The Young Turks - Career Crooks

Episode Date: December 29, 2022

George Santos basically says that he has absolutely no shame! Southwest flights continue to be delayed and canceled leaving thousands stranded. Kansas police busted into a terminally ill patient’s room for smoking weed. On the first day of 2023 corporate CEOs will have made more than the average U.S. worker. Host: Ana Kasparian Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Woo! It's up! Welcome to TYT, I'm your host, Anna Casparian, and you guys are in for a treat today. I got to be honest, my favorite story of the day is in the second hour of the show, where

we will discuss a woman who is really assisting millennials and members of Gen Z overcome their so-called phone phobia, meaning overcome the fear of literally having a conversation on the phone, which resonates with me. And when will you get a load of how much she charges for her service? We'll get to that again in the second hour with Ben Glebe, who will be joining me in the second hour of the show. We're also going to discuss the ongoing issues with Southwest Airlines, they continue to cancel thousands of flights this week. They have left many people stranded during the holiday weekend and the issues just continue. So I want to talk about why that is what's going on with Southwest and how deregulation along with a honestly failing

transportation department has led to these issues overall. So before we get to all of that, as always, please like and share the stream if you're watching us online on YouTube. You can also click on that join button on YouTube to become a member. We're going to have an awesome bonus episode today with Ben Glebe. In fact, there's a viral video featuring a Waffle House employee that we must discuss. It's a fun story. It's an impressive story. So we'll get to that again for our members. t.yt.com slash join to become a member if you want to join that way.

Well, without further ado, let's get to the next story, which is a do. What does the word integrity mean to you? Well, Tulsi, thank you for having me. You know, to answer your question, integrity is very important. And like I said to the New York Post, embellishing my resume. What does it mean, though? Is Tulsi Gabbard, who's notorious for the lies she told as a congresswoman and presidential candidate, really going to talk to us about integrity right now?

I don't know, why don't we get a load of what she has to say during the last? this interview with George Santos. What does it mean? Because the meaning of the word actually matters in practice. Of course. It means to carry yourself in an honorable way. And I made a mistake. And I think humans are flawed. And we all make mistakes, Tulsi. I think we can all look at ourselves in the mirror and admit that once in our life we made a mistake. I'm having to admit this in national television for the whole country to see. And I have the courage to do so because I believe that in order to move past this and move forward and be an effective member of Congress, I have to face my mistakes.

And I'm facing them. The reality is, is that I remain committed to doing everything I set forward in my campaign. I'm not a fraud. I'm not a fake. I didn't materialize from thin air. I worked damn hard to get where I got my entire life. Life wasn't easy. It didn't start off easy. As I've said it many, many times, I come from abject poverty. I made some mistakes. The thing is, Congressman elect, integrity means, yes, carrying yourself with honor, but it means it means telling the truth. It means telling the truth. What a strange turn of events where Tulsi Gabbard, again, who is well known, certainly among progressives for being a pretty giant liar, is lecturing Congressman elect George Santos about the need for integrity. Now, of course, George Santos has been caught in major lies, including lies about his college degrees, lies about the number of properties he owns, lies about his religion, it goes on and on. But Tulsi Gabbard lied when she was in positions of power and when she was running for

president of the United States. And those lies, I would venture to say, are a lot more serious than someone lying about his resume. Now, I'm going to make that case, but before I do, Before we revisit Tulsi Gabbard's history of lies, why don't we get a few more soundbites of what this interview kind of turned into? Let's watch. Are you Jewish? We've got a letter that your campaign sent out earlier this year, which reads as follows, as a proud American Jew, I've been to Israel numerous times for educational, business, and leisurely trips. You said there in that letter that you are, quote, a proud American Jew. How do you explain that?

My heritage is Jewish. I've always identified as Jewish. I was raised of practicing Catholic. I think I've gone through this. Even I've not being raised a practicing Jew. I've always joked with friends and circles. Even in the campaign, I'd say, guys, I'm Jew-ish. Remember, I was raised Catholic.

So look, I understand everybody wants to nitpick at me. No, this isn't nitpicking. You can't claim that you're Jewish get caught in the lie and say, no, no, no, I didn't mean Jewish, I meant Jew-ish. Like, how is that in any way a good answer to the question? Just a little bit of, I don't know, honesty when you're finally caught. Just admit, hey, you know what, I thought this would be good for my campaign and I shouldn't have done it. I apologize. And to be quite honest with you, I agree with those who think that

Santos should step down. He should resign. He seems unwilling to do so. And look, we've gone over all of his lies. Everything that he has claimed to have accomplished, turns out to be a lie, including the notion that he owned 13 properties. Turns out he owed zero. He lives with his sister. He did not get two college degrees from Baruch College and from NYU. He lied about that. Well, this goes on and on. So I'm not making excuses for him. But for anyone who thinks it makes sense to give Tulsi Gabbard, of all people, a round of applause for really holding his feet to the fire. I think you should really consider her own history and what she has lied about to the American people, to her own constituents. Now she changes her political views depending on what's advantageous for her profits, what's advantageous for her political career, what's advantageous for her quest now to be a Fox News host.

But again, we'll revisit that because I think it's important to understand that she really has no like to stand on when it comes to the question of integrity and honesty. One more clip, though, because this is what seems to be getting the most attention from her interview with Congressman-elect George Santos. These are blatant lies. My question is, do you have no shame? Do you have no shame in the people who are now you're asking to trust you to go and be their voice for them, their families, and their kids in Washington? Tulsi, I can say the same thing about the Democrats and the party. Look at Joe Biden. Joe Biden's been lying to the American people for 40 years. He's the president of the United States. Democrats who resoundly support him. Do they have no shame? Look, I've made this very clear. This is not about the Democratic Party, though. This is about your relationship. frankly, with the people who've entrusted you to go and fight for them. So listen, if any other person made that exact same point, that would be a perfect interview. I have no problem with it whatsoever.

What I do have a problem with is Tulsi Gabbard of all people. It's making these points when she knows her history of lying to her own voters, when she knows that in 2020, when she was in 2019 actually, when she announced her bid in the 2020, presidential election, she pretended as though her past anti-gay stances are no longer the beliefs that she holds today. She lied to the American people about that because she felt that it would be politically advantageous to pretend as though she has completely changed her views on the LGBTQ community. And I want to revisit that because while there are many lies that she told, including the lie that she's anti-war, she's not anti-war, she's on the record saying,

that when it comes to the war on terror, she's hawkish. What do you think that means? I mean, you could say that obviously invading Iraq, that was the war on terror. Afghanistan, war on terror. You can't say that you're an anti-war candidate when you also simultaneously say you're supportive of wars against terror. But let's leave the foreign policy aside for a moment and just go back to the whole LGBTQ issue because there's a lot that I think Americans are not privy to about both her history and how she changed her stance on the LGBTQ community, depending on what was politically expedient.

Now, the New Yorker reported that she advocated against legislation in Hawaii to combat anti-gay bullying, saying it would be inviting homosexual advocacy organizations into our schools to promote their agenda to our vulnerable youth. I want you to keep that in mind, okay, the whole gay agenda. Ooh, the LGBTQ community, they're trying to indoctrinate our children. She had said that in the past, but when she announced that she was running for president in 2019, she apologized for it because she was running as a Democrat and she was attempting to appeal to progressives. And many progressives fell for it. They did. They thought that she was this progressive powerhouse and she was such a wonderful person because she was willing to stepped down from a position at the DNC in order to show support for Bernie Sanders.

Little did they know that she was already having issues within the DNC because of the fact that she was the only Democrat who was willing to go watch Benjamin Netanyahu speak when he visited the United States and spoke before Republicans in Congress. So the Democratic Party overall already had an issue with her prior to the Democratic primaries in 2016. That was really the reason why she stepped down from the DNC. It had nothing to do with Bernie Sanders. But she liked pretending as though she was progressive when it was, again, politically advantageous to her. When the New Yorker reported that, she later came out and apologized.

She said, these are my past views. She had a lengthy Twitter thread about it. And I even linked to that thread on my own Twitter page. If you guys want to check out the multiple tweets dating back to January 17th of 2019. I'll give you a few of them. In one of these tweets, she writes, over the years, I formed my own opinions based on my life experience that changed my views. interesting, at a personal level in having aloha, love for all people, and ensuring that every American, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, is treated equally

under the law. Again, this is from January 17th, 2019, when she's getting ready to run for president. She also wrote in that Twitter thread, quote, I know that LGBTQ plus people still struggle, are still facing discrimination, are still facing abuse, and still fear that their hard won rights are going to be taken away by people who hold views like I used to. Now, for anyone who's been paying close attention to politics, especially over the recent year, you know that Tulsi Gabbard wasn't being honest in that Twitter thread, because she went right back to her roots. And I think it's important to understand her roots. Now, after After leaving the Democratic Party, she is back to her old antics, saying things that are pretty awful about the LGBTQ community.

She claimed that President Joe Biden's administration is targeting as terrorists parents who are vocally standing in opposition to radical curriculums and explicit sexual content being taught to their kids in public schools. Gabbard went on to say the administration is erasing women by supporting transgender people. Now, these are Republican talking points, conservative talking points. I mean, it's right wing 101. This is what they campaigned on in the midterm elections and luckily did not win many of the elections that they thought they would win. This is exactly what you would hear from a far right politician. And this is what she's spewing because now she has made her pivot back to the right.

I think it's important to keep that in mind. And when I say back to the right, what do I mean by that? Well, she had these anti-LGBQ views before. She blamed it on her conservative upbringing. This isn't really who I am. I grew up. And look, I had a conservative upbringing. Okay, I remember having views that are contrary to what I believe today.

So when it came to her views on the LGBTQ community, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I was skeptical because of where she was raised, how she was raised, And more importantly, how she still has ties to, let's just keep it real, a cult that she doesn't like talking about. And anyone who mentions the cult is immediately defamed as an anti-Hindu individual, Hindu phobic. That is complete BS because the cult she's involved in has nothing to do with the Hindu religion at all, at all. It is actually defamatory toward people of faith who believe in, who practice the Hindu religion to say that what she's brought up in, what she practices, what she believes in is in any way related to the Hindu religion. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, she was associated with a group that's known as the Science of Identity Foundation.

There are interviews with people who used to be part of this group, it's well documented, and you should look into it if you think what I'm saying is in any way offensive to the Hindu religion. Because it's not, again, it has nothing to do with it. Now, the Science of Identity Foundation is an offshoot of the Harry Krishna religious movement that was started by a man by the name of Chris Butler. Now, Chris Butler is a cult leader. He hasn't appeared in public at all, but he was definitely anti-gay, and he was skeptical of public education. He felt that public schools were indoctrinating kids due to the gay agenda, sound familiar.

And he started his own private schools that were questionable to say the least. Now why do I say that? Well, Butler taught that homosexuality is evil using very virulent homophobic rhetoric and that public schools and the outside world were not to be trusted. Children of followers were homeschooled and some, including Gabbard, were later sent to schools that the Science of Identity Foundation created in the Philippines. Now, what did kids deal with once they were sent to those schools in the Philippines? Luckily, there is some testimony from a man named Rama Ramson, who luckily escaped that cult,

even though he was raised within it. And here's what he said he experienced at these schools. We had to listen to his tapes and we had to listen to his lectures every day. I remember as a young kid listening to extremely graphic lectures constantly where he's always talking about sex and describing in pornographic detail like what it's like to look at a pornographic magazine or what depraved activities that homosexuals get up to or that maybe straight you know people get up to out in the world using all this fear fair tactics your parents would make you listen to that stuff about sex when you were six seven eight years old absolutely now um

This group, again, the Science of Identity Foundation, has confirmed that Rahma Ramson was part of their group and is no longer part of their group. And I think that confirmation is important because what if this is just some random person who's making accusations about some group that he was never involved in? But in this case, it's been confirmed. The man you just heard from was part of SIF or the Science of Identity Foundation. Now, going back to the content that you just heard, the statement you just heard from him. So this anti-gay cult leader forces literal children as young as six to watch pornographic material, listen to incredibly explicit sexual content that's meant to essentially indoctrinate them into hating members of the LGBTQ community. Now I want you to go back to graphic four here, where Tulsi Gabbard stated that she's concerned about the Biden administration.

Tulsi claimed that President Joe Biden's administration is targeting as terrorists, parents who are vocally standing in opposition to radical curriculums and explicit sexual content being taught to their kids in public schools. When we talk about projection, this is what we mean. Because where do members of the right wing get that idea from? That the LGBTQ community, the gay agenda is like they've infiltrated public schools. They're trying to convince kids to be gay, to be transgender. Where do they get these crazy ideas from? Could it be some of the indoctrination that Tulsi Gabbard received when she was going to this school or when she was being homeschooled? I mean, it's just really, really interesting stuff, right?

And also when the organization that she was part of was forcing kids to consume that disgusting, explicit material when they were as young as six, does she have a problem with it or does she only have a problem with it when she can pretend like she's concerned about the Biden administration going after parents who are concerned about sexually explicit material in the classroom? I mean, this woman is a liar through and through. And if you're wondering whether or not she's still part of the science identity, I'm sorry, the Science of Identity Foundation, I don't know for sure, but I do know that she met her ex-husband and current husband within this group. And she gets real defensive and testy, if anyone's critical of this group. I'll be critical all day.

It doesn't make you a hater of the Hindu religion. It doesn't make you some sort of hateful, bigoted individual when you're calling out a cult that teaches this disgusting material and indoctrinates literal children into hating members of the LGBTQ community. And they'll get all upset on Twitter and they'll come after me. They'll come after anyone. They'll swarm in because they want to get defensive. But this is the disgusting stuff that goes on in this country. this is the disgusting stuff that deserves a lot more reporting. And I'm sorry, while I think it's definitely legitimate to go after congressman-elect George Santos

for the lies he told on his resume, I think it's equally acceptable, if not more necessary to be fully aware of who Tulsi Gabbard really is, what she really stands for, and how her political identity isn't really about the right or the left, it's about herself. It's about political power. And while she might be a host on Fox News today, I guarantee you, she's setting herself up for politics in the future. And maybe we should be a little more informed about who she really is. So, you know, people don't get duped by the lies that she tells in an effort to accumulate power for herself. That's who Tulsi Gabbard is.

So spare me the lectures about integrity and honesty. And you know, if she wants to address anything that I've talked about on the show today, she's free to do so. I invite her on the show. Maybe for the first time she won't run away from me and she'll actually answer some of the questions I have. We'll see. For now though, we've got to take a break.

Let's do that. And when we come back, more news, including what's really going on with Southwest Airlines and all these canceled flights. Ice cream. Welcome back to the show, everyone, just want to say thank you to everyone who's leaving us comments, super chats, members' comments. I just want to read a few of them because I think your perspectives on the stories we cover are important. Axel the ghost says, Tulsi did the political equivalent of saying, you can't fire me, I quit. then tried to talk bad about someone else. I know it's amazing.

Alexi writes in and says, thank you for being the best news outlet ever created. Anna, you were so inspiring, beautiful inside and out. Also, a super rad dog mom. I do love Charlie a lot. Keep up the great fight. Keep up the fight. The future is ours.

Love you guys. And hot and very sticky writes in saying gabbert is a massive fraud. But then again, on Fox News, that isn't the bug. It's the feature. they are all professional liars for money for the money Lobowski exactly all right well let's move on to Pete Buttigieg and how he's also a liar especially when it comes to the whole debacle involving Southwest Airlines and all the canceled flights during the holiday weekend everybody in this line they're sick of this they're sick I stayed at the airport and

we were sleeping on the on the chairs from Chicago Midway to LAX They won't have flights for the next three days. So I'm stuck. Across the country, more than 8,000 flights delayed on the day after Christmas. More than 4,000 canceled. The bulk of those from Southwest Airlines, which accounts for more than 70% of all flights canceled nationwide Monday. Travelers who relied on Southwest Airlines to travel during the Christmas break are still stranded. They're still dealing with delays, canceled flights.

It is insane, and they really can't blame it on any storm because all the other airlines are functioning quite well at the moment. The storm's over. Southwest, though, is a different story. More than 90% of Wednesdays, meaning today's, U.S. flight cancellations were Southwest flights, according to flight tracking website, Flight Aware. Southwest canceled more than 2,500 flights. The next highest was SkyWest with 77 flights.

Now, it's important to understand what's really happening here. Why is it that Southwest is struggling to do what they're supposed to do? People pay for a product, they're supposed to deliver the product. In this case, it's travel, it's flights. But it turns out that they are understaffed and they have not invested much into their operations, meaning they're dealing with outdated software that's making it incredibly difficult for them to keep track of available pilots, available crew, which passengers need to be rebooked. I mean, it is a mess of epic proportions.

Imagine being stranded at the airport for days without any help, without the ability to even call someone at Southwest to get things sorted out. And that's what people are dealing with. Even worse, it's not just the passengers who are having difficulty getting in touch. with Southwest. It's also their own employees. That's how outdated their operations are, their software is, because why would they invest in improving their business when they can, you know, invest in stock buybacks, dividends for their shareholders? And we'll get to those numbers in just a moment. You don't want to miss them. But before we do, Transportation

Secretary Pete Buttigieg went on CNN to speak to Wolf Blitzer about these issues. issues. And he touches on some of the things that I just address. Let's watch. From what I can tell, Southwest is unable to locate even where their own crews are, let alone their own passengers, let alone baggage. So I conveyed to the CEO our expectation that they are going to go above and beyond to take care of passengers and to address this. They indicated a number of issues that they're having with systems, legacy systems for managing their schedule and where their crews are. But the bottom line is the rest of the aviation system has been on the road to recovery since the worst days of the storm going into

Friday of last week. As today, as I'm looking at the different airlines, most of them are in the low single digits in terms of cancellation rates, averaging about 5% for all of the other airlines. For Southwest right now, we appear to be north of 70%. So their system really has completely melted down. I should note that in the weeks leading up to the holiday weekend, 38 state attorneys general wrote a letter to Pete Buttigieg warning him that there needed to be more regulation of these U.S.-based airline companies, and there need to be more fines. There needs to be consequences for the way they have been treating their customers.

And Pete Buttigieg did nothing. Now we're going to get back to Pete Buttigieg in a minute. Before we do, though, some more information about Southwest Airlines and how they have failed to do the proper investments in the business to keep travel smooth for their customers. So Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Waterson explained that the company's outdated scheduling software quickly became the main culprit of the cancellations once the storm cleared. So they know that their software is outdated. In fact, they're relying on software from the 1990s. They haven't updated it since then. But let me continue. Southwest

employees said that they have not been able to get in touch or communicate with the airline, their employer. The phone system the company uses is just not working. They're just not manned with enough manpower in order to give the scheduling changes to flight attendants. And that's created a ripple effect that is creating chaos throughout the nation, according to Lynn Montgomery, who's the president of the workers union. Now, they haven't updated their software again since the 1990s and Southwest CEO, Bob Jordan, who makes a killing every year as the top executive for the company, said in a message to employees that they promise that the company will invest in better systems.

Quote, part of what we're suffering is a lack of tools, Jordan told employees. We've talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation and the need to do that. But talk is cheap, Mr. Jordan. Talk is very, very cheap. Because when you look at how much money they invested in corporate stock buybacks, you can tell where their priorities lie. It's not an excellent customer service. It's not in ensuring that people get to where they need to be during the holidays of all times.

It's all about maximizing profits for their shareholders. And just recently, they announced that they will be reinstating dividends for their shareholders. Maybe instead of paying dividends, you should, you know, reconsider how much or how little you're investing into your operations. Anyway, so is there any consumer protection for travelers by the federal government here? Well, Pete Buttigieg wants to pretend like there is, and I want you to hear from him, again, from his interview on CNN. Well, over the course of the last year, as you know, we've seen a number of issues with the different airlines, and in the summer in particular, we press them to improve their standard of customer service. they provided commitments in writing, including Southwest, that they would go above the previous level of what you would do to take care of customers with things like covering the cost if you get stuck and you need a hotel or a meal in addition to rebooking you to get you on your way. Now that we have those commitments that were made to us over the summer, we're going to be using that as a tool to hold them accountable. And I made that clear to Southwest's leadership. Now they did, the CEO pledged to me that they will not only meet.

but they will exceed the customer service standards and commitments that they have made to us in the past and that we're in a position to enforce. Yeah, not exactly. So what Buttigieg was referencing there was what the Department of Transportation, and of course he's a secretary of the Department of Transportation, you know, did over the last summer, which honestly isn't. much. What's important here is whether the transportation department has implemented policies that have teeth, actual enforcement mechanisms. And you should know a little more detail about

that. So let's talk about it. The proposal, and this is from a piece by the New York Times, the proposal tries to clarify the conditions under which travelers are owed a full refund. Okay, so this is part of the dashboard system that Buttigieg has implemented, okay? So under which travelers are owed a full refund instead of a credit or voucher, if a flight is significantly altered. Such alterations include a three-hour delay for a domestic flight, a six-hour delay for an international flight, the addition of a layover or a switch in the departure or destination airport. The proposal does not currently stipulate that the money has to be automatically refunded if passengers choose to cancel instead of fly. And what that means is if there

are lengthy delays and you need to go somewhere, you can't wait around, you need to book another flight, if the traveler decides to cancel as a result of those lengthy delays, there is no guarantee that these airlines must reimburse the individual for the flight that was delayed. So in other words, there's really no enforcement mechanism here. The only thing the dashboard does, and I looked at it, it's good to know what kind of customer service you can expect from each airline company, but it doesn't actually lead to any real enforcement. The whole idea here is, well, here's a handy little website we have for the Department

of Transportation stating what each airline claims will happen if there are issues with your flight, and the whole idea is to kind of like shame the airline. into actually following through with what they've promised customers. But that is very different from passing regulations that force the companies to give reimbursements to travelers, okay? Who have their flights canceled, who have massive delays. You guys get the point. Here's some more information about it. So the hope seems to be that by publishing airlines promises, the airlines will be more likely to adhere to them.

to adhere to them. If airlines don't meet the commitment stated in the chart, the Department of Transportation said passengers could, oh wow, submit a complaint. Wow, that is strong. He really stuck it to these airline companies. You could file a complaint, everybody. Now, what the Department of Transportation did under Buttigieg really has no teeth. It's likely by design, though, because under neoliberalism, the government does work. on behalf of corporations, not on behalf of individual people or Americans in this case, travelers in this case. And according to subsidy tracker, Southwest Airlines has, airlines has collected a whopping $71.8 million in federal government loans and bailouts

since the year 2000. And consider the bailouts that airlines got from the federal government during the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, Southwest was one of those airline companies. The major carriers trying to maximize profits during the pandemic took $54 billion in emergency federal aid tied to no layoff commitment. But they evaded that condition by giving pilots incentives to take early retirement. And then due to a combination of bad planning and greed found themselves short of pilots when consumer demand predictably resumed. So there's still a labor shortage, but it's not a labor shortage. But it's not a labor shortage that just happened out of nowhere. It's a labor shortage that was created by these companies pressuring their own pilots to retire early.

Okay, that's what happened. Now, by the first quarter of 2021, Southwest Airlines was already turning a profit. And again, in the middle of a pandemic, and that's in no small part due to the $3.2 billion that the federal government gave Southwest Airlines in their bailout. Southwest Airlines was the first major U.S. airline to report a profit since the pandemic started as federal payroll aid helped boost the company to net income of $116 million in the first quarter of 2021. Without the federal money, Southwest would have lost $1 billion in the first quarter of 2021. And there's another issue at play, which is incredibly frustrating. Back during the Carter administration, there was a law signed that essentially allowed for the deregulation of the airline industry.

And the idea was, we need to deregulate in order to create more competition between these airline companies. So the price of flying goes down. And to be honest, and to be fair, initially that is what happened. Prices did come down. But why just survive back to school when you? You can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget.

After all, you're in your small space era. It's time to own it. Shop now at IKEA.ca. There are mergers and acquisitions that we should talk about here, because when it comes to the airline industry, mergers and acquisitions are huge. In fact, Southwest Airlines is a big part of that. Let's take a look at the next graphic that shows in 1985, Southwest Airlines bought Muse Airlines. In 1993, Southwest Airlines bought Morris Airlines. In 2008, Southwest Airlines bought ATA Airlines. And in 2011, Southwest bought Aetran Airways. I mention that because this whole system is so incredibly screwed up.

You are told over and over again that in a free market economy, things work themselves out, right? Competition happens. And as a result, there's this competition to have the best customer service, to have the lowest fares, the best everything. It's the best system for the consumer. Except that's not really the case. Under this system, you have Southwest Airlines specifically buying up their competition. You see it happen in every other sector of the economy. And when push comes to shove, their fiduciary responsibility is not to the consumer.

It's not to the ordinary American who's just looking to visit family during their Christmas holiday break. No, it's to their shareholders, which is why Southwest Airlines couldn't wait to announce that they're reinstating dividends for their shareholders, which will cost, by the way, upward of $450 million a year. How about you, you know, invest that money in updating your software from the 1990s? But Southwest ain't going to do that unless there were regulations in place with real enforcement to make that happen. But when you hear from someone like Pete Buttigieg, it's very clear that he really doesn't want the federal government to get involved.

Why do I say that? Here's one more clip from his interview. Is finding Southwest Airlines, Mr. Secretary, on the table, getting some more money from them, potentially the federal government could reimburse these passengers as well? Potentially, but it shouldn't have to come to that. I expect the airline to go ahead and directly take care of passengers. I'd really like them to self-regulate because I don't really want the federal government to do anything to protect the consumer. I'm going to decode it, that is what he actually meant in his little statement there.

No, it is going to have to come to that. Because again, the way this system is set up ensures that the shareholders take priority over the consumers, over the customers. They have proven that over and over again, and I'm not the only one saying it. Final graphic for you, documents show that before this week's travel disaster, state officials of both parties, Democrats and Republicans warned Secretary Pete about the mess begging him to crack down. He responded by going on national TV to insist travel is going to get better by the holidays. Did it? Did it get better? Because there are thousands of Americans who would

disagree that it did. Well, we got to take another break. So let's do that. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including an outrageous raid at a hospital. involving a terminally ill cancer patient. Come right back. And I can't believe we're still dealing with this nonsense in the United States, but we are. So let's talk about it. The hospital room of a terminally ill cancer patient had to do with the fact that he was possibly consuming marijuana to deal with the pain his body is experiencing due to his terminal illness. On December 16th, Hayes, Kansas police raided the hospital room of 69-year-old Greg Bretz,

who is suffering from terminal cancer after a hospital worker at Hayes Medical Center caught him vaping marijuana. Now, he doesn't deny that he was using marijuana. And I don't blame him for using marijuana to relieve the pain that he's feeling. Because whether some people want to believe it or not, marijuana does have some. medicinal value. And when it comes to pain relief, I've now heard from so many individuals who have suffered from cancer or other illnesses that cause pain, foregoing the traditional prescription painkillers and using marijuana instead. And in this case, we're again dealing with an elderly man who has weeks to live, dealing with a raid in his hospital room because

a hospital worker decided to snitch on him. Now, this is in Kansas, which is one of of three states in the US that still criminalizes pot in all cases. They haven't legalized it for medicinal use, they haven't legalized it for recreational use. It is just fully banned in the state of Kansas. Now the police seized his vaping device and he also apparently had some edible paste containing THC. They cited him for drug possession and get a load of this. Set a court date for January 2nd. He's terminally ill and he needs help getting around.

He can't even move around on his own. And they're forcing him to go to court over his personal use of marijuana to relieve his pain. And what's so crazy about this is that his own doctor apparently told him to do whatever he needs to do to feel better, to relieve himself of that pain. Brett said a doctor told him to do whatever he wants, if it makes him feel better, because there's basically nothing medical science can do for him any more other than hospice care. And is it a valid concern when it's cited that using a vaping device in a hospital room is dangerous? Well, they told him that the vaping device was a fire hazard because the room is equipped with oxygen. Now, that could be a valid concern.

Vap devices have a small electronic element that heats liquid to steam for inhalation, and there have been some cases where the vape has malfunctioned and patients got burned using them while taking oxygen through a nasal tube. But in this case, the patient is not taking oxygen through a nasal tube. And what's also interesting is that the authorities felt more, they were more interested in in confiscating his paste, which obviously is not a fire hazard. Look, the real problem here is that states like Kansas, Nebraska, and Idaho have still completely banned marijuana and still criminalize individuals who are caught with possession

of marijuana. But on a federal level, I would say we have a bigger problem because the Biden administration could reschedule or completely remove marijuana from the list of Schedule 1 drugs. which by the way, states that marijuana has no medicinal use and is one of the most dangerous drugs in the country, which is hilarious, considering we are currently dealing with a meth and fentanyl epidemic throughout the country. We're dealing with increased fentanyl deaths and overdoses, but we still have marijuana listed as a Schedule 1 drug. If we actually had some action from the federal government in decriminalizing marijuana,

in removing marijuana from the list of Schedule I drugs, I think that we would be in a better place overall because federal law supersedes state law. So possibly this individual who is terminally ill wouldn't have to deal with an insane raid in his hospital room because he's using a vape or marijuana paste in order to believe his pain. And what a waste of resources. He's got to go to court. Like the state has to pay for that. He's got to go to court on January 2nd to defend himself. And I don't even know if he's going to be able to live to that date. They should just totally drop this. But this is what we're dealing with in some states. It is absolutely disgusting. Medicinal marijuana or medicinal

cannabis, again, is illegal in Kansas despite 68% a whopping 68% of state residents supporting state-sanctioned medical marijuana access. And that's according to normal, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws. My heart goes out to him. I hope that they just drop this entirely. He shouldn't have to worry about a court date in his final weeks here on this earth, and he should be able to relieve his pain, especially when we're dealing with a plant that's obviously much more safe than the opioids that have just torn this country apart with overdoses, with deaths. It just makes no sense, feel terrible for him.

All right, final story for you all, let's talk a little bit about inequality. The average American worker makes around $58,260 a year. The average American CEO will make about that much in less than seven hours on the first work day of 2023. That is how bad inequality has gotten here in the United States, where CEO pay has really skyrocketed. In fact, it has increased 1,322% from 1978 to 2020. At the same time, wages have been stagnant for American workers,

especially beginning in the 1970s. Their productivity has certainly gone up, as you can see from this graph, but their hourly compensation has remained stagnant. Now, the numbers are even more enraging when you break them down compared, like when you break them down by profession. Okay, so when you think about all of the essential workers out there, all of the critical professions that help Americans live as comfortably as they can, they are so underpaid, compared to what these CEOs are making.

So let's take a look at it. Sarah Anderson of Inequality.org, you know, put this data together. And here's what we know. It would take the average American CEO less than three hours to make more than the average American fast food workers annual salary of just $26,060 per year. Less than four hours to make more than the average American fast food workers annual salary of just $26,060 per year. make more than the average American home care AIDS annual salary of $29,260 per year. It would take the average American CEO less than five hours to make more than the average

American pre-K teachers annual salary of $36,460 a year. Let me give you one more. It would take the average American CEO less than seven hours to make more than the average American firefighters annual salary of $55,290 per year. Does that make any sense to you guys? Doesn't make any sense to me. And when you're dealing with an economy that is reliant on consumerism, how are you going to expect things to run smoothly if Americans don't have the disposable income

necessary to stimulate the economy? That also doesn't make sense. So while the federal reserve for a while had no problem just printing money, allowing corporate stock buyback, all of that stuff, the reality of the situation is the Fed was just propping up the stock market because the average American can't afford to stimulate the economy by buying these products. They have no disposable income due to this inequality. Like the whole system is broken.

So as soon as the Federal Reserve stops, you know, their quantitative easing, as soon as the Federal Reserve increases interest rates, that those asset bubbles, the stock market starts to crash. And we've been experiencing that. Because the stock market right now, as we speak, is just a house of cards. It's not built on these Fortune 500 companies providing the best product that consumers won or spending money on. No, it's based on corporate stock buybacks. It's based on. on them taking money from the Fed and investing in shares of their own stocks. So the inequality is a huge problem not only due to how it impacts the quality of life for average American workers. But when you think about how this economy is supposed to work, it just leads to a complete breakdown. And it leads to more reliance on these corporations, not investing in their own companies, but bolstering the value of their own stocks by buying shares of their own stocks. Finally, despite the best efforts of corporate media, we should take a look at how Americans

in both parties agree that this massive gap between CEO and worker pay is a huge problem and something should be done about it. So CEOs of America's largest companies are compensated, So here you can see that when it comes to Republicans, 71% of them say that the CEOs are compensated too much. Only 18% say the right amount. Similar numbers with Democrats, 81% believe that CEOs of America's largest companies are compensated too much. Only 5% say the right amount. I'm guessing the 5% are the Pete Buttigieg McKinsey types. And when it comes to independence, 68% say that CEOs in America are compensated too much and 15% say the right amount. Inequality is leading to a complete breakdown of our country. It's leading to poverty. It's leading to

more homelessness. It's leading to more greed with corporate stock buybacks. That's for sure. And we don't have a federal government that's willing to do what's necessary. to fix it because they're all bought by the same corporations who don't want to increase wages, who don't want to do a damn thing for their workers, because they don't see labor as an important part of their businesses. They see labor as a massive cost that they need to fight against. But without the workers, these companies have nothing. You can't generate anything, including wealth, including revenue, without the workers. Which is why, as sad as this story is, the only thing that really gives me hope today in this country is this newfound

motivation to organize workplaces, to unionize. We got to keep that momentum going. Because if we just sit back and rely on elected officials who are bribed by these corporations to do the right thing, we're going to keep seeing this trend. It's going to be exacerbated in coming years. The only way you change it is through organizing your workplace, through labor militancy, and essentially having a seat at the table, collective bargaining to ensure that wages go up. You look at these Scandinavian countries, they don't have the federal government setting minimum wage standards. They don't. Because the workers are unionized and those trade unions negotiate salaries on their behalf.

Labor is the answer. Organizing the workplace is the answer. If you just think you're going to vote, elect some folks who tell you everything you want to hear during the election cycle and they're going to save you, clearly you'd be mistaken. All right, Ben Glebe joins me for the next hour. Don't miss it. We're going to talk about some pretty devastating numbers regarding children dying from gun violence. but we will lighten things up after that.

So don't miss it. We'll see you in a few.