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Social Justice - A Conversation
Wesley Knight 0:00
You're listening to local programming produced in KU NV studios. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Charles Stanton 0:18
Good evening. This is Professor Charles Stanton. I'm a professor of Boyd School of Law,
Blanca Pena 0:23
and my name is Blanca Pena. I am a third year law student at the Boyd School of Law, and this is Social Justice a conversation, a conversation.
Charles Stanton 0:33
Well, good evening, everybody, and welcome back. I'm here with my co host, Blanca Pena, Professor Stanton, I have some interesting tidbits we can throw out tonight from our audience. And these tidbits are not, you know, the most dire tidbits, because many times we have to open our show with, like, really, really terrible things. And you know, it's, it's, it's, you know, you have to report the news and actually what's going on. But, you know, there's a few things that there's a few things that struck me over the last week or so. One of the things that struck me was the gentleman who is having hearings regarding his fitness to be the successor to Christy, no, which is a very, very interesting dynamic. And this is a man who's on record is basically saying that the gentleman who was killed in Minnesota was a domestic terrorist, that he doesn't he's still not clear as to, you know, what the facts were as to how this man died, although I think the facts are pretty clear, since we have video, video, many, many videos from many angles, yes, yes. Which should it? Should, you know, enable us to come to a logical conclusion? And then was very interesting in that hearing, was his dialog with Rand Paul, which I thought was really, it was really, it was really, really bizarre he had, he had, before he was nominated for this, he had been extremely critical of Rand Paul, because Rand Paul basically stepped off the bandwagon on a number of issues and voted with the Democratic Party, and he said all kinds of stuff about him that was, at best, inappropriate. Well anyway. Well anyway, as everybody knows, Rand Paul had been the victim of an attack by one of his neighbors, and he had numerous broken ribs. He had a collapsed lung, and it really wasn't a miracle that he didn't die, and they had this back and forth like and it was just weird how the guy not so much that he didn't, that he didn't have empathy for Rand Paul. It was that he almost, in some sense, validated what had happened to Rand Paul. It was a very bizarre you have to read the transcript of it, and it goes on for a few minutes, but he was Rand Paul was saying to him, like, Are you saying that what happened to me was okay? And the guy says, well, he says, I'm not. I'm not saying that. But, like, there's a lot of ways to look at it or something. I'm saying myself, how many ways could there be to look at it? The man was, yeah, it was a miracle he wasn't killed. And it's interesting how you're putting a person like that, supposedly to replace Christie Nome. And you know, one of the most important parts of any job, particularly a job in the government, it's not merely that you have, you know, technical experience, expertise in certain fields, but it's also about how you administer your power, and whether or not when you when you get a job like that, you have a moral, moral, a moral prerogative as to how people are treated. There might be, there might be some people who, let's say that they might be here illegally or something like that. But there's a way to treat people that you respect, people that you you try as much as possible to to treat them in a humane way. And it didn't seem like this man had any like idea about it. When he was talking about preddy, the gentleman that was killed in Minnesota, it was very it was very weird, like he was almost like he was detaching himself from that person's death. And I see that, I see that, you know. Not, not as not, as I would say, as an observer, because I'm not, I'm not in the situation that those folks who are in danger of being taken out of the country are removed, but I see it like, as like, there's like this major lack of humanity and empathy toward these people. There's almost like a hatred or an animosity because a person is of a certain ethnicity, but not even looking at those folks' situations, what they're going through. And I think Jefferson said it best. Jefferson said, he said the law without mercy is a tyrant, and I think that's what we're seeing. We're seeing we're seeing in that, in that example, the other thing that struck me, which is also to me, very troubling, was a few days ago, they had the situation where they had all the different leaders of NATO and the Asian countries come into the into the Oval Office. So one of the, I guess it was one of the report, I don't think it was one of the the officials from the country, but one of the reporters said to the president, he said, you know, you have all these other countries here. You didn't give you, don't you didn't give anybody a warning that you were going to do the attack on Iran. So he has in his office one of the prime ministers, the woman who was the prime minister from Japan. And he says, he says to her, You people are very good at keeping secrets. That's how you attack Pearl Harbor? And he says to her, he says, You didn't tell us you were going to attack Pearl Harbor. And I'm just watching this, and I'm saying to myself, this is this is not this is not normal. First of all, first of all, it violates every rule of etiquette and proper behavior and respect for an invited guest. But let's, let's even forget about that part of it. The other crazy part of it is this is a woman who wasn't born until 20 years after Pearl Harbor is in charge of a country now that's largely peaceful, has pretty much no crime, very little murder is a threat to no other country. Why would you be saying that to her? I just don't understand where this comes from. It's not
Blanca Pena 7:35
it's not normal. Our leaders, unfortunately, are missing those very core and key components of of what leadership should should look like, I mean, and the most basic one is just the the borderline, you know, professionalism. I think we talked a little bit about that last week. It's funny you mentioned that interaction there, because it immediately reminded me of another instance where there were a bunch of reporters in that same office and stuff, and I forgot the question that was asked, but Donald Trump's response to it was like, what if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? Like, and it's like, I'm trying really hard to just like, read between the lines and understand what he's saying. For example, the Pearl Harbor comment. It's like, okay, if I really dig into what he just said, which was really dumb and unprofessional, I can understand that he's trying to convey. Like, Oh, well, why would we publicize very secretive operations? Why would we put ourselves out there to the international like, relation, like and things like that? I understand that. But why did he have to say like that? You know what I mean, and and it's not just the professionalism that is lost, right? There's that empathy component that that is lost, and especially in a position such as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. I mean, you're dealing with with people's lives all the time, and to be able to so easily detach yourself from a person's humanity is really it guts me, honestly, seeing that that's what the reality is. I remember in the beginning of the year when it wasn't just Alex preddy, but it was the other woman in Minnesota, and even like Keith Porter and Liam Ramos and all of these other people that have died unfortunately at the hands of ice and law enforcement, how quick people Were to strip them of of their humanity, of their personhood. It, I don't care. It goes back to George Floyd, for example, right when they were saying that he was a felon and he had a fake $20 bill, he could have had a fake $100 bill. That doesn't mean that he is supposed to die for something like that, and it doesn't mean. That our law enforcement officers get to be enforcement and executioner. You know, that's not how this works, that this is chaos and for the leaders to not hold anyone accountable. It doesn't give anyone a reason to change. It doesn't give these law enforcement officers an incentive to do their jobs right? If anything, it enables them to do worse. It's almost like the Stanford Prison Experiment, right, where, where they were able to torture these people who were fake prisoners, and because no one said anything, and because everyone was feeding off of each other's ants and and and anger and this, you know, this hunger for power, it became acceptable. But that's not how it should be. That's not the reality. And I think it's easy for them to do those things, because they're not the ones that are affected, right? Like, it's almost like when, when Trump started this war, right? You start to think like, oh, I don't know if you saw the clip of Caroline Levitt saying that the reason why he bombed Iran was because he, quote, unquote, had a feeling that they were producing nuclear weapons. And you know, if Kamala Harris was president and she gave that as a reason for starting a war, do you know how many people would be throwing their hands up, saying, See, this is why we didn't want a woman in power, because they're so emotional, she starts a fight and whatever. No, this guy just bombed, killed people, right? Like, how many was it? Over 100 Iranian school girls, yeah. Who died? Over? What? Over, what? Like, I would love for someone to speak to me like I was four and really tell me in the simplest of terms why we are killing people around the world. Because I don't capitalism is not worth it, right? Like, whatever these principles are that we're trying to preserve, whether even even oil, right? Like, none of these things are worth more than one human life. So why are we changing all of these people's lives, killing all of these people, destabilizing countries, making everything so horrible for everyone? Well, the answer is, because it doesn't affect them and the greed and everything, yeah.
Charles Stanton 12:22
Well, the thing you know, the thing is, now, of course, is how to extricate ourselves. You see, this is the thing you see, as anybody who will, who has knowledge of military tactics and operations, probably the vast majority of whom are unemployed now because they were thrown out of the office because they were black or Hispanic or what have you, or a woman. But it's going to be a real problem, because what they've left now is just a totally chaotic situation, not just in Iran, but in all these neighboring countries. Now, the other crazy thing about it is there was no there was no imminent threat to the United States or anybody else at that point. And supposedly when we had been involved in bombing Iran, this was a number of months ago, and we had this major onslaught. How many of these people in the hierarchy of the Defense Department? Well, you know, we took care of the threat. We took care of the threat. Okay? Well, if you took care of the threat, and there weren't a threat to attack us. Why are you buying right? But there's, there's no there's no coordination, there's no cohesion in the people who are running our our defense system and our and our and our government right now and then. The other aspect of the whole thing is that for the average person like you and me, the price of driving around has gone through the roof. Oh, yeah. So you have, you have a country now, you have a country now, where you have cost skyrocketing price of food going up even higher people who order food through the delivery services of Amazon, GrubHub, all these things, their prices are going up because obviously the price of getting around is going up. Yeah, then you have the other thing that's going on is basically the imminent insolvency of the post office that they're actually talking about now a date when you will not get the mail anymore within the next maybe year. So you've got all these things converging. And then, of course. And then, of course, the other aspect of the whole thing is, though, is that. And where the government could be used to lead. The government's indifferent. So there isn't, like, a long range plan. And then the other thing that they haven't really factored into I mean, obviously, the elderly are at risk because a lot of their medical care was taken away. Young children are at risk because they can't get a little any food. There's a whole bunch of things going on, but the biggest thing, the biggest thing that you've got going on is that there's no way looking forward. It's like the way the government is run. You're running it from day to day. In other words, today, we did one thing, and we got people's minds off, what's really going on, and tomorrow we'll have to find something else to get people's minds not thinking about what's really going on in the country, which is basically that we're energy. We're energy starved of our own making. We're the ones who created this. This was not, this was not necessary. And then, then we had the relatives of the President going to all these countries and making business deals and, you know, looking for money to invest in, you know, condominiums and all the rest of it, which should never be, yeah, the government, the government, to be in the government, is a privilege, and to be in the government really is to be a servant of the people. It's not a place. It would be like, if they like, if I became, like, say, Secretary of State or something. And I said, Blanc. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to head over to Dave for this weekend. You say, What are you gonna go over to Dubai? Well, I got some condos I'd like to sell to these people. And maybe in Las Vegas we could, you know, some of those hotels on the strip that aren't doing so good, maybe we can knock them down. We could put it, put up some 80 and 90 story condos, you know, and have private terraces and whole thing. Yeah. And you would say to me, Well, that sounds good, but you're supposed to
Blanca Pena 17:11
be the secretary of state, yeah, I would tell you to go clock in. Like, what are you doing in Dubai?
Charles Stanton 17:18
It's, no, it's, it's, anything goes though, yeah, this is really what it is. It's, it's like, it's actually, it's actually like a reality show every day is a new episode and you see it. And, I mean, it's just to get back to the whole thing with the woman from Japan was the Prime Minister. First of all, except for four or five people, nobody should have been in that room. Nobody. This was top secret stuff where you have four or five people from these countries who we would need to be our allies if something went wrong. None of that stuff should be discussed in front it was just like when you had the situation with the with the Ukraine, and you have Zelensky, and they're talking to the guy about actually, the policy of the country in front of all these people. You even know who the people are? Yeah, you know, I don't understand it, though. I really don't. I don't, I don't fathom it.
Blanca Pena 18:17
And then they have the nerve to try to put him on the spot for not wearing a suit, as if that was the biggest issue at hand. Yeah, that's like, come on again. It's they are hypocrites. They they're a group of unprofessional, delinquent vigilantes. Like, like, honestly, that is them to their core, and they have the nerve to shame a leader of another country for not wearing a suit during a time of war, right? Not even that. But then they have the nerve to, you know, shame people of color and people who aren't from here, foreigners, things like that, questioning them on their capabilities to do jobs. I don't remember who it was. I don't remember if it was, I think it was Charlie Kirk, when he said, if he ever was on a plane and he saw that his pilot was black, he would get scared. It's like, why would you like as if he was intelligent in any way? You know what I mean? It's, it's like, they, they put themselves on this high horse because they think they're entitled to it. They were told their entire lives that they were entitled to these things because they are rich, white, and I can't say the next word, but it's just, it's just, it's so it's so sad, because as a person who interacts with all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds, and this includes people from more affluent backgrounds, I've met so many different kinds of people, and I know you have to professor. Have to Professor way more than I have, but meeting all of these people and seeing them for who they are and and being able to connect one on one, it's like we really all do matter, and we really all should be coming together to make everything better for each other, but we're we're not. And and the unfortunate thing is, is the way that this country has been set up is too many people are poor, too many people are uneducated, and too many people are victims of the system that is supposed to help them. And so when you have millions of people stuck it, it allows the leaders to continue to do what they want, because they are able to spew the this, all of this propaganda and this harmful rhetoric, and everybody's starting to hate each other, which I don't we shouldn't, right, like we should most definitely hold these people accountable and and do something about it. Because we, before we went on the air, you know, we talked about how a lot of people are checked out, and I don't blame them, honestly, I can understand the drain and the drag of wanting to do something good for the world, but still being so tired from working all the time and stressing all the time and even just making sure that you eat three meals a day, right? I understand that at the end of the day, once you've been to work, once you've cleaned your house and ate your food and taking care of everything else that you might not have the energy to go to a protest or to even check your phone right? Like I understand that, but unfortunately, it's that. It's that that is making us that is keeping us from from doing something meaningful, and yeah, I hate that. It's just repeating all over again. The cycle just keeps going. It's like, okay, one major headline happens. Everyone's all angry and upset, and then it kind of dies down a little bit, and then the next thing, and then the next thing. And I unfortunately, think we're being conditioned to be numb to these things. Well, I
Charles Stanton 21:36
think a lot of it, I think a lot of it, is a societal priorities. They had an interesting article, I guess it was in the journal, review journal, about what they're going to do for the area across the street from the MGM. They're going to have the stadium, but then they're going to have a whole bunch of other things. Then they were trying to decide because they're going to give a basketball franchise to the city. Oh yes. So they're going to try to figure out their where I live, I think that's where they're going to put it. I think they're going to put it down the street, okay, from where I live, but okay. But there's a catch, like everything else, it's going to be a fee of $8 billion you're going to have to and LeBron James bagged it. He says he's not going to be involved in it. But as I was coming up here, you know, to do the show with you today or tonight, I should say, and I saw what passes for housing in the city. Oh, yeah, which is basically like they look like prisons. You got homeless people all over the place, yeah. Why isn't the priority to help those people? Why don't those people count? Because there are people of color, or they're poor, or they're homeless, whatever it is, but, but how do you how do you sell the idea of a vibrant city when so many of the people who live there are living in impoverishment, right? Yeah, that's the question.
Blanca Pena 23:19
I mean, Tupac said it at best, they got money for wars, but can't feed the poor. Yeah, it's, it's exactly that, because all of a sudden, you know, you have Donald Trump on a podium almost every day being like, affordability is a liberal term, and we can't fix all these problems. Who's going to pay for it if we have universal health care and and if we give free college, who's going to pay for it? Right? Like they act as if it's so unattainable and unreachable. Oh, but, oh, Israel puts their hand out for billions of dollars, and it's hand over, right? Like they they just give it and they give it and they give it, and that money isn't being used for anything conducive to the American people. I mean, the people of Israel have universal health care, but Americans don't, but it's on American taxpayer dollars, right?
Charles Stanton 24:07
Yeah, it's great. What's interesting too, which I find fascinating, is the complete disconnect between the people who are supposed to serve us as our leaders, and people in the Congress and the court and everything, and the actual citizenry of the United States. And there's like, like, a complete, like, denialism as to actually how most people are trying to cope with all these things that have gone on over the past year and a half. And I'm saying to myself, well, you know, I said it's like the government has, like, shut down. Look at the TSA thing. This is a perfect example. You got basically, like a third of the people who have been laid off. The Congress is non functional. We have a non functional Congress, and you have a. Particularly in the House of Representatives, where they go away for a week, they go away for two weeks, to go away for three weeks, they're not around. And you say, Well, who are they representing? They're not representing me or you. They're not representing West, and I don't know who they're representing here. Yeah, we got to give him a plug, because, oh, we do, I say, without his expertise, we would sound like two mics. Oh no, for sure, two screeching mice, but, but, but really, I mean, it's true, and what I've noticed, and I don't know how you look at it, because, you know, you have your own perspective, I think it comes down. I think it comes down to the greed. I think it comes down to ignoring what you should do and what is right because of the greed. But I think the greed has become now, the rapacious greed. And I said this before, it's not merely the greed. It's not like really. I want I want your beverage. I want your steak. I want your TV, your lobster. I want your lobster. I want everything, and I am entitled to it, yeah, because of my stature. Right to get but not only to do that, but to consort with, with, with criminals like Jeffrey Epstein, to to sell my office so I can make money to be in the Congress and have all kinds of stock purchases, even though I'm supposed to be on committees that are supposed to regulate the stock exchange. That's what it's about. And it's because, it's because of that consuming greed that allows you to obliterate out even any thought that there are, there are so many people, unlike you, the majority of the people who need help.
Blanca Pena 26:49
Yeah, no, I'm with you on that. I think that sort of entitlement is what ruins societies. It's what allowed Israel to enable their killings of millions of Palestinians, because, according to them, God promised them this land 3000 years ago, or even the colonizers who said, Oh, you know, manifest destiny and we got to own this land from coast to coast, and killed millions of Native Americans. It's that kind of greed and entitlement that number one, I can't even understand, because growing up, I was never raised to think that things that aren't mine are Yeah. But also secondly, even if there was a shred of entitlement in people, it disgusts me that they think that it's worth killing lives over, right? Like, sure, maybe if I, if I want your coffee, right, I might want to bargain with you. I might want to, Hey, Professor, can I have your hot chocolate? I have $1 Right? Like something, but I'm not just gonna walk up to you, shoot you, and then take your your hot chocolate like that just makes no sense, and that applies to everything. I mean, I know, I know acres of land don't equal one hot chocolate, but a human life is a human life, and it matters more than anything. So I think a lot
Charles Stanton 28:08
of it, a lot of it, though, is history. And if you look at these areas of the of the world, the Middle East being one of them, but not just the Middle East. This stuff has been going on for so long, though, yeah, it's ingrained in these people. It's like they've been so brainwashed that what's happened is that their humanity has been taken away from them, and so they don't look at the other people who are in the same environment as being not even their equal, not even being human.
Blanca Pena 28:44
Basically, I agree so with that. Thank you all so much, and we'll see you next week. Take care. God. Bless you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai