December 10, 2024 • 52 mins
Borrette Lane Wine and Food Extravaganza
Guests: Hicham, Leo and Freddie
Wines: Bella Union 2022 Melange, Cade Howell Mountain 2019, Plumpjack Oakville Estate Cabernet 2019
Includes Political Discussion, morning Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Politics is as complex as wine, right?
(00:02):
It's wine and politics.
Wine and politics, exactly.
Wine and a Napa.
Wine and a Napa.
All right, here we go.
(00:30):
We are live.
This is Breaking Bread in Napa.
So for today, listeners, we are talking about the first annual
Borrette Lane Food and Wine Extravaganza.
And then we're going to go into a few topics
with the political landscape.
Obviously, Biden's resignation is certainly top of mind.
(00:53):
So we'll cover that in depth.
So with that, I'm going to go to just introducing our guests
today.
So Hisham, do you want to introduce yourself
and just what you do for a living?
Yes, so Hisham Jadi.
I am engineer, electrical engineer by education.
Been in the Bay Area, the California Bay Area
(01:14):
for about, what, 13 years right now.
Lived in Louisiana before that and Rhode Island
before that, before I moved to this country when I was 17
from Morocco.
Wonderful.
Nice to have you today.
Thank you.
Leo, how about you?
You want to tell us who you are and where you work at and come
from?
That would be great.
(01:34):
Yes, yes.
Hi there, Terri, and thank you.
Thank you for hosting us and thank you for all you've
done this weekend.
So I do live in the Bay Area as well.
I've been there about 15 years in San Francisco.
Before San Francisco, I was in Davis, Sacramento area
for about six years.
And I grew up in the Central Valley.
So near Bakersfield, small town.
(01:54):
So yay, Central Valley.
All right, there you go.
Awesome.
My profession, well, I'm a public servant.
So that's all I'm going to say on that.
All right.
And then our guest millennial here.
Yeah, I'm Freddie.
I live in West Oakland.
I'm a product manager in tech.
And originally from the East Coast,
(02:15):
I'm from the Philadelphia suburbs.
So hopefully can bring some of that side
to this conversation as well.
Awesome, awesome.
Thank you so much.
And thank you, gentlemen.
So with that, we're going to go to the wines
that we tasted yesterday.
So we tasted the Bella Union 2022 Melange white blend
(02:36):
from Carnero.
So let's start with that one.
Impressions, did you like it?
Did you not like it?
What did you like about it?
What didn't you like?
And then how did it pair well with the food
that we ate last night, which was, oh my god,
it was so incredible.
Just to give a quick rundown, we
had lunch yesterday with a chicken shawarma
(02:57):
with a Greek salad with homemade tahini and tzatziki
sauces.
We've had appetizers, a grilled octopus,
along with some brochetta.
And then for dinner, we had an amazing homemade fresh pasta
with arugula and dried tomato pesto.
With the final meal was the salt-crusted brinzino,
(03:20):
which was absolutely amazing.
And then today for brunch, we had fresh crab cakes
with eggs, Jeanette, flapjacks, and a fruit salad,
along with some prosecco and fresh squeezed orange juice
mimosas.
So gentlemen, just talk about that first wine.
And then we did pair it, I believe, with appetizer,
(03:42):
and then obviously with the fish, the brinzino salt-crusted
fish.
So maybe touch on that a little bit.
So Hisham, do you want to take it away on that wine?
Yeah, that wine.
It was a very easy wine to drink.
Acidic, I think I remembered some pear,
just that acidity of the pear skins.
(04:04):
So that's what I remembered.
It went really well with the grilled octopus and the brisketa.
So I thought that was a really well-balanced white wine
to start the day.
Leo, how about you?
How did you, what do you think about the white wine
that we tested yesterday?
Well, I don't know too much about wine,
(04:26):
so I can't really describe all the different flavors
and all that.
But I just know that it's an easy white wine
to go with a great lunch, great meal.
So it didn't take away too much from the food.
I wasn't tasting the wine as much as I'm tasting the octopus.
Awesome.
So overall, you liked it.
(04:46):
I liked it.
Awesome.
It paired very well.
OK.
Freddie, how about you?
What did you think about the white wine?
Yeah, I really enjoyed it.
So I think this wine was somewhere in the range,
like kind of between a chardonnay versus sauvignon blanc.
So somewhere kind of between the two of those.
(05:07):
Yeah, like Hicham said, some sort of citrusy,
but also apple or pear kind of flavoring.
That was very enjoyable.
And how'd you like it with the food
when we paired it with the food?
Yeah, again, I think white is great with seafood.
(05:27):
And so I think that was a great way to start the evening.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Thank you.
So just for our listeners out there,
that was Bella Union 2022 Malang White Blend from Carneros.
It's a very value.
What I like to consider a value quality wine at approximately $42.
(05:47):
And it hits a home run right between a sauvignon blanc
and a chardonnay.
So very food friendly for sure, and certainly poolside.
It really goes really nice on a nice summer day.
Now, for the big reds that we tasted,
this was a really an interesting combination here.
We tasted the 2019 Cade, which is from Howl Mountain.
(06:12):
And we tasted it with the Plumjack 2019 Oakville Estate
Cabernet.
And both were just outstanding.
I mean, you're really splitting hairs here in terms of like,
it's some of the finest cabernet in the Napa Valley
that you can possibly.
(06:33):
It's just it's really a matter of taste buds.
So overall, for myself, I think that the Cade,
I really, really enjoyed that Cade.
I just couldn't stop drinking it.
He's shown, what about you?
What did you like with the Cade versus the Plumjack?
Yeah, so the Plumjack was a really good balanced.
(06:56):
A little bit on the fruity side cab.
If I have to pick between the two, the Cade was well done.
Very smoky, kind of like it.
As soon as I tasted it, it reminded me of a cigar.
I like tobacco, those tastes.
And again, the two areas or the three areas of what we tasted,
(07:19):
Howl Mountain is a mountain on the northeastern side
of Napa Valley.
Oakville is right smack middle of the valley.
And the white that we tasted was Carneros,
closer to the bay on the southern end of the valley.
So it just tells you what the three sub-regions of Napa Valley
(07:42):
can offer, all good wines.
But yeah, Cade was a very different flavor profile.
Because of the soil, great point.
He shot great point.
Soil and also where they are.
The Howl Mountain is on a mountain.
So it gets a later sun.
So the flavors, the fruits, do probably ripe.
(08:07):
There's a difference between when they
rip and stress levels as well.
So yeah, again, Cade was my favorite.
But it doesn't take anything of what Plumjack was or the white
that we had as well.
So yeah.
Excellent, excellent.
And I went into it too, knowing that obviously we're
drinking a valley floor versus a mountain.
(08:31):
And I was valley floor all the way.
I mean, that Plumjack, that was going to be mine singing to me.
And then here I ended up with I like the Cade better.
Leo, how about you?
What are your thoughts on the wines, the red wines
that we tasted yesterday?
They were both very just enjoyable.
But for me, it's when in the day am I having the wine, right?
(08:54):
So the Plumjack was more of an early evening wine.
And I felt it was just a little bit more muted and lighter,
more fruity.
And so I enjoyed it as an early evening wine, paired very well
also with the dinner we were having.
Whereas the Cade wine, for me, it was subtle but complex.
So it's more of a later evening kind of dinner wine for me.
(09:17):
It was light, but it had some complex kind of like deep notes
in there of dark cherry and chocolate.
And so for me, it's more of a later evening, maybe
with dinner, steak dinner.
OK, all right.
Freddie, how about you?
Where are you at with the red wines that we tasted yesterday?
Yeah, definitely really enjoyed both of them.
(09:38):
Agree with what everyone's been saying.
Plumjack was just, I think, very juicy.
We were reading all those descriptions
and talking about all the berries.
I think we said it was like what, 5% or 10% patee-verdaux?
Yes.
And you can definitely taste that, that juicy, darker element.
(10:00):
The Cade was, I think, obviously my favorite as well
as most people in the group's favorite.
Yeah, a little drier.
And I know we were talking again about berries
and the different flavorings in it.
I really think specifically the flavor that came to my mind
was hibiscus, which can be compared more
(10:22):
to like a cranberry type flavor, but slightly different.
And that's what I was getting.
Awesome, awesome.
There you have it, list there is.
There was eight of us there, eight type tasters,
and two were for Plumjack and six preferred the Cade.
All right.
So we're going to move on to the political topics of the day.
(10:44):
And we just actually found out earlier today
that Biden is stepping down.
Who wants to kick it off in terms of Biden stepping down?
And what do you think should be the next place
for the next five years?
I think we should be looking at that.
I think we should be looking at that.
I think we should be looking at that.
(11:05):
And what do you think should be the next play
for the Democrats?
Yeah, I can jump right into it.
I mean, I think we've been talking about this for a while.
And I think since the debate, I have
expected at some point that he would step down.
I know some people were shocked by the news today.
I was not shocked by the news.
(11:26):
I was actually very delighted to hear that.
He has been a great president.
He has accomplished quite a bit.
I favor the Chips in Science Act and the Infrastructure Bill
that's kind of pushed forward green energy in this country
and electric vehicles.
Very excited about those things.
And so I'm super proud of the things that he's accomplished.
(11:49):
And I'm ready to see the Democrats handed over
to someone else.
OK, great.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
Leo, you want to give us your read on this whole Biden
step and down and where we need to go next as a party?
I think it was the right move.
And I think a lot of us were ready for it.
(12:09):
And we were just thinking any day now.
Because after the debate with Trump,
we can just see the weakness in Biden.
And a lot of us have been saying,
unfortunately, he's too old for this.
And campaigning for this presidential run is grueling.
(12:32):
It takes a toll.
And I think we saw that.
And it was plainly evident.
And I think he did a great job.
I think he was an amazing president.
There's been nothing but negative headlines recently.
But if you think about all the things that he did,
just like Freddie was saying, all this legislation
that really will make an impact in American lives,
(12:52):
with the chip pack, you're going to have the semiconductor
industry, the chip industry really be here.
And we're going to be producing these next products
of the future.
And I think indirectly there is a correlation there
between what we see, for example, in the stock market
with being at all time highs and the chips stack.
(13:13):
Also, not only that, but for example, climate change policy
with every heat wave becoming more intense and longer
in duration.
I think people really are thinking, OK, what can we do?
And so he's pushed for climate change policy.
Also student loan relief.
(13:33):
He's been working on that.
Although the courts have blocked many of his legislation,
student loan relief for those of us
who think that it should be provided,
there's been no other president who really has stepped up to that.
And he's done some things that I think we take for granted.
He gave us a holiday, Juneteenth, to celebrate
(13:55):
for the African-American community.
He's had nonstop support for Ukraine,
because we want Ukraine to be a democratic country.
We want democracy to be in that part of the world.
And a lot of people think support for Ukraine is a liability.
No, it's support for democracy.
(14:17):
And I support his support for Ukraine.
So I think he's been a great president,
but I think it was time.
It's time to pass the torch.
And when you say time, you just referred
to his biological age, basically.
Not that.
It's like we're tired of him or whatever, because I'm with you.
I think he's had a phenomenal policy administration
(14:41):
to get all this legislation through the Senate,
through Congress, to it becoming law.
He will go down in history for that.
There's no question about that.
I think we're all kind of sad.
I mean, if it was 65, 70, it'd be like,
we wouldn't be having this conversation today right now.
It would be like full-on, Biden.
(15:01):
So anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.
No, no, no.
It's a discussion.
So definitely, I mean, the chronological age, which
he is what, almost 80?
81.
Oh, he's 81.
He's an example where the chronological and the biological
age kind of meet.
And Trump is 78, just to point that out.
(15:22):
Yeah, in which they often leave that out of the discussion.
And that's getting to other topics here.
But it's one of the situations where
Trump's chronological age, being almost the same as Biden,
doesn't appear like his biological age.
He appears younger.
He appears to be robust.
But that's just because he's a fast talker.
(15:45):
We all know that he's weak.
Donald Trump's age is definitely also a liability.
And I think that's not to move into a different topic.
But I think that's why they brought in JD Vance,
a 39-year-old.
Very good point.
Excellent point.
Excellent point.
So do you have any more to say about the Biden?
(16:07):
Oh, we want to know.
So you think we should go to an open debate?
100%.
I am absolutely 100% for a debate, for an open forum,
for a discussion, for a democratic kind of path forward.
I've already seen a lot of headlines, a lot of groups,
(16:27):
a lot of people push for Kamala Harris as the next runner up
here in replacing Biden as the number one pick.
I completely disagree.
Although I appreciate her work, I do
think Kamala Harris is a political liability right now.
Oh, really?
I think she's coming.
(16:48):
You don't think she should be on the ticket then?
No, I don't.
OK, good.
All right, tell us why.
She's a bit of a political liability, in my opinion.
She comes from the San Francisco, Oakland Bay Area
political machine, which we are not having a moment.
OK, all right.
I think she has very little to run on in terms of achievements.
(17:10):
I really can't point to one.
She was DA, and then she was the state's senator.
But while in office as vice presidential,
you know, I think she was in charge of the border, right?
I think that was her main kind of like duty and focus.
And it was a disaster, yeah.
It has been a disaster.
And the border and immigration issues
(17:32):
are pulling as one of the top issues
for a lot of Americans and a lot of the undecided Americans.
I do think that the reason that that is an issue
is due to a lot of rhetoric on the right side of the country.
I mean, yes, the numbers are at an all time high.
However, the issue has existed for a long time.
(17:56):
And we can't say that this was not also an issue.
And Trump's can't.
No, we can't seem to come together as a country
on how to solve that problem.
However, though, let us go back to the most conservative bill
ever passed, and they didn't vote on it.
Remember, Trump is like, no.
(18:17):
And it was from the Oklahoma senator, one of the most
conservative senators in the whole Congress.
And he devised this.
And we were all on board with that.
And because of Trump, he didn't want to get Biden to win.
Of course.
You know?
Because then that would be like, you know,
that was his big point that he's using.
Exactly.
They would have no political points now.
(18:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So but where do you, I mean, I see immigration.
I get that.
You said immigration and the border, which is hand in hand
with both.
But what do you think about the women's vote here
and abortion rights?
I mean, I think we all talk about immigration and the border.
But I think the women's choice is definitely a big issue.
(19:02):
And they don't like to talk about it.
I'm not sure where you're at with that.
It's term as being a big.
That is an excellent question.
You know, I think it's fluid right now
in terms of the big issues that are affecting Americans
that they're voting on, right?
It's always like, oh, it's the economy, stupid.
(19:23):
But really, what aspect of the economy, right?
Inflation seems to be going down.
That has been, like for the past two years,
that has been the kind of main political attack on Biden.
Women's rights, I don't know if women are going to back Kamala.
I don't know if she's got the plan
to support overturning of the Supreme Court,
(19:46):
overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Sure, sure.
I don't know if you see what I'm saying.
I don't know if there's any plan there,
because she hasn't had enough time for us
to get to know her and her issues.
And I think two months before early voting begins
is not enough time, because we've had almost four years.
And so I think it's just better to just bring in someone fresh.
(20:08):
If I may just comment on the abortion issue,
my belief is these issues need to be 100% between a woman
and their doctor.
And of course, the husband as well,
if assuming it's a married couple.
But the man, if he's involved, and their woman and her doctor,
(20:31):
there's so many specific issues.
And there's just a spread of different issues
of what can happen to a woman medically.
And involving your governor, your president in this process
to make a decision about the health of a woman,
number one is slow.
(20:53):
It adds time and pressure and friction
to the decision-making process.
And two, it's just, I thought Republicans
were supposed to believe in removing friction and government
from your decisions.
Get government out of your life.
Freedom.
Small government.
Exactly.
As Americans, we do want small government.
(21:14):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And so to hear that these people are trying to force
their beliefs down our throats, that
doesn't sit well with me.
No, I agree 100% of Freddie.
And no business there.
Absolutely not.
(21:34):
One of the most personal decisions a person could make
and to enter in the government, it's just like,
are you serious?
Do you really think this is going to help matters here?
And here's an interesting statistic.
More than half of abortions, I think in something
like 60% of abortions, are had by women who have already
(22:03):
had children.
These are women that already have children
are in saying, maybe I can't handle another child in my life.
These aren't, I think Republicans
like to paint a picture of, these are the 16 and pregnant.
Or, you know, right.
And that's not the case.
(22:24):
We need to focus on who are these women.
And I think that's a story that we're not talking about.
Yeah.
And some of these women want these children,
but because medically they can't have them because of birth
defects and this whole thing, they're getting abortions too,
because it's not right.
(22:45):
I mean, there's a medical situation.
Again, should be decided on between a woman and her doctor
and obviously the man in her life if that's something
that's there.
And I wish one day, maybe, I know this is,
it would sound delusional, but to me as a male,
if I was a justice or a president or governor,
(23:10):
it's very hard to make those decisions.
I think it would be better if a committee by partisan
or for women, senators and governors
decide on these matters because at the end of the day,
it's a woman's life who's impacted and women's decisions.
They, you know, again, not saying it's going to happen.
(23:33):
It's probably won't.
But I wish it would be providing women, more women
in politics to discuss those issues
and give a recommendation to the political body on what
laws to pass because I don't know which law, I guess,
restricts male decision making on making babies
(23:54):
or not making babies.
Imagine if the government is doing that.
How would the society react?
Right.
Yeah.
It's definitely a question for me about women's health
and women's access to health.
So that's why I do support abortion rights
because I support health, health rights
that people should have access to health.
(24:15):
For example, my sister, my younger sister, she was pregnant.
And she lost the baby because she had a topic pregnancy.
It's called, I didn't even know what that was.
So I had to look it up.
And this is something that affects women.
It affects women in their first pregnancy term.
And so women's health is such a complex topic
(24:39):
that I think we take a very simplistic view of abortion.
And I think it's more complex than that.
And that's why I do support abortion rights
because I support rights for women to access health care,
health care, and have health care rights.
And we're seeing this.
I think this is like a rude awakening with some of these
states who've gone full on, no abortion whatsoever.
(25:01):
If the woman's dying and some of them are in the parking lot,
have to be practically bleeding out before they get attention.
So I think they're finally, wow, there's more to this.
And to your point about not having the expertise
and leaving it in the hands of the doctors and the nurses
when it's time to have some kind of health care.
(25:26):
Anyway, I mean, we can go on for a while on that topic.
But do you want to finish up with a Kamala and anybody else?
I do.
Just to kind of wrap that up before we move on
to the lightning round.
Yeah, I'm a little bit, probably,
I would be a little bit in the opposition on your views
(25:46):
on that Biden is a great president.
I think he would have been a great president
if he stepped down in time where now he left us in a mess.
So that will go down in his legacy.
He did great.
He did imagine when we were during the transition period
(26:08):
and what happened in the capital, and he
was able to bridge country, or at least keep it stable,
from going into the left field and the Civil War,
maybe hopefully.
Coming out of COVID.
Yeah, all of that.
He did great.
But again, waiting until the last minute to step down,
to be forced to step down, not to realize it.
(26:29):
And it was like, I'm going to call him the old grandpa who
wouldn't want to give the car keys to the family
that this is dangerous for you.
He was pushing us into a dangerous path,
a path of having a person who's not
able to run the country, run the country.
(26:50):
I'm for age limits at the government level.
People are forced to retire.
Corporations probably passed some age
like between around 70 years old.
And it should apply to politicians.
We should not have politicians running the country at that age,
(27:11):
whether it's Trump, whether it's Biden,
whether it's other politicians at that age.
So to me, that will go down in his legacy
that he would have had been a great president,
but he didn't because of what he left the country with.
Yeah, so you're saying that it's a little bit of a stain.
Yeah.
(27:32):
You put the Democratic nominee at risk.
To be honest, because of the mess that's
going to happen between now and November,
I don't think the Democrats are going to win this one.
Because of that.
And you're going to have Trump who's got convicted.
Yeah.
(27:52):
34 times convicted.
As a president of the United States.
I think that's where it's going to go.
Well, that's a good point.
Because Biden, if you guys remember when he ran in 20,
he said, I know I'm old, but I'm just
going to bring this all together, get everything ready,
and then transition to the new generation.
(28:13):
He did say that.
He did say that.
So to your point.
Is he a great president?
Yeah, he should have been.
And I don't know.
I have to blame the administration, too.
I think they really kept this from us,
the general public.
Because they didn't want to give up there.
I mean, obviously, it's the whole administration.
(28:34):
It's not just Biden.
It's the whole administration.
Well, the system is not working.
It came to the debate to figure this out.
So that means there is an amendment in the Constitution
to say if the person is no longer.
25th Amendment.
Exactly.
So the question, if this is what we see in public,
(28:57):
when he's supposed to be at his top game,
and he's not doing it, what's happening when you are 2 o'clock
in the morning, 3 o'clock in the morning, you get a call,
and you need to make decisions, and you're not there.
So to me, that's what I'm saying about the whole system
needs to be revised, that Kamala should have called it,
(29:22):
or somebody wouldn't assist.
We should have a counterbalance saying,
like, this person is no longer able to perform the duties,
and we need to talk about this.
I think what you're saying is also just
regular stay of the course, ensuring that people are still
(29:42):
meeting the criteria to do this job on a regular basis.
But I think also we should have had an opportunity
during the quote unquote primaries to evaluate this.
What happened there?
I think with incumbency, there's this desire
to just support the incumbent no matter what.
(30:03):
And I think that maybe that should be revised as well.
But before we go to the primaries,
we should have a control.
No, we have a senator who died in office in California.
Einstein.
Frank Steele, right?
To me, there are no controls to allow these people
(30:23):
to govern until they die.
Justice Ginsburg, she did great for women
until she lost it at the end.
So to me, we have no control on how to ensure that.
So you either need to state, you no longer,
you should be retiring after an age act.
(30:44):
So I'm not going to define the act.
I'll let the politician figure that out.
Or you should have a counterbalance
and to ensure that a senator should not.
I mean, we have two senators in California or every state.
You should not have a person dying in office.
You should have somebody there all the time.
Unless it's like a woman in a heart attack.
(31:05):
Yeah, you drop that, right?
But to me, when you were what was going on as the senator,
and there's nothing to remove that person and say,
hey, old man or hey, old lady, go and die in peace.
You did great.
Thank you for your service.
(31:26):
But this is too big to fail.
We call it incorporation, but we don't call it
in the people that make the decisions.
So to me, we should have a control.
So you're for term limits, then.
I am for term limits.
Maybe you don't even do age.
You just do term limits.
Maybe I'd be a good woman.
Yeah, could be term limits.
But also, no, also, a control to remove people from office
(31:48):
that are no longer able to do their jobs.
But I do disagree with one thing you said,
which is let the politicians decide what that limit is.
Because we have shown that when we don't have experts in here
making the decisions on our behalf,
these group of decision makers are making decisions
(32:09):
that impact all of us.
And they don't have all the information.
I agree, but that's how democracy works, right?
We elect the politicians to what we now have.
Well, we have established now a political class of people.
When the United States was formed,
we had people in our Congress, in the people that signed
(32:32):
our Declaration of Independence, et cetera, et cetera.
There were people in there that were engineers.
We had people that were teachers.
We had people that were creative thinking.
And they weren't just involved in politics.
These were people that had jobs outside of politics as well.
(32:52):
And I think that we're missing that today.
And there's experience that you get as you and me, Hisham,
we're both engineers by trade.
And we look at life in a different way.
And when you have people looking at life from the same way,
(33:13):
all working together to make these decisions,
you miss out on a crucial element, I think,
in the decision-making process.
One last thing on term limits.
The problem with term limits is, or why we can't get to term
limits, is we can't vote on it.
When they want to, they won't bring it up for the vote.
(33:35):
They will not bring it up for the vote.
Because it's in their self-interest, too.
Exactly.
So that's where we got to get around it.
There's other controls that we need.
Yeah.
How do we get around that?
No, again, if your job, I mean, imagine
Biden is, we said he's 81.
Trump is, what, 78?
78.
OK.
(33:55):
So imagine your 401k is managed by a 78-year-old person.
Or your financial state is managed by a, like, nobody
in the country would allow a person to manage
their financial at that age.
So why are we having even a debate about having a president
(34:17):
that old?
Like, to me, it should be a term limit.
It should be an age limit as well.
As well.
I mean, they do have age.
You have to be a certain age to run for office.
Well, even within the military and federal branches,
like, for example, after 55, I think
you have to retire from the military.
The beauty about this, talking about this topic,
(34:39):
I think both the right and the left and everybody in between
agrees on it.
When you talk about conservatives,
when you talk about liberals, they both, at the end of the day,
they agree that we shouldn't allow a person at that age
running our political affairs.
Is it power hunger?
Yes.
You know, they had a beautiful legacy,
(35:01):
and they messed it up at the end, to say the least.
But why can't, I mean, serve your time,
why can't we have these people be advisors to congressmen,
advisors to senators?
Sure, absolutely.
You don't think Barack is not advising?
You don't think Clinton's advising?
They do.
Absolutely.
Exactly.
But to me, yes.
(35:21):
They can do speaking roles.
They can do all sorts of things.
And be effective.
And be effective.
To me, it is sad, it is sad that the United States,
with a population of close, what is it, 400 million people,
and we have 80-year-old men wanted to become the president.
And then come on, we couldn't find anybody better.
(35:43):
And I'm not saying it from the age.
There are some very small minority of that age bracket
that are on their game.
But the study shows, after a certain age,
your capabilities, you're no longer the person
you were 20 years ago, and you're 50s and you're 60s.
(36:03):
Which is, I think, why people need to start asking about Donald
Trump.
Why are you running now?
I agree.
Now you're the oldest.
Yeah, I agree.
Now, they made an issue of Biden's age for so long
that was their main line of attack.
And it has been on Fox News, on conservative media.
And it has been very effective.
But now he's out.
And now we have to ask Donald Trump, why are you running?
(36:24):
You're the oldest running person now.
So what's going on with you?
It's time to get the microscope.
I know how Kamala uses that.
We have to use those same tactics.
We have to use those same tactics against that party,
if you're voting against Trump.
Because that's a question there.
But we were talking, just going back,
(36:45):
we were talking about Biden's legacy.
To me, history is going to show that he messed up.
He would have been a great president.
Well, it's not written yet.
It's not.
He didn't have a brilliant.
He did.
You know, he did still step down time before the convention.
(37:05):
I think there's still an opportunity to rally.
I agree.
Two months.
I mean, we are.
Look at the French and the British elections.
It just happened.
It's very different.
It's very different.
It's possible.
It is possible.
The European elections are not based
on the mechanics of how you get funded.
(37:30):
It's a totally very different.
You can't compare the two.
So to me, two months, Biden put the whole Democratic nominee
at risk.
And I think it's going to show in November.
OK, so you're sticking with he should have bowed out sooner
and gave everybody a heads up.
(37:50):
Let's have a primary.
Let's rock and roll here.
I mean, in that, like, OK, that's a fair point.
It's a fair point.
We don't disagree with that point at all.
Just don't think that it's going to taint his legacy.
Of course.
I think it still taints his legacy.
However, I don't think it's that means
that the Democrats are going to lose.
Yeah.
Oh, no, no, no.
(38:10):
No.
Oh, no, no.
We watched the Republican.
It depends on how they manage this.
We watched the Republican process.
So you have the governor of Florida and all these.
And it was all in line.
Yeah, the party was fractured.
And it took him a while to get everybody aligned with Trump.
I don't think the Democratic Party is
(38:31):
going to do that in two months.
Yeah.
You know, I don't think we should be afraid.
I think we live in an age of a faster news cycle.
It is what it is at this point.
I think we live in the TikTok age.
Like, we all have news ADHD.
I think things make it to the news cycle
a whole lot faster now.
You know, Trump, I mean, we're living through history right now.
(38:53):
We had a major presidential candidate
stepping down after the other was almost assassinated.
We also did.
We just forget about that in a week.
I know.
We may.
A lot of people really do.
Just like, move on.
Because it's just like, you know,
I think we live in a faster news cycle.
I think people are sort of like desensitized
(39:15):
to this kind of things.
And I think we need to be creative in how we bring people
back to reality.
And, you know, to that voting will make an impact in their lives.
And I think a lot of people are not in disrespect to anyone.
But I think they're choosing the chaos agent over there
with Trump.
It's like, why do you want chaos in them
for the next few years?
(39:36):
We should also recognize that Trump isn't popular.
He never won the popular vote in either election he was in.
His approval rating has never been over 50%.
We should recognize that maybe he isn't as strong as we think
he is, or that Fox News tells us that he is.
(40:10):
So we're going to wrap up real quick with the lightning
around.
So it's going to be five topics.
I'm going to give you each five topics.
And just, boom, whatever comes to top of mind,
sentence or two, whatever.
So who wants to go first?
I guess so.
OK.
All right.
Here we go.
The media.
The media is always going to be the media.
(40:30):
I think it's beautiful in democracy that you have the media.
However, it is as polarized as the population.
If you watch Fox News, it's only talking
about sets of subjects.
If you are CNN, it only talks about a set of subjects.
I would really hope one day that we
(40:54):
will have true non-funded or non-media
that are non-partisan that will give us
the news from a perspective of a non-partisan view.
So no money involved.
No money involved.
Yeah.
OK.
Next topic.
Mike Pence.
Oh, Mike Pence.
Mike Pence, I, God, like, you know, he was like non-existent.
(41:18):
And he manned up like when he certified the election.
So I do respect him that he avoided chaos for this country.
Gretchen Whitner.
Great woman.
I mean, she was supposed to be, or she had an assassination
(41:40):
plot, and I think she took it better than Trump did.
Ukraine.
Oh, the Afghanistan of Europe.
I think it is sad that Ukraine is another subject.
It's deep, right?
(42:01):
It's some.
What's your first reaction to that?
You're like, oh, Ukraine.
So I think NATO pushed against the sphere of influence on Russia.
And once we got to Ukraine, it was too much.
And Russia had to react.
So I think now it's becoming like, sadly,
(42:24):
let's deplete the Russian army in the Ukrainian field
and impact the Ukrainian people.
Excellent point.
Last one, authoritarianism.
Oh, god.
I hope this country would not get to that.
Like, it is a beautiful country.
(42:45):
Americans need to remember what they have as a beautiful country.
You can debate.
You can.
I'm kind of sick of this.
Christian, this is outside.
You can debate.
You can have different views.
But without going to extremism, like trying to assassinate
(43:06):
an elected person who wants to be elected to be a president,
you can debate.
It's fine to have different views.
All right.
All right, who's going next?
Sure.
I'll go.
All right.
AI.
Exciting, but I think it's being overhyped.
(43:29):
I think there's a lot of logical applications for it.
I don't think it's going to solve all of our problems,
but it can solve some of our problems.
Space travel.
Exciting as well.
I'd love to see us set up bases on the moon, on Mars, on Titan,
(43:52):
and establish us as the next level of our civilization, which
is if something were to happen to Earth
and we weren't able to sustain life on Earth,
we continue our evolution and our civilization.
As a people.
Christianity.
(44:13):
Oh, and real light on me.
I mean, I grew up Catholic.
But I think religion in general was necessary for our society
to get to this point in our evolution and our civilization.
(44:34):
I think that it unfortunately blinds people sometimes
in their decision making.
I also think that a lot of decision making
that's under the quote of Christianity
isn't true Christianity.
(44:54):
And so I'd love to have people that
are making decisions based on their quote unquote Christianity
actually look a little deeper in themselves
and really think, is this decision
that I'm making a Christian decision?
Minority rule.
(45:14):
I need an explanation of what you mean by this.
Well, minority rule is minority rule.
They're calling the shots.
Oh, so like a political class making decisions.
Yeah, exactly.
Don't agree with.
Yeah, clearly, I mean, we were talking again
about this high level, but the electoral college.
(45:38):
And I'd love to see us move past that to a popular vote.
I mean, we all identify as Americans first
with regards to maybe Texans specifically.
We don't really think about ourselves
as coming from a particular state.
And I think we are Americans first,
(46:00):
and we should look at it that way.
Great.
And last one, NATO.
Yeah, I mean, I think spread the sphere of influence
of democracy.
However, I think if the people of a country
believe that the way their country is being run
is effective and works for them, that's up to them as well.
(46:24):
So as long as we are truly spreading democracy
and putting people first, we should look at that.
All right, well, there you have it.
And last but not certainly not least, it's Leo, you're up.
Socialism.
(46:45):
Socialism.
I mean, that term has thrown around so much
in the past few years.
People blaming AOC, people blaming Bernie Sanders
for socialism.
I don't think we really understand that concept.
There are many aspects of the US political system
and economy that have some quasi-socialist elements.
(47:08):
For example, social security.
I mean, that's a government program.
We can look at food stamps.
That's a government program.
The road system, right?
That's everybody uses that.
So socialism is kind of this boogeyman car
that is often used.
And I really don't think people understand it very well.
(47:31):
A more recent example is Texas.
They've been out of power over there in San Antonio
for how long now?
Are they still?
They don't have electricity yet.
He's from, do you know?
I don't know.
I have to check.
So it's like, do you want to be part of the public utility
screen or do you not?
So when the state is there to provide services
and goods for people, I think it should be welcomed.
(47:56):
And as long as we find solutions to common problems.
So yeah, it's a boogeyman car there.
Science.
Science.
Where is science these days?
I don't think a lot of people are appreciating science.
We started with COVID.
There is a suspicion of science, scientists.
(48:16):
There's a suspicion of what are these people saying?
I think, again, another boogeyman card.
But for people that are in that field,
when you get to know people who are scientists,
when they've studied science, the scientific method,
it's some of the most intelligent people you ever meet
(48:38):
and some of the most grounded, kind of, ordinary people
you'll ever meet.
It gets a bad name again.
Hitler.
Hitler.
Oh, why are we talking about Hitler?
Interestingly.
History.
Yeah, history.
There's a really good documentary right now.
I think it's on Netflix about Hitler and the Third Reich.
It's very interesting in what was happening in 1940s Germany.
(49:00):
Did you catch that?
Did you watch it?
Yes, it was very interesting.
We're very well put together.
Anything you could share with us?
Like, it was very graphic.
Going back and looking at those images of the camps
in Auschwitz was just like a nightmare.
(49:21):
Very powerful.
But it also spoke a lot about Hitler's character,
about his circle, about what they know about him.
Right?
Scholars and historians know about Hitler
and his rise to power in Germany.
I don't recall the title of this documentary.
It's on Netflix, you said?
I think it's Netflix.
Either Netflix or Amazon Prime, one of those.
(49:44):
Very interesting.
OK, two more, and then we'll wrap it up here.
Health care.
Health care.
Obamacare is still law of the land.
I think this election season, we've
heard the least amount of talking points on health care
than other prior election seasons.
(50:04):
And I wonder why.
People are happy with their Obamacare?
I think so.
And Trump supporters at that.
But they don't even know they have Obamacare.
That's the problem.
We are talking about health care.
We're talking about two old men.
Nobody's talking about repealing Obamacare.
No, that's true.
That is true.
In terms of our own personal health,
I think we enjoy a glass of wine.
(50:26):
It's perfectly healthy.
Everything.
There we go.
All right, last topic here, Leo Deled.
And then we'll close it with comments
on this national debt.
Ooh, national debt.
Just like health care, I don't think
you're going to hear people talking too much about national debt.
It used to be the Republican Party that were,
for a small government for paying off debts,
(50:47):
for not incurring so much debt.
I think it's a problem.
One of these Democrats that is very much for controlling
the national debt and not fiscal responsibility.
Fiscal responsibility, of course.
Not promising all these different government programs
(51:10):
that we can't pay for.
So I personally do think it's a problem.
But again, it's just a counting trick sometimes.
Freddie, you want to comment on national debt
before we wrap this up?
Yeah, I mean, I think America was founded on deficit spending.
That's right, to the French, I think, if I'm remembering.
(51:32):
I mean, it has allowed us so much room to grow.
And I think that's been very important for our growth.
Pisham?
I think we have to be careful.
I think national debt is necessary.
The issue is, what do you create and what do you buy in from that?
(51:52):
You buy and you strengthen in China, which we don't see it now.
But it's definitely will be seeing it in about 50 years.
Yeah, so it's like down the road.
Ain't nothing free.
And unfortunately, we're a people that if it ain't in front of us,
we're not going to deal with it.
That's true.
(52:12):
It's in front of us, and it may be too late at that point.
All right, well, you guys have been awesome.
Thank you so much for participating.
And we'll talk to you soon.
Take care.
Cheers.
Bye, everybody.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
Politics is as complex as wine, right?
(00:02):
It's wine and politics.
Wine and politics, exactly.
Wine and a Napa.
Wine and a Napa.
All right, here we go.
(00:30):
We are live.
This is Breaking Bread in Napa.
So for today, listeners, we are talking about the first annual
Borrette Lane Food and Wine Extravaganza.
And then we're going to go into a few topics
with the political landscape.
Obviously, Biden's resignation is certainly top of mind.
(00:53):
So we'll cover that in depth.
So with that, I'm going to go to just introducing our guests
today.
So Hisham, do you want to introduce yourself
and just what you do for a living?
Yes, so Hisham Jadi.
I am engineer, electrical engineer by education.
Been in the Bay Area, the California Bay Area
(01:14):
for about, what, 13 years right now.
Lived in Louisiana before that and Rhode Island
before that, before I moved to this country when I was 17
from Morocco.
Wonderful.
Nice to have you today.
Thank you.
Leo, how about you?
You want to tell us who you are and where you work at and come
from?
That would be great.
(01:34):
Yes, yes.
Hi there, Terri, and thank you.
Thank you for hosting us and thank you for all you've
done this weekend.
So I do live in the Bay Area as well.
I've been there about 15 years in San Francisco.
Before San Francisco, I was in Davis, Sacramento area
for about six years.
And I grew up in the Central Valley.
So near Bakersfield, small town.
(01:54):
So yay, Central Valley.
All right, there you go.
Awesome.
My profession, well, I'm a public servant.
So that's all I'm going to say on that.
All right.
And then our guest millennial here.
Yeah, I'm Freddie.
I live in West Oakland.
I'm a product manager in tech.
And originally from the East Coast,
(02:15):
I'm from the Philadelphia suburbs.
So hopefully can bring some of that side
to this conversation as well.
Awesome, awesome.
Thank you so much.
And thank you, gentlemen.
So with that, we're going to go to the wines
that we tasted yesterday.
So we tasted the Bella Union 2022 Melange white blend
(02:36):
from Carnero.
So let's start with that one.
Impressions, did you like it?
Did you not like it?
What did you like about it?
What didn't you like?
And then how did it pair well with the food
that we ate last night, which was, oh my god,
it was so incredible.
Just to give a quick rundown, we
had lunch yesterday with a chicken shawarma
(02:57):
with a Greek salad with homemade tahini and tzatziki
sauces.
We've had appetizers, a grilled octopus,
along with some brochetta.
And then for dinner, we had an amazing homemade fresh pasta
with arugula and dried tomato pesto.
With the final meal was the salt-crusted brinzino,
(03:20):
which was absolutely amazing.
And then today for brunch, we had fresh crab cakes
with eggs, Jeanette, flapjacks, and a fruit salad,
along with some prosecco and fresh squeezed orange juice
mimosas.
So gentlemen, just talk about that first wine.
And then we did pair it, I believe, with appetizer,
(03:42):
and then obviously with the fish, the brinzino salt-crusted
fish.
So maybe touch on that a little bit.
So Hisham, do you want to take it away on that wine?
Yeah, that wine.
It was a very easy wine to drink.
Acidic, I think I remembered some pear,
just that acidity of the pear skins.
(04:04):
So that's what I remembered.
It went really well with the grilled octopus and the brisketa.
So I thought that was a really well-balanced white wine
to start the day.
Leo, how about you?
How did you, what do you think about the white wine
that we tested yesterday?
Well, I don't know too much about wine,
(04:26):
so I can't really describe all the different flavors
and all that.
But I just know that it's an easy white wine
to go with a great lunch, great meal.
So it didn't take away too much from the food.
I wasn't tasting the wine as much as I'm tasting the octopus.
Awesome.
So overall, you liked it.
(04:46):
I liked it.
Awesome.
It paired very well.
OK.
Freddie, how about you?
What did you think about the white wine?
Yeah, I really enjoyed it.
So I think this wine was somewhere in the range,
like kind of between a chardonnay versus sauvignon blanc.
So somewhere kind of between the two of those.
(05:07):
Yeah, like Hicham said, some sort of citrusy,
but also apple or pear kind of flavoring.
That was very enjoyable.
And how'd you like it with the food
when we paired it with the food?
Yeah, again, I think white is great with seafood.
(05:27):
And so I think that was a great way to start the evening.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Thank you.
So just for our listeners out there,
that was Bella Union 2022 Malang White Blend from Carneros.
It's a very value.
What I like to consider a value quality wine at approximately $42.
(05:47):
And it hits a home run right between a sauvignon blanc
and a chardonnay.
So very food friendly for sure, and certainly poolside.
It really goes really nice on a nice summer day.
Now, for the big reds that we tasted,
this was a really an interesting combination here.
We tasted the 2019 Cade, which is from Howl Mountain.
(06:12):
And we tasted it with the Plumjack 2019 Oakville Estate
Cabernet.
And both were just outstanding.
I mean, you're really splitting hairs here in terms of like,
it's some of the finest cabernet in the Napa Valley
that you can possibly.
(06:33):
It's just it's really a matter of taste buds.
So overall, for myself, I think that the Cade,
I really, really enjoyed that Cade.
I just couldn't stop drinking it.
He's shown, what about you?
What did you like with the Cade versus the Plumjack?
Yeah, so the Plumjack was a really good balanced.
(06:56):
A little bit on the fruity side cab.
If I have to pick between the two, the Cade was well done.
Very smoky, kind of like it.
As soon as I tasted it, it reminded me of a cigar.
I like tobacco, those tastes.
And again, the two areas or the three areas of what we tasted,
(07:19):
Howl Mountain is a mountain on the northeastern side
of Napa Valley.
Oakville is right smack middle of the valley.
And the white that we tasted was Carneros,
closer to the bay on the southern end of the valley.
So it just tells you what the three sub-regions of Napa Valley
(07:42):
can offer, all good wines.
But yeah, Cade was a very different flavor profile.
Because of the soil, great point.
He shot great point.
Soil and also where they are.
The Howl Mountain is on a mountain.
So it gets a later sun.
So the flavors, the fruits, do probably ripe.
(08:07):
There's a difference between when they
rip and stress levels as well.
So yeah, again, Cade was my favorite.
But it doesn't take anything of what Plumjack was or the white
that we had as well.
So yeah.
Excellent, excellent.
And I went into it too, knowing that obviously we're
drinking a valley floor versus a mountain.
(08:31):
And I was valley floor all the way.
I mean, that Plumjack, that was going to be mine singing to me.
And then here I ended up with I like the Cade better.
Leo, how about you?
What are your thoughts on the wines, the red wines
that we tasted yesterday?
They were both very just enjoyable.
But for me, it's when in the day am I having the wine, right?
(08:54):
So the Plumjack was more of an early evening wine.
And I felt it was just a little bit more muted and lighter,
more fruity.
And so I enjoyed it as an early evening wine, paired very well
also with the dinner we were having.
Whereas the Cade wine, for me, it was subtle but complex.
So it's more of a later evening kind of dinner wine for me.
(09:17):
It was light, but it had some complex kind of like deep notes
in there of dark cherry and chocolate.
And so for me, it's more of a later evening, maybe
with dinner, steak dinner.
OK, all right.
Freddie, how about you?
Where are you at with the red wines that we tasted yesterday?
Yeah, definitely really enjoyed both of them.
(09:38):
Agree with what everyone's been saying.
Plumjack was just, I think, very juicy.
We were reading all those descriptions
and talking about all the berries.
I think we said it was like what, 5% or 10% patee-verdaux?
Yes.
And you can definitely taste that, that juicy, darker element.
(10:00):
The Cade was, I think, obviously my favorite as well
as most people in the group's favorite.
Yeah, a little drier.
And I know we were talking again about berries
and the different flavorings in it.
I really think specifically the flavor that came to my mind
was hibiscus, which can be compared more
(10:22):
to like a cranberry type flavor, but slightly different.
And that's what I was getting.
Awesome, awesome.
There you have it, list there is.
There was eight of us there, eight type tasters,
and two were for Plumjack and six preferred the Cade.
All right.
So we're going to move on to the political topics of the day.
(10:44):
And we just actually found out earlier today
that Biden is stepping down.
Who wants to kick it off in terms of Biden stepping down?
And what do you think should be the next place
for the next five years?
I think we should be looking at that.
I think we should be looking at that.
I think we should be looking at that.
(11:05):
And what do you think should be the next play
for the Democrats?
Yeah, I can jump right into it.
I mean, I think we've been talking about this for a while.
And I think since the debate, I have
expected at some point that he would step down.
I know some people were shocked by the news today.
I was not shocked by the news.
(11:26):
I was actually very delighted to hear that.
He has been a great president.
He has accomplished quite a bit.
I favor the Chips in Science Act and the Infrastructure Bill
that's kind of pushed forward green energy in this country
and electric vehicles.
Very excited about those things.
And so I'm super proud of the things that he's accomplished.
(11:49):
And I'm ready to see the Democrats handed over
to someone else.
OK, great.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
Leo, you want to give us your read on this whole Biden
step and down and where we need to go next as a party?
I think it was the right move.
And I think a lot of us were ready for it.
(12:09):
And we were just thinking any day now.
Because after the debate with Trump,
we can just see the weakness in Biden.
And a lot of us have been saying,
unfortunately, he's too old for this.
And campaigning for this presidential run is grueling.
(12:32):
It takes a toll.
And I think we saw that.
And it was plainly evident.
And I think he did a great job.
I think he was an amazing president.
There's been nothing but negative headlines recently.
But if you think about all the things that he did,
just like Freddie was saying, all this legislation
that really will make an impact in American lives,
(12:52):
with the chip pack, you're going to have the semiconductor
industry, the chip industry really be here.
And we're going to be producing these next products
of the future.
And I think indirectly there is a correlation there
between what we see, for example, in the stock market
with being at all time highs and the chips stack.
(13:13):
Also, not only that, but for example, climate change policy
with every heat wave becoming more intense and longer
in duration.
I think people really are thinking, OK, what can we do?
And so he's pushed for climate change policy.
Also student loan relief.
(13:33):
He's been working on that.
Although the courts have blocked many of his legislation,
student loan relief for those of us
who think that it should be provided,
there's been no other president who really has stepped up to that.
And he's done some things that I think we take for granted.
He gave us a holiday, Juneteenth, to celebrate
(13:55):
for the African-American community.
He's had nonstop support for Ukraine,
because we want Ukraine to be a democratic country.
We want democracy to be in that part of the world.
And a lot of people think support for Ukraine is a liability.
No, it's support for democracy.
(14:17):
And I support his support for Ukraine.
So I think he's been a great president,
but I think it was time.
It's time to pass the torch.
And when you say time, you just referred
to his biological age, basically.
Not that.
It's like we're tired of him or whatever, because I'm with you.
I think he's had a phenomenal policy administration
(14:41):
to get all this legislation through the Senate,
through Congress, to it becoming law.
He will go down in history for that.
There's no question about that.
I think we're all kind of sad.
I mean, if it was 65, 70, it'd be like,
we wouldn't be having this conversation today right now.
It would be like full-on, Biden.
(15:01):
So anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.
No, no, no.
It's a discussion.
So definitely, I mean, the chronological age, which
he is what, almost 80?
81.
Oh, he's 81.
He's an example where the chronological and the biological
age kind of meet.
And Trump is 78, just to point that out.
(15:22):
Yeah, in which they often leave that out of the discussion.
And that's getting to other topics here.
But it's one of the situations where
Trump's chronological age, being almost the same as Biden,
doesn't appear like his biological age.
He appears younger.
He appears to be robust.
But that's just because he's a fast talker.
(15:45):
We all know that he's weak.
Donald Trump's age is definitely also a liability.
And I think that's not to move into a different topic.
But I think that's why they brought in JD Vance,
a 39-year-old.
Very good point.
Excellent point.
Excellent point.
So do you have any more to say about the Biden?
(16:07):
Oh, we want to know.
So you think we should go to an open debate?
100%.
I am absolutely 100% for a debate, for an open forum,
for a discussion, for a democratic kind of path forward.
I've already seen a lot of headlines, a lot of groups,
(16:27):
a lot of people push for Kamala Harris as the next runner up
here in replacing Biden as the number one pick.
I completely disagree.
Although I appreciate her work, I do
think Kamala Harris is a political liability right now.
Oh, really?
I think she's coming.
(16:48):
You don't think she should be on the ticket then?
No, I don't.
OK, good.
All right, tell us why.
She's a bit of a political liability, in my opinion.
She comes from the San Francisco, Oakland Bay Area
political machine, which we are not having a moment.
OK, all right.
I think she has very little to run on in terms of achievements.
(17:10):
I really can't point to one.
She was DA, and then she was the state's senator.
But while in office as vice presidential,
you know, I think she was in charge of the border, right?
I think that was her main kind of like duty and focus.
And it was a disaster, yeah.
It has been a disaster.
And the border and immigration issues
(17:32):
are pulling as one of the top issues
for a lot of Americans and a lot of the undecided Americans.
I do think that the reason that that is an issue
is due to a lot of rhetoric on the right side of the country.
I mean, yes, the numbers are at an all time high.
However, the issue has existed for a long time.
(17:56):
And we can't say that this was not also an issue.
And Trump's can't.
No, we can't seem to come together as a country
on how to solve that problem.
However, though, let us go back to the most conservative bill
ever passed, and they didn't vote on it.
Remember, Trump is like, no.
(18:17):
And it was from the Oklahoma senator, one of the most
conservative senators in the whole Congress.
And he devised this.
And we were all on board with that.
And because of Trump, he didn't want to get Biden to win.
Of course.
You know?
Because then that would be like, you know,
that was his big point that he's using.
Exactly.
They would have no political points now.
(18:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So but where do you, I mean, I see immigration.
I get that.
You said immigration and the border, which is hand in hand
with both.
But what do you think about the women's vote here
and abortion rights?
I mean, I think we all talk about immigration and the border.
But I think the women's choice is definitely a big issue.
(19:02):
And they don't like to talk about it.
I'm not sure where you're at with that.
It's term as being a big.
That is an excellent question.
You know, I think it's fluid right now
in terms of the big issues that are affecting Americans
that they're voting on, right?
It's always like, oh, it's the economy, stupid.
(19:23):
But really, what aspect of the economy, right?
Inflation seems to be going down.
That has been, like for the past two years,
that has been the kind of main political attack on Biden.
Women's rights, I don't know if women are going to back Kamala.
I don't know if she's got the plan
to support overturning of the Supreme Court,
(19:46):
overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Sure, sure.
I don't know if you see what I'm saying.
I don't know if there's any plan there,
because she hasn't had enough time for us
to get to know her and her issues.
And I think two months before early voting begins
is not enough time, because we've had almost four years.
And so I think it's just better to just bring in someone fresh.
(20:08):
If I may just comment on the abortion issue,
my belief is these issues need to be 100% between a woman
and their doctor.
And of course, the husband as well,
if assuming it's a married couple.
But the man, if he's involved, and their woman and her doctor,
(20:31):
there's so many specific issues.
And there's just a spread of different issues
of what can happen to a woman medically.
And involving your governor, your president in this process
to make a decision about the health of a woman,
number one is slow.
(20:53):
It adds time and pressure and friction
to the decision-making process.
And two, it's just, I thought Republicans
were supposed to believe in removing friction and government
from your decisions.
Get government out of your life.
Freedom.
Small government.
Exactly.
As Americans, we do want small government.
(21:14):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And so to hear that these people are trying to force
their beliefs down our throats, that
doesn't sit well with me.
No, I agree 100% of Freddie.
And no business there.
Absolutely not.
(21:34):
One of the most personal decisions a person could make
and to enter in the government, it's just like,
are you serious?
Do you really think this is going to help matters here?
And here's an interesting statistic.
More than half of abortions, I think in something
like 60% of abortions, are had by women who have already
(22:03):
had children.
These are women that already have children
are in saying, maybe I can't handle another child in my life.
These aren't, I think Republicans
like to paint a picture of, these are the 16 and pregnant.
Or, you know, right.
And that's not the case.
(22:24):
We need to focus on who are these women.
And I think that's a story that we're not talking about.
Yeah.
And some of these women want these children,
but because medically they can't have them because of birth
defects and this whole thing, they're getting abortions too,
because it's not right.
(22:45):
I mean, there's a medical situation.
Again, should be decided on between a woman and her doctor
and obviously the man in her life if that's something
that's there.
And I wish one day, maybe, I know this is,
it would sound delusional, but to me as a male,
if I was a justice or a president or governor,
(23:10):
it's very hard to make those decisions.
I think it would be better if a committee by partisan
or for women, senators and governors
decide on these matters because at the end of the day,
it's a woman's life who's impacted and women's decisions.
They, you know, again, not saying it's going to happen.
(23:33):
It's probably won't.
But I wish it would be providing women, more women
in politics to discuss those issues
and give a recommendation to the political body on what
laws to pass because I don't know which law, I guess,
restricts male decision making on making babies
(23:54):
or not making babies.
Imagine if the government is doing that.
How would the society react?
Right.
Yeah.
It's definitely a question for me about women's health
and women's access to health.
So that's why I do support abortion rights
because I support health, health rights
that people should have access to health.
(24:15):
For example, my sister, my younger sister, she was pregnant.
And she lost the baby because she had a topic pregnancy.
It's called, I didn't even know what that was.
So I had to look it up.
And this is something that affects women.
It affects women in their first pregnancy term.
And so women's health is such a complex topic
(24:39):
that I think we take a very simplistic view of abortion.
And I think it's more complex than that.
And that's why I do support abortion rights
because I support rights for women to access health care,
health care, and have health care rights.
And we're seeing this.
I think this is like a rude awakening with some of these
states who've gone full on, no abortion whatsoever.
(25:01):
If the woman's dying and some of them are in the parking lot,
have to be practically bleeding out before they get attention.
So I think they're finally, wow, there's more to this.
And to your point about not having the expertise
and leaving it in the hands of the doctors and the nurses
when it's time to have some kind of health care.
(25:26):
Anyway, I mean, we can go on for a while on that topic.
But do you want to finish up with a Kamala and anybody else?
I do.
Just to kind of wrap that up before we move on
to the lightning round.
Yeah, I'm a little bit, probably,
I would be a little bit in the opposition on your views
(25:46):
on that Biden is a great president.
I think he would have been a great president
if he stepped down in time where now he left us in a mess.
So that will go down in his legacy.
He did great.
He did imagine when we were during the transition period
(26:08):
and what happened in the capital, and he
was able to bridge country, or at least keep it stable,
from going into the left field and the Civil War,
maybe hopefully.
Coming out of COVID.
Yeah, all of that.
He did great.
But again, waiting until the last minute to step down,
to be forced to step down, not to realize it.
(26:29):
And it was like, I'm going to call him the old grandpa who
wouldn't want to give the car keys to the family
that this is dangerous for you.
He was pushing us into a dangerous path,
a path of having a person who's not
able to run the country, run the country.
(26:50):
I'm for age limits at the government level.
People are forced to retire.
Corporations probably passed some age
like between around 70 years old.
And it should apply to politicians.
We should not have politicians running the country at that age,
(27:11):
whether it's Trump, whether it's Biden,
whether it's other politicians at that age.
So to me, that will go down in his legacy
that he would have had been a great president,
but he didn't because of what he left the country with.
Yeah, so you're saying that it's a little bit of a stain.
Yeah.
(27:32):
You put the Democratic nominee at risk.
To be honest, because of the mess that's
going to happen between now and November,
I don't think the Democrats are going to win this one.
Because of that.
And you're going to have Trump who's got convicted.
Yeah.
(27:52):
34 times convicted.
As a president of the United States.
I think that's where it's going to go.
Well, that's a good point.
Because Biden, if you guys remember when he ran in 20,
he said, I know I'm old, but I'm just
going to bring this all together, get everything ready,
and then transition to the new generation.
(28:13):
He did say that.
He did say that.
So to your point.
Is he a great president?
Yeah, he should have been.
And I don't know.
I have to blame the administration, too.
I think they really kept this from us,
the general public.
Because they didn't want to give up there.
I mean, obviously, it's the whole administration.
(28:34):
It's not just Biden.
It's the whole administration.
Well, the system is not working.
It came to the debate to figure this out.
So that means there is an amendment in the Constitution
to say if the person is no longer.
25th Amendment.
Exactly.
So the question, if this is what we see in public,
(28:57):
when he's supposed to be at his top game,
and he's not doing it, what's happening when you are 2 o'clock
in the morning, 3 o'clock in the morning, you get a call,
and you need to make decisions, and you're not there.
So to me, that's what I'm saying about the whole system
needs to be revised, that Kamala should have called it,
(29:22):
or somebody wouldn't assist.
We should have a counterbalance saying,
like, this person is no longer able to perform the duties,
and we need to talk about this.
I think what you're saying is also just
regular stay of the course, ensuring that people are still
(29:42):
meeting the criteria to do this job on a regular basis.
But I think also we should have had an opportunity
during the quote unquote primaries to evaluate this.
What happened there?
I think with incumbency, there's this desire
to just support the incumbent no matter what.
(30:03):
And I think that maybe that should be revised as well.
But before we go to the primaries,
we should have a control.
No, we have a senator who died in office in California.
Einstein.
Frank Steele, right?
To me, there are no controls to allow these people
(30:23):
to govern until they die.
Justice Ginsburg, she did great for women
until she lost it at the end.
So to me, we have no control on how to ensure that.
So you either need to state, you no longer,
you should be retiring after an age act.
(30:44):
So I'm not going to define the act.
I'll let the politician figure that out.
Or you should have a counterbalance
and to ensure that a senator should not.
I mean, we have two senators in California or every state.
You should not have a person dying in office.
You should have somebody there all the time.
Unless it's like a woman in a heart attack.
(31:05):
Yeah, you drop that, right?
But to me, when you were what was going on as the senator,
and there's nothing to remove that person and say,
hey, old man or hey, old lady, go and die in peace.
You did great.
Thank you for your service.
(31:26):
But this is too big to fail.
We call it incorporation, but we don't call it
in the people that make the decisions.
So to me, we should have a control.
So you're for term limits, then.
I am for term limits.
Maybe you don't even do age.
You just do term limits.
Maybe I'd be a good woman.
Yeah, could be term limits.
But also, no, also, a control to remove people from office
(31:48):
that are no longer able to do their jobs.
But I do disagree with one thing you said,
which is let the politicians decide what that limit is.
Because we have shown that when we don't have experts in here
making the decisions on our behalf,
these group of decision makers are making decisions
(32:09):
that impact all of us.
And they don't have all the information.
I agree, but that's how democracy works, right?
We elect the politicians to what we now have.
Well, we have established now a political class of people.
When the United States was formed,
we had people in our Congress, in the people that signed
(32:32):
our Declaration of Independence, et cetera, et cetera.
There were people in there that were engineers.
We had people that were teachers.
We had people that were creative thinking.
And they weren't just involved in politics.
These were people that had jobs outside of politics as well.
(32:52):
And I think that we're missing that today.
And there's experience that you get as you and me, Hisham,
we're both engineers by trade.
And we look at life in a different way.
And when you have people looking at life from the same way,
(33:13):
all working together to make these decisions,
you miss out on a crucial element, I think,
in the decision-making process.
One last thing on term limits.
The problem with term limits is, or why we can't get to term
limits, is we can't vote on it.
When they want to, they won't bring it up for the vote.
(33:35):
They will not bring it up for the vote.
Because it's in their self-interest, too.
Exactly.
So that's where we got to get around it.
There's other controls that we need.
Yeah.
How do we get around that?
No, again, if your job, I mean, imagine
Biden is, we said he's 81.
Trump is, what, 78?
78.
OK.
(33:55):
So imagine your 401k is managed by a 78-year-old person.
Or your financial state is managed by a, like, nobody
in the country would allow a person to manage
their financial at that age.
So why are we having even a debate about having a president
(34:17):
that old?
Like, to me, it should be a term limit.
It should be an age limit as well.
As well.
I mean, they do have age.
You have to be a certain age to run for office.
Well, even within the military and federal branches,
like, for example, after 55, I think
you have to retire from the military.
The beauty about this, talking about this topic,
(34:39):
I think both the right and the left and everybody in between
agrees on it.
When you talk about conservatives,
when you talk about liberals, they both, at the end of the day,
they agree that we shouldn't allow a person at that age
running our political affairs.
Is it power hunger?
Yes.
You know, they had a beautiful legacy,
(35:01):
and they messed it up at the end, to say the least.
But why can't, I mean, serve your time,
why can't we have these people be advisors to congressmen,
advisors to senators?
Sure, absolutely.
You don't think Barack is not advising?
You don't think Clinton's advising?
They do.
Absolutely.
Exactly.
But to me, yes.
(35:21):
They can do speaking roles.
They can do all sorts of things.
And be effective.
And be effective.
To me, it is sad, it is sad that the United States,
with a population of close, what is it, 400 million people,
and we have 80-year-old men wanted to become the president.
And then come on, we couldn't find anybody better.
(35:43):
And I'm not saying it from the age.
There are some very small minority of that age bracket
that are on their game.
But the study shows, after a certain age,
your capabilities, you're no longer the person
you were 20 years ago, and you're 50s and you're 60s.
(36:03):
Which is, I think, why people need to start asking about Donald
Trump.
Why are you running now?
I agree.
Now you're the oldest.
Yeah, I agree.
Now, they made an issue of Biden's age for so long
that was their main line of attack.
And it has been on Fox News, on conservative media.
And it has been very effective.
But now he's out.
And now we have to ask Donald Trump, why are you running?
(36:24):
You're the oldest running person now.
So what's going on with you?
It's time to get the microscope.
I know how Kamala uses that.
We have to use those same tactics.
We have to use those same tactics against that party,
if you're voting against Trump.
Because that's a question there.
But we were talking, just going back,
(36:45):
we were talking about Biden's legacy.
To me, history is going to show that he messed up.
He would have been a great president.
Well, it's not written yet.
It's not.
He didn't have a brilliant.
He did.
You know, he did still step down time before the convention.
(37:05):
I think there's still an opportunity to rally.
I agree.
Two months.
I mean, we are.
Look at the French and the British elections.
It just happened.
It's very different.
It's very different.
It's possible.
It is possible.
The European elections are not based
on the mechanics of how you get funded.
(37:30):
It's a totally very different.
You can't compare the two.
So to me, two months, Biden put the whole Democratic nominee
at risk.
And I think it's going to show in November.
OK, so you're sticking with he should have bowed out sooner
and gave everybody a heads up.
(37:50):
Let's have a primary.
Let's rock and roll here.
I mean, in that, like, OK, that's a fair point.
It's a fair point.
We don't disagree with that point at all.
Just don't think that it's going to taint his legacy.
Of course.
I think it still taints his legacy.
However, I don't think it's that means
that the Democrats are going to lose.
Yeah.
Oh, no, no, no.
(38:10):
No.
Oh, no, no.
We watched the Republican.
It depends on how they manage this.
We watched the Republican process.
So you have the governor of Florida and all these.
And it was all in line.
Yeah, the party was fractured.
And it took him a while to get everybody aligned with Trump.
I don't think the Democratic Party is
(38:31):
going to do that in two months.
Yeah.
You know, I don't think we should be afraid.
I think we live in an age of a faster news cycle.
It is what it is at this point.
I think we live in the TikTok age.
Like, we all have news ADHD.
I think things make it to the news cycle
a whole lot faster now.
You know, Trump, I mean, we're living through history right now.
(38:53):
We had a major presidential candidate
stepping down after the other was almost assassinated.
We also did.
We just forget about that in a week.
I know.
We may.
A lot of people really do.
Just like, move on.
Because it's just like, you know,
I think we live in a faster news cycle.
I think people are sort of like desensitized
(39:15):
to this kind of things.
And I think we need to be creative in how we bring people
back to reality.
And, you know, to that voting will make an impact in their lives.
And I think a lot of people are not in disrespect to anyone.
But I think they're choosing the chaos agent over there
with Trump.
It's like, why do you want chaos in them
for the next few years?
(39:36):
We should also recognize that Trump isn't popular.
He never won the popular vote in either election he was in.
His approval rating has never been over 50%.
We should recognize that maybe he isn't as strong as we think
he is, or that Fox News tells us that he is.
(40:10):
So we're going to wrap up real quick with the lightning
around.
So it's going to be five topics.
I'm going to give you each five topics.
And just, boom, whatever comes to top of mind,
sentence or two, whatever.
So who wants to go first?
I guess so.
OK.
All right.
Here we go.
The media.
The media is always going to be the media.
(40:30):
I think it's beautiful in democracy that you have the media.
However, it is as polarized as the population.
If you watch Fox News, it's only talking
about sets of subjects.
If you are CNN, it only talks about a set of subjects.
I would really hope one day that we
(40:54):
will have true non-funded or non-media
that are non-partisan that will give us
the news from a perspective of a non-partisan view.
So no money involved.
No money involved.
Yeah.
OK.
Next topic.
Mike Pence.
Oh, Mike Pence.
Mike Pence, I, God, like, you know, he was like non-existent.
(41:18):
And he manned up like when he certified the election.
So I do respect him that he avoided chaos for this country.
Gretchen Whitner.
Great woman.
I mean, she was supposed to be, or she had an assassination
(41:40):
plot, and I think she took it better than Trump did.
Ukraine.
Oh, the Afghanistan of Europe.
I think it is sad that Ukraine is another subject.
It's deep, right?
(42:01):
It's some.
What's your first reaction to that?
You're like, oh, Ukraine.
So I think NATO pushed against the sphere of influence on Russia.
And once we got to Ukraine, it was too much.
And Russia had to react.
So I think now it's becoming like, sadly,
(42:24):
let's deplete the Russian army in the Ukrainian field
and impact the Ukrainian people.
Excellent point.
Last one, authoritarianism.
Oh, god.
I hope this country would not get to that.
Like, it is a beautiful country.
(42:45):
Americans need to remember what they have as a beautiful country.
You can debate.
You can.
I'm kind of sick of this.
Christian, this is outside.
You can debate.
You can have different views.
But without going to extremism, like trying to assassinate
(43:06):
an elected person who wants to be elected to be a president,
you can debate.
It's fine to have different views.
All right.
All right, who's going next?
Sure.
I'll go.
All right.
AI.
Exciting, but I think it's being overhyped.
(43:29):
I think there's a lot of logical applications for it.
I don't think it's going to solve all of our problems,
but it can solve some of our problems.
Space travel.
Exciting as well.
I'd love to see us set up bases on the moon, on Mars, on Titan,
(43:52):
and establish us as the next level of our civilization, which
is if something were to happen to Earth
and we weren't able to sustain life on Earth,
we continue our evolution and our civilization.
As a people.
Christianity.
(44:13):
Oh, and real light on me.
I mean, I grew up Catholic.
But I think religion in general was necessary for our society
to get to this point in our evolution and our civilization.
(44:34):
I think that it unfortunately blinds people sometimes
in their decision making.
I also think that a lot of decision making
that's under the quote of Christianity
isn't true Christianity.
(44:54):
And so I'd love to have people that
are making decisions based on their quote unquote Christianity
actually look a little deeper in themselves
and really think, is this decision
that I'm making a Christian decision?
Minority rule.
(45:14):
I need an explanation of what you mean by this.
Well, minority rule is minority rule.
They're calling the shots.
Oh, so like a political class making decisions.
Yeah, exactly.
Don't agree with.
Yeah, clearly, I mean, we were talking again
about this high level, but the electoral college.
(45:38):
And I'd love to see us move past that to a popular vote.
I mean, we all identify as Americans first
with regards to maybe Texans specifically.
We don't really think about ourselves
as coming from a particular state.
And I think we are Americans first,
(46:00):
and we should look at it that way.
Great.
And last one, NATO.
Yeah, I mean, I think spread the sphere of influence
of democracy.
However, I think if the people of a country
believe that the way their country is being run
is effective and works for them, that's up to them as well.
(46:24):
So as long as we are truly spreading democracy
and putting people first, we should look at that.
All right, well, there you have it.
And last but not certainly not least, it's Leo, you're up.
Socialism.
(46:45):
Socialism.
I mean, that term has thrown around so much
in the past few years.
People blaming AOC, people blaming Bernie Sanders
for socialism.
I don't think we really understand that concept.
There are many aspects of the US political system
and economy that have some quasi-socialist elements.
(47:08):
For example, social security.
I mean, that's a government program.
We can look at food stamps.
That's a government program.
The road system, right?
That's everybody uses that.
So socialism is kind of this boogeyman car
that is often used.
And I really don't think people understand it very well.
(47:31):
A more recent example is Texas.
They've been out of power over there in San Antonio
for how long now?
Are they still?
They don't have electricity yet.
He's from, do you know?
I don't know.
I have to check.
So it's like, do you want to be part of the public utility
screen or do you not?
So when the state is there to provide services
and goods for people, I think it should be welcomed.
(47:56):
And as long as we find solutions to common problems.
So yeah, it's a boogeyman car there.
Science.
Science.
Where is science these days?
I don't think a lot of people are appreciating science.
We started with COVID.
There is a suspicion of science, scientists.
(48:16):
There's a suspicion of what are these people saying?
I think, again, another boogeyman card.
But for people that are in that field,
when you get to know people who are scientists,
when they've studied science, the scientific method,
it's some of the most intelligent people you ever meet
(48:38):
and some of the most grounded, kind of, ordinary people
you'll ever meet.
It gets a bad name again.
Hitler.
Hitler.
Oh, why are we talking about Hitler?
Interestingly.
History.
Yeah, history.
There's a really good documentary right now.
I think it's on Netflix about Hitler and the Third Reich.
It's very interesting in what was happening in 1940s Germany.
(49:00):
Did you catch that?
Did you watch it?
Yes, it was very interesting.
We're very well put together.
Anything you could share with us?
Like, it was very graphic.
Going back and looking at those images of the camps
in Auschwitz was just like a nightmare.
(49:21):
Very powerful.
But it also spoke a lot about Hitler's character,
about his circle, about what they know about him.
Right?
Scholars and historians know about Hitler
and his rise to power in Germany.
I don't recall the title of this documentary.
It's on Netflix, you said?
I think it's Netflix.
Either Netflix or Amazon Prime, one of those.
(49:44):
Very interesting.
OK, two more, and then we'll wrap it up here.
Health care.
Health care.
Obamacare is still law of the land.
I think this election season, we've
heard the least amount of talking points on health care
than other prior election seasons.
(50:04):
And I wonder why.
People are happy with their Obamacare?
I think so.
And Trump supporters at that.
But they don't even know they have Obamacare.
That's the problem.
We are talking about health care.
We're talking about two old men.
Nobody's talking about repealing Obamacare.
No, that's true.
That is true.
In terms of our own personal health,
I think we enjoy a glass of wine.
(50:26):
It's perfectly healthy.
Everything.
There we go.
All right, last topic here, Leo Deled.
And then we'll close it with comments
on this national debt.
Ooh, national debt.
Just like health care, I don't think
you're going to hear people talking too much about national debt.
It used to be the Republican Party that were,
for a small government for paying off debts,
(50:47):
for not incurring so much debt.
I think it's a problem.
One of these Democrats that is very much for controlling
the national debt and not fiscal responsibility.
Fiscal responsibility, of course.
Not promising all these different government programs
(51:10):
that we can't pay for.
So I personally do think it's a problem.
But again, it's just a counting trick sometimes.
Freddie, you want to comment on national debt
before we wrap this up?
Yeah, I mean, I think America was founded on deficit spending.
That's right, to the French, I think, if I'm remembering.
(51:32):
I mean, it has allowed us so much room to grow.
And I think that's been very important for our growth.
Pisham?
I think we have to be careful.
I think national debt is necessary.
The issue is, what do you create and what do you buy in from that?
(51:52):
You buy and you strengthen in China, which we don't see it now.
But it's definitely will be seeing it in about 50 years.
Yeah, so it's like down the road.
Ain't nothing free.
And unfortunately, we're a people that if it ain't in front of us,
we're not going to deal with it.
That's true.
(52:12):
It's in front of us, and it may be too late at that point.
All right, well, you guys have been awesome.
Thank you so much for participating.
And we'll talk to you soon.
Take care.
Cheers.
Bye, everybody.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
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