 Mr. Power, I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough and our special guest today is Barbara Mitchell, Deborah Butler and Patricia Blessman. Welcome, it's good to see you. Good to be here. Aloha. Aloha. You know, ladies, before we get started, I want to know how my girlfriends are doing with so much going on in 2020 with the COVID-19 crazy politics. How are you ladies doing physically, spiritually and mentally? How are you doing? We can start with you, Patricia. You know, Sharon, I'm so glad that you asked that. I think nowadays we really have to go a little deeper with that question. How are you? Because usually we give that sort of bland, oh, I'm okay. And actually, people may not be okay or may be dealing with a whole lot of stuff. So at this point in this juncture, this particular time, it's important that we really dig deep and ask the more scintillating or dig up just a little bit deeper. 2020 has been a rough year, you know, and not only just because in particular my family, we now only had to deal with the pandemic. We lost our oldest son on Mother's Day of all things. My father, my husband's stepfather passed away on August 25th. So, you know, so when you, when you start thinking about, you know, and I know other people who have gone through similar things, but, you know, the ability to be able to mourn and honor our lost, lost ones or the ones who have transitioned and going on has been severely disrupted by this pandemic and that's going to have an impact. But I'm doing pretty good. I figured out a way to stay sane, girl. My radical self-help plan in a minute. Barbara. I am, I am doing good and I make my stuff remember the good things. And even with this election, sometimes when I'm going there, I think of how blessed we are, that biting hair is actually one. And that gives me a lot of hope, even though there's, you know, 73 million Americans who did what they did. I'm just grateful for the 80 million that know the difference between light and darkness and dictatorship and a democracy. Wow. How about you, Dr. D? Well, I protect myself by being a gentle warrior. Any time I feel run down or if I feel stressed, like stress starting to affect me physically, I just pull it back and I assess the situation. And I ask myself questions like, are you putting yourself first? Because I'm always putting everybody else first. Are you building strength avoiding pain? I asked myself these questions. And I asked what's one of the one things that I can do to take better care of myself. Because you have to take good care of yourself before you can save the world, you must save yourself first. So what I do is when I get up early in the morning, I protect my morning by writing, praying, meditating, exercising, all that come before the news, all that come before Facebook, and all the other social media and email or anything that I'm going to do today, I'm going to do a real starting today with love and intention. And it may be irresponsible to completely check out, but, but everything will be okay is what I tell myself. Nothing is going to happen to you today that you and God together cannot handle. So I just take a few hours in the mornings to tune out before I tune in. And that makes me a gentle warrior. And that's that idea, you know, I'm going to remember that although I start off with a devotion every morning that is needed. I stay battle ready. Today, ladies, 289,881 deaths from Coronavirus in the United States. You have created a simplified guide to keep you and loved ones safe, protected and prepared. Tell us about navigating a new world. Well, you know, I was fortunate back in March to have met Dr. Lane rolling, who is an infectious disease specialist, a virologist, international reputation surgeon trained military trained in chemical biological warfare. And I've actually been working with him around understanding infectious disease understanding its impact on people. There are very few people that really have an understanding of also how pandemics and endemics impact people psychologically. So this is just as much a psychological crisis as it is a medical one. We decided to team up and write a book, and that will basically help people kind of wrap their head around what is what is coming, what is here, and what our future looks like in terms of being able to live with COVID embedded as a as a pathogen that's going to be a part of this biome. So, and we want to make it simple, we will, and all the talks and discussions that we've had, we realized that we would never get through all the information that's that we need to cover in this book. So, you know, you know, on a on a television show so we've covered talks like various avenues we want to make the science accessible accessible to the average person. We covered things in our book like how any viruses spread, you know, personal protect preparedness, how to prep your home, a radical self care plan, mental health, and then finally seeking care should you become infected. Now, you know, we cover those topics. It's a, it's so easy to read guide it's short. It's jam packed with information. The Spanish edition, Navigundo part new, but the way vo mundo comes out this coming Monday. So we're excited really excited about that. But we wanted the whole purpose of this book was to be able to give the common everyday person an opportunity to really put their head around all the things that they need to do in order to be able to successfully live, not just live and survive but thrive in this new environment. What can I say, it sounds like a must read to me that's what it sounds like. Yeah, absolutely. I did get. I did get I did get a copy of your book picture and you are right it is a lot to wrap your mind around, but it is very helpful, because it you know there's just things that you might not think of that would be a value and they are so I recommend the book. Thank you. Thank you there's a testimonial here. But you know there was so many. We talked with people, you know, in our in the talk shows that we've done the radio shows that we've done, we realized that people had a lot of questions about a lot of different areas of care and any one of those topics could be a full show in and of itself, but I thought what we want to give people a sort of an overview. Again, so that they could. Okay, I can get my head around this. I know what to do. I have a sense of what what I need to do in order to be able to maintain myself and thrive. While we go through this process because we know the next two years is going to be, or we've like six months into what is going to be a heavy duty two year process and it may be even longer, but we know this first two years are going to be going to be challenging. Okay, well, you know, daily reported us cold dead death top 3000 for first time for any of FDA vaccine operation. What are your thoughts about this Dr. D. The book is definitely needed. Good read. People need to realize that COVID-19 doesn't take the holidays off right doesn't take Thanksgiving Christmas and New Year's and all the holidays off. And the best way to show you love someone is to keep them safe. The easiest to let down our guard with good friends or family members who don't live with us because we know them and we trust them. But through no fault of theirs they may have come in contact with someone who's who's COVID-19 positive. And if they have to travel to come to your house. There may be too many possible infection points to count. So, looking and feeling fine or no measures of how infectious someone may be, you can't look at somebody and tell if they have it or not. And the CDC says that that that up to 60% of COVID is transmission comes from people who are symptomatic or pre symptomatic. Think how bad you will feel I know how bad I will feel if one of your vulnerable family members got sick because of you. It's a horrible because I love my family. And the best way to show you love someone is to keep them safe and protect. All right. And be prepared. I love it with Barbara you you have a copy of navigating a new world. What else was your takeaway. I have to think about it for a minute or two. So, keep going. Well, keep going. No problem. Well, you know, Dr. Posse, what's people to know that one of the lead scientists who developed the COVID-19 vaccine is a black woman, Dr. Kizzy Corbett, which is just, you know, the vaccine is just something that everyone is waiting for. So I want to ask you, ladies, what do you think about the vaccine? Are you willing to take the vaccine, Barbara? I would not be one of the first ones to take the vaccine, but I am I in the past, I've not been a vaccine person and I told someone that when I was a kid up until about 12, I think I had everything other than the sun. I wondered if my body developed an immunity because I've not, I've never taken even the flu vaccine and I don't get, you know, I'm hitting on wood, and I don't get the flu, I don't get cold. So I probably, I probably would take this one after a while, though, just because this is something new and something very different from anything else, I would, I would take it after. After it's kind of been tested and they know the side effects, I would take it. Yeah, well, you know, Patricia, you were, you emailed me and said there are quiz questions you should ask about the vaccine. Could you go over a few of those with us? I know which one you need to find out if it should be Pfizer or should it be Johnson and Johnson? Well, first of all, we want to start with the fact that, you know, when they talk about emergency authorization, basically what that means is that they haven't really finished vetting the vaccines. And so they're what they're saying is that they want to release it early, because they think that it might work and to save lives. But it's not really fully vetted. So the first people that are taking this vaccine are really part of a field test to see how effective it really is. There are three vaccines that are out there right now, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson IV and AstraZeneca. I think what's going to be important is that you know which one, if you're going to take one now, you need to know which one it is. Each one, they're not all the same. Pfizer and Moderna have not really been, they're not one of the biotech giants. Johnson and Johnson is. AstraZeneca did not have as high of an efficacy rating. So you should know something about the reputation of each company. You should also be very aware of your own health profile. Do you have, and you need to ask of each of these, whichever company you're going with, do they have data supporting that their vaccine is effective and safe for you. For example, if you have lupus or you have some other kind of immuno compromised chronic disease, will that, you know, will that vaccine make it worse? Will it be effective for you? Did they have people who had lupus in their, you know, in their vaccine trials and how did they do in their vaccine trials? Okay. Well, you know, that's good information. You know, let's just, I noticed, Barbara, you wanted to chime in and I want everyone to see Dr. Kizzy Corbett's picture so we can know who she is, and they'll bring that up. But you wanted to chime in very quickly on the vaccine before we move forward. Yes, I did. I just wanted to agree in that each person really needs to know their body. And I think if one has always taken vaccines, they've always taken the flu vaccines, they should continue to do that. And after they take the vaccine, simple remedies that you have done in the past, you know, wear your mask. I'm a user of VIX, mouthwash, those things, anything that can't do any harm. Right. I think you have to continue to practice. And they've even said that exercising, walking. But of course, they did say, you know, you should keep your mask on when you're outside now. I saw something that said that. But people thought that if they were out in the air, they could walk and they didn't need it. But I did read something today that said you should have it on at all times. It's not going to hurt you. So why not do that? And that's where I am is know your body. You know, the first time we didn't think you'd have a have a sniffle. I'm a believer and I'm probably selling this but in this I mean simple things that you've done in the past, continue to do those, even when you take the vaccine. Right. And I'm totally agreement with that Barbara because I think that sometimes we, we wait for appeal or something that's going to fix the problem, as opposed to really just taking care of our health and remembering to do the things to access and I wake up every morning at six o'clock and I have and I gather with other friends and we walk every day with three hours, three miles, but we, you know, but that is a part of our health routine so that, you know, we have the vitamins that we make that I make sure that everybody takes the supplements, particularly especially vitamin D, but and also to make sure that we get exercise and sunshine every day and as well. And the other piece is making sure that we socially connect with friends and family every day on some level whether it's by zoom with my friends I get to see them in person every day, but taking care of doing those things. The, with the paradox about vaccines is that you know they work better on healthier people. So. Let's move on. Before you move on, I would like to try and I would like to say something about back. I'm not a vaccine person. Some vaccines are already breaking records and getting FDA approval will be an unprecedented achievement. But before you go back to your way of being because of the vaccine. The health experts all they say they warned that a vaccine isn't the end all and be all solution to combating the virus and that wearing masks may be in style for a whole lot longer than what we expect. So I'm not a vaccine person I even take doctors or prescription drug, but I'm herbalist, but I would say, as know your body. Okay, with your body. I love that. Well, you know, Georgia's on my mind. We need to win the Senate. The Georgia runoffs will decide who controls the Senate. What should we know, Barbara, or Dr. G Barbara what should we know about this you're in Atlanta right now in Democrat, John Ossoff and, and Reverend war not a running at this particular time. One of the things that that I do know is that many of us who voted early before are waiting to do that again, and that starts on the 14. And many of us also have mail in ballots just in case. But the, in the prior election, the voters were just, we were all just kind of quiet and it was just like we're going to go to the polls. And I believe that is what is going on now in the effort from the volunteers and money is coming in from all around the country. And I'm going to say this, but I do believe that there are some things that the Republicans are doing that is working against them, like for example, the group that's saying, telling the Republicans not to vote. Well that's not smart, but a lot of people are thinking things just because they hear them, you know they believe them that's how we got a lot of conspiracy things. And I believe in a lot of these things. I'm praying, literally, that they are working in our favor, and I, because I'm just kind of here and, well, you know, maybe the president is working against us, the things he's saying the things he's it's confusing people and because there are people who simply believe what he says it doesn't matter whether it's a lie or truth. I think that could work for us so if they do not mess with the machines and if we get out there early. I do believe we have a very good chance. And as many of you might know the awesome for debate. Purdue did not show up. You know he didn't even bother to show up. So, the Georgians are just being quiet and getting to the polls. And taking back the Senate gives us our best chance to pass strong COVID. If we flip the Senate this January, we can make real progress on a big issues like health care climate change and and rebuilding our economy from the ground up and began to we really need to reunite our country again. And on January 5, Georgians will decide the course of the country. And if you care about these things, then we've got to get, we've got to get it, we've got to give it everything we've got. Exactly. And we have to think of simple ways that we can make it work, you know, from the local politicians it has to start there, because you cannot expect the president to do everything. And Patricia might know more about this than I do. But politically, the system is designed so that every representative represents somebody. Usually they don't bother to figure out who those people are until it's time to vote. And that's been on the books. My mom used to talk about how even if you had a legal problem, you could go to your prison captain and you could get information all of that's not existence. And some of those things need to come back. And if we don't bring that back and work with people, we may not be so lucky the next time. Fortunately, I think we have two great candidates with John Othoff and Raphael and why not. I feel like they will look out for the Georgians rather than looking out for themselves. I would not have their own interest at heart would be the interest of the people. And I think that that's the kind of leadership we need in the United States Senate right now, since the election and estimated 23,000 Georgians have turned 18, and are now eligible to vote for the first vote. But in 2020 election was like about 2.5 million registered voters in Georgia, and they all stayed at home, and they didn't vote in 2016 nearly 40% of registered voters stayed home and they didn't vote. With the polls statistically being tied as it is the Senate control will come down to who reaches and who turns out more voters. The margins could be even slimmer than 13,000 against Georgia to Biden. So, Democrats right now, we have to do everything we can do the do the same thing that the GOP, as they're going on all in, we have to do that. No chance of winning. Yeah, well, it's about, you know, this. One other thing. This segment is about that. So, we have 40 is. Go ahead, Robert. I was just going to say in terms of Georgia that Miss Adams made it possible for anyone who turns 18 before January election date, they can vote, and that's a lot that was a big issue. In Georgia schools, everybody, that's a lot of people. So those are the kinds of things I think that falls into really making America smart again. Absolutely. Before we move forward, Patricia, did you want to add, you know, a minute or two or 30 seconds or so. I think it's important that we now only get the executive branch, but also get the legislative branch of government under the control of people who really care about the people that they serve. I think as Americans, we need to have a paradigm shift in terms of the way we think about elective representatives. And I think part of it has to start with feeling like we are worthy of having representatives who love us. And when we get to that point, then we will be able to start electing a different kind of person to go to the state house and to the federal houses to represent us. You have to decide that you want somebody that who sees themselves as a public servant, and as a servant leader, and as a person who loves the person that they serve. There are two other kind of people in our office for too long, and we have reaped what that has meant, and we're reaping it now in terms of the current administration that's in. So I'm glad that that tide is shifting. As Barbara said, I'm glad there were enough people who saw lightness versus dark. And now we need to see love versus indifference. We need to pick representatives who love us. First and foremost, first and foremost, absolutely. We have 40 days until inauguration day in 2021, and black women to serve on Biden's all women communications team. I am just talk about make America smart again let's talk about these women ladies who are Simone Sanders and green. The president elect. Biden is put is he has in his cabinet, people who look like us in the White House like you say, people look like that. What is your take on that. I want to start with you again, Barbara, or the black women to serve on Biden's all women communication team. Well, I think that, you know, he first of all acknowledge that it was the black population that really put him there, and he is showing his appreciation for that. And just on another sidebar, I think that the student loans should definitely be paid off because there was 19 million young people registered to vote, and that also have to pull him over, and we really need them to just kind of clean up a lot of the mess on on so I think that would, that would really endear them to to him and I'm just real pleased because I think women, honestly I have to say it women are better administrators women are better at getting things done, because we have to multitask that's that's what we do. And I think that within itself is making America smart again. Right back, Deborah, you know, I just want to ask a question to you ladies and we can come back to that, you know, we were talking about, you know, what's going on now with the present people in the White House. Why are we as a country willing to tolerate all the death and destruction while we sit and watch. It's just sad. Well, you know, I think initially when this when COVID first broke out the death and destruction. You know, they really painted it as, and it was true that a lot of African Americans people of color, Native Americans were the primary victims of this. And I think that there was a, there's a hole in the soul of America, where they were kind of comfortable with that, that they were kind of okay. I'm, you know, it's, it's, I'm just saying, okay, when you know the Native Americans asked for federal funds to help with COVID. This was back in April, I believe April and May, instead of sending them funds or help or healthcare or doctors or medicines. They sent them body bags. I was a home. So, I mean, so if you have a country that's kind of okay with that, I mean, not knowing and they weren't attending to the fact that eventually, you know, the most vulnerable are the first to go but after that, you know, COVID doesn't race you are how much money you make. You know, and it was eventually going to hit everyone. Now I think that they're, you know, there's that they're seeing that now. But I think that they got way too comfortable with it just being, oh, it's just happening to people of color. We're okay. You know, we don't want to mass we don't want, you know, whatever. Yeah, yeah, well, you know, ladies, we're going to have to continue this conversation. Yeah, we have to continue this again and do episode four. This has been wonderful. Thank you, Queen. Thank you so much. I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. Thank you for sharing your time with us. Please wear your face mask and social distance. Happy Kwanzaa at Merry Christmas. Take care of yourself and each other alone.