 This is the Humanist Report with Mike Figueredo. The Humanist Report podcast is funded by viewers like you through Patreon and Paypal. To support the show, visit patreon.com forward slash humanistreport or become a member at humanistreport.com. Now, enjoy the show. Welcome to the Humanist Report podcast. My name is Mike Figueredo and this is episode 303 of the program. Today is Friday, August 30th and before we get started, I'm going to take some time to thank the people who make the show possible. All of our newest Patreon, Paypal and YouTube members, all of which either signed up for the very first time to support us this week or they were already supporting us but they increased the monthly pledge that they were already giving us. That includes Cheryl Thorne, Coralie LaSalle, Jeremy McNutt, Mr. Bassa and Omni. So thank you so much to these kind individuals. If you'd also like to support the show, you can do so by going to humanistreport.com slash support. This week, we've got a great episode for you. We'll discuss the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and the subsequent fear mongering over the refugee crisis among far-right media figures. Also the far-right is now realizing that they may have more in common with the Taliban than they previously thought. We'll talk about that and also we'll discuss corporate media propping up Bush administration officials who caused this disaster in the first place but yet they're being treated as if they are experts. So we will discuss why that's an issue if it wasn't already obvious. And also we'll talk about anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers. One anti-masker harassed an elderly woman on the subway and some individuals are still refusing to get vaccinated even after getting infected with COVID-19 and being hospitalized. Additionally, we'll talk about the need for vaccinations and how hospitals are reaching full capacity largely due to vaccine hesitancy. Also a landlord claims the moratorium on evictions is causing him to suffer. Also Trump's sick events are now turning on each other. Republicans are about to secure a power grab that will last a decade preventing any meaningful action on climate change from taking place. And on the subject of climate change, we'll discuss a new report that explains how climate change will threaten the lives and livelihoods of outdoor workers increasingly by mid-century. So that's what we've got on the agenda for today's episode. Since we've got so much to talk about, let's get right to it. Hopefully you will enjoy what I have in store for you. Well, this is going to be a very long but hopefully informative video. As you all know by now, Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban. Now this brings an end to a nearly 20 year long war, 20 years. We were there for almost two decades and the outcome is disastrous. It was all for nothing. And I think that this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the United States military is incapable of competently spreading democracy or building other nations. So let this serve as a reminder to you. The next time you see government officials or mainstream media beating the war drums against another country, be it Venezuela or Bolivia, remember that this is always the outcome. We do not help. We make matters worse. But before I share my opinion on the situation and some takeaways that I think are the most important here, I do want to give you a general overview of what's taking place. So here's a quick clip from Democracy Now with a very broad rundown of what's happening. Over the past 10 days, the Taliban has captured 26 out of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals. Some fell without a fight after the Taliban reached deals with local warlords. The Taliban offensive came as the United States is withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war and occupation. The Biden administration is now rushing to send an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan to help evacuate U.S. citizens and allies. The total size of the U.S. force will soon be 6,000 U.S. troops have taken control of the international airport in Kabul, while thousands of Afghan civilians are hoping to flee Taliban rule. The U.S. has canceled all commercial flights. Video went viral this morning of hundreds of Afghans running alongside and trying to grab onto a U.S. Air Force jet as it attempted to take off. At least three people died after falling to their deaths while clinging on to a U.S. plane. Another died on the tarmac. Over 60 nations, including the United States, have joined together to urge the Taliban to protect foreign nationals and Afghans who want to leave Afghanistan out of fear the Taliban will again brutally control the country like it did between 1996 and 2001 before the U.S. invasion. Now, I'm not going to play the video clips of people falling from the airplanes because that's just too much. You don't need to see that to acknowledge that this situation is really, really terrible. It's gut-wrenching to see these types of videos of people fleeing to get to the airport to run away from Taliban rule. But I do want to give you some additional details. This is from Brett Wolkins of Common Dreams who explains the stunning but predictable Taliban reconquest of Afghanistan marks the end of the nearly 20-year U.S.-led war that cost the lives of more than 200,000 Afghans displaced over 5 million more and diverted at least 2 trillion in American taxpayer funds that progressive critics said could have been better spent on programs of domestic and international social uplift and well-being. And that paragraph is important because essentially, in a nutshell, it really paints this picture that we spent all of this money, all of this time and effort, and it was all basically for nothing. The second we leave, the Taliban takes over. Now, if you're wondering what Afghanistan is going to look like under Taliban rule, well, they actually, they did control Afghanistan prior to our invasion, but if you want a more clear picture, I would say it's probably going to resemble the most conservative regions of Saudi Arabia. Not that Saudi Arabia isn't entirely a very dictatorial totalitarian theocracy, but there are some areas in Saudi Arabia such as Riyadh, for example, where women don't cover their entire face like they just cover their hair, but their faces show. But in more conservative regions, they're forced to wear burqas, they're not allowed to leave without a male companion. And I think that most of Afghanistan is going to resemble the most conservative regions of Saudi Arabia. Women's rights will not be respected, LGBTQ people will essentially be wiped out of existence if they don't go back into the closet, if they were already out, they will be likely killed. It is gut wrenching to see the situation. But in terms of what it looks like right now, CNN reporter on the ground in Kabul right now, Clarissa Ward kind of paints a picture. And you know, right now, not much has changed as of yet, but it's fairly ominous. Mainly on the street, I would say it's Taliban and it's it's hard to show you, but they're literally everywhere. They're over there. They're over there. They're over there. They're everywhere. And that's how they're able to implement force, implement security, because people are so scared of them. No one is going to fight the Taliban. Then you also have some men on the streets. You have some kids. I have seen a few women, but I will say I have seen far fewer women than I would ordinarily see walking down the streets of Kabul. And the woman that you do see walking down the streets of Kabul tend to be dressed more conservatively than they were when they were walking down the streets of Kabul yesterday. I've seen more burkas today than I had seen in a while. Obviously, I am dressed in a very different way to how I would normally dress to walk down the streets of Kabul. So there's a lot of children as well. I think they're more curious than anything else. And you know, it's important to remember as well, the Taliban does have to many people this bizarre sort of mystique, John. People are intrigued by them. Some people here genuinely see them as heroes. And so it's a very odd cocktail that you find on the streets of Kabul with so many people hiding and other people peeking out to see what comes next. And nobody really knowing what on earth to expect. Now prior to the Taliban season control, this is what Biden said when he was asked about the likelihood that something like this would transpire. Needless to say, his response did not age very well. Is the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable? No, it is not. Because you have the Afghan troops have 300,000 well equipped as well as equipped as any army in the world and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable. But the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. Now, maybe he got bad intelligence. Maybe he's just, you know, a little bit too optimistic or naive. I think that that answer right there was awful because now he looks terrible. He looks incompetent. And to a degree, I think that there is a lot of blame to be attributed to the Biden administration. I think that right there when he was asked that he should have acknowledged the reality that this could happen, but still made the case nonetheless for withdrawal because a lot of people saw this coming. I mean, veterans on the ground who served in Afghanistan knew that the second they left, this was going to happen. So Biden should never had, you know, had tried to paint this overly rosy picture. He should have just been realistic. Now, after some time of silence after the Taliban retook Kabul, he gave a different response. This is as of today. And this is what he's saying now. I'm now the fourth American president. To preside over war in Afghanistan, two Democrats and two Republicans. I will not pass this responsibly on responsibility on to a fifth president. I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference. Nor will I shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today and how we must move forward from here. I am president of the United States of America and the buck stops with me. I'm deeply saddened by the facts we now face. But I do not regret my decision to end America's warfighting in Afghanistan and maintain a laser focus on our counterterrorism mission there and other parts of the world. Now, I actually think that was a very solid response from Joe Biden. He took responsibility for what's happening as he should, because he's the president and the buck does stop with him. But additionally, he remained committed to withdrawing because here's the thing. Staying there indefinitely was never something that was feasible. We can't occupy Afghanistan until the end of time. But having said that, regardless if we withdrew in 2015, if we withdraw, you know, right now or in 2030, this was inevitable. It was always going to happen. It was always going to happen. So even though this is a really hard decision, ultimately, I do think that Biden made the right decision in withdrawing. And I'm glad that he is remain remaining firm in his his decision because the media is going to say, hey, look, this is this is horrible. All this bloodshed is on you. We shouldn't have withdrawn. But that's the wrong takeaway, ultimately. Yes, it is very sad to see what is happening. It's gut wrenching to see the people of Afghanistan flee. But what do we do? What's the alternative? And that's what we really don't get from the mainstream media. We don't hear an alternative perspective. There is no alternative. Either you stay there forever or you acknowledge the reality that the Taliban would ultimately take over Afghanistan. The best that you can do ultimately is get the people out who assisted us there. Any interpreters who are promised asylum, anyone who contracted with the United States government, make sure that they're out so that way they won't be vulnerable under the Taliban rule, who will view them as traitors. Now, currently, the Taliban is saying, you know what? We're not going to prosecute anyone who worked with the US government. But obviously, I don't necessarily think that their word is very valuable. So we have to make sure that we get people out. We'll talk about that in a second. But Barbara Lee also agrees here that withdrawing is the option, the only option, because unfortunately, there's there's just no military solution to Afghanistan. This is the inevitable outcome, unfortunately, and it's horrible. We don't have to feel numb to the pain and suffering that we're witnessing right now. But this was something that was always going to happen. It's just a matter of whether or not it's going to happen now or later on down the line. This is what Barbara Lee had to say in an interview with an MSNBC host. Congressman Lee, as you know, the war in Afghanistan is the longest war in US history. Today, from your point of view, is it safe to say America has lost that war? What I'm going to say is this, first of all, nice being with you, is that our focus and priority has got to be now the safety and security of the American citizens, our diplomats, the Afghans, our allies. So many people who supported the American operation there. And so we have to focus on the visas. We have to focus on women and children, the safety and security of everyone at this moment. And I think it's a very dire situation. This has got to be and it is an all hands on deck operation, a whole government operation. And this is an example, though, that there is no military solution. Unfortunately, in Afghanistan, we've been there 20 years. We have spent over a trillion dollars and we have trained over 300,000 of the Afghan forces. I think the president is absolutely correct. Secretary of State, Secretary Austin have laid this out and it's very difficult. It's very hard. This is a tragedy. And so we have to make sure that we focus and make a top priority, getting people to safety. And she's correct. There is no military solution, unfortunately, in Afghanistan, which is why she was very adamant about us not going in there to begin with. Because what's the goal? What are we going to do there? We're not feasibly going to construct a government that's going to last. We're not going to be able to build a democracy. It's just not going to happen. So why are we there? Well, I mean, we're there because this is profitable. Staying in Afghanistan as long as we possibly can is very profitable to the military industrial complex on top of that. You know, we were raiding Afghanistan of their mineral resources. So, you know, I think that ultimately it is correct that with Trong is the right decision. But even having said that, though, even if I agree with Biden's decision ultimately and overall, I do think that he absolutely is bungling the situation as it relates to refugees because he should have had some system in place. You know, the US military generals should have anticipated a Taliban takeover and had, you know, a plan B, a plan C in the event this happened. But it seems as if there really wasn't any plan in place as Clarissa Ward of CNN reports. The problem you have now, there's definitely no plan in place to try to evacuate these people safely. OK, the US is really barely able to keep a hold on the situation at the airport right now, let alone trying to extend some kind of corridor for people to leave through. So that is simply out of the question. The other problem you have is that there's this crush of humanity descending on the airport, vehicles clogging both lanes of traffic, scenes of people firing in the air to stop a sort of stampede. Almost people have been shot by stray bullets. It's it's absolute pandemonium at the airport. And if you don't have your visa ready, if you don't have your passport ready, because a lot of people were trying to prepare for this moment, Brianna, we saw it yesterday, long lines outside the passport office. But no one imagined that it would happen this quickly, that they would have a matter of hours to pack up their lives, get together their paperwork, book a ticket, get to the airport. I mean, it's completely unfeasible for the vast majority of Afghans and so they are now left in this desperate situation, petrified for their lives. They are being assured officially by the Taliban that there is a blanket amnesty, even for people who worked with the government, even for people who worked with security forces. But it doesn't take a genius to realize that for a lot of people, they're too scared to believe that they have huge reservations. And so they are now hunkered down, waiting for more clarity, waiting for more guidance from the US as to how their paperwork will be expedited, how they can get safely out of the country. And in this moment, there is not a huge amount of information coming through to them. So it's a desperate situation. So I mean, this speaks to the incompetence of the United States government. And right now, priority number one, which everyone should be focused on, is getting as many people out as possible. We need to accept lots and lots of refugees. Anyone who wants to apply for asylum should be allowed to do that. Because this is our fault. Any other country, any Western country that intervened in Afghanistan, they should be opening up their doors to Afghanistan refugees. And especially we have to make sure that US allies in Afghanistan get out because they are the most vulnerable. And we also have to make sure that we prioritize marginalized groups. As Dave New World points out, there are 250 female judges in Afghanistan who will be killed if we don't grant them a special visa to get them out. This should be bigger news. The last time the Taliban took control, they targeted judges because a female judge is everything that goes against Taliban philosophy. And now, because we went in there, the Taliban is stronger than ever. We trained hundreds of thousands of Afghani fighters, which now are likely going to be part of the Taliban, like it or not. And all those weapons that we gave to Afghan fighters, that's all going to go to the Taliban. So because of our intervention, the Taliban is stronger than ever. So I think we are absolutely morally obligated to get as many people out as possible. And for the individuals who don't want to come to the United States if they want to flee to a neighboring country, I think we have to give them reparations, pay money to every single individual whose lives we ruined. And it's a big population. But I mean, this is this is what happens when you intervene, you ruin lives and you have to right that wrong. You have to fix what you fucked up. You have to make sure that you offer them a home in the United States. Because we did this. So now currently, neocons and warmongers, war profiteers, you know, members of the military industrial complex, they are currently patting themselves on the back as if, you know, they were proven correct, that, you know, staying indefinitely was the better option. Certainly, we should have not pulled out because if we didn't pull out, then none of this would have been happening. But again, I want people to push back on that narrative by saying, no, no, no. It's not the neocons who are right. It's the anti-war leftists who are correct because they're the ones who from the get go said this was never a good idea to intervene. Barbara Lee, for example, who in 2001, as Kumar Roshir said, we must be careful to not embark on an open ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. We cannot repeat past mistakes. And that's correct. The bottom line is that our presence there made matters worse. Us being there is a net negative. And if we stayed in longer, that's not going to change the situation. Whenever we leave, the Taliban is going to take control. But let this serve as a reminder to us that war is never the option because we may think that we know what's best for a country. We might think that there's a humane reason for intervening, but that is never the case. A humanitarian war is never the case because understand that, you know, the United States government, our media establishment, they never focus on humanitarian issues unless it serves their war profiteering purposes. I mean, we can focus on North Korea and Saudi Arabia and all of the human rights abuses there. But intervening in those countries is never an option because, of course, Saudi Arabia is our ally and it would just be too big of a disaster if we intervened in North Korea. But we focus on these humanitarian crises where the military industrial complex sees an opportunity, an opportunity to act to try to, you know, cultivate sympathy for the suffering people of these countries. And I think it's absolutely important that we do feel sympathy for these individuals. It is natural and human to feel terrible and sad for the people of Afghanistan who are fleeing currently. But don't let war profiteers use your sympathy as a justification for more wars that only lines their pockets because the Americans who served in Afghanistan, they saw firsthand that this was never a winnable war. So this is from Jolly Good-Ginger, who says, as a veteran of the Afghanistan War and as a citizen of the United States, I feel physically sick to my stomach, watching the Taliban take over. I feel sadness for the people fleeing to avoid the terror that brings. But one thing I don't feel, I don't feel shock, not a solitary ounce of shock. We all knew we were spinning our wheels over there. It was a giant ploy by rich men to get richer, while me and other poor men and women paid the price of capitalism with our lives, our minds and our bodies. So my message to America as we watch the Taliban take Afghanistan back is this, feel shame, we deserve it. Feel angry, not at the Taliban. No, at the oligarchy that controls this country, that willingly sends off our sons and daughters to pay in blood for their capitalist dreams. Exactly. We should all feel sad and ashamed because of what's happening. Our government did this. So when you hear, you know, these neocon war mongers, go on mainstream media and try to convince you that it was a bad idea to leave and, you know, try to build up the case for more never ending wars, acknowledge that they never care about the human suffering. They never care about the death toll. They don't. They don't ever acknowledge the cost in human lives and the monetary cost that these wars have. They have one goal and one goal only. Propagate this military industrial complex. By doing never ending wars, that is the most profitable solution. And another veteran echoed that same sentiment from Jolly Good Ginger. So this is from Laura Jade, who explains, boy, howdy, am I having a lot of feelings about Afghanistan today? I deployed there twice, once in 2008 and once in 2009 to 10. It was already obvious that the Taliban would sweep through the very instant we left. And here we are today. I know how bad the Taliban is. I know what they do to women and little boys. I know what they're going to do to the interpreters and the people who cooperated with us. It's awful. It's bad, but we are leaving. And all I feel is grim relief. I am team get the fuck out of Afghanistan, which, as a friend pointed out to me today, has always been Team Taliban. It's Team Taliban or Team Stay Forever. There is no third team. So I'm sitting here reading these sad fucking tweets about the suffering in Afghanistan and the horror of the encroaching Taliban and how awful it is that this is happening. But I can't stop feeling this grim happiness like finally you fuckers. Finally, you have to see it too. No more blown up soldiers, no more Bollywood videos on phones whose owners are getting shipped, God knows where. No more hypocrisy, no more pretending it meant anything. It didn't. It didn't mean a fucking thing. And that's just that. All of this money, all of the suffering. Deaths of Afghanistan civilians and what is it led to? We're back to where we started, except the Taliban now is stronger than they were before we invaded. It's just what a disgusting situation. And really, this shouldn't make anyone. Think instinctively, well, man, it just looks like the United States government. We need to expand our presence. No, that should not be the takeaway. The takeaway should be we need to stay away from other countries. We cannot be the world's police. Even if we wanted to be the world's police, we don't know what we're doing. And when we have actors from the military industrial complex, not necessarily motivated by compassion and empathy, but instead motivated by money, this is always going to be the outcome of our wars. Now, finally, I'll leave you with this tweet from Rana Abdel Hamid, who tweets, I was nine years old when I watched my congresswoman wear a burqa in Congress to justify the invasion of Afghanistan. For the rest of my life, I knew that as a Muslim woman, my identity would be weaponized to justify American wars. Twenty years of war later, what did we accomplish? What did we accomplish? If we stood there for five years more, ten years more, another 20 years, would that change the outcome? No. So the takeaway of this video isn't just that I think that Biden made the necessary, albeit really difficult decision to withdraw knowing what would happen. But it's that we should never allow our government to do this again. You know, years are going to pass. And there's going to be a new administration that may beat the war drums for Iran. Biden, for example, is very hawkish as it relates to Venezuela. Most of the Democratic parties in lockstab with the military industrial complex when it comes to Venezuela, they also have a lot of oil wealth. But again, remember the minute that our establishment, the political establishment, government, media start speeding the war drums against another country, this is always going to be the outcome. We're always going to make matters worse. And if we don't, it's the exception. It's the exception. World War Two, for example. But overall, going to war with another country. We're not we're not needed. We're going to make matters worse because we don't care about human lives. We care about money. That's why these never ending wars happen, because it's profitable. So I'm glad that Joe Biden did the right thing and decided to withdraw. But I want people to learn the right lessons from Afghanistan and understand what's going on and why things like this are happening. Predictably, the mainstream media has been absolutely horrible when it comes to the issue of Afghanistan and the Taliban taking over Kabul because they're not necessarily trying to present you with different alternatives. They don't want to give you a really holistic picture of what's happening. They just want to present you with a narrative that withdrawing is bad. And anyone who says otherwise is bad, they're a monster because they support the Taliban suppressing women's rights and, you know, a crackdown on marginalized communities. And that's that's incredibly, incredibly disingenuous. Now, I don't want to be overly broad here. I think that individuals like Anand Giridharadas, he brought on Barbaralee and she talked about why, even though this is a difficult decision, Biden ultimately made the correct move in withdrawing from Afghanistan because this isn't a winnable war. And regardless of how long we stay, you know, this is going to always produce the same outcome. So rather than wasting money and American lives, it's time to come home and try to focus on saving as many lives as possible. You know, accepting as many refugees as we possibly can from Afghanistan since we did help to further ruin your country. But it's not even that simple. You're not just getting the wrong message. You're getting the wrong message from the worst messengers imaginable, the individuals who are the architects of the current situation. Now, I argued in my video that the main takeaway from all of this shouldn't have been that it was wrong for Biden to withdraw. The takeaway should be that anti-war leftists like Barbara Lee were correct and intervening in the first place was always a bad decision. But what does the mainstream media do? They bring on the individuals from Bush's administration who are part of the problem, who we should take the least seriously. And they prop them up as if they're experts when it comes to Afghanistan and media matters that are really good right up on this particular situation as it relates to the Sunday news shows in mainstream media. So Eric Cleeffield of Media Matters writes as the Taliban retakes control of Afghanistan following the US military pullout after 20 years of war. Mainstream media outlets are often giving voice to figures from the George W. Bush administration, the very people who got America bogged down in an unwinnable conflict in the first place. On Sunday morning's edition of ABC's This Week, George Stephanopoulos, co-anchor Jonathan Karl spoke with Representative Liz Cheney, noting that she was also a former State Department official. But while Karl asked questions about the long US commitment in the country, having yielded such little positive results and whether it could have been continued even when the American public no longer supported it, he never actually asked Cheney about her own record informed policy from that era in the Bush administration, during which her father also famously served as vice president. On Sunday night's edition of MSNBC's American Voices with Alicia Mendes, guest anchor Anand Giridharidas interviewed MSNBC anchor and former Bush White House Communications Director, Nicole Wallace. But the discussion of the war's whole timeline seemed to treat both Wallace and the entire Bush administration as if they'd been passive observers rather than active participants and decision makers. NPR's morning edition spoke Monday morning with former Bush and Trump foreign policy official John Bolton, who lambasted both former President Donald Trump for the erroneous policy of having negotiated with the Taliban and President Joe Biden for bungling Trump's error further. Washington Post columnist and former Bush speechwriter Mark Thieson, who has long advocated a permanent US troop presence in such places as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria appeared Monday on Fox's America's newsroom to rail against the Biden administration. Thieson is also a Fox News contributor. Fox co-anchor Dana Perino, who was also a former press secretary from the Bush administration, asked Thieson, I wondered about you today, Mark, in terms of what would you say? What would you write for a president to say at this point? But I think that those comparisons are just impossible to make. You worked for a very different president. So they're bringing on the people who got us in this predicament in the first place, and rather than challenging them, they're speaking to them as if they're experts. And it's not just them. If you watch Fox News, they'll bring on Lindsey Graham, who never saw a war that he didn't like. They'll bring on Adam Kinzinger, who oftentimes is celebrated by the press because he's an anti-Trump Republican, but that doesn't minimize the harm that he causes in his nonstop advocacy for war. So they bring on these people and it's really infrequent that we actually see voices who are saying something that's antithetical to the mainstream narrative pushed by corporate media. I cited Barbara Lee, but one interview with Barbara Lee isn't sufficient. She is perhaps one of the people who we should take the most serious since she proved that she was right from the get go. But instead, they bring on people from the Bush administration who should be ostracized and challenged if they are actually brought on. And I don't necessarily have an issue with Mehdi Hassan platforming individuals with Eli Lake because Mehdi Hassan actually does do a good job at pushing back. But folks like this actually have the loudest, most prominent voices in mainstream media as it relates to any discussion surrounding Afghanistan and US foreign policy. Take a look at this really, really just disgusting admission that he says out loud, confidently. Just to be clear for our viewers, Eli, were you saying that we should be there for another 20 years or for how long? However long it takes, I just don't think that having a few thousand American forces in Afghanistan is too high a price to pay to prevent what we're seeing now before our eyes in Kabul and the repercussions of which are going to be disastrous on a number of levels. So to avoid that, having a small footprint in my view is not too high a price to pay. And I have no problem telling you that I don't mind if it's indefinite. So how many more times have people heard someone say, maybe we should just stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, or we should have stayed in Afghanistan indefinitely compared to people who are saying, look, we have no choice but to withdraw. Staying there indefinitely is totally unfeasible. And regardless, we're not going to change the outcome. It's a matter of like ripping off the band aid. We know it's going to hurt. We know it's going to be a disaster and a catastrophe from a human rights standpoint. But we never should have invaded in the first place. And this is why we're telling you stop doing war, stop doing these intervention. You know, we're not going to hear that voice. That's that's the thing you have H.R. McMaster talking about how, you know, we should maybe just go back into Afghanistan. I believe he was on Fox News when he said this. It's just, you know, media matters painted a picture about all of the Bush administration officials who are getting platformed by mainstream media. But that doesn't even consider all of the folks who weren't necessarily from the Bush administration, but are still championing never ending wars. And it's just this is explicitly them trying to manufacture consent for war. In this case, never ending war, when again, I have to point out the people from Bush's administration should be the ones that we take least serious when it comes to anything regarding foreign policy. But how often do we see John Bolton brought on mainstream media and celebrated as if he's some sort of an authority on war? He's not an authority on anything. This man is motivated by bloodlust. He is a sociopath. He doesn't care about human suffering. He cares about the pockets of individuals who run the military industrial complex. And so the media has been absolutely atrocious as it relates to their coverage of Afghanistan. But as much as we can in the media, I believe it's incumbent on us to push back against that narrative because never ending war is not something that we should be promoting. But when you see that as like the main narrative being peddled, it just feels like a lost cause. But I will do what I can on this platform to push back against that and to argue against never ending war and against all wars because war is a thing that primitive species should be doing. It shows how human beings, you know, we haven't advanced if we're still killing each other over resources and, you know, geopolitical disputes, it's just that we should all be embarrassed about the fact that war still exists in twenty twenty one. But this is, you know, a late stage capitalist society that I'm talking about here. So of course, whatever makes us money, regardless of how barbaric and ruthless it is, that is what our establishment, both governmental and, you know, media establishments are going to root for. But, you know, I think that we still have to call it out, even if the effort is not going to be successful. So we've seen a lot of different reactions to the Taliban taking over in Afghanistan. But one of the most fascinating reactions that I've seen is far right conservatives reacting to the policies that the Taliban is going to inevitably institute. So I don't know if this was on Telegram or Parlor, but this is what the booger eating Nazi Nick Fuentes tweeted out. The Taliban is going to ban abortion, vaccines and gay marriage. Maybe we were fighting on the wrong side for 20 years. So they're just saying the quiet part out loud. And, you know, I do believe that it's a false equivalence. This suggests that all conservatives are comparable to the Taliban. But when you look at the far right elements and see what they're pushing, especially like evangelicals, there is a lot of overlap. And I'm glad that they're acknowledging that because it's good that they broadcast their agenda to everyone. So everyone sees how extreme they are and hopefully will recalibrate and, you know, shun these individuals who support these types of policies. I mean, the Taliban, they want to ban abortion. LGBTQ plus rights, they want to teach religion in schools, make that mandatory. You know, they have an anti science agenda and a lot of the evangelicals and far right individuals in the United States are pushing that exact same agenda. And it's not just like evangelicals and individuals like Nick Fuentes, who agrees with this, a lot of neo-Nazis in the United States are vocalizing how interesting it is that the Taliban was able to seize power. And they kind of agree with them. And they're looking at the Taliban as, you know, this sort of point of inspiration where if they can do it and it was relatively easy to overthrow the U.S. government, perhaps it's not that difficult for us to do the same thing, albeit here in a different context, perhaps under a different set of circumstances. So as Ben Makooch of Vice Reports, I think Islamist Poisonous posted an account linked to a former Proud Boys network on Telegram, an encrypted app widely used by the far right. But these farmers and minimally trained men fought to take their nation back from world governments. They took back their national religion as law and executed dissenters. Hard not to respect that. Many of these posts were blatantly anti-Semitic and celebrated the Taliban's resistance to a global Jewish cabal, a racist and inaccurate trope commonly cited on Telegram. If white men in the West had the same courage as the Taliban, we would not be ruled by Jews currently. So the same Proud Boys length post viewed close to 2,500 times. To be honest, the Taliban is epic, said a popular white nationalist commentator on Telegram in a post viewed over 2000 times. The U.S. had to invade in the early 2000s and stay over 20 years, spending one trillion dollars and dozens of American lives to hold them back. As soon as we left, the Taliban took over the whole country in like 12 hours. LMAO. Now, the irony is that they don't like the Taliban because the Taliban consists of people from the Middle East who they don't like because they're racist. But they do acknowledge that one, they do have a common enemy with the Taliban, common enemy being Jewish people. And two, they acknowledge that the tactics of the Taliban can be implemented to a degree of success, possibly by them. And that's that's really horrifying because you have however, you know, a larger portion of the population openly suggesting that they utilize the same tactics that the Taliban used to overthrow, you know, the government in Afghanistan here at home. And it's already the case that on January 6th, you know, insurrectionists tried to stage a coup in the United States. Of course, they weren't successful, but that doesn't necessarily detract from their intentions, which was to stop a democratic turnover of power. So, you know, to see them now openly, publicly applaud the Taliban and think, hmm, what if we did something like that here? Maybe the Taliban isn't so bad because there's kind of a lot of ideological overlap. I mean, we may not be Islamic, we may not be Muslim. But, you know, this far right Sharia law that they're in, you know, implementing some of it seems pretty good. Like I want to ban vaccines. I want to ban gay people. I want to, you know, suppress the rights of women and minorities. Hmm. It's it's just it really shows you. How prevalent extremism is and how brazen these folks are. I mean, think back 10 years ago, the most extreme elements publicly on the right, you know, the Tea Party, even they wouldn't go so far as to openly cheer on the Taliban. Right. But now today's right wingers are so far right. And this isn't all of conservatives. This is like the far right. This is neo-Nazis like Nick Fuentes and whatnot, but still for them to openly applaud this power grab by the Taliban because they view it as some sort of a blueprint as to how they may one day grab power in the United States and implement a similar style of government here. You know, it's it's it's just something that is worrying. And we have to find ways to radicalize these folks because this is clearly awful. This is, you know, you know, wanting to do something similar to Christian Sharia law is something that the left has called out for a long time evangelicals have promoted an agenda that's very comparable to, you know, these extremists in Saudi Arabia. For a very long time and now to see them kind of like openly embrace it and cheer it on, it just it's a step further down this really far right rabbit hole that it's only going to get worse. You know, I've said before that you can only shift so far to the right until you hit a wall and then there's nowhere left to go except for authoritarianism. And then you just have to explicitly embrace authoritarianism. But now all of a sudden these groups are becoming more prominent. You know, we have Nick Fuentes with his groper movement. We have the Proud Boys. We have the Boogaloo Boys. We have a number of different groups who are increasingly extreme and they want the United States government to collapse so they can do something similar to what the Taliban is doing in Afghanistan. And if they can accelerate that process by replicating the tactics used by, you know, the Taliban, then they're going to try to do that. It's just something that is really disheartening and frightening to see quite frankly. An old lady who was riding the subway was harassed by an individual because she decided to do something so egregious, so unthinkably controversial that somebody had to go out of their way to confront her. What was she doing? Oh, you know, she chose to wear a mask during a pandemic while she's out in public. But somebody chose to accost her for this because freedom. Take a look. He's a he's disrespecting an elderly. You know what I respect? I respect freedom. What do you respect? What do you respect? Take a seat, sit down, sit the fuck down. That's right. I mean, it doesn't seem like you actually are in favor of freedom because if you truly respected freedom, perhaps you should respect her freedom to wear a mask. Now, I have to point out that not many people were wearing masks on the subway. So like out of all the people, she was one of the most responsible ones. And you just had to mess with her. You had to confront her because you believe in freedom. And he was chanting 1776 as if the founders would be applauding this dumb fuckery. Oh, yes, this is why we founded the country. So dumb fucks who are anti mask during pandemics can harass old ladies on subways. That's what freedom is all about. That's precisely what we had in mind when we founded the United States. I mean, I just this level of delusion. I don't think that it's it's possible to correct. Like I think that if you're that far gone, we're at this stage in the pandemic as the Delta variant ravages the country and you're still anti mask. I think that you're too far gone. I think that your brain is too broken to be fixed because you're harassing an old lady for wearing a mask. Everyone on that subway had they been responsible and worn masks should be a costing you for not wearing a mask and spreading your disgusting germs on all of them in a closed area while we have this airborne virus. But that dumb fuck chose to pretend as if he's the one who's the hero, not necessarily pretend. I think he thinks he actually is the hero, but he wanted to be the hero. And what's interesting is that he was totally like unmoved when he realized that somebody else was filming her. So he genuinely believed that when people saw him harassing an old lady, they would side with him. Like you have to think that otherwise, you know, you would you would stop. The filming would be a deterrent if he truly believed that he was in the wrong. But as he was chanting 1776 at this old lady. He he just kept doing it. Unbelievable. So if you're wondering who this guy is, the Internet did some digging and they quickly found out that this individual is Ryan Bartels, who is seemingly active in Republican circles. He was recently spotted at a Republican organized anti-vaccine mandate rally in New York City, wearing the same exact outfit, actually. And also throwing up signs that led some people to believe that he may actually be a member of the Proud Boys. Now, as heavy as Stephanie Dubb de Wilson adds Bartels was an investment banking summer analyst at Goldman Sachs from 2014 to 2015 and worked at two other firms after college before starting his job at Carmarks in 2019, according to the now deleted LinkedIn profile. Now, it is the case that he no longer works at Carmarks. They issued a statement saying this actually isn't our employee. You know, we don't condone this, obviously. And so I'm not necessarily sure if this is some sort of a Republican operative. I don't know if he's like a provocateur who liked that somebody was filming him because he was trying to make some sort of a point on social media and anti-vax, anti-mask circles. I'm not necessarily sure, but I do think it's really important that we name and shame these individuals when we see it, when videos like this go viral. It is important that we share these videos to show how stupid many Americans still are during a pandemic at this stage in the pandemic. We're approaching year two of the coronavirus pandemic. And I don't think that these types of viral videos are going to stop popping up. I just think that this is going to be a common phenomenon throughout the duration of the pandemic. And that's really sad because you'd think at some point, Americans would just like stop complaining about masks, which are the least offensive thing to do during the pandemic. And they're also incredibly effective. But that this is it's just going to be an issue until the pandemic is over. If it is over ever, you know, thanks to people like this guy who is doing everything to keep the pandemic going by shaming people who wear masks. And I'd be remiss to not remind everyone that one particular news figure, Tucker Carlson, actually encouraged people on his broadcast, one of the most popular news shows in America, to confront people who are wearing masks in public and tell them that their mask makes you feel uncomfortable. Now, I believe that individual responsibility to an extent is important, but individuals with a lot of influence and a lot of viewers like Tucker Carlson, I do think that he should share some responsibility for things like this, especially because he actively encouraged it. And there's been no ramifications. I mean, he's lost a lot of advertisers, but Fox News still continues to give this individual a platform, even if the misinformation that he spreads is deadly. He's still there spreading his propaganda. Like if I spread that much propaganda on my YouTube channel, I would have been gone months ago, but people like Tucker Carlson, they can continue to do this and get away with it. And, you know, this just emboldens individuals like Ryan Bartels here, who, you know, feels as if he can do things like this and get away with it. No ramifications if you walk up to an old lady and confront her for wearing a mask. I mean, how disgusting and reprehensible, like, what a piece of shit. Go fuck yourself, Ryan. Like, how dare you walk up to this old lady, minding her business, wearing a fucking mask? It's just it's gross and I'm so sick of it. Like I don't know if there's ever going to be a point to where the pandemic gets serious enough, if there's some new variant that's even worse than the Delta variant that comes along that makes conservatives taken more seriously. But I don't think it ever is going to be something that they take seriously. It doesn't matter what the death rate is. It doesn't matter the transmissibility. They just don't care and they will never take it seriously because it's not about the virus. It's a political issue now. It's a statement now. And so anyone who wears a mask, that is a symbol of them, you know, buying into tyranny and being part of the people who want to, like, I don't know, control you with vaccine mandates and mask mandates. So he sees her as a symbol of a broader issue, a microcosm of, you know, a society that is becoming increasingly authoritarian and his little pee brain can't process the fact that she's just some random person that just wants to go about her day while not spreading germs unlike him. I'm just I'm sick of this, but I will continue to share these types of viral videos so people like this get named and shamed and shun from society. Hopefully his friends will see the video and they will shut him out. But probably, you know, they applaud him and think that he's being a hero that he thinks he is for doing things like this. Either way, it's gross and this has to be called out. And I hope that as many people see it as possible. So one of my viewers brought this video to my attention and I don't know if I'm thankful that he brought this to my attention or I am angry that he brought this to my attention because it certainly made me lose a lot of brain cells. Nonetheless, let's take a look. So as Ron Filipowski tweets out, the San Diego Board of Supervisors meeting tonight featured a litany of deranged anti-vaxxers, including Matt Baker. He accused them of violating the Nuremberg Code, called them Nazis with Fauci as furor and said, your children and your children's children will be subjugated. So enjoy. If you're back and they should be begging you to do the right thing, you're about to open a pit of hell. You do not get a vaccine passport put on us. You know, as the population who's in control, you know that the people or the politicians, once you get a power, you will never relinquish it. Do you think that the four feet of marble that holds you above high in this chamber will help you from the fate of humanity, which you are unleashing? No, it won't. Your children and your children's children will be subjugated. They will be asked how many vaccines have you had? Have you been a good little Nazi? Hail Fauci. Hail Fauci. Hail Fauci. Hail Fauci. There's been a lot of talk about the Nuremberg Code. Well, I brought you a copy. You are all in violation of Section One. Yes, you, Dr. Wilk, you are in violation of the Nuremberg Code, which is international law. And the definition is... Sir, your time has expired. The definition shall not be... OK. Look, if anti-vaxxers don't want the rest of society to think that they're crazy, things like that don't help. Things like that do not help. But it really doesn't matter like what type of anti-vaxxer, you know, whatever approach that they take, they find some way to come off as incredibly tone deaf and unhinged like that individual when I see that I think, oh, wow, this person is probably like delusional, seemingly violent. He's unhinged. Yeah, I think it's deeply offensive and gross to compare vaccine passports to the Holocaust. I think that's really disgusting. That's incredibly disgusting because the difference is that vaccines actually save lives, whereas the Holocaust led to millions of deaths. So for him to use that, not only is it disgusting, but it shows how big of a snowflake you are to where you think that vaccine passports are comparable to the Holocaust grow up, grow up, stop being a snowflake. Just shut up. Now, another anti-vaxxer that I saw took a different approach. So this is from Crazy Mothers, which I think is an appropriate title. She says, dear media, please retire the use of the term anti-vaxxer. It is derogatory, inflammatory and marginalizes both women and their experiences. It is dismissive, simplistic, highly offensive and largely false. We politely request that you refer to us as the vaccine risk aware. So I appreciate that approach more than that dumb fuck who is screaming at the top of his lungs, but shut the fuck up. It's not going to be like you get to subject society to a perpetual state of a plague, and then we have to use your conspiratorial terms. Vaccine risk aware. Shut the fuck up. OK, you know what? If you don't want us to call you anti-vaxxers, as somebody pointed out, we'll just call you plague enthusiasts, because that's basically what you are. You are not just ignorant, but you're on the side of the pandemic. So I think plague enthusiasts might be something that we can refer to you as dumb fucks, I think is going to work. Look, these people are truly they're becoming more deranged as, you know, the push for vaccinations increases with the severity of the Delta variant as hospitals continue to fill up as pediatric hospitals begin to reach full capacity in some areas, there's going to be this push and there's going to be more unhinged people, but I don't believe that the most unhinged, stupidest people in the country get to keep all of us in a perpetual state of pandemic. Shut the fuck up. The vaccine is objectively good for your health and the health of your community. Stop being a little baby. Stop being a beta male cock. Shut the fuck up. Vaccines are good. And if you don't like it too bad, because I don't like being in a state of perpetual plague and I don't think that you should have the right to take away my freedom as an individual who wants to live in a society that isn't constantly riddled by a plague that can be easily eradicated, at least in the United States, by a vaccine that's basically a medical miracle. The fact that we have a vaccine this quickly, that's that effective is a fucking miracle. It speaks to the innovations of medicine and how far we've come as a society that we can do something like this, but these dumb fucks, you know, they just want to scream and and screech and I'm sick of it. No, you don't get to keep all of us in a perpetual plague. Fuck off, we should absolutely mandate vaccines through vaccine passports and allow people who are vaccinated, who did the right thing to have the ability to have a little bit more freedom. If you want to die indoors, if you want to go back to, you know, doing things again, I think that we should be allowed to do that since we did the right thing and protecting ourselves and, you know, our community. So I mean, these people are crazy. I don't know what else to say, but thank you to Sauron for sharing that. I guess I'm a little bit I'm a little bit saddened that I saw that video. But nonetheless, you know, I'm not surprised because this is probably going to be the more sane response to vaccines that that we're going to see throughout the totality of the pandemic. I'm sure somebody will like show up to a city hall meeting, projectile vomiting on city counselors and then shitting themselves, foaming at the mouth. I mean, I'm not sure, but whatever we see in the future, I'm not going to be surprised. I'm just I'm not. So I know that by now you've heard anti-vaxxers say it's my body. Therefore, it's my choice. So if I don't want to get the vaccine, then that shouldn't be any of your concern. And, you know, it's it's interesting that they make this argument because it's not necessarily applicable as it relates to global pandemics with viruses that are highly transmissible and are airborne. So that argument doesn't actually hold water during these times. But one man posted a TikTok video that has since gone viral explaining how you making that choice actually doesn't just affect you. It actually has a real world impact on other people who are also suffering. Who need medical care? Take a look. Hey, folks, how you doing? I just got a quick question about this whole COVID not getting vaccinated and running to the fucking hospital once you get the virus fucking deal because this shit is out of fucking control. All right. And I'm going to give you a quick story on why I think it's out of fucking control. Last week, I had to bring my wife into the hospital. She has stage four breast cancer. She was dealing with some symptoms and I had to bring her in to get some fluid drain. She was having some pain. Well, she was in there for two days on the third day. She honestly should have stayed one more day, maybe two more days. OK, but on the third day, instead of draining her fluid and what they wanted to do, they had to just they told us that she had to be discharged because they had no room left in the hospital because of COVID. Here's my question. Why 99 percent of everybody that's in the hospital with COVID right now is unvaccinated, OK, if you really fucking believe that COVID is not real and you really believe that it's not a big deal and you really believe that we don't that you don't need to get the vaccine, that is your fucking right. OK, I'm not going to argue with you about that. What I am going to argue with about is you running to the fucking hospital once you get the virus. If you don't trust the medical field to prevent you from getting it, why do you trust them to cure you from it? Why do you run to the fucking hospital? If you really believe that COVID is not a big deal and it's not this, that, the other and you don't get the vaccine because it stick to your fucking guns and keep your motherfucking ass at home, stop running to the hospital, putting everybody else at fucking risk and in turn the collateral damages. People like my wife who actually need medical fucking help for a chronic fucking disease get kicked out of the hospital because your dumb ass is too stupid to go get a fucking vaccine shot. Keep your ass at home. If you really believe COVID is not a big deal, prove it. Stick to your fucking guns, keep your ass at home and fucking deal with it. Look, that is incredibly sad and it shows you that people who choose to not get vaccinated because they are stubborn or they're uneducated or misinformed, it doesn't necessarily matter, but they need to know that their refusal to take the vaccine is leading to hospitals across the country getting overrun to the point where their actions or inaction more specifically is affecting other people's health and well-being. And it's not just more serious issues like his wife has stage four breast cancer. My mom was supposed to have surgery, but because Portland hospitals are overrun, ICU beds are at nearly full capacity. Last time I checked, it was 92 to 96 percent. We're going to cite that article here in a minute, but people, their own health is being disrupted because of the prevalence of COVID-19 and the Delta variant. And this is an issue across the country. So as Bloomberg reports, hospitals across the United States are running low on ICU beds across the country. Officials reported alarmingly small numbers of open intensive care beds in at least one state, they could be counted with fingers. Eight, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced, we saw the largest single day increase in hospitalizations and have eclipsed our previous high of COVID hospitalizations. He wrote in a tweet in Texas, where only half the population is vaccinated. Governor Greg Abbott on Monday asked hospitals to postpone surgeries and ordered the health department to seek help from doctors and nurses from other states. The governor, a Republican, didn't lift his order banning government entities from requiring masks and social distancing. In Florida, adult intensive care unit occupancy has soared to five thousand eight hundred four. That's a more than seven fold increase just since mid-July with some hospitals converting conference rooms and cafeterias into patient areas. Florida has an overall vaccination rate close to the national average, though some counties resemble the laggard Deep South. Now, I heard from a friend in Louisiana that talked about how bad the situation is as it relates to hospitals being overrun with COVID-19 patients and in Mississippi and PR reports that their entire hospital system could collapse by the end of this week. I repeat, their entire hospital system could collapse because they're getting overrun with COVID-19 patients and in my home state of Oregon, the governor actually had descended the National Guard because hospitals are indeed reaching full capacity, 92 to 96 percent, depending on the hospital, as I stated earlier. And this is an issue because, as Governor Kate Brown points out, quote, when our hospitals are full of COVID-19 patients, there may not be room for someone needing care after a car crash, a heart attack or other emergency situations. And the worst part about all of this, again, is the fact that this was all preventable. The COVID-19 vaccines are very effective at preventing severe COVID-19 illnesses. So all of this suffering, all of this death, could have been stopped or at least minimized drastically, had people dying the COVID-19 vaccine. But not everyone is eligible to get vaccinated. Kids under 12 years old cannot get vaccinated. And as USA Today reports, pediatric hospitals are filling with coronavirus patients as schools start opening amid the latest surge in infections. This one driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, children's hospitals in Tennessee will be full by the end of this week. The State Health Department projected the 94 children admitted to Florida's Wolfson Children's Hospital in July was more than four times the number admitted in June. Schools are allowing students maskless or with masks back into the classroom. And some schools are closing as soon as they're opening their doors. A district in Mississippi reported 114 COVID-19 positive students for the week of July 24th through the 30th and 608 students under quarantine pushing two high schools and a middle school to virtual learning until August 16th. Children in one pre-K classroom in Georgia were sent home Thursday following possible contact with the person in school who had tested positive. Another school in Tennessee delayed the school year start date by one week because of a number of COVID-19 cases among staff. And that story is now more than a week old. So the situation has since gone even worse. So this is tragic. I don't know what else to say. It's a very, very sad situation. And what makes matters worse is knowing that all of this was preventable. When it comes to children, they can't get vaccinated yet, right? But adults, if you are eligible and you want to be responsible and you haven't been vaccinated yet, understand that your decision to not get vaccinated. Could lead to other people suffering. It's not my body, my choice. This is a public health crisis. The health of the community affects everyone around you. Right? It affects you. Your health affects your community. Your community's health affects you. So everyone needs to do their part. Everyone needs to get vaccinated if they are eligible because all of the suffering, hospitals reaching full capacity, it's something that doesn't need to happen in 2021 with modern medicine, with highly effective, safe vaccines. So COVID-19 cases are sharply increasing around the country. But in Arkansas, it's an entirely different story because cases there are just exploding. And one of the reasons why they're one of the worst in the country is because they have an increased rate of vaccine hesitancy. Now, thankfully, as the situation gets worse, vaccinations have actually tripled in Arkansas in recent weeks. But having said that, though, not everyone is convinced yet. And even as they watch the Delta variant ravage their community and affect them personally, many people still refuse to even believe that the pandemic is a real thing. Now, we get a little bit of insight into what doctors and nurses deal with thanks to a documentary that Vice News did, where they went into a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, and they interview doctors who work in the ICU with COVID-19 patients. And what they say is that even as people get COVID-19, they still won't take the vaccine. And many still believe, most still believe that the virus isn't actually real. So this is truly difficult to watch. But we'll take a look at this documentary, we'll discuss it, and then I'll tell you what I believe the solution is to this problem. We're here in a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the Delta variant has led to a surge in COVID cases. The ICU is full beyond capacity. There are people on ventilators who are in their 20s and over 90 percent of the patients are unvaccinated. Arkansas has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Four months ago, the state legislature passed a ban on mask mandates. Now, with the spread of the Delta variant, hospitals here are being pushed to the brink. What are you hearing from unvaccinated patients who end up here in the ICU? Well, only a few of them would actually believe they have COVID. You have to tell them every day. Most people don't even believe they have COVID. There's a fair number of people who don't believe they have COVID and then we are lying to them. How do you overcome that denial? It's very hard to do. I mean, you educate them, but if they get too agitated, then they get more short of breath, then they require more support and then they get intubated, which then leads to a longer hospital stay. My lungs were covered in COVID pneumonia. When you cannot breathe and you can't get air, it is very serious. Did you get the vaccine? No. Have you talked to the doctors and nurses here about the vaccine? I have. And yes, they're explaining, but you have to be open to hear. And I wasn't and I'm more open to listen now. Why did you agree to be interviewed? I'm living something I didn't believe. I'm living it and people need to know that it is real. It is real. People are dying. They are dying. Eighteen months into the pandemic, doctors here say they have more COVID cases than ever. And new groups are being hit harder. Twenty percent of this hospital's recent COVID patients have been pregnant women. Lindsay Smith didn't get the vaccine and tested positive when she came to the hospital to give birth. She's asymptomatic, but had to be separated from her newborn son. This is our son. He's in the NICU right now. It looks like he's sleeping. How is it to not be able to go and see your baby in person? This morning was pretty, pretty difficult because he's supposed to be with me. You know, he's been with me the whole time. And now I can't even hold him. So that's that's definitely hard. I haven't got to meet my son yet. Just being here in this situation, not being able to to see your baby in person, make you start to reconsider at all, not wanting the vaccine? No. No, because even with getting the vaccine, you can still spread it. You can still get it. There aren't there simply aren't enough studies for it. Does it frustrate you to have patients who refuse the vaccine and then end up here in the ICU? We're disappointed in them because the information has been out there. It's just like what media they are using will color their perceptions and the family members and their perceptions. I didn't think I would live through a time when vaccines would be so ridiculed. Have you had success at convincing either patients or their family members to get vaccinated? I would say fifth of the time. A fifth of the time. And they may say yes to you here if they actually get vaccinated is a different story. Do you plan to get the vaccine after you get out of here? Not at this time. Stuff red, all the bad stuff on it. I'm not ready to do it because I didn't believe it. So I have to change my thinking and study. But don't you think that maybe being vaccinated could have prevented you from being here in the first place? Not at this time. I don't believe that. How are we going to get out of this if more people don't get vaccinated? I can't answer that. Live and learn, the saying goes. But what happens when you learn nothing from your lived experiences? That woman got COVID-19. She was previously a COVID truther and getting the virus actually convinced her that it was real, but she still won't get the vaccine. I mean, at that point, what do you do? Is there a solution to convince these people to get vaccinated? I believe that there is a solution. But just from a human standpoint, it's really difficult. To understand the thinking of folks like that. Now, I'll link you to the full documentary in the description box if you're watching this on YouTube. You can find this on the Vice News YouTube channel if you're seeing this on means TV. But some things stood out to me and they were truly shocking, even if I've seen so much like we've all kind of to an extent been desensitized by the widespread stupidity that we've seen as a result of the pandemic. But some things there are just truly. I don't even know they left me speechless. So the doctor said that. Only a few patients who end up in the ICU with COVID-19 would actually believe that they have COVID-19 and they believe that the doctors are lying to them. And when you try to educate them and convince them that you're on their side, you're trying to save their life and you're not lying to them. They end up getting angry and worked up and they need more oxygen. They become short of breath. I mean, what do you even do if you're a doctor? Because, you know, you probably feel this sense of responsibility to educate people and explain to them why they need to do what's best for their health. And in this instance, getting the vaccine if they survive is the best thing that they can do, but then they get angry and more sick. So that kind of disincentivizes doctors and nurses from trying to educate patients. And what a what a horrible situation. Because if you if you talk to them about this, you could end up making them more sick inadvertently if they get angered by what you're saying because they think you're a liar or maybe a Democrat hack or something. Wow. Wow. Now, he says out of all the people who have had covid or no family members with covid, he's only able to convince about a fifth of them to get the vaccine. That means the majority of people in there with covid or who have a loved one suffering from covid, they still won't get vaccinated. I mean, if seeing it first hand doesn't convince you, literally nothing is going to convince you to willingly take the vaccine. Nothing will at that point. And one lady who was separated from her baby, she still wouldn't get the vaccine, even if she saw how it affected her first hand. The lady who was a covid truther who we discussed, you know, she at least believes that the virus is real. So I mean, she made some progress, but she still doesn't want to get the vaccine at least at this time. These people are brainwashed and the doctor kind of alluded to this, that they choose media sources that spread misinformation. I don't know if they're watching the Fox News or Newsmax or even Joe Rogan, but they've been told that the vaccines are bad and they shouldn't get the vaccines and they believe that so much that they're willing to die just to be proven right or because they believe in the wrong things that they believe in that passionately. So here's where we're at. You know, a lot of people are going to choose to get vaccinated who were reluctant at first, perhaps FDA approval will help, perhaps, you know, giving people more time off to get the vaccine and then recover for a couple of days. If they experience side effects, all of these are policy measures that are really important, but they're still going to be a large portion of the population, large enough who refuse to get vaccinated under any circumstances. And they're going to single-handedly keep all of us from we reaching herd immunity. So this is the way that I look at it. We have two options. We can either a mandate vaccines and effectively wipe out this virus, at least in the United States, or B, we can choose to not mandate vaccines and let anti-vaxxers who are misinformed choose to keep all of us in a prolonged, if not permanent state of plague. Is that is that really fair? I don't think that we should let the most misinformed people in society dictate what happens with public health. I just think that that's incredibly cruel to me. This is about freedom. Their refusal to make an objectively good decision for their own health and health of the public has inhibited our freedoms. So if you believe in freedoms, vaccine mandates are our only route to freedom from this virus. If we can't eradicate the virus, we can't resume safe indoor activities and get back to life as it was before the pandemic. So it's time to stop letting mostly right wing anti-vaxxers impose their will on the rest of the society. And it's time that we mandate vaccines through vaccine passports. And when you consider the fact that 62 percent of Americans actually support a vaccine mandate, this is just us advocating for the democratic will of the majority of the people who want to be free from this pandemic. And I wish that more people would say this and stop being afraid to say this. Like a lot of people don't want to say we should mandate vaccines even if they believe it because that might be unpopular. They might feel as if people are going to think they're authoritarians, but it's not authoritarian. This is the pro-freedom move. If you support vaccine mandates, you support freedom for all of us. If you don't support vaccine mandates effectively, you're OK with letting anti-vaxxers subject all of us to a permanent plague. That is antithetical to freedom. Now, Bronco Marsetic in Jacobin, he lays out a phenomenal case for mandatory vaccines, and he not just addresses the legal framework, but he explains how practically this can take effect. So this is relatively long and I'm not going to read all of it, but I am going to read a good portion of this article because I think it's really important. So please bear with me. This is what a lot of people need to hear. So he writes, however, you might feel about the idea of vaccine mandates. They're not some scary new creation of our quasi-authoritarian age. Most people are familiar with the most common form. They already take in modern America, vaccination requirements for children before they can enter schools, some version of which every single state in the country has on books. Nearly half of all states imposed them by the start of the 20th century to deal with the scourge of smallpox with requirements expanding and spreading throughout the country after the 1960s, thanks in part to the development of a measles vaccine in 1963. But these mandates have also taken much broader forms with numerous examples of states and cities compelling all of their residents to get shots without exception. Massachusetts led the way making smallpox vaccination compulsory to attend public school in 1855. The Brooklyn and New York health departments embarked on a policy of de facto compulsory vaccination to deal with outbreaks in 1893 to 94 and 1901 to two by the latter year, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia and Kentucky all had general compulsory vaccination statutes. Even the town of Muncie, Indiana put in place citywide mandatory vaccinations in response to an 1893 outbreak. The fraud battles at the time between authorities and anti-vaccinationists, which echoed today's tussles to a remarkable extent, culminated in the Supreme Court's well known 1905 Jacobson v. Massachusetts decision, which upheld by a seven to two vote state government's right to enact mandatory vaccination and his opinion for the majority, Justice John Marshall Harlan pointed to the social compact to argue that there are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. Crucially, he created a health based exception for vaccine requirements that hadn't existed in Massachusetts law, and he also left enough leeway for individual liberty that the decision would be later used to establish a right to privacy for married couples and strike down the contraception bans. Civil liberties concerns about vaccine mandates aren't unreasonable. The right to not have a foreign object or substance inserted in your body is a fundamental element of privacy and bodily autonomy. The same principles on which we might base opposition to drug testing of workers or welfare recipients, as well as a variety of other shocking oversteps. Socialists should be deeply concerned with the safeguarding of civil liberties from authoritarian institutions, whether in the private sector or those embedded in our existing nominally democratic forms of government. But it's possible to have a broad expanse of commitment to civil liberties while stopping short of absolutism. You can, for example, be vehemently against the threats that tech state censorship and authoritarian state institutions pose to freedom of speech and assembly to the point of defending those rights for people whose politics you find repugnant, but still call for strict limits on money in politics, which is a type of speech restriction. Similarly, it's possible to oppose mandatory drug testing and non consensual medical experiments while seeing vaccine mandates as a pragmatic solution to an exceptional and life threatening crisis. Even so, critics are right that if not carefully guarded against, it's possible for vaccine requirements to end up in some ugly places. The Jacobson decision was horrifyingly stretched in 1927 to justify various state eugenics laws of forced sterilization on the basis that it is better for the world if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. While the US federalist system means the federal government is probably limited in what it can do here, one obvious course of action is for Biden to make vaccines a requirement for mass transport, including airports, as he's already done for masks. This would have the additional benefit of compelling more affluent vaccine skeptics who would effectively be barred from traveling in anything other than a car or private jet to get their shots. But needless to say, measures like these will only be fair and workable as long as the vaccine remains free and easily accessible to everyone. In an ideal world, we would never have to turn to mandating vaccines. But given the continuing and horrifying scale of the pandemic's threat to life, it's dangerous to children who won't be vaccinated for some time. The ongoing economic disruption, the virus is spread among the unvaccinated will cause and the fact that US society has already decided it's willing to make a far worse and far more dangerous trade off of privacy for security, New York style vaccine mandates are an appropriate and measured response. They should be understood as a unique exception, but we're living through exceptional times. And he's exactly right here. This is an exception to the rule. It's something that is necessary because we are living in truly horrific times where this virus has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Now, contrary to popular belief, vaccine mandates don't mean that we knock down people's doors, hold them down and forcibly stick a needle in their arms. In fact, Bronco Marsetic explicitly is against that. He says that in this article, we don't do that. But when we say vaccine mandates, we're simply saying vaccine passports. Now, that word has become a boogeyman and vaccine mandates will inevitably become a boogeyman word. So I think that any public health official who's going to promote mandatory vaccinations should find some way to like reframe it so it doesn't sound so ominous. But in actuality, all this means is that we replicate effective strategies at the state and local level that have worked. And also we replicate France's law. So already a lot of states have made it mandatory for state workers and health care workers to get vaccinated. But on top of that, New York took it a step further. And what they did was they mandated proof of vaccination or proof of a negative Covid-19 test in order to resume indoor activities. So if you want to, you know, I don't know, go to a movie or if you want to go to a club, then you need to get vaccinated and show proof that you've been vaccinated. And in France, if you want to dine indoors or travel long distances by plane, you have to show proof that you've been vaccinated or show proof that you tested negative for Covid-19 within 48 hours. Now, guess what? The day that the French president merely hinted at a vaccine mandate, one million people signed up for an appointment. So vaccine mandates work. And like it or not, even if people don't want to admit this, it may be our only way out of this pandemic. Now, was it unpopular in France and New York? Yes, but extraordinary times calls for extraordinary measures. People are dying. And they're being misinformed and they don't want to do what's necessary and objectively good to protect their health as well as the health of their community. So this is something that is necessary. The government has a responsibility to save people's lives. And I think that it is absolutely legitimate for the government to intervene here to stop suffering, to not allow anti-vaxxers to keep all of us in a perpetual state of plague. So it's time to mandate vaccinations, don't call them vaccine passports, don't call them mandatory vaccines, called them safety protocols. I don't know. But regardless, if you choose to try to sell it or not, it's necessary. And it's the one thing that we can do to at least get rid of the virus until a new variant emerges. Now, we have to make sure that the global population is vaccinated. We have to make sure that everyone has access to vaccines. They're still free and they're widely available. But if we don't mandate them, there's going to be a large portion of people who just refuse to do it. It's not like I'm advocating people do something that I didn't do myself. I got the vaccine, right? I wouldn't advocate for people to be harmed. But what I am advocating for is for people to not die. I want to stop people from dying. I want to stop people from suffering and I want Americans and the rest of the world to have our freedom back, to resume life as it was before the pandemic. And we don't get our freedom back unless we mandate vaccines. I'm not afraid to say that because it's necessary and it's true. And I hope that others will join me in calling for mandatory vaccines, because that's where we're at in this state of the pandemic. You know, we tried the carrot approach and now it's time to use the stick approach. People just are refusing to do what's in their best interest. So we're left with no choice. So we've talked about the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. We've talked a lot about the situation and the lead up to the disaster that we're seeing now, but I want to shift gears and focus on the aftermath. I think that we have to be absolutely clear here. With drawing was the correct answer. I agree with Joe Biden. This was the difficult but necessary thing to do. I mean, staying there indefinitely was not a feasible plan. But I mean, if we waited another year, two years, five years, 10 years, I don't think that that's going to change the outcome. I think it was inevitable that the Taliban would regain control of Afghanistan once we leave. I mean, it's hard to nation build in a country that's very different from the United States. Here we have a national identity. Right. We see each other as Americans. Maybe, you know, you see yourself as a New Yorker or a Californian. I'm an Oregonian, but ultimately we do still have this national identity. But that wasn't necessarily the case with Afghanistan. Right. So in a lot of these countries, the borders were drawn straight through tribes. Right. So a lot of people, they don't necessarily feel that national identity that other Western countries feel. They feel more loyal to, you know, their their community, their family members and their tribes. So to try to create an entire country with all of these differences, it's really, really tough. And democracies are very fragile, especially in the beginning. So I think that basically it was inevitable that the country would collapse. But here's what we've got to do. We've got to make things right. Since we ruined Afghanistan, we need to open our doors to as many refugees as possible to stop as much of the damage as we possibly can. Even though I'm in favor of the withdrawal, it is absolutely gut wrenching to see the humanitarian crisis unfold. It is absolutely gut wrenching to see people, you know, be subjected to violence and want to flee, but they're unable to escape the country. You know, anyone who was a contractor that worked with the US government, anyone who served as an interpreter, anyone in the Afghan military who might be viewed as a traitor, anyone who was in a position of power, female judges who are no longer going to be accepted by the Taliban, they have to be granted amnesty. I know that a lot of people are looking at the 88000 individuals who worked with the US and, you know, we're trying to prioritize them getting their visas. But it should be more than that. We should accept lots, millions of people because it's only right that we correct part of our wrongdoing. I mean, you'll never undo the damage that we caused, but allowing people from Afghanistan to resettle here is the humane thing to do. It's the least that we can do. But of course, immediately after it was evident that there would be a humanitarian and subsequent refugee crisis, well, the usual suspects on the right were already screaming against that. Charlie Kirk said that he doesn't believe this is a good thing because well, I'll just let him tell you it's it's pretty transparent. President Joe Biden's Department of Defense will accept 30,000 Afghan refugees in the military installations following the collapse of Kabul. But. Political transformation, let the country crumble. Do you know there's five million displaced people in Afghanistan now? This was all intentional. Joe Biden, let it fall apart to now say, oh, I'm so sorry. I guarantee you, Joe Biden's speech this afternoon will talk about refugee assistance and relocation support. Now, Joe Biden is going to be scrambling to make good on it. And the liberal media will love it. They'll say, oh, yes, OK, now I get it. Joe Biden is now fixing his own problem. Joe Biden is stepping up and he's allowing a flow of people from the Middle East into America. Thank you, Joe Biden. You're such a hero, so benevolent. You're so respectful. You're so compassionate. Do you see what's going on here? What's going on here is Joe Biden wants a couple hundred thousand more Elon O'Mars to come into America to change the body politic permanently. We're playing checkers and they're playing chess. He is this close to talking about the great replacement explicitly. He's really, really getting closer and closer to just saying the 14 words. You are disgusting, Charlie Kirk. You are a racist. Joe Biden wants a couple hundred thousand more Elon O'Mars to come into America to change the body politic permanently. It's not that we ruin the country. So it's the right thing to do to open our doors to people from Afghanistan. No, it's, you know, this motivation to just transform the country, erase white people, bring in more Democrats. That's that's the conspiracy theory that he is a propagating here. Except I don't care what the motivations are. When it comes to Ilhan Omar, I would take a hundred thousand, a couple hundred thousand, hell, I'll take a million Ilhan O'Mars in exchange for you. For every Charlie Kirk that we can send to Afghanistan, like if we brought over a million Ilhan O'Mars, that would be incredible. That'd be based. Ilhan Omar is one of the few members of Congress who actually cares about American citizens, but he's pretending as if that's a bad thing to bring in more very progressive, humane people. That's a bad thing. And it's not, you know, because of Ilhan Omar's politics, let's be clear here. It's because she's brown. It's because she's a Muslim. That's what he's afraid about, right? He doesn't want white people to be replaced. Tucker Carlson talked about this and he doubled and tripled down. But moving on to the f**kwads at Fox News, of course, they were also against the refugee crisis and immediately started their fear mongering campaign against Afghanistan people coming here. Here's what Laura Ingram had to say. And is it really our responsibility to welcome thousands of potentially unvetted refugees from Afghanistan? All day, we've heard phrases like we promise them. Well, who did? Did you did you? Yes, it is our responsibility. We ruined their country, Laura. So it's only right that we give them the opportunity to rebuild here. Allow them to make America their homes. We need to get out as many people as we possibly can. I mean, the fact that you would be against this, I mean, I'm assuming that she's against any refugees being admitted from Afghanistan because she's just a heartless person. She is extremely xenophobic and she wouldn't admit any if she had her way. But that's incredibly disgusting. I mean, some of these people worked with the US government. Aren't you a patriot? Don't you think that individuals who helped the United States government shouldn't they be American citizens? I mean, they worked with America. Don't you think that they earned citizenship? I mean, you may not like what they were doing in serving like our military interests abroad, but they still were working with our government and now they're going to be viewed as traders. Traders. So if we don't bring them here. Well, if the Taliban doesn't honor their blanket amnesty plan, which I don't expect them to, then they're going to be slaughtered. Is it really worth them getting slaughtered than just like bringing them here? I mean, these people are heartless. But Tucker Carlson was also against this unsurprisingly. Take a look. So we're getting it. And if history is any guide and it's always a guide, we will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country in coming months, probably in your neighborhood. And over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions. So first we invade and then we're invaded. It is always the same. We'll be spending a lot more time on that subject in recent in coming weeks, because it matters. Oh, I'm sure you will. I mean, he's so brazen, like if you watch Tucker Carlson, you should feel insulted because he thinks you're stupid. Like he used to be a better propagandist, but now he's just like he's blatantly trying to fear among her. He's blatantly trying to get you to be fearful. We'll see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country in the coming months, probably in your neighborhood. Oh, that would be terrible. You should be afraid. Look, if Afghanistan refugees resettled in my neighborhood, I think that would be awesome. I would love to speak with them and have a conversation with them. Like when I was going to school, I was in a PhD program with a lot of international students from around the world, and they were the most fascinating people to talk to, like their life experiences were different. You know, their culture was different. And those conversations that I had with them were fascinating. I would love to have members from Afghanistan in my community. Because guess what? I'm not concerned with the white race being depleted or replaced as these white supremacist assholes are. I'm in favor of the human race. We're all the same. Race is a social construct. And so bringing in people who don't look like me, I don't view that as a negative. I view that as a positive. I think that us learning from people that come from Afghanistan, them sharing their experiences, breaking bread with us, I think that all makes us smarter and better and more inclusive. But they don't see it that way. Tucker says, and over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions. So first we invaded them. Now we're being invaded. I mean, how brazen and shameless do you have to be to frame accepting refugees as them invading us? Because they're brown. So we don't want them here. Them coming here is tantamount to an invasion, according to Tucker Carlson. What a despicable person. What a despicable, morally repugnant, morally bankrupt human being. I don't know which one. If you're morally defective or you're just amoral, I don't know what it is. It's a distinction without a difference. You're a gross Tucker. You're a white supremacist. And no, it shouldn't be millions over decades. It should be millions right now, because again, if we're going to fuck up their country, we at least should let them come here to our country, let them have a home here. It's not like our country isn't fucked up. But I mean, they shouldn't be subject to totalitarian rule. After we ruined their country, we emboldened the Taliban. They now have more weapons than ever. They now have a lot of individuals who were trained by the United States, members of the Afghan military who are going to defect. So I mean, the Taliban is stronger than ever and we did that. So it is our responsibility to let them in here. But I mean, this was all predictable. And this is only the beginning of their fear mongering campaign. And if we end up letting in a sizable number of people from Afghanistan, this is going to be what they base their campaigns on in 2022 and 2024. So be prepared and be ready to push back because this narrative is disgusting and we need to do the humane thing and admit these fellow human beings in because they deserve it. We owe them. So I've been trying to keep up with all of Mike Lindell's shenanigans. I haven't talked about it much on the channel. But I mean, just seeing his cyber symposium, some of the interviews that he's given, I don't really know what to say. He is he's crazy. There's there's no other word to describe him. His antics are absolutely bizarre. I think he's genuinely unwell. But having said that, though, he is popular enough to where the misinformation that he's spreading is absolutely damaging. Now, some of the individuals, some of the media partners in the right wing world who helped him propagate the spread of dangerous misinformation about the 2020 election. Now they're angry at Mike Lindell because he is turning on them. So if you get enough crazy people together, it's only a matter of time before they start to turn on each other and begin to eat themselves. And that's exactly what's happening. So right wing watch reports, the right wing conspiracy theorists at true news suddenly realized that nothing Mike Lindell says can be believed after he accused them of being an antifa front group established by media matters. Now, that is quite the accusation to lob against true news of all organizations. And if you're not familiar with true news and Rick Wiles, I'll give you some information about them. But the video that you're going to see now, it's going to have Mike Lindell talk about an intelligence report that his allies have brought to his attention that definitely confirms that true news is just an extension of media matters that were founded by media matters. And they're doing the bidding of media matters. I have a report from from our counterintelligence and the people that were there. They've given me this report and this will be ready by tonight. Antifa, they want on our counterintelligence. Antifa, they were the individuals were working with true news, which is a fake news site established by media matters for America. We believe Zachary Petrizo, if I'm so long was involved, we've got them all on tape colluding with mask on. If his sources of information are so faulty that he accuses true news of being a media matters puppet funded by media and by media matters and we smuggle Antifa terrorists into meetings. If his information is that faulty, then I can't trust anything Mike Lindell Mike Lindell, untrustworthy. No, I can't see it. He seems like a stand up guy who would never tell a lie. Look, I don't have the full context here. I don't necessarily know why they're turning on each other. But I'm going to assume that the reason why they're turning on each other isn't necessarily due to some petty squabble or disagreement. I think that Mike Lindell probably genuinely believes that true news is something that was established by media matters. It's like this left wing Antifa front. I mean, I'm honestly not sure, but Rick Wiles is not pleased and he decided to escalate after he already kind of denounced what Mike Lindell says. So right wing watch tweets, Rick Wiles is demanding that Mike Lindell retract his accusations, issue an apology and send true news one million dollars to compensate for the damage you have done to us. And this is this is really entertaining. Grab your popcorn, folks. Rick, take it away. Mr. Lindell's wild accusations against true news are reckless and defamatory. His team is feeding him inaccurate information about us. We are demanding that Mr. Lindell immediately retract his accusations and apologize to true news. This is our last request from Mike Lindell to do the right thing, admit he made a terrible mistake, retract his defamatory accusations and publicly apologize to true news. One more thing, Mr. Lindell, your public apology should come with a one million dollar check, a donation to true news to compensate for the damage you have done to us with your wild, reckless accusations. OK, I love that he's not just demanding an apology and demanding that Mike Lindell issue a retraction, but he's also demanding. One million dollars. I mean, what? I mean, maybe he's like trying to subtly suggest that if you don't give me money, I might take it a core for defamation. I'm not necessarily sure, but I love this. I love that they're fighting each other. I say, let them fight. But if you're thinking, hmm, after I see this exchange between these two individuals, both Trump's sick of fans, I'm going to have to side with Rick Wiles because he clearly is the more sane one here. Hold that because my audience, I know that they know about Mike Lindell. I don't know how much you all know about Rick Wiles. But if you're not familiar with Rick Wiles, here's a brief introductory course into the world of Rick Wiles. So as NBC News reports, a right wing Florida pastor was hospitalized with COVID-19 weeks after saying vaccination efforts were part of a mass death campaign. The pastor, Rick Wiles, wrote Tuesday on truenews.com, where he propagates homophobic, racist and other hateful conspiracy theories that he had COVID-19 related pneumonia and difficulty breathing. He said that he was being released from the hospital later that day, but that his wife was still very fatigued. He added that his daughter-in-law was in the hospital with extreme dehydration and vomiting and that at least four other family members, including his grandson, had developed COVID-19 related symptoms. At least three true news team members were also recovering from the virus. He wrote, this was a full frontal hit from hell on your true news family. Wiles wrote, because Jesus Christ lives in us. We shall live to your prayers needed for the above family members and team. Thanks to Jesus Christ, not doctors. I survived the CCP COVID genocide on the American people. He added, apparently referencing the Chinese Communist Party, of course. About a month ago, Wiles said he was not going to be vaccinated. I'm going to be one of the survivors. I'm going to survive the genocide. He said in an interview posted the true news. I'm not going to allow the COVID maniacs to convince me to be vaccinated or vaccinate me against my will. So in other words, he got COVID-19. His entire family got COVID-19. The true news crew got COVID-19. And the takeaway is. I'm still not going to get vaccinated. Yeah. You and Mike Lindell deserve each other, Rick Wiles. That's all I'll say. You deserve each other. I'm glad that you're fighting anything that you do to him. He deserves anything that he does to you. You deserve you both are absolute lunatics. You are spreading misinformation, which is very harmful. It's hurtful to our democracy. And I really don't appreciate that. So fuck you. Keep fighting because I'm loving it. I will continue to watch it. Rip each other apart. So I want to talk about an article published in the Insider that truly feels like a parody to me. It's it's laughable. It's ridiculous. It's unreasonable. And I don't even know really what to say. I don't think that my commentary is going to provide you with any additional value here. But let's just laugh at this article together. So Jamie Killen of Insider tells the story of Julio Gonzalez, who says, quote, I'm a landlord with 24 properties. We're suffering during Biden's eviction ban, too. And no one is helping. Now, this is him pictured here in front of a private jet. Sir, I have a recommendation, actually. Have you considered getting a job? Because that's one thing that you can do. You see, the rest of society, when we want to pay our bills, we have to get a job or get a real job, as some people might say. And you haven't done that yet. So I don't know, get a job. But, you know, this gets worse. You know, you think that, OK, maybe this headline is meant to be a little bit sensationalist to grab you and then he makes a more reasonable argument once you're there. But that's not actually the case. He's going to go on to try to pull on your heart strings by complaining about his loss of profits due to the moratorium on evictions. I am not joking about this. So let's get into it. I'm Julio Gonzalez, the CEO and founder of Specialty Tax Engineering firm, engineered tax services. I also own 24 properties on the East Coast and have been a landlord for 20 years. The Biden administration's latest eviction moratorium, which lasts through October 3rd and covers most US counties, including mine, has led to difficult conversations. Oh, has it? Many of our tenants feel like they are in a dire situation. Unfortunately, we as landlords are too. Twenty of my properties are residential and I currently have four tenants taking advantage of the federally mandated eviction moratorium. The moratoriums have led to a significant and negative impact and profitability for me. It's been a 15 percent loss in profit. Oh, no, residents not paying rent essentially leads to free living while landlords still have to pay for taxes, utilities and more. We've been fortunate to be in a position where we can sustain no income and we try to be very compassionate and understanding for our tenants. We're trying to extend their leases so we can make enough over a period of time to make up for some of these losses, but most people don't have that kind of staying power. I see that with my clients every day, they're no longer able to make their payments, they're liquidating their properties, they're selling them to private equity. It's very tragic. And while we've been able to sustain our properties, we have stopped all improvements and renovations because we don't have the capital. We've really tried to be tight with our budget to get through the eviction moratorium, but really how many more months can we go? That must be super fucking hard for you. So in response to seeing his tenants struggle to pay rent, his reaction is to cry and scream, what about me? What about you? You have 24 properties and just four of your tenants are benefiting from the eviction moratorium. And on top of that, you've only seen 15 percent loss in profit. And yet you want us to feel sorry for you. As a leech on society, because that's effectively what most landlords are, the overwhelming majority of landlords, people like yourself, are just leaching off of society, making our profit while doing absolutely nothing, you're not contributing to society. We don't care about you. Get a real job if you're not making money during a pandemic when your tenants are struggling. But because he wanted this to be a more productive conversation, he has some policy solutions that he would like to propose. OK, so what are those? First, there needs to be a program in place to not only help those being evicted, but a program to help the landlords out as well. The government should give landlords a moratorium on bank loans, taxes and utilities. Second, proof of hardship could eliminate some of the questions landlords like me have about our tenants. We see that there's an incredible amount of open jobs and communities are opening up in spite of the COVID-19 Delta variant. It's likely that our tenants have received jobs and are now working. Our tenants don't have to provide any documentation to us. So they could be working and we see that they're buying new goods, but they're not paying rent. We're not there yet. But if it becomes clear, people are taking advantage of the moratorium. We would have to discuss possible legal action with our legal team. So when I read this, I think this is like the worst landlord ever because he's actually watching his tenants to see, oh, what are they? What are they doing? I see some grocery bags. Are they buying groceries? They could be using that money to pay rent. I mean, what a piece of shit. Go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Your tears are meaningless because you are a leech on society. Get a real job, sir. I don't care about your crying. In fact, I do have a video feed of him explaining a situation and how difficult it is for him. Yeah, I'm sure that all of the tears that he's wiping away with dollar bills, just collecting money, doing nothing, is is filling up his house. I'm sure that he's got to, you know, take a few less private jet trips because, you know, some tenants for out of how many hundreds he has at his properties, I'm assuming that like each property that he owns houses multiple tenants, four of his tenants are, you know, not able to pay rent and they're benefiting from the temporary eviction moratorium. So he thought that him throwing a temper tantrum publicly would cultivate sympathy for him and other landlords, except like you're the worst person. If you wanted to cultivate sympathy for a landlord, what you do is you you do like an op-ed from an old lady who owns like one extra home that she's renting out and she can pay the rent because of that eviction moratorium. Like that's what you do. That's effective propaganda, but this propaganda where you're literally posing in front of a private jet and you're saying that it's so difficult for you because you have 24 properties and four tenants are able to pay rent. I mean, I don't know what to tell you again. I don't mean to be redundant, but get a fucking job. That's that's all that I can say about this situation. I can't be any more charitable. I just have to say, get a fucking job. Stop whining. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, brother. We don't care. In an article for The Daily Poster, journalist Walker Bragman sounds the alarm about an issue that I don't think enough people are taking seriously, gerrymandering, and the Democratic Party dropped the ball and they missed a crucial deadline that would have stopped Republicans from redrawing districts in a way that would allow them to seize power, not just in twenty twenty two, but for the next decade. So if this actually happens, if Democrats fail to act when they come back after their recess, even though they missed a crucial deadline, nothing that anyone wants that isn't a far right Republican will get accomplished. This means no meaningful action when it comes to climate change. Nothing will be done to, you know, ameliorate the housing crisis or health care crisis in the United States if we allow them to seize power in this undemocratic manner. So Walker Bragman breaks it down. He says Democrats just missed a crucial deadline in the fight against gerrymandering. And experts say very soon we will be witnessing the consequences. On Wednesday, just before the Senate adjourned for its August recess, Republicans blocked an effort by Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer to get the chamber to consider pared down versions of the party's voting rights and democracy reform legislation. Schumer's ploy was largely symbolic. It was doomed to failure, given the lack of any GOP support, because Senate Democrats have so far refused to eliminate the filibuster. And therefore need 10 Republican votes to pass most legislation. Schumer remained positive as he prepared to leave for vacation, declaring that Democrats were making great progress on a voting rights bill and promising that it will be the first matter of legislative business when the Senate returns on September 13. In truth, though, Schumer and his caucus were knowingly giving up on their best chance to block state level Republicans from gaming the redistricting process and relegating Democrats to the minority in the U.S. House of Representatives. That's because on Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau released its 2020 census data, enabling states to begin the once in a decade process of redrawing their state houses and congressional districts. Advocates have long warned of the need to pass electoral reforms before map drawing begins, since that has now failed to happen. Experts say there will be dire consequences, including an effective end to majority rule in the United States and a failure to address climate change in a meaningful way. So to break it down, why this is so bad is because for the next decade, starting in 2022, Republicans overall across the country, they can not even win a majority and still retain control of at least one chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives, and therefore block anything that Democrats want, even the most moderate and conservative Democrats, their milk toast incrementalist reforms are off the table if Republicans are able to perpetually hold on to power until 2031. It is catastrophic if we wanted to do anything about climate change, which we all should, because we have a limited window to act. But look, I just I feel like people aren't taking this issue seriously. And Walker Bragman is one of the only journalists who's sounding the alarm. And I just want to remind you, this is what happened the last time Republicans were able to redraw districts to their favor in 2010 after that census was released. Every 10 years after the census states redraw their state house and congressional districts in 37 states elected officials are in charge of that process. Twenty of those 37 legislatures are completely controlled by Republicans, while eight are controlled by Democrats. In 2011, thanks to a dark money funded GOP campaign to capture hundreds of legislative seats during the 2010 midterms, Republicans dominated the redistricting process, designing the maps for more than 200 of the 340 congressional districts that were redrawn by state legislatures. The GOP drawn district maps heavily favored Republican majorities at the state level and in the House, a 2017 study from the Brennan Center for Justice found in the 26 states that account for 85 percent of congressional districts. Republicans derive a net benefit of at least 16 to 17 congressional seats in the current Congress from partisan bias. The GOP's control of Congress kneecapped the Obama presidency and was only overcome by Democrats after courts struck down gerrymandered congressional maps in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Since the last redistricting, the Supreme Court has cleared the path for even more extreme gerrymandering thanks to two rulings, one from 2013, which struck down the formula for requiring jurisdictions to seek federal preclearance under the Voting Rights Act for changes to their election laws. And the other from 2019, which held that partisan gerrymandering is a political issue left up to the legislature to resolve. Republicans are already planning on pressing their advantage. Recently, Representative Ronnie Jackson of Texas told a conference of religious conservatives that redistricting alone should get us the majority back in the House. Yeah, so the situation is very grim, but there is good news. There is still time to act. The window has closed. Time is limited, but they still can act. They missed a crucial deadline. So in the event they pass the For the People Act and they actually institute nationwide redistricting reform, then Republicans who already redrew their district lines to benefit them, they're probably going to sue. So this is going to be a long, legal battle. And in the courts, the Republican Party has stacked the judiciary federally. So, you know, they have the advantage there, too. So it's really sad that Democrats missed this deadline. Having said that, though, if they don't take action, I mean, the GOP will be able to easily seize control of the House of Representatives until 2030, 2030. I just I don't think people understand how bad the situation is. We can talk about the policies that we need, a Green New Deal, Medicare for all. There's a lot of policies that we need to institute. But the issue is that if we don't have power to institute said policies, then they're off the table entirely. So we have to focus on voting rights. We have to focus on electoral reform because so long as the GOP is able to seize power easily like this, we're all fucked. And anyone, you know, who is center right to the far left, anything that they want will be obstructed by this minority party who can easily override the will of the majority by, you know, gerrymandering. It's truly morally reprehensible. It's undemocratic, but we still have time and I wish people would take this serious and put pressure on the Democratic Party to act because at this point in time, I mean, with them being in power for eight months, they haven't used this time effectively. It's time to get rid of the filibuster. It's time to pass the For the People Act. Otherwise, we're fucked. Republicans will take power for a decade. And the climate apocalypse is essentially more inevitable than it already is at that point. So, yeah. So I want to talk about a report from the Union for concerned scientists about climate change. Now, the conclusion that they come to here after, you know, conducting this study, it's a pretty no-duck conclusion. I think it's basically common sense, but I think it's important to talk about this because I don't necessarily think most people thought through most of the consequences of climate change and the most straightforward things that we can expect. So I mean, when we when we think about climate change, we think about rising sea levels. We think about how it's going to disrupt agriculture and the food supply. We think about desertification and ocean acidification. But we don't often think about the most straightforward thing that's going to happen. It's just going to get hotter in certain areas. Now, back in 2015, we were seeing reports about the Middle East and the Persian Gulf in particular, where being outside by 2100 for more than a couple of hours would be deadly. Certain areas may be uninhabitable. So what's going to happen in many areas in the country where extreme heat is a more common phenomenon? Well, this study shows that it's going to disrupt the lives and the livelihoods of a lot of people, and it's going to happen here in the United States. And we already got a taste of that after seeing the Pacific Northwest heatwave, which was a mass death casualty. So this study is important. And I want to talk about it because climate change is important. And I think it's important to discuss these things because we need to be able to know what to expect so we can equip ourselves with the capability of adapting to these things. So as Chris D'Angelo of HuffPost reports, as temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, sort above 110 degrees in late June, workers in Oregon flooded the state's occupational state and health division with safety complaints. In Klamath Falls, roofers worked in blistering heat and thick smoke from nearby wildfires, with little to no shade and no breaks for a long period of time, one complaint read, at a job site in Clackamas, workers reportedly installed fencing without access to fresh water and with only a total of 35 minutes of breaks throughout the day. The devastating heatwave, which killed more than 100 people in Oregon alone, offers a sobering glimpse at what lies ahead for outdoor laborers. Without an aggressive global effort to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, extreme heat will wreak havoc on construction, agricultural extraction, delivery and other outdoor sectors, warns a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report published on Tuesday concludes that if climate change continues unchecked, the number of days outdoor workers in the US are exposed to hazardous heat could quadruple by mid-century. Up to 55.4 billion in annual earnings would be put at risk. And it would come with dire inequities of the approximately 32 million outdoor workers in the United States, more than 40 percent are non-white. The report titled Too Hot to Work builds upon the nonprofit advocacy organization's 2019 analysis on climate-fueled extreme heat, combining county-level forecasts of hazardous heat days with US census data. The organization calculated the number of outdoor work days and wages that could be lost under different warming scenarios. Southern states, including Louisiana, Florida and Texas, as well as major agricultural producers like California, are forecast to be among the hardest hit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that employers limit and even hold outdoor work when temperatures reach specific extremes. But those guidelines are not enforceable. The new report advocates for both aggressive climate action as well as workplace safety requirements to protect workers from the risk of heat related illness. So this is something that is going to affect workers in particular. It's going to affect all of us. It's going to affect people who are low income. It's going to affect elderly people who may not be able to call someone if their air conditioners go out. This was an issue that led to the last heat wave in June, becoming a mass death casualty. So this is why we have to focus on both mitigation and adaptation. And this is why the Green New Deal resolution that AOC introduced was a framework to address climate change. And I see a lot of people even left to say, you know, I don't like the fact that the Green New Deal wasn't just, you know, fixated on the climate itself. It includes, you know, housing, equity and whatnot. But the reason why all of those things are included is because the Green New Deal is a framework that's meant to be all encompassing. So you can't talk about climate change without talking about the impact that it's going to have on our health. So that's why when we talk about climate change, healthcare is also a part of that conversation. And when we talk about the way that climate change is going to impact people who work outdoors, this is why unions are also part of that conversation as well, because without worker rights with people having to call OSHA in Oregon, because they're not getting breaks, you know, or the Occupational Safety and Health Division, you know, they're not getting breaks, they're not able to take time off. They may not have access to fresh water. These are things that will need to be addressed and workers will have more leverage in bargaining power if they have unions. So that's why I think that the Pro Act also needs to be a part of this conversation when it comes to adaptation as it relates to climate change. Now look, you can desegregate portions of the Green New Deal that specifically address us limiting greenhouse gas emissions. You could just focus on CO2 emissions. And I do think that that's important, right? But to not include all of these other things like health care, worker rights in the Green New Deal, we're fooling ourselves, right? We're allowing ourselves to pretend as if climate change isn't going to have ripple effects and how it's not going to affect different communities differently and how we will need housing as a human right to address the incoming refugee crisis that is going to result as, you know, regions of the world become uninhabitable and we see more wars over water, wars over food and resources. So we can't just pretend as if talking about climate change is just about limiting CO2. Part of this discussion has to contain us acknowledging the reality that climate change to an extent is inevitable. And what we can control is how bad it gets. And in order to stop it from getting bad, yes, we do have to cut CO2 emissions drastically. But on top of that, we have to acknowledge climate change is here and it's going to continue to get worse in the foreseeable future. So we have to try to mitigate these crises that are going to pop up as a result of climate change. That means we make unionization easier. We pass the pro act. That means we make housing a human right. We offer health care to everyone. So that's why whenever a leftist says, you know, I support all of these things, but it's not necessarily relevant to climate change. Don't concede that grounds are right wingers. I've seen a lot of leftists do that and I get why they do it because you want to win and a lot of politics is about marketing. But I think we have to make the case. Climate change is important because it's going to affect affect virtually every aspect of society, and so we need to have an appropriate political response, which is why AOC was correct overall to create a robust framework that would allow for all responses to climate change, the way it affects workers, the way it affects people of color, the way it's going to affect us as it relates to housing, health care and whatnot. We can't like cut corners. This is going to be a massive crisis and we need to be real about it. And we need to do everything in our power to make us as strong as possible in our response. Well, folks, that's all that I have for you. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you made it this far in the program, as usual, I want to thank all of the people who make this show possible, all of our newest Patreon, PayPal and YouTube members. And, you know, before we go, I just want to really send a special thank you to all of these folks who have stayed with us for so long. People who have been Patreon patrons for a very long time. I truly, truly appreciate it. You do not know how valuable your patron is, patron, patronage is to me. I cannot talk. I've talked too much already. You know, my mental capital is spent. So I think I should just end the show right there. Anyways, I'll see you all next week. If you want more humanist report, tune in Thursdays at 7 p.m. PST live on twitch.tv slash minister board and on Wednesdays on YouTube for dystopian times, the season finale of dystopian times is September 8th. I want to say so make sure you watch all the episodes before the show goes on. Hiatus for who knows how long until I'm ready to bring it back probably next year. But we'll see. So anyways, that's all that I've got for you. I will see you all next week. Take care, folks.