Detroit Talk City | Political scrutiny of Muslim candidates; autism on IDs

Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday, October 20th. I'm your host, Charlie Langton. Welcome to Detroit Talk City. All right, let's get right into today's topics. First up, it's a game changer for safety on our roads. An advocate, Xavier DeGroote, is here to break down a new breakthrough that's now available in about 15 states or so. It lets drivers put an autism designation somewhat on their driver's license, So at least the police will know that the person they are pulling over is on the spectrum. All right, how could this change interactions with law enforcement and keep people safe? That's one. Plus, running for public office, oh, it's tough. But what happens when the scrutiny crosses the line? State Representative Albus Farhad, he's a Democrat from Dearborn, he joins us live to react to this intense. and is it unique political climate especially when a Muslim candidate is running for office we'll talk about that as well and that brings us to our poll our question is political scrutiny scaring away good candidates just scan that QR code there it is right there on the bottom of your screen we'll show you the results later on in the show you know this show is all about hearing from you, the viewer. We want to have a conversation. So we want you to weigh in. Just text us or call us at 313-765-8844. You can also jump into our Zoom room. Our meeting ID is 892-4909-0290. And of course, on social media, hashtag us at Detroit Talk City. All right. Xavier DeGroote is here of the Xavier DeGroote Autism Foundation. Good to see you again. It's been a couple of years, I think, since we've talked. Yes. I want to focus today, you were instrumental in getting something passed, which is actually, this is the form that if you are, if you have autism and other, something that you're hearing difficulties, any difficulty communicating, you can sign up with the Secretary of State. And when a police officer pulls you over, they can run the lien and they can find out that in your case, you have autism. And what's the purpose of this? It helps disclose any signs or symptoms that are common in those with ADHD, autism, or dyslexia, any type of communication impediment that will help unleash all of the true depictions that those on the spectrum may have difficulty with when they're overstimulated by police cars and uniforms and even any social interaction that needs to be better properly managed. give three feet distance from the person on the spectrum or also make sure that you don't raise your tone at them do it in a more proper patient manner and give them a second to breathe and adjust from all the adrenaline that we all typically have but when those on the spectrum are pulled over it's very easy to get them triggered and lose control of their coping ability actually this happened to you you were actually pulled over right at one and that's what started this whole thing what happened oh i over um got intense when the police was hi sir i need you to right now um either look at me or come out of the car why are you um ignoring me i'm not well i'm just trying to figure out where my insurance card is i don't know much about this so can i please call my parents and so i did and the police like well you know there's traffic behind you for safety we gotta get this um through so i'm just giving you heads up okay it's like I felt pushed there for a minute. So when I got that feeling, I started losing control of my attitude. And I luckily knew the official of the city of Lansing, the mayor, that helped get me assistance to the chief police to say, hey, we'll take care of you. Tell that police to come and talk to me. It was a simple traffic violation. You were pulled over. Now, just because you have that, this isn't a get out of jail free card or anything like that, right no no it's just to tell the officer how to at least approach someone who's on the spectrum correct how many states have this thing not many right um over 12 of them do and it's really grown in just the last five years since we established we were the second state to get it legally done but however we were the first state to introduce it it's just that texas beat us to it because they have a quicker constitutional time frame they get the legislature to vote on bills than what michigan does and it got through there too but hey um it really made history and now people are talking about it all the time and thinking of new ways to put different symptoms of behaviors inside of it, it does, by the way, this July 1st of 2021 is when it was on, so it's only been on you know five six you know about five six years now so and and as a way I read this thing, it does say if you are deaf, hearing impaired, autistic, but it also says here, or have another medical diagnosis that may make it difficult for you to communicate. That would tell me that if you have ADHD or you have some other condition has a difficulty communication, you could get one of these designations. You absolutely can, including those that are deaf. It all will help unleash many of the special accommodations that are required by the ADA to be provided when the police is approaching you and it alerts them ahead of time before they come near you and knowing that you are either deaf or you're dyslexic or you're whatever it's the designation is not on your driver's license though, is it? nope it's coded for security reasons because there's a lot of tailgaters that will exploit those with special needs out there when they're driving taking advantage of them like I've seen people that tailgate those on a special when they're driving saying, oh, you weak person, oh, you this and that, and flick you off because you're just barely learning. And let's say you're just a new driver with autism or ADHD. You may get very intense about another driver behind you, which is what I did. When I first started driving, and guess what? It was a police car. I didn't know that, and that got close to me. So I kind of over-speeded to eight miles an hour, and eventually he pulled me over for that. But I was very under drainage when I didn't know what to do, if that's someone that's harassing me or tailgating me for bullying of any sort, because I experienced bullying in my lifetime. So I get very easily intense about things of that nature. Listen, you're a pretty accomplished guy. Oh, you just you were an intern in the White House under the first Trump administration. You got this bill passed. You've got a foundation. so don't take this the wrong way but is it difficult for you to go through life on the spectrum it's gotten way more easy as I gotten older not because my inside has changed but because I'm better at masking myself and showing people who I am through my inside through shining the light on the outside rather than changing my inside because if I were to show you who I am on the inside it would blow you away and and you would see how intense I get you would see how particular and articulate I am with what goes on in the nature of environment around me that I don't always cope well with or deal with when i'm anxious about things in life and do you think Xavier that we the public is more accepting of people with autism absolutely i think a lot of it is due to awareness i give credit to and schools teaching kids it's okay to be different neuro diversity is a new movement that really started exploding in the last six years and guess what i was one of the pioneers of that too and i brought together that if you don't integrate different minds you'll never have a society that allows the true potential that can be well done for those with different abilities to succeed in their life and the only way you can do it is by being mentorship development and finding a proper person that will help uplift you not exploit you exploitation exists a very number one target for those and all neurodevelopmental disabilities believe it or not is those on the spectrum and i've talked to secretary of state Robert Kennedy about that and president trump about that and so let's get you to White House so you can break barriers you don't think there's anything you can't do right nope i'm confident in myself thanks and my lovely family that have brought me to the light and the darkness of this world and dealing with the unfairness that there is in this world. We're focusing on the police and people accepting and de-escalation and educating the world. I know you want to get this part of the United States. I get the whole country, though. What's the status now of getting something like this, a designation, either on your driver's license or in the lean machine, but let's call it a designation on your driver's license that you're autistic? Yes. If you go to any of your local branches of Secretary of State and you have a diagnosis that you're ADHD, ADD, or any sort of communication impediment that you feel challenges you with perception, mobility, or with coping mechanism, or with anxiety, you're allowed to release that and disclose that on your driver's license or even license plate so they type the code and get alerted through the data lien system ahead of time. Hold that thought. Xavier DeRose, this is the part of the show we want to hear from you. Should necessary medical information be put on your driver's license or license plate, text us, call us with your questions, 313-765-8844. We'll read them on the air, get them answered. Detroit Talk City facts. So you want to Zoom on Fox 2? We want you to Zoom on Fox 2, but we want to make you look and sound really, really good. So four easy steps. First of all, take the phone and turn it on its side. We want you to fill up the entire screen. Then you've got to look around and you've got to find the light. Remember, we want the light in front of you, not behind you. That's good. And then on the Zoom mic, we want all of Detroit to hear you. And finally, turn down the television like I'm going to do right now. We want to hear you, not the TV. All right, let's review these easy steps. First, flip it, light it, unmute it, and turn down the TV. And then you are ready to Zoom on Fox 2. Remember, you can be a part of Fox 2's Detroit Talk City and the sports office. Just Zoom in live. Detroit Talk City, I'm your host, Charlie Langdon. should necessary medical information be put on your driver's license. We do want to hear from you. Text us or call us, 313-765-8844. Want to take some calls? Xavier DeGroat, here he is with the Xavier DeGroat Autism Foundation. We're talking about that. All right, let's take a phone call. Darlene from Roseville, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Darlene. Hi, good afternoon to you both. I like to know would they also put that information I'm sorry Darlene I like to know would they put that information on someone who has autism that has a state ID card yes it is definitely available for those that can't drive on the state ID because you can use it for any way you want when you're walking or if you're riding a bicycle in case you have a problem also yeah thank you Darlene that's a that's a good point we should have said driver's license or state ID All right, Derek from Detroit, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Derek. Hey, Charlie, what's going on, brother? Good, Derek. Hey, this is for Xavier. Xavier, you know, I'm all for handling people with disabilities, you know, kind of carefully and everything. But when we talk about behavioral disabilities, people can claim that they have just bad behavior, you know, things of that nature. And we're asking our cops, you know, our law enforcement, you know, to do more than what they signed up to do. Kind of like when they have to be careful with dealing with someone that's going through a mental health episode. A lot of them are not trained to do that. A lot of them are not trained to deal with people with ADHD or anything of that nature. It's like I can see putting someone who has seizures, you know, having that info on their driver's license and things like that. But a behavioral disability, that's kind of like, you know, just a slim scope, okay? All right, let me get to exactly. Derek, thank you for the call. The point of the call is do the cops know about it, for one? And what do you think? Go ahead I think that the cops definitely should be more aware of ADHD and those with seizures, including I know those on the spectrum, as myself, have 30% more likely to have a seizure in their lifetime. I used to have them as a child, epilepsy. But the only challenge it becomes with medical concerns is the safety risks of those with seizures being able to drive. I wouldn't be able to drive now if my seizures didn't stop here when I turned 17. but with ADHD definitely there is a lot of communication impediments that they have or sensitivities with um slowness that they're very impulsive and get very take things literal when they're around police that i think a police needs to better be taught about the behaviors of that rather than it being attacked by the behavior they should understand empathy to look at them as being different and not automatically take it literal but just so we're clear just if you run the red light and a cop pulls you over they say xavier i'll be nice to you sir you ran the red light here's your ticket that's okay right yes yep that's being soft and being polite okay i call that let's try to be nice a little bit, all right, let's go to Robert from Wixom, you're on Detroit Talk City, hello Robert, oh do we have, do we have uh do we have Robert? we should have Robert but uh that's that's so that's okay uh we'll we'll check in back with with Robert in a little while There is, okay, Robert Hi Charlie, how are you? Good, Robert Do you have a question or comment? My problem is I'm a Parkinson's person My voice is very weak Especially if I'm stressed There's police incidents But that's my problem I'm in a functioning position otherwise I missed that part too Yeah, I missed that, Robert Did you have a question or comment? My voice is very weak I'm a Parkinson's patient, and it's just like you get stressed, stressed, stressed in a place that can't hear you or understand you, because my voice is very weak sometimes. Yeah, that's... So I think Robert wants to know, if your voice is weak sometimes, and would that be something that you could get this designation for? Absolutely. It's a communication and speech delay or so. It could be because of medical effects of your birth, but there's variables of why that may be. However, I will say what you should do is say that I have a communication impediment. Just keep it simple like that on your driver's license. And the police will know better to not look at you as you're on drugs or alcohol because oftentimes that would be the first thing they would think, oh, that person must be high or must be this or that. So my recommendation is always put communication impediment as that's the key to search for what's available. All right. Let's take another break over here. The Zoom room is open. Should necessary medical information be put on your driver's license? You can get in the Zoom room right now, 892-4909-0290. Detroit Talk City back after this break. Detroit Talk City, I'm your host, Charlie Langton. Should necessary medical information be put on your driver's license? You have a question for Xavier DeGroote? He is the one that actually started where you could put information on your driver's license if you have autism. Or, this is important, I think, any other medical diagnosis that may make it difficult for you to communicate. All right. You can text us, 313-765-8844. Or, join us in the Zoom room, 892-4909-0290. 290. In fact, speaking of the Zoom room, let's go to Michelle from Berkeley. Hello, Michelle, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hi, Charlie, and thank you so much for having Xavier on there. I work with special needs and retired from the Berkeley School District. I didn't walk in knowing a student without looking at the readout on that person individually. And I think this is very important after the issue we had in Center Line that people are on the spectrum and I think it makes it so much easier if you see that and you could deescalate it and talk to them and go with their pace, I think things would be so much better. Yeah, thank you, Michelle, for that comment there. You want to respond to Michelle? Yes, I totally agree with you. and it also needs to be highlighted in a more positive way and the only way we can do that is by accepting different behaviors and different mobilities out there just like ADA provides the rights for access we need our access and life through communication as well to be heard properly thank you for that thank you michelle let's go to shelly on the phone from sterling heights hello Shelly, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Talk City. Xavier, I have to tell you, I am so impressed by you. Charlie, I've been watching you since day one in the ex-mayor. I dig the show. This, Xavier, you are so eloquent, and you speak so beautifully. You are just a wonderful person to get this across, and yes, I do believe in it. My nephew is actually involved with children on the spectrum for the last half a decade. He went and got his master's degree. So I'm fully aware of the challenges you acquired. I am so impressed by you. Good for you. And also your toolbox. You have the right tools. Every child needs them. You just needed a different toolbox. Good. Thank you, Shelly. Nice to hear. Thank you. I appreciate that. Let's get one more call. Liz from Macomb, You were on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Liz. Hello, everybody. Nice to be on here with you. Thank you so much, Xavier. This is a great topic. I have a question for you, or maybe it's just some advice you can give me. My daughter is 19 years old. She has high-functioning autism. And she's, like, three, five years, like, all her whole life. She graduated. She goes to Macomb. You know, Macomb. We're struggling to get our license. She's failed like three times, and she has all her hours. I've been driving with her for years, and she gets so nervous. And because she is over 18, I'm not allowed to be in the car with her. All right, hold on, Liz. I hate to do it to you. I'm running up against the clock. Someone that has an idea, if they have a difficulty in communication, can they go to the Secretary of State? Is that what you'd recommend? 100% yes, and they will understand if you can't drive and you're a passenger that you still will be accommodated to as a family member. Xavier deGrasse, thank you so much. I appreciate what you're doing. All right, we'll talk soon. All right, next up, our good candidate staying away from political office because of all this political scrutiny. That's next on Detroit Talk City. Hi, Detroit Talk City. I'm your host, Charlie Langton. All right, still to come this half hour, running for public office. Yeah, it is tough, but what happens when the scrutiny crosses the line? Hasn't been doing it in this election season. State Representative Alibis Farhat, he's a Democrat from Dearborn. He joins us now to react to the intense, possibly unique political climate, especially when Muslim candidates are on the campaign trail. I'm going to talk about all that coming up. One more time, our poll question you can weigh in. Is political scrutiny scaring away good candidates? Just scan the QR code. It's right down there at the bottom, and we will give you the results later on in the show. Again, the show is all about hearing from you, the viewer. We're having a conversation. We want to know what you think. You can text us. You can call us, 313-765-8844. Jump into the Zoom room like you had last time, 892-4909-0290. And on social media, hashtag us at, that's right, Talk City. All right, State Representative Albert Farad, Democrat from Dearborn, always good to see you. Good to see you too, Charlie. Thanks for having me on. Are you guys in session? You're not in session, though, are you? We're not in session, not yet, no. We'll be in session probably after the election. How many weeks do you get off to? It's not team up, it's district time. You're spending time with the voters, spending time with the people. The issue with a lot of politicians is they get so used to being in Lansing or D.C., they forget the fact that they actually serve the people at home and not special interests. So it's good to be close to the people, hold town halls. At least that's what I do, coffee hours, meet people, talk to them, and embrace the scrutiny like this. All right, so we want to focus today on the ads. And listen, I know you're a Democrat, but it goes both ways, though. I think, be objective. Do you think that the Democrats have been hitting as hard in a negative way as the Republicans have been hitting as hard? I think every cycle is different. I think in this cycle, especially though, you're seeing Republicans, because they're the party in power, defend, claw, scream, and yell anything they can to distract from the fact that when they won power two years ago, they promised lower prices, better jobs, cheaper gas. And on every metric that's possible, it's objective, they fail to deliver on it. And so they gotta distract. Yeah, but objectively, though, the Democrats can pretty much control the state. You've got the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and the Senate, right? Yeah, the state Senate, yeah. Not for you. Not in the state house. I was gonna say, Charlie. You're the only one. We had two years of that. But let me tell you what we did. When we had two years of control, the state house, the state senate, and the governor, right? What did we do? Actually, let's talk about the Secretary of State's office. Jocelyn Benson, what'd she do? She dropped waiting times of the Secretary of State office down. That's politics. That's politics. It's true, though. Measure it. You know the last time I went to the Secretary of State's office, Charlie? I go to Kroger and get my tags renewed there. Okay, but it's politics. But look at the ads, though. The ads are nasty. They're nasty. They're unacceptable. They're out of line. say it. Yeah. Okay? Now, is it a fair question to ask him if he's a member of the Muslim Brotherhood? Is that a fair question? See what that question implies is that there's a reason we should be asking him it. So is there a reason we should be asking Mike Rogers if he's a member of the Proud Boys or a white nationalist movement? Is that a fair question to him? To Mike Rogers? Yeah. I think both of these questions are distractions. Abdul clearly said he's not a part of the Muslim Brotherhood, doesn't support the Muslim Brotherhood. He said that, right? a couple days ago. I haven't heard Mike Rogers disavow Al Jank, for example, who carries the Mike Rogers sign, right? And says- We would ask, but is that- We should, yeah, but he doesn't come to- But the issue isn't a fair question. Al Jank's a good example. He's a great example. He likes Trump, I mean, there's some ties there. Does Mike, that's a fair question. Fair question, and he carries Mike Rogers' signs everywhere. I don't see the Muslim Brotherhood do a banner for, they don't do that. And also, they have no business in American politics. But you can understand, okay, there's a Muslim candidate. I don't know if you're Muslim, maybe you are. Yeah, I'm Muslim American. Okay, you're Muslim American. Is it a fair question though, do you think people are curious about that and your ties, loyalties, is it fair or is it not fair? I think the implication behind those questions is a distraction. It's not fair necessarily to ask that. But when it's asked and it's answered, people should respect that answer. So Abdul, for example, said he's not a Muslim brother, great, respect that answer. And stop spending millions of dollars trying to paint him out as somebody who's sympathizing these groups that he has nothing to do with, and he's disavowing. Every, okay, let's dovetail from that, but maybe on this show, I don't know what we have over here. But many of the show, they say that Abdul Farah, he's dangerous. And Mike Rogers, he's a millionaire, and he doesn't have, same thing. He's a corporate sellout, yeah. Are those good ads? I think when it's based on your record, see the problem is this, you can criticize, I'm a public official, I sign up for scrutiny all the time. I'll get scrutinized, I'll get love and hate mail from the show right now, right? And that's okay, I sign up for it, right? But that's based on my record. What am I saying, what am I doing? These attacks on things that you have nothing to do with, right, on character and personal attacks, that's what's nasty in politics today, in my opinion. Is that we're not arguing, okay, you were in Congress for 12 years, Mike Rogers, did you bring down the price of drugs, did you make it easier to get a good paying job? Abdul, you're a public health director, what did you do there? That's not what the conversation we're having. It's your character. Whose fault is that? I don't know who's making these ads, hold that thought for one moment, okay? Basically, our good candidates staying away from political office because of these nasty ads. We may show you one now, I don't know, anyway, text us or call us 313-765-8844. We will get to your questions live on the air, Detroit Talk City, back after the break. Detroit Talk City, I'm your host, Charlie Light. Tonight, is political scrutiny keeping good candidates from running for office? This one, he's a good candidate. He ran representative of Alabama's far-right Democrat from Dearborn. And we're talking about the scrutiny in this tough campaign season and the negative ads. Ready for a text? Let's do this. Let's do it. How are we supposed to respect and live in harmony with Muslims when there's parades screaming death to America? Where are those parades? I don't see them. You know what? Here's what I'll tell you. Dearborn, for example, you brought up Dearborn, is home to a large concentration of Muslim Americans. We continue the tradition of the longest running Memorial Day parade in the nation. Actually, I think it's the longest running. It's definitely in the state. We love America. I love America. This is the country I want to live in and raise a family in. I think maybe what you're seeing is, this is another thing we talked about, is these algorithms on social media which are feeding you these really nasty, bigoted videos that don't either exist or are happening here in America, might be happening somewhere overseas or politically stuff. But that has nothing to do with who we are here in America, I'll say that. But listen, you're a Muslim American, okay? Yeah, I love this country, I swear I owe it to the Constitution. Do you think it'll be hard for another Muslim American to run, because look at this, Hasan Piker, better not have him around here, dangerous, Muslim Brotherhood, owning property in Dubai, I mean, my gosh. I think it's funny though, Charlie, that right now people are struggling to make ends meet on their paychecks, fill up gas another week, get extra bag of groceries if they wanna get it. And these are distractions, in my opinion. I know, but is it, but if you're, let's say you're a smart, smart guy, and you like public But you're Muslim, is it gonna say, I'm not going through this, I'm not gonna put my family through this? I mean, I think right now in general, if you're running for office, you're seeing those types of attacks. We see it happening to folks like Jocelyn Benson and her husband right now, John James is attacking her, right? And that way, we're seeing it happen in the Secretary of State's race with Garland Gilchrist. Politics in general has gotten very ugly and nasty. They'll use any difference to attack your character, be it your race, religion, gender identity, whatever it is they're attacking. That's exactly right. So are we getting the best of the best? Listen, when I want to put my life through scrutiny, I mean, you look at my, I'm sure there's plenty of things in my past. And a lot of people are saying that you can deal with it. You can deal with it. Let's take another text real quick. No one has accused Mike Rogers of any affiliation with groups your guest has suggested. Yeah. I think that person should go look at Jake Lang's Instagram post, seeing the signs that they're carrying, seeing the banners they're carrying, saying how they're saying we need Mike Rogers, not because he's going to make your life more affordable or better or keep Michigan safe, but because the other guy's a brown Muslim dude. Mike Rogers has been attacked, though, by a lot. But has he condemned supporters of his attacking, using character and race as the reason why to vote for him? Has he done that? Abdul has condemned the Muslim Brotherhood. Abdul has condemned any group, any time he's been asked. But Mike Rogers is mum on that question. All right, let's hold that thought here. All right, coming up, we're going to answer more of your texts, more of your phone calls. is political scrutiny keeping good candidates from running for office. We're going to get to your phone calls. Welcome back. You're watching Detroit Talk City. Back in a moment. Detroit Talk City is political scrutiny keeping good candidates from running for office. Representative Alaba Farhan is here. Democrat from Dearborn. 26 years old. You're not the youngest, but you're pretty close. I'm not pretty close. The youngest thing is 22 right now. 22? I know. 22, yeah, yeah. There's more young people in politics. Good. That's all right. All right. Let's go to the phones right now. How about Victoria? from Detroit. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Victoria. Hi. My response to that is, if scrutiny keeps any good or bad candidate out, they shouldn't be there anyway, because if you cannot go under the scrutiny of the voters, then you should not be there. That's right. The voters have a right to know all the aspects of your campaign. We need to know that. And with Abdul Abdul Adzir, he um definitely you said this guy said he disemboweled but he didn't he just flexed every time and i've heard him i've heard him because when when he said that about the Hassan Pipe when he said he he hates america and abdul did say i'm not here to disavow anybody's opinion if you're running for public office and somebody tells you that they hate america you need to let us know you don't feel that way but you know and then too like i said let me ask you victoria let me just ask you real quick okay and we can we all weigh in on this but do you think Abdul El-Sayed hates america victoria i don't know well i get that i've asked him he's told me he loves america every time i've talked to him yeah but but i hear what you're saying he hasn't said that to me he hasn't said that to me on a public forum i haven't seen an ad where And he has an ad that he says, I love America. And as a matter of fact, I go by the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. And the Bible tells you a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Abdul says he has dual citizenship. So as far as I'm concerned, you need to pick one. Victoria, thank you. I appreciate it. Just in the interest of time, because we have a lot of calls over here. But do you want to respond to that? I mean, but look at the scrutiny. It's got nothing to do with high gas prices or mortgage rates or war. It's got nothing to do with that. It's all the personal stuff, and I'm just raising the question. I think, Victoria, you're right. Look, voters have every right to ask questions of anybody that wants to serve, right? If you wanna be a US senator, a state representative, or a city councilman, you should be accountable to the people you serve. The issue is these special interest groups are distracting right now, in my opinion, millions of dollars, hundreds of millions, that's already broken the record for the most expensive US Senate race in Michigan history, has forced us to be so far away from the conversation how to make your life better, how to improve your neighborhoods, how to improve your schools. And so I think you're bringing up a good point. I've heard Abdul say it time and again, he loves this country, he's American born, American raised. And this is the country he wants to fight for and he wants to make our lives better here, not countries overseas. So hopefully you hear that from him soon, the next town hall you see him at. Sandy from Woodhaven, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Sandy. Hi. Hi, Sandy. Can you hear me? I've got a question for both of you. I've been calling in to good morning, day good morning, whatever it's called, asking, does Charlie ever go to sleep? He has a big gulp size of coffee right behind the desk. You can't see it. It's off camera. No, the state representative is entertaining me so much. I can't fall asleep now. There's no way. I'll sleep well tonight, Sandy. For your guest, I want to know why they can't sue for declamation? Defamation? Defamation. When they just tell lies, more lies and more lies. It's a good point. You're the lawyer. I mean, if you're a public official, you lose some of the protections you have as a private resident, right, Charlie? Yeah, you do. And the general, like, Abdul, for example, is dangerous, or Mike Rogers is also dangerous. That's just, it's puffing, it's called, and it's just an opinion and not fact. Now, if you lie about certain things, there may be some there, but they do get sued. But it's rare, though. Yeah, it's very rare. The law is very thin on it. It's one of those things, it's very unfortunate, cuz you would wish if you wanna run for office, they have to say the truth. I would support that, but you have your First Amendment right, and people can say those vague things, like you said, Charlie, about someone being dangerous or not dangerous. But your record, that's a matter of fact, and if it's a matter of fact, it's undisputable, right? And I think it's up on our too, I mean, we will poll- And journalists, you guys call it out when it's wrong. We try to fact check, they got a fact check here and there. Let's get another call. Rose from Clinton Township here on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Rose. Hello. Uh-oh. Is Rose there? This is good. You get to go back and forth with people, though. It's nice. It's good. Oh, there's Rose right there. Hey, Rose. Hi, Charlie. Hello, Rose. I'm sorry. I can't hear him. Uh-oh. Rose, we can hear you. What's your question or comment, Rose? Yes, I wanted to comment about all of the distortion and the outright lies in the political ads. And it comes from both parties and it makes no sense that they spend so much money lying on each other rather than telling us what they intend to do for us. Yeah, that's right. Do the negative ads work? I don't think, I think negative ads, I like positive campaigning person, Charlie. Every campaign I've ran, it's always been positive. Does it work? Yeah, it can confuse people. It can distract them from your opponent and confuse them. But I wish candidates, to your point, Rose got back to talk about what they want to do for you, and less about talking about the other guy. Cuz that's what politics should be about. Do you wanna run for the United States Senate in Michigan right now? I mean, right now it's a political climate. But right now, I'll be honest, we gotta have leadership in the US Senate that's willing to bring down costs and stand up to, in my opinion, stand up to what we're seeing. It's a scrutiny though, it's a scrutiny. It's a scrutiny, yeah. Let's go to Kathy from Detroit, you're on Detroit Talk City. Kathy. Hello, Kathy. Hello, yeah, this is Kathy from Detroit. Yeah, I want to know why Syed is questioning about whether he's accepting money from the Muslim Brotherhood or anything like that. They're not questioning Mike Rogers about whether he's getting money from who, Ku Klux Klan or anything like that. You know, why are they picking on him? This guy's going to do a good job. And we don't need any more Republicans messing with our state. You agree. I agree, I agree, 10 out of 10, I agree, you said it better than I could have. I'm sick and tired of it, we're sick of seeing people come in here, again, talk about what you wanna do for me and not what the other guy is or is not. Talk about the actual policies, that's what we need right now. And everyone else right now, especially Republicans- That's not the reality, look at this, I mean, look at our station, I mean, listen, I'm okay with it, by the way, there's bills here. No, it's both sides that do it, I'm saying it should be mutual. I'm saying this is keeping good people out of politics. Let's go to Moe in Detroit. Hello, Moe, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hey, Charlie, how are you? Rep Farhat. How are you? Hey. Long time viewer. Rep Farhat, we hear a lot about the top of the ticket, but how do you down the ballot races from school boards to university regents, shape everyday life for Michigan families? That's important, Moe. This is important. We'll take a second to talk about this. Your ballot now, you can vote straight ticket Democrat, straight ticket Republican. You can do that if you want. You got, obviously, the US Senate, but you got the University of Michigan Regents Board, MSU trustees. These are very important races. You got your Supreme Court, which is nonpartisan. So you're going to make sure you flip your ballot and get that. Obviously, for U of M regents, you have Amir Magid, Paul Brown, others running there. You have Sharif Akhil running for Wayne State and a couple others. I'll take the 30-second plug. But yes, make sure you go through your entire ballot. It's a big ballot this year. And you have the Constitutional Convention question on there and money out of politics. Yeah, do you think that some of the scrutiny from the Senate race is hurting the lower part of the ticket? I think what you're seeing is so many people, there's high enthusiasm, Abdul's bringing people out to vote. I think it's gonna help carry a lot of people over the top, actually, I think. Caroline from Detroit, you're on Detroit Talk City, hello, Caroline. Hey, good to hear you, can you hear me? I sure can, yes. Okay, I wanna say I do, well, I can't hardly hear you, maybe I need to turn my TV up a little more. We hear you loud and clear. We hear you. OK, I do think that now we don't know what what happened to Caroline there. Oh, Caroline, we missed you there. OK, I do think that the political scrutiny is causing harm to some good potential candidates. But I mainly want to say that I believe Abdul Syed will be a good person for Congress because this man has ran the whole city of Detroit health department, and nobody called him out for being a terrorist then. Wow. This is the same guy. I think he has good qualities. And from what has happened in the past, it is time for a change. I never thought I would say that. I don't care what they call him. I know one thing, I'm willing to give something new a chance when I know what's already going on. Nothing has changed, I don't- All right, Caroline, thank you for the call. We gotta get as many calls as we possibly can. You wanna react to that though, again, the intensity. We have two more weeks. Two more weeks, 14 days. It's from today. 14 days from today is the election. Yeah, I'll just say this, Caroline, you're right. These weren't issues when he was running the city of Detroit's public health department or Wayne County's public health department. It's because partisan politics is nasty. Both sides do it. But you're seeing it come in so heavily on him. And I hope voters, I believe voters will see through it. All right. Representative Albus Farhat, Democrat from Dearborn, as always, thank you for being here. I appreciate that. Thank you, Charlie. Always good. All right, stay with us. We've got the results of our question of the day. Our poll, when Detroit Talk City comes back in just a moment. All right, Charlie, I'm Rupraj. Coming up, we're just two weeks away as you've been talking about for the midterm election. And the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Abdullah Al-Sayed and Mike Rogers is getting a lot of attention. We're going to tell you about their appearances at the Detroit Economic Club today. That's coming up today on Fox 2 News at 5, just in about four minutes.