July 16, 2025 • 28 mins
On part 2 of today's podcast, Hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward share how NBA great Shaquille O'Neal is coming to the defense of WNBA star Angel Reese.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Still broadcasting from the civic side.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
For studios, this is the QR code where we share perspective,
seek understanding and shape. Outcomes the man on the microphone
who is the Q in QR code.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
The incredibly attractive.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Incredibly talented, and incredibly well measured individual.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
He goes by the name Q Ward and the man
who describes himself and then says, my name is the
rn QR code and he goes by the name of
Rams's Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
In this half of the show, stick around because we
are going to be talking about how Republicans moved to
block the vote to release the Epstein files. There is
a surprising twist, especially given some of what we've covered recently.
To me, but Q might have some perspective on that,
and I'm seeing you, so I'm.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Excited here what your thoughts are.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We're also going to be talking about Shaquille O'Neill defending
Angel Reese from RG three for those that know, so q'
is gonna definitely shine some light on us. But first
it is time for Q wors clapback and he's going
to talk to us about how the tough on crime
right wing seems soft on crime when it involves them.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I know, these these clapbacks, I don't think we'll ever
run out of things to clap back about because there's
there's so much and a lot of it falls. I
could kind of umbrella hypocrisy over all of all of
(01:37):
the clapbacks, Yeah, because that's really what we're clapping clapping
back against. It's like there's all these rules and standards
and things that apply to everyone but those who are
saying them the loudest, So the.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Right as they campaign.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Over the years, kind of like all of our adult life,
it's always been this like beware of the on coming
crime wave and let us be the ones to stop it.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
You know, crime wave coming.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
These people are coming across the border to rape and
kill and destroy and steal and pillage and take your
jobs and all this, you know crime that they want
to fight and protect us from. But when it comes
to corporate and political crime by themselves or their colleagues
or those that financially support them.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Dead silent.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, right, So, like we want to expose hypocrisy as
often as we can in language that's very easy to understand.
So that's why we do this, That's why I do this. Yeah, right,
They love to tell you about these crime waves, and
they show you these videos of stores being looted and
fights in the street, and they like stoke fear and
(02:51):
then they present themselves as protector. But it's funny they
never actually mention the crime wave that actually pays, you know,
crimes that they're silent about because they're the ones committing them.
They're the ones pulling the trigger, they're the ones making
the decisions. So you turn on the news and you'll
(03:11):
see endless coverage of like retail theft, and you know,
politicians pounding the podium screaming about law and order and
calling cities, especially inner cities where people are poor and
brown war zones and they promise they're going to crack
down and more police and more police because more fear
means more money for more police. They want you to
(03:33):
think that crime only happens on street corners, only poor
brown people commit crimes. It's only what those people do.
And it's an old playbook, but it's proven to be
an effective one. You know, blame the visible, vulnerable, repeat
offenders and ignore the suits and ties and the violent
(03:55):
extremists that they inspire with this rhetoric. So a stat
that you probably don't hear or see, is that wage
theft steals over fifteen billion dollars from workers every year.
That's b billion. That's more than all property crime losses combined.
(04:20):
But you don't see police raiding corporate offices behind that,
No mugshots of the CEOs that get all these big bonuses.
But they'll lock you up for stealing a candy bar
from a grocery store because you're hungry. But they can
steal millions from workers by cheating them on overtime, and
(04:41):
they pay a fine if that price fixing to make
medicine cost too much for you to afford it. Environmental violations.
Ramses has talked many times about environmental racism, poison in
our food banks, laundering money, big farm of pushing opioids
that kill hundreds of thousands of people. You see any
(05:05):
CEOs and handcuffs, any of them getting perp walked, or
do they just pay the fine and keep the profits
that far exceed what they have to pay in fines.
One of those CEOs gets killed, and God bless his
family and everybody that had to lose someone. And the
person that kills them gets called a terrorist. But right
(05:27):
wing extremists with a list of Democratic lawmakers, kills two
of them and tries to kill more. They don't even
attempt to use that word white supremacy. Has a hard
time holding white supremacists accountable.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
That's a bar.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Don't forget this. We're expected to just ignore a corporate
and political crimes. Just ignore it, especially if it lines
up with the rights ideology. When someone that's radicalized by
their rhetoric murders democratic lawmakers, they're completely quiet. There's no
rants on Fox News about the crime waves, no wall
(06:05):
to wall covers demanding crackdowns and decreeing that political violence
in any way is bad. No law and order speeches
to stop the threat, and God forbid cost somebody white
a terrorist because it doesn't fit their narratives. They rather
protect their brands than confront the violence that their rhetoric creates.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
So here's the truth.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
If you're actually outraged about crime, be outraged about all crime,
not just viral videos, not just poor black and brown people,
but the crime that steals wages from workers, that poisonous communities,
and that rigs our democracy, the violence that kills people
(06:49):
because they disagree with your politics. If your warn crime
only targets poor people while protecting powerful people. It's clear
it was never about justice in the first place. It's
all about keeping your place, securing your space. I know
(07:11):
that might feel uncomfortable to hear for some but Rams
and I will remind you every time these microphones come on,
we are not here for your comfort. You're not trying
to make you be comfortable with the lies that you tell.
We are here to try to highlight and amplify the
truth the best that we can.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, it reminds me of a bar. It's cool
when they do it. It's a problem when I do it,
you know what I mean. And that's something that I've
seen obviously for years now. But I just it's a
trip how people are risingly okay with it and how
(08:02):
they are able to continue to get away with not
being held accountable to the same standards that they hold
everyone else accountable.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So well said.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
All right, moving on, let's talk about the Epstein files,
because yes, Republicans have moved to block the vote to
release those files. So this from the Black Information Nowhere House.
Republicans have blocked a move that could have forced the
Trump administration to release the files on the sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein's death and investigation. On July fourteenth, the House
(08:33):
Rules Committee voted five to seven against Democratic amendment that
would have allowed Congress to vote on whether the Epstein
files should be made public. Per Newsweek, Controversy surrounding the
files reignited after the Justice Department recently released a memo
stating that Epstein didn't keep a secret list of the
clients to whom he allegedly trafficked his victims.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
This systematic review revealed no incriminating client list. The memo
read those ought to say there was also no credible
evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of
his actions unquote. The DLJ also confirmed that Epstein died
by suicide and custody in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein
committed suicide in his cell at the Metropology Metropolitan Correctional
Center in New York City on August tenth, twenty nineteen,
per the memo. The memo spark criticism from across the aisle,
as Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said that the alleged
Epstein list was quote sitting on my desk right now
(09:32):
to review on unquote.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
In February.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Many Trump supporters had anticipated the release of the new
details on the high profile case after the president returned office.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk previously called on Trump to release
the files as promised, and claimed in a now deleted
social media post that the President's name appeared on the
long rumored list of celebrities connected to the alleged sex trafficker.
Trump has attempted to steer the conversation away from Epstein,
(09:56):
saying he doesn't understand why people are quote still talking
about this creep on quote. Ahead of Monday's vote, California
Democratic Congressman Roe Conna brought forth an amendment to tack
on to the Genius Act that would have forced Bondi
to publish the Epstein documents on a publicly accessible website.
All but one of the GOP members of the House
Rules Committee voted against the amendment. Although there is no
(10:17):
evidence that Trump is mentioned in any files related to Epstein,
Republicans moved to Blockett's release field speculation of a cover
up See how social media users really act online Now
So anyway, this is weird to me, man, this is
this is really weird, and I think.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
This is weird.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think this is weird to a lot of people
because this isn't this is beyond like sexual like a
sexual deviant. This is something that involves children. And nobody
likes child predators. Nobody likes child predators. But I I
feel like, and you can correct me if I'm wrong,
(11:02):
c you, but I feel like, while nobody likes child predators,
that's fair to say the right is obsessed with child predators,
like they any like. I mean, how would I say this.
I gotta be careful here. It comes up so much
(11:24):
more often when they when they hate you, they want
to associate you with some sort of somehow you're harming children, right,
or children are affected by it?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
They associate crime with, you know, child molesters, and it's
something that they say so frequently. Right, It's because I
think it stirs the passions of people who are parents, right,
people who have children, Oh my gosh, I need to
protect my children from these these specific types of criminals.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So I see how the right really would want this
list to be released. And it also kind of flies
in the face of Okay, so Donald Trump is somebody
that is free and clear of this. He's going to
be the person that comes and saves us from this.
Yes they were friends, but nothing, nothing incriminating about Donald
(12:20):
Trump was in that list, and once the list comes out,
he will be exonerated. Right, And now his Department of
Justice all of a sudden is doing it about face
on these files, saying, oh, actually there's nothing to see
here that. Yes, of course, it would upset a lot
of folks on the right, who I guess put their
trust in this guy. How I don't know, but now
(12:45):
everyone seems to be like upset about it, and even
Republicans are kind of providing additional cover because they're blocking
the vote to have the files released publicly. What files
do exist, right, So even these movements to try to
get more information available to the public made available to
(13:08):
the public, the Republicans are standing in the way. And
so the voter base I think is more and more
upset and in sensed by these behaviors. It just feels
like a huge letdown. Where As you mentioned on a
recent episode, Republicans, Republican voters thought that once this list
came out, they would be able to own the Libs.
And now it looks like Donald Trump is protecting himself
(13:32):
and that's a breakneck about face for this administration.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
So talk to me.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
You you know, the very interesting thing about that is
there's kind of a split. I don't think it will
last because we've seen the Right and Maga specifically about
face on everything he does, no matter how bad it is,
no matter how outlandish, like extreme, it seems, find a way,
(14:03):
even the most Christian of them find a way to
you know, find their way back to supporting him somehow
with some strange justificunity. They do gymnastics like I've ever
never seen before, like gold metal level gymnastics. But remember
when they thought these implications would put democrats in the crosshairs,
(14:25):
Like they made up entire like child trafficking rings and
secret peace what I'm trying to say, Yeah, remember that. Yeah,
that's what I was going with it, but you beat
me to it.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Anyone they disagreed with. They just put in this like cabal.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Of child predators that were doing all this nefarious stuff.
And it's like now we have like you know, flight
logs and witness lists, actual yeah, actual documentation videos, and
Republicans vote not to make that stuff accessible. It goes right,
(15:03):
years of demanding it be made public now because it
might implicate their guy.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Silence.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That's so gross. If they stand that they're standing.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Rallies, Well there's no If Republicans voted to not make
this information.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Public, Yeah, that's fair. Wow, that's no.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Rallies, no hashtags, no town halls, right, because it's I
keep bringing this up because it was the strangest thing
to be said to me during an argument. It's not
about data, it's not about facts. It's about rhetoric and narrative.
They weaponized that fear to keep people angry and divided.
They turn child's safety into their sacred responsibility, but then
(15:51):
use it as a partisan bludgeon, like we are the
ones protecting the children, But now when we can protect
the children, even if it tears down some people on
the left, So what we want to see it we
want those people held accountable, no matter who they are.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
But it was never about that. They wanted to.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Smear people's reputations with no proof and paint themselves as
like the righteous hero. So it's like, what do we
do rams like when they can just lie about face
and job.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I changed my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
It's like playing rock paper scissors with somebody and they
lose and they just change the game. They and no,
these aren't scissors, these are swords.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Like okay, then yeah, I guess you win. Like there's
no rules, they don't.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
They can just lie and just be wrong and just
change what they just said. It's like you see all
these Twitter posts of people, it's showing like what they
said when they thought it was Joe Biden and what
they're saying now that they think it might be Donald
Trump saying people screaming all caps exclamation marks make the
(17:03):
Epstein files public are now saying, man, why are we
still talking about this Epstein stuff?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, the same people.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's it's incredibly frustrating and disheartening and scary, man, like
there's no bottom anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Rams.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
That reminds me of do you remember when people were
talking about how you need to pay back your loans
for COVID, those COVID loans, what are the PPP loans?
And they were like, oh, you need to pay back
your student loans. That was it. You need to pay
back your student loans. People shouldn't borrow money if they
can't pay it back. People need to learn about responsibility.
And then the White House Twitter account was showing how
(17:43):
they took out PPP loans and didn't pay them back
and they had their loans forgiven. So yeah, there's again
to your point in your clap back, there's so much
hypocrisy that seems to come from that side of the aisle,
and it's they just have a new narrative and there's
enough people to support it that it just you know,
but we see it. So that's that's one good thing
(18:04):
that we're doing. We see it and we call it out.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So we got it. We got our job to do too.
So moving on, let's talk about some entertainment.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
This is from Sports Illustrated dot or SI dot com.
I should say so she kill O'Neill defends Angel Reese
from RG three X. NFL quarterback Robert Griffin the Third,
who became a prominent sports media personality after his playing
career ended, made a July tenth X post that made
(18:37):
surprising claims about Chicago skystar Angel Reese. RG three's post
shared a racist photo edit of Reese's NBA two K
two six cover, and in condemning it, it included him saying, quote,
I have been quiet on their Angel Rees front because
she shared a video that aided in my wife, kid's
family and friends receiving death threats. That will never be
(18:58):
okay with me. I never attacked her or her family
when I stated and backed up with clear basketball evidence
that Angel Reaves hates Kitlyn Clark. It's sports. Everybody won't
like each other. People in Angel's inner circle called me
and told me I was right, and Angel Rees has
grown to hate Caitlyn Clark because the media is always
(19:19):
asking her about Caitlin and being constantly compared to her.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Unquote.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
This post caused a major stir within the women's basketball community,
and Reese's mother even commented on her, calling RG three
out for lying. NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who is one
of Reese's mentors, put RG three on blast during a
July fifteenth episode of Off the Record podcast. Quote RG
three tweet another monkey post about my girl, Angel Reyes,
(19:43):
and I'm going to punch you in your expletive deleted face.
This is from Shack, by the way, he goes on
to say, it's enough. I don't really I don't usually
do stuff like this, but stop it, bro, You got
your job, you got your podcast. Leave my angel Reese alone,
I'm the one her and telling her not to respond.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Expletive deleted. Stop it.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's the last time he goes on to ad leave
Reese and Caitlin Clark alone. You already spoke on it.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Let it go.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So what he hates he hates her so expletive deleted.
What I hate you now RG three for messing with her?
Now what say something about me? Angela is not soft
by any means. She's from the streets. But I'm like,
you're beautiful, don't indulge with these fools, because he's a
fool unquote all right. So I don't know, man, I
(20:33):
haven't followed this so closely, and I know that you
tend to follow these a little bit more closely. Is
there something I'm missing from the beginning or maybe some
context to hear that explains why this guy's so upset.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
And for people who don't follow women's basketball, that's that's
kind of where the conversation starts. I talked about Juneteenth
to PhD classes at Universe Cities, trying to help people
understand the significance of the holiday and then welcome people
(21:06):
to celebrate it with us. But we had to acknowledge
there were going to be some that showed up for
that party clumsily, that didn't know exactly how to celebrate
or how to be allies, or how to celebrate with us,
or how to show up. And when they tried to
be supportive and misstepped, we couldn't just knock their heads off,
(21:27):
like there has to be some grace, There has to
be some some runway. Angel Rees and Caitlin Clark as
a rivalry have skyrocketed women's basketball into the stratosphere.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
All the data proves it.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And what started to happen, as is the case in
this country, the midwestern white woman got all the credit
for it, not the urban black woman who won the
national championship against her. To imagine that they clash on
(22:11):
the biggest stage, and by you, Barbie wins, and by you,
Barbie does this hand gesture made popular by WWE superstar
John Cena, you can't see me.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Away in front of the space, or she did that,
I remember.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
That, But she did that in response to Caitlin Clark,
who had been doing that two opponents all season, except
when Angel did it, they villainized her for it. They
dragged her over the coals for being unsportsmanlike. It just
made her the bad guy. And she's like, wait, I'm
the only reason I'm doing it is because she does
(22:51):
it to people. And this time we won. I'm the
national champion. I get to celebrate just like she does.
So that narrative has followed them once they got to
the WNBA, ratings skyrocketed, and all Angel was saying in
an interview early on in that season was, hey, it's
(23:11):
not just her. She wasn't saying it's not just her,
it's me. She was saying, it's not just her, it's
we collectively. All these women contribute to this thing, and
it's unfair to give all the credit to that one player,
who again I beat in the national championship. So now
(23:32):
that they've been in the league, they're constantly compared to
each other. They are rivals, they are competitors, they play
hard against each other, and of course they're not best friends.
But people want to make it this personal, you know,
racially charged thing that a lot of the fans have
taken on. You know, the worst of us have used
(23:54):
Caitlin Clark as an avatar. So the Midwestern white girl
who's really good, you know, as you can imagine, MAGA
got behind her, and eventually she had to realize that
wasn't the type of support she wanted, and when she
started to speak up about it, they turned their back
on her immediately. So RG three earlier this year, Caitlyn
(24:17):
filed Angel really hard. And like every person that's ever
played basketball ever, when somebody files you really hard, or
pushes you or hits you or does anything to you
that's physically violent, you react to it. But because it's
the two of them, it's amplified. And RG three got
to his platform and said, Angel Reese clearly hates Caitlyn
(24:40):
Clark and went on this long tirade about it.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
And wait, you said, real quick, you said that Caitlyn
Clark fouled Angel Reese really hard. He goes on his
show and saying that Angel Reese hates Kaitlyn Clark even
though she was the one he.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Hates Caitlyn Clark, even though she's the one that was
filed hard. Oh so I heard it right, because she
reacted to being filed hard, so obviously she hates her.
And it's like, you would never do that if ramses
and Q were hooping and Ramses shoved Q to the ground,
and Q jumped up like, hey, what you doing? Oh?
Q obviously hates Ramsey's jah. Yeah, that would never happen.
(25:18):
It's never happened in men's sports. So these men who
are showing up now to the w NBA clumsily are
jumping to all these odd conclusions. And when RG three
was called out on this, he doubled down on it
because people from all over were like, yo, she deals
with enough, Like there's enough people trying to tear her down.
(25:40):
A prominent black man doesn't need to join in on
that side of the argument.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
RG three is really prominent.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Yeah, he's a.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Heisman Trophy winner, you know, number one draft pick, Like
he was a really good player. He got injured and
that cut his career for but he was a really
good player. And it's a really you know, a prominent
voice in professional sports. He's not shock, but he's a
professional that works in that space.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
And has a platform.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I don't use it to tear her down, this young
black woman that enough people are already tearing down. So
he got a lot of backlash about it, and then
he tried to flip it and make it like she
cost him some type of harm. No, you jumped off
the cliff talking bad about her, and people responded to
you and called out the fact that you're missing a
lot in the way of culture when it comes to
black women. You know, he's very famously married to a
(26:27):
white woman, which wouldn't matter except for the positions that
he takes. It's always kind of opposite of the culture.
So that's just something that people point to. Most recently,
a fan created a cover of the very popular game
NBA two K. NBA two K shout out to Ronnie
(26:49):
two K made Andrew Reese one of their cover athletes,
which is a huge deal. Only one person gets to cover,
so think of all the basketball player they put her
on it. So a fan or an idiot took that
cover and made it a monkey and her uniform and
(27:12):
her shoes. RG three, pretending to be speaking out against racism,
reposted the picture and after he says, you know, we
all agree that racism is wrong, continued on his angel
hates Caitlyn, and the angel has done me. I talked
(27:35):
to her inner circle and they proved that she hates Caitlyn.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
He didn't talk to her in a circle.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, I see what he did.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Okay, So, as you know, he took that moment and
made it about him and shared that cover that people
wouldn't have saw. Some random person made it. When you
post it, you make it a real thing. Yeah, talked
about it and said it was wrong without reposting it yourself.
So he showed up very clumsily in his whole situation.
It looks like a clown.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
He sounds like one too, So well, shoot, man, he
should have been on our better do better.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
There's a lot of people that got a.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Long way to go, man, But we're going to be
here for him as long as we can be, so
that in mind, that's going to do it for us
here at the QR Code. As always, today's show is
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.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
While you're there, be.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Also,
be sure to check us out on all social media
at Civic Cipher. I have been your host and you
can find me at Ramsey's Job on all social media.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
I am q Ward on all social media as well.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
And be sure to join us next time as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the QR code. And until then, y'all peace, peace,
Still broadcasting from the civic side.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
For studios, this is the QR code where we share perspective,
seek understanding and shape. Outcomes the man on the microphone
who is the Q in QR code.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
The incredibly attractive.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Incredibly talented, and incredibly well measured individual.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
He goes by the name Q Ward and the man
who describes himself and then says, my name is the
rn QR code and he goes by the name of
Rams's Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
In this half of the show, stick around because we
are going to be talking about how Republicans moved to
block the vote to release the Epstein files. There is
a surprising twist, especially given some of what we've covered recently.
To me, but Q might have some perspective on that,
and I'm seeing you, so I'm.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Excited here what your thoughts are.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We're also going to be talking about Shaquille O'Neill defending
Angel Reese from RG three for those that know, so q'
is gonna definitely shine some light on us. But first
it is time for Q wors clapback and he's going
to talk to us about how the tough on crime
right wing seems soft on crime when it involves them.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I know, these these clapbacks, I don't think we'll ever
run out of things to clap back about because there's
there's so much and a lot of it falls. I
could kind of umbrella hypocrisy over all of all of
(01:37):
the clapbacks, Yeah, because that's really what we're clapping clapping
back against. It's like there's all these rules and standards
and things that apply to everyone but those who are
saying them the loudest, So the.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Right as they campaign.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Over the years, kind of like all of our adult life,
it's always been this like beware of the on coming
crime wave and let us be the ones to stop it.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
You know, crime wave coming.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
These people are coming across the border to rape and
kill and destroy and steal and pillage and take your
jobs and all this, you know crime that they want
to fight and protect us from. But when it comes
to corporate and political crime by themselves or their colleagues
or those that financially support them.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Dead silent.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, right, So, like we want to expose hypocrisy as
often as we can in language that's very easy to understand.
So that's why we do this, That's why I do this. Yeah, right,
They love to tell you about these crime waves, and
they show you these videos of stores being looted and
fights in the street, and they like stoke fear and
(02:51):
then they present themselves as protector. But it's funny they
never actually mention the crime wave that actually pays, you know,
crimes that they're silent about because they're the ones committing them.
They're the ones pulling the trigger, they're the ones making
the decisions. So you turn on the news and you'll
(03:11):
see endless coverage of like retail theft, and you know,
politicians pounding the podium screaming about law and order and
calling cities, especially inner cities where people are poor and
brown war zones and they promise they're going to crack
down and more police and more police because more fear
means more money for more police. They want you to
(03:33):
think that crime only happens on street corners, only poor
brown people commit crimes. It's only what those people do.
And it's an old playbook, but it's proven to be
an effective one. You know, blame the visible, vulnerable, repeat
offenders and ignore the suits and ties and the violent
(03:55):
extremists that they inspire with this rhetoric. So a stat
that you probably don't hear or see, is that wage
theft steals over fifteen billion dollars from workers every year.
That's b billion. That's more than all property crime losses combined.
(04:20):
But you don't see police raiding corporate offices behind that,
No mugshots of the CEOs that get all these big bonuses.
But they'll lock you up for stealing a candy bar
from a grocery store because you're hungry. But they can
steal millions from workers by cheating them on overtime, and
(04:41):
they pay a fine if that price fixing to make
medicine cost too much for you to afford it. Environmental violations.
Ramses has talked many times about environmental racism, poison in
our food banks, laundering money, big farm of pushing opioids
that kill hundreds of thousands of people. You see any
(05:05):
CEOs and handcuffs, any of them getting perp walked, or
do they just pay the fine and keep the profits
that far exceed what they have to pay in fines.
One of those CEOs gets killed, and God bless his
family and everybody that had to lose someone. And the
person that kills them gets called a terrorist. But right
(05:27):
wing extremists with a list of Democratic lawmakers, kills two
of them and tries to kill more. They don't even
attempt to use that word white supremacy. Has a hard
time holding white supremacists accountable.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
That's a bar.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Don't forget this. We're expected to just ignore a corporate
and political crimes. Just ignore it, especially if it lines
up with the rights ideology. When someone that's radicalized by
their rhetoric murders democratic lawmakers, they're completely quiet. There's no
rants on Fox News about the crime waves, no wall
(06:05):
to wall covers demanding crackdowns and decreeing that political violence
in any way is bad. No law and order speeches
to stop the threat, and God forbid cost somebody white
a terrorist because it doesn't fit their narratives. They rather
protect their brands than confront the violence that their rhetoric creates.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
So here's the truth.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
If you're actually outraged about crime, be outraged about all crime,
not just viral videos, not just poor black and brown people,
but the crime that steals wages from workers, that poisonous communities,
and that rigs our democracy, the violence that kills people
(06:49):
because they disagree with your politics. If your warn crime
only targets poor people while protecting powerful people. It's clear
it was never about justice in the first place. It's
all about keeping your place, securing your space. I know
(07:11):
that might feel uncomfortable to hear for some but Rams
and I will remind you every time these microphones come on,
we are not here for your comfort. You're not trying
to make you be comfortable with the lies that you tell.
We are here to try to highlight and amplify the
truth the best that we can.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, it reminds me of a bar. It's cool
when they do it. It's a problem when I do it,
you know what I mean. And that's something that I've
seen obviously for years now. But I just it's a
trip how people are risingly okay with it and how
(08:02):
they are able to continue to get away with not
being held accountable to the same standards that they hold
everyone else accountable.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So well said.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
All right, moving on, let's talk about the Epstein files,
because yes, Republicans have moved to block the vote to
release those files. So this from the Black Information Nowhere House.
Republicans have blocked a move that could have forced the
Trump administration to release the files on the sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein's death and investigation. On July fourteenth, the House
(08:33):
Rules Committee voted five to seven against Democratic amendment that
would have allowed Congress to vote on whether the Epstein
files should be made public. Per Newsweek, Controversy surrounding the
files reignited after the Justice Department recently released a memo
stating that Epstein didn't keep a secret list of the
clients to whom he allegedly trafficked his victims.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
This systematic review revealed no incriminating client list. The memo
read those ought to say there was also no credible
evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of
his actions unquote. The DLJ also confirmed that Epstein died
by suicide and custody in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein
committed suicide in his cell at the Metropology Metropolitan Correctional
Center in New York City on August tenth, twenty nineteen,
per the memo. The memo spark criticism from across the aisle,
as Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said that the alleged
Epstein list was quote sitting on my desk right now
(09:32):
to review on unquote.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
In February.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Many Trump supporters had anticipated the release of the new
details on the high profile case after the president returned office.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk previously called on Trump to release
the files as promised, and claimed in a now deleted
social media post that the President's name appeared on the
long rumored list of celebrities connected to the alleged sex trafficker.
Trump has attempted to steer the conversation away from Epstein,
(09:56):
saying he doesn't understand why people are quote still talking
about this creep on quote. Ahead of Monday's vote, California
Democratic Congressman Roe Conna brought forth an amendment to tack
on to the Genius Act that would have forced Bondi
to publish the Epstein documents on a publicly accessible website.
All but one of the GOP members of the House
Rules Committee voted against the amendment. Although there is no
(10:17):
evidence that Trump is mentioned in any files related to Epstein,
Republicans moved to Blockett's release field speculation of a cover
up See how social media users really act online Now
So anyway, this is weird to me, man, this is
this is really weird, and I think.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
This is weird.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think this is weird to a lot of people
because this isn't this is beyond like sexual like a
sexual deviant. This is something that involves children. And nobody
likes child predators. Nobody likes child predators. But I I
feel like, and you can correct me if I'm wrong,
(11:02):
c you, but I feel like, while nobody likes child predators,
that's fair to say the right is obsessed with child predators,
like they any like. I mean, how would I say this.
I gotta be careful here. It comes up so much
(11:24):
more often when they when they hate you, they want
to associate you with some sort of somehow you're harming children, right,
or children are affected by it?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
They associate crime with, you know, child molesters, and it's
something that they say so frequently. Right, It's because I
think it stirs the passions of people who are parents, right,
people who have children, Oh my gosh, I need to
protect my children from these these specific types of criminals.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So I see how the right really would want this
list to be released. And it also kind of flies
in the face of Okay, so Donald Trump is somebody
that is free and clear of this. He's going to
be the person that comes and saves us from this.
Yes they were friends, but nothing, nothing incriminating about Donald
(12:20):
Trump was in that list, and once the list comes out,
he will be exonerated. Right, And now his Department of
Justice all of a sudden is doing it about face
on these files, saying, oh, actually there's nothing to see
here that. Yes, of course, it would upset a lot
of folks on the right, who I guess put their
trust in this guy. How I don't know, but now
(12:45):
everyone seems to be like upset about it, and even
Republicans are kind of providing additional cover because they're blocking
the vote to have the files released publicly. What files
do exist, right, So even these movements to try to
get more information available to the public made available to
(13:08):
the public, the Republicans are standing in the way. And
so the voter base I think is more and more
upset and in sensed by these behaviors. It just feels
like a huge letdown. Where As you mentioned on a
recent episode, Republicans, Republican voters thought that once this list
came out, they would be able to own the Libs.
And now it looks like Donald Trump is protecting himself
(13:32):
and that's a breakneck about face for this administration.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
So talk to me.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
You you know, the very interesting thing about that is
there's kind of a split. I don't think it will
last because we've seen the Right and Maga specifically about
face on everything he does, no matter how bad it is,
no matter how outlandish, like extreme, it seems, find a way,
(14:03):
even the most Christian of them find a way to
you know, find their way back to supporting him somehow
with some strange justificunity. They do gymnastics like I've ever
never seen before, like gold metal level gymnastics. But remember
when they thought these implications would put democrats in the crosshairs,
(14:25):
Like they made up entire like child trafficking rings and
secret peace what I'm trying to say, Yeah, remember that. Yeah,
that's what I was going with it, but you beat
me to it.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Anyone they disagreed with. They just put in this like cabal.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Of child predators that were doing all this nefarious stuff.
And it's like now we have like you know, flight
logs and witness lists, actual yeah, actual documentation videos, and
Republicans vote not to make that stuff accessible. It goes right,
(15:03):
years of demanding it be made public now because it
might implicate their guy.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Silence.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That's so gross. If they stand that they're standing.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Rallies, Well there's no If Republicans voted to not make
this information.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Public, Yeah, that's fair. Wow, that's no.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Rallies, no hashtags, no town halls, right, because it's I
keep bringing this up because it was the strangest thing
to be said to me during an argument. It's not
about data, it's not about facts. It's about rhetoric and narrative.
They weaponized that fear to keep people angry and divided.
They turn child's safety into their sacred responsibility, but then
(15:51):
use it as a partisan bludgeon, like we are the
ones protecting the children, But now when we can protect
the children, even if it tears down some people on
the left, So what we want to see it we
want those people held accountable, no matter who they are.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
But it was never about that. They wanted to.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Smear people's reputations with no proof and paint themselves as
like the righteous hero. So it's like, what do we
do rams like when they can just lie about face
and job.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I changed my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
It's like playing rock paper scissors with somebody and they
lose and they just change the game. They and no,
these aren't scissors, these are swords.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Like okay, then yeah, I guess you win. Like there's
no rules, they don't.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
They can just lie and just be wrong and just
change what they just said. It's like you see all
these Twitter posts of people, it's showing like what they
said when they thought it was Joe Biden and what
they're saying now that they think it might be Donald
Trump saying people screaming all caps exclamation marks make the
(17:03):
Epstein files public are now saying, man, why are we
still talking about this Epstein stuff?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, the same people.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's it's incredibly frustrating and disheartening and scary, man, like
there's no bottom anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Rams.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
That reminds me of do you remember when people were
talking about how you need to pay back your loans
for COVID, those COVID loans, what are the PPP loans?
And they were like, oh, you need to pay back
your student loans. That was it. You need to pay
back your student loans. People shouldn't borrow money if they
can't pay it back. People need to learn about responsibility.
And then the White House Twitter account was showing how
(17:43):
they took out PPP loans and didn't pay them back
and they had their loans forgiven. So yeah, there's again
to your point in your clap back, there's so much
hypocrisy that seems to come from that side of the aisle,
and it's they just have a new narrative and there's
enough people to support it that it just you know,
but we see it. So that's that's one good thing
(18:04):
that we're doing. We see it and we call it out.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So we got it. We got our job to do too.
So moving on, let's talk about some entertainment.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
This is from Sports Illustrated dot or SI dot com.
I should say so she kill O'Neill defends Angel Reese
from RG three X. NFL quarterback Robert Griffin the Third,
who became a prominent sports media personality after his playing
career ended, made a July tenth X post that made
(18:37):
surprising claims about Chicago skystar Angel Reese. RG three's post
shared a racist photo edit of Reese's NBA two K
two six cover, and in condemning it, it included him saying, quote,
I have been quiet on their Angel Rees front because
she shared a video that aided in my wife, kid's
family and friends receiving death threats. That will never be
(18:58):
okay with me. I never attacked her or her family
when I stated and backed up with clear basketball evidence
that Angel Reaves hates Kitlyn Clark. It's sports. Everybody won't
like each other. People in Angel's inner circle called me
and told me I was right, and Angel Rees has
grown to hate Caitlyn Clark because the media is always
(19:19):
asking her about Caitlin and being constantly compared to her.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Unquote.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
This post caused a major stir within the women's basketball community,
and Reese's mother even commented on her, calling RG three
out for lying. NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who is one
of Reese's mentors, put RG three on blast during a
July fifteenth episode of Off the Record podcast. Quote RG
three tweet another monkey post about my girl, Angel Reyes,
(19:43):
and I'm going to punch you in your expletive deleted face.
This is from Shack, by the way, he goes on
to say, it's enough. I don't really I don't usually
do stuff like this, but stop it, bro, You got
your job, you got your podcast. Leave my angel Reese alone,
I'm the one her and telling her not to respond.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Expletive deleted. Stop it.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's the last time he goes on to ad leave
Reese and Caitlin Clark alone. You already spoke on it.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Let it go.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So what he hates he hates her so expletive deleted.
What I hate you now RG three for messing with her?
Now what say something about me? Angela is not soft
by any means. She's from the streets. But I'm like,
you're beautiful, don't indulge with these fools, because he's a
fool unquote all right. So I don't know, man, I
(20:33):
haven't followed this so closely, and I know that you
tend to follow these a little bit more closely. Is
there something I'm missing from the beginning or maybe some
context to hear that explains why this guy's so upset.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
And for people who don't follow women's basketball, that's that's
kind of where the conversation starts. I talked about Juneteenth
to PhD classes at Universe Cities, trying to help people
understand the significance of the holiday and then welcome people
(21:06):
to celebrate it with us. But we had to acknowledge
there were going to be some that showed up for
that party clumsily, that didn't know exactly how to celebrate
or how to be allies, or how to celebrate with us,
or how to show up. And when they tried to
be supportive and misstepped, we couldn't just knock their heads off,
(21:27):
like there has to be some grace, There has to
be some some runway. Angel Rees and Caitlin Clark as
a rivalry have skyrocketed women's basketball into the stratosphere.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
All the data proves it.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And what started to happen, as is the case in
this country, the midwestern white woman got all the credit
for it, not the urban black woman who won the
national championship against her. To imagine that they clash on
(22:11):
the biggest stage, and by you, Barbie wins, and by you,
Barbie does this hand gesture made popular by WWE superstar
John Cena, you can't see me.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Away in front of the space, or she did that,
I remember.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
That, But she did that in response to Caitlin Clark,
who had been doing that two opponents all season, except
when Angel did it, they villainized her for it. They
dragged her over the coals for being unsportsmanlike. It just
made her the bad guy. And she's like, wait, I'm
the only reason I'm doing it is because she does
(22:51):
it to people. And this time we won. I'm the
national champion. I get to celebrate just like she does.
So that narrative has followed them once they got to
the WNBA, ratings skyrocketed, and all Angel was saying in
an interview early on in that season was, hey, it's
(23:11):
not just her. She wasn't saying it's not just her,
it's me. She was saying, it's not just her, it's
we collectively. All these women contribute to this thing, and
it's unfair to give all the credit to that one player,
who again I beat in the national championship. So now
(23:32):
that they've been in the league, they're constantly compared to
each other. They are rivals, they are competitors, they play
hard against each other, and of course they're not best friends.
But people want to make it this personal, you know,
racially charged thing that a lot of the fans have
taken on. You know, the worst of us have used
(23:54):
Caitlin Clark as an avatar. So the Midwestern white girl
who's really good, you know, as you can imagine, MAGA
got behind her, and eventually she had to realize that
wasn't the type of support she wanted, and when she
started to speak up about it, they turned their back
on her immediately. So RG three earlier this year, Caitlyn
(24:17):
filed Angel really hard. And like every person that's ever
played basketball ever, when somebody files you really hard, or
pushes you or hits you or does anything to you
that's physically violent, you react to it. But because it's
the two of them, it's amplified. And RG three got
to his platform and said, Angel Reese clearly hates Caitlyn
(24:40):
Clark and went on this long tirade about it.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
And wait, you said, real quick, you said that Caitlyn
Clark fouled Angel Reese really hard. He goes on his
show and saying that Angel Reese hates Kaitlyn Clark even
though she was the one he.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Hates Caitlyn Clark, even though she's the one that was
filed hard. Oh so I heard it right, because she
reacted to being filed hard, so obviously she hates her.
And it's like, you would never do that if ramses
and Q were hooping and Ramses shoved Q to the ground,
and Q jumped up like, hey, what you doing? Oh?
Q obviously hates Ramsey's jah. Yeah, that would never happen.
(25:18):
It's never happened in men's sports. So these men who
are showing up now to the w NBA clumsily are
jumping to all these odd conclusions. And when RG three
was called out on this, he doubled down on it
because people from all over were like, yo, she deals
with enough, Like there's enough people trying to tear her down.
(25:40):
A prominent black man doesn't need to join in on
that side of the argument.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
RG three is really prominent.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Yeah, he's a.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Heisman Trophy winner, you know, number one draft pick, Like
he was a really good player. He got injured and
that cut his career for but he was a really
good player. And it's a really you know, a prominent
voice in professional sports. He's not shock, but he's a
professional that works in that space.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
And has a platform.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I don't use it to tear her down, this young
black woman that enough people are already tearing down. So
he got a lot of backlash about it, and then
he tried to flip it and make it like she
cost him some type of harm. No, you jumped off
the cliff talking bad about her, and people responded to
you and called out the fact that you're missing a
lot in the way of culture when it comes to
black women. You know, he's very famously married to a
(26:27):
white woman, which wouldn't matter except for the positions that
he takes. It's always kind of opposite of the culture.
So that's just something that people point to. Most recently,
a fan created a cover of the very popular game
NBA two K. NBA two K shout out to Ronnie
(26:49):
two K made Andrew Reese one of their cover athletes,
which is a huge deal. Only one person gets to cover,
so think of all the basketball player they put her
on it. So a fan or an idiot took that
cover and made it a monkey and her uniform and
(27:12):
her shoes. RG three, pretending to be speaking out against racism,
reposted the picture and after he says, you know, we
all agree that racism is wrong, continued on his angel
hates Caitlyn, and the angel has done me. I talked
(27:35):
to her inner circle and they proved that she hates Caitlyn.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
He didn't talk to her in a circle.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, I see what he did.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Okay, So, as you know, he took that moment and
made it about him and shared that cover that people
wouldn't have saw. Some random person made it. When you
post it, you make it a real thing. Yeah, talked
about it and said it was wrong without reposting it yourself.
So he showed up very clumsily in his whole situation.
It looks like a clown.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
He sounds like one too, So well, shoot, man, he
should have been on our better do better.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
There's a lot of people that got a.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Long way to go, man, But we're going to be
here for him as long as we can be, so
that in mind, that's going to do it for us
here at the QR Code. As always, today's show is
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.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
While you're there, be.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Also,
be sure to check us out on all social media
at Civic Cipher. I have been your host and you
can find me at Ramsey's Job on all social media.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
I am q Ward on all social media as well.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
And be sure to join us next time as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the QR code. And until then, y'all peace, peace,
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