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President Biden has made important, and sometimes sweeping, pledges to American workers and, according to historian Nelson Lichtenstein, has strongly backed labor unions, and union organizing, more vocally than any other president in American history.

For someone often viewed as a moderate, Biden’s positions on unions and workers, the professor notes, are far to the left.

“One of Biden’s most radical things he says is, ‘Look, we want a society where companies compete for workers,’” Lichtenstein told me. “That’s actually quite radical. It’s sort of full-employment plus. He’s said that more than once. He means it.”

I spoke at length for a Labor Day special on my SiriusXM program with Lichtenstein, Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy.

The author of 16 books on the labor movement, Lichtenstein talked about the history Biden is making in many areas affecting workers, including in his appointments to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice — “young, liberal-left lawyers” who are “taking anti-trust seriously.” The appointments, Lichtenstein says, “speak as loud as his words,” as he has brought people into government who view Big Tech as having “too much power.”

“Biden is re-orienting anti-trust, and making it a much broader concept,” Lichtenstein notes. “And that’s remarkable.”

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The professor discussed all the ways that change is happening, with the promise of more change. Lichtenstein is a brilliant historian and a vibrant, passionate educator. We had an energetic conversation about Biden, workers, unions, corporations, infrastructure, the Democrats and the future.

You’ll learn a lot and also enjoy the conversation — I certainly did on both counts.

Let me know your thoughts.

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Continuing in my new policy on my SiriusXM show, in which unvaccinated people may call in to argue their case if they first pledge not to be hospitalized if they get a bad case of Covid, I took a call from Jeff in Mississippi.

As I explained in a previous post:

I have a new policy for anti-vaxxers. It arose after many other listeners called the program in recent days with heartbreaking stories about friends or relatives who had non-Covid emergencies in places like Florida, Texas, Georgia and Mississippi, where ICU beds are over capacity, as hospitals are swamped with Covid patients.

Jeff immediately said he will not go to the hospital — because, he said, most people with Covid who go to the hospital and go on ventilators die. At first I couldn’t believe he was making this claim — that it is ventilators that cause death rather than Covid — but he persisted.

We had to strike up the “Twilight Zone” theme.

This was just astounding, and shows how deep in the cult these people are.

I explained how it is Covid that is putting people on ventilators, and that it’s your last chance, as your lungs are giving out, and the ventilator is actually keeping you alive, hopefully long enough to survive. But Jeff eventually said he was “afraid” of hospitals altogether, and explicitly took the pledge again, saying that he will not go to the hospital if he gets a bad case of Covid.

He was actually the first unvaxxed person to take the pledge. Most stopped calling altogether, while others refused to take the pledge, like Roz from California.

I’m sure a lot of you will say, “Great. If he isn’t vaxxed and won’t go to the hospital, I’m fine with that.”

I have a hard time, however, believing that when it all goes bad people like him will not seek hospital care. The same thing happened with many prominent vocal anti-vaxxers, like conservative radio talk show hosts Phill Valentine and Dick Farrel, both of whom spouted anti-vax lies only to change their minds, telling people to get vaccinated as they were hospitalized and went on ventilators. Both eventually died.

But maybe Jeff is an exception. Whatever the case, it’s truly sad and demented, an example of how the right-wing has put so many lives at risk by promoting dangerous lies about Covid-19.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

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As the listeners to my SiriusXM show know, I take calls from people from many different perspectives and backgrounds.

That includes many in the MAGA crowd. I’m not sure why they listen, or why they call. But I’m happy to engage in dialogue, and always eager to challenge lies and distortions. With most I wouldn’t call it dialogue though, as they try to push conspiracies, refuse to listen or answer pertinent questions, and ultimately have to be slammed, as I won’t allow misinformation on the program.

The same has gone for anti-vaxxers, whatever their political beliefs. I think it’s important to use my platform to debunk their claims with facts and allow them to expose themselves as dangerous conspiracists.

But, I have a new policy for anti-vaxxers. It arose after many other listeners called the program in recent days with heartbreaking stories about friends or relatives who had non-Covid emergencies in places like Florida, Texas, Georgia and Mississippi, where ICU beds are over capacity, as hospitals are swamped with Covid patients.

One man talked about a friend who’s son was a in car accident in Florida, had severe injuries and was in a hallway in a hospital because there were no beds. Another man called from Georgia and weeped as he relayed the story of his friend with cerebral palsy who experienced respiratory illness and had to be rushed to a hospital. The man was turned away from three hospitals, which were filled to capacity, as his wife drove frantically to find emergency care.

So the policy I have for anti-vaxxers now is: They must pledge that if they get infected with Covid and it gets bad, they will refuse hospital care. Of course, they could lie. But amazingly, they just stopped calling, for the most part.

Except for unvaccinated Roz from California (well, and Abigail from Texas, who shouted at me angrily, saying I was “crazy” for asking her and others to take the pledge). Roz called in this week claiming she was a “medical professional” because she previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry — in “marketing” — and now is a “vet nurse.”

I honestly misheard and didn’t realize she said vet nurse, and thought she’d said she became a registered nurse. She started talking about “dogs and cats” — which obviously confused me — and how people come to her for advice on clinical trials. And then she started going down the road of saying how she, as “a medical professional,” is asked by family and friends about “long-term side side effects” of the Covid vaccines — and then claimed to know of two such side effects.

I cut her off right there and demanded that she take the pledge. It was fascinating because she just wouldn’t take it, wouldn’t address it, even while announcing she was unvaccinated. She kept trying to change the subject. I had to become very forceful, as you can hear in the clip.

But Roz adamantly refused to take the pledge. So I hung up on her. These people are selfish and cruel — though some people called in afterward to say I was “rude” to her.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

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While Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has banned mask and vaccine mandates to prevent Covid-19 infection, he’s been pushing a monoclonal antibody (MAb) treatment that was used to treat Donald Trump during his Covid battle last fall.

But DeSantis has downplayed the narrow eligibility criteria and effectiveness while embracing it as a sort of lockdown-defying, mask-screwing, MAGA-crazed solution to Covid-19, which is exploding in his state.

Who could forget Trump falsely touting MAb as a “cure” in the days after he returned to the White House, defiantly and frighteningly ripping off his mask from the Truman Balcony?

The treatment, developed by the company Regeneron with funding under Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, while experimental when it was administered to Trump, currently is the only MAb that has emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration — though, like the Covid-19 vaccines, it doesn’t have full approval yet. (Eli Lily, the only other company given authorization for an MAb product, lost authorization because its MAb isn’t effective against the delta variant.)

A lot has been written about Regeneron’s connection to one of DeSantis’ biggest political donors, a Trump loyalist of course:

As DeSantis ramps up his reelection bid, the largest donation to his political committee this cycle is a $5 million contribution from Kenneth Griffin, the CEO of hedge fund Citadel, which owns $15.9 million shares in Regeneron, according to a regulatory report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

Shares of Regeneron have gone through the roof as DeSantis has touted it and the opening of treatment centers in the past two weeks around Florida to administer it. At press conferences — where he mentions vaccines, but then points to how even vaccinated people get infected, seemingly emboldening vaccine resistance — he stands in front of a sign that reads, “Early Treatment Saves Lives.”

But who among those currently becoming infected with Covid-19 in Florida exactly qualifies for MAb, enough to walk into a Florida treatment center and have the antibody cocktail — hundreds of thousands of doses of which were purchased by the Trump administration last fall for $450 million and distributed to the states — infused into their veins for 20 minutes?

Actually, not many people at all.

A caller to my SiriusXM show, Curt from Utah, identified himself as a doctor who has been deeply involved both in the research and administration of MAb. He called in as I was discussing DeSantis’ recent actions. (You can listen to the enlightening call above; at first, we discussed an Alabama doctor who is refusing to see unvaccinated patients, but our discussion about MAb, and both the Florida and Texas governors, begins at about the one minute mark).

After explaining the reality of the treatment, the caller, Dr. Curtis Andersen, an assistant associate medical director and urgent care physician, emailed me a case study article he co-authored on administering MAb over a wide geographic area, which was published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine-Catalyst.

MAb received FDA emergency authorization, he said, after a trial showed that people who received it within seven days of infection who were “high-risk for hospitalization” saw their “hospitalization rate drop from 15% to 4%.”

As he explained, regarding the treatment in Utah, “If you’re outside of 7 days [of being infected] you’re not qualified and it’s not even offered.” (Florida and other states are offering it within a 10-day window of becoming infected, and the treatment has been federally authorized now for those at high risk of hospitalization who have been exposed but haven’t tested positive yet.)

We have infused just about 1600 people here [in Utah] and we think we’ve saved 150 hospitalizations and probably saved 25 deaths or more.

That’s great. Any treatment that can save lives in this pandemic is powerful. But the fact that you must have the treatment in the early days of infection, and that you only qualify if you are at high-risk of being hospitalized — are over 65, or have underlying conditions, for example — means the treatment is pretty limited. It is not authorized for anyone who’s already been hospitalized either.

And yet, not only does DeSantis obscure this but Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, who went on MAb after he tested positive for Covid-19 last week, hasn’t explained that in any statements, while he’s touted the treatment.

Andersen, reacting to Abbott’s announcement, said:

I’m sure now many people are going to want those — they won’t even qualify. I’ve even heard some people, when they hear a politician say that, say, “Well ,I’ll just get those antibodies anyway. I’ll just lie about my test results, and let me get those so it will protect me.” And that is not science. And we don’t provide any monoclonal antibodies like that.

He added, responding to DeSantis’ press conferences touting the treatment:

It’s embarrassing. It sounds just so uneducated and naive. It’s hard to believe that these are our leaders — their leaders, I should say.

Andersen described how states decide who gets MAb, using a score system. If people are immune-suppressed, have advanced age, are from racial groups that have a higher morbidity and mortality (such as Black, Latino or Native American), there are points that add to a score, which determines if one qualifies:

But the point is this has all been worked out scientifically with the numbers. It’s not political. But these leaders are making it political and trying to use it to their advantage…Unfortunately, I think what’s driving some of this is fundraising. It’s their way of speaking to that Trump base out there.

As Florida now leads the country among younger adults and children with Covid, DeSantis appears to be providing false hope, sending a message that vaccines aren’t necessary because you can simply get this treatment. People may think they can just walk into the treatment centers after testing positive and get an infusion when, as Andersen says, they won’t fit the criteria.

Or, perhaps DeSantis is giving the ultimate middle figure to science and to the federal government.

Perhaps, with a wink and nudge, DeSantis is actually encouraging people to lie in the way Andersen described some people say they will.

I say that because DeSantis had his state surgeon general issue a standing order last week in Florida as he announced the opening of the Regeneron treatment centers, waiving any prescription from a doctor or a referral — which was previously required, and is required in other states — as long as a registered nurse administers the MAb at the treatment center.

“This Standing Order authorizes registered nurses licensed under chapter 464, Florida Statutes…to administer covered medical countermeasures under the PREP Act to provide REGEN-COV…” reads the order.

The nurses, according the order, must “verify that the individual meets the FDA EUA criteria for administration of REGEN-COV.” But, lacking a prescription or referral from a doctor who would know or investigate a patient’s medical history, it seems pretty dubious that any nurse in a makeshift treatment center could fully verify if someone qualifies — and is likely taking the person’s word for it. In that case, the very people Dr. Curt Andersen is talking about could just lie and get the treatment.

Whether that is happening or not, by promoting MAb while downplaying vaccines and virulently attacking masks-wearing and banning mask mandates even in schools, DeSantis is allowing for the continued rapid escalation of the coronavirus pandemic led by the delta variant, in his state and across the entire country.

All of it, for his own political purposes.

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In a discussion on my SiriusXM program about the American troop drawdown in Afghanistan and the takeover by the Taliban, Preston from Colorado called in to claim “this is what liberals do”.

It was Donald Trump, however, who began this process and pulled thousands of troops out, which I pointed out. It was Trump who announced it to the world many months ago, and allowed the Taliban to organize. It was Trump who negotiated with the Taliban, sending Mike Pompeo to meet with the man who is now leading Afghanistan.

And who can forget that it was Trump who wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David?

But Preston refused to acknowledge it, saying Biden is “letting an entire civilization collapse.”

Honestly, it was so comical that I couldn’t help but mock his cultish allegiance to Trump by saying, “your fuhrer” started this and I asked him to repeat after me.

I know — it’s not nice to mock people, but Preston was one of several Trump supporters who called and who refused to discuss facts. At a certain point you just have to let them know how ridiculous they sound.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

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It’s easy to dismiss Trump supporters as largely uneducated, and uninformed — stupid people swept up in a cult of hate that plays upon the biases rampant in American culture.

It is true that Trumpism is a cult of hate, and it’s true that it emboldens bigotry and white grievance.

But most people know some highly educated people who are supporters of Donald Trump, people who have deeply studied science and history.

And when we look at the GOP we see that only a small handful of what we’d call the educated elites of the party, the Bill Kristols and the David Frums of the world, broke away and became Never Trumpers. These people and many others in the GOP of course laid the groundwork for Trump over a period of decades, going back to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, courting bigots via dog whistles — or looking the other way as others did. Then Trump just came in and said it more blatantly.

While that was just too overt for a few of them, causing their defections, there are plenty of educated Republicans who stayed, grudgingly supporting Trump at first and then often becoming completely enthusiastic backers, giving him lots of money and fighting off any detractors.

There have been many studies on political peer pressure, and how people’s political affiliation and the candidates they support are driven by their communities — family, friends, and co-workers — and how it sometimes changes dramatically as the groups pressuring them change. So it’s not shocking that this happened, as horrifying as it is.

But what then could make otherwise intelligent people who’ve always supported medical science — some of them scientists themselves — become anti-vaxxers amid a global pandemic killing millions?

Not all of the Trumpist GOP is anti-vax of course. Trump himself got vaccinated. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has told people to get vaccinated, if not so emphatically.

But at the same time they and other Republican leaders promoted the very anti-science conspiracies about Covid and about vaccines as part of their larger attack on government institutions. It’s almost as if Trump’s having been vaccinated is not believed — or is ignored by his followers — and his overriding attacks on government send a larger message not to trust the CDC and thus the vaccines.

A fascinating and scary example arose on my SiriusXM program last week when Eric from New Jersey, a retired Naval officer who served on submarines, called in. He talked about a Facebook group of fellow former Naval officers to which he belonged. As has happened with many of us, these people found one another on Facebook years after having been in each others’ lives, and then connected regularly. At first it was great reminiscing and chatting.

But then came the 2016 election, and the battles over Trump and Hillary Clinton. Eric explained how, going way back, “we were all Reagan Republicans” (and you can listen to the call above), but these individuals weren’t very political nor talked much about politics. They were Republican, he said, in he way many in the military have tended to be Republican, almost as a cultural identification rather than a political one.

But “when this whole Trump thing started” in 2016 the arguments in the group became tense. He agreed that some were grudgingly behind Trump but then became full on. You can understand how this happens because, while “Reagan Republican” might seem very different, it’s actually just a less bombastic version of a Trump Republican. Surely the road from Reagan supporter to Trump supporter is a lot shorter than the road from Reagan supporter to Hillary Clinton supporter.

Eric didn’t support Trump and was caught in the middle of the battles in the group but stayed in it during Trump’s four years. It was only after the pandemic, when members started to promote anti-vaccine propaganda, that he decided he had to finally leave the group. He had to actually counter conspiracies, and explain that no, “5G, has nothing to do with [the vaccines,] and that vaccine technology has been around for hundreds of years.”

Some of these people were nuclear engineers, educated scientists with multiple degrees. But he said they’d respond with personal attacks, calling him a “village idiot” or saying “I’ve been sick of you since Hillary.” And they’d further push the distortions and lies.

That is a frightening progression, which both explains some of what we’re seeing now, and underscores the dangers we face. It shows that political peer pressure works — not just with regard to party affiliation and candidates, as extreme as they might be, but with regard to even anti-science, crazy propaganda.

These are people for whom it was more comfortable, as long-time Republicans, to stay with Trump than move away. And then, it was more comfortable to hitch on to anti-vaccine dogma that had taken over the Republican Party — and presumably taken over their friends, families and co-workers — even if it went against everything they’d been taught.

I’m just speculating, but perhaps some of these people still know better and secretly got a vaccine — or even more quietly did so, like Trump, saying it while still promoting skepticism of government.

But others probably have so bought into it that they haven’t been vaccinated and have encouraged the same among people they know.

Eric said what he experienced, what he saw, was something like “brainwashing and cultism.”

It made me realize that, even if Trump made a pro-vaccine video urging people to get vaccinated — as many have urged him to do — it would be far too little, too late. He’d need to completely overhaul his message that government — and government science — is evil and go on a speaking tour or do ad after ad, interview after interview. And even then, these people, having so re-oriented their thinking, would have to buy it, making a complete turnaround. Even when he does briefly mention the vaccine at his rallies — and tries to take credit for them — the crowd is pretty silent.

At least with regard to this particular kind of anti-vaxxer, the Trumpian resisters — and Republican men are the largest group resisting vaccines — there really is no turning them around. Vaccine mandates by local governments, employers, schools and businesses such as restaurants, move theaters and indoor sporting arenas are the only answer.

Listen in to Eric’s call, and let me know your thoughts.

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Last week on my SiriusXM show I discussed how the GOP governor of Missouri pardoned Mike and Pat McCloskey, the infamous St. Louis couple who eventually got a deal and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges after they brandished weapons outside their home — including an AR 15 rifle— as peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters marched by, heading to the mayor’s home.

Greg from Tennessee claimed I made assertions that were “incorrect,” saying they didn’t commit a crime because “American citizen’s who can legally own firearms — or not, for that matter — are allowed by law to protect themselves if they feel that they are under immediate threat.”

“Why did they then plead guilty to a crime?” I asked.

“That’s a fair point,” Greg said, and the meandered into claiming that “the way our legal system is” it was “definitely going to be easier” and “less costly” to do “what they did,” as if this poor, downtrodden couple didn’t have the means or the support.

This is, of course, ludicrous because the McCloskeys are not only well-off attorneys; they became right-wing celebrities, speaking at the Republican National Convention, being feted by Donald Trump and had more than enough benefactors to pay for their defense. And the special prosecutor determined there was no threat from the protesters, who were peaceful and none carried a weapon.

No, the truth is the McCloskeys broke serious laws, clearly and undeniable. And they pleaded guilty because they cut a deal, having been charged with enough crimes — which they committed — that could have had them spending time in jail.

They’d been indicted by a grand jury on felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering. They walked off paying only fines. And that’s white privilege. (They agreed to give up their weapons — and I was mistaken with the caller, believing they were allowed to keep their weapons. But at any rate, they are now suing to get their weapons back since they’ve been pardoned.)

Greg then tried to pose questions to me — rather than answer my simple questions about both Governor Mike Parson and Donald Trump pardoning people who commit serious crimes — and still tried to argue they committed no crime.

It’s a classic example of how the Trump cult believes they are above the law and only Republicans leaders should decide what is a crime — and pardon people for them.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

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Okay, this one would solely be some Friday entertainment (and yeah, it is) if Mike from Texas, a caller to my show, wasn’t promoting detrimental actions.

The discussion I was having with listeners on my SiriusXM program when he called in focused on a former homeland security official writing that it’s time we require Covid-19 vaccines for domestic air travel. I thought it was a brilliant, and vital idea. Juliette Kayyem noted that flying is not a right, the federal government regulates air travel, and, for security reasons, already makes you do all sorts of things — from taking off your shoes to walking through metal detectors and other machines — and that mandating vaccines would accomplish a few important things:

1) Airline personal and flight attendants would be less often put in the terrible position of being public health monitors, berated or even attacked by unruly mask-defying customers.

2) Unvaccinated people would not be able to fly from — or to — hot spots like Florida, and, even if we’re seeing breakthrough transmission among the vaccinated, it’s rare and the unvaccinated are far more likely to transmit the virus. (Sure, they could drive, but flying supercharges transmission — and has throughout the pandemic.)

3) Many people would finally get vaccinated because, while their own health and that of others isn’t enough to make them get vaccinated, sacrificing a Disney vacation might be.

Mike called in claiming I once called him a “racist” when he called a year ago, seeming to take it as a badge of honor — and obviously it means he’s a Trumper, and I’m sure I did — worried about government intrusions. At first, he told our producer before he got on that he was worried that if they mandate vaccines for air travel, they’ll soon stop you from buying “groceries.”

But when he got on the air he stated that the next thing that happens is the government could stop you from driving because it “regulates gasoline.” Not sure where he was going with that, but I stopped him and asked if he was wearing a seat belt — something mandated by government, with penalties if you break the law. He defiantly then said he wasn’t, and that he was driving 75 miles an hour.

Well, it got somewhat comical from there and you should take a listen to the short call, as the snowflake hung up. Obviously there will always be law breakers like Mike, but seat belts laws have saved millions of lives. And so will vaccine mandates.

Listen in, and let me know your thoughts, and enjoy the weekend!

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Earlier in the week, Atlantic writer Ann Applebaum joined me again on my SiriusXM program.

Applebaum, currently living in Poland, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian who has studied both communism and far-right authoritarian movements. Her most recent book is Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.

In Washington recently, she interviewed Mike Lindell over lunch, the CEO of MyPillow, ardent supporter of Donald Trump, and avid conspiracy promoter. He’s laughed at by many of us, seen as a buffoon, but Applebaum strongly warns against dismissing him.

Lindell is currently being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for promoting the part of the Big Lie that claimed voting machines switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

But he’s so deluded, and so rich, that he doesn’t care how much money he may lose, and is still promoting further conspiracies and is followed by millions of Trump supporters.

Applebaum believes that with his resources and access to the vast networks of right-wing media, and with a grip on the Trump base, he and his newest conspiracy, which involves China stealing the election, are a danger to democracy. She compares him to other wealthy individuals of the past who had profound influence on authoritarian leaders:

Think of Olof Aschberg, the Swedish banker who helped finance the Bolshevik revolution, allegedly melting down the bars of gold that Lenin’s comrades stole in train robberies and reselling them, unmarked, on European exchanges. Or Henry Ford, whose infamous anti-Semitic tract, The International Jew, was widely read in Nazi Germany, including by Hitler himself. Plenty of successful, wealthy people think that their knowledge of production technology or private equity gives them clairvoyant insight into politics.

We talked about Lindell’s background, and the current conspiracy he’s promoting, and lots more. Listen in and let me know your thoughts.

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As we discussed the House select committee investigation in the January 6th domestic terror attack on the Capitol on my SiriusXM show, VJ from New Jersey called in complaining.

Using the tired, and completely diversionary tactic of conservatives, he wanted to know where the “outrage” was over claimed violence at Black Lives Matter protests and “people” who were “killed.” And then when I asked if police officers were killed, he said yes, but couldn’t name any. There were in fact no police officers killed in connection with protests; there was one killed in connection with criminal looters after a peaceful protest, but there was no evidence these were protestors who killed him.

Beyond that, I then went through all the debunking we have to go through when these people make this idiotic, racist comparison, all the conspiracies and all the lies told about violence at the protests, the vast majority of which were peaceful and some of which saw right-wing interlopers stirring violence.

But more so, no matter what happened, any acts of violence were random acts of violence that should be condemned, with law breakers arrested, and investigated by local law enforcement — not be the start of an investigation by the House of Representatives, or be part of the one looking into the insurrection, because they had nothing to do with overthrowing the government. Listening to the coordinated way these on January 6th operated, and claimed over and over that they came under orders from Trump to stop the certification of an election, makes clear what it was about.

How anyone equates local violence, looting, and property damage by random people with a coordinated attack by thousands of people across the country in an armed terrorist attack and an attempt to overthrow the government is ludicrous. That this attack was incited by the president of the United States even more so warrants an investigation by Congress.

VJ was forced to agree with me several times, protested that he “reads” on his own when I accused him of just pushing right-wing talking points from Fox News pundits and still couldn’t seem to grasp the larger point.

Yes, a few f-bombs were thrown — by me — because I just lose patience with these people sometimes. Some on Twitter said I remained “calm” — others said I lost my cool.

Let me know your thoughts!

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