks
that are you know, Republican conservatives, this is a part
of what your indoctrination looks like. Okay, this is from
(16:38):
Fox News employees. Okay, this is not rams's not cute. Okay,
this article, though, comes from The Guardian. You're welcome to
check it out yourself. All right. Fox News employees express
concerns about the network's editorial standards and the conduct of
top hosts, and an internal survey conducted in the summer
and fall of twenty twenty, with one going as far
as to wonder if they had been sold, if they
(16:58):
had sold their soul to the devil. According to legal filings.
The employee's statements were excerpted in a seven hundred and
seventy one page filing released last week made public as
part of a defamation lawsuit filed against the network by
voting technology company Smartmatic. The comments come from an anonymous
internal survey the Fox News twenty twenty Great Place to
(17:18):
Work Trust Index survey of one thousand and forty employees,
conducted between twenty four August of twenty twenty and eight
September of twenty twenty. Excuse me, Several employees express concerns
that the network was intentionally aiding Donald Trump and the
Republican Party. One anonymous employee said that Fox should quote
change the misogynist, racist, right wing content, adding quote, Fox
(17:43):
News is a propaganda machine for the Republican Party, not
a news organization, and should be acknowledged as such. It
is embarrassing to tell people that I work here, even
as conservatives. No, Fox News and Fox Business Network are
biased information sources, not news unquote. While the employee called
the work environment great, they said, quote the content is
(18:05):
hateful and made the world a more divided and angry
place unquote. Again, this is from these employees. It's not
me not Q. This is not people on the street.
All right, here's another quo quote. I sometimes go home
fighting back tears, an employee said. This employee goes on
to say this network made me question my morals. Have
I sold my soul to the devil? Unquote. An employee
(18:29):
said the network should quote get out of Trump's pocket
unquote and realize that its most prominent hosts, including Tucker
Carlson and Sean Hannity quote, are a total embarrassment peddling
bs and conspiracy theories unquote. There's another quote here. Many days,
I feel like I am part of the problem and
FNC is contributing to the hatred in this country. Unquote.
(18:52):
The person said, here's another quote. This company aligns itself
with the current administration and has lost its integrity. I
wish there was purpose for what we do other than
pushing the brand, ideology, and political will of the president.
Another comment read almost done. Many of the comments dealt
specifically with the network's conservative opinion hosts rather than it's
(19:14):
news division. Quote. I wish that management will crack down
on conspiracy for rhetoric spewed by such hosts unquote. An
employee said this employee goes on to say, we need
to stand up for our real journalists and have more
focus on news gathering and reporting to change our credibility
in the way we are perceived. Unquote. An employee asks
for quote a commitment from opinion hosts slash producers to
(19:38):
only tell viewers the truth and to bolster their arguments
with hard, proven facts given in full context, rather than
span a reckless conjecture that causes harm to real people. Unquote. Okay,
so I'm going to leave it right there. Again, it's
a Guardian article. You're welcome to check it out. Some
of the stuff we need a lot more time than
what we have, and we appreciate you sticking with us.
I know I've kind of violated our clock today. I'm
(19:59):
so sorry, uh, to our programmers into Chris Thompson, I'm sorry, Bo.
But one of the things that I know to be
true is these conspiracy theories that they talk about. One
of the big peddlers of this idea, of the great
(20:19):
replacement theory was Tucker Carlson. Now it was that dog
whistle sort of pedaling, but it was there. I mean,
people that know what he was saying know exactly what
he was saying, the people that don't know what he
was saying were susceptible to it. I believe at this time.
I'm not sure if it's still true, but Fox News
was the number one news network in the country. This
(20:40):
is before all the rest of the news maxes and
all the rest of those other right wing news propaganda
sites and networks. But once upon a time, Fox News
was number one because they aligned themselves with the Republican
Party and became the de facto propaganda wing of the
(21:04):
Republican Party in the United States of America, meaning that
the rest of the networks, which have their own biases.
To be fair, one of the things that you and
I work in is media, so we recognize even our
own bias and have to let people know about that.
We don't hide that from people. We know that that,
we don't try to pretend that we don't have the
(21:25):
reality we live. Look at my AFRO. I live a
black life and so do my children, So I don't
pretend like I don't know what I'm You know what
I mean, what that's like. In any event, for Fox News,
they had sort of the lion's share of viewers, and
(21:46):
then the rest of the news networks had to divide
up the rest, right, So imagine the country having two parties.
One network super serves to the degree of conspiracy theories
and you know hyper what is it when you freak
someone out? I forget the term, but whatever it is,
they were doing. So you get all those people tuned
(22:08):
in every day feeding off of the fear that you're peddling,
and then the rest of the country, the more liberal,
progressive side of the country, has to split up the
rest of these networks. Right on Fox News, you have
Tarker Carlson pedaling things like the great replacement theory. You know,
the Jews will not replace us theory. The Mexicans and
you know people in our southern border are invading us
(22:30):
because it's a liberal conspiracy to have more voters in
the country to topple the I don't know, they're conspiracy theories, right.
So for this whole time, folks that have been tuned
into that and still right now because they still doing
they didn't learn their lesson, were subjected to that, and
(22:53):
you know, these employees said that they've made the country
a lot less safe and indeed that is facts. Q
Sorry man, but you know anything you want to and
take your time here.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Man, No, don't be sorry.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
It's just I wish because of multiple lawsuits, you know,
Tucker Cross and dominion voting machines. In these cases where
Fox pretty much argued, hey, it's just opinion and entertainment
not news, that they should have been forced to remove
news from the name of the network. Then you know
(23:25):
what I mean, Like, if you guys are intentionally defaming,
intentionally lying, intentionally spreading lies and conspiracy theories, then then
take the news out of the name. Because, like you said,
they super they super serve an entire movement, and there's
no counter like even what they would call left wing media.
(23:48):
Steel had to give credence and airtime and amplification to
the rights messaging. You know that the liberal left wing
media played a big role in sane washing the president.
There's no counter to Fox News. Even the networks and
organizations that they would accuse of being extreme left, they
(24:10):
don't super serve the left. They actually in some cases
cannibalize themselves. So yeah, man, it's refreshing that there's a
such thing as whistleblowers here. They're anonymous that I'm guessing
they have to be to protect themselves. But I don't
think you or I are surprised by anything that you
(24:30):
just read, You know what I mean, Like, I think
this is what we suspected all along.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, all right, let's move on to better, do better.
Donald Trump commutes George Santos's prison sentence. Jicky, all right,
This from the Associated Press. President Donald Trump said Friday
he had commuted the sentence of former US Representative George Santos,
who was slated to serve more than seven years in
(24:55):
federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft charges. Joseph,
one of Santos's lawyers, told the Associated Press late Friday
that the former lawmaker was released from the Federal Correctional
Institution in Faardon, New Jersey, around eleven PM and was
greeted outside the facility by his family. The New York
Republican was sentenced in April after admitting last year to
(25:16):
deceiving donors and stealing the identities of eleven people, including
his own family members, to make donations to his campaign.
He reported to FCI Fairton on July twenty fifth, and
was housed in a minimum security prison camp with fewer
than fifty other inmates. Quote George Santos was somewhat of
a rogue, but there were many rogues throughout our country
(25:36):
that aren't forced to serve seven years in prison unquote.
Trump posted on his social media platform he said he
had quote just signed a commutation releasing George Santos from
prison immediately. That's all in capital letters. He goes on
to say, good luck, George, have a great life, all right.
Santos's account on x which has been active throughout his
(25:58):
roughly eighty four days in prison, reposted a screenshot of
Trump's truth social post Friday. During his time behind bars,
Santos has been writing regular dispatches in a local newspaper
on Long Island, in which he mainly complained about the
prison conditions. In his latest letter, though, he pleaded to
Trump directly, citing his fealty to the president's agenda and
to the Republican Party. Quote, Sir, I appeal to your
(26:20):
sense of justice and humanity, the same qualities that have
inspired millions of Americans to believe in you, unquote, he
wrote in the South Shore Press on October thirteenth. It
goes on to say, I humbly ask that you consider
the unusual pain and hardship, this environment, of this environment.
Sorry and allow me the opportunity to return to my family,
my friends, and my community unquote. So obviously better do
(26:45):
better is well deserved here. George Santos lied to the
American people. He's more than a rogue, and Donald Trump
is trying to I think Q use the term say
wash him. He is a liar, he's a fraud. He
lied to the American people. I remember the I'm not Jewish,
I'm Jewish, right, Him stealing money, misappropriating funds, him misrepresenting
(27:17):
his background, his education, his business dealings, all that sort
of stuff simply to you know, I guess, gain power.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I'm not sure what he was trying to do with this,
But for Donald Trump to then say, you know what,
eighty four days, you've learned your lesson, you're out, you
know whatever, and it's not even at least the last
I checked, I'm not even sure that he's going to
be paying restitution to the families that he, you know,
took their money from. This feels like it feels inconsistent
(27:59):
with a publicans Like if I said that this was
a DEI maneuver, because he didn't earn it. You know,
he didn't do anything in the eighty four days that
suggests to me or anyone else that you know, I
just I just don't understand Republicans. If they were the
law and order party, then if they were the you
know what I'm trying to say, Q, it just blows
(28:20):
my mind.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
They want law and order for you, not for them.
What are you talking about, Like, that's the whole show
for them. You need to be held accountable, you need
to be stripped of your rights, you need to serve
your time if you commit the crime.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
We just had a bad day and deserve to have
a good life.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Well, I think that one of the things that we're
going to take from this is that this administration, I mean,
I think we knew it a long time ago, but
this administration really has no floor. There is no there's
no bottom here. This person committed a crime that everybody
(29:05):
knows he committed. There's no two two ways about it.
He admitted that he committed the crimes, and he went
to jail for eighty four days. And as you mentioned,
you know, Donald Trump pardons him is like, have a
great life, and he was complaining about the conditions in
the prison, and you know, I think, Okay, how about
all the black and brown and marginalized people that are
(29:26):
locked up in prisons that don't have an advocate and
a platform and a voice. Are they not human too?
Are they not worth? You know, the same consideration given
to this. I wouldn't even call him a mediocre. I
don't know if he's white, I don't know his background,
but he's less than mediocre. He's a liar, he's a failure,
(29:50):
so he better do better.