The Young Turks - Chi Town Turmoil

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

Netanyahu threatens the Lebanese people with ""destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza"" if they don’t overthrow Hezbollah. Fox News reporter Trey Yingst condemns Israel’s ""unacceptable"" killing of more than 100 Palestinian journalists. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson faces backlash over a school board coup. " HOST: Ana Kasparian (@anakasparian) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ 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. Live from the Polymarket Studio in L.A. It's the Young Turks. Welcome to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian, and we have a giant, fantastic show ahead for you today. Early in the hour, we're going to check in on Hurricane Milton in Florida, specifically. I have some family members who live there. Luckily, they're not in the evacuation zone. But you will see some exclusive Lopez,

family video from what the scene was like already, even if you're not living close to the evacuation zone. So lots to get to with that story. We're also going to check in on Lebanon and the ongoing war on Lebanon by Israel. The situation is dire to say the least. And there are now some pretty serious threats being issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the second hour of the show, We're going to bring John in. There's a Jesse Waters story in the second hour. And I just feel like the combination of John I'd Rolla's humor and Jesse Waters is perfect. So I'm really looking forward to having a little bit of fun in the second hour.

But as always, just want to encourage you all to like and share the stream. If you haven't hit that like button already, I don't know what you're doing. You should do it now. That's a great way to help support the show. And obviously it's free. You can also become a member by going to t-y-t.com slash join, and you can become a member that way or just smash that join button if you're watching us on YouTube. Thank you, DJ Bart. Now, without further ado, I wanted to share some footage with you all. I'm sure you've all seen footage already of what Hurricane Milton is already doing to the state of Florida. But let's take a look at this. All right, you are looking at footage that was sent to me by family members in Florida. The hurricane, Hurricane Milton, which has already been downgraded a bit to a Hurricane 3,

Category 3 hurricane, I should say, with 125 mile per hour winds, is nowhere near where my family lives in Florida. But as you can see, there were already major gusts of wind. There was already rain. Milton, as we do this video right now, as I speak to you at this moment, has not made landfall yet. However, I am happy to report that it does appear that individuals living in the evacuation zone, for the most part, have decided to listen to the warnings, listen to the advice to evacuate, and they have evacuated to shelters or just left town entirely. You had local police departments going door to door urging Florida residents in areas in Tampa, Orlando, and Fort Myers to evacuate just to ensure that people were fully aware of just how dangerous this

category is. And look, I say that it was downgraded to a category three. But, you know, these hurricanes tend to be pretty unpredictable. And a category three hurricane is still pretty devastating. And so, you know, as of this morning, there were already 1,700 gas stations that had run out of gas. You know, people seem pretty terrified. But again, it is good news that they are listening to the warnings. So a few more details about this. So as I mentioned, you know, there are evacuation zones in areas of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers. And it's because of the fact that they are likely to experience a 15-foot storm surge. If you're living in a single story home, or if you're living in a trailer, for instance, you're not going to serve. I mean, it's going

to be devastating. And it's unlikely that someone living in those conditions are going to survive a 15-foot storm surge. So if you are watching this and for whatever reason you haven't evacuated At this point, the best thing to do, according to the authorities in Florida, is to shelter in place. It's already too late to evacuate. And unfortunately, for those who have not evacuated, once the storm hits, emergency workers cannot get to you, which is why these hurricanes are serious. And when you're told that you should evacuate, please listen to that advice. And so that's the majority of news I have on that issue. Obviously, after it touches land and we get a better idea of the kind of damage that Hurricane Milton does, I will report back in and give you guys more details on that.

And I just want to remind you, Hurricane Helene already battered certain parts of Florida. And they were engaging in cleanup efforts. And now, boom, they're hit with another hurricane. And in regard to Fort Myers in particular, remember, just two years ago, Hurricane Ian pretty much destroyed Fort Myers, which is, you know, a small little beach town that like really has a warm place in my heart. It's where, you know, me and family, where I go to spend some time with family in Florida, you know, just for a few days. And it's just a very great community with wonderful people. And I hate that they're being, you know, victimized with a hurricane like this again. But as we've talked about on this show again and again and again, this is the new normal, right?

I mean, you have waters that have warmed, which fuels, serves as the fuel for these hurricanes. The hurricanes have become far more intense, far more severe. They happen more frequently. And so, you know, when we have conversations about climate change, I know that for some, it sounds like a lot of doomerism. you know, a lot of doomsday scenarios, but it's not, guys. We're already living through those doomsday scenarios. And so my heart goes out to everyone that's impacted by this, not just by Hurricane Milton, but also by Hurricane Haleen.

As we know, there are communities in various states that are still suffering the consequences and engaging in recovery efforts as a result of that hurricane. But those are the updates. I'll fill you all in as I learned more. For now, though, let's move on to another disaster. this one in the Middle East. I say to you the people of Lebanon. Free your country from Chisbalah so that this war can end.

Free your country from Chisbalah said that your country could prosper again. You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. You deserve to restore Lebanon to its days of tranquility. You deserve a Lebanon that is different. It is different. One country, one flag, one people. Now, I would argue that Lebanon deserves to make decisions about its own sovereign country without a hostile prime minister of a neighboring country weighing in.

But nonetheless, Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a chilling warning to Lebanon and threatened that if Hezbollah isn't overthrown, the country could soon look like Gaza. And of course, just as a reminder, we're talking about a country that the United States not only considers an ally, but an ally that the United States heavily armed so they can carry out these threats and make good on those threats. And by the way, it's fascinating that in his message, he also mentioned Lebanon being united under one flag, because it seems at least some in Israel have different intentions. An Israeli flag hoisted above a rubble-strewn Lebanese village. Parts of southern Lebanon now resemble the apocalyptic landscape of Gaza, and Israel's war with Hezbollah is intensifying. This apparently all that's left of the border town of Yaroon.

The Israeli army announced today another military division has now been deployed into Lebanon. Around 15,000 soldiers are said to be taking part in the invasion. So as the IDF's military assault in Lebanon continues to escalate, Hezbollah's deputy leader has indicated that they would like to negotiate a ceasefire, a temporary ceasefire deal, which by the way, let's just take a step back and acknowledge the fact that ceasefires don't even mean ceasefires anymore. Seasfire means you stop the war, you stop the fighting. Now there's this new era of temporary ceasefires where the idea is, okay, maybe we give it like three weeks or something. And then the fighting can start again. The warring can start again. But in this case,

Hezbole realized, okay, it's unlikely that Israel is going to agree to a permanent ceasefire. So they decided to offer negotiations for a temporary ceasefire without conditions. related to Gaza. Remember, the reason why Hezbollah started attacking Israel is because Israel started doing aerial bombardments of Gaza, effectively, you know, flattening it and killing tens of thousands of civilians. But for now, since Israel is unwilling to engage in those negotiations, Hezbollah has continued launching rockets into Israel. Now, luckily, most of them were intercepted. No one wants civilians dead. That would be absolutely tragic. But sadly, today, a man and a woman were reportedly killed from fatal shrapnel wounds after rockets struck a town in northern Israel. And this is what Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to risk. You know, he's willing to risk the lives of, of course, countless Arabs and Muslims and even Christians and countries like Lebanon.

He's bombing Syria too, all of that. But he's willing to literally risk the lives of Israelis as well. I mean, if this war, this broadening war shows us anything at all, to me, it shows you how little Benjamin Netanyahu cares about human lives, regardless of the identity of the human lives involved. Now, six people were also injured in a rocket attack near Haifa. But as usual, Israel's assault has done much more damage to Lebanon. And how could it not? I mean, when you consider the fact that we're heavily arming them, giving them the types of bombs that are referred to as bunker buster bombs. Lebanon's crisis response unit announced on Wednesday that 22 people were killed and 80 wounded in the past 24 hours, raising the total toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,141 killed and 10,09 wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Now, that report also recorded 70 airstrikes and incidents of shelling in the past day alone. Some 1,000 centers, including educational complexes, vocational institutes, universities, and other institutions are sheltering 185,400 people displaced by the Israeli offensive in Lebanon. Among these shelters, 807 have reached full capacity. I mean, we're talking about millions of displaced people. Overall, the total number of displaced individuals in Lebanon stands at 1.2 million. And Israel is also bombing other countries. In addition to Gaza, the bombings in Gaza, the military operations in Gaza continue because Netanyahu has said, well, you know, it appears that you still have Hamas strategizing and we haven't gotten them yet.

You're not going to get them. you're killing all sorts of innocent civilians and those left behind are going to want revenge against Israel over the fact that they slaughtered their innocent family members. The way that this war is being prosecuted is not going to lead to some long-term peace in the Middle East. And I don't think Netanyahu is interested in that to begin with, honestly. Now, an Israeli airstrike was done on a residential building in Damascus, Syria. Also, that airstrike reportedly killed seven people and injured at least 11. So let's talk a little bit about U.S. involvement here, because there was some big news.

You know, our president, Joe Biden, the man who, according to Bob Woodward's latest book war, absolutely despises Netanyahu and calls him a bad guy, met with Netanyahu. They actually held their first call in seven weeks. And yesterday, his administration made clear that it has dropped its support for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Here's State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, giving us some more.

Let's watch. Yes, we do support Israel launching these incursions to degrade Hezbollah's infrastructure, so ultimately we can get a diplomatic resolution. Given that Hezbollah, someone in Hezbollah is now saying they, you know, they're open to ceasefire. Are the Israelis calling for ceasefire? No, they're not. And so we know that you've said repeatedly it takes two to tango when it comes to ceasefire. Is this not a good starting point that, as you say, Hezbollah is being degraded?

At one point, at what point is it significantly degraded enough for the US to say, okay, enough is enough? And I think the fact that they came out and called for a ceasefire today shows that Hezboa knows, it's on the back foot, knows its capabilities are being degraded. And so the reason it's hard to answer the question. question is, is Hezbollah calling for a ceasefire? Or is Hezbollah calling for a ceasefire and agreeing to pull back beyond the Latani River? Which is something that they haven't said that they would do. Just want to note that that press conference was held before Hezbollah succeeded in a rocket strike that ended up killing two people in Israel. So I don't know, maybe negotiations on

a ceasefire is in the best interests of everyone involved, including Israeli civilians. Now, Senators Richard Blumenthal and renowned Warhawk, Lindsay Graham, are currently in the Middle East. I mean, please tell me that there's any other place in the world that U.S. politicians visit more than Israel. But they were in Israel, and they met with Netanyahu yesterday. You know, they're true leader. And they say that they're there to help normalize relations in the region. Normalizing relations would probably start with the war ending, but that's not really what they're interested in. They basically confirmed what we've been hearing from the Biden administration.

If Israel goes to war with Iran, we're going to be involved. We're going to get dragged into it. Let's take a look. If Israel takes on Iran in such a way that this escalates and becomes a war between Israel and Iran, the United States would be obliged to enter on Israel's side, wouldn't it? Iran has declared that it wants to destroy the United States as well as annihilate Israel. So Israel's war is not only against the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, but against Iran. So that's a yes, then you would enter on the side of Israel.

I'm not predicting what will happen. Our effort here is actually to help reduce or avoid escalation and the widening of this war. There needs to be a confrontation of Iran. We've put it off way too long. We need to call their question on Iran. They're the source of most up evil. Regime change. I am a thousand percent for regime change, but you don't have to do that force.

How did that work out last time America tried it in Iraq? I think we have nothing to lose. How did it work out when we got rid of Hitler? Better. I think we have nothing to lose. The United States orchestrated a coup in Iran, which is why we have what we have now. There are never any lessons learned because our politicians are literally paid to avoid learning any lessons. They are literally paid through political bribes that have been legalized by our

Supreme Court to essentially risk the lives of innocent human beings in order to increase the bottom line for defense contractors and weapons manufacturers. This isn't a debate or a conversation about doing what's best to normalize relations or doing what's best to protect human lives. This is a conversation about more war, more devastation, empowering a belligerent government that has no problem risking the lives of its own citizens. That's what this is really about. And has there ever been a war that Lindsey Graham hasn't salivated over? Now, why does he salivate over it? Because he's paid to. Look at how much money he rakes in through defense contractors. Real curious whether he's personally invested in individual stocks belonging to

weapons manufacturers, defense contractors, you get the picture. Lindsay Graham is a giant pile of garbage. And by the way, so is Blumenthal. You have problems in your own country. Okay, what are you doing in Israel right now? A united, two United States senators are in a foreign country right now, more concerned about what's happening there than what's happening in our own country as another devastating hurricane comes barreling toward Florida. And when Graham was asked, what's next for Gaza? He seemed to suggest a total takeover of the territory, which I am not surprised by. Take a look.

Not holding the back has meant 40,000 dead Gazans. Well, that's because Hamas wants them that way. They want it that way. I don't blame them the favor. Hamas will not be standing. They will never govern Gaza. If you get nothing else out of this interview, Hamas will never govern Gaza again. They may not be Hamas anymore, but there'll be another organization with similar policies that will be, you know, called something different.

I couldn't agree with you more. Gaza and children who've seen their parents killed, seen their neighbors killed, they will join a cause, a new cause with a new name unless somebody comes in and takes over their lives, provides them an education system and a future that's more hopeful. that's more hopeful. But their bitterness is created by American bombs dropped on them inside Gaza, in part, isn't it? Well, I think their bitterness should be toward Hamas. They've been radicalized.

They're the most radicalized population on the planet. From the time you're born in Gaza, the time you're died, you're taught to hate the Jews. The two-state solution, as we know it, died on October the 7th. You think it's dead? I think, I think as it's been envisioned in the past it is. Lindsay Graham is such a bad person. Lindsay Graham is such a bad person that he is one of the few people in the world who makes me want to believe in religion.

Because nothing would give me greater solace than believing that that man is going to burn an eternal damnation. But alas, I don't believe in that. And so I have to cope with the fact that this guy might not ever have to pay for the consequences for all the bloodshed. He has encouraged around the world throughout his political career. Let's talk a little more about Gaza. Gaza's health ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabalya, from Sunday until Tuesday, and another 14 from communities farther north. The toll is likely higher as there are bodies buried under the rubble and in areas that can't be accessed.

It's so incredibly frustrating being slapped around with the injustice of what this country is enabling and not having the power to do a damn thing about it, not having a political party to support because they are willing to take a stand against enabling what we're seeing in the Middle East. And so when we have conversations about protecting democracy and Democrats wonder, well, why isn't our messaging about protecting democracy working? Maybe they should consider the fact that a lot of Americans on certain issues like this don't really feel like democracy is doing much. A lot of Americans don't want to be involved in this, but they don't have a choice because both political parties are completely captured by political bribes, obviously legal, that support Israel, regardless of what Israel does. And in this case, I think what they're doing is, of course, devastating for the sovereign nations surrounding the country, but it's also going to be devastating for Israel. It's already devastating their economy, and Netanyahu sees no end in sight. Today, three hospitals in northern Gaza were ordered to evacuate.

UN official describe the situation in the north as hell with at least 400,000 people trapped there. This is what we are enabling here in the United States. And you really have to ask yourself, how much more? Are we really willing to take? How much more are we going to allow this to go on? And the only response we've gotten from the government is shut downs of pro-peace protests and things like that. So, yeah, democracy is important, but the American people need to feel that they're being heard through their democratic process. And right now, I certainly don't feel heard.

Let's take a break. When we come back, we have more, including a very shocking source calling out the number of journalists who have been killed by Israel. I'm going to tell you what that source is and more when we come back. Don't miss it. What's up, everyone? Welcome back to the show. I'm Anna Casparian, and I want to get to our next story. Let's do it. And while we get a firsthand look at the destruction here, it's important to remember that Palestinian journalists do not have this access. They have been pushed to the south. Dozens have been killed. There's this false narrative about Palestinian journalists.

More than a hundred of them have been killed by Israel since the war began. And I take very few positions in the conflicts that we cover. But let this be a position that I take. Journalists, specifically Palestinian journalists, must be protected. Powerful message coming from a source that you would least expect. That was the chief foreign correspondent. His name is Trey Yinks for Fox News. So what you watched was a snippet of a documentary that he has created for Fox Nation.

So this is like the online platform for Fox. But nonetheless, I mean, when Israel loses Fox, you know they've gone too far. And in this case, I really do want to give Trey Yinks a lot of credit for drawing attention to a very serious issue. You know, journalists, the press, they are supposed to be protected so they can do their job. jobs and report to the rest of the world, what is happening on the ground. And war reporters, these are the most legit journalists. Okay, like sometimes when people call me journalists, like I cringe because I think of war reporters. I think of people like Jeremy Scahill, who he himself used to be a war reporter. Now he has a wonderful publication called DropSight News.

Definitely check that out. He launched that with Ryan Grimm. But I think because of the fact that Yinkst has seen the devastation and the destruction in Gaza. And he knows what it's like to put your life on the line to do your job. He has a special connection to this issue. And I really do want to commend him for drawing attention to it. Now, Israel's brutality toward everyone in Gaza, including the journalists, has gotten so bad that, again, they have now appeared to lose the support of some fox figures. And Yinkst is out with this new documentary, which, by the way, also shows the extent of the destruction that Israel has brought upon the tiny strip of land. Let's take a look.

There are so many neighborhoods that are flattened. Palestinians that are internally displaced will simply have no homes to return to. The Israelis have killed journalists in drone strikes. They've killed them with small arms fire. And it's unacceptable. It absolutely is unacceptable. And I want to give you some more details about what Palestinian journalists have been dealing with as a result of this war. Now, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, this is not a group that is controlled by a Hamas.

So rest easy that this is a credible source. They claim that 123 Palestinians, three Lebanese, and two Israeli journalists have been killed since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza. Now, the two Israeli journalists were killed during the October 7th Hamas attacks. Now, in its most, by the way, they obviously should be condemned for that. Now, in its most recent report, the Committee to Protect Journalists noted that to date, CPJ has determined that at least five journalists were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings, which CPJ classifies as murders. So this is not news to us.

If you are a regular viewer of this show, if you are a regular listener of this show, you would not be surprised. But what should be surprising is the fact that there is an organization that's actually willing to hold Israel accountable, not for accidental journalist murders or killings, but to also call them out.

when it's abundantly clear that the journalists were specifically targeted. Now, more journalists have died in the course of any other year or any year since CPJ began documenting journalists killings in 1992. So Gaza is unique. It is breaking records. CPJ is also investigating numerous unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened. And of damage to media offices. and journalists' homes. And that's actually a perfect segue for what I wanted to share with you all.

And it's a difficult story to share with you all when you consider the fact that this journalist was so incredibly young. But last weekend, an Israeli drone strike killed a 19-year-old journalist by the name of Hassan Hamad. He was in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

And one might argue, well, I mean, Hamas was probably using him as a human shield, right? I mean, that's the usual excuse that we'll hear, except the IDF had warned him that this would happen if he continued reporting on the carnage that they're causing in the Gaza Strip. And they made good on that threat. The bombing followed multiple text messages, warning Hamad to stop recording images of Israel's assault on Gaza.

And there's evidence of that. Let's take a look. So what you're looking at here is a tweet by Palestinian journalist Maha Husseini. She posted a photo, one of the threatening WhatsApp message that was sent to Hamad. The other image is Hamad himself. And it read as follows, listen, if you continue spreading lies about Israel will come for you next and turn your family into, this is your last warning. Now, she says that Hamad also received several calls from an Israeli officer, ordering him to stop filming in Gaza. It's interesting.

I mean, these threatening messages would lead one to believe that maybe all those other journalists were targeted. I mean, it seems as though Israel does not want any reporting on the ground in Gaza, which is why they're so incredibly restrictive when it comes to, you know, international journalists who want to report on the ground. and, you know, he didn't comply, and a drone strike killed him. Journalists later posted incredibly graphic footage of people picking up Hamad's remains, his body parts, and putting it on a table. It's, I do not recommend watching it if you have a difficult time stomaking that kind of stuff. Those images are seared into my memory now. and Reuters Deputy Editor-in-Chief Barry Malone

asked a really important question. If you're a journalist and you're not speaking out in solidarity, why? Yeah, why? We know that if this were carried out by any other country, journalists would be pretty outraged. There seems to be some level of fear in calling Israel out, even when there's evidence indicating that they're targeting journalists,

Palestinian journalists in Gaza. The Press Freedom Group, reporters without borders, also not controlled by Hamas, just want to be clear about that, has filed multiple complaints at the International Criminal Court, whose chief prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defense minister Yoav Galant, and Hamas leaders alleging war crimes against journalists in Gaza. Yeah, slaughtering journalists happens to be a war crime. But this ongoing war and the United States aiding and abetting the war kind of makes a mockery out of international law, doesn't it? I mean, this war essentially dismantles that. This war and the U.S.'s support of it, of Israel's involvement in it, of Israel's military actions in it, indicate that the U.S. government has absolutely no leg to stand on when it comes to human rights abuses, when it comes to violations of international law.

I mean, who the hell is the U.S. government to tell any other country what they can and can't do, considering what they are enabling as we speak? It's so incredibly shameful, but here we are. All right, well, let's move on to something. Actually, let's take a break. Let's take a break. Let me get myself together. And we're going to switch gears, talk about something entirely different.

We're going to do a story out of Chicago, which I think is important. to know about because, you know, sometimes when you see mismanagement, you just automatically assume if you're a hyperpartisan that that mismanagement is carried out by, you know, a corporate-owned politician. There's no way someone who's in favor of labor, in favor of unions, can, you know, screw up the fiscal situation in a city. It's not the case in Chicago, unfortunately. So a huge power trip, an effort to silence journalists, a lot going on in Chicago that I can't wait to share with you all, so come right back. The new BMO-V-I-Porter MasterCard is your ticket to more.

More perks, more points, more flights, more of all the things you want in a travel rewards card, and then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO-V-I-Py-I-Py-I-Py. Porter Mastercard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply. Visit bemo.com slash V-Iporter to learn more. Welcome back to the show, everyone. Titan in our super chat says,

I can't stand these grifters like Vosch and others that dogpile you for clicks. These people aren't actually left. They are click hunters. Well, Titan, I agree with you, but it's okay, especially in the case of Vosch, who has a dwindling audience after it was discovered that he had a file for animated CP on his computer. And he can use the money. So you're welcome. I'm happy that you're making a little bit more money by attacking me for nonsense. Anyway, we want to talk about the news. So why don't we get to our next story? Let's talk a little bit about what's happening in Chicago. How many of you support taking out a short-term high-interest loan? We're not doing that. We're not doing that. It's disrespectful. Do you have a question for me? Okay, I'm sorry,

you brought them up here, and it is a precedent. Do you have a question for me? You know what a better question would be? What are you willing to do with your power to ensure that a school district that stuffed black children in Willis Wagon's. What you should be asking me is, what are you willing to do when you had a district that have laid off black women? I'm going to ask my own questions. Thank you. To some, it may look like a coup by the CTU to get rid of the board members who would not do your bidding and fire Pedro Martinez. Can you respond to that?

What's the question? Well, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson made an absolute. mockery out of a press conference this week in which he refused to answer absolutely valid budget-related questions from journalists and also engaged in Trump-like hostility toward reporters for asking him valid questions. Now, look, there's been a lot of turmoil in Chicago for various reasons. The city, for instance, is projected to have a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall for the 2025 fiscal year. That is, No joke. And I want to make it clear, you know, when it comes to local politics, fiscal issues

can't be dealt with the way fiscal issues are dealt with on a national level. On a national level, you have the Federal Reserve printing money. That's not the case for cities or states. They really do have to balance the budget. And so these are incredibly valid questions because if you don't answer them, people are going to wonder, well, where are we going to start seeing the cuts to close that budget gap. And he's just unwilling to answer those questions. Now, the city's deficit shot up 80% since Johnson's first year as mayor in just a few years. Okay, like 2023 was when he came into power. And at the same time, Chicago needs to make a $175 million payment to the non-teacher employee fund for Chicago public schools. And the Chicago Teachers Union is

currently in contract negotiations with educators demanding a 10% salary increase. So there's a lot going on. There's a lot of demands being made. And what's unfortunate is that this is one of the rare stories where you have a mayor who, in my opinion, has been corrupted by money, not from corporations, but from the teachers union and is making decisions, in my opinion, that could potentially lead to school closures and all sorts of terrible outcomes in the future. And so what Johnson wants to do in order to close that budget gap is get the school district to take out a $300,000 short-term high-interest loan. And that doesn't sound like a great idea for those who are looking to stop digging Chicago go into a major hole. And because of these fiscal issues, again, you have no possibility of a low

interest loan. They can only be approved for a high interest loan. So the cost of borrowing the money is going to be high. And the loan would both fund the pension and give the teachers the 10% raise that they're asking for. Now, look, I want to be clear, I am overall and in general, in favor of paying teachers more. I have a long record of that, and I have not changed my mind on that. However, you can't do it if the economic fundamentals

in the city don't make sense for it because that could end up causing more harm than good. That could lead to school closures, which should be avoided. That would mean that teachers would end up getting fired.

So this is all to say that it informed the decision made by the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, his name is Pedro Martinez. He refused to take out the loan. He said that it was fiscally irresponsible. And in this particular case, I happen to agree with him, even though I would love to see the teachers make more money. Absolutely. Now, the only other way to oust, now, since Martinez said, no, I don't think this is a good idea. as the head of Chicago public schools, I refuse to take out this high interest short-term, $300,000 loan. Instead, what I would like to do is balance the budget. And he created his own

budget. The budget was meant to avoid school closures at least through 2027. So no schools would have to worry about closing if the city ended up following his budget for Chicago public schools. And all of this ended up drawing the ire of Mayor Brandon Johnson. He got upset that he didn't get his way and that the CEO of Chicago Public Schools pushed back on the notion of taking out this, you know, high interest loan. And so since then, Mayor Johnson has been pushing him to resign. When Pedro Martinez refused to resign, well, the only other way to oust him is to get the school board to get rid of him. And keep in mind, the school board was handpicked by Mayor Brandon Johnson himself.

But they did not want to oust Pedro Martinez. In fact, they held a vote. And I want to talk a little bit about that vote because they voted on two things. Let's take a look. The board had voted 7-0 to approve Martinez's budget plan, which would prevent school closures through 2027, as I said. They also held a vote on Johnson's desired $300 million loan and unanimously rejected it. So the CEO, Pedro Martinez, put out a budget. The entire board agreed with it, unanimous.

They also held the vote on the possibility of taking out this loan. They totally sided with Martinez, did not think that the loan was a good idea, unanimously rejected it. But Johnson persisted. All seven members of the school board, which Johnson handpicked, ended up resigning in protest because of his pressure campaign to oust Martinez. They're like, we don't want him to oust Martinez, but he was relentless in the pressure campaign. And then finally, like, we can't, we just, we're not, we can't take this anymore. We're going to resign.

But that caused a new problem. The new problem is, well, if they resign, well, that allows for Mayor Johnson. to handpick and appoint a new slate of school board members. And that gives him the opportunity to handpick or install puppets. And now, we don't know if that's exactly what he did, but he has already appointed six out of the seven school board members. The seven school board member actually happened to be a holdover from Lori Lightfoot's administration. But the whole reason why there was this big press conference this week was because reporters wanted to know, okay, well, have these school board members that you just appointed, the interim school board members, have they been vetted? Are they loyalists? What do they think about the possibility of taking out an expensive, you know, $300 million loan? Like, what's going on? And look, those are legitimate questions. Those are the kinds of questions journalists should be asked.

But Brandon Johnson was not interested in any of that. Now, who is he beholden to? Well, let's take a look. Data from watchdog group Illinois Sunshine found that between December 4th of 2017 and June 30th of 2023, Johnson's political committee received $6.07 million from the Chicago Teachers Union, which he used to be a member of. And look, unions get to play ball too. You know, unions have their own funds.

They engage in lobbying. But, and again, usually unions are asking for things that I totally agree with. But considering the financial woes that the city of Chicago is currently dealing with, just feel like a 10% raise that we don't have any way of paying for at this time, other than taking out a massive loan, would be devastating to the city and would have all sorts of consequences that the city would not take kindly to. Now, let's get to the reporters and let's get to their valid questions being shut down. Because regardless of how you feel about what Johnson is trying to do here with that high-interest loan,

you have to agree that treating reporters who have valid questions the way that he did at this press conference is pretty unacceptable. I mean, just switch out Brandon Johnson with Donald Trump. I mean, Donald Trump, of course, got a ton of criticism for the way he treated journalists. Now, tell me that this is any different. Let's go to the first video. To the outside world, this kind of does look like because the CTU was your biggest backer. To some, it may look like a coup by the CTU to get rid of the board members who would not do your bidding and fire Pedro Martinez. Can you respond to that?

What's the question? The question is, this is a, looks like a coup by the CTU to get rid of Pedro Martinez. Is, was there collaboration with the CTU on your part to make this happen so that you could fire Pedro Martinez? So every single mayor in the history of Chicago has had the authority to, to appoint board members, to multiple boards. Guess who still has that authority? This mayor does. This mayor does. Okay, congratulations.

That is true, but that doesn't answer the question. The question wasn't about whether or not Brandon Johnson has the authority to handpick and appoint the new school board or the interim school board. And by the way, in a few weeks, the people of Chicago will be able to vote on 10 members, 10 new members of the school board, and Brandon Johnson will be able to appoint 11 members. This was Johnson's way of making the whole situation a little more democratic, except it's not real democratic when you're shutting down journalists like this and refusing to answer they're legitimate questions.

I mean, did you vet these people? Who are they? Why did you pick them? And already, according to NBC News, one of his appointees has a history that's concerning. So the person that I'm talking about here had a Mitchell is his last name, but he had basically been disbarred in the state of Ohio back in the 90s. He had a lien placed on his home because he refused to pay child support. that was later lifted.

And then he had another lien placed on his home when he refused to pay his water bill, which whatever, I don't care about that in typical situations. But we're talking about an individual who's been appointed to make decisions about potentially taking out a massive loan that the entire city of Chicago is going to have to deal with. I don't know. It doesn't seem like he's someone who makes great decisions or is fiscally responsible. But who knows? So look, again, these are legitimate questions that journalists should be able to ask.

And I would appreciate if the mayor, regardless of who he is or what political affiliation he has, answers. But again, that's not the case. He also seemed particularly snippy with a female reporter who wanted to know where the board members stood on the idea of taking out the loan. I'm wondering if any of the board members can answer this question. Actually, if all of you can, just maybe even just a show of your hands. How many of you support taking out a short-term, high-interest loan to pay for a teachers' contract? If you have a question for the mayor of Chicago, you can ask me a question. What you are not going to do is litigate what the board has the authority to do once they're appointed.

You can ask that once they are appointed. No. Not going to do it. It's disrespectful. So obviously that reporter wanted to know, hey, did you install interim board members who agree with you on taking out this high interest $300 million loan? And he doesn't want that to be answered. And look, watch this video through the end. Hopefully you're watching this entire report through the end.

But he then went on to dictate which questions they should be asking him. Which questions journalists should be asking the politician? Take a look. Do you have a question for me? Okay, I'm sorry, you brought them up here and it is a present. Do you have a question for me? Ask me the question. Okay.

Ask me if I support, I'm going to help you out. Ask me the question. If I believe that we should invest in our children and make sure we don't lay off brown and black women, yes. Yes. I'm not going to tolerate cuts. That's what the issue has been in this city. You know what a better question would be?

What are you willing to do with your power to ensure that a school district that stuffed black children in Willis Waggons? What you should be asking me is, what are you willing to do where you had a district that have laid off black women? You should be asking me, what am I prepared and willing to do to ensure that our children get the education that they deserve? anything necessary. I'm going to ask my own questions. Thank you. I got to say that video was infuriating until that hilarious

snarky comeback by the journalist who was just like, yeah, I'm going to ask my own questions, okay? And besides which, the whole diatribe that you heard there wasn't just in regard to answering this one reporter. He deflected by bringing up slavery over and over and over again.

In fact, he argued that not going along with his plan is similar to what like slave owners were arguing when it came to freeing the slaves, which is, guys, come on, come on. that deflection is ridiculous, and he should answer questions about what he is currently doing to the city of Chicago. Because the ramifications of his decisions will be felt by every governmental department, by every resident and taxpayer in the city. And speaking of taxpayers, I should note that while he said in the video that we just heard, that he is against cuts. After the press conference, he proposed cuts. I'll get to that in a minute. But I do want to go to one more video because a question that he should definitely answer is how he is personally using public funds.

Now, this reporter, a Latina, wanted to ask about an upcoming trip and who's paying for that upcoming trip. Let's take a look. Mayor, is this a good week to go to London for a bear's game and also who's going to pay for that trip? All right. Okay. All right. I'm going to London to attract business to Chicago. Okay? I'm going to London to attract business in Chicago. Hold on a second. Because you already know the answer to that. But I just want to make sure that you do the people of Chicago service. Because I have to be very honest with you. It's pretty jacked up to way you framed that.

Right. That is. It is. It is. It's difficult. disrespectful and condescending that the black man is going to London for a game. It's disrespectful. It is. No, it's not disrespectful. It's a completely valid question about the use of public money. And look, I don't know if he's actually going to London to attract business to Chicago. I'm skeptical. But the notion that's simply asking that question and asking who pays for trip, like being disrespectful or racist against the black man. That is insane. That is insane.

That is insane. It reminds me of, it really does remind me of Eric Adams when the, you know, housing advocate had asked about rent control. And he immediately like accused her of being racist because she was asking a question that made him uncomfortable. You guys have decided to be public servants. And you should get no special treatment based on the color of your skin. You signed up for this. You should answer questions, not because they are beholden to reporters, but because they have a responsibility to the residents of Chicago from all races, from all nationalities, from all faiths. You know, there's a lot of focus on, I mean, I just, he represents everybody in Chicago. He needs to understand that. He seems to miss that point. And let's talk about

what happened after the fact. So after the press conference, reporters couldn't get him to respond to a damn email, a request for comment. There was one local station that he sat down with and had an interview and he just repeated much of the same. It was a very friendly interview as well. Now, what is Johnson planning to do? Well, we have no idea whether the board is going to go along with his plan, I would venture to say, I would take an educated guess that he's not going to appoint people who disagree with him on that matter. So we'll see what happens. Right now, though, district personnel layoffs and cuts to police trainings are being proposed by Mayor Johnson to cut down the budget gap. So it's not just, first of all, like cutting back on police

trainings is such a bad idea. But put that aside, he's talking about laying off personnel within the school district. And he's proposing that immediately after the press conference where he said, I don't want cuts. I'm not going to do cuts. No, no. No, you're going to do cuts because you guys don't have the money. So how does it make any sense to make the matter worse by taking out a $300 million high interest loan? He's also considering property tax increase and the possible refinancing, I think this is actually a good idea, the possible refinancing of the city's debt, which could save Chicago $110 million upon city council approval.

And by the way, city council is not happy with him. Even some of his allies in the city council are not happy with him, and they're currently making moves to ensure that in the future, the mayor's appointments must be approved by the city council. We'll see if that goes anywhere. But the final thing that I'll bring up is that the Chicago Teachers Union is also demanding that resources that were allocated to incentivize the development of, you know, more housing should be redirected to the school district. Look, we will see what happens. But this is how things tend to work out when you have, you know, a budget shortfall.

When you have a budget shortfall, what local leaders have to do is make decisions about what they cut. Okay, which bills do we absolutely have to pay? And again, in my opinion, making the matter worse by taking out a high interest loan, that could lead to future school closures. That could lead to more teacher layoffs. It's not a good idea. And seeing Brandon Johnson have a power trip like this is really disturbing. But here we are. All right. Let's take a break. We'll be back with John Iderola and more.