The Young Turks - Copaganda & Propaganda

Episode Date: February 2, 2023

In another senseless attack police officers have killed a double amputee. Jewish groups are coming together to condemn anti-Armenian hatred. Wall Street moguls are profiting off droughts in the U.S. In the UK, thousands and thousands will strike amidst a new labor law. The College Board is modifying its African American studies curriculum in order to follow DeSantis’ ridiculous requirements. Host: Ana Kasparian Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget. After all, you're in your small space era. to own it. Shop now at IKEA.ca. Welcome to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kaspari, and it's good to be back.

I'm back, of course, from my week-long vacation in Hawaii. I've been back, but it's my first solo hour since I've been back, and I'm really looking forward to it. The first hour, there's a lot of variety. Okay, we're going to do some international news. We are going to also share some details about yet another example of police brutality and excessive force, this time in Huntington, Park, California. In the second hour, though, we will share a story involving a former Republican lawmaker who believes that TYT is very, very naughty, very, very naughty.

He said so in an email that he meant to send to someone else, but he actually, accidentally sent it to us. So we'll give you the details. That's in the second hour. Of course, John Ida Rola will be joining me for the second hour of the show and the bonus episode where we will be talking about the latest HBO hit, The Last of Us. We'll be reviewing it, talking about it. I'm looking forward to it.

I will say, though, John is better at reviewing things than I am. I'm not good with names. I'm not good with reviews, but I'm good at sharing what I like and dislike about the show. So we'll be talking about that and more in the bonus episode for our members. tyt.com slash join to become a member. And unfortunately, we're going to start with a pretty terrible story that involves awful video. But with that warning, let's do it. Let's talk about it. Police in Huntington Park, California shot and killed a, police in Huntington Park, California shot and killed a 36 year old man by the name of Anthony Lowe Jr.,

who happened to be a double amputee as he was trying to run away from them. So the of running away from cops is an indicator that you should maybe find ways to de-escalate the situation and avoid escalating the situation by chasing after him with your guns. But that is not what happened, unfortunately. So I will give you more detail after we watched the video so you can understand how absurd it was for cops to open fire on a double amputee as he was attempting to get away from them. It is a disturbing video to say the least, but with that said, here it is.

So police claimed that they were responding to a 911 call regarding a victim who was allegedly stabbed by a man in a wheelchair. So when they arrived to the scene since Anthony Lowe Jr. was in possession of a butcher knife, he was the suspect that they were pursuing. And as you can see in the video, he's very clearly trying to get away. and the cops decide, he's waving a butcher knife. And we're afraid. I mean, we have guns and we have all sorts of weapons and everything.

And this is a double amputee. But we're afraid because the double amputee who's trying to get away from us has a butcher knife in his hands. So we're just going to open fire after they allegedly tried to tase him. And I say allegedly because right now the story is still developing. I feel like most of the reports have the perspective and the narrative put out by the cops themselves. Based on the videos that I viewed, which were not body camera videos, they do not wear body cam videos in Huntington Park at the Huntington Park Police Department. But based on what I've seen so far from bystander videos, I haven't seen the tasing component to it. I mean,

it might be true, but I want to see that with my own eyes. So as I said earlier, the police claimed that they were responding to a 911 call from a victim of a stabbing, the individual whose identity has not been released, a claim that the person who stabbed this individual was in a wheelchair. Huntington Park Police Department officers responded to a report of a stabbing. The department said in a statement, responding officers found a victim suffering from a life-threatening stab wound resulting in a collapsed lung and internal bleeding, the statement said.

So I want to pause right there, because it is totally justified to pursue Anthony Lowe as a suspect, especially if you see him in a wheelchair, you see him holding a knife, you get a 911 call about a stabbing victim. It's totally fine to pursue him as a suspect. But again, I ask this over and over again, do we want to live in a country where we just give cops the ability to execute anyone, even if the individual they killed didn't really pose an imminent threat to their lives. And to be clear, in California, in order for a cop to justifiably shoot and kill someone, the person that they shot and killed had to have posed an imminent threat to the cops. And again, yes, he's holding a butcher knife, but he's a double amputee who's trying to run away from them.

A victim described the attacker as a black man in a wheelchair who dismounted the wheelchair, ran to the victim without provocation and stabbed him in the side of the chest with a 12-inch butcher knife and then fled the scene in his wheelchair. And that again is according to the police department here. Lowe was struck by gunfire in the upper torso and was pronounced dead at the scene based on what I heard in the videos that were posted on TikTok, there were approximately nine to 11 shots. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide unit is investigating this, which does not make me feel good about the investigation by any means. And it typically does these investigations for all shootings involving the Huntington Park Police Department officers. And that's according

to the lieutenant for Huntington Park Police is Hugo Raynaga. And he said in a photo, interview on Sunday that the sheriff's department has collected video of low shooting from a nearby business, but that it does not intend to release the footage. Huntington Park police officers, he said, do not wear body cameras. Now asked why it was necessary to shoot low, the lieutenant noted that the officers repeatedly tased him to no effect before opening fire. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's initial statement about the shooting investigation released Friday said Lowe twice tried to throw his knife at officers. But Ray Naga said Sunday that Lowe did not throw the knife ultimately, but he made the motion multiple times over his

head like he was going to throw the knife. So for anyone who thinks, oh, well, this guy was suspected of stabbing someone, that's fair, that's fair, yeah, he should be pursued by the authorities, he should be taken into custody, and he should stand trial because we're supposed to have a justice system where everyone who is accused of a crime gets, to make their case in court, defend themselves in court. You can't just allow police to execute people based on whether or not they believe the individual committed the crime, based on whether or not they're offended by the individual running away from them. So again, to be clear, I'm not saying, oh, I mean, cops should have completely left him alone. You should be able to do whatever he wants. No, I'm arguing that it is not up to the cops to carry out extrajudicial killings, it is up to the cops to apprehend the suspect and prosecutors are supposed to investigate

and potentially charge that individual with the crime if they suspect that that individual and if they have the evidence indicating that that individual committed the crime. That is how our justice system is supposed to work. But a lot of people don't get to see their first day in court. They're executed by the cops prior to that. And that is what happened here, again, with a double amputee. So the involved officers were, of course, placed on paid administrative leave pending ongoing investigations from the police department, the sheriff's department's homicide bureau and

the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. The child of one of Lowe's children, he has two children. Her name is Ebony Simon. I'm sorry, Ebonyk Simon. She came out and spoke to the press about this and said, you know, he was experiencing severe depression following the, you know, following both of his legs getting amputated from the knee down. That happened about a year ago. And although we don't have any details about this yet, apparently that happened after an altercation he had with cops in Texas. No details have been released about that yet.

I'm sure we'll learn more soon, but clearly he was experiencing depression. There are people, I mean, there's countless people in California alone right now who are living on the streets experiencing severe mental health issues. And we don't do anything about getting them the help and the treatment they need. And so when they end up having some sort of episode and the authorities are called, their lives are in danger. Okay, so there are all sorts of problems with our, criminal justice system with our health care system that end up creating this incredibly

dangerous, violent cocktail where people get killed. And if you're wondering, look, I mean, what were the cops supposed to do? The guy was waving his butcher knife around. I mean, he was a double amputee and everything, but he had the butcher knife. What were the cops supposed to do? There are ways to de-escalate the situation. In fact, there are examples of police de-escalating similar situations. So I'm going to give you one example from Baltimore in 2017, okay? This was an instance where authorities were called because there was a man with a knife. He was being threatening with a knife.

And when Baltimore police showed up, here's what happened. Let's just talk to you real quick, man. Mr. Besson, just talk to you real quick, please. Stop. Let's not get this further than what we need to, all right? Just drop it down. Please. Just drop it, bro. Just drop it. Huh?

Why don't you want to shoot me? Because we don't want to. Can you just talk to me right now? Everybody just go across the street. Stand across the street. Just stand right here, man. Just drop it right here. Just drop it right here, man.

I can talk to you. Look, I'm 38 years old. I can relate to you, bro. There's not a thing in this world that I have not dealt with that you probably have dealt with. Okay, at the end of the day, I got kids to go home to. Appreciate it, man. I appreciate it. Just relax, just relax, just relax, relax.

I don't know if you guys could hear it in the video, but at one point, the man holding the knife, asked the cop, why don't you just shoot me? And the cops, like, I don't want to shoot you. And notice how he de-escalated that situation. that could have easily escalated the way that we've seen with other police stories that we've covered on this show, including the one we're covering right now involving Anthony Lowe. This cop with the Baltimore Police Department did a great job in de-escalating the situation and getting the individual to hand over his knife.

There are ways to do this. There are other videos that have been shared on Twitter today that show other examples of cops finding ways to de-escalate situations where an individual is actually a lot more aggressive than what we just saw. They de-escalate it, they managed to get the weapon away from the person, and then they're able to take the person into custody without murdering them, without carrying out an extrajudicial killing. Now, the man in the video that we just showed you, you know, he was having depression issues of his own. He was having some issues with his girlfriend.

He was depressed. He was experiencing some emotional pain. And he was spiraling. And he has the opportunity to live his life, get things in order without a cop killing him because he's having this terrible moment in his life or spiraling. I'm going to give you another example. So in San Jose, California, last year, there was a man holding two weapons, one in each hand. One was an axe, the other was a knife, okay? So again, last year in San Jose, California, video at the scene showed the suspect walking around with the weapons, one in each hand, he seemed agitated and was pacing back and forth. Police said the man repeatedly ignored commands to drop his weapons, and then he broke into the gym. He was seen throwing objects at police officers before barricading himself inside for nearly

two hours. And guess what they did? There was a standoff. It lasted two hours. They got the, they finally got him to turn himself in, hand over the weapons, and he was taken into custody without incident. Here's what the San Jose Police Department put out following his arrest, a swift response by our units contained the suspect and officers began negotiating by using crisis

intervention and de-escalation techniques. Oh wow, looks like those techniques actually exist and oftentimes if they're utilized, they can be successful. The rest of the tweet says the suspect surrendered after discarding his weapons and was taken into custody. He was taken into custody. To face charges, to be investigated, to be prosecuted. So it's not an argument to allow people to get away with murder or to get away with whatever they're accused of. This is an argument to allow Americans to see their day in court rather than allow for state sanctioned violence and murder. It's not that hard to understand that. And it's okay to be a decent human being, and you don't have to immediately, if you're on the right,

for instance, you don't have to immediately have this knee-jerk reaction of providing cover for the cops. And if you're on the left, you know, in some cases, you don't have to whitewash what the suspect is accused of. The suspect should have the ability to defend themselves in court. We have a justice system that allows for that if the cops, you know, avoid shooting and killing the suspect. Another man in California, shot and killed by cops, and in this case, it's just so unbelievably absurd that we're talking about a double amputee. All right, we got to take a break because the next story is probably going to take a little

more time to talk about. I'm going to talk about the situation between Armenians and Aziris. It has unfortunately spilled over to our local situation. There have been some pretty hateful anti-Armenian flyers. I'm going to talk about that and give you some context behind the ongoing conflict when we return. Welcome back to the show, everyone. I'm Anna Kasparian, and we're going to do a little bit of international news now, although the lead has to do with something that unfortunately is occurring locally. Police in Beverly Hills, California are investigating anti-Armenian flyers that have been posted all throughout the city. The flyers make reference to, well, the Armenian genocide. in some of the worst ways you can imagine.

So Beverly Hills Police Department announced that it was investigating the placement of anti-Armenian flyers around the city ahead of a scheduled demonstration organized by the Armenian Youth Federation to protest Azerbaijan's ongoing blockade of Arzach. Now, Arzach is what Armenians call it. It is internationally known as the Nagorno-Karabakh region. It is a contested region that internationally is recognized as part of Azerbaijan. It is historically Armenian. It was an Armenian territory until Stalin decided to hand it over to Azerbaijan.

And it has been a big point of conflict ever since. I should note that the majority of individuals living in that region happened to be Armenian. Because again, it was historically Armenian until Stalin handed it over. It's important to know that history. With that said, let's take a look at the flyer. What did the flyers say? Azerbaijan, Turkey, Pakistan, Israel equals four brothers that will wipe Armenia off the map. And it ends with Ishallah.

So whoever posted these flyers really did give the whole game away. because you have Turkey and Azerbaijan and, you know, their allies pretending as though the brutality that Armenians have been facing because of them has nothing to do with the fact that they want to engage in ethnic cleansing. But make no mistake about it, that is what they're engaging in. And I'm going to prove it. So I want to note before we continue, the reason why Israel is included on that list is because Israel has been providing weapons to Azerbaijan. There was a terrible war that broke out between

Armenia and Azerbaijan back in 2020. I did extensive coverage of that on this show. So please go back and take a look at that. But Israel was one of the countries supplying weaponry to Azerbaijan to carry out that war. But I want to be clear, that's the Israeli government, which is, of course, different from the Jewish people. So several Jewish groups did voice their condemnation of the disgusting and racist flyers that were posted. The Jewish World Watch actually tweeted about this as well, saying these hate-filled flyers are another painful reminder of how important it is to stand up and show our support for the people of Armenia,

a people with a similar history of persecution to our own. That last part really hit home for me because it's true. When you think about what Jewish families and their ancestors had to go, go through because of the Holocaust, and then you also consider what Armenians had to go through with the Armenian genocide beginning in 1915. There's a lot of similarity there. So it would have been great if the Israeli government recognized that and avoided selling weaponry to Azerbaijan. It also doesn't feel so great knowing that, you know, my hard-earned money in the form of taxpayer dollars go toward funding the military for Israel, and then they turn around and supply

weapons to Azerbaijan so they can brutalize my people. It's great. Anyway, more from the Jewish World Watch. Today, Azerbaijan has again left the ethnic Armenians of Artsakh, Nagorno-Karabakh, to suffer. For nearly 50 days, the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor has disrupted crucial food and medical deliveries to the region. Let us respond to this abhorrent act with action by contacting Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, urging him to help and Azerbaijan's latest aggression. So let's talk a little bit about what's being referenced there, which is the blockade. Because at this point, there is one main road that connects Nagorno-Karabakh

and the Armenians living within Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. That road is incredibly important because without access to that road, if that road is blocked, they are unable to get the food, medicine, and supplies they desperately need to stay alive. That is what the blockade is doing. Now, let's give you some more details. Now, we're going to go back a little further in 2020. In 2020, emboldened with oil and gas revenue, Azerbaijan launched a successful attack on Arzach. With the direct involvement of Turkey, Azerbaijan succeeded in overrunning most of the territory, controlled. controlled by the Armenians. The war ended with a truce brokered by Russia that left Arzach on a fraction of

its historic territories, a single land corridor linking it to Armenia and the outside world. Then on December 12th of 2022, with the war escalating in Ukraine, the Azerbaijani government launched a siege against Arzhak's Armenian population by blocking the Latchin corridor, inflicting collective punishment on 120,000 civilians. So the consequences of that blockade, which is ongoing, have been brutal. Let's watch. In Karabakhuz regional capital, Stepanikert, shops are emptying now that the only road from Armenia has been closed. There is hardly any fresh produce at the market.

At these children's hospital one mother says there is a shortage of medicine residents say that Karabakh which they call Arzach is under siege they're asking for outside help many mothers of formula fed children are horrified by going from pharmacy to pharmacy every day and not finding formula

we are horrified by the thought that our children may get sick because a number of essential medicines are completely missing Now, there are political and economic motivations behind what the president of Azerbaijan is doing. And I'm going to talk about that in just a moment. But before I talk about the real motivations, let me just be clear about what Azerbaijan is lying about. They claim they need to do the blockade. They need to do the blockade because the Armenians living in this region in Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh are getting weapons from Armenia, weapons.

are flowing from Armenia to this region in order to engage in military conflict with Azerbaijan, which is the most laughable thing I've ever heard in my life. Armenia, in terms of military capability, it's the most asymmetrical war imaginable, okay? The only real ally Armenia has had is Russia, and Russia's really playing both sides right now, because Russia has its own economic interests, and let's keep it real. Russia's a little busy right now, invading other countries like Ukraine. So the idea that they're doing this because Azerbaijan is worried about their security is laughable to say the least.

And here's the Armenian Prime Minister explaining just that. Of the Lachen corridor is a provocation. Its goal is a new military escalation. And there is no need to take steps that are desirable to those drafting the military escalation scenario. The aim of this provocation and escalation is to hide the obvious need for a political and official dialogue between Baku and Stepanakart and to remove this issue from the agenda. So what's really going on? Why brutalize 120,000 people living in Nagorno-Karabakh? especially after Azerbaijan was able to take over parts of Nagorno Karabakh that Armenians had controlled or occupied.

It's because they want ethnic cleansing. They want Armenians out of their, out of their site. There's a political reason as well. Aliev, the president of Azerbaijan, is not a great president, didn't really enjoy a lot of popularity until he decided to really get aggressive with this war. This is what a lot of international leaders who are unpopular tend to do. They start a war, they rally support, they pretend like, I mean, Putin's kind of trying to do that in Russia with the invasion into Ukraine, and it's not working out well for him.

But there's always a political reason for starting a conflict like this. But I think the economic reasons are actually a lot more interesting and little talked about. because if you think that all Azerbaijan cares about is Nagorno-Karabagg and that they would never dare to violate the sovereignty of Armenia, I've got a bridge to sell you. You're the most naive person on the planet. Azerbaijan has already invaded sovereign Armenia in recent years. And I'll give you evidence for that in just a moment. But when I say economic motivations, what do I mean?

Well, Azerbaijan wants a corridor that runs through sovereign Armenia to Turkey without any security checks or any issues from Armenia's government. Okay, so no country does that. Like, the idea that you get to just build a corridor through a sovereign country without any pushback is insane. But guys, Armenia has, this is the scary part. Armenia has really no power. It's top ally, Russia, is playing both sides. Russia is the one that brokered a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but they're doing absolutely nothing about the blockade.

And part of the reason why, in my opinion, this is a bit of speculation, it's because Russia might potentially benefit from some of the business opportunities and trade opportunities that would occur if that corridor is built throughout across Armenia, giving Azerbaijan and Turkey an easy way to do business with one another. I have a feeling that Russia is looking for some potential benefits as well, because this added pressure, this blockade is adding more and more pressure for the government of Armenia to just say, okay, fine, fine. I mean, just lift the blockade. Our people are dying in Nagorno-Karabakh, lift the blockade, we agree to the corridor.

I have a feeling Russia is partly in on it as well. Again, that's speculation. But let's talk about the corridor itself. The Zongazur corridor, the Zongazur corridor is a concept for a transport corridor, which, if implemented, would give Azerbaijan unimpeachment. unimpeded access to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic without Armenian checkpoints via a province in Armenia and in a broad sense for the geopolitical corridor that would connect Turkey to the rest of the Turkic world, thereby uniting it.

And here's what Azerbaijan's president, who I referenced earlier, Ilham Aliyev said about not engaging in diplomatic talks, maybe economic agreements with Armenia to make this happen, but basically force Armenia to follow or to follow his orders and allow for the corridor. This is a direct quote from the Azerbaijan president. The creation of the Zangizur corridor fully meets our national, historical, and future interests. We are implementing the Zongizur corridor whether Armenia wants it or not. If Armenia wants it, then the issue will be resolved easier. If it does not want it, we will decide it by force, meaning you're going to invade the country, which by the way, he already has. Let me continue with that graphic

where he says, just as before and during the war, I said that they must leave our lands or we will expel them by force. And so it happened. The same will be the fate of the war. The same will be the fate of the Zangizur corridor. And guess what? They've invaded sovereign Armenia. One example is May 12th of 2021. Azerbaijani soldiers crossed several kilometers into Armenia in the provinces of Sunuk, occupying about 16 square miles of Armenian territory.

At a military parade in Baku, by the way, dedicated to the victory of the Karabakh, President Aliyev called the capital of Armenia, as well as Zongizur, that is part of Armenia, by the way, and Sevan, which is another part of Armenia, the historical lands of Azerbaijan, which is complete BS. Let me give you his exact quote here. Yerevan, which by the way is the capital of Armenia, the current capital of Armenia, is our historical territory and we, Azerbaijan's, must return to this historical land. This is our political and strategic goal, which we must gradually approach. They want to wipe Armenians off the face of the earth.

When they're asked about it by their Western allies, they pretend like it's all a lie. But they slip up every once in a while. Aliyev can't help himself. You think they care about children dying because they don't have access to formula in Nagorno-Karabakh. No, they want to cleanse Armenians. You know, sometimes they're super transparent about it, as Aliev was in that quote. So again, for anyone who is naive enough to think that the whole conflict just centered on Nagorno-Karabakh, you're one of the most naive people on the planet, especially given the history of Armenia,

the Armenian genocide, and the violence and brutality that led to the death of 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915 by the Turkish government, which still refuses to even acknowledge their part in the Armenian genocide. That's what's really happening. So looking forward to the Beverly Hills police investigating those flyers, I'm sure nothing will happen. And it's insane that you have the United States pretending to be so concerned about the invasion of sovereign countries like Ukraine when Armenia, a sovereign country has already been invaded multiple times by Azerbaijan. But you know, Turkey is a NATO ally. That's why the United States government still refuses to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. And this is how the

game is played. What can you give me? How can I use your country for my own benefits? And if you're not much used to us, you don't really care if you get invaded. That's the message that we hear from the United States government and the State Department. To be fair, Anthony Blinken says that he's very concerned, very concerned about the blockade. I'm sure you are. What do investors in New York want with land here in Colorado? I don't think they want much with the land. It's the water. Mueller says water asset management has acquired at least 2,500 acres of land for the water rights that come with it. He calls them speculators, betting that as the West gets drier, those with water.

rights will get richer. These are folks that have identified the drought as an opportunity to make money. Water is becoming the new oil as Wall Street investors look to cash in on the ongoing drought in the West. Now investment firms like water asset management are buying up land near the Colorado River, not because they have any real interest in the land, but because they have interest in controlling the water and also basically controlling how much ranchers in the area can lease the water for. Now, using an incredibly important resource that you need to live like water as a commodity that should be traded, something that should be invested in, something to speculate

about is pretty dangerous. But that's the direction that we started heading in back in 2021. and now it's devolving into something even worse. So just how much land has this firm purchased? Take a look. Your main source of water is the Colorado? Our only source of water is the Colorado. So that river is your lifeline. That's it.

That's all we got is that river. And that river is why someone new bought the land just down the road from his ranch. Water asset management owns that property. And when you first heard of them, what was your reaction? Surprise and concern. They are concerning because they're large. Water asset management is a Wall Street investment firm with offices inside this building in New York City. CBS News has learned that in the past five years, the company has bought at least $20 million worth of land in Western Colorado.

Investors in a Manhattan-based firm are now one of the largest landowners in the Grand Valley. I assume they wouldn't be here if they didn't think there was a lot of money to be. made. I think that's a logical assumption. That is definitely a logical assumption. And keep in mind that the Colorado River currently provides water to an estimated 40 million Americans. The new BMO VI 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 ViPorter Mastercard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply.

Visit BMO.com slash ViPorter to learn more. So 40 million Americans are definitely at risk right now because you have Wall Street firms really salivating over doing what investors profit from all the time. Scarcity. Scarcity means that the cost of something is going to go up. And that's when the investors get to cash in. That's when their return on investment really starts to kick in. Let's give you more details. The hedge fund was founded back in 2005.

In 2021, its co-founder and president Matthew DeSario called water in the United States a trillion dollar market opportunity. And can we pause for a second? Because he sees it as a trillion dollar market opportunity. He sees water as a commodity that should be invested in, traded, and all of that. Because our government lets it happen. Water, I mean, is anyone going to disagree that water should be a human right? You needed to live having speculators, investors, and Wall Street firms manipulate the price of water,

trade water as a commodity is incredibly stupid and dangerous. And that is the direction, not the direction that we're in, we're already in that path. Three years ago in an interview with Fintech TV, the company's president, DeSario, said one of his firm's strategies is to profit from water in part by making the farms it buys more efficient and then selling. parts of its water rights to other farmers and cities increasingly desperate for the natural resource. And let's also just talk about how disgusting it is, that we have a drought that is made worse by the climate emergency that was caused by big business destroying our environment. So we have the drought, which is in part caused by private business looking to make a profit. and then you have investors come in, you have hedge funds come in, and make money off the

disaster that was created by private businesses. Awesome. That's the way it works. So here's more on how they intend to profit. Rancher Carrie Donovan is a former Colorado state senator. She's alarmed by the amount of land being bought by investors for water rights. Scarcity does equal value, right? She tried to make Colorado's anti-speculation. laws stronger, but that effort failed. Colorado has pretty strong laws on this. You can't move water out of state. You have to use it for a beneficial use.

So how do they make money on this? They'll probably make money because the state will be forced to create a system that doesn't exist right now to allow more flexibility and how a water right is used. So these private investors may not be buying this under the rules that exist today, but this might be a long-term play. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. In fact, if you look at their website, they even present it as such.

I had a problem with one statement that she made in that video, where she says that the state lawmakers will be forced to create a system that deregulates speculation about water. They're not going to be forced to. They might be bribed to, legally of course, because of how our disgusting system of government works, how we've legalized corruption and bribery through the euphemism of campaign donations, it's not force, it's a choice that state lawmakers are likely to make because money talks and they will sell out their

own constituents, their own ranchers in Colorado, because at the end of the day, all that really matters to them is what's in their campaign coffers and whether or not their political careers can continue. It's not by force. So it's important to know that. Keep in mind, again, that this is partly a climate fuel drought in the West, which has depleted water resources like Lake Mead and Nevada, and yes, the Colorado River. So again, private businesses, private entities, fuel a crisis, causes a drought. We get to suffer by that climate emergency on its own. and then to add insult to injury, they get to profit off the climate emergency on top of all the pain and suffering they've created. It's amazing. Climate change is making the West hotter

and drier. For every degree, the temperature has gone up. The flow of the river has dropped by about 5%, a nearly 20% reduction over the past century. Lake Powell in Arizona and Lake Mead in Nevada, they are at historic lows. They're at just 25% of their full combined capacity. there are real fears that this crucial water supply for the West is on the brink of disaster. So that's from Greg Postel from the Weather Channel. And we might be on the brink of disaster here in the West. But over in New York, over there at Wall Street, oh, those investors like, we love scarcity. We love it.

Usually we engage in artificial scarcity. We manufacture scarcity to, you know, raise prices for what people need so our investors can get a good return on their investment. But in this case, climate emergency doing a lot of work for them. I just, this country is so incredibly pathetic in so many different ways. When I hear a politician in the United States talk about corruption in other countries, I mean, you got to laugh. Just because we legalized our corruption doesn't mean that we're better than other corrupt countries. We might be the most corrupt country in the world considering, again,

we have legalized the bribery here. We have legalized the corruption here. Now, there is more going on because this hedge fund wants you to think this is totally fine, you know, like everyone should just calm down. I mean, this is great. This is actually a great opportunity for farmers. They literally said something like that because the argument here is, well, I mean, if the farmers engage in the water speculation themselves, they could also earn some money. Let me give you a quote. The hysteria is ill-founded, says Lance Coogan, CEO of Vellis Water, the London financial firm that created an investment index on which the futures contract is based and designed and designed the contract, which is traded. through the Chicago base CME group, just to give you a little bit of background on that, water is now traded as a commodity in the stock market. So that is what is being referred to here.

Now, this is doing good. This is doing good, Coogan told me, explaining that the contract's purpose is to give farmers and other major users a way to limit their exposure to price increases. If you're an almond farmer and you've been ravaged by three droughts over the last decade, to be able to hedge your price is something you want. You get what they're saying? No, no, farmers, it's likely that the drought is going to destroy your farm and your livelihood. So you should invest in water as a commodity because once it becomes so unaffordable and so expensive for consumers, The value of your shares are going to go up, you should take that hedge.

Definitely go for it. But this quote describes the reality perfectly. As clean, usable water is becoming scarcer. The incentives in capitalism work to commodify it and work to ensure that the scarcity is an opportunity to make money. It's the way in which capitalism makes profits from human misery. Let me give you a little more. For instance, in cases where water traders have made bets on scarcity, they could financially

benefit from intervening in water distribution to limit access. This kind of abuse took place in Australia's water trading scheme when officials artificially inflated the price of water for their economic gain. So if you think life in America as a working American is already brutal and incredibly difficult, believe me, the investor class, along with these Wall Street firms, we'll find a way to make you more miserable. And that's what's happening right now with trading water as a commodity. We've got to take a break.

Be right back. Welcome back to the show, everyone, we're going to be able to the show, everyone. We're going to continue with this theme of international news. This time it has to do with some labor power in action in the UK. So let's do it. Up to a half a million public sector workers are striking in mass in the United Kingdom today over anti-labor legislation and refusals to raise wages amidst record inflation. Now, it's the largest strike the United Kingdom has seen in over a decade, and among those striking are, I mean, the numbers will blow your mind, especially if you live in the United States, you don't really see action like this. 300,000 teachers, 100,000 civil servants across more than 100 departments, including driving

instructors, Coast Guards, and Department of Work and Pension staff, 100,000 train and bus drivers, 70,000 university workers, including lectures and security staff. And that's not all. We should hear more from, more about the catalyst for these strikes. I mentioned inflation and wages. You're going to hear more about that now. As we're hearing from the multiple unions which have called for these strikes to take place, not just today, but over the next month, is that they are still demanding that increase to those pay rises in line

with inflation that we're seeing in the UK at an eye-watering rate, but also, of course, to combat the cost of living crisis, which is only deepening. Now, today, of course, we are seeing teachers going on strike, transport workers and civil servants. And this is set to cause widespread disruption across the country. But this is all part of a long-running standoff between the trade unions and the government. They say over the last few weeks, negotiations have stalled. And the government isn't budging on calls for that pay rise. Well, unfortunately, the government is led by conservatives, the Tory party.

And there seems to be absolutely no empathy whatsoever for these workers whose wages, not only have failed to keep up with inflation, but things got much worse once inflation took off. And of course, as always, at any time there's inflation, the immediate assumption is it has everything to do with workers making too much money, even though wages were not keeping up with inflation prior to inflation really blowing up. It's just insane. But let me give you more details. Average pay excluding bonuses rose by just. 2.7% in the public sector between August and October as inflation rose above 10%. That compared with a 6.9% pay increase in the private sector, according to national statistics. But don't

think that they're doing real well in the private sector. While inflation has begun to cool slightly, it remains at historic highs. Grocery price inflation hit a record 16.7% in the four weeks to January 22nd. As we've talked about on the show a million times before, COVID and all of the supply chain disruptions, all of the general disruptions that came along with COVID have definitely contributed to inflation in certain sectors. The idea that workers getting paid a little bit more

is the problem here is crazy, but that is what conservatives, and some corporate Democrats, by the way, here in the United States, people like Paul Krugman are arguing. The National Education Union, Britain's largest education union, says that teachers have experienced at least a 23% real term pay cut. So what that means is you can't just say, oh, someone got a raise, right? You take a look at their pay, they made $5,000 more this year as opposed to last year. You have to look at real wages that actually take inflation into account.

The government allegedly offered its members a 5% pay raise, which the NEU, again, the largest union for educators, says equated to a pay cut, thanks to inflation, thousands of schools will fully or partially close across the UK as teachers hit the picket lines, And as these teachers explain, there's a good reason for it. Let's hear from them. On Wednesday, Deborah Piper won't be here. She'll be on the picket line, calling for better conditions for teachers and a pay rise funded by the government not taken from her school's budget as it was last year. That comes out of the children's pockets.

That comes out of the children's books. So they've put us in a very precarious situation where we feel really guilty, taking the bare minimum as we have and putting the schools in such tight straight with budgets. So there are two really good reasons that actually I want to go on the march and be counted and say enough. I think if you were to ask the majority of teachers in this country,

they would say they were striking for pay, but more importantly for funding for schools because they are at the front line seeing the cuts and what they're having to deal with without enough money to do it. So many parallels to what we're experiencing here in the United States, but what makes us different is our lack of labor power, the dwindling of unionized work in this country, really beginning in the 1970s, and now small percentage of jobs in this country are unionized. So when workers want to strike, when workers want to speak out and demand better working conditions or better pay, it's a lot. lot more difficult to do it without the protection of a union or without a union negotiating

your wages on your behalf, which is what you see in Scandinavian countries, what you see with some sectors of the UK's economy. Now, as for university workers, their union joined the strike after a dispute overpay. They say that they had a pay raise of about 3% this year following over a decade of below inflation pay awards. Now, rail workers are also striking following a long running dispute overpay, job security, and also working conditions. As you guys all know, our rail workers are also unhappy because they're penalized if they need to take time off due to some sort of emergency, medical emergency, family emergency. But Congress and the White House did step in on behalf of the rail workers, not on behalf of the

rail workers, on behalf of their employers, when our government could have stepped in and just demanded that the rail employers provide some time off for the workers, but of course they didn't do that. Now, there are some more strikes planned throughout February and also into March. This next video has some more information on that. The nurses are going on strike again. That's very rare. Even rarer on February 6th, nurses and ambulance workers will strike on the same day. That is the first time that has ever happened in this country. And it may be the biggest ever industrial action to hit the healthcare system in the United Kingdom. We're also expecting more strikes from teachers, rail workers, and others, including physiotherapists and bus drivers.

Good, good. They have something that we don't have here in the United States. I'm envious of that. This is how you flex your power as a worker. You make your absence felt within the economy because I think people forget how important these jobs are, how important these workers are, and how they deserve to be fairly compensated for the work they do. There's more. I want to talk about public opinion in regard to these strikes because the results of these polls have been mixed. If you look at Ipsos, they found that a slight majority do support the strategy of multiple unions striking on the same day. So if you take a look at this, you'll see that about 40% strongly agree with the strikes.

They support the strikes. 18% are kind of neutral, neither support nor oppose. And 38% strongly oppose the strikes, which is pretty depressing. Among 2019 conservative voters, this is not surprising, 21% support the strike. 59% are against it. Among labor voters, though, 65% support the strikers, and only 20% are against them. And so that public support is incredibly important. But again, when these strikes happen, the absence of these workers within the economy

is felt. And those who tend to get reminded of the importance of labor are the employers. This is the only real power workers have, getting organized and threatening to strike if they don't have better working conditions in some cases. But in this case, we're talking about wages. Now, fewer than one in five, 17 percent think that the UK government led by Rishi Sunak, of the Tory party, of course, is doing a good job negotiating with trade unions to prevent strikes, with 31% of Britain's expecting a labor government led by Kier Starrmer. would do a better job. Nonetheless, the government seems to be holding firm so far. Sunak is not interested in conceding at all to the workers here.

Despite ongoing pressure from workers over pay, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said his government will not consider increasing wages. He warned of what he called a wage price spiral, where consumer prices rise in response to higher wages, creating further inflation. So just think about how screwed up the system is, where for decades, workers still, like, were not getting paid enough to keep up with inflation, okay? Now inflation has really taken off, and the workers are like, you know, this is untenable. Like, we need to get paid a little more to be able to handle the high cost of things that we need, like groceries, for instance. But the argument here, based on what

Sunak says is, yeah, but the thing is, in order for some people living in the UK to be able to afford their groceries, we got to make sure that another portion of the UK is really struggling and destitute. That's how the system works. It's the best system in the world. Ain't it? It's just pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. And we're seeing similar talking points here in the United States where the head of the Federal Reserve just openly and transparently says, man, we really got to increase unemployment to get inflation under control. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including the New York Times, laundering Ron DeSantis's reputation and image. That's a fun story, isn't it? And I promise we'll lighten things up a little bit with a pretty hilarious interview featuring George Santos on OAN. Don't miss it. We'll be right back.

Can't let that happen. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple. at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Hank Huger, and I'll see you soon.