Some More News - SMN: Loud, Celebrity Politicians – Part Two: The Democrats

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Sources:

Previously on Some More News. Just stop stabbing my calves! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Don't! That's! Three! No! You f***ing evil! You evil f***ing sock! You dog! He ruins everything! And now, the thrilling conclusion.

Oh my god! Warbo shot Beetlejuice! He's dead! Why would that even work? Doesn't matter. Get bent! Hey everybody, welcome! Here's some news!

It's part two of our deep-ish dive into the most famous and loudest politicians, and whether they actually do what they say, or indeed get anything done at all. I say deep-ish because to be frank, it's pretty hard to condense some of these careers into a few minutes. Hard for other people, I mean. We are nailing it. So last week we dunked on a bunch of repubs.

So it's only right that we slap down some democs too, because I'm sure they will be just as bad. Yes siree. Okay, spoilers. This episode will be a tad different. Last time we discovered that although the reality on the ground varies by representative, widespread fame often forces them to take part

in a national narrative rather than being able to drill down and focus on helping their constituents. If in fact they even meant to do that. And for the GOP, that national narrative is often assuring us that the status quo is in fact good and there's no need to try new things. And in fact, we need to go backward on human rights issues. This often created a contrast

where they would either ignore the problems in their district or quietly improve those problems using strategies they very loudly spoke out against. The word hypocrite was used a lot. With progressives and Democrats, the pattern is a bit different. They often speak out about fixing income inequality and homelessness and lack of healthcare,

which are things that greatly affect Americans more than, I don't know, pronouns. Don't get me wrong, they're still hypocrites, but it's usually manifested in big gestures that end up being performative. So will the Ds out integrity the Rs or prove just as ruinous both for the people who elect them and this newsman's mental health.

There's only one way to find out. Also, Warmbo has a gun now. He's armed. The Loudest Democrat Politicians, part two, The Scar Giver. Ah yes, continuing our rebel moon, Beetlejuice, warm bow wrestling theme. So while we've been going over each politician

one at a time, the first three folks here burst through the roof of my atrium, expensive ass atrium by the way, just renovated, and demanded to be treated as a team. Is it weird to lump them together? Yeah, kinda, but it's what they insisted. I'm talking of course about several members of the squad. You know the squad.

There are actually eight total members, four of which joined after their initial formation. They are seen as being some of the most left wing and progressive people in the House of Representatives. Probably got matching tats and special super rings that when combined form Bernie Sanders, who says his famous catchphrase, with your powers combined, please leave me alone.

I am so tired. With your powers combined, whatever, however he says it. I would reckon that the squad is seen on the right, the same way people on the left look at Lauren Boebert and MTG and the Gates. Extremists in our government looking to push their beliefs on America. In this case, healthcare, green energy

and woke stuff too, I bet. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the cool one. First up is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aka the Peregrine. You know her, she's a young, hip, dancing Democrat who plays Among Us, and she authored the Green New Deal that got the red light. And before we go into it, please note that, like our previous episode, we're focused mostly

on domestic issues, legislation, earmarks, improving the lives of constituents in districts or states. So we're not gonna talk about things like AOC changing her vote for funding Israel's Iron Dome from no to present in 2021, apologizing for it to her constituents in a letter, and after October 7th saying she's opened up to funding the Iron Dome,

assuming that's all she's voting to fund. Although she has been pretty consistent in voting against defense budget increases in the United States. But again, we're not gonna talk about that, even though we just did. Anywho, she reps chunks of Queens and the Bronx that form New York's 14th district, where about 15% of people live below the poverty line.

About half the population is foreign born and big industries include office and administrative support, food prep and sales. The 14th was especially hard hit by COVID and is facing an acute affordability crisis. AOC has positioned herself as a breath of fresh air whose social media literacy lets her mobilize grassroots efforts like never before.

She upset longtime Democratic incumbent Joseph Crowley in 2018 at the ripe young age of 28. That, why does ripe young age sound so much worse than ripe old age? Anyway, she crushed Crowley with more than 57% of the vote. The question is, has she since been able to help the people who put her in office? Conservative media is more than happy to point out

that Ocasio-Cortez failed to get any of her bills out of committee her freshman year. But as we noted in the last episode, that's true of most freshman representatives. On the other hand, Alexandria's not only been willing to apply for federally earmarked funds to benefit her district, she's gone ahead and maxed out the number of requests that are even possible,

equating to funding 15 different projects in just the 2023 fiscal year. Those earmarks include multiple housing projects, including permanent housing for homeless adults with mental illnesses. Also, restorations for the New York Botanical Gardens, safety improvements for specific intersections, literacy services for immigrants,

and the development of a pre-K learning program for the New York Hall of Science. Basically, it's a lot of money requests based around improving public spaces in her area in order to promote community. Something that seems good, and in a lot of cases directly addressed the needs of her constituents.

Finally, she voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan that injected COVID recovery resources into her district. Also seems good, but it might be woke. And I, ah, maybe I just don't realize how woke it is. Woke often lurks in the shadows. Quick detour, now is a good time to talk about earmarks because a lot of Democrats are in favor of them or at least not strongly against them.

As we saw in the last episode, Republicans use them just as much if not more, but tend to act more concerned about them. In short, the con side of earmarks is that they historically can be used for corruption. Earmarks are requests for money by specific lawmakers to help their district. And in the past, lawmakers have used earmarks

to cover up bribes. But assuming a more transparent system, the pro is that earmarks are a fast way for politicians to actually help their districts. Without earmarks, all that money is distributed by the president and their cabinet, putting way more power in the executive branch. Also, it's not like politicians can't do corrupt stuff

without earmarks, they are, after all, politicians. All in all, earmarks are the perfect representation of that stereotypical dichotomy of sleazy money hog Democrats and sinister, compassionless Republicans. Except I'd argue the Republicans are also corrupt money hogs and Democrats are also compassionless. So let's just have earmarks is my point, detour over. Beep, beep or whatever.

So in a political landscape where it's almost impossible to get laws made, AOC is not being shy about loading up at the earmark buffet and taking food back for the fam. You know, hidden in watered up napkins and stuffed into her pockets like a real penny saver. That said, she's also come under fire for voting against the same Biden infrastructure bill we took several GOPers to task for in our previous episode,

arguing that it didn't go far enough, but in effect rejecting funds that will benefit her district. And that's not nothing. If we are to be fair here, we have to point out that she voted against the interest of her district to make a stance on principles, which ultimately isn't different from the GOP members who voted against this.

On the other hand, of course it's different. For one, AOC doesn't think it goes far enough to mitigate climate change, while GOP members voted against it because it believes in climate change and they don't, and embraces clean energy, which I guess they don't like. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Republicans who voted for it, traitors, while if you recall,

her district has been quietly benefiting from the renewable energy measures she's so loudly against. In other words, reasons matter. You could argue that both AOC and MTG knew the bill would be passed either way. And so their votes are symbolic of what they believe can help the country and their districts. And both of them have earmarked funds

for specific infrastructure projects in their districts. Meaning that the subject of infrastructure, it's kind of a wash, except one of them isn't a hypocrite. AOC very loudly calls for clean energy while also loudly promoting renewable projects in her district. While MTG is very loudly against clean energy while quietly accepting renewable projects in her district.

In both cases, those projects are helping the people there. It honestly must be exhausting for the GOP to flip flop back and forth while all AOC has to do is what she says. You have it easy, Ocasio-Cortez. Ilhan Omar, abolish, I mean, fund the police. In 2019, Ilhan Omar became one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress after fleeing Mogadishu, Somalia

with her family in 1995. Neat, but not an easy role, and one that put Omar at the center of controversy immediately, in the sense that someone being harassed with racist, sexist, Islamophobic rhetoric is at the center of that, like the eye of a shit storm. Ilhan also landed in hot shit water

after criticizing the US's unwavering support of the Israeli government to the detriment of Palestinians, so she knows her way around a bold stance. She was a senior policy aid for Minnesota politicians before making her bid for the state house seat, and now represents Minnesota's largest district, the Fifth, which includes a big swath of Minneapolis, home to the very rich and very poor alike,

and boasting the highest unemployment rate in the state. The Fifth is also notably diverse. It has dogs and cats. Where AOC's main benefit to her voting base seems to come in the form of earmark funds and not much else, Ilhan is a famously effective legislator, often able to wrangle the circular firing squad that is the progressive movement and work toward compromises

that bring about, you know, stuff happens, stuff that actually happens. Ilhan's stuff has included whipping the votes for the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which it says here funds a team of elite mutant superheroes to safeguard the city. I don't think that's right at all. That's, why would you make me say that? Okay.

I'm pretty sure that refers to the 2019 bill that stalled in the Senate, but went on to provide the blueprint for the drug negotiation program attached to the Inflation Reduction Act. The law allows Medicare to negotiate the price of 10 commonly used drugs, and is expected to save the government

almost $100 billion over the next decade, as well as reduce out-of-pocket costs for those medications. As for how this affects you and me and the people in her district, sadly, that's gonna take until 2028. Long enough for Democrats to be voted out for seemingly doing nothing and Republicans to move in and take credit for it.

"'But what about our precious, precious earmarks?' shriek the people of Minneapolis, AKA the Mid-Apple. Omar's coming home with $24 million worth and is asking for $31 million in fiscal year 2024. These earmarks include funding to create affordable housing for veterans, as well as other low-income projects and housing renovations for people with disabilities,

improvements to a birth center, and funding for a Native American clinic, as well as a new community assistance facility. It's pretty interesting when you look at these earmarks next to say, Lauren Boebert's, which as we noted, were entirely focused on infrastructure projects, such as road extensions and bridge renovations. Meanwhile, AOC and Omar focus on community projects

and not exclusively on concrete. Is one better than the other? I don't know. Voters need bridges and roads too. Specifically, Minnesota needs bridges and roads. So while AOC and Omar have found ways to help their districts via community projects, neither of them voted for the infrastructure bill.

Omar said that she can't support it without also passing the Build Back Better Act, the same reason AOC gave. And to be clear and fair, this was also the position of the Biden administration until they backed down from it. But I guess this would go down a little smoother if we saw some evidence of her seeking funding

specific to roads and bridges in her area. Of course, Omar has bigger racist fish to fry. The Minneapolis Police Department is rotten to the root. And so when we dismantle it, we get rid of that cancer and we allow for something beautiful to rise. And that re-imagining allows us to figure out what public safety looks like for us. Right, good idea.

You can't reform the police. You need to uproot and replace. Sweet, so you did that, right? Well, following the death of George Floyd, Omar absolutely advocated for abolishing Minneapolis' police department in favor of a department of public safety, until she almost got primaried.

Turns out this wasn't a politically safe move and Ilhan changed her tune. Instead crafting a series of police reform bills that would include deescalation training and mental health resources for cops. You might notice that this would not abolish anything. In fact, it gives the police money. The bills were met with mostly negative votes

from all the other members of the squad, passing in the House, but ultimately meeting defeat in the Senate. So basically, she put her principles on the back burner to stay in office and got nothing accomplished in the meantime. Nor did her George Floyd Justice in Policing Act make it anywhere.

And look, I get that politicians gotta politic, but it's a bit disappointing when the squad paints themselves as a movement designed to shake up the norm. And once again, Omar has had some issues with foreign policy, specifically regarding a vote against sanctioning Turkey, their military and political leaders, not their general population, and her vote against recognizing the Armenian genocide, though she is usually

much better on foreign policy issues. And ultimately, again, this is about domestic legislation. And so ultimately, even effective legislators fail to get bills through more often than not. And even progressive mavericks put their need to stay elected over their need to attempt to deliver promised wins to their base. Is this the system working as designed

or a horrible partisan gridlock that will surely crumble and kill us all like a Minnesota highway? Oh, right, Warmbo still has that gun. You know what? God, okay, let's cut to some ads. Then we'll finish up the squad and get to the really exciting people,

like Gavin Newsom. Oh boy, stop with the gun. Hello, my sweet syrupy hams. I want to talk about something really cool that we love here called Ground News. It's a platform that aggregates news articles from around the sweet syrupy world and shows them all in one place.

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I mean, for life, for the life of your subscription. Anyway, go to HungryRoot.com slash more news to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies. That's HungryRoot.com slash more news. And don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you and they so they know that you're cool Wormbo if you drop the gun and come here you get all the cookies. Yeah. Hi. Hey, everything's fine Wormbo has a gun but doesn't really know how to hold it. So most of the shots are whizzing right by his face and well Only a matter of time. Of course, he really should be paying attention now

that he's apparently been disillusioned about Joe Biden because maybe he'll find a new idol on this list. This list being Democratic politicians who talk a big game and perhaps do what they say, or maybe they don't. That's what we're trying to find out. And before the break, we were talking about the squad, not the whole squad because there's eight of those, but rather the most well-known members,

including this next one. Rashida Tlaib, not a huge fan of genocide. This is our last squad person and first Palestinian American woman ever sworn into Congress, Rashida Tlaib. Rashida reps Michigan's District 12, a young and diverse part of Detroit, AKA America's Detroit.

Rashida campaigned on community investment and has used earmarks and other funding to follow through with projects like four new community service centers, free tax preparation, and food assistance for low-income seniors. All in all, she's secured millions of dollars in earmarked funds for projects around Detroit

and is proposing an additional 44 million for local projects for 2024. Damn, those ears are marked as hell. And unlike Ilhan Omar, Rashida's earmarks actually have some focus on infrastructure, specifically several projects to remove lead pipes from Detroit. That scans considering that Michigan

is kinda the go-to destination for poison water enthusiasts. Lead and cars are their two big things. And for that second big thing, Tlaib pushed legislation that limits car insurers from using credit history, income, or education level to determine rates, an acute problem faced by many Detroiters

and another of Rashida's campaign promises. In June of 2023, the bill was quote, "'Referred to the Subcommittee on Innovation, "'Data and Commerce,' whatever the fuck that means. "'I only point that out because I found two other bills with the exact same sponsors and purpose also referred to this subcommittee in 2021 and 2019 before going silent.

Here's a press release from Tlaib in 2021 about the same damn thing. You know, can't win them all, I guess. All being this specific one thing every two years. I don't know. As a big brain politicking man, I do believe that sounds ungood. Speak English, brainiac. Though to Rashida's credit,

this is also something she's seemingly still trying to accomplish, as in she made a campaign promise and didn't just abandon it after being elected. Seems like she meant it. Anywho, Tlaib has been an outspoken advocate for the human rights of Palestinians and critic of continued US arms sales to Israel.

And here we actually are going to take a brief detour to talk about some foreign policy stances, because Rashida is rare in that those stances are part of the appeal and why she gets elected. She's outspoken and passionate about these issues and doesn't fall in line with standard Democrats. So we're mentioning it. Tlaib and Omar were two of the nine people

who voted against a recent resolution saying, "'The United States will always be a staunch partner "'and supporter of Israel.'" This has made her controversial among a peer group who are otherwise totally in line with the current US-Israel relationship, despite mounting public outcry. In 2021, before the current situation,

she was quoted as telling Biden that, "'Atrocities like bombing schools cannot be tolerated, much less conducted with US-supplied weapons.'" Oh, but they can, Rashida! That's the problem. This issue could be a whole nother episode. And in fact, will be pretty soon. Like we're working on it right now, we promise.

But it's worth pointing out because it speaks to her integrity and courage, even in the face of censure from her peers, for better or for worse. Like I for one think standing on principle is good, especially when it's involving genocide, but that might mean picking your battles for other things. For example, like AOC,

Rashida also voted against the Biden infrastructure bill and defended the move by saying it doesn't go far enough, which they are right about. Don't get me wrong. Specifically that while the bill puts money toward public transportation and electric vehicles, it doesn't tackle the primary problem of where those vehicles get their juice. Specifically from power companies that could

and maybe should be forced to build solar and wind farms. Basically the infrastructure bill is going to help a lot with our crumbling roads and lead filled pipes, but it's fairly performative when it comes to climate change which is arguably the bigger problem. We're celebrating doing the baseline long overdue maintenance while ignoring the long-term issues, like cleaning your bedroom while your house is on fire.

However, it's still a helpful bill. And since that bill included billions of dollars for lead removal, you could make the argument that Rashida voted against much needed dollars for her district. But as I keep saying, you could make the argument that Rashida voted against much needed dollars for her district. But as I keep saying, you could also argue that she knew the bill would pass either way and her reasons are way more logical than the GOP's reasons.

It's kind of up to you to decide which. Anywho, speaking of performative measures by establishment Democrats, it's time to leave the squad and talk about Gavin Newsom. Gavin Newsom, making sound bites. Hey, here's some Gavin some news Newsom news some. Here it is. It's fun to mix up his name and ours.

That's not news. More importantly, Gavin became governor of California in 2018, just 12 years after divorcing the current girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., easily beating out his Republican rival and campaigning on issues like homelessness, housing affordability, and healthcare, specifically being against, for, and for.

Newsom has been a big, loud culture warrior, especially this last year. He's urged fellow Democrats to go harder on the counter offensive for issues like abortion and marriage equality. Got all salty during a debate with DeSantis. Why would you, what was that debate about? Whatever.

And he shows up on both liberal and conservative talk shows bragging about California's GDP just like Tupac used to. Here he is on Hannity shouting talking points at a rap-like clip. That's what you're asking me. If I wanted the great San Juan Mex, the Kansas policy, I mean, it was a debacle.

No economic growth. 71% of the GDP in America are in blue counties. 71% of the GDP in America are blue counties. Progress would take their- 71% of the GDP in America are blue counties. Progressive policies. Okay, that are paying high taxes and- 71% of the country's wealth. Seven of the top 10 dependent states are your states. Let's say you-

No, we're subsidizing your states, Sean. All right, calm down. I mean, you're not wrong, but you know a politician's getting revved up when they drop debacle. No one who isn't about to make a big speech has ever said debacle in conversation non-ironically. It's very clear that Gavin wants to be and stay

part of the big show. But what's unclear is whether he can do what his mouth says. But he has done a lot. Good stuff that we're probably gonna gloss over, but shouldn't? He halted executions in his state and has worked toward police reform. He's doing work to help income inequality,

such as free school lunches. He's also going hard against fracking and pushing electric cars. It's hard to condense him into a segment, so we're actually gonna focus on the stuff he's less good about. Because California is big and long, but faces the same issues as the rest of the country.

Healthcare, the economy, homelessness, the big H's and also that E. Housing and homelessness are probably the biggest news getters with a lot of headlines, specifically about high rent and homeless encampments in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Right-wingers loudly fled Los Angeles because they were tired of seeing poor people or whatever. California has some of the highest income inequality rates in the country, and homelessness

has gone up 25% since 2018 as housing prices continue to increase. And while it's hard to boil the problem down to one thing, a recent survey from UC San Francisco put out 3,200 questionnaires and conducted 365 interviews with homeless adults to figure out exactly what the dilly was. The study concluded that while obviously a lack of housing is a key issue, so is the fact that becoming homeless

often leads to a spiral of mental health problems and drug abuse. Meaning that, from a governing standpoint, it's not enough to house people, but you need to then support them in other ways as well. Quote, The aging of the population, poor functional status, high prevalence of chronic illnesses, high rate of pregnancy, and high prevalence of behavioral health needs call for additional services and support,

both while people experience homelessness and to support them in housing. So we need housing, and then we need services to make sure the people in that housing can recover, and for some of them, eventually support themselves. Heck, maybe we should just give them money. Keep that in mind when thinking about Gavin, who made some big campaign promises addressing this issue,

like building three and a half million units of affordable housing by 2025. Hey, good idea. If you've been watching for more than 30 seconds, you'd know we need housing in California. Except he later had to back off the housing promise, like Babe Ruth pointing at the stands and then a little lower like left field.

Now he says we'll get two and a half million units by 2030, unless he decides to change it again. But hey, that's still good, except, sorry, hold on, yeah, the new mandate doesn't even call for the houses to be built by 2030. They just need to have plans in the works. So essentially Gavin promises that some other guys are also going to make some promises,

which is a far sight from building something someone can actually live in. You can't live in promises, Gavin. You can't refinance a pinky swear. Now, to be fair, Newsom has pushed a lot of bills to address housing, including ones designed to get around regulations and speed up the construction process.

He's allowing land owned by nonprofit colleges and religious groups to be rezoned for affordable housing. He's also working on rent control and minimum wage increases. But you might notice that none of those bills actually make affordable housing, nor do they tie in mental health and addiction support to any larger plan.

In fact, Newsom seems generally bad at proposing a specific solution to the problem and has opted to punt the issue to local governments, which are largely concerned with simply reducing their homeless statistics any way they can. In 2022, he symbolically rejected every local plan to reduce homelessness while criticizing them

for having no ambition, while also offering no clear or universal solution. Because it seems like Newsom, much like these local governments, is mainly concerned with what looks good rather than what is good. For example, he recently dropped a billion bucks in an effort to reduce homelessness

by 15% statewide over the next two years. A major part of the plan is the distribution of tiny homes because the unhoused and their lives are so tiny, you see. To quote Newsom, "'In California, we are using every tool in our toolbox, "'including the largest ever deployment "'of small homes in the state, including the largest ever deployment of small homes in the state, to move people out of encampments and into housing. That sounds good, but he left out

that part where these houses aren't even close to permanent, meaning that people are only allowed to occupy them for a certain amount of time before they have to give up the spot. So in Los Angeles, where the mayor has also implemented tiny homes, an LA Times investigation found that only about 15% of those people transitioned into a permanent home. Hey, that's the number from a moment ago, 15, you got it. Meanwhile, two thirds either became homeless again or simply left without specifying where they were going, probably because they weren't sure.

One previously homeless journalist covering the story called it a feel-good boondoggle and storage sheds for human beings, which feels pretty accurate. You're not really housed if there's a time limit on how long you can stay. You can't boast that as housing. That seems more like a photo op than a solution.

So Gavin is good at taking big, bold stances, but hasn't followed through where it actually matters. Related to that, one of Newsom's big campaign promises was single payer healthcare. All he has done so far is form a committee to look into the possibility of maybe what it might look like if we sort of gently asked for some single payer healthcare.

That committee hasn't met since April of 2022. And in the meantime, Newsom has been mysteriously absent from any and all serious legislation around the issue. To be clear, he's done other good things in terms of healthcare in the state, but it's not the single payer healthcare he campaigned on. So for the most part, Gavin seems like a big empty promises guy.

His most recent goal is to amend the US constitution to include gun control measures, which sounds lovely and has exactly zero chance of happening. So the pattern here seems obvious. Talk big, walk it back, keep the good sound bites flowing. It's little surprise that a politician like that might have their sights set on the presidency, the ultimate talking head

that doesn't have to follow through. Although he said he has sub-zero interest in the job, he's also airing TV ads in Florida, publishing newspaper ads in Texas, and putting up billboards in six conservative states. It's kind of weird if you just want to govern California. Maybe by sub-zero interest, he was saying he wants to form an ice crystal

and smash someone's face into it until he's elected. Because it sure as hell looks like he's building national brand awareness for some reason. But totally, he totally doesn't wanna be president. Hmm, maybe there's a secret super governor position that he's vying for, or maybe he's playing hard to get. At least he's not nagging like Trump. Whatever the reason, be it becoming president

or defeating Scorpion, Gavin is clearly pandering to a broad national audience. He's not complete dog shit to be clear, but he's not perfect. We didn't even talk about his not great response to COVID, which is a whole other thing involving a recall election that wasted a bunch of money and time and Gavin attending a fancy party

the same time he was urging people to stay at home. He did in fairness do a lot to encourage vaccines though. Newsome is a great example of what we've been talking around. A politician in the middle of expanding their role in the show in a seemingly artificial way. Gavin doesn't just want to be governor of California. And I'm not even talking about a potential presidential run

which could totally be in the cards and very obviously almost definitely is. But either way, Gavin wants to be a character you think about and talk about and see on TV a lot, mixing it up with his rivals and colleagues alike. That tends to distract from the real work of governance. Also, his name is Gavin.

I feel like we really should have reflected on that more. Anyway, it's almost like the louder and more famous you get, the less change you can actually affect on the ground. But is that always the case? On the other side of these ads, we will talk about Bernie Sanders, who I would argue is also very loud

and at least had presidential ambitions, but somehow feels more genuine. And we will look at why that is. And maybe I can get Warmbo to stop twirling his gun and pay attention. He's literally been twirling the gun this whole time. Just one nonstop twirl despite no physical efforts to maintain the inertia. It is terrifying.

See you soon, I hope. Hi, it's Katie. Nothing wrong with hair, am I right? Bigfoot has hair and he seems to have his life together. And there's nothing wrong with not having hair either. That Walter White had no hair and was still able to run a successful small business. Basically, there's no right or wrong answer to hair. But if you are concerned about hair thinning or shedding, well, you can check

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Got it! Thank God. Katie has the gun. Shit, that seems worse somehow. Why was there a gun? Warmbo, go away. I was bluffing. No. Or was I? somehow, why was there a gun? Warmbo, go away. I was bluffing.

No. Or was I? Bernie Sanders, Cody wants to smooch. Yeah, I like Bernie, mostly, I've said it before, but we're gonna be effed and bead for Bern. So let's talk about this elderly man, the goods and the bads, mainly goods, hopefully. He's often criticized for being so idealistic

that he can't actually get anything done, as Hillary Clinton claimed in the 2016 primary. You know what also stops you from getting anything done? Lifting up Donald Trump as a candidate and opponent and then losing to him. Sorry, petty. Anyway, dude has been politicking since at least 1971. He was mayor of Burlington, Vermont in the 80s,

a member of the House of Representatives in the 90s and 2000s, and then a senator after that. Surely he got something done in that time. I don't know if you've noticed this, but we've covered a lot of young politicians on this and in the last episode. And so it's fair to point out that newer people have less time to achieve things.

But what of Bernard? Well, starting with him as a mayor, there's Burlington's waterfront area, which was originally going to be filled with condos and hotels back in the 80s. As mayor, Bernie fought against that plan and pushed for the waterfront to be filled with community spaces.

Mind you, there are conflicting accounts and he certainly wasn't the only person responsible for this, but he had a large mitted hand in that. But what about people who despise nature and can't stand people? Well, he also sued a local cable company to reduce the customer rates. So that's something for everyone.

But in both cases, he's clearly making an effort to help the people he represents with the added bonus of waving a crotchety fist at corporations. Yes, he was crotchety in the 80s. Bernie Sanders has never been young. And while this isn't like that relevant, Bernie also hosted a public access cable show

called Bernie Speaks with the Community where he did that to amazing results. We're now talking to two young people from South Burlington. Burlington. All right, one from Burlington. What is your name? Michelle.

Michelle, and your name is? Mike Blair. And Mike, you're from South Burlington. Michelle, you're from Burlington. What kind of society would you like to see? Well, I'm kind of an anarchist. Seems a little silly to interview a couple of goth punks, if not also fucking awesome.

But also, to be fair, without this, we probably wouldn't have gotten the give Danzig your skulls bill of 1989. Lots of death, very dark time. Speaking of Washington, once Bernie got to the House, he immediately established himself as an independent. He used that status to reach across the aisle, and from 1995 to 2007,

Sanders passed more roll call amendments than anyone else. Those are amendments that actually make it to vote, the total being 17, which I guess is a lot somehow. He was dubbed the Amendment King by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi. And that guy is a great, great judge of character. But they weren't shoddy horseshit amendments either. There's a list of them right here.

They include the Cancer Registries Amendment Act, which established a way for states to collect cancer data, as well as an amendment banning the import of anything made with child labor, which I guess we hadn't done yet. Glad we got around to that. Though to keep being fair, it does seem like maybe soon we'll start getting

some of those sweet, sweet child labor produced goods domestically. Awesome. Of course, Bernie's pet issue is, has always been, and remains income inequality. A drum he's been beating since at least 1974 when he said, a handful of banks and billionaires

control the economic and political life of America. What? No, surely someone would have told me that. So upon moving to the Senate, did Bernie make good on that? And has he worked toward mitigating income inequality and tried specifically to help the people who vote for him? Along with infrastructure, Vermont voters are also concerned with affordable housing

and general economic issues. In terms of roads and bridges and junk, Bernie voted in favor of Biden's bill, but under the condition that they would also approve the reconciliation package with clean energy policies. Had he been in the house, he likely would have voted against it for the same reasons the squad members did.

But I'm speculating there. Bernie has acknowledged Vermont's shitty ass infrastructure. So what of it? What of it? Has he done anything else to fix those foliage sopping roadways? Well, we should look at those earmarks, right? Before the ban on earmarks in 2011,

Sanders sponsored or co-sponsored over 100 earmark spending requests, totaling more than $150 million towards projects in Vermont. When the ban was lifted again in 2022, he and Senator Patrick Leahy secured the second highest per capita rate of earmark money in the nation. Meaning there was plenty of maple syrup at the pancake jamboree, if you catch my drift.

Do I? What do I mean? I don't mean syrup. Eh, you'll figure it out. In terms of infrastructure, Birdo has asked for about 3 million and change for transportation, housing housing and urban development. This includes a bridge repair, historic preservations

and the construction and improvement of housing. Of course, as we talked about in our Newsome section, housing doesn't fix everything, nor does raising the minimum wage, which is still a good thing to do. Bernie and Newsome have both made good progress when it comes to labor rights. Also, they aren't competing for anything,

so I don't need to compare them or they're wildly different states. This is all to say that when it comes to housing and economic issues, a lot of these problems are national. In fact, it's really hard to judge anyone, Republicans or Democrats, based exclusively on how they represent niche problems in their states. That's why we focused so much on earmarks,

because they best reflect direct actions taken to help their constituents. But ultimately the best way to help people is with big ideas on a national level. In terms of homelessness and housing and the economy for example, pushing Medicare for all makes a big impact. Assuming that eventually happens.

What's the status on that? And I've asked other candidates this kind of question, veto question. Let's flash forward. Your president, Bernie Sanders, is still active in the Senate. He manages to get Medicare for all through the Senate in some compromised version,

the Elizabeth Warren version or other version. Nancy Pelosi gets a version of it through the House of Representatives. It comes to your desk. Do you veto it? I would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of health care being available now. If they got that through and by some miracle, there was an epiphany that occurred, and some miracle occurred that said, okay, it's passed, then you gotta look at the cost. I wanna know, how did they find the $35 trillion?

What is that doing? Is it gonna significantly raise taxes on the middle class, which it will? Oh, okay, so we need a miracle. Thanks, Joe. We'll get to Joe. But as for Bernie, I guess to sum him up, he's always cared about the things he cares about,

despite the political implications. And that's pretty refreshing, at least when it comes to most things, save for guns. Bernie had some trouble with guns, bit of a flippy floppy where he often walks the line between his party and his stance on firearms. He's actually voted against gun control measures, like the 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

designed to have background check standards and voted for measures to protect gun manufacturers from liability. Not great if you really don't like guns, but he's also since called that a bad vote and changed some on the issue. Some things take time, like finally calling for a ceasefire in Gaza

and now pushing to investigate for potential human rights abuses by Israel. Though that's obviously not getting approved. And also, like I said earlier, we're focusing on earmarks and other stuff like that today. So moving on from that issue, I guess. So the point is, while Bernie is clearly trying to help his people

with earmarks, far more than a lot of the loud GOP freaks we've covered, he has also focused a lot of his time on political activism and trying to push the country more leftward. If you don't like the left, then you're not gonna like that. But I would argue that the sweeping stances he takes for things like Medicare and income inequality

is far less insidious than, you know, forcing trans people to go in the wrong bathrooms, being really scared about crime and immigrants, banning abortion. I don't know, it's subjective, but also it's kind of not when one of the biggest concerns in America is objectively healthcare costs.

Like I know the cards were stacked against the GOP from the moment we made our first video, but when you take the direct needs of the states and districts and line them up with what their representatives are most vocal about or making efforts towards fixing, even if those efforts aren't perfect, well, it's clear who's actually attempting

to fix the actual problems, not the made up ones, not the woke ones. Then again, if you do factor in the made up ones, which you shouldn't, the GOP have an edge. For example, despite data suggesting the fear is unfounded, people are really scared about crime. If you're one of those people, you might look to the GOP as the only party

who's also concerned about the thing that they made up and used a fear monger to look like they're doing something. That's why perception is so important and why it's no coincidence that the loudest people tend to either be people with presidential aspirations or are the ones trying to push their party toward the fringes. There's a spectrum of ways that a politician

can effectively create change is my point, which I will demonstrate right now. Hey, have you heard of Gary Peters? He's a man with two first names, so bland that they may as well be clear vanilla. And Gary is largely viewed as the most effective legislator in the Senate. He served as house rep for the wildly diverse

ninth and 14th districts in Michigan starting in 2008 and was elected Senator in 2014. In the last two years alone, he's authored 19 bills that have become law, more than any other politician in more than four decades. And you probably don't even know who he is. He just went on a goddamn statewide motorcycle tour just to get people to know his name.

Gary loves motorcycles. Senator Gary Peters is the one on a motorcycle there. He's on his motorcycle tour across Michigan. The journey, which is meant to talk about the future of the state, started in Muskegon. Real cool stuff, Gary. So is Gary a good politician? I don't know.

I didn't look into him because, you know, this is Greg. Greg? This is Greg. My point is that just being a good legislator doesn't make you the best politician, nor is having the most earmarks, nor is being the loudest. For some, it's quietly getting the work done

and not looking to make a stink. For others, it's pushing an idea loudly over and over, because speaking about something might just manifest it. Like Beetlejuice. Damn it, monkey, you learned nothing? Don't say Beetlejuice fucking now, I just said it. That's two. What I'm getting at is that being loud and viral

can be just as, if not more important at certain times. In fact, on that subject, let's talk about the representative who represents all the representatives. My God, they'd have to be a hundred feet tall and androgynous as hell. Of course, I'm talking about the andro giant, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., the headest of honchos, our master in sleep,

the big and very old cheese. Yeah, look at him. Just,. Yeah, look at them. Just, just look at them. Last episode, we mentioned how Trump weaponized the big show in a way only a reality TV star could, leading to the most successful campaign ever run by a massive failure. Biden was elected to counter that

and clean up some of the damage Trump did while in office and out of office and loudly proclaiming that people should storm the office. As a result, Biden's been oddly quiet about his accomplishments. And maybe that's something he should perhaps not do, especially, dare I say, in an election year. So Donald Trump is leading President Biden among young voters. That is a major reversal from what we saw in 2020. What's your reaction to seeing these numbers less than a year out from election day? And should someone at the White House be hitting an alarm bell right now?

Yes, someone should be literally hitting an alarm bell at the White House, like a fire alarm or something, because Biden really needs to wake up. About Gaza mostly, big fucking problem there that we will talk about in the future. But also there is a stark difference between the public perception of Biden versus what he's actually done. A poll from 2022 found that 63% of people

believe Biden has done very little as president, which is weird because Biden has actually done a bunch of good things. He successfully curbed our use of drone strikes in the wake of Trump's loosening of those regulations. Although in balancedness, he does seem really okay with bombing people lately. So maybe that's, we'll revisit later, okay.

And he passed the Inflation Reduction Act that pumped a ton of money toward green energy. The American Rescue Plan Act did huge for helping the country recover from COVID. And while we talked about it a lot already, it's worth noting that the infrastructure bill is at least effective enough that the GOP members who didn't vote for it are now constantly

taking credit for it. 70 million for the Port of Virginia. Wow, thanks Rob Whitman, a man that without looking, I guess I have to assume voted for the infrastructure bill and not against it. Biden also signed the Respect for Marriage Act last year, which offers some marriage protections should the Obergefell ruling ever be struck down.

Not amazing, but seeing as how eager the Supreme Court is to repeal civil rights at the moment, it's an important legislative victory that emphasizes protection of LGBTQ folks and one that has failed to make its way into national discourse in a big way. Heck, as we were writing this, Biden released a proposal to limit bank overdraft fees,

something we can all get behind regardless of party. Left or right, we're all poor on the inside. This stuff isn't nothing, right? So why isn't Biden constantly talking about this? This is the one thing Biden should actually learn from Trump or any of the more vocal people in his party. Hey, did you know that Biden at one point had appointed more judges than Trump did?

Sure you didn't, because when Trump appointed a judge, he did a half court dunk in front of banks of fireworks to make sure you knew about it. Biden didn't say shit and has actually fallen behind there. So he doesn't even get to boast that anymore. There's winning the narrative and then there's getting things done. And as we've seen throughout this tour,

the two aren't all that connected. You can be great at playing the game and staying in the news but terrible at accomplishing anything or the other way around, or both. Both would be nice. Politics was always about showmanship, but the internet has ramped that up and created two playing fields instead of one.

And besides making it harder to stand out as a politician, it also makes it harder to pay attention as a voter. Not only is there a lot of more bullshit flying at you, but the issues have also become more existential and abstract as evidenced by the infrastructure bill. No longer can we just factor in our lives, but the lives of our ugly children and their uglier children.

It's something to think about going into this terrible, terrible election year. What do we actually need? And who is actually trying to get those things for us? That's it, that's the whole question. For example, I'm personally voting for whoever gets the firearm out of the studio, which seems arguably worse than Beetlejuice.

Oh no. Ah! Stop! Okay! Beetlejuice has the gun now! Oh no, Beetlejuice. Oh no. Ah! Stop! Okay! Beetlejuice has the gun now! Oh no, Beetlejuice has the gun now! No, we're not doing any more Beetlejuice! Even if he's somehow a big fan of quoting The Mask,

we're done with Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice! You just have to say his name three times again and he goes away! We didn't have to shoot him at all. You know who we do have to shoot though? Hey, Warmbo. I got some more cookies for you, Warmbo! Wait, where's the gun?

Where's the gun? Hello, our beautiful sweethearts. Thank you so much for watching. Be sure to like and subscribe. It really helps us out. If you haven't seen part one of this, click a place on the screen that is relevant to getting to that video.

You can watch it right now. It's so good. We talk about the stuff we mentioned earlier in this episode. So what else am I saying? Thanks again. Check out our podcast called Even More News. You can listen to it on the podcast place.

And this show, Some More News as a podcast, the same podcast place or a different podcast place. We're all the, it's everywhere. We've got a patreon.com slash some more news. And we've got a merch store shop.somemorenews.com for things with the little guy on him. And little guy, I'm talking about this little dude. Hey buddy, how you doing?

Boop. So sorry. So thanks for watching again. And I think I said all the links and stuff. I think I got all the appropriate information. So good night, folks. Stay happy. I don't know.

Goo-chee-goo-chee-goo.