The Young Turks - Congress's Motel Sexcapades

Episode Date: December 22, 2023

The case of al-Shifa: Investigating the assault on Gaza’s largest hospital. The father of the 26-year-old hostage killed by Israeli forces rebukes Netanyahu: “I’m going to say this [to] the government. You murdered my son twice.” Christmas canceled in Bethlehem. Republican Congressman says colleagues are being blackmailed after getting naked with strangers in motel rooms. HOSTS: Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) and Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) 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/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Watchlist https://www.youtube.com/watchlisttyt Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey https://www.youtube.com/indisputabletyt The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA 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. I'm a little teapot short and stuff. Chip me over and pour me out. Ladies and gentlemen, we got them. Woo! Woo!

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All right. Welcome to the Young Turks. Jane Cougarana, Kisperin with you guys. This is going to be an amazing show. So we have really important stories. We have stories of injustice, but we also have stories of ladies and gentlemen. We got them. So, you know, a little bit on Rudy Giuliani.

It turns out Madison Cawthorne was right. There's apparently Orchie's going on in Washington among Republicans. It's a cray cray show. It's a cray special before Christmas. It's a Kramis. Is it possibly a cray cray suflay? Okay, no, that's something else. But I think Christmas is a new thing that just got born, okay?

I don't know about that. Go internet. Okay, anyways. All right, but of course, since the important stories are first, we started, unfortunately, with a little bit of tragedy. But later, by the way, this is also a serious story, but Christmas getting canceled, but in a sad kind of way. All right, anyways, Anna, go ahead.

Well, we begin today's show with some updates on the war in Gaza. In fact, I'm happy to report that the Washington Post has stayed on the story regarding the bombardment and the raid on Al-Shefa Hospital. And I think it's important to get into that investigation and what they managed to find. So let's get to it. The brutal war in Palestine rages on with at least 20,000 Palestinians killed by the IDF. Now, Israel's attacks on medical infrastructure has unfortunately and tragically left northern Gaza with no functional hospitals left. The most infamous of the IDF sieges was the assault on the al-Shifa hospital, which the IDF had stated was being used as a command center by Hamas. But according to a new Washington Post investigation, the IDF's so-called evidence of that claim falls short of showing that Hamas,

has been using the hospital as a command and control center. So they break down all of the allegations one by one. And based on the open source information and evidence that is available and that they analyzed, they believe that the evidence is not proven at all. So let's get to the first claim or first assertion made by the IDF. So there were several assertions, including that five of the hospital buildings were directly involved in Hamas activities. The building sat atop underground tunnels that were used by militants to direct rocket attacks and command fighters. The tunnels could be accessed from inside, inside hospital wards.

So here is what the Washington Post has found through their analysis and investigation. The rooms connected to the tunnel network discovered by IDF troops showed no immediate evidence of military use by Hamas. They also found that none, None of the five hospital buildings identified by Hagari appeared to be connected to the tunnel network. And finally, there is no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards. Now, Jenk, real quick, I remember covering this story with you. And the last time we had talked about it on the show, you had mentioned the discovery of an entrance to the tunnel. But the tunnel or that entrance was not, in fact, found within the hospital.

Where was it located exactly? So I remember a reporter from one of our cable news outlets pointing in a street, hey, here's, we're in a street nearby and the hospital's over there. And I'm like, so wait, it's not under the hospital. And now you see from the Washington Post drawings that this is a huge complex with many buildings and the tunnels are a tiny, tiny portion of it and does not connect to the five buildings, as you just pointed out, Anna, that Israel says that it connects to. So they were totally and utterly wrong. And look, there was so much condemnation toward the IDF following,

you know, the raid of the hospital that if they really had sufficient evidence, they wouldn't hesitate to provide it. But as we know, the evidence that they managed to show us was felt far short of what a command center for Hamas would look like. In fact, Washington Post also addressed the weapons that were shown as part of the evidence, saying that photos released by the IDF purported to show the full haul of weapons recovered at the hospital, about 12 AK-style rifles, in addition to magazines of ammunition and several grenades and bulletproof vests. But what the Washington Post notes is, while you know, you see Hagari showing that weaponry, the post was unable to independently verify to whom the weapons

belonged or how they came to be inside the radiology unit of al-Shifa Hospital. I'll also note one other thing. Even if there is subsequently some evidence indicating that the weaponry shown what did in fact belong to Hamas, again, it definitely falls short of providing sufficient evidence of a Hamas command center. So do you have any comment on that? Yeah, so look, guys, I thought the tunnels were more expansive than it turns out they are. And I thought they were all under Gaza. But we now, thanks to the idea, we've seen some of the places that they're in, it's a little bit more limited than you than I imagined. And it turns out, you know, Ehud Barak admitted that Israel built the tunnels, which was a hell of a twist.

And the IDF has shown that most of the tunnels are completely unaffected by the bombing. So they're hitting these hospitals and causing grave damage. So as they were coming up to the hospital, you know, four babies died and 40 people died overall because of the siege. And they found nothing. So, you know, we just explained it to you guys. But it bears repeating. Number one, the weapons that they claimed that they found there. It was tiny to begin with, we showed you the IDF video.

It was like a flat jacket, a pair of boots and like two guns. And now the Washington Post says, we have no idea where that came from, just like we told you, they could have just put it there, right? And so they haven't been able to prove that it's Hamas is at all. So, and it's besides which, if it was a command center, I mean, you only have two guns on a flag jacket and a command center, it's absurd, totally absurd, right? And then they had the two people that had entered the hospital. the two hostages that they showed from originally from, you know, right after the attacks.

Well, as we told you guys, it looks like they're bringing them in to get treatment because one of them had blood all over their body. That doesn't show that it's a command center. That shows that they took the hostages to get treated to make sure they didn't die. And so everything that Israel said, oh, definitely these five buildings, they got the underground tunnel and it's a command. So every one of those claims was pruned to a complete lie. The idea of lies like this all the time and it's strategic.

I need you to understand this because as long as they get the press to repeat it for a couple of weeks, by the time the Washington Post writes the story, nobody's going to see it large enough. They already think, oh yeah, whoever they want to think it already is thinking that it's a command center. They're never going to see this story. And that was in the press 10,000 times more than this story is. And that's how propaganda works. You put it out there, no matter how much it's untrue and hope that people don't find out that it was corrected.

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So, Jank, I know that the way that you're describing the weapons found is just meant to emphasize the ridiculousness of pointing to that as the evidence of a Hamas command center. But I just want to make sure that we're as precise and accurate as possible, even if we're just trying to emphasize the ridiculousness of the evidence. They found more than two guns. They found 12 AK-style rifles. But again, even if it is somehow in the future proven to be weaponry that belongs to Hamas, it falls short of proving that this was a Hamas command center that would allow for the IDF to engage in the military activity they engaged in at this hospital without breaking international war crimes or international laws pertaining to war crimes.

Now, there's more. I want to just quickly talk about the reaction to the evidence provided by Israel, because Biden continues to provide cover. He had noted, quote, we are absolutely confident in the intelligence that Hamas was using it as a command and control node. Hamas has been holding the hostages in the hospital compound until shortly before Israel went in. Well, I'm curious what that intelligence is you just taking what the IDF is saying at face value. And I think that considering that the United States government typically does provide cover and supports Israel no matter what, I think Biden has no choice in his mind, but to pretend as though the intelligence is there. But according to now a third party investigative reporting by the Washington Post, the evidence

is not there, the intelligence is not there. And had it been there, you know that the international community would have seen it by now because the IDF doesn't want to deal with the condemnation. it had been dealing with. But I think what's also incredibly important is to hear from a coward, an anonymous member of Congress who didn't have the courage to reveal his or her name when making this statement. But this individual spoke to the Washington Post and said, quote, before, before I was convinced that al-Shifa was where these operations were taking place, meaning the Hamas Command Center. I think there has to be a new level of demonstration.

They should have more proof at this point. But it gives you a sense of, I think that this member of Congress who refuses to reveal his or her identity gives you a sense of how afraid our elected lawmakers are in speaking out against the military operations and the aerial bombardments that are currently being conducted by the IDF. So, yeah, guys, beware of propaganda no matter where it comes from, Hamas, Israel, the U.S., wherever it's coming from. And look, this time around American media has been doing a better job of actually checking Israeli propaganda and finding out, oh, it turns out it's totally not true. And every time that propaganda has been investigated from IDF on, and it's always in connection to with war crimes. They commit a war crime and then they go, oh, yeah, we had to do.

Hamas made us do it. Oh, they had a giant command center. Conducted the whole war, defy buildings. And none of it is true. None of it is true. So thank you to the American media for waking up and doing some good journals. And we appreciate it. And one final thing that I'll bring up, because I do think it's important to let people

know that we're aware of this and we're following the story to see if anything else develops. But, you know, a number of medical professionals, doctors, surgeons have been detained by the IDF on the grounds that they are suspected terrorists. One of those individuals was the Al-Shifa Hospital Director. And so Washington Post reports that after arresting the hospital's director, Ahmed Al-Kalut, Israel released an interrogation video Tuesday in which he admitted to being a member of Hamas and said the hospital was under the control of the. Izzadine al-Kasam brigades, yeah, brigades, the group's armed wing. And I saw that story when it broke earlier this week. I chose not to cover it because we're talking about someone who is in like basically in detention by the IDF. I don't know what the conditions are. Obviously he's under duress. And I'm happy to report that the Washington

Post had a similar take saying that in response Gaza's health ministry said the statement was made under the force of oppression, torture and intimidation to justify Israel's successive crimes, especially against the health system. So I'm not willing to just, I'm not willing to believe what hostages are saying as they're being held captive by Hamas militants. I feel the same way about the IDF, especially following all of these reports, showing the brutal nature of their military missions, how they're willing to shoot people who are shirtless, who clearly do not have any weaponry on them or any bomb on them. And of course, I'm talking about the three Israeli hostages that the IDF mistakenly shot, which showed the entire world that the IDF is willing to

literally shoot anyone, including people holding white flags, people who are shirtless, and in this case, people who are even speaking Hebrew and asking for help. Yeah, so that doctor's statement, I think is the equivalent of a hostage video. So you take the guy hostage, a doctor who runs the hospital, and they've taken people, they take Palestinians hostage all the time and call them prisoners. Then the human rights groups go, okay, if they're prisoners, what are the charges against them? And an enormous number, like 80%, have no charges against them. They're just hostages that Israel is taking.

And then to release a hostage video and pretend that any of that is true is nonsense. The absolute ridiculous propaganda. And finally, in northern Gaza, now no hospitals are fully functional, none. And in southern Gaza, only a couple remain. In northern Gaza, four out of five people have not eaten in days. Starvation has begun. And in southern Gaza, half the people have not eaten in days. So now the government of Israel is starving the Palestinians to death.

in Gaza and they have no hospitals to go to in the north and barely any left in the south. And then you're going to tell us that you've got some great propaganda tape from a hostage video or that siege that you laid on that hospital. And now the reporters all prove it's not true. At some point, when is it going to be enough? When will Israel have punished the innocent civilians of Palestine enough? Not only are there 20,000 dead? there's 52,000 that have been injured and God knows who's under that rubble. There are huge numbers for a number of people that might be under the rubble as well. And 90% of Gaza is now homeless.

You've destroyed the whole place. What else do you want? And it turns out you didn't even affect the tunnels. This is just vengeance and through war crimes and genocide and some of the worst we have ever seen. Yeah. And look, Jank, I think that when you have members of Netanyahu's government going on television and clearly stating what they intend to do, we should believe them. When they say that they want to level Gaza and force Palestinians out of that land into the Sinai Desert, we should believe them. Why would they go on television and lie about that? They keep saying it over and over again. And their actions prove that what they're saying is. what they intend to do. Yeah. So yeah, we got to be real about the situation.

Along those lines, Anna, Netanyahu has just said he was really proud that he prevented a Palestinian state and that he'll never allow a Palestinian state. So what he's saying is under no circumstances will he ever do peace? So that means not only will the Palestinians be oppressed and occupied and brutalized apparently indefinitely, and he has no problem with that because that's the kind of monster Netanyahu is, but on top of that, he's saying to his own Israeli citizens, you're never going to have peace. You're never going to have peace of mind. As long as a warmonger lake like Netanyahu is in charge, he says he's never going to give the Palestinians a state and

you'll be in a permanent state of war. How does that help Israel? No, this is just some of the worst war crimes. And this is also documented by not just human rights groups, but New York Times and other publications now. Some of the worst war crimes we have ever seen in our lifetime. What happened to never again? When we come back from the break, I just want to share with you that we're not the only ones who are furious with Netanyahu's government and what they're carrying out. There are people who have lost family members, hostages who were killed by IDF members, and they're speaking out, and they are rebuking Benjamin Netanyahu.

So we've got that story and more coming up. Don't miss it. All right back on TYT, Jenk, Anna and Christopher Haley. Christopher just joined by hitting the join button below. We appreciate it. And now you're part of TYT and you make this possible. Anna. Well, we're not the only ones who are displeased to say the least with Benjamin Netanyahu and the current Israeli government. There are many Israelis who are also incredibly angry with Netanyahu.

So let's talk a little bit about that. What is your message to the government? You'd murder my son twice. You let the Hamas take my son on October 7th. And you killed my son on December, December 14. They are not our leaders. They're thinking only on themselves. That was the father of one of the Israeli hostages who was shot and killed by the IDF.

The hostages name was Alan Shamriss. His father, Avi, clearly is furious with Benjamin Netanyahu, the IDF, and the current Israeli government. over the fact that they failed to keep Israeli safe on October 7th and the fact that they failed to get his son home safe after he was kidnapped and held captive by Hamas militants. Now here's more from this incredibly heartbreaking interview. He was serving in the army and special forces. Alon is a brave guy. Avi Shamrese believes his son plotted and escaped from Hamas tunnels along with two other

hostages. If you see the sign, all is his handwriting. The sign that says SOS? Yes, that's his writing. Yes. The army did not act as an army. They act like murders. They just shoot to kill. It's not just grief. I'm really angry. I asked the government stop the shooting and look what's happened? Absolutely heartbreaking. And obviously he's not the only one, Jenk, who's going through this because there were three Israeli hostages who were shot and killed by the IDF, including Samir Halakka, who unfortunately was, according to the IDF, mistaken as a threat and also killed. Here is the mother of the Israeli hostage. Let's hear from her. And at Summers' family home, his mother, Leila, welcomes visitors.

Including an Israeli politician. We can only ask for your forgiveness, he says. Leila says they're all three heroes. They went out, escaped. They did all the work, just waiting for you to come get them. She tells him, I will not forgive anyone. You did not accept his condolences. Why? Because these words came late, she says.

Later, describing how she keeps playing in her head, her son's final moments. Their call for help, the white flag, this is what I keep seeing, she tells us. I am hurting. I can't imagine what they're going through. And I can't imagine what the family members of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip are currently going through as the aerial bombardments continue, as you see artillery fire, you see the civilian death toll go up day after day. It's heartbreaking. And keep in mind, there are still around 130 hostages in Gaza, assuming that everyone is still alive. Jenk. So first of all,

this is why we tell you all the time, do not make assumptions about civilians. Oh, the Israelis think this, the Palestinians think that. No, first of all, we're all, we're all, human beings. And yes, we get affected by the situation we're in, the tribes were in, and the conflicts between them. But we're all human. We're the same. And in Israel, there are a lot of protests of Netanyahu and a lot of dissent. And so I don't think they're a democracy because they occupy five million Palestinians and don't give them rights. But within Israel, there is real dissent. There is real voting. There is a real judiciary and actually an excellent press. So keep Avi Shamri's in mind. You hear what he said.

It wasn't just about his son. He said, this is not how you act as an army. This is how he said, this is the actions of murderers. Now he's saying that about his own government. Now, of course, his son was killed by that same government. And obviously he's upset and he says it. But he's not just thinking up for the hostages, but for the Palestinians. So what kind of an operates like this, where you just shoot without asking any questions, without knowing who they are. And in this case, they happen to be Israelis. Now, how many cases do you think they were Palestinians and they got no coverage at all? And there's 20,000 dead in Gaza. We know over 8,000 are children. We know over 6,400 or women. But how many men did they kill and go? Yeah, they were probably

Hamas. And they didn't even bother checking. That's why there's a huge news story because they killed three Israelis, to what degree is it operating, standard operating procedure for them to shoot first and maybe ask questions later and oftentimes never ask questions, never find out who they killed? My guess is the answer is a lot of times. And by the way, where do we get that information? Oftentimes, former IDF, former intelligence officers in Israel. It's a great right up in an Israeli publication today. A former intelligence officer saying they're now using AI to do bombings so that they've increased the targets. But they're not necessarily connected to Hamas and they'll see a residential building and they'll just say that's a power

target with no connection to Hamas and they'll bomb it. And he called it a mass assassination factory. And that's a former Israeli intelligence officer. Jake, I want to go back, I totally agree with you, but I want to go back to what you said a little earlier about, you know, don't make the mistake of generalizing about any group of people. And that includes Israelis, right? I think because of the horrific videos and images that we see coming out of Gaza, I personally haven't done a good enough job in in kind of talking about the reality on the ground in Israel

because while I do believe that the majority of Israelis are supportive of the military effort in Gaza, and that's according to public opinion polling, there are so many wonderful people in Israel who have spoken out against what the IDF is doing. And they're really putting a lot on the line. I mean, the possibility of losing friends and family over their protests over what the government and the IDF is doing. And so when I hear rhetoric like, oh, all Israelis are settler colonialists, including the babies, and they're all evil, no, I reject that language through and through. That's hateful rhetoric. I would find it, they would find it incredibly hateful if they heard from people drawing these broad generalizations about Palestinians

referring to them all as Hamas, as some Israeli politicians have, and it's deplorable and disgusting. But I feel the same way about Israelis. And I actually want to highlight a young Israeli, a young man. He's an 18 year old who has decided to really take a stand. And even though he's been drafted into the IDF, he is willing to lose quite a bit in refusing to be drafted. And so he had an interview with Navarra Media today. And I really appreciated this conversation. I want to give him a lot of credit.

His name is Tal Mittnick. He's a wonderful guy, and so is his family who's supportive of his decision here. Let's hear what he had to say. What led you to the decision to refuse national service? What led me was the realization that it's not just a couple soldiers that are bad soldiers or that enact violent occupation on Palestinians, but it's actually a whole system, system of violence of pulling people into the army and making them work for the occupation and for oppressing Palestinians. So what's actually going to happen on your elistment date? Can you

talk me through it? My enlistment date is next week on Tuesday and I will come and declare that I'm not serving and then I will go up on trial in front of a military judge, which is usually a general, and he will sentence me to time in military jail, prison. I mean, so much love and solidarity to him. I mean, that is not an easy decision to make. But this is a decision he's making because he feels that it's in his conscience to avoid serving in the IDF. He doesn't agree with their military practices. Yeah, the last couple of things here. The whole point of Israel is to be a safe haven. And as long as we never get to peace, we're never going to get to have a safe haven in Israel. And so people like Netanyahu are not representing Israel's

interests. They're representing their own interests, just like that father of Yomri's explained. And so it's incumbent on the Israelis to change course here. And they're almost there. So yes, the majority still support the war in Gaza. And that's very unfortunate. But there are also giant protests against Netanyahu. And there were giant protests around the hostages. being killed. People are very angry about that. And the polling also shows that they definitely want to get rid of Netanyahu. But they've got to do it now. How many more Palestinians have to die? And Netanyahu says he's going to stand until the war is over. Well, that gives an incentive to never end the war. And he says, oh, until we kill everyone in Hamas. Well,

they claim they've killed 20% of Hamas. It's an outlandish claim. But even if you were to take that as true. Well, Jesus, you kill 20,000 civilians while you were killing 20% of Hamas. How many more civilians are going to kill? So no, they, you know, in a parliamentary system, elections can be called in non-regular times. Israel has to change course and has to change leadership. They're capable of it. And you see wonderful Israeli citizens speaking out and fighting back, but we've got to get it over the hump until a majority say, no, we have to do peace and not endless war. have a real example of Christmas getting canceled.

Christmas celebrations are cancelled this year for it's impossible to celebrate Christmas when our people in Gaza are going through a genocide. Usually it's Jesus in the manger surrounded by the shepherds, surrounded by the Holy Family Joseph and Mary and the Maghais who came from the East. Here we wanted to say that it's as if they are looking for Jesus in the midst of the rabble. the rabble, we wanted to send a message to the world. Christmas celebrations have in fact been canceled in Bethlehem, which is considered the birthplace of Jesus Christ and is located in the Israeli

occupied West Bank. Last month, Palestinian leaders of Christian denominations came together and citing the devastating war in Gaza made a unanimous decision to cancel the public celebrations. As a, As NPR reports, there's no Christmas tree or sparkling lights in manger square or along the cobblestone streets that should be bustling with foreign tourists this time of year. There will be no Christmas parade with musicians weaving through the old city's labyrinth walkways, no Santa's on the street corners doling out joy to children. Instead, the main square is a simple parking lot without a hint of holiday decoration to be seen. Why don't we hear a little more from the Lutheran pastor in the video that we watched earlier. His name is Munther Isak.

Let's watch. While the whole world is celebrating Christmas in festive ways, here in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, where Christmas originated from, this is what Christmas looks like to us. Christmas is the solidarity of God with those who are oppressed, with those who are suffering. And if Jesus is to be born again this time, this year, he will be born in Gaza, under the rubble, in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Our hope is in our faith, our hope is in our resilience. So while Christmas celebrations are canceled, Christmas prayers are not canceled. And maybe when we look at the image of Jesus under the rubble, we see a light of hope in life, coming out of destruction.

So you get a sense of what Bethlehem looks like at the moment. And I think they made the right decision given the just pain and suffering, the death, the destruction that Palestinians are facing in the Gaza Strip. And honestly, the violence that many Palestinians have been facing, not just, you know, in this war, but for many, many years in the West Bank, which is not governed by Hamas, it's governed by the Palestinian Authority. But real quick, Jenk, before I go to you, I want to show you. show everyone what the Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem typically look like.

Bethlehem hosts one of the most important Christmas celebrations worldwide. Every year, the city is lit up with thousands of lamps and decorated with one of the biggest Christmas trees in the Holy Land. Since the war between Israel and Hamas grew out on October 7, the churches in Bethlehem hosts only local believers. Tourists and pilgrims have fled, affecting the city's economy, which relies on its visitors. What has also made it incredibly difficult for tourists who want to go to Bethlehem is that Israel following the attacks on October 7th has implemented new and more checkpoints that make it difficult for people to get in and out of the West Bank. Jenk. Okay, so first of all,

The Holy Family Church in Gaza is the only Catholic Church. So Bethlehem's in the West Bank, but Holy Family Church is in Gaza. And so they're under fire as we speak. And two Israeli snipers seem to have killed two women that were coming out of that church. The Pope said that it was definitely the Israelis and that it was an act of terrorism. And so these churches are in real danger as everyone in Gaza is an incredible danger. And some of the churches have been bombed, Catholic or a Protestant. And so I think that image of baby Jesus in the rubble is very powerful.

And the pastor said in another account that I read, he didn't know why that picture in particular resonated so much and why the whole world's talking about it. And he said, why don't they care more about the actual babies in the rubble? And the reality is, whether it's right or wrong, human beings tend to empathize and relate to people that look like them or are like them or share an identity in one way or another. So for a lot of Christians, and I'm not saying this in a bad way, like if they were, a lot of them don't even see it because a lot of our media doesn't show it. But if you showed them a baby under the rubble,

their hearts would break. But when you hear the propaganda about all Israel's right to defend itself, well, you know, and you see the 36 kids that were killed in Israel. And everyone has seen the horrors that happened on October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel. That's 36 kids. On the Palestinian side, now over 8,000 kids have been killed, 8,000. So the 36 killed in Israel, everyone agrees is terrorism. But the 8,000 kids killed in Gaza is not terrorism?

Of course it is. This is indiscriminate. And they drop gigantic bombs, unguided bombs. And then snipers killing women coming out of churches, their own hostages, three Israeli hostages killed because they're not asking questions. The guys were shirtless. They were waving a white flag and they killed them anyway. So, but when Christians see a nativity scene that they are used to, that they connect to, that they relate to, then they go, oh my God, wow, that's powerful.

So thank you to that pastor, because that was an amazing way of showing what the problem is. And remember, Palestinians are not all Muslim. There's a significant Palestinian Christian community left over some trace their lineage all the way back. of the Crusaders and some are there to attend to the churches that are there in Bethlehem obviously so and and I love to see the best of the religions. Unfortunately we often see the worst but when you see a religious leader actually fighting for morality and fighting for what Jesus preached when you know the Jesus of the New Testament it's beautiful to see and so we appreciate him

and we thank him. And you know, look, these goofballs here in America on Fox News, they do this thing where they pretend there's a war on Christmas because somebody said happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Or there's a Black Santa. I don't know why that's a war on Christmas, but they hate it. And they hype that stuff up. This is an actual war on Christmas, a literal one. So who did it? Well, it turns out it was Benjamin Netanyahu. And so now they've had to cancel Christmas in Bethlehem. And I think, that the pastor's right, the actual lives lost should matter so much more, but I am happy that this has captured a lot of Christians' attention, including in America, and has begun

to get their attention to the actual deaths there, and to relate to that and to please help in trying to stop it so that we don't have more kids buried under the rubble. All right, well, it's been a heavy show so far, but when we come back from the break, I want a little bit of relief. So we're going to do, I guess, a lighter story, although it does involve elected officials, Epstein, and his little black book, and who he basically had at the Lolila Express. So a lot of admissions here by an elected member of Congress who's on his way out. So we'll get to that and more. Don't miss it. Hey, we know you probably hit play to escape your business banking, not think about it.

But what if we told you there was a way to skip over the pressures of banking? By matching with the TD Small Business Account Manager, you can get the proactive business banking advice and support your business needs. Ready to press play? Get up to $2,700 when you open Select Small Business Banking products. Yep, that's $2,700 to turn up your business. visit td.com slash small business match to learn more conditions apply all right back on t yit jink and anna with you back guys but also faisal Ahmed Razwan Caitlin Landrum they all just became

young turks members and allow us to do this show guys if you're a member and you see something we're saying that you like, you did that. Thank you. And they did it by hitting the join button below the video on YouTube. And Christopher and We Dieter 72 upgraded through the same join button. And we really appreciate that as well. And finally, Benjamin Morrill gifted a membership on YouTube. Oh Beach Babe 21 gifted 10 and Gabby Mathis gifted five. Thank you for the Christmas spirit. We appreciate you guys. I keep it going if you can because we do need it. All right, Anna, what's next? There are some fascinating disclosures by an outgoing Republican congressman. So let's hear what he has to say.

You're visiting, you're out of the country, you're out of town, or you're in a motel or bar in D.C., and whatever you're into, women or men or whatever comes up and they're very attractive and they're laughing at your jokes and you're buying them a drink. Next thing you know, you're in the motel room with them naked. And next thing you know, you're about to make a key vote and what happens? Some well-dressed person comes up and whispers in your ear, hey man, there's tapes out on you. And then you're like, uh-oh, and said, you really ought not be voting for this thing. Some pretty big admissions from Republican congressmen, outgoing congressman, I should say, Tim Burchett,

who our producer, Alyssa Salmons wants to note seems to have an affinity for wearing the same outfit. Now, he spoke to a conservative podcaster. You might be familiar with him. His name's Benny Johnson. And during that conversation today, he starts talking about blackmail and depravity within Congress. So a little bit of context before we get to more of their exchange. Brichette and Johnson primarily spoke about why it took so long for the client list of notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to be ordered unsealed by a a federal judge. But at one point, Rochette claimed that many good conservatives and other members

of Congress are being entrapped and then blackmailed to vote certain ways. Hmm. Now let's watch more of what he had to say. Congressman, you represent the state of Tennessee. Marsha Blackburn has been completely blackballed in the Senate for asking for these flight logs to be released and for this client list to be released. It seems like now you are fighting with her in the house. Why the protection mechanism? And more importantly, you mentioned recently in an interview that there may be some members of Congress who are personally compromised by this and they don't want the truth to get out. You got powerful people and they write the big checks. Well, let's be honest, and powerful people in this country, they write the big checks and they, you know, they're the

ones out on the tarmac when the president comes and visits and at whichever party they're in. They always either out on the tarmac or in the private room. They're the ones that write the big checks. They don't care who's in. They hate this country. They hate what we're about, but they love their portfolios and they love their money more than they do anything else. And they protect it. And they protect the people that that do that. And by doing so, you know, the old honeypot, the Russians do that. And I'm sure members of Congress have been caught up. Why in the world, what good conservatives vote for crazy stuff, like what we've been seeing out of Congress. Wow. Wow. I mean, I wish you would name names. He didn't obviously. But I mean, I think what he's

saying is true. I think, look, the sex scandal stuff, of course, is going to get most of the attention. But to me, Jank, his admission about members of Congress voting in favor of nonsense because of blackmail, that is the interesting part. Because it explains some of what's been going on in Congress, according to Burchett, if the allegations are true. And, you know, in this case, it goes beyond simple corruption, which is, I think, the heart of the problem that we have here in this country. But, wow, I wonder if we are going to hear anyone name any names. Yeah, look, there's a lot in there. So let's start with the folks that are naked. I mean, that was the best part of the tape.

Let's not bury the lead here. So, and let's also acknowledge your hashtag Madison Cawthorne was right. So I'm actually a bit shocked by that, to be honest with you. Don't be shocked by that. Do you're crazy? No, you're crazy. I wasn't shocked by that for even a second. And I knew they were going to oust him.

I knew that the GOP would direct their ire toward him and ensure that he would not get reelected. Why were they so focused on getting him out of Congress? Because he was speaking the truth. Yeah, I hear you. And apparently that was definitely the case, or at least certainly seems to be the case. So, but like if you said to me, oh, a Republican is caught in a sex scandal, I'd say, oh, so it's Tuesday. Like I'm not surprised by that at all, right? Like the other day, there was the two staffers who were having gay sex in the, in one of the Senate rooms.

The only shocking part of that story was that they weren't Republicans, right? So every time there's a sex scandal, like at least nine out of ten times is Republicans doing all the things that they say, oh, it's terrible, et cetera. But inviting a congressman like Madison Cawthorne was saying to an orgy where a bunch of Republicans are getting together and, you know, and doing cocaine and then having sex. with, I don't know, one another and other women, etc. I couldn't believe it, but now here comes, now is this, I think he's a, Tim Burchett might be a third person who's mentioned, well, obviously, I mean, you know, you're out there and then you get a couple of drinks. And next to you know, you're meck it.

And then the lobbyists have, what, tapes of it? I mean, what in the world is going on in Washington? So it's, it seems as though he's saying that there is this like honeypot type scheme happening where, I mean, look, if that's true, I am wondering what the laws are in D.C. Like, for instance, in California, you can't record someone without their knowledge. In fact, if you get caught doing it, you could face some serious charges for it. I don't know if D.C. has similar laws. But it appears what Burchett is saying here is that there's like this honeypot scheme where, you know,

they do somehow have dirt on these individuals, possibly tapes, and they use it to blackmail members of Congress to ensure certain legislation gets voted in. Man, politics is so dirty, Jank. It's so dirty. And it shows you that when it comes to their own corruption or maintaining their own power, these members of Congress, they know how to fight and they know how to fight dirty. When it comes to representing the very constituents who put them in those seats to begin with, oh, there's your favorite song.

There's nothing we can do. There's nothing we can do. Like, it's amazing. Yeah. And yes, I invented that song. That's the Democratic theme song. There was nothing we could do. There was nothing we could do. There was nothing we could do. That's what they sing after every time the Republicans pass tax cuts for the rich, giant defense budgets, etc. Anyways, but here, I'm going to give Republicans a little bit more credit, even though we're talking about Republican sex scandals. And now after Republicans that come on, they're like, oh, yeah, obviously. Yeah, there's the honeypot and there's the orgies and there's the cocaine. Oh, you guys didn't know that? Okay, but but the second part and what and the thing that Anna emphasized in the beginning give the Republican's credit for talking about the big donors in a way that the Democrats and even progressives in Congress don't. So Mo Brooks, one of the most right wing members of Congress, one of the early supporters,

most ardent supporters of Donald Trump, as he was running for the Senate, he admitted publicly in a fundraiser, yeah, you have to pay about a million dollars to get a committee chairmanship and both parties do it. And he said, what do you think you're going to get the million dollars? You can't get it from the average Jane and Joe. I have this entire portion in my book. You get it at t.wit.com slash justice because his admissions are startling him. They're amazing. And he said, so you don't get it from Jane and Joe. You get it from the industry that you're supposed to be regulating in that committee. And every committee chairman is kind of basically bribed that way. So they serve the people they're supposed to be regulating

instead of the other way around. And so now Burchett comes out and goes, oh, yeah, the big donors control everything. Meanwhile, the Democrats are like, big donors, never heard of them. I don't know what you're talking about. And don't get me wrong, Mitch McConnell, and certainly Donald Trump, they're super corrupt, and they take part in this, and the Republicans invented corruption.

They're the whole point of the parties to serve the rich. So I'm not absolving them of all the things that they have done in regards to that. But as some of them are leaving, they're going, And some that are even there now are beginning to call out the donors going, you know, we're all secretly controlled by the donors. I mean, you never see it in mainstream media. You never see the leaders in the Republican or Democratic Party admitted. But it's super obvious to everyone who's in Washington.

Thank you, finally, a little bit of a confession on the most important issue in DC. So I wanted to just, this is now the second time I'm using PMC language today by saying circle back. I'm going to circle back to the Marsha Blackburn statement that he made there because it's interesting. He also went on Newsmax earlier. And according to Newsmax, Representative Tim Burchett told Newsmax on Monday that Congress has been compromised in the pursuit to obtain the flight logs of dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's infamous Lolita Express saying that even some of his GOP colleagues are stained by something. that's forcing them to keep their mouth shut. And then he says, and this is a direct quote, the trash can is very deep. And Burchett says that he got involved in the effort to get the flight logs turned over when his fellow Tennessee colleague in the Senate, Marsha Blackburn,

got snubbed allegedly by the Senate Judiciary Committee. So the claim is that committee chair Dick Durbin blocked Blackburn's bid at issuing subpoenas for those logs, which could show, you know, the who's who in the list of names that Epstein was partying with, if you will. And so he tells newsbacks, quote, that's why I got involved with it. Blackburn can handle her own. But when the Democrat controlled Senate did that, I went to Chairman James Comer in the Republican controlled house. And I said, we need to fix this. This is wrong. And too many of my colleagues, he says, I'm afraid, are compromised in this area. For whatever reason, somebody's whispered in their ear and said, hey, you don't want something to come out on something else. You better keep your mouth shut on this. And that's exactly what they've done. And so Burchett explained to Betty Johnson that this is what led the blackmail or led to the blackmail allegations, basically saying that everyone knows everything in DC. Everyone has dirt on everyone and that blackmail is apparently, you know, part of the game.

So let's watch the final video on that. You know, no man or no woman actually is an island and they know what to get at. You know, if it's women, drugs, booze, it'll find you in D.C. and in most elected offices. And that's what people of power and influence do. And it's just, you know, I've been in this game my whole life. I spent 16 years in the state legislature in Tennessee and eight years as county mayor. And now I'm in my fifth year Congress. But it's just, the stakes are higher, but the, but the game is still the same.

How do these people have energy to do the sex scandals? Like I just, you know what I'm saying? The partying, the cheating. I mean, if all these allegations are true and I suspect that they are for some of these lawmakers, I mean, I'm just, I'm exhausted. I can't be like, hey, get away from me, okay? I'm not interested in your games. Get away.

I want to go to bed. Well, one of our members agrees and we love doing the show with the members and you can get your comment read to T.wit.com slash join to become a member. Durge Rodin, you know how you don't end up blackmailed? Don't get naked. Totally. It's a good point. So I'll end on on this point. So look guys, some of their colleagues might be compromised, but also some of their donors might be compromise and he alluded to that and remember Mitch McConnell and Democratic leadership all work for the donors they're just servants of the of the super rich and of corporations so if their bosses told them you are not to release

those logs then Democratic and Republican leadership are going to go no don't release it don't release it our beloved blackmailers and and bribers might be in jeopardy and we are here to serve them and And then could it involve Republican politicians or politicians in both parties? Of course. Look, I said about Jeffrey Epstein's death. I said, I don't know if it's suicide or somebody killed them. But here's how we're going to know if the videotape in the hallway worked or didn't work.

And then we found out later the videotape in that hallway magically didn't work that night. Okay, you put two and two together. Most times you're going to come out with four. So who are the two biggest politicians that are associated with Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump? Oh, right, the two biggest guys in the two parties. Donald Trump said that he used to party with Jeffrey Epstein all the time, that he was a terrific guy. And he said, and, you know, he likes him young.

So he knew. He knew the whole time. I mean, that buffoon admitted it publicly. but what do they know that isn't public? Well, when we come back from the break, we will not be talking about this story. We're going to move on to other things, including the continued witch hunt on Harvard President Claudine Gay.

Wait till you get a load of how Congress wants to get involved this time. We'll be right back. Thank you.