August 22, 2025 • 34 mins
When our KBLA fam speaks we listen. So, when Kuahmel (Longtime KBLA supporter, poet & author) felt our Thursday’s needed a name, so we went straight to our KBLA delegation in search of a name. It’s time to celebrate, welcome to our first official Think Tank Thursday! Kuahmel is live in the studio talking all things empowerment, education, and action. As well as his upcoming Poetry Potluck on 8/31 at Balboa Park from 12-6. Later in the podcast we open up the phones and Dominique updates on headlines including the gerrymandering arms race heating up in Cali.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, we're taking suggestions for think Tank Thursday songs to
start with some parliament funkadelic. It ain't illegal yet, you
better do it. And even though that song is I
think from the seventies, we are more in jeopardy of
having thinking outlaw than ever before in the history of
(00:23):
our nation. This is our inaugural think Tank Thursday. It
came about because one of our vip KBLA delegates was
complaining that every other day has a name and today
did not have a name. He's a poet, he's an
activist in his own right, and he's a stuff starter
(00:44):
among our KBLA delegation. Quamel, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'll take the stuff starter part complainer though, No.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I don't call you a complainer, not in general. But
you weren't complaining about think tank Well Thursday doesn't have
a name, that's all.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But it makes it sound like I'm just grievous guy
or something like that. That's not true.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Oh, you're definitely not grievance gy, not at all. In fact,
you actually usually bringing a lot of solutions, hope and
thoughtful kind of this guy reads energy, uh to the conversation.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Nah, No, let's give us some frame because that's really
a necessary thing because we're we're in a very any
intellectual time and uh, that's a that's a frightening thing.
You know, coming up growing up in the eighties, coming
of age in the nineties, and uh, you know, we
we both saw a lot of consciousness that was around
because you know, jen X, younger boomers, older millennials, you know,
(01:40):
where had parents or older brothers and sisters that were
coming out of things like the Civil rights movement, the
Black Power movement and other things that you know, we're
there to get our get our conscious consciousness up and
make us smarter, you know. I mean we're watching things
like dig cab It where you had these beautiful intellectual
conversations like yeah, I mean, I mean not have seen it,
(02:01):
you know much as as a kid. All that stuff
was did cavit on commercials. But at the same time,
it was very important to have these folks that were
out there to make us smarter, you know, the the
Gorvit Dolls of the world, the uh, the nome Chomskys
of the world, you know, and uh, and and a
lot of and a lot of our black thinkers as well,
uh that that were there just to just to feed
(02:21):
us and the poets you know, like your father, like
Hockey Mat of booty, like like like Nikki Giovanni, and uh,
those folks were were just were giving it to us
that were bringing it. And to see now you know
people run with these ten toes down goofy narratives and
want to sell it in such a wrong and strong way.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, we we need help out here. We were sick
out here.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I mean, I feel like we cycle in and out
of anti intellectualism, you know, And so I I I
agree with what you're saying, but I don't. I don't.
I think we've had a couple of peaks and valleys
in between, like Dick Cavit and Donald Trump. Right. I
feel like when we elected I was gonna say, when
we elected the Obamas, we really just elected Barack Obama,
(03:06):
but it feels like we elected both of them that
that was a moment where intellectual, uh smart became hip
again for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well, it also is a matter of seeing a certain
polish and being okay with it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And respectability is that what you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
No, no, no, no, no, not respectability politics. So I think
a lot of us do fall for that. And I
think there's many things that we kind of let creep into,
you know, the the zeitgeist that we tend to fall
for as well. I mean so much as you know,
accepting everyone being comfortable in their own respective skins and
all of us being pieces of the puzzle to to
(03:45):
you know, get get the job done. You know, like
those of us that are the intellectuals, those of us
that are the conscious folks being there right alongside, you know,
the street tribes and understanding like look, you know we
brothers and sisters in this. You know, we could we
could use use we could use what you do, You
could use what we do. We come together, we are
forced to be reckoned with, you know. And that that
(04:06):
also would add the Black Church with add groups like
like the five percent, which you know I come from,
uh n y, the Moor's.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You know, rosters.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
All those folks are very important and you know, to
just kind of play them off like, uh, you know,
you're not You're not You're not that important anymore. We're
gonna do this thing over here has caused you know,
kind of what we have right now. And I think it,
I think it did kind of creep up you know,
we saw it with pock, we saw with krs uh
(04:35):
where you know, the the requirement to kind of be
a little more of uh. You know, a person that
handled your own business or took things to your own hands,
regardless of who was at the expense of.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Could could cause you a little bit of trouble.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
And uh, it's it's important to kind of get back
to that grounding.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You're getting a lot of love of course in in
the YouTube comments Cwomelle, Yeah, they're showing you a lot
of love. Ec Courtney also says we're undefeated in think
Tank every day engaging the enemy. But as a result
of your pointing out okay, I won't say complaining pointing
out that Thursday didn't have a name. We did a
contest and Jacqueline Anderson won for think Tank Thursday. So
(05:22):
what are your thoughts about what we ought to be
doing to mark think Tank Thursday other than thinking as
parliament funkadelic just to point it out it's not illegal yet.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, I mean it's a matter of looking at what's
missing or things that you're gonna think of, the thing
that I'm not gonna necessarily come up with, I'm gonna
think of something that you might not come up with
as like coming from the five percent. You know, as
we get up, we get up in the cipher, we're
all looking at We're all looking, you know, at our brothers,
(05:54):
at our sisters. But we're also peeping in that general direction.
So if I'm peeping in the westerly direction, and you know,
and I got my brother and my sister peeping in
a northeastly direction, in southeast eastly directions, they're seeing my back.
So they got my back. I got your front and
got your back, like a lot of my folks would say,
shot out the food for thought and socks. So it's
important that we're getting all the perspectives.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And for those that don't know, food for thought and
socks are poets.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Oh yes, yes, yes, transition from the beats and rhymes.
I like to say, because rap is poetry. I transition
to the beats and rhymes. Coming into the Still Waters
Writers Workshop in twenty eleven and I caught the bug
real crazy. But it was also important because there was
there was such a rich intellectual base there and those
(06:45):
folks just made me smarter and smarter. But back to
the think tank point, to have folks that are looking
at those things that they see are being brought out.
You know, like even look at TikTok folks right now.
You know a lot of the Me and gen Z,
some younger millennials, they're bringing up things that a lot
of us never understood, you know, just like just like
(07:06):
El Hasbeak, El Shaba's X problematized Christianity and made us be.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Like, oh, we didn't think about that about Christianity.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
You know, we started seeing uh different looks at the
slang we would used that we didn't think about, uh,
the way jobs would work, the way the way certain
industries would work.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It made me start to thinking like, Okay, maybe this
is why the music industry seems so predatory. It's probably
bringing about a disenfranchisement that we might want to we
might want to try and put a stop to. That's
why so many of our great artists back then got
jerked and uh, you know, did not make the money
that they should have made. You know, it's a good
thing that Michael Jackson gave Little Richard back his masters.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
But because of stuff like that, you know now that
we're bringing more awareness to each other, you know, and
and and you're you're doing it, you know, for us.
Tavis is doing it for us, you know, Uh, folks
on other stations. I won't I won't mention those other
stations or their names right now, but it's all part
of that puzzle. So you had to have a t
have a think tank Thursday, like yo, bring in the
folks that are gonna like, you know, give us, give
(08:09):
us the meat, you know, give us the give us
the good hearty protein, vegetables, all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, I mean when you talk about think tanks, it's
something that the right, the far right conservative wing of
our country has used really really effectively. The whole Project
twenty twenty five exactly comes out of a think tank, right,
(08:35):
which is Heritage Foundation, and it's it's a think tank
which then put a skeletal structure together for how they
wanted to change a long game and a long game.
And now they're putting meat on those bones. And so
when we talk about a think tank, even though it's
this is a radio station and we don't have millions
(08:56):
of dollars of dark money to port the work, I
think there's something about that collective brain power and envisioning
what we want. Oh yes, which is the terrible thing
is that's what Project twenty twenty five is.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
But the thing you gotta also understand in that long
game point was, I mean, even before the nineties, when
we see Newt Gingrich come in with the Contract on
America as many cos you know, I mean, the whole
thing was the idea of just whittling away at these
things that they didn't like and constantly installing and instilling
in the masses.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, you should.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
You should just like our ideas just because we say
them really powerfully. So it's important to come in with
that counter. Uh. If you take away the if you
take away the conscious music, if you take away those
those great entertaining books, if you take away those movies,
now you have to supplement it. You know, you gotta
subment with other things. Now, I mean it's it's a
(09:53):
bunch of folks on social media which have you know,
it sometimes can see seem a little polluting if you
have to deal with like reality tvsh attitudes and stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
But when you when you.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Start to get in a more grounded sense, you know,
you bring on you bring on guests that have been
writing great books that are that are teaching it at
some of our finest schools, whether it's Howard Harvard, U C.
L A.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Wherever it be.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Now now now you're onto something, but it's a whole
point of that we stay energized with that counter and
you know, we got we got really really really smarter
folks that come in to chat, really smart callers. And
I would really like we want to see the younger
generations start to bring that in. If I may bring
up bring bring up one thing that I'm about to
(10:38):
start pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, hold that thought because we're up against the clock,
but definitely you may. Daniel Semir Sarren says, I vote
for book excerpts like one paragraph reading and discussion from
black authors for think tenk Thursdays. I like that. We'll continue, Uh,
don't forget your point, Kwamel when we come forward on
K B l A Talk fifteen eighty and one of
our v I p k b l A l gets
(11:00):
the ones that show up and show out in the
YouTube conversation is here. Kwalmela is here. He's a poet,
he's an activist in his own right. And you were
saying you got a new thing that you're launching coming up.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, just to speak to that vi P part real quick.
I was picked up in the kb l A rolls race.
They actually have one in this Black Yes, just just
so you know, look out for the kb L A
mothership y'all.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It's gonna make that connection.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Anyways, Uh no, over over at Black Lantern Books starting
on the Sunday, September seventh, Uh so that afternoon I'm
looking forward to, uh getting getting those those those intellectuals
in the house, or those folks that are seeking it,
those not a seekers, those not a just self seekers. Uh,
those folks that are sick of the misinformation, disinformation hot
(11:47):
takes on talking in circles business, you know, all the
long sick, all those wrong and strong people, but want
to get some new ideas going and again in a
think tank tradition, as we we build think tanks, as
we build power, because that's what we do here at
fifteen eighty we're building power where we're building the connections
and showing people the connections. So so a new series
(12:07):
I'm starting is called can We Build? And uh you
know you can check. You can check on my social
media at quamelku a h M E L. But yeah,
now I want to I want to bring the beautiful
people out, the people that don't see their beauty yet,
and and and just reframe everything, you know, reframe, reframe
the mindset. You know, we get, we get, we get
(12:29):
torn down every which way, but loose all out, all
out there in the ether from all these other voices.
But we need a place to quiet those voices and
start doing actual focused building, which in the think Tank
Thursday tradition is is something that is very necessary, you know.
So it's one of those off air little freer speech
(12:52):
type things, but it won't be the toxic speech, and
it'll be a way to uh combat the toxic speech
as well. So yeah, that's going down black lantern books
around West Boulevard in twenty three Yes indeed, yes, one
block down from the Black Muslim Bakery. Uh yeah, but
it's bringing it's bringing all the human families together because
(13:13):
in the five percent tradition, like like how I understand
it is, it's not to make everybody five percent, it's
to teach civilization, you know, like show the civilization we
want to see, build a civilization that we want to build.
And that's what a think tank should be doing is
is to go towards the thing that we're trying to
accomplish instead of just constantly recycling problems. As Prince Pom
(13:34):
organized Confusion would talk about constant recycling problems, rehashing problems,
you know, talking all that we got to do better,
Why this ain't gonna work. No, we come up with
what will work, or we come up with ideas. You know,
throw things at the wall. See what sticks at any
at any age, any any ability, you know, take those risks,
but find the things that are gonna work.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Molly Belson's quomel sounds just like his points in our
chat room. Paul says his think Tanks Thursday suggestion is
focus on empowerment, education, action, and how to be strategic
Yes yes, yes, And CW real Estate says, be advantageous
in this climate and leverage the system for our game.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Oh yes, all the way, because there's there's ways to
exploit all of these things that you know, as as
I talked about a little bit during the break, you
know that we often don't get to look at because
so many of us are in survival mode. So you know,
while some of us are out there just scratching and surviving.
We need we need folks that got got the time,
(14:37):
or are doing it for a living, or are doing
it because it's their passion and their calling, and are
looking for the ways that we can get ahead.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, and getting ahead, of course can be a mindset.
It can also be it can also be a dollar situation.
But I love that you said the tradition of think
tank Thursday, since this is our first one. We started
with our traditions on Write out the Box.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I mean, but but but it dates back to the
to the onset of the station. You know. I remember
when Alonso Bowden was on and he would introduce ideas
like like what what elevated stupidity looks like? And and
and a lot of it is is just you know what,
what what you all doing here, you know yourself, Tavis uh,
Jesse Jackson Jr. And all the others is you're feeding
(15:25):
us the ways to look at everything going on in life,
the science of everything in life. And you know, like
that's the same thing I decided, Hey, this is what
the poems are formed for. Oh yes, we're gonna get
it in right now. This book piece in the pocket.
That's that's that's a great full link collection.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Go get that. World Stage Press dot org.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
World Stage Press. Oh yes, you want to do one
real quick shoot, let's see what.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Let's see what I got for. We're gonna fire it
open at random.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Okay, some poetry for you. Think Tank Thursday, Jerry Anderson's
and says All Things Counter Project twenty twenty five is
think Tank Thursday. Interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You know what, I'll give you this one. I'll give
you this one. This one's called to the Hungry, the jobless,
and its red raw. So uh yeah, don't worry, no
cus words. I know better on the radio many events watchton.
To tell the hungry men and women of America they
are losers, They're bad persons. They're not allowed to improve
their situation is a heinous judgment, a supreme crime, and
(16:31):
shady as the days of the du Valiers in Haiti.
To the jobless of America. Allow your will to be tempered,
not broken. Feel confidence in your ability to add on.
Let your mind be inspired out of retirement. Because you
are somebody, You are franchised, You are untapped talent like
no other. You will not be denied. The haves are
not zebra striped referees of the humanity of the half knots.
(16:55):
Your day to expand is here. Your time to win
is now. To the Americans struggling on the path to
when honest living, you are more relevant than the job
search taking six months, or the unemployment benefits MAXI gout
in ninet nine weeks, or student loan and credit card
debt exceeding ten thousand dollars. You are not just the number.
I willed that these words easier slumber all job seekers
across the spectrum, from ex offended to military veteran. You
(17:18):
ain't just the past laid out on resumes and applications.
You are a stakeholder in the future of this nation.
Never let these judges without robes tell you otherwise.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Not the judges without robes.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
That's reality though. That's that, And that's the observation that
a poet should be doing. That's the observation that any
conscious person should be doing and pointing.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Out the folks.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That's the observation that a think tank should be using
to develop strategies.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
What else should poets be doing right now in these times.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Writing stronger, putting out material like I should be doing.
Because my next book is due working title life versus culture.
I'm not gonna be the shameless plug guy. But yeah,
no getting now, you know, speaking it into existence because
I didn't want to book the Turn of the Doctor
Dre Detox. For those of you understand, uh if you know,
you know, but yeah, get get the material out, you know,
(18:16):
don't just naval gaze. Uh. Make yourself smarter as well.
And uh and and and find and find those folks
that are doing the work and get right next to them.
Surround yourself with work doers, and and and begin doing work.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Gil Now speaking.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Of poetry real quick, my man Carima, uh Jay Sphear,
who's uh, you know, part of the Poetry in the
Valley Collective. Uh, he's got the poetry pot luck going
down on Sunday, the thirty first August thirty first over
at Balboa.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Park up in the Valley.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
And it's and it's gonna be crazy, twelve to six,
you know. Uh with with with park jammed down to
one one Sunday a year, Uh, down in Long Beach.
It's down for this to take up the slack, which
poet should be doing as well, taking up the slack.
So it's gonna be a dope cipher, open mic cracking
as well. People are bringing out fabulous eats, fabulous drinks,
(19:10):
and uh you know, DJ is gonna be spinning them grooves,
them chunes, as folks will say, c h o O and
them chunes, and it's gonna it's gonna be so live
like so all the camps from the i e. The
Ventory County Valley, South Bay. Uh yeah, swan, swing on,
swing on over and make it a good time. You know,
we're gonna, we're gonna, We're gonna really have a blast.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And that's the last day of the month.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
I'm so happy that the Friend of the Poets nominal
Premia allowed me to put that out there, just for y'all.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Of course, the friend of the poet, the offspring of
the poets, the poets spawn is here.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Sometimes I say the wrong thing, but then I have
people like yourself to help correct.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
They were both right. I mean, I am a friend
of the poets, but I'm also I wouldn't I've made
possible by the poets.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
You used to move that pin.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
You still move to pending from time to time, and
you are the Queen of the Bay team. Come down
to La to bless us but you are the queen
of the Bay Team.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That's hilarious when money bait, when money be wrapped, that
I'm the queen of black talk radio. Other people started
calling me that. Who knew. I just needed a poet
or a rapper to give me a title and everyone
would obey.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I mean, you made California shine, don't you.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh thank you, Carmel, thanks for your idea and your
birthing helping to birth. Think take Thursdays.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Let's just take.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Eight hundred nine to two oh fifteen eighty. If you
want to hop in, I'm Dominique u Prima for KBLA
Talk fifteen eighty. Yes, indeed, we got some great conversation
going on around here, and you're invited in eight hundred
and nine two oh fifteen eighty. The chat room remains
lively with great suggestions for think tagn Thursday, Paul saying
(20:58):
it's the battle against misinformation and disinformation. Then Peter says,
thinking Thursday more than a name outstanding. And I do
think some of these other suggestions are good. They're gonna coalesce,
they're gonna come together the anti twenty twenty five project.
(21:19):
I get that. I want us to be as I said,
on offense here more than defense. But we can have
a vision offensive of an offensive of what we see.
And I was thinking about how we often have folks
complain that there's no black agenda. That's something I don't
agree with. I think some aspects of our so called
(21:42):
black agenda are very well defined and constantly reiterated, i e.
Closing the education gap, closing the wealth gap, undoing you know,
reparations in the sense of undoing harms, right, the harms
of Jim Crow, harms of our enslavement and the subsequent
(22:02):
badges thereof. But there's another piece of that, which is
what is it that we want? What is the world
you want to live in? You know? That part of
the black agenda not just what do we need to fix?
But what are we building for me? That's part of
think tank Thursday. But I'm happy to take your ideas
(22:25):
at eight hundred and nine two fifteen eighty or right
here in the comments, Molly Bell says. Vicki Lindsay would
have loved this. Miss her. Yes, Rest in peace, Vicky Lindsay,
another person who fought for her community, fought against community
violence and supported those who had suffered from it. Meanwhile, meanwhile,
(22:50):
back in Texas, the Texas lawmakers have gone ahead and
pass their little cheaty map, their little Donald Trump mandated map.
They are moving forward with that. They've approved it to
(23:11):
add new congressional seats for Republicans in the state of Texas.
Democrats left. A standoff has been going on for two weeks.
But as we knew it would come to an end,
and now it has. Those maps will go to the
state Senate. They're going to pass it there and then
(23:33):
it'll be signed off by the governor. So it's on.
It's on, like donkey kong y'all. This has set it off.
Democrats have vowed to push back. Republicans want to push
back against that. So the great Jerry Mandarin war has begun,
(23:54):
and here we go. California, of course leading the charge.
Our plan to do mid decade redistricting has to go
to voters. It will go to voters. It will go
to voters in November, partly because the California Supreme Court
(24:15):
has rejected Republican efforts to stop it. Republicans were trying
to say that it was illegal. They wanted to block
the plan by Newsome and the state legislature to just
temporarily pause our maps that were drawn by the independent
Redistricting Commission to be triggered by what they're doing in Texas.
(24:41):
Right state Supreme Court said, nope, we are declining your
emergency request. So the California legislature will vote on three
bills today. That one would allow a special election to
happen to redraw the state's congressional maps and create five
(25:02):
new Democratic House seats, which perfectly would counter Texas because
they've created five new seats. Of course, we don't know
how that plays out, will voters approve it, and then
what other Republican states are going to be successful in
redrawing their maps, and how does it end up on balance?
But as I've said repeatedly, of course we would prefer
(25:27):
an independent redistricting commission. But we cannot sit here and
let Republicans create these permanent majorities like they have on
the Supreme Court. How did that happen? May not be permanent,
but it's your lifetime, in my lifetime permanent. Because they cheated,
they gained the system. They would not allow President Barack
(25:47):
Obama to have his nomination of Meyrick Garland, and then
they cramped through Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court
by cheating, by bending the rules, by making their own
dog on standards. And I'm not saying we should lie,
cheat and steal like they do all the time, but
we're not bringing a knife to a gunfight. And so
(26:09):
good for the state legislature, Good for Gavin Newsom for
doing something, even if at the end of the day
they come out on top on balance by three, four, five, six,
ten seats. We fought, we won, we tried. We didn't
just sit here like a bunch of whimps and let
these folks walk all over us. And we have to see.
(26:34):
You know, what is going to happen with this election.
I believe Californians are going to say yes to this
because we see what's happening, the way that the GOP
is cheating, the way that they are taking less people
and drawing these creative, crazy, crazy time maps to give
(26:58):
less people more clout. And I saw a great graphic
of this. I don't have it in front of me,
but the way the districts are drawn, it takes two
million voters, two million black voters to have the same
voting clout in texas As one and a half million,
(27:20):
not black voters. And that's because of the way the
maps are drawn, which proves that it's anti democratic because
it eliminates one man, one woman, one vote. My vote
should have just as much power clout as your vote,
and the way they've drawn these maps in Texas, that's
(27:41):
not the case. Black people's vote literally has less clout
than others in Texas the minute these these maps go through.
So we have to fight, even if you know, even
if they have the numbers, we have to fight because
(28:02):
there's a possibility we win. Number one. Number two California
boom five seats neutralizes Texas at least it won't be
a ten or twenty seat permanent advantage that they create,
and maybe it can be stopped. Because there's all different
states and all different states have all different rules for
what it would take to do mid decade redistricting. Some
(28:26):
of them will fail. They won't all be able to
steamroll on through like Texas. So we ought to hold
the line, hold the line, hold the line, and hold
the line. Eight hundred and nine to oh fifteen eighty.
That's the number if you want to get on the
mic ah Elon Musk facing a big lawsuit. I'll share
(28:47):
that with you. Oh, this is a good one when
we come forward. KVLA Talk fifteen eighty. Remember during the election,
when the world's richest man offered a million bars bucks,
a chance to win a million dollars a day if
you would sign some stupid petition in support of the
(29:09):
MAGA agenda. Remember that he was. He was saying, you
could win a million bucks every day if you would
just sign this petition to support the US constitution. Right,
And really what it was doing is kind of bribing
people to register to vote and vote for Trump. And now,
(29:34):
as of today, as of yesterday, as of wealth building Wednesday,
a federal judges ordered Musk to face a lawsuit from
voters accusing him of bilking them into signing that petition. Basically,
the lawsuit says he tricked them, and they're right. He
did trick them for more than one reason, one of
(29:57):
those reasons being that he had already designated who he
was going to give those dollars too, and so the
contest was fake, as it turned out. One plaintiff from Texas,
Jacqueline McCafferty, says that the Musk Political Action Committee America
(30:18):
PACK wrongly induced her to provide personal identifying information as
part of the giveaway. Yeah, because they were trying to well,
who knows what they were trying to do, but we
can allege that they were trying to register voters. The
lawyers for Musk and the Pack are not responding to
(30:41):
press inquiries about this. But the whole reason for even
starting America Pack was to support Drumf's presidential run in
twenty twenty four, and it successfully did that. What we
found out in the middle of that contest was that
he already had a list of who he was giving
a million dollars, and he was basically pretending it was
(31:02):
a contest and getting unwitting MAGA folks or possible MAGA
leaning people to give up their personal information to sign
a so called petition and to encourage them to register
to vote for maga's agenda. They had to provide their name,
(31:23):
their address, their email address, their phone number, and Musk
tried to get this dismissed. He said he had proof
that he wasn't running an illegal lottery. The judge said,
now you don't. Now you don't see you in court.
So I love that for him, And yeah, so what
(31:46):
he was appointed to the bench by Barack Obama in
twenty fourteen. Judges Matter. They're saying they were harmed because
they had to give out their personal and private information
on a false promise. That sounds like calm to me.
That's like grifting one oh one. You know. It reminds
(32:06):
me of the medicaid commercial. Hang up the phone, Do
not give out your personal information. It's a scam. It's
the Elon Musk version of that. So yeah, well, you
can say what you want to, but one of the
main things that scammers try to do is get your
(32:28):
personal information. And that's exactly what he was doing by
offering a million dollars, which wasn't even a real million
dollars because he had already created a list of who
was going to get that money. That's the definition of
a grift. Is that Dwight from the City of Compton, Okay,
(32:48):
all right, on a think tank Thursday, Dwight out straight
out of Compton, thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Thank you for this think tank Thursday. It's a great
idea because we have to come up with his mini
I is as we can to fight this Republican dictatorship.
It's not all they want to do is turn our
democracy over to Trump dictatorship. Now, Dominique, thank you again
for my Nipsey Hustle tap card and my Mitchell and
(33:17):
KBLA gear that I came to station picked up for
being calling number forty last week. I want to thank
you and everyone there at the station for that.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Absolutely couldn't go to a more deserving individual. It's just
that we were laughing that you would be randomly be
caller forty since you're one of our day ones.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Oh yeah, you know. I'm down with you guys from
day one, Dominique, and I just wanted to also thank
everyone there, KBLA family, the hard working postal workers, and
just tell them to keep fighting, don't get discouraged. And
everyone's going to be eighteen by next year. Please go
to vote dot gov and register to vote and vote
in every election. Vote for your counsul person, your mayor,
(34:00):
vote for the president when they have a president. Please
vote because without your vote, you see what happens in Texas.
I mean, these Republicans are they just making up districts
that are miles and miles long to take all the
black elective representatives that we have out of Congress and
(34:24):
take all the democratics out of Congress. I know, if
you have a problem, call your council person and tell
them the things that you're unhappy with. You know, don't
not vote absolutely, but we got to continue to fight Dominique.
And thank k BLA for being our voice in the community.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Thank you, Dwight. Dwight call me at eight hundred and
nine to fifteen eighty. It's not too late to do
the same. KBLA Talk, fifteen eighty
Okay, we're taking suggestions for think Tank Thursday songs to
start with some parliament funkadelic. It ain't illegal yet, you
better do it. And even though that song is I
think from the seventies, we are more in jeopardy of
having thinking outlaw than ever before in the history of
(00:23):
our nation. This is our inaugural think Tank Thursday. It
came about because one of our vip KBLA delegates was
complaining that every other day has a name and today
did not have a name. He's a poet, he's an
activist in his own right, and he's a stuff starter
(00:44):
among our KBLA delegation. Quamel, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'll take the stuff starter part complainer though, No.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I don't call you a complainer, not in general. But
you weren't complaining about think tank Well Thursday doesn't have
a name, that's all.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But it makes it sound like I'm just grievous guy
or something like that. That's not true.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Oh, you're definitely not grievance gy, not at all. In fact,
you actually usually bringing a lot of solutions, hope and
thoughtful kind of this guy reads energy, uh to the conversation.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Nah, No, let's give us some frame because that's really
a necessary thing because we're we're in a very any
intellectual time and uh, that's a that's a frightening thing.
You know, coming up growing up in the eighties, coming
of age in the nineties, and uh, you know, we
we both saw a lot of consciousness that was around
because you know, jen X, younger boomers, older millennials, you know,
(01:40):
where had parents or older brothers and sisters that were
coming out of things like the Civil rights movement, the
Black Power movement and other things that you know, we're
there to get our get our conscious consciousness up and
make us smarter, you know. I mean we're watching things
like dig cab It where you had these beautiful intellectual
conversations like yeah, I mean, I mean not have seen it,
(02:01):
you know much as as a kid. All that stuff
was did cavit on commercials. But at the same time,
it was very important to have these folks that were
out there to make us smarter, you know, the the
Gorvit Dolls of the world, the uh, the nome Chomskys
of the world, you know, and uh, and and a
lot of and a lot of our black thinkers as well,
uh that that were there just to just to feed
(02:21):
us and the poets you know, like your father, like
Hockey Mat of booty, like like like Nikki Giovanni, and uh,
those folks were were just were giving it to us
that were bringing it. And to see now you know
people run with these ten toes down goofy narratives and
want to sell it in such a wrong and strong way.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, we we need help out here. We were sick
out here.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I mean, I feel like we cycle in and out
of anti intellectualism, you know, And so I I I
agree with what you're saying, but I don't. I don't.
I think we've had a couple of peaks and valleys
in between, like Dick Cavit and Donald Trump. Right. I
feel like when we elected I was gonna say, when
we elected the Obamas, we really just elected Barack Obama,
(03:06):
but it feels like we elected both of them that
that was a moment where intellectual, uh smart became hip
again for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well, it also is a matter of seeing a certain
polish and being okay with it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And respectability is that what you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
No, no, no, no, no, not respectability politics. So I think
a lot of us do fall for that. And I
think there's many things that we kind of let creep into,
you know, the the zeitgeist that we tend to fall
for as well. I mean so much as you know,
accepting everyone being comfortable in their own respective skins and
all of us being pieces of the puzzle to to
(03:45):
you know, get get the job done. You know, like
those of us that are the intellectuals, those of us
that are the conscious folks being there right alongside, you know,
the street tribes and understanding like look, you know we
brothers and sisters in this. You know, we could we
could use use we could use what you do, You
could use what we do. We come together, we are
forced to be reckoned with, you know. And that that
(04:06):
also would add the Black Church with add groups like
like the five percent, which you know I come from,
uh n y, the Moor's.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You know, rosters.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
All those folks are very important and you know, to
just kind of play them off like, uh, you know,
you're not You're not You're not that important anymore. We're
gonna do this thing over here has caused you know,
kind of what we have right now. And I think it,
I think it did kind of creep up you know,
we saw it with pock, we saw with krs uh
(04:35):
where you know, the the requirement to kind of be
a little more of uh. You know, a person that
handled your own business or took things to your own hands,
regardless of who was at the expense of.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Could could cause you a little bit of trouble.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
And uh, it's it's important to kind of get back
to that grounding.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You're getting a lot of love of course in in
the YouTube comments Cwomelle, Yeah, they're showing you a lot
of love. Ec Courtney also says we're undefeated in think
Tank every day engaging the enemy. But as a result
of your pointing out okay, I won't say complaining pointing
out that Thursday didn't have a name. We did a
contest and Jacqueline Anderson won for think Tank Thursday. So
(05:22):
what are your thoughts about what we ought to be
doing to mark think Tank Thursday other than thinking as
parliament funkadelic just to point it out it's not illegal yet.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, I mean it's a matter of looking at what's
missing or things that you're gonna think of, the thing
that I'm not gonna necessarily come up with, I'm gonna
think of something that you might not come up with
as like coming from the five percent. You know, as
we get up, we get up in the cipher, we're
all looking at We're all looking, you know, at our brothers,
(05:54):
at our sisters. But we're also peeping in that general direction.
So if I'm peeping in the westerly direction, and you know,
and I got my brother and my sister peeping in
a northeastly direction, in southeast eastly directions, they're seeing my back.
So they got my back. I got your front and
got your back, like a lot of my folks would say,
shot out the food for thought and socks. So it's
important that we're getting all the perspectives.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And for those that don't know, food for thought and
socks are poets.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Oh yes, yes, yes, transition from the beats and rhymes.
I like to say, because rap is poetry. I transition
to the beats and rhymes. Coming into the Still Waters
Writers Workshop in twenty eleven and I caught the bug
real crazy. But it was also important because there was
there was such a rich intellectual base there and those
(06:45):
folks just made me smarter and smarter. But back to
the think tank point, to have folks that are looking
at those things that they see are being brought out.
You know, like even look at TikTok folks right now.
You know a lot of the Me and gen Z,
some younger millennials, they're bringing up things that a lot
of us never understood, you know, just like just like
(07:06):
El Hasbeak, El Shaba's X problematized Christianity and made us be.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Like, oh, we didn't think about that about Christianity.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
You know, we started seeing uh different looks at the
slang we would used that we didn't think about, uh,
the way jobs would work, the way the way certain
industries would work.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It made me start to thinking like, Okay, maybe this
is why the music industry seems so predatory. It's probably
bringing about a disenfranchisement that we might want to we
might want to try and put a stop to. That's
why so many of our great artists back then got
jerked and uh, you know, did not make the money
that they should have made. You know, it's a good
thing that Michael Jackson gave Little Richard back his masters.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
But because of stuff like that, you know now that
we're bringing more awareness to each other, you know, and
and and you're you're doing it, you know, for us.
Tavis is doing it for us, you know, Uh, folks
on other stations. I won't I won't mention those other
stations or their names right now, but it's all part
of that puzzle. So you had to have a t
have a think tank Thursday, like yo, bring in the
folks that are gonna like, you know, give us, give
(08:09):
us the meat, you know, give us the give us
the good hearty protein, vegetables, all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, I mean when you talk about think tanks, it's
something that the right, the far right conservative wing of
our country has used really really effectively. The whole Project
twenty twenty five exactly comes out of a think tank, right,
(08:35):
which is Heritage Foundation, and it's it's a think tank
which then put a skeletal structure together for how they
wanted to change a long game and a long game.
And now they're putting meat on those bones. And so
when we talk about a think tank, even though it's
this is a radio station and we don't have millions
(08:56):
of dollars of dark money to port the work, I
think there's something about that collective brain power and envisioning
what we want. Oh yes, which is the terrible thing
is that's what Project twenty twenty five is.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
But the thing you gotta also understand in that long
game point was, I mean, even before the nineties, when
we see Newt Gingrich come in with the Contract on
America as many cos you know, I mean, the whole
thing was the idea of just whittling away at these
things that they didn't like and constantly installing and instilling
in the masses.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, you should.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
You should just like our ideas just because we say
them really powerfully. So it's important to come in with
that counter. Uh. If you take away the if you
take away the conscious music, if you take away those
those great entertaining books, if you take away those movies,
now you have to supplement it. You know, you gotta
subment with other things. Now, I mean it's it's a
(09:53):
bunch of folks on social media which have you know,
it sometimes can see seem a little polluting if you
have to deal with like reality tvsh attitudes and stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
But when you when you.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Start to get in a more grounded sense, you know,
you bring on you bring on guests that have been
writing great books that are that are teaching it at
some of our finest schools, whether it's Howard Harvard, U C.
L A.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Wherever it be.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Now now now you're onto something, but it's a whole
point of that we stay energized with that counter and
you know, we got we got really really really smarter
folks that come in to chat, really smart callers. And
I would really like we want to see the younger
generations start to bring that in. If I may bring
up bring bring up one thing that I'm about to
(10:38):
start pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, hold that thought because we're up against the clock,
but definitely you may. Daniel Semir Sarren says, I vote
for book excerpts like one paragraph reading and discussion from
black authors for think tenk Thursdays. I like that. We'll continue, Uh,
don't forget your point, Kwamel when we come forward on
K B l A Talk fifteen eighty and one of
our v I p k b l A l gets
(11:00):
the ones that show up and show out in the
YouTube conversation is here. Kwalmela is here. He's a poet,
he's an activist in his own right. And you were
saying you got a new thing that you're launching coming up.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, just to speak to that vi P part real quick.
I was picked up in the kb l A rolls race.
They actually have one in this Black Yes, just just
so you know, look out for the kb L A
mothership y'all.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It's gonna make that connection.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Anyways, Uh no, over over at Black Lantern Books starting
on the Sunday, September seventh, Uh so that afternoon I'm
looking forward to, uh getting getting those those those intellectuals
in the house, or those folks that are seeking it,
those not a seekers, those not a just self seekers. Uh,
those folks that are sick of the misinformation, disinformation hot
(11:47):
takes on talking in circles business, you know, all the
long sick, all those wrong and strong people, but want
to get some new ideas going and again in a
think tank tradition, as we we build think tanks, as
we build power, because that's what we do here at
fifteen eighty we're building power where we're building the connections
and showing people the connections. So so a new series
(12:07):
I'm starting is called can We Build? And uh you
know you can check. You can check on my social
media at quamelku a h M E L. But yeah,
now I want to I want to bring the beautiful
people out, the people that don't see their beauty yet,
and and and just reframe everything, you know, reframe, reframe
the mindset. You know, we get, we get, we get
(12:29):
torn down every which way, but loose all out, all
out there in the ether from all these other voices.
But we need a place to quiet those voices and
start doing actual focused building, which in the think Tank
Thursday tradition is is something that is very necessary, you know.
So it's one of those off air little freer speech
(12:52):
type things, but it won't be the toxic speech, and
it'll be a way to uh combat the toxic speech
as well. So yeah, that's going down black lantern books
around West Boulevard in twenty three Yes indeed, yes, one
block down from the Black Muslim Bakery. Uh yeah, but
it's bringing it's bringing all the human families together because
(13:13):
in the five percent tradition, like like how I understand
it is, it's not to make everybody five percent, it's
to teach civilization, you know, like show the civilization we
want to see, build a civilization that we want to build.
And that's what a think tank should be doing is
is to go towards the thing that we're trying to
accomplish instead of just constantly recycling problems. As Prince Pom
(13:34):
organized Confusion would talk about constant recycling problems, rehashing problems,
you know, talking all that we got to do better,
Why this ain't gonna work. No, we come up with
what will work, or we come up with ideas. You know,
throw things at the wall. See what sticks at any
at any age, any any ability, you know, take those risks,
but find the things that are gonna work.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Molly Belson's quomel sounds just like his points in our
chat room. Paul says his think Tanks Thursday suggestion is
focus on empowerment, education, action, and how to be strategic
Yes yes, yes, And CW real Estate says, be advantageous
in this climate and leverage the system for our game.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Oh yes, all the way, because there's there's ways to
exploit all of these things that you know, as as
I talked about a little bit during the break, you
know that we often don't get to look at because
so many of us are in survival mode. So you know,
while some of us are out there just scratching and surviving.
We need we need folks that got got the time,
(14:37):
or are doing it for a living, or are doing
it because it's their passion and their calling, and are
looking for the ways that we can get ahead.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, and getting ahead, of course can be a mindset.
It can also be it can also be a dollar situation.
But I love that you said the tradition of think
tank Thursday, since this is our first one. We started
with our traditions on Write out the Box.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I mean, but but but it dates back to the
to the onset of the station. You know. I remember
when Alonso Bowden was on and he would introduce ideas
like like what what elevated stupidity looks like? And and
and a lot of it is is just you know what,
what what you all doing here, you know yourself, Tavis uh,
Jesse Jackson Jr. And all the others is you're feeding
(15:25):
us the ways to look at everything going on in life,
the science of everything in life. And you know, like
that's the same thing I decided, Hey, this is what
the poems are formed for. Oh yes, we're gonna get
it in right now. This book piece in the pocket.
That's that's that's a great full link collection.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Go get that. World Stage Press dot org.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
World Stage Press. Oh yes, you want to do one
real quick shoot, let's see what.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Let's see what I got for. We're gonna fire it
open at random.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Okay, some poetry for you. Think Tank Thursday, Jerry Anderson's
and says All Things Counter Project twenty twenty five is
think Tank Thursday. Interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You know what, I'll give you this one. I'll give
you this one. This one's called to the Hungry, the jobless,
and its red raw. So uh yeah, don't worry, no
cus words. I know better on the radio many events watchton.
To tell the hungry men and women of America they
are losers, They're bad persons. They're not allowed to improve
their situation is a heinous judgment, a supreme crime, and
(16:31):
shady as the days of the du Valiers in Haiti.
To the jobless of America. Allow your will to be tempered,
not broken. Feel confidence in your ability to add on.
Let your mind be inspired out of retirement. Because you
are somebody, You are franchised, You are untapped talent like
no other. You will not be denied. The haves are
not zebra striped referees of the humanity of the half knots.
(16:55):
Your day to expand is here. Your time to win
is now. To the Americans struggling on the path to
when honest living, you are more relevant than the job
search taking six months, or the unemployment benefits MAXI gout
in ninet nine weeks, or student loan and credit card
debt exceeding ten thousand dollars. You are not just the number.
I willed that these words easier slumber all job seekers
across the spectrum, from ex offended to military veteran. You
(17:18):
ain't just the past laid out on resumes and applications.
You are a stakeholder in the future of this nation.
Never let these judges without robes tell you otherwise.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Not the judges without robes.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
That's reality though. That's that, And that's the observation that
a poet should be doing. That's the observation that any
conscious person should be doing and pointing.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Out the folks.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That's the observation that a think tank should be using
to develop strategies.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
What else should poets be doing right now in these times.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Writing stronger, putting out material like I should be doing.
Because my next book is due working title life versus culture.
I'm not gonna be the shameless plug guy. But yeah,
no getting now, you know, speaking it into existence because
I didn't want to book the Turn of the Doctor
Dre Detox. For those of you understand, uh if you know,
you know, but yeah, get get the material out, you know,
(18:16):
don't just naval gaze. Uh. Make yourself smarter as well.
And uh and and and find and find those folks
that are doing the work and get right next to them.
Surround yourself with work doers, and and and begin doing work.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Gil Now speaking.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Of poetry real quick, my man Carima, uh Jay Sphear,
who's uh, you know, part of the Poetry in the
Valley Collective. Uh, he's got the poetry pot luck going
down on Sunday, the thirty first August thirty first over
at Balboa.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Park up in the Valley.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
And it's and it's gonna be crazy, twelve to six,
you know. Uh with with with park jammed down to
one one Sunday a year, Uh, down in Long Beach.
It's down for this to take up the slack, which
poet should be doing as well, taking up the slack.
So it's gonna be a dope cipher, open mic cracking
as well. People are bringing out fabulous eats, fabulous drinks,
(19:10):
and uh you know, DJ is gonna be spinning them grooves,
them chunes, as folks will say, c h o O and
them chunes, and it's gonna it's gonna be so live
like so all the camps from the i e. The
Ventory County Valley, South Bay. Uh yeah, swan, swing on,
swing on over and make it a good time. You know,
we're gonna, we're gonna, We're gonna really have a blast.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And that's the last day of the month.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
I'm so happy that the Friend of the Poets nominal
Premia allowed me to put that out there, just for y'all.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Of course, the friend of the poet, the offspring of
the poets, the poets spawn is here.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Sometimes I say the wrong thing, but then I have
people like yourself to help correct.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
They were both right. I mean, I am a friend
of the poets, but I'm also I wouldn't I've made
possible by the poets.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
You used to move that pin.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
You still move to pending from time to time, and
you are the Queen of the Bay team. Come down
to La to bless us but you are the queen
of the Bay Team.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That's hilarious when money bait, when money be wrapped, that
I'm the queen of black talk radio. Other people started
calling me that. Who knew. I just needed a poet
or a rapper to give me a title and everyone
would obey.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I mean, you made California shine, don't you.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh thank you, Carmel, thanks for your idea and your
birthing helping to birth. Think take Thursdays.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Let's just take.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Eight hundred nine to two oh fifteen eighty. If you
want to hop in, I'm Dominique u Prima for KBLA
Talk fifteen eighty. Yes, indeed, we got some great conversation
going on around here, and you're invited in eight hundred
and nine two oh fifteen eighty. The chat room remains
lively with great suggestions for think tagn Thursday, Paul saying
(20:58):
it's the battle against misinformation and disinformation. Then Peter says,
thinking Thursday more than a name outstanding. And I do
think some of these other suggestions are good. They're gonna coalesce,
they're gonna come together the anti twenty twenty five project.
(21:19):
I get that. I want us to be as I said,
on offense here more than defense. But we can have
a vision offensive of an offensive of what we see.
And I was thinking about how we often have folks
complain that there's no black agenda. That's something I don't
agree with. I think some aspects of our so called
(21:42):
black agenda are very well defined and constantly reiterated, i e.
Closing the education gap, closing the wealth gap, undoing you know,
reparations in the sense of undoing harms, right, the harms
of Jim Crow, harms of our enslavement and the subsequent
(22:02):
badges thereof. But there's another piece of that, which is
what is it that we want? What is the world
you want to live in? You know? That part of
the black agenda not just what do we need to fix?
But what are we building for me? That's part of
think tank Thursday. But I'm happy to take your ideas
(22:25):
at eight hundred and nine two fifteen eighty or right
here in the comments, Molly Bell says. Vicki Lindsay would
have loved this. Miss her. Yes, Rest in peace, Vicky Lindsay,
another person who fought for her community, fought against community
violence and supported those who had suffered from it. Meanwhile, meanwhile,
(22:50):
back in Texas, the Texas lawmakers have gone ahead and
pass their little cheaty map, their little Donald Trump mandated map.
They are moving forward with that. They've approved it to
(23:11):
add new congressional seats for Republicans in the state of Texas.
Democrats left. A standoff has been going on for two weeks.
But as we knew it would come to an end,
and now it has. Those maps will go to the
state Senate. They're going to pass it there and then
(23:33):
it'll be signed off by the governor. So it's on.
It's on, like donkey kong y'all. This has set it off.
Democrats have vowed to push back. Republicans want to push
back against that. So the great Jerry Mandarin war has begun,
(23:54):
and here we go. California, of course leading the charge.
Our plan to do mid decade redistricting has to go
to voters. It will go to voters. It will go
to voters in November, partly because the California Supreme Court
(24:15):
has rejected Republican efforts to stop it. Republicans were trying
to say that it was illegal. They wanted to block
the plan by Newsome and the state legislature to just
temporarily pause our maps that were drawn by the independent
Redistricting Commission to be triggered by what they're doing in Texas.
(24:41):
Right state Supreme Court said, nope, we are declining your
emergency request. So the California legislature will vote on three
bills today. That one would allow a special election to
happen to redraw the state's congressional maps and create five
(25:02):
new Democratic House seats, which perfectly would counter Texas because
they've created five new seats. Of course, we don't know
how that plays out, will voters approve it, and then
what other Republican states are going to be successful in
redrawing their maps, and how does it end up on balance?
But as I've said repeatedly, of course we would prefer
(25:27):
an independent redistricting commission. But we cannot sit here and
let Republicans create these permanent majorities like they have on
the Supreme Court. How did that happen? May not be permanent,
but it's your lifetime, in my lifetime permanent. Because they cheated,
they gained the system. They would not allow President Barack
(25:47):
Obama to have his nomination of Meyrick Garland, and then
they cramped through Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court
by cheating, by bending the rules, by making their own
dog on standards. And I'm not saying we should lie,
cheat and steal like they do all the time, but
we're not bringing a knife to a gunfight. And so
(26:09):
good for the state legislature, Good for Gavin Newsom for
doing something, even if at the end of the day
they come out on top on balance by three, four, five, six,
ten seats. We fought, we won, we tried. We didn't
just sit here like a bunch of whimps and let
these folks walk all over us. And we have to see.
(26:34):
You know, what is going to happen with this election.
I believe Californians are going to say yes to this
because we see what's happening, the way that the GOP
is cheating, the way that they are taking less people
and drawing these creative, crazy, crazy time maps to give
(26:58):
less people more clout. And I saw a great graphic
of this. I don't have it in front of me,
but the way the districts are drawn, it takes two
million voters, two million black voters to have the same
voting clout in texas As one and a half million,
(27:20):
not black voters. And that's because of the way the
maps are drawn, which proves that it's anti democratic because
it eliminates one man, one woman, one vote. My vote
should have just as much power clout as your vote,
and the way they've drawn these maps in Texas, that's
(27:41):
not the case. Black people's vote literally has less clout
than others in Texas the minute these these maps go through.
So we have to fight, even if you know, even
if they have the numbers, we have to fight because
(28:02):
there's a possibility we win. Number one. Number two California
boom five seats neutralizes Texas at least it won't be
a ten or twenty seat permanent advantage that they create,
and maybe it can be stopped. Because there's all different
states and all different states have all different rules for
what it would take to do mid decade redistricting. Some
(28:26):
of them will fail. They won't all be able to
steamroll on through like Texas. So we ought to hold
the line, hold the line, hold the line, and hold
the line. Eight hundred and nine to oh fifteen eighty.
That's the number if you want to get on the
mic ah Elon Musk facing a big lawsuit. I'll share
(28:47):
that with you. Oh, this is a good one when
we come forward. KVLA Talk fifteen eighty. Remember during the election,
when the world's richest man offered a million bars bucks,
a chance to win a million dollars a day if
you would sign some stupid petition in support of the
(29:09):
MAGA agenda. Remember that he was. He was saying, you
could win a million bucks every day if you would
just sign this petition to support the US constitution. Right,
And really what it was doing is kind of bribing
people to register to vote and vote for Trump. And now,
(29:34):
as of today, as of yesterday, as of wealth building Wednesday,
a federal judges ordered Musk to face a lawsuit from
voters accusing him of bilking them into signing that petition. Basically,
the lawsuit says he tricked them, and they're right. He
did trick them for more than one reason, one of
(29:57):
those reasons being that he had already designated who he
was going to give those dollars too, and so the
contest was fake, as it turned out. One plaintiff from Texas,
Jacqueline McCafferty, says that the Musk Political Action Committee America
(30:18):
PACK wrongly induced her to provide personal identifying information as
part of the giveaway. Yeah, because they were trying to well,
who knows what they were trying to do, but we
can allege that they were trying to register voters. The
lawyers for Musk and the Pack are not responding to
(30:41):
press inquiries about this. But the whole reason for even
starting America Pack was to support Drumf's presidential run in
twenty twenty four, and it successfully did that. What we
found out in the middle of that contest was that
he already had a list of who he was giving
a million dollars, and he was basically pretending it was
(31:02):
a contest and getting unwitting MAGA folks or possible MAGA
leaning people to give up their personal information to sign
a so called petition and to encourage them to register
to vote for maga's agenda. They had to provide their name,
(31:23):
their address, their email address, their phone number, and Musk
tried to get this dismissed. He said he had proof
that he wasn't running an illegal lottery. The judge said,
now you don't. Now you don't see you in court.
So I love that for him, And yeah, so what
(31:46):
he was appointed to the bench by Barack Obama in
twenty fourteen. Judges Matter. They're saying they were harmed because
they had to give out their personal and private information
on a false promise. That sounds like calm to me.
That's like grifting one oh one. You know. It reminds
(32:06):
me of the medicaid commercial. Hang up the phone, Do
not give out your personal information. It's a scam. It's
the Elon Musk version of that. So yeah, well, you
can say what you want to, but one of the
main things that scammers try to do is get your
(32:28):
personal information. And that's exactly what he was doing by
offering a million dollars, which wasn't even a real million
dollars because he had already created a list of who
was going to get that money. That's the definition of
a grift. Is that Dwight from the City of Compton, Okay,
(32:48):
all right, on a think tank Thursday, Dwight out straight
out of Compton, thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Thank you for this think tank Thursday. It's a great
idea because we have to come up with his mini
I is as we can to fight this Republican dictatorship.
It's not all they want to do is turn our
democracy over to Trump dictatorship. Now, Dominique, thank you again
for my Nipsey Hustle tap card and my Mitchell and
(33:17):
KBLA gear that I came to station picked up for
being calling number forty last week. I want to thank
you and everyone there at the station for that.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Absolutely couldn't go to a more deserving individual. It's just
that we were laughing that you would be randomly be
caller forty since you're one of our day ones.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Oh yeah, you know. I'm down with you guys from
day one, Dominique, and I just wanted to also thank
everyone there, KBLA family, the hard working postal workers, and
just tell them to keep fighting, don't get discouraged. And
everyone's going to be eighteen by next year. Please go
to vote dot gov and register to vote and vote
in every election. Vote for your counsul person, your mayor,
(34:00):
vote for the president when they have a president. Please
vote because without your vote, you see what happens in Texas.
I mean, these Republicans are they just making up districts
that are miles and miles long to take all the
black elective representatives that we have out of Congress and
(34:24):
take all the democratics out of Congress. I know, if
you have a problem, call your council person and tell
them the things that you're unhappy with. You know, don't
not vote absolutely, but we got to continue to fight Dominique.
And thank k BLA for being our voice in the community.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Thank you, Dwight. Dwight call me at eight hundred and
nine to fifteen eighty. It's not too late to do
the same. KBLA Talk, fifteen eighty
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