November 29, 2023 • 29 mins
In this episode, Tudor welcomes Mehek Cooke, a Republican strategist and attorney, to discuss the current immigration crisis, the state of the border, and the increase in violent protests. They criticize the Biden administration for the lack of progress in securing the border and the increase in illegal activities such as human trafficking and drug trafficking. The conversation then shifts to the topic of abortion laws and the need for common sense restrictions. They also discuss the importance of standing up for oneself, the American dream, and the significance of spending quality time with family. The Tudor Dixon Podcast is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. For more information visit TudorDixonPodcast.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Let's Talk Immigration. We
watch every day as our border is overwhelmed and both
sides are fighting over what the answer is, but we
don't seem to have a solution. I know, obviously the
majority of the problem here is the person who's in
the highest office in the land doesn't want to have
a solution on this. But I'm excited to have a
(00:22):
woman with me today who is an immigrant herself and
has actually done some legal work to protect our border.
Maheck Cook has worked for candidates for political office, and
she's also run herself. We're going to chat about all
of that, including a recent poll showing the majority of
Americans believe the American dream is dead, which I think
(00:42):
is so sad, completely devastating, because I think that's one
of the coolest parts about America. But we're going to
get into that. First, I need to talk to you
about America's health, specifically your health, because you can't put
a price on your health. I stay energized and keep
doing what I love every day because I get the
maximum servings and nutrition of fruits and vegetables, because I
(01:04):
rely on balance of natures fruits and veggies and a
capsule to give me the maximum nutrition of thirty one
real whole fruits and veggies every single day. Balance of
Nature is giving all listeners thirty five percent off any
first preferred order plus free shipping with promo code tutor.
Just go to balanceifnature dot com and enter promo code
tutor to get started today. Balance of Nature's fruits and
(01:27):
veggies and a capsule are powdered after an advanced vacuum
cold process, keeping the maximum nutrition intact. Put your health
first the easy way with Balance of natures fruits and
Veggies and a capsule. Get thirty five percent off your
first preferred order ship to you free with promo code
tutor at balanced nature dot com. I feel confident about
my health because of Balance of Nature. Check out all
(01:49):
the testimonials from people like you on their website and
see how Balance of Nature is making a difference in
their lives. Go now to Balance of nature dot com
and get thirty five percent off your first per for
shipped order shipped free with promo code tutor. All right, now,
let's bring in Maheck Cook to the podcast. She is
a Republican strategist in attorney Mack. Thank you so much
(02:11):
for being here.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thank you so much for having me. It's such a
great opportunity.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I love having people that can tell me, teach me things,
tell our audience stuff, and bring a new perspective. You
are an immigrant, and I wanted to talk a little
bit about that because obviously we're seeing a lot going
on today. People are questioning if some of these protests
that are getting more and more violent just over the weekend.
(02:36):
I want to say that over the weekend in Michigan,
there were protesters outside of Governor Whitmer's house and they
were chanting one, two, three four. Governor Whitmer opened the
door five, six, seven eight. America is a terrorist state.
I think a lot of people are concerned who is
coming across our border? And do these people really believe
(02:57):
that what's the next step? If you're willing to stand
outside of a governor's mansion in a state and threaten them,
what is the next step? So what are you seeing
from that perspective?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We have an immigration crisis, There's no doubt. I think
every politician talks about this. But I had the opportunity
firsthand to go to McCallan, Texas and visit the southern border.
These are shots that you don't get to see on television.
There's so much hidden today from the media. We have
illegal immigrants that are crossing at a record high and
(03:35):
when you talk about terrorism today, if we don't secure
our border, this is a national security threat. We had
a chief that has recently retired discuss how god awful
the state of our border is. There is no wall,
so there's no deterrent. There's no surveillance, so we don't
have any type of airborne activity that can help even
(03:56):
detect individuals with these border patrol officers truly are or babysitters.
They'll tell you that there's not enough of them. So
when an individual comes in and I met with many
of them at the Catholic charities in McCallan, Texas, they're processed,
they're handed over to places like Catholic charities, they stay
there for three days, and then they're shipped off to
(04:17):
any part in the United States. So we are truly
a border state any state that you live in. It
does not matter if you're in Texas or any other state.
So it's been shocking to see and our DH secretary
has just said he does not know the number of
individuals that are coming into our border. There are so
many gotaways, so it's truly a life or death matter
(04:39):
if we don't secure our border.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah, we're talking millions since Joe Biden has taken office.
I think something key that you said is that there's
no border wall. And we know that Donald Trump was
building a border wall. We have a border wall in
some areas. It has not been kept up since Joe
Biden took office. There were a lot more materials, and
let me be clear about something. The materials were there
(05:02):
to continue building the wall. They were waiting for someone
to build them. As soon as Joe Biden took over,
not only did he not build the wall, but then
he sold off the materials and then lo and behold
a few weeks a few weeks ago, very quietly, we
started to hear from the Biden administration, Okay, we're going
to start building that wall again. We do think that
(05:24):
that wall is important. And you can tell that they are.
They're flustered. They don't know exactly what to do. Like
I said, we're talking millions of people coming across now,
and there is no way to sugarcoat this. I mean
even Karine Jean Pierre is looking for her words, and
let's face it, she has them written right in front
(05:45):
of her every statement. She reads everything that she's going
to say, and she still doesn't know what to say
about the border wall.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well, it's because they're hiding the truth, right Like you
can look at the data today since Biden took office,
six point two million illegal immigrants. We talk about Terris alone,
one hundred and sixty nine individuals that were apprehended in
twenty twenty three. So the Biden administration now is trying
to put a band aid on a problem that we
should have been solving from day one. Under President Trump.
(06:14):
We were more secure, we were more stable, our economy
was doing better. Now we have a fence and all crisis,
a human trafficking crisis, and a legal immigrant crisis, and
Biden continues to give money to blue cities to house
these individuals. I can tell you firsthand in Columbus, Ohio, unfortunately,
after the Afghanistan withdrawal that happened, there were so many
(06:36):
Ifgani refugees that came here to several properties of a
client that I have and stayed there. And guess what
all government handouts now they're good people, but we don't
know their background, we don't know their criminal history. We
are not doing our due diligence today, so we are
more unsafe than ever before.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We talk about human trafficking. I want to get into
that a little bit because you are in Ohio. Ohio
just had a no limits abortion. Is that a constitutional
amendment in Ohio?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yes, there was a constitutional amendment that passed no limits abortion.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
So no limits abortion. And just to be clear, this
is where we are in the United States today, and
we talked about this a few days ago on the podcast.
The majority of the Western world and when I say
the majority, the only real country that is outside of
a ten to fourteen week span you've got I think
it's the Netherlands that is twenty four weeks. But outside
(07:35):
of that, everybody else is falling within this ten to
fourteen week span. In Ohio and I think six other
states in the United States, we have no limits abortion
at a time when we see rising human trafficking. I
think we're number two in the entire world for human trafficking.
This is a pedophile, a trafficker, a predator's dream bill
(07:59):
because they don't have to have a parental They don't
have to have parental consent. They can take a girl
over and over and over again. No one's going to
ask any questions. It doesn't matter what level of a
pregnancy she's in. The problem with bills like this, they
are incredibly dangerous to women and they promote trafficking in
a way that people cannot imagine. What do you say
(08:21):
about the fact that you've got all these life groups
that are saying we can ban abortion completely, but the
effect that they're having is no limits abortion.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I think we have to come to a common sense right.
I am pro life unapologetically, but at the same time,
Governor Dwine and our states said at best he represents
millions of Ohioans and that's not where Ohio was. But
he and so many other individuals kept stating, do not
pass this amendment because it will allow for full term abortions.
(08:52):
We have to find common sense, We have to find consensus.
I think that your ban that you talk about between
twelve to fourteen or twelve to fifteen weeks, when a
onboard child can feel pain, that's about the place that
many states need to start considering, and governors need to
start considering. Because Mark my words. The ACLU did it
in Michigan, they have done it in Ohio. They circumvented
(09:14):
our state legislature, they circumvented the governor. They went straight
to individuals and said, you need reproductive rights. You're not
going to have contraceptions, You're not going to be able
to even have miscarriage care. So they peddled lies, millions
of dollars backing it, and guess what, at the end
of the day, we lost in Ohio. We lost the
ability to save lives because we couldn't get behind a
(09:39):
common sense ban, a common sense, thoughtful place where rape
and it insst in my opinion, should be included, and
common sense in terms of the number of weeks. So
this has become very extreme. And again this is going
to be in the ballot, state by state, through not
the legislature, not the governor. It's going to go state
(10:00):
by state to the people, and the ACLU is going
to continue to lie.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
a Tutor Dixon podcast. I think it's important that we
talk about this in terms that are realistic, because when
we think about Roe v. Wade, I mean, nobody talked
about Roe v. Wade as a ban that was just
a restriction. You could after viability you weren't allowed to
(10:27):
have an abortion. And we're talking about abortion restrictions. I
think the terminology is really important here because we're talking
about common sense restrictions. And if you say fifteen weeks
is a common sense restriction it, I mean, how can
you argue with that when I just told you that
there are almost no western countries that allow it after
(10:49):
fourteen weeks, So we're talking about fifteen weeks. But also
I think that something that people don't understand is when
these abortion amendments pass in states, nothing else there can
be no protections put into place, and so like in Michigan,
and I believe Ohio is the same. But you can
correct me if I'm wrong. We have no parental consent
(11:10):
and that cannot be reversed. We've been told by experts
that what will likely happen is that likely a young
woman will die and the parents will sue, and that
will then alter the state government. They'll say, gosh, you know,
we really have to figure out a way to have
a protection on this once it's in the constitution. It's
(11:32):
challenging because trying to put a protection around it would
then be unconstitutional, and I think that's what people are
not understanding. It goes beyond just you know it's abortion
or no abortion, it's unsafe abortion.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You're right, and restriction is the correct terminology. What we
fought really hard in Ohio for and I was a
spokeswoman for Protect Women Ohio, was protect these children, protect
your parental rights, and notification. We had an unfortunate case
where a fifteen year old girl was forced to get
an abortion by her soccer coach. He called Plant Parenthood,
(12:11):
pretended to be her dad, and it's shocking that Planned
Parenthood didn't have the parent come in And there was
a settlement reached on this, but it's going to encourage
more young girls being exploited. And human trafficking is really
big in Ohio. We are part of a highway system
where these girls are trafficked through our state. We have
(12:31):
a huge system called the catch Court where we're trying
to help these women that have been human traffic get
back on the street. So parental consents being eviscerated. And
we pointed to Michigan, we said, look at that state
up north, they're losing parental consent. Let us be part
of those decisions. These are our children, and at the
end of the day, the decision wasn't about parental consent
(12:54):
versus not. It was truly parental consent versus What everybody
pushed in Ohio is this six week ban. It's pending
on our courts today, but it doesn't matter. As you said,
it best, the constitution trump state law. So we cannot
have parental consent. We can't have just common sense safety
measures for women. We can ensure ambulatory care that is
(13:16):
close for somebody who is performing an abortion and god
forbid they need help, which by the way, happened last month.
There's a woman who bled and continued to bleed because
there was no ambulatory care close as she was getting
an abortion. So this is truly about women's health and
not necessarily what people think of as a band. We
need restrictions, we need to be thoughtful, we need to
(13:37):
find a common sense and every state needs to determine that.
But we can't lose parental consent. It's being eviscerated throughout
our country.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
It's been really effective though, for Democrats to come out
and say that Republicans are anti woman, which I think
is interesting because I would say that something that promotes trafficking,
something that promotes the harm of women, is anti woman,
and really we have to it has to be fully
looked at and there has to be a full discussion.
(14:05):
Now I will preface this by saying I blame our
side because we have not done a good job of educating.
We have not done a good job of targeting women
and explaining what we mean. And I complained about this
a few weeks ago in Michigan, or a few days
ago on the podcast in Michigan. The biggest message was
that this Prop three was too confusing, too extreme. That
(14:29):
was it. That was the extent of the education campaign
for people, whether they're going to vote or not vote.
That's not enough. People don't understand what that means. And
so I believe that Republicans have to do a better
job of this. But I think in general some of
these things are not political. They are more cultural. And
I just talked to Riley Gaines about this too, with
(14:52):
these trans athletes, because again you have this situation in
New Jersey where this man is swimming on a woman's team,
he's breaking records. The nc DOUBA has decided they're going
to step out of it from a national standpoint. They're
going to let states make their individual decisions as to
whether or not a trans woman can swim with the
(15:13):
biological women. And so ultimately what you have is no
controlling factor, no protective factor. And I like to think
about government as we only want government to step in
when we absolutely need a group protected. In this case,
we need women protected. That was what Title nine was
supposed to do, and that's what organizations like the NCUBA
(15:34):
should be looking at. But they are not looking at that.
They're saying, we're going to throw this back to individual states.
Individual states can make this decision. Well, that's hurting women
because now you have these records that were set in
New Jersey that you may have a woman who is
somewhat quote unquote protected in Florida, but she can't beat
(15:56):
those records. And now those are records that are on
the books. So how do we start talking about these
things in a way where we are no longer driving
people away? And like I said, I don't necessarily think
these are political conversations. I think these are conversations of
just education and reality.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Well, I think you've nailed it. The left has always
had the easiest message. When it came to abortion, it
was reproductive freedom. You have to protect your reproductive freedom.
When it comes to transgender ideology, it's allowing for equal
access and equal play. So they have always had this
very easy message, and then we're stuck in a box
(16:40):
backpedaling to say, well, that's not true and this is false,
and let's start with our own narrative. Let's start with compassion,
let's start with empathy. Let's start with the fact that
if transgender students truly want a lane, let's create that,
because we're not going to be able to battle this right.
There are children that are on flo fortunately going through
(17:01):
this confusing journey. Some of them decide not to transition fully,
some of them do. And as they do, especially when
they're eighteen and making those decisions, we need to be
there for them. We need to be a community and
a resource, and part of that is giving them a lane,
giving them the comfort that we give male and females.
But to put them in male and female sports is
(17:23):
a disservice to women. And I think that explanation has
to happen, and the NCAA needs to step in. I
think the WNBA, if you're playing women's basketball, depending on
what sport, especially nationally, they need to set standards that
trickle down and if they're not, then schools need to
start stepping up. We need more thoughtfulness coming from our
(17:44):
parent groups and schools because this is not acceptable.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well, and I think that's something Riley Gaines said something interesting.
She said, I changed my opinion on this, and I decided,
instead of saying that we need an outside group to
come in and protect women, that women should refuse to
compete if there is a transgender woman on the team.
And I think that that's an interesting perspective because again
(18:10):
I've said this politically doesn't work because as a politician,
if you talk about this, it looks like you are
going after kids who are in a situation that is
a tough situation and making a lane in and of itself.
It doesn't seem to be satisfying to those groups. But
for the girls who have spent their lives training for
(18:32):
this moment, those are probably the people that need to
speak up. And this may be the generation that does
something pretty incredible to protect women's sports. And I think
every generation has kind of had a moment where they've
had to fight for women's rights. It's been a continual battle.
It will always likely be a battle. I mean, you
(18:53):
see it even when you're campaigning, even when you are
at work. You see the differences in the way women
are treated then the ways men are treated. There's always
going to be that battle out there. But I just
think that this is an interesting time to encourage those
women to be the change themselves.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I agree with you, and I think part of it
is showing the compassion. But the other part, and I've
seen this in some of these instances, women are walking
away from the table, and I applaud them. I think
it's really difficult after you've put in five, ten, fifteen
years of your life training for that one medal, that
one time. But at the same time, if you can't
(19:32):
create the lane, then you have to walk away because
that's the only way we're going to gain respect. It's
not staying there, it's not continuing to compete, it's not
bowing down to the left. Because I truly think there's
a small minority of people that believe that this is okay.
Women need to come together, and I do think there's
a new generation of young women that are starting to
(19:53):
stand up for themselves. And every generation we go through
some changes, we take five steps back, we take ten
steps forward. And I think that women's sports and I'm
a sports agent. I represent women and men at the
United State University and several other universities here in Ohio.
We fortunately have not had those situations. But when you
(20:13):
talk to some of these young female athletes, they have
worked since they were four or five years old for
that one dream, that one metal. So as they're continuing
to be pushed and infiltrated by the left, they need
to stand strong. They need to make sure that if
there's not a different lane created by the university, then
they have the power to walk away.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon podcast. So let me talk to you
a little bit about what you think that candidates should
be focused on. Because we've obviously talked about what isn't
working politically, and I know that that is not going
to make a lot of people happy. But if you
really look, if you kind of peel back the layers
(20:56):
of the political onion, the social issues are not working
because that's not really what's impacting most people's everyday lives,
but you've been involved in prosecuting and working on the
legal side of criminal cases that involve corruption, terrorism, drug trafficking,
money laundering, all of these different issues. You've seen, the
(21:19):
immigration problems, You've seen the problems with people that are
going to a life of crime because of the situation
with inflation and the problems with that people are having
with the economy right now, Based on what you've seen
in the past few years politically and what you've seen
from a legal standpoint, what would you say are the
(21:42):
biggest issues that Republicans should be focused on right now.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I think the most important thing is for law enforcement
to enforce the law. That's not happening today across the country.
Americans are seeing that there's no equity and her judicial system,
there's no law enforcement, that some people are getting away
with things that they shouldn't be, So first and foremost,
(22:07):
there needs to be more law enforcement and more understanding
that we need to back the blue that really did
disappear for a while in the last couple of years.
And without that strength and that communal support, it doesn't
matter whether you're prosecuting cases, whether you have increased immigration oversight,
all of it will collapse if we don't have a
strong police force. And then I think in terms of immigration,
(22:29):
the most important thing is going back to the policies
of our previous administration. Remain in Mexico, making sure we
have increased surveillance, making sure we have increased border security.
And the number one thing that I continue to hear
is most of these illegal immigrants are coming for asylum. No,
they're not. They don't have a case for asylum. I
have spoken to many of them. They're coming here for
(22:51):
the American dream, and I applaud that, but they need
to do it legally. Asylum is for persecution, Asylum is
for I worked on a case where a young woman
was generally mutilated and she was filling her country. Those
are asylum cases. It's not because you want to come
to the United States and pursue the American dream. You
have to do it legally. And then, lastly, when we
(23:12):
look at the overall state of Bidenomics, I mean, regardless
of what president we have today, we still have to
follow the law. We still have to be upstanding citizens
because we will not be able to attain the American dream.
We will not be able to be successful if we
continue to blame, if we continue to act like victims,
(23:33):
if we continue to look for handouts. So at some
point we have to look inward. We have to look
at our family union, and we need to go back
to that moral compass that actually binds us together. And
then I think our next presidential election, we can hope
for better top down economics, law and policy. Immigration. That's
(23:54):
what's going to change the country and make sure that
people believe in the American dream again.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So speak of the American dream. We said that there
was a poll that came out majority of Americans think
the American dream is dead. Obviously, you know that there
are people crossing that border in hopes of achieving the
American dream. Your family came here in hopes of achieving
the American dream. It looks as though you were fairly successful.
And that so tell me when you see that, when
(24:21):
you see a poll like that that says most Americans
are like, yeah, that can't happen, what's your reaction to that.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I've always been somebody who has pushed and talks about perseverance.
Nothing in our lives was perfect. I mean, we lived
with I was born in India, came to this country,
when I was five years old, lived with ten family members.
I remember the first time that I decided that I
wanted to go to law school, I was told by
so many people, well, you've got to be really good,
(24:50):
and lawyers are a dime a dozen. And then I
remember saying I wanted to work at the US Attorney's Office,
and somebody at the US Attorney's Office told me, well,
we look for individuals who have longevity here, and you've
not been a career prosecutor. And every little part of
my life I have been told no. I was told
I can't do media commentary because I haven't worked for
a president yet. I mean, every single roadblock is what
(25:13):
Americans feel on a daily basis because of Biden. What
my message is, though, is you get what you have
the courage to seek, and if you continue to persevere,
when one door closes, another one opens, and you take
those opportunities and you take those risks, and you're comfortable
being uncomfortable. And by the way, we are all uncomfortable
right now. The state of the economy is in shambles.
(25:36):
Our four ROH one case are decreasing, mortgage rates are increasing,
schools are abysmal. After COVID. We're starting to see what
our children are being educated. But the bottom line is
we have to believe that prosperity is possible. But it
starts from within. It starts for knowing that you can
achieve anything through hard work and perseverance. And I truly
(25:57):
believe that I watched my father work three jobs for
seven years straight before we were able to afford our
own home. And as I see these polls today, I
know where it's coming from. We're looking at the TVs,
we're looking at our bank accounts, and things are tough,
but this is the opportunity for us to get back up.
This is the opportunity for us to persevere well.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It kind of reminds me of that saying hard times
make strong men, good times make weak men. And I
think that when we see folks right now who are
saying the American dream is unattainable, I don't know that
it really is, or if the effort is not there
from this generation of young people who are coming in
(26:39):
and just wanting to have a great Instagram channel or
something that is just quick and easy. They want those
those quick dollars to come in, and that it takes
hard work I mean, people don't achieve the American Dream
doesn't happen overnight. It's something that you have to go into.
You have to push hard. Oftentimes you have several failures.
(27:00):
I mean that's something that I think that this generation
is not familiar with. Failure is okay, you learn from failure,
and then you start over and you push harder, and
you have to navigate all of the things that come
at you. But hard work is what gets you to
the American dream. And I don't know that hard work
is something that a lot of young people these days
(27:22):
are willing to put in.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Well, I think you nailed it. It's instant gratification. It's
the fact that you can completely sit on a couch
Amazon whatever you need. You can get on Instagram, you
can make money on social media. But I truly think
there's going to be a change in this generation. And
I am constantly hopeful for every kid that I meet
the things that they should be paid one hundred and
(27:46):
twenty thousand dollars upon graduating with no experience. I always
meet that one kid whose parents sat down with them
at the dinner table, who talked about work ethic, who
talked about achieving the American Dream who talked about not
taking government handouts, So it's definitely possible. But I do
think it starts with the family unit, right. I didn't
(28:08):
learn what I learned on my own. It was truly
my grandparents, parents, uncles, cousins, everybody running around in the house.
In the midst of chaos. There was a calm because
we knew we were a family when we came together.
And I think as we continue to get attacked from
the left, more and more families are going to start
sitting down together for dinner. That's the number one thing
families can do to check on their children, to ask
(28:30):
about their days, to try and find that moment of
calm in the chaos that we're experiencing today. And that's
how you're going to start getting to work ethic, grinding
and pushing our children to achieve the American Dream in
the future.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, that seems to be a theme of our guests
lately is spend time with family. Just make sure that
you are pouring into your kids and that time that
you think is just I'm just here getting you lunch,
I'm helping you get off to school. I'm hoping you
get to your next event. That still is time that
you are spending with your family, so make sure you
(29:08):
are pouring into them in those moments in between. The
in between moments are just as important as the moments
where you're sitting down to dinner. I really enjoyed talking
to you today. Thank you so much for being here.
Heck Cook, make sure you check out tell us where
where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I'm on Twitter at maheck Cook, Facebook at cook for Ohio,
and I really appreciate this opportunity to just share my
my American dream and hopes for our future.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Absolutely, thank you so much, and thank you all for
joining me on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. For this episode
and others, go to tutordisonpodcast dot com. You can subscribe
right there, or check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts and join me next
time on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Have a blessed day.
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Let's Talk Immigration. We
watch every day as our border is overwhelmed and both
sides are fighting over what the answer is, but we
don't seem to have a solution. I know, obviously the
majority of the problem here is the person who's in
the highest office in the land doesn't want to have
a solution on this. But I'm excited to have a
(00:22):
woman with me today who is an immigrant herself and
has actually done some legal work to protect our border.
Maheck Cook has worked for candidates for political office, and
she's also run herself. We're going to chat about all
of that, including a recent poll showing the majority of
Americans believe the American dream is dead, which I think
(00:42):
is so sad, completely devastating, because I think that's one
of the coolest parts about America. But we're going to
get into that. First, I need to talk to you
about America's health, specifically your health, because you can't put
a price on your health. I stay energized and keep
doing what I love every day because I get the
maximum servings and nutrition of fruits and vegetables, because I
(01:04):
rely on balance of natures fruits and veggies and a
capsule to give me the maximum nutrition of thirty one
real whole fruits and veggies every single day. Balance of
Nature is giving all listeners thirty five percent off any
first preferred order plus free shipping with promo code tutor.
Just go to balanceifnature dot com and enter promo code
tutor to get started today. Balance of Nature's fruits and
(01:27):
veggies and a capsule are powdered after an advanced vacuum
cold process, keeping the maximum nutrition intact. Put your health
first the easy way with Balance of natures fruits and
Veggies and a capsule. Get thirty five percent off your
first preferred order ship to you free with promo code
tutor at balanced nature dot com. I feel confident about
my health because of Balance of Nature. Check out all
(01:49):
the testimonials from people like you on their website and
see how Balance of Nature is making a difference in
their lives. Go now to Balance of nature dot com
and get thirty five percent off your first per for
shipped order shipped free with promo code tutor. All right, now,
let's bring in Maheck Cook to the podcast. She is
a Republican strategist in attorney Mack. Thank you so much
(02:11):
for being here.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thank you so much for having me. It's such a
great opportunity.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I love having people that can tell me, teach me things,
tell our audience stuff, and bring a new perspective. You
are an immigrant, and I wanted to talk a little
bit about that because obviously we're seeing a lot going
on today. People are questioning if some of these protests
that are getting more and more violent just over the weekend.
(02:36):
I want to say that over the weekend in Michigan,
there were protesters outside of Governor Whitmer's house and they
were chanting one, two, three four. Governor Whitmer opened the
door five, six, seven eight. America is a terrorist state.
I think a lot of people are concerned who is
coming across our border? And do these people really believe
(02:57):
that what's the next step? If you're willing to stand
outside of a governor's mansion in a state and threaten them,
what is the next step? So what are you seeing
from that perspective?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We have an immigration crisis, There's no doubt. I think
every politician talks about this. But I had the opportunity
firsthand to go to McCallan, Texas and visit the southern border.
These are shots that you don't get to see on television.
There's so much hidden today from the media. We have
illegal immigrants that are crossing at a record high and
(03:35):
when you talk about terrorism today, if we don't secure
our border, this is a national security threat. We had
a chief that has recently retired discuss how god awful
the state of our border is. There is no wall,
so there's no deterrent. There's no surveillance, so we don't
have any type of airborne activity that can help even
(03:56):
detect individuals with these border patrol officers truly are or babysitters.
They'll tell you that there's not enough of them. So
when an individual comes in and I met with many
of them at the Catholic charities in McCallan, Texas, they're processed,
they're handed over to places like Catholic charities, they stay
there for three days, and then they're shipped off to
(04:17):
any part in the United States. So we are truly
a border state any state that you live in. It
does not matter if you're in Texas or any other state.
So it's been shocking to see and our DH secretary
has just said he does not know the number of
individuals that are coming into our border. There are so
many gotaways, so it's truly a life or death matter
(04:39):
if we don't secure our border.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah, we're talking millions since Joe Biden has taken office.
I think something key that you said is that there's
no border wall. And we know that Donald Trump was
building a border wall. We have a border wall in
some areas. It has not been kept up since Joe
Biden took office. There were a lot more materials, and
let me be clear about something. The materials were there
(05:02):
to continue building the wall. They were waiting for someone
to build them. As soon as Joe Biden took over,
not only did he not build the wall, but then
he sold off the materials and then lo and behold
a few weeks a few weeks ago, very quietly, we
started to hear from the Biden administration, Okay, we're going
to start building that wall again. We do think that
(05:24):
that wall is important. And you can tell that they are.
They're flustered. They don't know exactly what to do. Like
I said, we're talking millions of people coming across now,
and there is no way to sugarcoat this. I mean
even Karine Jean Pierre is looking for her words, and
let's face it, she has them written right in front
(05:45):
of her every statement. She reads everything that she's going
to say, and she still doesn't know what to say
about the border wall.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well, it's because they're hiding the truth, right Like you
can look at the data today since Biden took office,
six point two million illegal immigrants. We talk about Terris alone,
one hundred and sixty nine individuals that were apprehended in
twenty twenty three. So the Biden administration now is trying
to put a band aid on a problem that we
should have been solving from day one. Under President Trump.
(06:14):
We were more secure, we were more stable, our economy
was doing better. Now we have a fence and all crisis,
a human trafficking crisis, and a legal immigrant crisis, and
Biden continues to give money to blue cities to house
these individuals. I can tell you firsthand in Columbus, Ohio, unfortunately,
after the Afghanistan withdrawal that happened, there were so many
(06:36):
Ifgani refugees that came here to several properties of a
client that I have and stayed there. And guess what
all government handouts now they're good people, but we don't
know their background, we don't know their criminal history. We
are not doing our due diligence today, so we are
more unsafe than ever before.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We talk about human trafficking. I want to get into
that a little bit because you are in Ohio. Ohio
just had a no limits abortion. Is that a constitutional
amendment in Ohio?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yes, there was a constitutional amendment that passed no limits abortion.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
So no limits abortion. And just to be clear, this
is where we are in the United States today, and
we talked about this a few days ago on the podcast.
The majority of the Western world and when I say
the majority, the only real country that is outside of
a ten to fourteen week span you've got I think
it's the Netherlands that is twenty four weeks. But outside
(07:35):
of that, everybody else is falling within this ten to
fourteen week span. In Ohio and I think six other
states in the United States, we have no limits abortion
at a time when we see rising human trafficking. I
think we're number two in the entire world for human trafficking.
This is a pedophile, a trafficker, a predator's dream bill
(07:59):
because they don't have to have a parental They don't
have to have parental consent. They can take a girl
over and over and over again. No one's going to
ask any questions. It doesn't matter what level of a
pregnancy she's in. The problem with bills like this, they
are incredibly dangerous to women and they promote trafficking in
a way that people cannot imagine. What do you say
(08:21):
about the fact that you've got all these life groups
that are saying we can ban abortion completely, but the
effect that they're having is no limits abortion.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I think we have to come to a common sense right.
I am pro life unapologetically, but at the same time,
Governor Dwine and our states said at best he represents
millions of Ohioans and that's not where Ohio was. But
he and so many other individuals kept stating, do not
pass this amendment because it will allow for full term abortions.
(08:52):
We have to find common sense, We have to find consensus.
I think that your ban that you talk about between
twelve to fourteen or twelve to fifteen weeks, when a
onboard child can feel pain, that's about the place that
many states need to start considering, and governors need to
start considering. Because Mark my words. The ACLU did it
in Michigan, they have done it in Ohio. They circumvented
(09:14):
our state legislature, they circumvented the governor. They went straight
to individuals and said, you need reproductive rights. You're not
going to have contraceptions, You're not going to be able
to even have miscarriage care. So they peddled lies, millions
of dollars backing it, and guess what, at the end
of the day, we lost in Ohio. We lost the
ability to save lives because we couldn't get behind a
(09:39):
common sense ban, a common sense, thoughtful place where rape
and it insst in my opinion, should be included, and
common sense in terms of the number of weeks. So
this has become very extreme. And again this is going
to be in the ballot, state by state, through not
the legislature, not the governor. It's going to go state
(10:00):
by state to the people, and the ACLU is going
to continue to lie.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
a Tutor Dixon podcast. I think it's important that we
talk about this in terms that are realistic, because when
we think about Roe v. Wade, I mean, nobody talked
about Roe v. Wade as a ban that was just
a restriction. You could after viability you weren't allowed to
(10:27):
have an abortion. And we're talking about abortion restrictions. I
think the terminology is really important here because we're talking
about common sense restrictions. And if you say fifteen weeks
is a common sense restriction it, I mean, how can
you argue with that when I just told you that
there are almost no western countries that allow it after
(10:49):
fourteen weeks, So we're talking about fifteen weeks. But also
I think that something that people don't understand is when
these abortion amendments pass in states, nothing else there can
be no protections put into place, and so like in Michigan,
and I believe Ohio is the same. But you can
correct me if I'm wrong. We have no parental consent
(11:10):
and that cannot be reversed. We've been told by experts
that what will likely happen is that likely a young
woman will die and the parents will sue, and that
will then alter the state government. They'll say, gosh, you know,
we really have to figure out a way to have
a protection on this once it's in the constitution. It's
(11:32):
challenging because trying to put a protection around it would
then be unconstitutional, and I think that's what people are
not understanding. It goes beyond just you know it's abortion
or no abortion, it's unsafe abortion.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You're right, and restriction is the correct terminology. What we
fought really hard in Ohio for and I was a
spokeswoman for Protect Women Ohio, was protect these children, protect
your parental rights, and notification. We had an unfortunate case
where a fifteen year old girl was forced to get
an abortion by her soccer coach. He called Plant Parenthood,
(12:11):
pretended to be her dad, and it's shocking that Planned
Parenthood didn't have the parent come in And there was
a settlement reached on this, but it's going to encourage
more young girls being exploited. And human trafficking is really
big in Ohio. We are part of a highway system
where these girls are trafficked through our state. We have
(12:31):
a huge system called the catch Court where we're trying
to help these women that have been human traffic get
back on the street. So parental consents being eviscerated. And
we pointed to Michigan, we said, look at that state
up north, they're losing parental consent. Let us be part
of those decisions. These are our children, and at the
end of the day, the decision wasn't about parental consent
(12:54):
versus not. It was truly parental consent versus What everybody
pushed in Ohio is this six week ban. It's pending
on our courts today, but it doesn't matter. As you said,
it best, the constitution trump state law. So we cannot
have parental consent. We can't have just common sense safety
measures for women. We can ensure ambulatory care that is
(13:16):
close for somebody who is performing an abortion and god
forbid they need help, which by the way, happened last month.
There's a woman who bled and continued to bleed because
there was no ambulatory care close as she was getting
an abortion. So this is truly about women's health and
not necessarily what people think of as a band. We
need restrictions, we need to be thoughtful, we need to
(13:37):
find a common sense and every state needs to determine that.
But we can't lose parental consent. It's being eviscerated throughout
our country.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
It's been really effective though, for Democrats to come out
and say that Republicans are anti woman, which I think
is interesting because I would say that something that promotes trafficking,
something that promotes the harm of women, is anti woman,
and really we have to it has to be fully
looked at and there has to be a full discussion.
(14:05):
Now I will preface this by saying I blame our
side because we have not done a good job of educating.
We have not done a good job of targeting women
and explaining what we mean. And I complained about this
a few weeks ago in Michigan, or a few days
ago on the podcast in Michigan. The biggest message was
that this Prop three was too confusing, too extreme. That
(14:29):
was it. That was the extent of the education campaign
for people, whether they're going to vote or not vote.
That's not enough. People don't understand what that means. And
so I believe that Republicans have to do a better
job of this. But I think in general some of
these things are not political. They are more cultural. And
I just talked to Riley Gaines about this too, with
(14:52):
these trans athletes, because again you have this situation in
New Jersey where this man is swimming on a woman's team,
he's breaking records. The nc DOUBA has decided they're going
to step out of it from a national standpoint. They're
going to let states make their individual decisions as to
whether or not a trans woman can swim with the
(15:13):
biological women. And so ultimately what you have is no
controlling factor, no protective factor. And I like to think
about government as we only want government to step in
when we absolutely need a group protected. In this case,
we need women protected. That was what Title nine was
supposed to do, and that's what organizations like the NCUBA
(15:34):
should be looking at. But they are not looking at that.
They're saying, we're going to throw this back to individual states.
Individual states can make this decision. Well, that's hurting women
because now you have these records that were set in
New Jersey that you may have a woman who is
somewhat quote unquote protected in Florida, but she can't beat
(15:56):
those records. And now those are records that are on
the books. So how do we start talking about these
things in a way where we are no longer driving
people away? And like I said, I don't necessarily think
these are political conversations. I think these are conversations of
just education and reality.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Well, I think you've nailed it. The left has always
had the easiest message. When it came to abortion, it
was reproductive freedom. You have to protect your reproductive freedom.
When it comes to transgender ideology, it's allowing for equal
access and equal play. So they have always had this
very easy message, and then we're stuck in a box
(16:40):
backpedaling to say, well, that's not true and this is false,
and let's start with our own narrative. Let's start with compassion,
let's start with empathy. Let's start with the fact that
if transgender students truly want a lane, let's create that,
because we're not going to be able to battle this right.
There are children that are on flo fortunately going through
(17:01):
this confusing journey. Some of them decide not to transition fully,
some of them do. And as they do, especially when
they're eighteen and making those decisions, we need to be
there for them. We need to be a community and
a resource, and part of that is giving them a lane,
giving them the comfort that we give male and females.
But to put them in male and female sports is
(17:23):
a disservice to women. And I think that explanation has
to happen, and the NCAA needs to step in. I
think the WNBA, if you're playing women's basketball, depending on
what sport, especially nationally, they need to set standards that
trickle down and if they're not, then schools need to
start stepping up. We need more thoughtfulness coming from our
(17:44):
parent groups and schools because this is not acceptable.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well, and I think that's something Riley Gaines said something interesting.
She said, I changed my opinion on this, and I decided,
instead of saying that we need an outside group to
come in and protect women, that women should refuse to
compete if there is a transgender woman on the team.
And I think that that's an interesting perspective because again
(18:10):
I've said this politically doesn't work because as a politician,
if you talk about this, it looks like you are
going after kids who are in a situation that is
a tough situation and making a lane in and of itself.
It doesn't seem to be satisfying to those groups. But
for the girls who have spent their lives training for
(18:32):
this moment, those are probably the people that need to
speak up. And this may be the generation that does
something pretty incredible to protect women's sports. And I think
every generation has kind of had a moment where they've
had to fight for women's rights. It's been a continual battle.
It will always likely be a battle. I mean, you
(18:53):
see it even when you're campaigning, even when you are
at work. You see the differences in the way women
are treated then the ways men are treated. There's always
going to be that battle out there. But I just
think that this is an interesting time to encourage those
women to be the change themselves.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I agree with you, and I think part of it
is showing the compassion. But the other part, and I've
seen this in some of these instances, women are walking
away from the table, and I applaud them. I think
it's really difficult after you've put in five, ten, fifteen
years of your life training for that one medal, that
one time. But at the same time, if you can't
(19:32):
create the lane, then you have to walk away because
that's the only way we're going to gain respect. It's
not staying there, it's not continuing to compete, it's not
bowing down to the left. Because I truly think there's
a small minority of people that believe that this is okay.
Women need to come together, and I do think there's
a new generation of young women that are starting to
(19:53):
stand up for themselves. And every generation we go through
some changes, we take five steps back, we take ten
steps forward. And I think that women's sports and I'm
a sports agent. I represent women and men at the
United State University and several other universities here in Ohio.
We fortunately have not had those situations. But when you
(20:13):
talk to some of these young female athletes, they have
worked since they were four or five years old for
that one dream, that one metal. So as they're continuing
to be pushed and infiltrated by the left, they need
to stand strong. They need to make sure that if
there's not a different lane created by the university, then
they have the power to walk away.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon podcast. So let me talk to you
a little bit about what you think that candidates should
be focused on. Because we've obviously talked about what isn't
working politically, and I know that that is not going
to make a lot of people happy. But if you
really look, if you kind of peel back the layers
(20:56):
of the political onion, the social issues are not working
because that's not really what's impacting most people's everyday lives,
but you've been involved in prosecuting and working on the
legal side of criminal cases that involve corruption, terrorism, drug trafficking,
money laundering, all of these different issues. You've seen, the
(21:19):
immigration problems, You've seen the problems with people that are
going to a life of crime because of the situation
with inflation and the problems with that people are having
with the economy right now, Based on what you've seen
in the past few years politically and what you've seen
from a legal standpoint, what would you say are the
(21:42):
biggest issues that Republicans should be focused on right now.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I think the most important thing is for law enforcement
to enforce the law. That's not happening today across the country.
Americans are seeing that there's no equity and her judicial system,
there's no law enforcement, that some people are getting away
with things that they shouldn't be, So first and foremost,
(22:07):
there needs to be more law enforcement and more understanding
that we need to back the blue that really did
disappear for a while in the last couple of years.
And without that strength and that communal support, it doesn't
matter whether you're prosecuting cases, whether you have increased immigration oversight,
all of it will collapse if we don't have a
strong police force. And then I think in terms of immigration,
(22:29):
the most important thing is going back to the policies
of our previous administration. Remain in Mexico, making sure we
have increased surveillance, making sure we have increased border security.
And the number one thing that I continue to hear
is most of these illegal immigrants are coming for asylum. No,
they're not. They don't have a case for asylum. I
have spoken to many of them. They're coming here for
(22:51):
the American dream, and I applaud that, but they need
to do it legally. Asylum is for persecution, Asylum is
for I worked on a case where a young woman
was generally mutilated and she was filling her country. Those
are asylum cases. It's not because you want to come
to the United States and pursue the American dream. You
have to do it legally. And then, lastly, when we
(23:12):
look at the overall state of Bidenomics, I mean, regardless
of what president we have today, we still have to
follow the law. We still have to be upstanding citizens
because we will not be able to attain the American dream.
We will not be able to be successful if we
continue to blame, if we continue to act like victims,
(23:33):
if we continue to look for handouts. So at some
point we have to look inward. We have to look
at our family union, and we need to go back
to that moral compass that actually binds us together. And
then I think our next presidential election, we can hope
for better top down economics, law and policy. Immigration. That's
(23:54):
what's going to change the country and make sure that
people believe in the American dream again.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So speak of the American dream. We said that there
was a poll that came out majority of Americans think
the American dream is dead. Obviously, you know that there
are people crossing that border in hopes of achieving the
American dream. Your family came here in hopes of achieving
the American dream. It looks as though you were fairly successful.
And that so tell me when you see that, when
(24:21):
you see a poll like that that says most Americans
are like, yeah, that can't happen, what's your reaction to that.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I've always been somebody who has pushed and talks about perseverance.
Nothing in our lives was perfect. I mean, we lived
with I was born in India, came to this country,
when I was five years old, lived with ten family members.
I remember the first time that I decided that I
wanted to go to law school, I was told by
so many people, well, you've got to be really good,
(24:50):
and lawyers are a dime a dozen. And then I
remember saying I wanted to work at the US Attorney's Office,
and somebody at the US Attorney's Office told me, well,
we look for individuals who have longevity here, and you've
not been a career prosecutor. And every little part of
my life I have been told no. I was told
I can't do media commentary because I haven't worked for
a president yet. I mean, every single roadblock is what
(25:13):
Americans feel on a daily basis because of Biden. What
my message is, though, is you get what you have
the courage to seek, and if you continue to persevere,
when one door closes, another one opens, and you take
those opportunities and you take those risks, and you're comfortable
being uncomfortable. And by the way, we are all uncomfortable
right now. The state of the economy is in shambles.
(25:36):
Our four ROH one case are decreasing, mortgage rates are increasing,
schools are abysmal. After COVID. We're starting to see what
our children are being educated. But the bottom line is
we have to believe that prosperity is possible. But it
starts from within. It starts for knowing that you can
achieve anything through hard work and perseverance. And I truly
(25:57):
believe that I watched my father work three jobs for
seven years straight before we were able to afford our
own home. And as I see these polls today, I
know where it's coming from. We're looking at the TVs,
we're looking at our bank accounts, and things are tough,
but this is the opportunity for us to get back up.
This is the opportunity for us to persevere well.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It kind of reminds me of that saying hard times
make strong men, good times make weak men. And I
think that when we see folks right now who are
saying the American dream is unattainable, I don't know that
it really is, or if the effort is not there
from this generation of young people who are coming in
(26:39):
and just wanting to have a great Instagram channel or
something that is just quick and easy. They want those
those quick dollars to come in, and that it takes
hard work I mean, people don't achieve the American Dream
doesn't happen overnight. It's something that you have to go into.
You have to push hard. Oftentimes you have several failures.
(27:00):
I mean that's something that I think that this generation
is not familiar with. Failure is okay, you learn from failure,
and then you start over and you push harder, and
you have to navigate all of the things that come
at you. But hard work is what gets you to
the American dream. And I don't know that hard work
is something that a lot of young people these days
(27:22):
are willing to put in.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Well, I think you nailed it. It's instant gratification. It's
the fact that you can completely sit on a couch
Amazon whatever you need. You can get on Instagram, you
can make money on social media. But I truly think
there's going to be a change in this generation. And
I am constantly hopeful for every kid that I meet
the things that they should be paid one hundred and
(27:46):
twenty thousand dollars upon graduating with no experience. I always
meet that one kid whose parents sat down with them
at the dinner table, who talked about work ethic, who
talked about achieving the American Dream who talked about not
taking government handouts, So it's definitely possible. But I do
think it starts with the family unit, right. I didn't
(28:08):
learn what I learned on my own. It was truly
my grandparents, parents, uncles, cousins, everybody running around in the house.
In the midst of chaos. There was a calm because
we knew we were a family when we came together.
And I think as we continue to get attacked from
the left, more and more families are going to start
sitting down together for dinner. That's the number one thing
families can do to check on their children, to ask
(28:30):
about their days, to try and find that moment of
calm in the chaos that we're experiencing today. And that's
how you're going to start getting to work ethic, grinding
and pushing our children to achieve the American Dream in
the future.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, that seems to be a theme of our guests
lately is spend time with family. Just make sure that
you are pouring into your kids and that time that
you think is just I'm just here getting you lunch,
I'm helping you get off to school. I'm hoping you
get to your next event. That still is time that
you are spending with your family, so make sure you
(29:08):
are pouring into them in those moments in between. The
in between moments are just as important as the moments
where you're sitting down to dinner. I really enjoyed talking
to you today. Thank you so much for being here.
Heck Cook, make sure you check out tell us where
where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I'm on Twitter at maheck Cook, Facebook at cook for Ohio,
and I really appreciate this opportunity to just share my
my American dream and hopes for our future.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Absolutely, thank you so much, and thank you all for
joining me on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. For this episode
and others, go to tutordisonpodcast dot com. You can subscribe
right there, or check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts and join me next
time on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Have a blessed day.
Host
Buck Sexton
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!