 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 humanist report or become a member at Humanist report comm now enjoy the show Welcome to the Humanist Report podcast. My name is Mike Figueredo and this is episode 292 of the program Today is Friday, May 28th and before we get started I want to take some time to thank all of the folks 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 increase the monthly pledge That they were already giving us and that includes the great Amanda Proch now Carol Pepe Gary Johnson, Hamada, Gennad Por, Isaac Sidake, Stuart Clark and Zafar Kaiser Thank you so much to all of these kind individuals if you'd also like to support the show You can do so by going to humanist report comm slash support patreon comm forward slash humanist report or by clicking join Underneath any one of our YouTube videos. We've got another great episode for you today We will talk about Marjorie Greene and her comparison of mask mandates to yes The Holocaust not shocking at this point for her also on this episode Laura Ingraham warns viewers of incoming climate Lockdowns Charles Koch is funding the effort to end prohibitions on evictions put in place because of the pandemic Numikey cons challenges a disingenuous Fox News host Televangelist Jim Baker explains how him going to prison is actually another form of cancel culture The Senate wants to give Jeff Bezos space firm $10 billion Liz Cheney proves me right about her disingenuity Joe Biden backtracks on another key promise the squad folds on a key vote and also Abbey Martin won her lawsuit against Georgia, that's what we've got on the agenda for today's episode. Let's jump right in a waste of time. I hope you all enjoy the episode This woman is mentally ill You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star And they were definitely treated like second-class citizens citizens so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany and this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about in case you were wondering what Marjorie Taylor Greene was comparing to the Holocaust mask mandates That's what she said was comparable to the Holocaust Now thankfully for her sake she had a second chance to correct the record and walk back that idiotic statement So let's see how well she does American Jewish Congress has expressed concern over your comments comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust Do you stand behind those comments? You know, here's what I here's what I stand by we shouldn't be having this kind of treatment No one should be treated like a second-class citizen for saying I don't need to wear a mask or saying that my Medical records or my privacy based on my hippo rights And so I stand by all of my statements I said nothing wrong and I think any any rational Jewish person didn't like what happened in Nazi Germany and any rational Jewish person doesn't like what's happening with overbearing mask mandates and Overbearing vaccine policies. Do you understand though why some would be upset and offended by the comments? Well, do you understand how people feel about being forced to wear masks or being forced to have to take a vaccine or even have to Say that whether they've taken it or not. These are just things that shouldn't be happening in America This is a free country and it's just ridiculous to have these kind of conversations, bro. She's literally not backing down. Holy shit Wow Wow, I just have to say no It is not a violation of HIPAA to ask for someone's vaccination status. That's incorrect But I mean if given another chance to correct the record via Twitter perhaps make some sort of a public statement What is she gonna do? Well, of course, she's gonna triple down So she tweeted out vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear gold star Vaccine passports and mask mandates create discrimination against unvaxed people who trust their immune systems to a virus That is 99% survivable. You know the Nazis had pieces of flair, but they made the Jews wear What just keep tweeting through it Marjorie, I'm sure it'll get better. I'm sure that the backlash will start to dissipate after a while I mean, she's just It's it's almost impressive How stupid she is mentally she genuinely is so confident in the idiotic assertions that she makes and in a way Like I kind of admire it like who has that much confidence to so boldly say something that wrong but Say it as if you're you're correct and everyone else in the world is Is wrong now because she keeps saying melodramatic and moronic things like this even house GOP leadership is coming out and condemning her including Mitch McConnell as well as house GOP leader Kevin McCarthy Who states Marjorie is wrong in her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is Appalling now in that statement, which we're not gonna read He goes on to basically say but what about the squad? They've also said terrible things. They've said anti-semitic things I mean, that's what they're trying to do. Whenever Marjorie Taylor-Green says something terrible They'll invoke the squad to make it seem as if they're equivalent They're comparable when that's not actually the case like she's the individual who floated the conspiracy theory That's anti-semitic about some sort of Jewish space laser being responsible for the California wildfires I mean, that's just the tip of the iceberg This is a former QAnon conspiracy theorist possibly current QAnon conspiracy theorist So I mean there is no bottom to how low she'll go like Sky's the limit or I should say Floor is not the limit. That's probably more appropriate But Marjorie Taylor-Green is making Republicans look so bad that even Ben Shapiro Decided to publicly denounce her on his own volition saying via Twitter This is demented nonsense. It is nothing like the Holocaust and any comparison there too is both insulting and insane I mean when you're a conservative that loses even Ben Shapiro, then you know, you've messed up now I know what you're expecting here because she did respond to Ben Shapiro You're probably thinking well, I'm sure she just did what she's been doing She probably quadrupled down and said the same exact thing Actually, she took a turn here. She did a little bit of a pivot and now she's just denying That she invoked the Holocaust When discussing mask mandates, I'm not kidding about that. She says I never compared it to the Holocaust Only the discrimination against Jews in early Nazi years. Is that so? Is that so Marjorie? Can we get a fact check on that, please? This woman is mentally ill You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star And they were definitely treated like second-class citizens so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers In Nazi Germany and this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about Mm-hmm So yeah, you know, it's really funny to see Republicans like Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell come out and Denounce her and make it seem as if she's crazy and they want to separate themselves from her. Here's the thing This is the logical conclusion to the Republican Party's pandering to crazy people for years These are the types of folks who you've appealed to and little did you know one day They might rise up and run for Congress and possibly take over your party one day I mean, this is the Republican Party. You could try to distance her All you distance yourself and your party from her all you want But the fact remains that the base sides with people like Marjorie Taylor Green over individuals like Liz Cheney Now Liz Cheney is bad. She's objectively a bad person if you think that war is terrible Then I think objectively isn't necessarily something that is very controversial to say But people in the Republican Party are signing more with individuals like this and Donald Trump So this is the bed that you made Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell and now you're having to lay in it Now you're having to deal with the repercussions of a crazy person making you all look like buffoons Well, you shouldn't have pandered to these types of individuals now Marjorie Taylor Green did put out a thread where she says the word sorry at the end of it But at the same time she still kind of doubles down So she doesn't necessarily want you to think that she's not sorry for comparing mask mandates to Jews and them being murdered during the Holocaust having said that though. She doesn't necessarily feel that bad about it and Yeah, we'll leave that there Marjorie Taylor Green is going to continue to say and do crazy things Because this is a crazy person and if you think that she is like the last of What Republicans have to offer in terms of ghouls I mean, I'm sure in ten years We're gonna think that Marjorie Taylor Green looks sane in comparison to what the Republican Party has to offer down the line I mean, it wasn't too long ago when we all thought it was inconceivable for someone like Sarah Palin to rise through the ranks of the Republican Party and actually become prominent But then Donald Trump became president then Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Green Q and on conspiracy theorists got elected to Congress So if you think that this is as low as they can go think again this individual could become president This is America Donald Trump did get elected president So I'll leave that there Marjorie Taylor Green once again proving that she is absolutely verifiably insane But a very proud of the stupid thing that she says this is Dunning Kruger in action This woman is mentally ill The CDC reports that more than half of US adults have received at least one dose of one of the COVID-19 vaccines and as a result Cases continue to fall which means in the United States We are finally starting to get the virus under control Which might mean that lockdowns are very soon coming to an end but according to Fox News's Laura Ingram This is actually a bad thing Bad for the left and liberals and coastal elites more generally speaking because we actually love lockdowns according to her We like lockdowns because they're not necessarily used in order to mitigate the spread of this highly contagious deadly disease They're used by us to control the masses control real Americans That's literally what she's going to argue in this clip that we're about to watch But even though the lockdowns due to corona virus are coming to an end She tells her boomer audience that there's a new type of lockdown that they should be afraid of Climate lockdowns. This is literally something that she says Liberals and leftists are planning Climate change activists who ignored or dismissed the human suffering caused by these draconian COVID rules were positively giddy That kids were harmed from the cancellation of in-person learning and athletics was simply not relevant Given the left's larger long-term goal of reducing America's carbon footprint So they saw COVID as an opportunity to advance the interests of a global climate bureaucracy Their pet media marveled about the environmental benefits of lockdowns again ignoring human suffering If there is a silver lining to this crisis, it's visible in the skies above China All of this inaction while causing so many human's problems has actually proven to be quite good for mother earth if falling pollution levels brought about by lockdowns may have Been shining an impact on sunshine wild animals are now roaming city streets. How do we make sure these pollution models don't rebound? So the longer you were behind closed doors not commuting to work not going to church not traveling to see family The happier those people were But having a free country means that individuals are making their own risk assessments according to their own risk profiles The Greeniacs hate that they much prefer to order you around or if that's not possible to Frighten you into abandoning your own common sense So mindless COVID fear-mongering kept suburban women double masked on running trails and sent Urbanites to Amazon Prime for all their grocery orders My favorite is when they were frantically wiping down their bananas and their egg cartons worried about COVID Oh, the virus can live on surfaces for example steel and plastic for up to three days I'm just going to clean all the virus off here. I don't need to do too much. It's a pretty sensitive virus For the cardboard it's typically going to be closer to 24 hours Of course, none of that was true, right? But he did do a good job of cleaning But after some fits and starts we won the COVID debate Their so-called public health experts were wrong on everything from lockdowns to masks to social distancing Those measures inflicted enormous economic educational and psychological harm to adults and children alike And Biden's attempt to take credit for this notwithstanding it was Trump who greenlit Operation Warp Speed Yet now we see the usual suspects lining up to exploit another hyped crisis Of course, I'm talking about climate change And the end goal is the same they want more of your money and your freedom And if they have to take extreme measures to accomplish this oh, they will I mean, what do you even say to that? What do you even say to that? She is pulling this out of thin air. She's fabricating it She doesn't cite a single example of anyone in a position of power Floating climate lockdowns her evidence that the left and liberals who are in power want to institute climate lockdowns Is that some pundits pointed out the fact that during these lockdowns the silver lining Was that our carbon footprint collectively was reduced so therefore because they pointed that out because they made that Observation it is now a fact that climate lockdowns are coming and you should be very afraid I mean think of the tacit assumption that liberals and leftists aren't like other human beings We actually loved the lockdowns. I loved not getting to see my family for an entire year I loved it because I just liked that conservatives were getting controlled even though they violated the lockdowns I mean who thinks like this to just completely dehumanize People who you disagree with because they're concerned about the pandemic to just assume That there's no legitimate reason to do a lockdown to wear masks to social distance in order to mitigate the spread of the virus I mean, you're just a stupid person if you genuinely believe this about other people if you genuinely believe That everyone celebrated the lockdowns and they loved it. That's fucking stupid laura ingram And you know this she knows what she's saying, but her audience who's older who's less informed They don't necessarily know now unfortunately for laura ingram She's not as effective as a propagandist is someone like tucker carlson So I think that they're going to be less likely to be afraid of climate lockdowns But so long as fox news wants this narrative to get pushed All they need is for someone like tucker carlson with more credibility who's more believable To say it and now all of a sudden everyone in the country will be talking about climate lockdowns because this is what fox news does Does anyone remember a muslim no-go zones? That was a big thing back in what was it 2014 2015 Were they reclaiming that there were areas in europe and london where you weren't allowed to go unless you were muslim They were trying to fear monger about sharia law. It came to europe and it's coming to the united states very soon I mean, they always want you to be afraid They always want you to live in fear and then simultaneously they claim that that's what the left and liberals want because they're taking this virus seriously It's preposterous and nobody who's serious about climate change has proposed permanent lockdowns That's unsustainable and that's not going to solve the climate crisis But if laura ingram actually wondered what we want to do to stop climate change All she had to do Was ask one of us except she knows though, right? Because she's against the green new deal as well. That's what we're proposing We're proposing investments in renewable clean technology hydro wind solar and on top of that We want governments to rein in the 100 multinational corporations responsible for 71 of all greenhouse gas emissions globally But laura ingram doesn't actually want to talk about what we want to do to stop climate catastrophe She just wants to lie straw man and a fear monger And whatever solutions you propose She's going to shoot that that down as well at the behest Of her fossil fuel advertisers at the behest of fox news's advertisers within the industry That makes a lot of money polluting the planet ruining the environment Now I hope that you didn't miss the line where she said they much prefer to order you around Or if that's not possible to frighten you into abandoning your own common sense This is quite literally what she's doing In this segment and don't pretend is if ordering people around isn't the rights forte You order people around all the time you claim that you care about A freedom and personal liberty But that's not true You're ordering people around on a daily basis. This is the entire conservative ideology You guys are the traditionalists, right? You want to ban abortion stop women from having autonomy over their own bodies You want to stop trans high school girls from participating in school sports? You want to stop gay people from having uh equal rights not being discriminated against so you boss people around all the time So what are you saying that this is what the left wants to do? The states who were responsible in implementing lockdowns and mask mandates. They didn't do this Because it's their kink To be authoritarian and have many dictatorships in states like california and oregon. They did this Because of a fucking pandemic that's so bad. It comes around only once in a century Now, of course, there are hypocrites within the democratic party gavin nuesome, nancy pelosi But were these objectively the correct measures to take during a pandemic? Yes, and anyone who disagrees with that is not a serious person They're admitting that they don't care about the pandemic laura ingram is implicitly telling you That she doesn't care at all that more than 500 000 americans died During this pandemic all she wants to communicate to her audience Is that the left and more specifically liberal politicians are bad because they took measures drastic measures But measures that were appropriate because of this pandemic measures to stop those deaths from racking up Now she adds we won the covet debate their so-called public health experts were wrong on everything from lockdowns to masks To social distancing so she's declaring victory without even making an argument except What were you right about masks work? That's a fact They are absolutely Useful in stopping this spread of coven 19. This is an airborne illness. So of course masks work. What are you even saying here? What are you implying? Because there was the uh clip of the cnn Host or the cnn doctor wiping down the grocery products That's like evidence that the left is wrong because we now know that covet 19 isn't like latest spread via surfaces I mean, okay We were learning more about the pandemic as it went along And we still don't know everything there was to know about the pandemic We still don't know why it has basically no effect on people. They're asymptomatic, but other people die from it We're learning about this. This is a learning process. So because We grow with more information and we adapt with new information That doesn't necessarily mean that people were wrong. You were wrong about everything Your network is promoting misinformation about vaccines and yet as vaccinations increase cases go down So by that measure you're wrong. So what she's saying here is just shameless propaganda Absolutely idiotic virtue signaling to her right wing audience who she desperately wants to stay glued to her television show and television network. So what does she do? She keeps him afraid Trust me. This is what you all should be afraid of And uh, i'm gonna tell you what you should be afraid of next just keep coming back keep Consuming my media eat up my propaganda and I will make sure you know all the good things to be afraid of Don't be afraid of actual threats Like a highly contagious deadly disease that killed more than 500 000 americans I'm gonna tell you the real threats. It's climate lockdowns. It's immigrants That's the real threats in america If you've been watching conservative media lately, uh over the past couple of weeks in particular And I hope you haven't been by the way But if you have been you can see in real time the construction of a brand new narrative that serves two purposes Not only is it an attempt to demonize the left and brazenly so but also it simultaneously validates their anti-vax As it relates specifically to the covid-19 vaccines It's kind of a spin on the mat wars comic Which makes some of the conservatives who claim that you're a hypocrite if you criticize society yet participate in society And I mean if we live in a society, obviously, you don't necessarily have a choice as to whether or not you participate in it or not But I mean this time the claim is that if you rely on modern medicine if you support vaccinations To stop the spread of a highly contagious deadly disease Congratulations, you're a big pharma shill That's literally the argument that anti-vax Right-wing pundits are making against the left Thankfully nomeke const well on fox news to push back against this narrative And she was so effective that the fox host felt compelled to cut the interview short because she was making too much sense I'm assuming but take a look and then I have quite a bit to say about this 5.6 billion dollars in revenue to big pharma so far through the covid-19 vaccine I've read your twitter feed. I've seen a lot of your comments nomeke You've been pretty aggressive You've said that conservatives or anyone else who has questions about the vaccine are anti-vaxers. You pointed joe rogan I believe once and called him an anti-vaxer. Is it wrong to have questions about the motivations Of this vaccine? Is it wrong right now to remain skeptical of big pharma? Well, I love that you're skeptical of big pharma just like katie porter was skeptical of big pharma Just yesterday who's a representative from california a democrat And just like bernie sanders has put forward three pieces of legislation to reign in on big pharma And the fact that they're focused on profits. Listen ab v This is a pharmaceutical company made it spent 1.6 billion dollars in five years on research and development yet 50 billion dollars went to shareholders 13 billion went to stock buybacks and during that five-year period their priorities are Nomeke that's absolutely that backs up the point. I'm sorry nomeke But the question isn't why I have grown skepticism towards big pharma The question is why those on the left like yourself have become such blind Followers of big pharma. Why is it if you have questions? Well, nomeke you've been calling anyone that would question big pharma when it comes to the covid-19 vaccine An anti-vaxxer when did you place your trust so blindly in people that stand to make 5.6 billion dollars from this vaccine? The definition of intelligence is being able to hold two thoughts in your head at the same time And be able to consider big pharma makes a lot of money and they're not spending enough money on research and development Which is where their priority should be but they should be trusted blindly on this issue Pharmaceuticals are stronger. It's not blind. The science is out about the vaccines the vaccines work Should there be a booster? I'm no scientist But neither is joe rogan joe rogan should not act like a scientist joe rogan should not be telling people not to wear masks Here's the here's the vaccine. This is what i'm concerned about. I'm concerned you are a big vaccine booster now Not because you believe the science backs it up But because the vaccine has come to represent a political ideal a political signifier A political fight on which you think you can win and claim the banner of science But the wild thing about it nomeke is it exposes hypocrisy so blatantly for anyone on the left right now Do you realize that big pharma when it comes to i think that's absolutely hold on hold on hold on really quickly Do you realize that is a bernie sanders bill? Do you realize that the vaccine makers? You're supporting the left right now? Excuse me right now. I'm supporting honest americans having independent free thought to make a choice about what they inject into their body And I think when the pharmaceutical companies have complete liability protection on the covet 19 vaccine You on the left have chosen a unique time a really interesting time to all of a sudden call all of a sudden call people Who have questions anti-vaxxers? It was the republicans who pushed the liability protection It was not the democrats the uh bernie sanders and katie porter are the ones that are advocating to reign in on the pharmaceutical companies profits So they can put more money into research and development Which only begs the question that we shouldn't have pharmaceuticals Switch only begs the question. Why now did you do not which only begs the question? Why now did you do an about face and all of a sudden say that anyone that has questions is an anti-vaxxer? Why now? No, no, no, no, no. I think joe rogan is an anti-science person There's a difference between it being an anti-vaxxer and believing that kovat doesn't exist He did not believe kovat really existed until recently. I mean that's the difference here. I don't think that's fair We believe in science reasons, which is why Pharmaceuticals should spend money on research and development and not their shareholders That's the difference the profit motive the profit motive should be in science. I'm sorry I think that's an unfair characterization of what joe rogan said or what he believes I think that you on the left have found a very unique time on emergency use application Vaccine that has complete liability protection to switch to all of a sudden have an about face on your trust in big farm And I think you did it. I think you did it because you thought it was a win over republicans That's all nothing more. No, the republicans want to keep their base See what's happening right now is you guys want to prolong the pandemic is ending and you want to keep everybody angry at COVID and the assault on freedom because you have to wear masks. God forbid you have to keep your community safe And your grandmother's safe. You want to keep that going because it's been working. I got to run to mickey I want to say two things. I thank you for coming on the program I always enjoy a spirited exchange of ideas and I think that what I'm standing up for tonight is independent americans Having the ability to make freedom of choice Specifically on the very intimate decision of what they inject into their bodies. Thank you to mickey I support freedom of choice when it comes to intimate personal medical decisions By the way, also, I think we should ban abortions and criminalized gender affirming care for trans youth I mean, you're a hypocrite conservatives have absolutely no room to preach freedom in the realm of individual health decisions because For decades, they've been on the wrong side of an issue that society is desperately trying to move on from Abortion and they're currently on the wrong side of history when it comes to trans issues But I just got to say here, uh, mickey const Excellent job here. That is exactly what a leftist should do if they get invited on to fox news Second of all, by this guy's logic, the only people who can actually legitimately criticize big pharma without being hypocrites Are faith healers who don't rely on any modern medicine at all So you're a hypocrite if you criticize big pharma if you've ever taken medication So my nephew who takes insulin apparently he is just a synafi shill Right, he needs insulin to survive because he has diabetes, but little did he know he's actually just patting the pockets of the CEO of synafi What a shill I mean, this is the logic. I'm being hyperbolic, but obviously if you extend that logic to its conclusion That is the argument that this buffoon is making He adds, uh, you've been calling anyone that would question big pharma when it comes to the covid-19 vaccine and anti-vaxxer Because they're anti-vaxxers When did you place your trust so blindly in people that stand to make 5.6 billion dollars from the vaccine? Obviously, this is a very low IQ position to take and he's Deliberately misrepresenting the left's position. The left isn't blindly placing their trust in big pharma The left is saying scientific data indicates that these vaccines are highly effective and they're safe So if you want the pandemic to end This is the correct measure to take mass vaccination. So we reach herd immunity so we can all move on But you're just saying, oh, well, you know what? This is you shilling for big pharma Because if you want people to take the covid-19 vaccine You actually have an ulterior motive. You don't really care about them getting vaccinated and being safe You care about the profits that big pharma is making. Is that really the argument that you're making? I mean talk about bad faith. What a fucking bad faith lunatic you are The crux of the left's argument is that pharmaceutical companies are prioritizing profits over people They prey on people who rely on their drugs to survive and knowing that people have to take these drugs to survive They then jack up the prices in order to increase profits. I mean, it's exploitative That's the argument that we have Against big pharma and a lot of leftists argue that we should nationalize Some of these big pharma firms, of course pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer should be nationalized. We shouldn't have privately manufactured covid-19 vaccines But this is what we get. We live in a late stage capitalist society So because a private option is the only solution, we shouldn't reject it just on principle We should do what's necessary to end the fucking pandemic. This isn't hard Right, this isn't difficult You're not a hypocrite if you're against big pharma, but you promote vaccinations But this fox news host is grasping for straws because he is anti-vax himself And he desperately wants to find some way to validate his position and also simultaneously Demonize the left and what's shocking to me is that all of these capitalists on fox news They don't even understand their own system. What's more lucrative for a company like maderna or Pfizer? Ask yourself this isn't more lucrative to just create some sort of ineffective or even unsafe vaccine that you distribute and then people get sick And they immediately stop taking it. I mean, is that going to be better for long-term profits? Or is it more lucrative to actually make an effective and safe vaccine? But be the sole manufacturer of the global supply of said vaccine. What's more profitable? What do you think is actually going to be the best thing that this pharmaceutical company should do? I mean, that's not to say that we shouldn't be concerned with the safety of these drugs Of course, they'll cut corners to save a buck or two, but that's why we support regulations on the left It's the right who is in favor of deregulation Trump boasts that about all of the deregulation that he did So yet you support a president that deregulates including the pharmaceutical industry But then have the nerve to claim that it's the left who's promoting these unsafe vaccines when they've been proven by scientific data to be effective and safe I mean, I just I can't take it like the disengineuity here is so over the top He's so hyperbolic so disingenuous Nobody who watches this should take this guy seriously But unfortunately we live in a country of a lot of uninformed people with a lot of uninformed people rather And they actually think that this argument is persuasive And if namiki const wasn't there to push back on his bad faith attacks on the left Then they would just gobble up the propaganda Now what I love is that after this in the sill implied that namiki const is a big pharma shill because she's pro covid 19 vaccines He then goes on to suggest that really she's only taking this position Not because she wants to end the pandemic not because of the scientific data that's available for everyone to see it's because She's a partisan hack It's not the fox news host who's the partisan hack It's the leftist who wants to end the pandemic That's killed more than 500 000 americans. That's actually the partisan hack Here's the thing Facts don't care about your feelings and the scientific data that's widely available that you could be reporting on That's not partisan choosing to believe it That is partisan because republicans made it partisan. You're the ones who politicized the pandemic You're the ones who said early on that we should sacrifice grandmom to the gods of the markets In order to make sure that we don't lose profits We don't hurt the economy your network argued for herd immunity early on and just pretend as if the pandemic isn't a thing And yet this buffoon is claiming that it's the left. They're the ones being partisan because they want to end a pandemic Give me a fucking break. It's like saying if you want to cure cancer, you're being a partisan Why are you supporting, you know chemotherapy? It treats cancer, but short also is really bad for people's health. You're basically injecting poison into your body Why is the left so partisan in this here? Can't you denounce this poisoning of people chemotherapy? I mean, this is the level of disingenuity. We are dealing with here. So this individual I don't know who he is. I haven't seen him on fox news before I don't think but I mean, this is a blame propagandist and Thankfully, he's not a very persuasive propagandist and it didn't take much effort of nemici const to completely dismantle the argument That he was making of course, you're not a big pharma shill if you support coven 19 vaccinations and uh contrary to what you want to believe You are anti-vax if you're literally against a vaccine That is going to help us end the pandemic I know that anti-vax has a lot of negative connotations and it makes you seem like a crazy person But I mean if the shoe fits you're wearing it, right? So stop being anti-vax and we won't call you anti-vax get the fucking vaccine. Shut the fuck up Let's all move on from this goddamn pandemic once and for all. Jesus Christ. This isn't that hard They made me say things I didn't say Hmm. They just put pieces together thousands of pieces of my show And so when I went into trial for the last trial After prison after I got a prison I was I'm put on trial again And in that the lawyers got all that tape That the government had edited the government did it Just like now this is cancel culture And they took it apart and put it back the way it was on the show And the lies they made me tell lies that weren't there Unbelievable And when the when the when the the uh Courts heard this They saw the first video What the government had edited And then they saw the one from the original They voted unanimously That I wasn't guilty Nobody knows these things hardly it was in the paper the same papers that brought me down But it was like two inches in the back of the paper Jim Baker wins It was cancel culture. That's right. They did everything to cancel me That was televangelist Jim Baker eloquently explaining how if you get caught committing fraud And embezzling money and you go to prison for it. That's actually cancel culture It's not you being held accountable because you were found guilty of crimes by a jury That's actually just another form of cancel culture And seeing that Jim Baker went to prison in the 1980s it goes to show you how far back We can find these examples of cancel culture I mean look folks we have to ask ourselves this question Do we really want to live in a society where people can't even defraud others and embezzle money without getting canceled? I mean, do we live in a dictatorship? This is cancel culture Obviously i'm being facetious if your sarcasm detector is broken, but this Is the logical conclusion of uh Cancel culture discourse in the united states of america Yeah Now if you really want to know why Jim Baker went to prison We have more details by right wing watch and kyle mantela explains in 1989 televangelist Jim Baker Was convicted by a jury of 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy And sentenced to 45 years in prison for having built members of the praise the lord ministry Out of hundreds of millions of dollars Baker had raised these funds by selling lifetime partnerships to viewers That entitled them to an annual free stay at his heritage usa christian theme park But the number of partnerships sold far exceeded the park's capacity and millions of dollars were diverted to fund Baker's own lavish lifestyle Baker's sentence was subsequently reduced on appeal and he was released from prison in 1994 Baker's claim that he was found not guilty by a subsequent jury is misleading and self-serving as author john wigger explained in his book ptl the rise and fall of jim and tamifai bakers evangelical empire And in that book it reads a year and a half after he was released from custody Baker went to trial one more time in 1990. He'd been convicted of common law fraud in order to pay $129 million at that trial the judge ruled that people who paid for lifetime partnerships at heritage usa Had done so primarily for the free lodging not as a financial investment in september of 1994 a federal appeals court reversed that ruling reinstating securities fraud charges against Baker before the new case went to trial in july of 1996 The former ptl partners represented by california attorney tom anderson stipulated that they would no longer seek to collect the earlier $129 million judgment against Baker instead They now sought to collect 121 million from the insurance company that had covered ptl against acts of negligence But not against fraud the case turned on the relatively narrow question of whether the lifetime partnerships were securities or investments Not just the promise of free lodging for the first time Baker engaged with his lawyers in preparing a defense They hired ron hecock a 14 year police veteran to review 200 hours of videotape from ptl telephones Much as the prosecution had done at baker's criminal trial in 1989 Hecock put together excerpts from the telephones in which baker explained that money given for the lifetime partnerships Would also be used to fund ptl as a whole of course at other times baker left this out But from the standpoint of whether he was selling securities The evidence was convincing after two and a half hours of deliberation the jury sided with baker and the insurance company Baker would later claim that the verdict vindicated him of fraud in the sale of lifetime partnerships But the case was never about that the plaintiffs had forfeited the 129 million fraud verdict against baker Simply because he had no money for them to collect So those are the juicy details and if you're wondering did jim baker learn his lesson Well, um, the short answer to that is no because he's still a huckster currently being sued for selling What he argued was a cure For covet 19, but hey by his logic That's just cancel culture if you can't defraud people and embezzle money Well, I mean, uh, you're just being canceled It's just the authoritarian leftists and the liberal woke media Who won't even let people get away With committing fraud I mean look With the trajectory of the cancel culture discourse, I don't think there's any valid conversations left to be had about this subject Any and everything that's done against you any criticism. That's all categorized is Cancel culture now What's that? I went to prison because I was found guilty of defrauding people by an actual jury cancel culture What I was accused of inappropriately touching women Well, Andrew Cuomo says that's cancel culture too It was cancel culture anything that I don't like any wrong that I'm called out for That is tantamount to cancel culture and since cancel culture is bad Then the accusations against these individuals must also be bad Like it's a really sleazy psychological trick because a lot of folks they just have this visceral response to cancel culture They don't like it because they associate it with things that they deem are bad and they don't want to be canceled themselves They don't want to you know be fired from their jobs because they said something inappropriate politically incorrect on social media So they just think oh well this person is saying is saying that they're being canceled I can empathize with that and I don't want to be canceled as well. So it's really just this manipulative tactic now That's what it's become at least To get people to be sympathetic towards your position, but in actuality No, you weren't canceled Jim Baker Because you went to prison You were convicted by a jury and went to prison because you defrauded people To the tune of millions of dollars and you enriched yourself By lying to people If that's cancel culture then cancel culture is good because I think that there should be legal accountability If you rip people off So in a way What folks who like overuse cancel culture are going to end up inadvertently doing Is bringing this entire argument full circle where they make cancel culture actually seem based What's that Andrew Cuomo was called out for? sexual misconduct And he's saying that that's cancel culture Well, I think that you should be called out for inappropriate touching cancel culture therefore it must be good Like do you understand like the argument has become so absurd That they're going to force people to flip when it comes to cancel culture because everyone is using it as an excuse now And it's truly just insufferable Look, we live in a society where we all make mistakes. Sometimes we commit crimes Some people commit crimes in particular Jim Baker and you get Prison for that you get called out for saying something politically incorrect a couple of years ago That's just the nature of society. It's going to continue to happen Um, but you can't just reduce everything down to this overly simplistic argument that oh, I'm being cancelled the woke mob is coming after me because You're full of it. You're full of shit and everyone can see right through you So, um, yeah, I don't think that there's much left to say about this This televangelist Jim Baker has continued to sell snake oil and defraud people And so, uh, I think that he's anticipating the next imprisonment or lawsuit going against him and he's already kind of like Trying to set people up to believe that if they come after him, this is just cancel culture And there's no way that he can possibly be guilty because of course Him being seen as this huckster that he is isn't good for his grift So he's trying to keep his audience, but I mean There's this cynical side of me that thinks if you're getting Taken advantage of by someone this deliberate Who's this brazen of a snake oil salesman? That I mean, I don't feel bad for you Maybe you deserve to be taken advantage of if you're this stupid honestly Like I don't feel bad for people who buy his scam cures and stuff like that if you're that fucking stupid like Stop believing people who you look up to stop believing that they have your Tensions or have the best intentions and they're looking out for you. They're trying to line their pockets That's it. See it for what it is stop being rubes And stop bitching about fucking cancel culture for the love of god. Jesus christ As vaccinations continue to tick up daily nuke over 19 cases are continuing to trend downward And that's a really really good news But having said that The protections put in place during the pandemic are still very much needed because it is going to take years to build back What we lost during the pandemic people who lost their jobs lost their health insurance lost their livelihoods are still Trying to find their footing some still haven't yet and it's going to take time So you can't just automatically declare the pandemic over And get rid of all of the protections put in place during the pandemic If we actually care about people then we have to make sure that there are still protections that remain in place for a while But there are some individuals oligarchs in particular like charles coke the coke brother who did not die Who's already trying to undo pandemic era protections? And he's doing this before the pandemic is even over yet So as andrew perez and david cerota of the daily poster explain billionaire charles coax foundation has bankrolled three conservative legal groups leading the court battle to eliminate prohibitions against tenant evictions During the covet 19 outbreak at the same time coax corporate empire has suddenly stepped up its real estate purchases during the pandemic Including making large investments in real estate companies with a potential financial interest in eliminating eviction restrictions in the last few months the texas public policy foundation the pacific legal foundation and the new civil rights alliance Have been pushing federal courts to strike down the cdc's eviction moratorium Which is designed to protect millions of americans from being thrown out of their homes during the pandemic The groups have so far won two rulings between 2017 and 2019 the charles coke foundation contributed almost $7.7 million to those three conservative organizations according to the foundation's tax returns Reviewed by the daily poster so long story short. It is not lucrative to have these moratoriums on evictions for an extended period of time Landlords real estate developers they want to make money So they want these eviction moratoriums to be gone as soon as possible And they're winning that battle And charles coke is helping to bankroll this process because he also has financial incentives to make sure that these moratoriums on evictions Go the way of the dodo It's truly disgusting. I mean evicting people in general That in and of itself is wrong considering we have to decommodify housing in america But to do this during a pandemic that is really like a unique kind of evil And to push for this. It's just It's gross. I mean, I don't have much to add here to the story because I think that the details speak for themselves here They're trying to evict people during a pandemic Who are struggling to survive the federal government offered almost no help compared to other developed countries And already the pandemic's not even over and what little protections remain in place. We have right wing ghouls We're trying to get them thrown out It's just um Despicable, but this isn't at all shocking when we live in a late-stage capitalist society Where policy is dictated by what the oligarch and ruling elites want I think that it's important to shine a light on what he's doing because this truly cannot just go Without mentioning I know that folks are used to Charles Koch being a piece of shit And I know that this is basically what we expect In our society now, which cares more about profit than people But we still shouldn't just like not talk about it because we're not we should still call it out and shame these idiots Who do things like this that are just absolutely to the detriment of public health and just humanity in general So we've been seeing a bit of friendly competition between two oligarchs Elon musk and jeff bezos and as you all know by now elan musk He has his space company space x and blue origin is owned by jeff bezos So these two oligarchs have been competing for a private government contract with nasa that is very very lucrative And unfortunately for jeff bezos elan musk emerged victorious However, there are some united states senators one in particular who feel really bad that this oligarch didn't get this multi billion dollar contract for his private space firm So what did the senate decide to do? carve out their own Allocation of resources so jeff bezos can also get his own Private government contract so both of these oligarchs can be satisfied I wish I were making this up, but I'm not the details are that shocking So as sarah sarota and ryan grim of the intercept report Now that jeff bezos's space flight company blue origin has lost a multi billion dollar contract to elan musk space x Congress is prepping the ground for bezos to win a contract anyway ordering nasa to make not one But two awards the order would come through the endless frontier act a bill to beef up resources for science and technology research That's being debated on the senate floor this week an amendment was added to that legislation by senator maria Cantwell of washington to hand over 10 billion dollars to nasa money that will most likely go to blue origin A company that's headquartered in cantwell's home state. Oh very telling cantwell's amendment is no sure about though senator bernie sanders introduced the last minute amendment monday to eliminate the 10 billion dollars Quote it does not make a lot of sense to me that we would provide billions of dollars to a company owned by the wealthiest guy in america sanders Told the intercept on tuesday blue origin spent 625 000 lobbying the senate in the first three months of 2021 according to lobbying disclosure records Among that spending was 50 000 to a team of lobbyists at a firm called clark hill that would specifically focus on the moon landing program The team includes john colberson a former member of the house from texas and one time chair of the house appropriations subcommittee That covers science policy the white house also appointed colberson last year To the national space council users advisory group that makes policy recommendations to nasa After the laws blue origin and dynamics filed protests with the government accountability office Which currently remain open but congress seems to want to bypass the watchdog with a multi-billion dollar handout to nasa To award more contracts So this is being done at the behest of jeff bezos presumably just to make sure that he's happy Are we shocked? I don't think anyone who watches this channel and knows that we live in a late-stage capitalist society is going to be shocked by this But I mean this is why I say all the time that normal americans do not have an impact on policy outcomes And also because this is backed up by political science research So a 2014 princeton university study confirmed that normal americans have a statistically insignificant impact on policy outcomes However, when they measured the impact and influence of business interests and elites And how much sway they have over policy outcomes. They have all the say over policy outcomes And we're seeing this in action not only does maria can't well Want this contract awarded because this is essentially pork this benefits her estate It'll create jobs in her estate But also because they want to make sure that jeff bezos Who may or may not fund future campaigns who's been lobbying a lot of members of congress They want to make sure that this individual stays happy And so if you're forced to choose between one of two companies both run by oligarchs with a lot of power and influence Well, I mean, what's the best step to take? You just make both of them happy and you award the contract originally to one company But then you carve out a special exemption for jeff bezos company as well and make sure that his company gets billions of dollars too This is in a country where we have to beg the democratic party's president Joe Biden to just cancel $10,000 of student loan debt Where you have to beg the president to give us the $2,000 that he promised as opposed to $1,400 the water down amount but yet when it comes to things like this They have all the money in the world now. I subscribe to modern monetary theory So I do not believe that tax is fun spending But if you are of the belief that we only have a limited amount of resources Which the overwhelming majority of members of congress do and in the senate does does I mean, are they not showing where their priorities lie? Are they not telling you everything that you need to know about them? They care more about the feelings of oligarchs than they do About normal americans and that is morally reprehensible So I mean, I don't have much commentary to add here I think that the details of the story speaks for itself And I think that if you live in washington state Then you should have a lot of questions for your senator who very clearly isn't looking out for your interests And she seems to be fighting harder for a multi-billionaire in oligarch than you And you should ask her about this the next time you have the opportunity to do so at a town hall So I was today years old when I found out that if you feed your children a particular brand of cereal That cereal could actually either turn them gay or make them question their gender identity And this is actually the point Of the cereal company in producing said cereal And if you don't believe me Well, I'm going to have a serious news person on a very serious news network explain to you how this is actually the case All right, woke culture is annoying folks, right plain and simple These nonsense ideologies are being forced into our everyday lives. Listen to the latest lunacy Kellogg's a cereal brand has come out with a woke cereal. Yes a woke cereal This new cereal called together with pride features all the Kellogg's cereal characters like Tony the tiger and toucan sam on the box to promote Pride month come on man. The cereal is rainbow hearts covered in edible glitter How nice give me a break. Here's the worst part the cereal slogan Too amazing to put into a box and then list a space for kids to write in their own pronouns Seriously, whatever happened to box tops on cereal boxes. Now you have pronoun spaces Anyway, isn't Kellogg's a little late to this woke game by the way general Mills has a I think general Mills has a gay leprechaun, right? Well, my producer carly asked me is that leprechaun really gay? I said, I don't know baby. Where's high heeled shoes prances around in tights leads me to believe Probably That little lucky charm leprechaun might be gay But here's the thing for those of you that want to vilify me for those comments right right there Aren't you just as offended by the flamboyant rainbow hearts and glitter as a symbol of gayness See they're two standards here Nothing like forcing our kids to be confused about their gender first thing in the morning with their breakfast All right, the moral of the story here is Switch your kids to granola. It's healthier. Anyway, you cut the sugar Okay, and then you don't have to buy products from woke companies like ben and jerry's coke And Kellogg's okay I'm gonna preface this entire conversation by saying that I am fully aware of the fact that Companies like Kellogg's and other multi-billion dollar companies Are trying to hijack pride in order to virtue signal in a shameless attempt to cultivate goodwill and cash in on pride That is absolutely the case. I don't think anyone from the lgbtq plus community would deny that and it feels a little bit gross Right, so we all acknowledge this. It's not like we're all raw raw when when we see shell Who is destroying the planet change their logo to the rainbow flag? Like that is nothing more than corporate pr but Of all the issues that affect the lgbtq plus community corporate hijacking of pride is like At the very very bottom of the issues that I care about I care more about equality And if these large multinational corporations want to change their rainbow logo um That's their own prerogative I'll just be sure to avoid all the comments underneath their social media posts when they do this because they're very homophobic and transphobic Having said that though It's interesting to me because individuals like this guy the newsmax host. What's the main criticism? That the like the main thing that they'll say about the wokesters They'll say they're too hypersensitive. They get offended too easily But yet in his criticism of woke cereal He sounds a lot like the wokesters that he's criticizing. Doesn't he? Sound a little bit too easily sensitive Isn't the things that he's saying about this cereal box A little bit snowflakey. Is it just me? He says woke culture is annoying These woke ideologies are being forced into our everyday lives I mean, I literally wouldn't have even heard about this cereal had it not been for the segment I mean, maybe I'm just not hip with what the kids are eating nowadays But these are things that aren't necessarily being shoved down your throats You know, this is one thing that homophobes and anti-lgbtq plus people say they'll say the heightened visibility of gay people And the gay flag rather this is just you know that ideology Being shoved down our throats when in actuality They just don't want to be reminded that gay and trans people exist That is the core issue here. It's not that like it's changing Our lives in a real concrete way his life isn't being changed at all Because of homosexuality or people being transgender But to him by invisibility, that's the issue because look, let's face it. He's offended by it He's a little snowflake who doesn't want to see the rainbow flag because he probably has some issues with his own gender identity or sexual orientation and You know, it reminds him that he could have been living an entirely different life Had he not been brainwashed by a particular religion? I don't know not going to try to psychoanalyze him too much But he's being a snowflake right here. That's the bottom line now furthermore. He goes on to argue I think general mills has a gay leprechaun, right? He wears high heel shoes and prances around in tights Now, I don't know what the point of this Part was maybe he's trying to say look Kellogg's they're not doing anything innovative than new And he'd be correct about that But those aren't high heels or tights my dude like what? Were you looking at the picture as you had it up on the screen? I will say though as for his observation that the lucky charms leprechaun may be gay I will actually concede that that's very possible. I always kind of like thought of him as being pansexual possibly bisexual but I think that is a relatively astute observation for a newsmax host so Good on him for catching that But he adds for those of you who want to vilify me for those comments Aren't you just as offended by the flamboyant rainbow hearts and glitter as a symbol of gayness? Well, no Because unlike you, I don't get offended by serial boxes Like he's trying so hard to sell the outrage, but This is nothing I don't get it like this is why I have a hard time taking any conservative serious because These are the things that they talk about on a supposedly serious news network Serial boxes being woke and turning your children gay and that's like the main argument that he's making here He says that this is bad The reason why this is an issue and it's not just about him being a snowflake is because there are two standards here Nothing like forcing our kids to be confused about their gender first thing in the morning with their breakfast So he's arguing literally that if your kid sees this cereal box, they're going to start being confused about their gender First of all if your kid is confused about their gender I don't think it's because of a cereal box, but if we granted that it was due to the cereal box Then wouldn't you also be as equally concerned at your child seeing the honey net Cheerios honeybee on the box? Like wouldn't they start to think that they're a honeybee wouldn't they think that if they saw the mario Serial that they could take off their hat throw it and then jump on it to get onto higher platforms. I mean Are you serious? Like there's no way that he's serious I know that conservatives use hyperbole to make their arguments and they try to sell it as a literal argument Does he actually believe this is he stupid enough to think that a cereal box is going to make your kid question their gender Is that honestly what you believe like I want to ask him this question Do you genuinely believe that if you give your child this cereal and they see the box and they can fill out their own pronouns All of a sudden they're going to be gay or transgender. Is that honestly what you think? I mean Jesus christ how fragile are your children perhaps You're a bad parent if your kid is that easily persuaded and you need to instill You know some foundational values into them. Well, maybe you shouldn't do that But I mean like perhaps your kid should know about empirical reality Perhaps you should be educating your kid if your kid is that like easily manipulated Then you've got a lot more issues to be concerned with than Their gender identity and sexuality when they grow up. I just like it's never ever not Astonishing to me to see how they will simultaneously denounce The hypersensitivity of the woke people and then while they're denouncing the wokesters They act like the biggest snowflakes ever. It's just honestly the irony is lost on them But I will never not point this out because I genuinely enjoy Showcasing their blatant hypocrisy. It's just honestly it's too much So I very rarely get to talk about good news on this program because usually there isn't much Good news, but believe it or not I actually have a little bit of a dose of hopium for you and it is it's pure raw hopium that you can inject directly into your veins And this is some good news regarding the fight to stop climate catastrophe And this could be the start of something very very significant So for more on this we go to Jessica Corbett of common dreams who explains climate campaigners worldwide are celebrating after a dutch court on wednesday Ordered fossil fuel giant royal Dutch shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared with 2019 levels A historic ruling that activists hope is just the beginning of holding the oil and gas industry accountable for driving the climate emergency This is a landslide victory for climate justice said sarah Shaw of friends of the earth international Our hope is that this verdict will trigger a wave of climate litigation against big polluters to force them to stop Extracting and burning fossil fuels. This result is a win for communities in the global south who face devastating climate impacts Now the first of its kind ruling which shell told the wall street journal It expects to appeal came from the district court in the Hague And is the result of legal action brought by friends of the earth netherlands along with over 17 000 individuals and six other organizations the individual Plaintiffs and groups which included action aid both ends fossil vreege and l greenpeace netherlands Jongren milieu actif and the waden verringin I'm not even gonna try i'm so sorry for butchering that demanded that shells emissions reduction goals align with the paris climate agreement Which aims to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 the court orders Royal Dutch shell to reduce its co2 output and those of its suppliers and buyers by the end of 2030 By a net of 45 based on 2019 levels the court said according to agents france press Royal Dutch shell has to implement this decision at once So I know that this seems insignificant right now and perhaps at this moment It isn't going to amount to that much right? This is just one court who's saying one company has to comply with this reduction in emissions Having said that though as the article pointed out This could be the moment where the dam bursts open We just needed a little bit of a leak And now the floodgates may be opening up But we don't know but I want to get to some reactions from individuals who have been following this Bill McKibbin writes Wow. Wow. Wow. Dutch court orders shell to cut the absolute level of its carbon emissions almost in half by 2030 This could be game changing Jillian Ambrose who is a journalist for the guardian who covers energy and the fossil fuel industry writes It is genuinely hard to overstate quite how big a deal this ruling is for shell and the oil industry Shell said it plans to appeal the quote disappointing decision of the Dutch courts But it might be a better use of time to figure out how to make these carbon cuts Roger Cox lawyer for friends of the earth never been said this is a turning point in history The first time a judge has ordered a large polluting corporation to comply with the paris climate agreement This ruling may also have major consequences for other big polluters Sarah Shaw from friends of the earth international added Our hope is that this verdict will trigger a wave of climate litigation against big polluters to force them to stop Extracting and burning fossil fuels. This result is a win for communities everywhere who face devastating climate impacts now So in other words, this is kind of a signal to smaller countries in the global south who are already dealing with the climate crisis to say hey this case Showed that you can actually sue because you deserve to have a planet That is habitable free of pollution and in your area these polluters Who are absolutely decimating Your your countries your states You can actually now take action and be successful Now the last thing that I want to share the last reaction that I want to share Is a video from the attorney in this case Or one of the attorneys i'm assuming and also the director of friends of the earth international This is what they have to say about this. This is a historical moment for all of us For the first time in history a judge has ordered one of the largest polluters to stop Contributing to dangerous climate change The judge was crystal clear Shell causes Dangerous climate change and shell should stop immediately with doing that It's a clear signal to all polluters in the world. You should get your act together This is a major victory for the planet For the 17 000 co-planetives the millions of people that have supported us in this court case for my three kids that now have A clear perspective on a safe and healthy planet and future and for all children in the world I am a happy man today. I think the world the world looks a bit brighter today than it did yesterday I think this is a groundbreaking and historical verdict. We're very happy with that obviously We also think that this will have a ripple effect in other jurisdictions and we expect a lot of similar climate cases around the world against the big polluters Uh, so yeah, this gives this gives us also a hope that the energy transition that needs to speed up and needs to speed up quickly Can actually happen Through these forceful measures Uh, so happy that we're here. So look This might not amount too much in the end. Perhaps shell appeals this ruling and they win Perhaps this doesn't actually trigger other litigation Against these fossil fuel companies. That is a possibility But also it's very possible that This is a turning point as climate activists Like bill mckibben are saying it is possible that this could actually be the start of a wave of litigation against The biggest fossil fuel extractors and polluters, you know around the globe This could be the moment Where we look back in history and say that was the start Of when we saved the planet I don't know We don't know we don't know what's going to happen. Nobody has a crystal ball. Nobody can read the future But what I do know is that for all the cynicism that's inside of me This is at least giving me a little bit of hope That with the little bit of time we have left Maybe it's possible that we stop the worst of what climate change has to offer again Maybe it's too late, but maybe it isn't but what I do know is that this is definitely fantastic news And uh, I will take it You don't see any linkage between donald trump saying election stolen and then Republicans in all of these state legislatures rushing to put in place these restrictive voter laws Well, I think you have to look at the specifics of each one of those efforts I think if you look at the georgia laws, for example, there's been a lot that's been said nationally about the georgia Voter laws that turns out not to be true but Even the republican lieutenant governor of georgia jeff duncans said that there was When this bill started to pick up momentum was when rudy juliani was testifying that the georgia election was a sham I don't think anyone doubts that the reason 400 some Voting bills have been introduced 90 by republicans supported by the republican national committee I don't think it's a coincidence After the election that this has happened Look, I think everybody should want a situation and a system where people who ought to be able to vote and have the right to vote can vote And people who, you know, don't shouldn't and and again, I come back to things like voter ideas What problem are they solving for like there's not like what are all these states doing? No, I think well each state is different. What was the big problem in georgia that needed to be solved by a new law What was the big problem in texas? What was the big problem in florida? What was the These laws are coming all around the states and like what are they solving for? I think you've got to look at each individual state law But I think what we can all agree on you can't divorce them from the context. Well, that was los cheney And after spending weeks trying to convince all of us that she's principled and she cares deeply about democracy She's refusing to acknowledge that the big lie which she rightfully condemns Is the catalyst for all of these republican-led efforts across the country to further crack down on voting rights Now this is not the first time that she showed her true colors when it comes to this issue and showed how disingenuous She is because in my appearance on tyti, I explained why if she genuinely cares about democracy as much as she says she does There's one bill she could have supported that would have proven it to us A broken clock is right twice a day and Liz cheney Thankfully is objectively correct on this issue having said that though It does worry me and I'm going to get a little bit more cynical here That democrats like Nancy Pelosi applaud her for her courageous Because it's not like Liz cheney is doing this because she genuinely cares about democracy if she cared about democracy She would have supported hr1 before the people act it passed the house and Liz cheney voted nay on the for the people Act so she actually cared about the legislative push around the country using the big lie that she's denouncing now She would have supported that piece of legislation Excellent point mike Now there's one more piece of evidence That should convince anyone who's in denial that the big lie is what's fueling all of these efforts across the country to actually crack down Further on voting rights It's a poll from Reuters and ipsos that found that republicans across the country overall believe That trump is actually the true president not joe biden and because the last election was stolen in their opinion They believe that these laws across the country in georgia and florida are actually Warranted there are a legitimate response to an election that they believe was stolen now for more on this Reuters explains 56 percent of republicans believe The election was rigged or the result of illegal voting and 53 percent think donald trump is the actual president not joe biden Literally delusional Only 30 percent of republicans feel confident that absentee or malin ballots were accurately counted compared to 86 percent of democrats and 55 percent of independents As a result 87 percent of republicans believe it is important that the government place new limits on voting to protect elections from fraud So even the republicans like brian kemp and brad raffensperger in georgia who did not go along with trump's big lie They're still benefiting from it They're using that big lie as a justification to further crack down on voting rights that disproportionately harms democratic party voters people of color in particular And helps them because they know that when voter turnout is lower republicans are more likely To win and even though this cheney will condemn the big lie She won't condemn how her party is using the big lie as a justification to suppress voting rights So make no mistake about it. Liz cheney is a liar She's telling on herself here. She's telling you that she doesn't actually care about the big lie Even if what she's saying here is objectively correct I mean Should she really be paraded around as if she's a hero? I mean nancy polosi applauded her for being so courageous and the mainstream media is propping her up as some sort of like Principal republican who america really needs She doesn't care about democracy. She's doing this specifically for attention because there is a demand However, a bigger small it may be within her party for some Leader to emerge to be the antithesis of donald trump and she wants to fill that void I mean, it seems like that's not working out yet But in the event she wants to run for president Perhaps she could present herself as the main alternative to donald trump or a trumpian republican like ronda sandis I'm not sure but what I do know is that don't fall for liz cheney Sure, she's correct that the election was in stolen and trump's big lie was harmful But she then subsequently denies why it's harmful because of things like this voter suppression efforts like this using trump's big lie To justify their crackdown on voting rights liz cheney is absolutely Shameless and nobody should applaud her for doing the bare minimum and acknowledging reality In the beginning of april forbes reported that the biden administration was actively considering cancelling student loan debt of up to $50,000 And after nearly two months of deliberation Predictably the biden administration has decided that they're not going to do the popular and sensible thing It's a no now as zack freedman of forbes explains according to the washington post President joe biden will not include any student loan cancellation in his annual budget While the annual budget which is expected at the end of next week only contains major policy plans that have already been released by the biden administration It's another major policy setback for student loan cancellation As a presidential candidate biden called for congress to cancel up to $10,000 of student loans for student loan borrowers But hasn't enacted any policy for student loan cancellation through an executive order and that's his issue So it seems as if he doesn't want to cancel student loan debt via executive order if he's going to cancel anything He wants it to be done Legislatively, but yet he also isn't Really fighting to get rid of the filibuster and even if that were the case he doesn't want to cancel more than $10,000 So um Yeah, this is a bad idea In 2022 what democrats need is one Surefire thing that they could point to and brag about To get young people motivated to come out they could say look we canceled 10,000 25,000 $50,000 worth of student debt And if you want more relief come out and vote for us And we'll do something else we'll do x y z but They're not choosing to do that And people are rightfully speculating whether or not they even want to win as nathan j robertson of current affairs points out It's insanity one for the my god. They must be trying to lose file Think how easy it is to make the case for voting democrat to a young person who has $10,000 less debt Because of you and how much harder it is to make the case to a young person who expected that and was lied to And that's exactly it If you run on the most progressive policy platform ever You have to deliver on at least some promises But it's been a couple of months into biden's administration and he's already walked back Uh key promises the public option anybody heard about the public option? No When it comes to deportations even though initially he tried to halt deportations for the first 100 days After a court blocked that Well, he ended up going on to be as terrible as obama when it comes to the issue of deportations And on israel palestine also predictably terrible So the thing is biden Has to put up Otherwise in 2022 democrats aren't going to fare too well Because they need turnout to be high They need to not to be higher than usual considering all of the voter suppression efforts taking place in republican controlled states Across the country. So you need more people than ever to come out and joe biden isn't giving people that much of a reason Yes, he's done some positive things the covet relief package the $1,400 stimulus that was supposed to be 2000 That was helpful even if he did go back on that promise His handling of covet 19 his rollout of vaccinations has been good But really what you want to do is motivate young people to get out and vote Who the democrats always fail to mobilize and the easiest thing you can do is just cancel at least $10,000 of sit-in debt via executive order. He should be canceling the 50,000 worth, but even just 10,000 I mean That's objectively good for young people, right? You can't deny it's less than it should be It's less than elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and any other presidential candidate But it's undeniably a good thing even if it is just an incremental step But he won't even do that because he wants to have it take place legislatively Okay Well, if you are still trying to work with republicans on every single thing and you're unwilling to take executive action Then uh, don't complain when you lose ground in 2022 Because this is what's going to happen if you refuse to actually be bold and meet the moment Over the course of the last couple of weeks I've applauded the squad for being courageous and brave in standing up to the biden administration Because he offers unconditional support to israel while they commit atrocities in gaza So, you know, it's important to give them credit where it's due I believe in positive reinforcement, but I also believe in objectivity and when they let us down When they aren't courageous and bold I think we also have to point that out as well And this issue that we're going to talk about is explicitly the fault of a couple of members of the squad Who at the last moment Chose not to hold strong chose to buckle under pressure So the founder of the civil rights corps Alec Caracad-Sanis gives us the details about what happened in a thread on twitter A major scandal is happening right this moment on the house floor and he wrote this on may 20th By the way, uh mainstream democrats are quietly trying to ram through a 1.9 billion dollar budget increase to the capital police military And dhs supposedly because january 6th Showed that they need more funding for those of you who are new to this of the many things that went wrong on january 6th Insufficient funding for capital police and bloated military bureaucracy Was not one of them. This is part of a long pattern Police work with liberal reformers to use their own violence waste brutality and incompetence to justify increased budgets All people of goodwill must speak out against the latest attempt by the democrats to waste money expanding state bureaucracy Violence militarization and surveillance all of these instruments will be turned against the most vulnerable people in our society Some of the only people opposing this violent nonsense are ilhan omar ianna pressley quarry bush aoc jamal bowman and rishita toleib So i just want to pause and give you some further context these things that Lawmakers know will be unpopular that they try to rush through. I mean, this is just shameless, but now thankfully we have principal progressives who are willing to stand up and block these sorts of things From getting passed. I mean when you see something that's really harmful and egregious I think that you have a responsibility to speak up and stop it if you're aware of it Sometimes lawmakers vote on things that they don't even know about right, but here. Thankfully they caught it And they stopped it from happening that the votes to stop it or so we thought from passing but unfortunately Alec chimed in with an update that is just devastating and quite frankly depressing Devastating news this dangerous bill passed 213 to 212 with representative aoc rishita toleib and jamal bowman abandoning their positions and voting present Instead of against it thus supporting giving cops more money and weapons to use against the most vulnerable people I want to repeat that It passed 213 to 212 And it's because three members of the squad caved Had they voted against it rather than voting present They would have effectively blocked this this is absolutely excusable And it shows a real lack of courage and an unwillingness to lead now first of all Let me just give credit to ianna pressley quarry bush and illan omar for standing strong here There was no reason to buckle they had the votes to stop this but because of their refusal to stay strong It passed I mean what were they thinking? I mean there has to be some sort of explanation here Why they backed down where they promised something? I mean this really is one of those instances where i'm not going to be overly charitable here and try to justify their actions There's really no excuse for this You let us down period You let us down at a time when we needed you and now the military dhs Capitol police they're going to get more funding because you chose to vote present rather than voting against it Now let me remind you of a correct criticism of tulsi gabbert when she voted present When it came to donald trump's second impeachment. This is what aoc said Today was very consequential and to not take a stand one way or another in a day of such grave consequence to this country Is quite difficult We're sent here to lead she said and guess what? Representative alexandria ocaizio-cortez was 100 correct right there in her criticism of tulsi gabbert. It was A cowardly stand to vote president then and this is very cowardly right now So I think that because The left supported these members of congress and helped them get elected It is important that they explain to us why at the time when they really could have flexed their muscle They let us down and they voted present When they could have easily defeated this effort to increase funding to the military and dhs and capital police I mean It's just it's really disappointing This is damaging not just because of the policy implications of what they just let happen but also because new justice democrats will be running for congress in 2022 And people who have funded your campaigns Are no longer going to want to fund the campaigns of new progressives because they're going to think Oh, well, if you're just going to cave when we need you the most What's the point of giving my hard-earned dollars to these new progressives? So they have to be bold And they have to prove to people That them being in congress is useful and it is useful, right? They just demonstrated how courageous they were over the course of the last couple of weeks When they boldly denounced israel and the biden administration when rishita talib confronted biden to his face Over his support for israel, but now less than a week later to do this and cave It's just it's deeply deeply discouraging and I hope That they truly learn from this experience and do better because this ain't it here And this is hurtful long term to the movement and electing more electing more progressives overall So this is absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable And I hope that they address this and I hope that a journalist Actually who has the ability to ask them about this does question them here because this is something that absolutely cannot stand You were sent to congress to represent the interests of the people and you ran against Increases to the military for our police state And for you to do this is absolutely a betrayal that I hope they apologize for and correct In february of this year, I was supposed to give a keynote speech at georgia southern university Before the event I refused to sign a state mandated pledge to not boycott israel in order to speak My invitation was rescinded and the conference canceled as a result I decided to sue the state of georgia because signing an anti bds clause in order to work in the state Is a direct violation of my constitutional rights to free speech and to participate in political boycotts So not too long ago in this program We talked about a lawsuit involving abby martin and the state of georgia as it relates to their anti bds laws And back then I said that this was one of the most important cases relating to free speech in america because the implications of this law Are absolutely truly far reaching and how shameless the state of georgia was In their disregard for the u.s constitution and freedom of speech. I mean if something like this were to stand I mean, I don't even know what to say It would just be bad for free speech in america and if you truly care about freedom of speech Then this is one of those issues where you had to pay attention to the outcome of this Now i'll link you to that down below if you want some more details But I do want to talk about this again because there's a major update to this particular story as partnership for civil justice fund tweets Breaking huge victory in our bds free speech case in georgia on behalf of abby martin federal court rules georgia's anti bds law unconstitutional Violates abby's first amendment and due process rights by demanding. She renounced support for bds Co-counsel or care national and pc jf Now in response to this abby martin released the statement Uh, but first via twitter She says proud to announce that we have officially one hour lawsuit against the state of georgia's anti bds law Which has been struck down as a result of our case and her statement reads I am thrilled at the judge's decision to strike down this law That so clearly violates the free speech rights of myself and so many others in georgia My first amendment rights were restricted on behalf of a foreign government Which flies in the face of the principles of freedom and democracy The government of israel has pushed state legislatures to enact these laws Only because they know that sympathy and support for the population they brutalize occupy ethnically cleanse and subject to apartheid Is finally growing in popular consciousness They want to hold back the tide of justice by preemptively restricting the right of american citizens to peacefully take a stand Against their crimes as the world watches israeli aggression continue in jerusalem the west bank and against the population of besieges in gaza It has never been more urgent to advance the boycott divestment and sanctions movement Against the israeli regime the striking of this law is a necessary and timely opening to build this urgent task And so now the law that's on the books in georgia is officially unenforceable because predictably It violates the constitution the question was whether or not a court would agree that it violates the constitution But to to think that it doesn't violate the constitution would be Unthinkable you would have to not know anything about the constitution and it would be Um absurd for a judge to not see this For what it is and georgia knew that they were in trouble and they knew that this law was unconstitutional because Once they learned about this lawsuit. They tried to actually change the law In order to have the case dismissed so that way, you know The judge wouldn't be able to accept this case because well if they changed the law Then we're just ruling on an old law But thankfully this went in the right direction and we finally have some good news in america as it relates to freedom of speech And uh the bds movement in america and anyone who actually purports to care about freedom of speech But didn't actually talk about this case Which is incredibly consequential I don't believe that they're truly Aware of the threats to freedom of speech and democracy So credit to abby martin what she did here truly is one of the most important things to advance This push back against you know repressing civil rights and civil liberties in america And uh, this is absolutely huge and I applaud her for this and uh, i'm just I'm just happy that this went the way that it did it shouldn't be shocking Like we shouldn't feel relieved that a judge Saw something for what it was as being brazenly unconstitutional But in america when up is down and left is right and people are denying Empirical reality It still feels nice to confirm that what is obvious is indeed the case The law where they brazenly shut down freedom of speech of people because of their political belief or participation in a movement Is unconstitutional and um, it's now struck down All right, folks, that is all that I have for you this week Thank you so much if you've tuned in and made it this far in the episode I really appreciate all of your viewership As usual before we leave i'm uh, gonna thank all of the people Who support us on patreon and paypal and if you want more of the humanist report as always You can watch us on twitch.tv slash humanist report on thursdays at 7 p.m BST. I'm there every single week And we've got more news when it comes to my live streams coming very very shortly So I will see you all next week. I don't think I have anything left to talk about I'm spent my my brain is mush now underneath these really hot lights So i'll see you all next week. Take care everyone. My name is mike figurado. This has been the humanist report. Bye