By Michael Desrosiers
5
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The podcast currently has 51 episodes available.
āIn this country, because someone has a lot of money, we treat them like they have the right to tell us what to do.ā Sam Jean returns for the Season 3 finale, picking up where he and Michael left off in the previous episodeās discussion about the border crisis, the latest stirrings in Congress, and of course, Donald Trump. It seems Republicans will blame non-Americans for everything. While they continue to promote division in this country by treating immigrants to the U.S. as a threat, they also blame the sending foreign aid to places like Ukraine to excuse wealth inequality, disparity of healthcare and underfunded social programs. With so many perceived injustices, itās no wonder Trumpās voting base is so enchanted by his crude and racist remarksāthey see them as his sticking it to the man, despite, of course, Trump being the man.Ā
Conservative leaders are playing college students as pawns. They used the recent congressional hearing involving the presidents of three Ivy League universities as another means of denigrating institutions of higher education, particularly elite institutions, as indoctrination camps. Nevermind that many conservative leaders themselves are products of elite universities. They discourage students from speaking out for fear of missing opportunities and at a time and place in life where those students are meant to be exchanging ideas freely.Ā
Itās no wonder so many unqualified people feel they are fit to run for office. Vivek Ramaswamy continues to troll his way through his campaign, modeling his approach after Trumpās. Meanwhile, a new law threatens to erode whatās left of the Voting Rights Act, affecting those citizens historically most discriminated against, but no one is really paying attention.Ā
Quotes:
āYou do hear Americans say, āIām all about supporting Ukraineā¦ā and so forth, but the government seems to always have money to provide aid to foreign crises, but at home when the price of goods and services keep going up, and inflationāalthough itās coming downāpeople still say, āWhat about here at home?ā So, thatās a fair critique.ā (7:08 | Michael)
āWhat you get from Trump is the power of celebrity. Thatās what you get from Trump, this idea that this is an important person. People believe that Donald Trump is an important person who tells it like it is. Heās not the most couth person. They ignore the fact that almost everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie, but they like the fact that Trump can vocalize the things that theyāve been told they arenāt allowed to say. ā (13:54 | Sam)
āThere is a characterāeven if I disagree with you politicallyāthereās a certain character that we believe a person should have in order to represent us in government. Thatās the myth weāve been told.ā (18:36 |Sam)
āThe presidents of the universities were giving lawyerly answers in an environment where they were supposed to give social media-worthy answers, because thatās what the hearing was about.ā (20:01 | Sam)Ā
āIn this society, we venerate people who make a lot of money and we treat their intelligence in making money as if it is some moral good. What people like Vivek demonstrate is you can be smart, you can make a lot of money but it doesnāt make you a good person and it also doesnāt mean that youāre smart enough to do other things.ā (39:09 | Sam)
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āHopefully, this is a renaissance,ā says Sam Jean, who returns to Cuckoo 4 Politics for another episode of Raw & Uncut as we wrap up 2023. Itās been a year full of high profile labor strikes, which remind people of the power of unions to stand up to corporations to fight for a living wage. Of course, this doesnāt stop many people from blaming immigrants for depressed wages and low employment. America has a history of demonizing its most newly arrived citizens, blaming them for all its problems, while simultaneously relying on them to make up large parts of the workforce. As Americans, we must question which of our foreign policy maneuvers have forced people to come to our country to seek a better life.Ā
This hypocrisy extends to the highest positions of government. Americans continue to labor under the illusion that those on the Supreme Court hold themselves to a higher moral standard than the rest of us. Yet, as Michael points out, Judge Clarence Thomas accepts all sorts of gifts and favors from rich donors, compromising. Sam calls for term limits in the Supreme Court, to help tamper down such corruption and compromised integrity and corruption.Ā
Meanwhile, too many conservative candidates are weaponizing their religion as a way to mystify their followers, something that Sam predicts will only become more pronounced during the 2024 election season. If thereās one abiding truth, itās that Donald Trump makes everything worse.Ā
Quotes:
āWe have to address why it is that people are coming here. The other thing we donāt address in terms of our foreign policy is what has American foreign policy done to some of these countries that are sending us their migrants? Why? Why is that happening?ā (9:20 | Sam)
āIt seems like the public understands that the workers have no leverage and their only leverage is to strike. And when they start striking and they start explaining what they want, regardless of how the media tries to interpret it like, āOh, they expect a living wage.---the shock of it! God forbid someone get a wage that allows them to liveāIĀ think that (18:17 | Sam)
āOne thing the strike demonstrates is the power of labor and organizing labor because the workers by themselves do not have sufficient leverage to stand up against the corporations. They just simply donāt. You think one worker can stand up to Ford, Chrysler, GM? Not at all. So this demonstrates the power of labor, and hopefully this is a renaissance for labor movements to come back.ā (19:27 | Sam)Ā
āJudge Clarence Thomas. The man is literally hanging with big donors who are paying for hisāeverythingāfrom taking him on lavish vacations, to paying for anything he wants and we think, āYouāre supposed to be impartial?ā Is he another Tim Scott?ā (24:28 | Michael)
āThere is a separation of church and state because we understand in this country that there are people who believe and there are people who donāt believe. We have to treat them the same way. You donāt need to insert religion to have an outcome that is fair. Can we use religious ideas to form certain laws? Of course we can, of course people do, but the laws are sufficient as theyāre written without a hint and a hinge of religion.ā (30:12 | Sam)
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āI donāt care that heās 80, because the choice is between him and Donald Trump,ā says Sam Jean, who returns to weigh in on President Joe Biden as Biden prepares to run for re-election in 2024. The greatest criticism leveled at the president, from his own party as well as his Republican detractors, is that he is too old for the job. Sam argues that peopleās perception of Biden is based on the media taking clips out of context. Michael recounts attending a rally where Biden appeared spry and in command of a fervent audience, dispelling popular beliefs that he is both unreliable and unrelatable.Ā
People also want to blame the president for economic issues that are out of his control, such as high inflation rates and increasing costs of living, while ignoring that unemployment is the lowest itās ever been. Democrats have a messaging problem, suggests Sam. Their rational approach and insistence on facts means that they donāt experience the immediate, emotional reaction that Republicans are able to elicit from the MAGA crowd.
Stay until the end for Michaelās closing thoughts, where he explains why Biden, though older than Trump only by a few years, is handling aging much more gracefully.Ā
Quotes:
āI donāt think his age has anything to do with his ability to connect with people, because when I see him, I see him as somebodyās grandfather.ā (9:49 | Sam)
āTrump is just a crazy, stupid person, and they have a lot of energy. Heās always raging about something and so it looks like heās a young guy, but heās not young himself.ā (11:42 | Sam)
āAll these things that people have direct anger about āor I would say misdirected anger about āis to Biden. They are not realizing that there are other factors involved, particularly in Congress, because Iāve not yet heard a possible alternative solution to inflation.ā (17:48 | Michael)Ā
āThere is this famous composer who is told about this young prodigy whoās great and so the composer goes to listen to this prodigy. And this prodigy has a concert and plays his piece flawlessly, and people come up to the composer afterwards and ask, āHey, what did you think?ā He said, āHe could play the music but he doesnāt feel the notes.ā And thatās what Democrats are missing sometimes. They donāt feel the notes. Not from the economic arguments. They can play the music, they can tell people, āWell, this is not really the presidentās fault, look at these numbers, look at these numbers, look at these numbers. But thatās not what people want to hear. They want to hear āYou feel the soul of this thing thatās bothering me. How are these things going to go down?ā And I donāt know that they have effectively messaged that, and I donāt know if you can, to be honest with you. I donāt know if you can effectively message that, because if people feel like things are bad, how do you stop that feeling?ā (19:40 | Sam)Ā
āPeople who are liberals tend to be less influenced in the way that Conservatives can be influenced. We look for evidence for thingsā¦But the MAGA crowd has been inoculated to just believe what they are told.ā (24:18 | Sam)
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āThere's no one that I see who can beat Donald Trump. He's vanquished all of them,ā says Sam Jean, who returns for another special Raw & Uncut edition of Cuckoo 4 Politics. He and Michael discuss the GOP candidates running for the U.S. presidency in 2024. Mike Pence is an irrelevant dearth of charisma, who has returned to his pre-Trump irrelevancy. Nikki Haley has plenty of charisma but is running a campaign from 2002. Michaelās dislike for Tim Scott borders on the irrational, yet is still not as irrational as those who refrained from donating to Scottās campaign because of his single status. Chris Christie has a lower than ten percent approval rating but is the only one willing to take Trump head on. Ron DeSantisā thuggish tactics and empty policies donāt translate outside of his limited base in Florida. Michael takes pointed aim at his treatment of both Black constituents and politicians.Ā
Does any of this really matter, though? As Sam points out that despite being indicted on 91 counts of felony, including inciting an insurrection, Donald Trump's MAGA base still blindly supports him. And his fellow politicians will do what they must to curry favor with him. After all, this is not the Republican party of Reagan, Bush Sr. or even Bush Jr. Despite the unprecedented vitriol and unbecoming behavior displayed by the party, Michael explains why he isnāt panickedā-yet.Ā
QuotesĀ
āEverybody has to account for Trump and Trump's followers. And this is why I told you it wasn't a race from the jump, from the start, it wasn't a race. Trump had already won. And if you've noticed, as the primary has gone on, Trump has only become more and more popular.ā (14:39 | Sam)
āOnce you get out of Florida, and you go to New Hampshire, nobody in New Hampshire thinks that people in Florida are actually more free than in New Hampshire, and voters in New Hampshire, for all the MAGA craziness, take the primary seriously, and they come with very serious questions. Iowa, they come with a very serious question, because they're given this sort of stage that they aren't given most of the time. And DeSantis just does not connect with people. If he's not bullying, he just does not connect with people. Trump might not like his followers, but he has no problem shaking their hands.ā (19:33 | Sam)
āI'll say this. Ron DeSantis is not definitely loved in the state of Florida, not entirely. Again, he's only admired in certain pockets within Florida. But I recall his rhetoric about, Black Lives Matter. His rhetoric about Critical Race Theory, his effort to minimize the political power within black communities to relegate them to one congressional elected official, his firing an elected official who was a black woman, I believe the district attorney, to put someone else in place. It doesn't resonate well.ā (23:58 | Michael)
āAbout the 91 indictments, it means absolutely nothing. OK, I'm being glib about it, when I say it means nothing. It doesn't mean nothing. In the grand scheme of history, it's a big deal. But if you're asking me in the particular, today, in the political environment for the Republican Party, what it means, it means nothing to them. And the reason it means nothing to them, is he continues to lead every single poll. At some point, Michael, youāve got to stop believing in Santa Claus.ā (30:21 | Sam)Ā
āTrump is a great āmarketeerā-- if that's even a wordābut what's what I find interesting, too, is that GOP officials are scared, not of Trump, but of his Maga supporters.ā (32:40 | Michael)Ā
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āThey live in a completely different world, and that world is disassociated with the majority of Americans,ā says Sam Jean, friend of the show, who joins Michael for another episode of Raw & Uncut, where they talk about the chaos erupting in the House of Representatives under the (lack of) leadership of the GOP. Ignoring any separation of church and state, Republican leaders are making sectors such as healthcare, academia, law enforcement political and the fallout is manifold. Not only does this discourage people from pursuing positions in these fields, the dire need for personnel forces the barrier to entry lower and lower and the populace continues to lose.Ā
Of course, politicians themselves will never feel these effects. Worse yet, Sam and Michael are convinced they donāt do it for any other reason than for attention, relevance and to curry favor particularly with Donald Trump. As Sam notes, as much as Republicans complain about what Democrats are doing, they never present a viable alternative. They have no agenda or even a plan.Ā
Join another lively discussion as the two friends discuss the doomed fall of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the white-washing of Black history in schools, and why no one should be taking courses from Prager University.Ā
QuotesĀ
āIf you're thinking like a MAGA Republican, it makes perfect sense. They don't believe in government. They don't believe government is good for anything. And so their whole approach to governing is disruption.ā (13:35 | Sam)
āRepublicans are rebels with only one cause: and that cause is Donald Trump.ā (15:21 | Sam)
ā[Republicans] live in a completely different world, and that world is disassociated with the majority of Americans.ā (20:22 | Sam)Ā
āWith the current trend of the MAGA ultra-rhetoric that comes out, we are seeing an increase of people opting out of education because it's been politicized, opting out of the medical field, particularly when it comes to maternity, because, just like you've mentioned, they don't want to be when they have to make a medical decision for fear of a lawsuit. We have people opting out of law enforcement, because of that particular field being politicized. So where do we go with this because we're seeing this trend continuing on, and in the end, who's going to suffer?ā (24:03 | Michael)Ā
āEverybody thinks that their perspective is valid. That's just natural. But for a long time, in this country, we deferred to people who were subject matter experts. We deferred to teachers, doctors, scientists, sociologists or psychologists. Now we don't. Everybody, on some level, feels like they have a certain level of subject matter expertise, whether it is because they've read things on Wikipedia, or they've seen YouTube documentaries. Everybody thinks that they're an expert on things.ā (45:41 | Sam)
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āEven if youāre not involved in a case, itās important to care who is sitting in these seats,ā says Judge Jill Beck. For the past year, Judge Beck has traveled throughout all 67 counties of Pennsylvania, in a campaign to be elected to the stateās Superior Court. She joins Cuckoo 4 Politics to explain what goes on in all four levels of the court system ā something that even lawyers find confusing at times. She also explains what judges do not, or should not, do. Despite many peoplesā growing fear of partisanship within the legal system, judges are not meant to promote or overturn precedents but to make decisions based on the evidence put before them, and to make sure justice is served and upheld.Ā
A self-described āborn neutral,ā she herself has drafted 500 successful decisions under Superior and Supreme Court Judges and Justices. She has the highest recommendation from the Bar Association, a deciding board free from political partisanship. Placing an āRā or a āDā behind a judgeās name is a mistake, she warns. It compromises the motivations of an already reluctant voting populace, who may not realize that judges swayed by politics will only work in their favor until the vote swings the other way. It also raises the question of how those judges who owe their position to political backing maintain their impartiality.Ā
The concerns of Pennsylvanians reflect the concerns of Americans. On todayās episode, Judge Beck explains how she balances her personal and professional life, her most memorable cases dealing with injustice that keep her motivated and why she and Michael actually enjoy jury duty.
āI always tell people, the courts serve as a check and balance not only on our legislative and executive branches of government, but also in the courts below. The things that are coming before the superior court really affect people's lives. Because we're talking about someone's right to be free from incarceration, their right to parent their children, the right to access and make healthcare decisions on their own, the right to their wealth. Their safety. Their home. Their inheritance. These are big picture things that affect everyday Pennsylvanians even if you're not the litigants involved in the case, because our courts are interpreting our Constitution and our statutes. A law that did not adversely affect you yesterday, very well could adversely affect you tomorrow. So, it's important to care who's sitting in these seats.ā (13:51 | Judge Beck)
āA lot of people are looking at our courts and seeing them as just a third political arm of the government, and not as the fair, impartial and apolitical branch that it should be.ā (21:06 | Judge Beck)
āI always tell people, when you vote, you're investing in your community. And when you do vote, they also put you into the jury pool. And that's just showing that I, the citizen, have an active role in my community. And I could weigh in on that decision. It's not just elected officials.ā (26:08 | Michael)
āThere is no such thing ā or there shouldn't be ā as a Democratic judge or Republican judge. We're just judges, we have to do the job, give every single case the time, the effort and the energy to ensure that the facts were correctly found and supported by the trial court. That the law was correctly and faithfully applied in every single case. It isn't brain surgery, truly. But it's an incredibly important job.ā (30:48 | Judge Beck)
āSeeing injustice, seeing someone hurt, seeing someone have their rights violated, that motivates me to do the job, to do it right, and to make sure Pennsylvaniansāthat peopleāare protected, that they get the justice that they deserve. My goal truly is for our courts to be a place where justice can be for all.ā (36:39 | Judge Beck)
Links
Connect with Jill Beck:
JillBeck.com,Ā
@ElectJillBeck
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āA district attorney is for all the people, so I want to be a unifier of political division,ā says First Assistant District Attorney of Monroe County, Pennsylvania, who returns to Cuckoo 4 Politics to talk more about the issues facing his district and how he plans to solve them when he is, hopefully, elected District Attorney. Mike himself has been on both sides of the political divideāa divide host Michael Desrosiers believes continues to be further drawn by Republicans who insist on maintaining traditions and laws which tend to favor white men. After many years as a registered Republican, Mike Mancuso is running for office as a Democrat. He explains what inspired this change, including the democratic policies that he felt would be most effective in solving the districtās most pressing issues.Ā Ā
As is the case in most of America, gun violence and drug use are becoming shockingly commonplace in Monroe County. Yet, as Michael Desrosiers points out, Republicans took a hard ālock them upā stance when drug use was relegated to the Black community. Only when drugs began affecting white communities did the conversation begin to revolve around treatment. Our host asks the First Assistant DA what changes he would like to see made to the criminal justice system and his thoughts on gun crime and gun control. Mike Mancuso describes Monroe Countyās crisis involving juvenile criminals including the lack of facilities to keep the most dangerous among them away from the public.Ā
By joining todayās conversation, you are likely to recognize at least one issue that you are facing in your own community. As the profile of both Republicans and Democrats continues to change and evolve with the times, so must policies in order to be effective.Ā
Quotes:
āI always look at the individual issues and character and merit of the candidate. That's how I run.ā (9:55 | Mike Mancuso)Ā
āWhen I became full time, as first assistant DA in 2016,Ā I started seeing things that were troubling about the repetitive nature of certain types of crimes and issues. I was advocating for positions that I felt were very democratic and spirit that were very proactive.ā (11:27 | Mike Mancuso)
āIt seems like the Republican platform on criminal justice was law and order. And to me, that could be interpreted as maintaining the status quo, no type of change. If there's a drug addiction, or someone's caught with drugs, you put them in jail, and then solve it. Where the Democratic principlesānot saying they're not for law and orderābut theyāre for justice, for fairness.ā (18:18 | Michael Desrosiers )
āRight now, Monroe County has a crisis, in that we do not have ready access to secure detention facilities for the handfulāless than six or so a yearāof juvenile offenders. And that's also a problem in our region as a whole. There's a total lack of juvenile detention centers and so we've had very troubling cases where dangerous kids were let out.ā (42:19 | Mike Mancuso)
āI understand people clinging to traditions, I understand values like hard work and individual accountability. And I think all of that is compatible with effective reforms that are based on the data. I mean, we can't just be running the country based on opinion polls, but where those opinions are based, in fact, and, and have data behind them, they should be embraced and they should be utilized to make our country a better place.ā (50:04 | Mike Mancuso)
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āThe interplay between drug addiction, mental health and domestic violenceāthose three big issues contribute a lot to repeat offenses, recidivism, that revolving door analogy,ā explains Mike Mancuso, who is currently running for District Attorney of Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Having worked as a first assistant district attorney since 2004, Mike has worked on countless such cases, has seen the way they overlap with each other and understands how best to approach these problems.Ā
This conversation illustrates the transparency and accountability that Mancuso brings to the table. He shares the challenges faced by law enforcement and the steps being taken to rebuild trust with the community, including the implementation of body cameras and data-driven analysis. You'll gain a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding police actions and the importance of fair investigations.Ā
Quotes:
"The interplay between drug addiction, mental health, and domestic violence, those three big issues contribute a lot to repeat offenses, recidivism, that revolving door analogy." - Michael Mancuso (13:35)
"Studies have shown that a victim in a domestic of a non-fatal strangulation is 800 times more likely to die as a result of a homicide than anyone else just walking down the street." - Michael Mancuso (14:18)Ā
"The regaining of trust, particularly by minority members of the Monroe County community is very, very important to me. It's very, very important also to the police chiefs that I deal with on a regular basis." - Michael Mancuso (35:31)
"It's important to have accountability when a wrong has been done and the evidence overwhelmingly finds that the police were found to be guilty of their dereliction of duty." - Michael Desrosiers (35:19)
"The use of body cameras by officers is becoming standard now. For all our local police departments and that's a good step forward." - Michael Mancuso (35:55)
Links
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www.mancusoforda.com
Ā
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āWeāve got to protect the community but in a way that builds trust within the community,ā says Don Leeth who is running for District Attorney in Monroe County, PA this Fall, beginning with the Democratic primary election which takes place on May 16. In December of 2020, Monroe County was the scene of a fatal altercation between Pennsylvania state troopers and a young man named Christian Hall. Don and Michael discuss the case and the issues it raises about the need for transparency and external investigations in cases involving police. The incident was the impetus for Donās decision to run for DA and highlights the erosion of trust between the police department and the communityāparticularly communities of colorāand a mentality of āthem versus us.ā This trust must be rebuilt by addressing issues of substance abuse, juvenile reform and mental health among others. In addition to diversifying the police force, it is crucial, Don argues, to match the right professionalsāsuch as social workers as substance abuse counselorsāto the right tasks, as police are not trained for many of the challenges they are put on the front lines to face.
Racial inequality is a systemic issueānot just an issue of a few bad apples, Don says. Part of making justice more equal is eliminating sanctions put in place which disproportionately affect Black and Latino communities. This includes veering away from punishing low-level drug abuse and incentivizing drug treatment programs, and reforming bail practices. Don describes the difference in the conversations he has with his own son about how to interact with the police, and the conversations his sister has with her own sons who are of mixed race. Michael explains why he keeps a āFergusonā camera in his car in the event he is pulled over by police.Ā
The issues facing Monroe County are issues facing counties and communities across the nation. Todayās discussion expands upon the one which took place in Episode 41 of Cuckoo 4 Politics titled āWhy?ā which touched upon issues regarding gun control in America and its connection to race relations.Ā
Ā
āBusiness as usual is the continued policies in regards to an adversarial process, in regard to our criminal justice system, where you're willing to do whatever it takes in regards to getting another notch in the belt in regards to winning a case. We have to move away from just the idea of being tough on crime and really take a look at it in regards to the societal effect.ā (20:07-20:31 | Don)
āWhen I get pulled over by a police officer, I make sure I let them know that they're on camera, just so they know. Itās to protect them and protect me as well. And it's unfortunate I, as a Black motorist,Ā have to do thatā¦So that's the extra precaution that I have to take because unfortunately, statistics are not on my side, and I have to do these things. So Driving While Black is a real thing.ā (26:57-27:35 | Michael)
āI don't remember who said it, but our system is based on power, not justice.ā (47:01-47:06 | Don)
Links
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āThere seems to be no safe place in America,ā says Michael, noting that even in places that were once considered places of solace, people have to worry about being shot. Sam Jean joins another episode of Raw & Uncut to talk about gun control in America and its intersection with issues of race. The episode was recorded in the wake of Tyre Nichols dying at the hands of five Memphis police officers. They note the hypocrisy of allowing anyone to acquire a gun while requiring training and permits for far less consequential endeavors such as driving a car. Similarly, when it comes to police brutality, offending officers are moved to other departments while any other profession would bar its practitioner for life. Sam explains the sympathy he both has and doesnāt have for police officers based on the work they do, the power that they possess and the responsibility that comes with it. Asking for accountability is not the same as being anti-police.Ā
There is a disparity between the way we view white people who own gunsāand openly carry themāwith the way we view Black people, particularly Black men, who do the same. Similarly, as Sam points out, white police officers convicted of police brutality have their officer portraits shown on TV while Black officers have their resulting mug shots shown. Sam and Michael discuss a movement gaining attention in Memphis that would have two different judiciary processes for each race. Racist conservatives blame Black criminality on single-parent households, a term often interchangeably and incorrectly confused with having an absentee parent, Sam notes, as a deflection from the effects of external racist forces.Ā
Michael and Sam question why more money and attention arenāt being focused on de-escalating crime. Michael compares the huge disparity between incidents of gun crime in the U.S. to those of the rest of the world.Ā
āI've already given up the idea that you're going to restrict the ability of people to own weapons in this country. I've already given that up because it is part of our culture And we don't want to let that part of our culture go.ā (8:22-8:36 | Sam)
āWe won't let a 14-year-old-vote. We will not let a 14-year-old drinkā¦But we're going to trust a 14-year-old with an AR-15. To just walk around on public land.What could go wrong there?ā (13:16-13:58 | Sam)Ā
āIf you're a police officer, and you were involved in this sort of thing, and you get fired and you don't go to jail, you shouldn't be able to go somewhere else and be a cop. Period. If I'm a lawyer and I lose my law license, I get disbarred for a reason. I can't just show up in some other state and try to join the bar.ā (44:09-44:28 | Sam)
āIn some consulate offices, when they have travel warnings for the United States, they sometimes put, āBe careful because of the rampant school shootings, at a clubā¦I don't recall ever looking up a country's travel site and seeing a warning like thatā¦And I thought that was interesting.ā (48:36-49:18 | Michael)Ā
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The podcast currently has 51 episodes available.