The Importance of Doing Nothing

the date? Like, how is it that November is literally around the corner? And I feel like time is moving at a breakneck pace because so many things are inundating us with time, toxicity and poison. And you know, on one hand, it's like, great, can we hurry up and get through all of this? On the other hand, I'm feeling like I want to be more intentional about the

moments that I am living. What does that mean? It means to really be present in your moments of joy, really be present in your moments of peace, and acknowledge them for what they are, give gratitude for them. Because I feel like our nervous systems are just in such a tightened and heightened anxiety mode that if we are not being really conscious about how we are spending our peace time, and which I and I let me not suggest.

This is not to suggest that your peace time should be bottled up within two days or really a day and a half, which is what the real weekends are. Right. You work on Friday, you have Friday night into Saturday and then Sunday, But then Sunday night is preparing for Monday. And so I'm not saying to bottle up all of your good time, peace and joy in those in that short time frame. No, it should be throughout your day, right.

I think that we also live in a society where we're supposed to work, you know, fifty weeks out of the year and only get two weeks off. And that's America, right. Other places have six week vacations, have four to six week vacations that are spread either throughout the year or all at one time. And I'm thinking to myself, we never give ourselves a break, and then when we do have our break moments, we're riddled with guilt about taking

a break because shouldn't we be doing something? And I realize nowadays that it is just so import to do nothing right, to just like let our nervous system relax, shut down social media, don't see what the next thing on Netflix is, go for a walk, you know, reconnect with friends, do some face times, or just like sit

and be. But you know I do that. And I say that because in preparation for the week ahead, I have found that when I am very intentional about my alignment each day, when I'm very intentional about making time to rest, I am much better focused. I am a lot more creative. And that's the energy that I like to begin each week with. And so I offer that to all of you, to you know, if it's if it's necessary to be super intentional, meaning put it into

your calendars each and every day. What are these moments that I am taking that I am owning. Do so if it's just the feeling of you know what, I need to take a pause, I need to take some breaths, do so because all of it is to help neutralize our nervous system so that we can just be at ease. And we live in a society that is not interested in anyone being at ease. And I say that because you know, taking in this political climate every single day and just kind of looking around at people who have

the power to have such an impact. Right. I have always said that I've chosen a career and careers because I have moved around. I believe that life is a jungle gym, not a linear ladder, and that you should be able to jump from thing to thing whatever sparks your interests, your passion. And I understand that not everybody has the privilege to do that I in fact do,

and so I honor that reality. I say that because being a part or wanting to be a part of a system that can have impact on our day to day lives, that can empower people, and then choosing not to is so absurd to me. It's I I look at these members of Congress, I look at these people and leadership, these CEOs, and I'm saying to myself, my life has always been about wanting to have impact, about

wanting to create impact and sustain an impact for the good. Right, And what if we all were to just look at our life our work as that, how can I how can I be of support? How can I be of service? Right? What a different mindset to occupy then how can I be an obstacle? How can my life be about making sure that other people's are hard right and that are miserable.

I just it's really hard for me to understand that that is a reality that half of this country really exists in, really does and it mirrors if you were to create a Ven diagram on all of these things that we're seeing, like people who don't believe in science, people who don't want to be vaccinated, people who are so deep into the into their tribes that they believe

a criminal twice impeached man is their deity. If you look at the ven diagram of these things, it's like, Yes, these are the people that believe that they have they alone should have the power to tell other people how to lead their lives right or to take from them, And that to me is just an absurd way to exist. And it's such a waste of energy. You know. I believe that our bodies and are made of kinetic energy, right, and that when you come into contact with certain people.

I say, nowadays, I am much more aware when energy shifts, whether it's for the good. I feel, you know, like I'm recharging. It's almost like standing in the sun, versus feeling very drained and waned and wondering why that feeling is happening. I, instead of just like wondering, I actually investigate and interrogate my emotions and my feelings because I don't want to spend time and energy around people or

things that are not recharging. And when I look at how these people like the you know, Marjorie Taylor Greens and the Mitch McConnell's, and the Ted Cruises and the Jim Jordan's and the Matt Gateses and the Donald Trumps and the Steve Bannon's, when I look at these people, and each and every time that I said one of their names, my face scrunches up, my nose, you know, twitches as if something just smells rotten, because that's even

the sentiment that is behind just utter ring these people's names. Right to make your existence so nasty? You know, nothing is about uplifting. It's always about me, me, me, And what can I do to increase my power? Right, my presence, assert myself one of the things that I'm hoping as because I believe that we are in an incredible transitional moment.

I know that I am personally and many people that I talk to are feeling that sense as well, that you know, you can do what you feel like you can do, but then let the rest of it go. I used to be in a state where I could not let these things go. That I felt so deeply affected by all of the evil that I was seeing. And it's not to say that it's not happening, And I don't think that the alternative is to ignore it.

I think that it's to acknowledge it, right, and then let it go and feel good about what you have done, to try and move the needle, to try and be of service, to be a ray of light to yourself and to other people, and then let the rest go, because it is going to fall where it's going to fall, you know, unlike how Donald Trump exists. We alone can't fix this, but we can continue to give ourselves the space to feel all of our feelings, to acknowledge what it is that we can do, and then let the

rest go. And I think that that, to me is like what it means to really be abundant and align and to be woke, right, it is to be conscious of what you can impact right, do that what you can, and then let the rest go. I posted a quote over the weekend that was about that, that was about acknowledging that you've done everything that you could do this week. Be proud of what you've done right, what you were

able to check off. You are not just your production, but you know, we all want to be doing good right, be doing well. And then it said, then let it go right, don't spend your weekend, don't spend the rest of your time ruminating over what could have been. Acknowledge what was, give gratitude for that, and then move on.

And that's kind of the space that I think that we all need to be in because I'm going to be real, the signs are not pointing to things getting better, and so when things around you begin to fall apart or seemingly like they are falling apart, it is in humbit upon all of us to hold ourselves together right and really root and ground so that regardless of what the weather that comes in, that we'll still be standing tall. Because they want us to shrink, they want us to

shrivel up, they want us to be broken. That's what their actions show us each and every day. I think there is a bigger shift that is at play here, and you know, maybe it isn't just about winning and losing.

Maybe things do need to ebb and flow. Maybe we do need to see the realness, you know, the darkness of this country and like pull back, you know, the curtain, change out the rose colored lenses and see this place for what it is and what it has always been, and then do your part of what can be done to shift things. But understand that sometimes, you know, we

need to go through darkness. And that's why it's important to create your own light, right, to create your own light, to be a light to others, and then let the rest go. Today I'm going to have a conversation with our friend Glenn Kirshner to understand where things are with you know, Steve Bannon, the insurrection, and whether or not

we're ever going to see accountability. My feeling is, you know, as each and every day passes and we do these performative voting things, you know, to show that no one is above the law, and yet not one person inside of Trump's inner circle who's responsible for so much damage and criminality is indicted right now, and each and every

day I lose hope that they ever will. And you know Glenn shed some light on how he feels about what will transpire with Steve Bannon and the timeline that we are functioning in and saying that we must not lose hope. So I want to hear from all of you in the comments section about what you thought about last week's vote and what you think, if anything, you will see from the Department of Justice this week with regard to actually making movements on trying to safeguard our democracy.

That conversation is coming up next, folks. You know that when we have the opportunity to talk with our friend, the host of Justice Matters and MSNBC legal analyst, Glenn Kirshner, I am always thrilled because the legal news in America is much like Charlotte's Web. It is just tangled and all over the place. Glenn, let's start off with this this week and the fact that Steve Bannon in a vote of nine to zero with the one six commission,

they voted to hold him in criminal content. We have talked about this and the different types of content that the Congress has the ability to hold individuals who ignore disregard their subpoenas. So talk to us about this vote and what we can expect next on the Steve benn

In front. Because sadly, I wish that this justice system would treat guilty, wealthy, well connected white men the way that they do low income black and brown people and send sheriffs and battering rams to their homes and dragging them out. But that's not going to be the case here, is it, you know, not with Steve Bannon. I believe they'll continue to treat him with kid gloves, even though

he is a repeat offender. Right he was pardoned by Donald Trump for stealing money from Trump's base courtesy of a bogus We Build the Wall foundation, and Trump pardoned him. But no, I suspect they'll still be treating him very, very, you know, civilly and cordially, and we'll be setting you know,

long time frames for the upcoming litigation. But the good news is our government at least had a little spasm of accountability right this week by voting to hold him in contempt and refer him to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. It's sad that I am surprised that nine Republicans crossed over and voted to hold him in

contempt and refer him for prosecution. But I think more importantly, two hundred and two Republicans, and let me say this as precisely as I can, aided and abetted Steve Bannon's contempt of Congress by voting no, by saying, we Congress can give you a lawful subpoena, and then if you defy it, if you deny it, if you are contemptuous, we've got your criminal back. All good. So I'm gonna begin calling them the traders two hundred and two. I

think that fits them, and they assisted Bannon. They undermine their own legitimacy and their own power by announcing to all future witnesses who get Congressional subpoenis, we will not hold you accountable if you refuse to comply. That's insane. Currying favor with Trump's base while giving away your own power as a coequal branch of government is insane. But that's what the Traders two hundred and two just did. Now let me ask you. Let me ask a quick question,

because this just literally popped into my head. This Republican Party is hell bent on authoritarianism, meaning that they want one sole person, one soul party, to be in power

right by undermining their own authority. Is this their way of setting up that precise scenario where when the next Republican king or deity comes into power, that they don't even have to work in coordination with the Congress because they are they are effectively undermining their own power, their own legitimacy, their own authority given to them by the Constitution, in favor of this expanded executive branch. This you know,

I alone can fix it. Do you think that this is part this could be part of their larger setup for twenty twenty four. I can see that argument. But what I don't understand is, first of all, they're not voting out of you know, their principled belief in a consolidated power in the chief executive. That's nonsense. They're voting

because it's it's a calculation about getting reelected. Period. But what they're doing, I agree with you that what they're doing will have the effect of moving us closer and closer toward a dictatorship or an autocracy. But guess what, dictators have no need for congressional oversight, So they're really voting against their own interests in every conceivable way. Look

at how Donald Trump treats Mitch McConnell. Now, maybe the one thing I agree with Donald Trump on Miss McConnell as a piec of you know what, who has to go but an autocrat, a dictator has no need for, and in fact will fight against and punish a coequal branch of government that has oversight of the dictator or the autocrat. So, you know, these members of Congress just

don't think things through. They just in their determination to hold power because power equals money to them, they will vote for today even if it's going to hurt them tomorrow. I mean, that is one hundred percent right, And it's it is the short sidedness that is sending our democracy over a proverbial clip like it is this. We're about the immediacy. And I think the same way, you know, and I won't go off on a tangent, but I

think the same way about mansion in cinema. It is about the immediacy of money in my pocket and the power that I feel like I'm holding onto now but not thinking about what this is going to do four years, six years, eight years, ten twelve down the road. And if you the purpose of us having these elected representatives is so that they are looking at the big picture, right, because all of us don't have the luxury of that kind of time. Right. Everybody else is working forty hours

a week or plus more. That is still not providing food on the table. But but go ahead, go on with what are we going to see? Now? What happens next in the process. Once Congress has voted to refer a witness for criminal contempt, it goes over to the DCUs Attorney's office, and the federal law says the DCUs attorney shall not, may not might, but shall present the matter to the grand jury for its action. That action should be an indictment, and then it will move into

the courts. I think it's helpful to look back, to look back in time to see when did this last happen? It last happened nearly forty years ago. And when I say it last happened, I mean Congress. A witness in the Reagan administration, an EPA administrator named Rita Lavelle, was subpoenaed by Congress. She thumbed her nose the subpoena, refused to appear, refused to comply. They voted her in contempt, and they voted to refer her for criminal prosecution. You

know what the vote was, Danielle. The vote back then, the vote on the full floor of Congress was four hundred and thirteen to zero unanimous. Why because all Republicans and all Democrats recognized they had to protect their own power to subpoena and compel the testimony of witnesses. It wasn't a political calculation back then. It wasn't a reelection calculation back then. So look at how far we've fallen, because now we have the traitor as two hundred and

two Republicans who voted against enforcing their own subpoena. So anyway, Rita Lavelle got voted into contempt, got referred for prosecution. One week later, one week later, my former office, the DCUs Attorney's Office, indicted Rita Lavelle and sent her over to the court for prosecution. That's the timetable, that is the measuring stick against which the Steve Bannon case should be judged. Now do we think Merrick Garland, the Department of Justice, my friends at the DCUs Attorney's Office are

going to do this within a week. Let's wait and see, because if they don't, because there's a precedent for it. It's not a legal precedent, but it's an atmospheric precedent, it's a timing precedent, it's an historical precedent, because if they don't, that's going to begin to reinforce what I saw from Lawrence Tribe tweeted out that, you know, Merrick Garland is falling down on the job in any number

of ways. I'm not prepared to say we've got to turn We've got to replace him, but I get more concerned, not less concerned, over time with his suitability to be the Attorney General at this precarious moment in our nation's history. You know, it just it feels in so many ways, Glenn, that so many people are falling down on the job.

I'm going to be honest, because, you know, if it was just that we were dealing with this insurrectionist party, but all Democrats were on the same page and we were going full steam ahead, and this administration was going full steam ahead in order to secure pure our democracy, in order to close these loopholes and strengthen these guardrails that the past administration clearly broke wide open, then I wouldn't feel so frustrated as time goes on, I wouldn't

be I wouldn't continue to be worried because I would know that, no, they sense the urgency of now. You know, what are you feeling about this administration's sense of urgency with the timetable that we are up against. You know, it seems like they have a sense of legislative urgency. They're trying as best they can to get infrastructure handled and voting rights handled. It's an open question about whether we'll see any success on those fronts, but we're hearing

about that every day from Joe Biden and others. Right they seem to feel a sense of legislative urgency, But you know, I think that loses sight of the big picture because I think the greater need right now, what

is more urgent is the survival of our democracy. And without holding Donald Trump accountable for his many election crimes and the insurrection, what I can all but guarantee is that you're never going to hear another Republican candidate after losing an election make a concession speech because they'll just announce that they won. They will have state legislatures that they've put in place to basically override the popular vote.

In their jurisdiction and hand them the election. So I think what may become extinct is the Republican concession speech if we don't tackle this problem. Now. Did you see Condeliza Rice on the View where she said that America wants to turn the page on the insurrection, we have more important things to do. Yeah, I mean, I don't expect much from Condeliza Rice. I'm going to be honest with you, but that statement that we have better things, that we have more important things to do than the

securing of it. And I said to myself, if America was watching what is unfolding here in any other country right, noticing seeing the red flags that this government that we're watching is unstable, right, what do you think that they would be recommending to do to turn the page on an attempted coup? I honestly I could not. I was I gasped audibly. I saw the reporting on that, and like you, what I heard her saying is we need to turn the page on free, fair elections. We need

to turn the page on a healthy democracy. We need to turn the page on coequal branches of government. You know, that would be like me as a prosecutor telling the family of a homicide victim. Listen, we're not going to bring charges. We're not going to go to trial. We're not going to hold your son or your daughter, or your spouse or your partners kill or accountable. We just need to turn the page, y'all just need to heal. Or a rape victim. We're not going to go after

the person who attacked you. We just have to turn the page. You just gotta heal, you gotta get over it. That's the kind of insanity represented by anyone, no disrespect to miss Rice, anyone who suggests you turn the page on crime. You turn the page on the attempt to overthrow our democracy without full accountability. That's insanity. And just hearing that. And this is from a different Republican time.

That's why I'm signaling this out because Conna Liza Rice is a leader from a different time, right before the insurrection, before Trump is m So to see just how far everyone right, you know, and trust me, I have my own grievances. We all have our own grievances with Condoleeza Rice.

But just to see that even those that were associated with the Bushes right and like that Republicanism is gone right, and they are fully on board with Sure, whatever you guys saw on one six, it just wasn't a big deal. So turn the page and let's not hold anybody accountable

because we have bigger things to worry about. And in part that must be motivated by their understanding that if we hold accountable Donald Trump and all his criminal associates, there might not be another Republican elected to office for fifty years. So maybe at its core, that's what inspires people like Condoleeza Rice to say, Look, I am weighing the pros and cons in my own mind, and because I believe I'm giving miss Rice a lot of benefit

of the doubt here. I believe in what were what used to be viewed as traditional Republican principles of government. I want to get back to that, and I fear that we will never get back to that if the criminal politicians in the Republican Party are held accountable for what they just did. So maybe she's like pulling back not to thirty thousand feet, but like she's sitting or butt on mars, looking down and saying, well, if I pull back this far, maybe I can see somehow this

is for the greater good of the nation. I couldn't disagree more. That is it for me today. Folks on woke a f daily as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power, Get woke and stay focus. Fuck