The Young Turks - Freudian Slip

Episode Date: May 20, 2022

Former President George W. Bush: “The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine.” 192 Republicans vote against $28 million for baby formula shortage. Congresswoman Lucy McBath on Wednesday shared her own difficult experiences to point out how attacks on abortion rights by right-wing judges and legislators could impact what treatment doctors can provide to patients who, like her, endure miscarriage and stillbirth. New York City now has more Airbnb listings than apartments for rent. Workers in America’s fast-food and retail sectors who worked on the frontlines through the dangers of the Covid-19 pandemic are continuing a trend of strikes and protests over low wages, safety concerns and sexual harassment issues on the job. Hosts: Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur ***  The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.  Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://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 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 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. All right. All right, well, welcome to the Young Turks, Jake Uger, Anna Kusparian with you guys. I need you guys to understand that we're about to have an excellent show. Just as long as we're all clear on that and we have the same understanding, we can move forward. In the bonus episode, are we going to talk about how now a priest has declared hashtag Anna was right?

What? I don't know. I don't know. People are saying. People are saying. Now priests are saying. Okay. No, he's a lovely guy.

And so many of you guys have sent me the video. So we will be talking about it in the bonus. Well, you know, what can we do? It turns out we were right, we're going to talk about it. Calls me brilliant. What can we do? Yeah. Okay, so. Maybe I'm gonna start looking into the Anglican church. The Anglican church for the win. Okay, maybe. Maybe. Still. Okay, so guys, we got an intra-party fight, of course, right? And you're gonna be shocked to find out the Democratic leadership is trying to squeeze out progressives. By the way, none of the articles talk about that factor at all.

They just, media is a joke, democratic leadership is a joke. But speaking of jokes, we start with George W. Bush. We do, let's do it. Russian elections are rigged, political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the electoral process. The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia and the decision of one man. to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, I mean of Ukraine. That was George Bush, who has, of course, received much-deserved criticism for doing a preemptive war

into Iraq, and he made the best Freudian slip of all time. Literally, the top Freudian slip of my lifetime, and it's not even close. Not even close. That was epic. That was a record-breaking Freudian slip. And his face also showed it like, when he did that, oh my God. Do you think he's got a guilty conscience?

Of course. He knows. He knows. Look, guys, the funny thing is we made that same exact point at the beginning of the Ukrainian invasion. And we said, look, guys, what Russia is doing is despicable. We're totally on the side of Ukraine, et cetera, et cetera. we should help Ukraine in every way, right? But let's note for the record that we did almost the same exact thing

when we unilaterally attacked Iraq, a sovereign country that had not attacked us. So, and apparently we're not alone in thinking that. The guy who did the attack, he also thinks that. And he just showed it to. Yeah, so a few bits of context before we get to the rest of the video, because I think the rest of the video is pretty gross. And it's more about how the audience reacted to his gaff than anything else. But he made these comments while giving a speech before the presidential center at Southern Methodist University.

And this is an event that was meant to examine the state of democracy and the safety of American elections in the shadow of former president Donald Trump. And so while, of course, I mean, we've been very critical of Donald Trump, it is interesting how much the Trump presidency, essentially like whitewashed the disastrous nature of the Bush administration. And make no mistake about it. The Bush administration, I mean, he and his cronies committed war crimes, started this preemptive war in Iraq, did warrantless wiretapping on American citizens. I mean, the list goes on and I mean, the torture, which they referred to as enhanced interrogations. The list goes on and on.

it's wrong for anyone to think that because Donald Trump was so uncivil and so overtly disgusting, that somehow the Bush administration was better in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to foreign policy, the Bush administration was actually worse. But yeah. Yeah, so a couple of things. Just for the folks at home, in case you haven't heard of Freudian slip, it means when you accidentally say something that you actually mean, you say something wrong, but it's actually what's in your head and you meant it.

And so that's why that was epic. Okay, we had done a poll near the beginning of the Trump administration of our audience, asking who's dumber, Bush or Trump? Because mainstream media had instant amnesia. Right. Like as soon as Trump came into office, they're like, Bush is awesome. Bush is a saint. And then later Dick Cheney became a saint. And Liz Cheney is a saint?

None of that is true. They're all war hawks. They're all war criminals. Dick Cheney is a torturer, has disgraced the name of him of America. He's a sick man with paranoid delusions, etc. okay. So we do not do participate in any of that whitewashing. We also don't do the weirdo like Jimmy Dorr thing of whitewashing Trump. Right. Like, oh, Bush is bad, but now Trump, who's is better than Democrats, is, no, Trump has the same policies. Look, these Republican

leaders at the presidential level, they're like Xerox copies of one another. But each copy gets worse and worse and worse. That's true. It degrades and you can't tell. And the quality by the end is like a jumbled mess that goes, when causes cancer, wing, wing. I mean, that's, that's what it devolved to. In the beginning when we started asking our progressive audience, Trump versus Bush on stupidity was really close. We asked it a couple of times by the end, Trump had won on a landslide. But don't forget, George W. Bush, like, was not really in charge for the first six years.

It was Dick Cheney. That's because he just, he's a very, very unintelligent person. And he doesn't care about policy. He doesn't care about anything, and the number one reason he invaded Iraq, and this was a fascinating story. And if you, you know, we've been on air for 20 years, so a lot of you might not remember this. He bragged to people that came into the White House and to his office and the Oval Office. He would take them to a side room, and he showed them Saddam Hussein's gun. And he would say, my daddy couldn't get this, but I did.

Oh, my God. Oh, it's so sad. There's nothing more dangerous than a country led by a man with daddy issues. And unfortunately, we've had quite a bit of that. the United States, including with Donald Trump. But I want to get to the second part of this video, because that's what stood out to me more. Now just to put it in more context, Bush had just finished making this Freudian slip where he meant to say Ukraine, but he said Iraq, and then what happened?

Let's watch. And brutal invasion of Iraq, I mean of Ukraine, Iraq, too, anyway, 75. So the audience is cracking up, and I don't know if it's because they're uncomfortable, and it's like an uncomfortable Freudian slip. And by the way, before I get to the audience, actually, notice that after the gaffe, Bush says, Ukraine, and then like under his breath, he says Iraq too. Yeah, that was actually the strangest part. Yeah, super straight.

Yeah, why did he say Iraq to? Why did you repeat it, right? No, no, it's weighing on his conscience. By the way, credit to Bush, if it's weighing on his conscience. It ain't Wayne on Dick Cheney's conscious, I'll tell you that right now, it ain't Wayne on the New York Times conscious, it ain't Wayne on MSNBC or Fox News's conscious. Laura Ingraham, who pushed for the war with great zealotry, now turning around, go, oh, I don't know, oh, Iraq, oh my God, people should be held accountable, she said.

I mean, and guys, there's one more layer to this, you know, what seems, looks like a simple gap, but no, there's tons of layers here, because now MSNBC supports, reports George Bush and Dick Cheney more than Fox News does. Fox News is constantly attacking the Bush-Cheney administration and decision to go to war in Iraq when they had pushed forward a thousand percent. And MSNBC has become the establishment, so they're like, oh, Bush and Cheney, oh, they're great. And by the way, of course, Bush's spokesperson is one of the top anchors on MSNBC, Nicole Wallace. Yeah, that's right, that's right.

And just to make a quick comment about the audience and the fact that maybe this is weighing heavy, on Bush's conscience. Look, it absolutely should. This is not a laughing matter. Medi Hassan made this point during his peacock show last night, and I think he's absolutely right. Look, 4,000 U.S. troops died during the war in Iraq. And I should also note that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died as well. This was a disastrous war. It was sold to the American people after 9-11 and made to seem as though Iraq had something to do with 9-11, when in fact It had nothing to do with 9-11. And what was also sold to the American people was this notion that Saddam Hussein was

hiding weapons of mass destruction. The American people were lied to about that as well. So it was a preemptive war. It was a brutal invasion. It led to innocent lives being lost. It's not a laughing matter. And if Bush somehow does feel terrible about making that decision, he absolutely should. But maybe it would make him feel a little better if he was a little more vocal about it.

Instead of saying Iraq too, like under his breath. Yes, that would be great for history. So guys, one last thing, because anime is such a good point there. Everybody talks about weapons of mass destruction and how, and there that's where the New York Times says, oops, we got it wrong, we just took garbage propaganda from Dick Cheney and printed it on the front page like it was actually true. Do they go that far in a mere culprit? No, but they generally admit that they got it wrong.

But that's a little bit of a distraction. The main reason that Americans were in favor of attacking Iraq is because they thought Saddam Hussein had attacked us. In fact, when we went to the war in Iraq, a poll was taken, 69% of Americans, that is 7 out of 10 Americans thought that Saddam Hussein had personally attacked us on 9-11. Now, no one actually thinks that's true. And so the press didn't think it was true either. So how did 7 out of 10 people get that impression? Because the press never corrected Republicans as they said it over and over and over again. And they thought it was rude to correct people in power when that's supposed to be their goddamn job.

So that's how they helped Republicans do propaganda to trick the American people into thinking Iraq attacked us when everyone in Washington knew that they had not attacked us. Last culprit there, of course, is the Democrats who never even bothered to speak out against Bush and say, hey, wait a minute, Iraq didn't attack us. Why are you saying that? As usual, cowards and weaklings. Well, let's switch gears and talk about what is currently taking place in regard to the whole baby formula shortage. And there's an intersection here with the whole reproductive rights debate going on in the country. Let's discuss. So called pro-life GOP lawmakers in the House decided to vote against legislation that would actually help people who are dealing with, grappling with the baby formula shortage in the country as we speak. Now, we talked about that baby formula shortage. We explained why it's happening.

Abbott, which is a corporation that makes Simulac and other baby formulas. decided to invest its profits into corporate stock buybacks instead of fixing some of their machinery, which was allowing for bacteria to get into the baby formula. So that tainted baby formula ended up making baby sick, two of whom died as a result, and it led to a massive recall and a shutdown of its Sturge's plant. Now, there are efforts underway by Democrats in Congress and by the Biden administration to do something, emergency efforts to ensure that parents who have babies have access to baby formula, especially if they're unable to breastfeed or provide any other type of nutrients for their

kids. And so the House voted 414 to 9 to approve a measure that would allow more formula to be purchased with money from a federal program that aids low income women, infants, and children. So what they're referring to there is the WIC program. And the WIC program relies heavily on Abbott specifically for baby formula for mothers. And so this is supposed to essentially help change that. So other baby formulas are accessible to women who are in need of WIC or on the WIC program. Now the no votes, this is important, the people who voted no, cast by GOP representatives Andy Biggs, Lauren Bober, Thomas Massey, Clay Higgins, Matt Gage, Chip Roy, Paul Gossar, Louis Gohmert, and Marjorie Green.

The bill now goes for a vote in the Senate. Hopefully no one blocks it there, but you never know. But I name those Republican lawmakers because notably, some of them have been vociferous in trying to destroy and dismantle reproductive rights for women in this country under the guise of we want to protect babies' lives. Proof is in the pudding, ladies and gentlemen. They don't care about lives.

They care about control. they care about power. That's what the abortion debate is really about. But they also voted no on another piece of legislation related to the baby formula issue. Before I get to that, Cenk, why don't you jump in? Yeah, so that's basically dark manga right there. That's a new term that Madison Cawthorne came up with after losing the election. But these are the worst of the worst.

And so not surprising to see those nine names on there. But to me, one of the most interesting parts is all of these guys, all the Republicans, including those guys, out there doing talking points about the shortage right before the bill. And we covered it. It's been, you know, last week or so, they're all out there going, can you believe Biden isn't doing anything? The Democrats aren't doing anything. This is an American first. Oh my God, the babies. And so the Democrats go, okay, great, we'll pass these two bills and then get them aid and benefit as soon as we can. And they go, no, I don't want it. Of course.

Wait, what happened? I thought you wanted them do something. And this is two things that would directly help. Well, no, I don't want to help Democrats. I'd rather have the babies die than help Democrats. Oh, okay, then at least you're clear on it. There's no reason not to vote for that bill. You can tell, by the way, the Republicans that voted yes, it's not like they're softies. It's not like they're liberals, okay? The Republicans that voted yes are also super right wing.

But these lunatic nine came in and they're like, oh, no, we were just having fun. We were criticizing Biden and Democrats, even though we obviously didn't mean it. The minute they actually did something positive, we don't ever want to do anything positive. We hate the idea of helping Americans. So we voted no. By the way, Abbott Formula products serve 89% of the million plus infants that are currently covered by WIC. So it's essentially, they got a government contract, basically. Abbott got a government contract to provide baby formula for the WIC program.

In exchange, they got all sorts of goodies, including increased shelf space at supermarkets. Those shelves are now notably empty because Abbott decided to invest its money into enriching themselves instead of fixing their broken machinery to ensure that the baby formula is safe. By the way, that would have been a legitimate reason to criticize that bill. Why are we giving Abbott goodies? They're the ones who caused the problem in the first place. They would try to avoid regulations. And then because of that, they had safety problems and do their baby formula kill two babies? But do you see any of the hard right wing Republicans talking about this son of a lot?

a bitch company killed babies. You see, this is the corporations that are evil and problem. No, they're like, oh, Disney likes gay people and black people. Disney's a problem. These guys killed babies. You guys are supposed to be pro-life. No, no. Don't talk about the real problem.

But as you know, Jank, profits over people, including babies, the Republican Party has made it abundantly clear that's what their priorities are. And increasingly, we're seeing that with Democratic lawmakers as well, although not in this case. Democrats are on the right side in this case. And to be fair, the bill that I just told you about, the majority of Republican lawmakers are on the right side on that issue. Now, there's a second House bill that also passed, but it was far more partisan in this case. And it would allocate additional funding to ensure that the FDA has enough employees to, you know, oversee the baby formula, make sure that it's okay for distribution across the country because we're now importing baby formula from other countries.

And the FDA needs to have the manpower necessary to monitor it and make sure it's safe before it gets onto supermarket shelves. So as NBC News reports in a more partisan, 231 to 192 vote, the House passed a bill that would send $28 million to the Food and Drug Administration to help boost formula supply and prevent future shortages. Only 12 Republicans voted in favor of that measure, only 12. And I can name those 12 Republicans because they deserve credit for voting in favor of it. Now, keep in mind, by the way, Jake, you don't need any Republicans in the House to vote in favor of either piece of legislation. So just going back to the first piece of legislation that we were talking about, those nine Republicans, they knew it was going to pass anyway. And so to at least appear consistent with their pro-life nonsense, they could have just voted yes or voted present, knowing full well that even if they voted no, it's going to pass in the House anyway. They couldn't even do that.

No, there isn't a single bill that those guys would vote yes on because they hate Democrats. And they don't care about the country. They don't care about their voters at all. Oh, you can't feed your baby. I hate Democrats way more than I like your baby. That's basically Matt Gates and Marjorie Green's slogans. So now, why did most of the Republicans vote no on the other bill? Well, they wanted to be able to say that they did something about the baby shortage.

So they vote yes on one of the bills. But they also want to say that they oppose the Biden administration. so they vote no on the second bill. So how did they choose which one? Oh, which one's more effective? No. The second one, it proves more inspectors for the FDA so that, number one, we can speed up the number of the bait and food that's coming into the country because you need to inspect it

so that it would directly help. That's the reason you need it, but you also need it so that we didn't have the original problem where they avoided FDA regulation and poisoned a couple of babies, right? But the Republicans don't want businesses regulated. They don't mind the dead babies as long as their beloved corporations are untouched. They're like, inspect so that they don't kill babies? No way. No way.

That's a corporation. We love corporations under no circumstances when we ever hold them accountable. And that's why they voted no. And that is the great majority of the Republican Party. That's right. The great majority of the Republican Party. And I want you all to remember that. I mean, our audience, our regular audience is already fully informed.

already knows that the Republican party consists of representatives and senators who claim that they care about saving lives when in reality it's nothing more than a political ploy in the case of reproductive rights. But when it comes to bread and butter issues, when it comes to legislation that would actually save viable human lives outside the womb, they're never for it. They're always in favor of placing priority for profits over people, always. We see it over and over again. All right, we gotta take a quick break. When we come back, that abortion access hearing that took place in the House Judiciary Committee

yesterday included one speech that you have to see. Don't miss it, we've got that and more coming right up. All right on TYT, Jankanana with you guys forward. Let's do it. Next story. For two weeks, I carried a lost pregnancy and the torment that comes with it. I never went into labor on my own.

Representative Lucy McBath sharing the story of her miscarriage during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion access. She explains why protecting women's reproductive rights is so incredibly important. Let's watch more. When my doctor finally induced me, I faced the pain of labor without hope for for a living child. This is my story. It's uniquely my story.

And yet it's not so unique. Later in her speech, Representative McBath discusses how certain proposed legislation on a state level would actually make her a criminal if she had an abortion to avoid giving birth to a stillborn. So when she was sharing her story, she was specifically talking about how the, you know, she had already miscarried, she didn't have a healthy pregnancy, and she was carrying that fetus for two weeks. And there are abortion procedures provided to women to essentially abort that fetus that is no longer alive. So they don't have to go through the trauma of giving birth to a stillborn. And I think it's really important to understand. Look, I want to make it clear. I don't think that this is a story meant to say, well, no, we need to make some exceptions for some women. To me, it's important to understand that these are deeply private, deeply personal decisions that should be made, that should be determined between a woman and her doctor. Think about how degrading it is to have to essentially just sit back and allow these politicians who don't know you,

they don't know your circumstances to make a decision about whether or not you should be allowed to get an abortion. It shouldn't be up to them. And she made that case later on in her speech. I think she's absolutely right. So I've known several women who were in a similar situation. So whether it's a zygote, the fetus, it's not going to come. Like they want a pregnancy.

They want a child, but they're not going to be born alive, okay? So they're outlawing those exact drugs that would actually help them induce the miscarriage so they can move on with their lives. And so what they're saying, and it would have applied to my friends, they're saying, no, carry it inside you until you have a natural miscarriage. That's your goddamn problem. That's unbelievable. And I'll give you the specific examples of, you know, state legislation in just a moment.

But I do want to go to the second part of her speech just briefly because I thought it was powerful and it takes courage to share what she has gone through and also to represent what so many women are going through throughout the country. Let's watch. After which failed pregnancy should I have been imprisoned? Would it have been after the first miscarriage? after doctors used what would be an illegal drug to abort the lost fetus? Would you have put me in jail after the second miscarriage? Perhaps that would have been the time, forced to reflect in confinement at the guilt I felt,

the guilt that so many women feel after losing their pregnancies? Or would you have put me behind bars after my, stillbirth. After I was forced to carry a dead fetus for weeks after asking God if I was ever going to be able to raise a child. And I asked because the same medicine used to treat my failed pregnancies as the same medicine states like Texas would make illegal. I ask because if Alabama makes abortion murder, does it make miscarriage manslaughter? And I want to note that in some cases, In red states, miscarriage has already been treated as if it's homicide or murder. I'm not even kidding.

Some red states already have laws on the books that immediately drug test a woman after she miscarries to see if she's ever taken or has any type of drug in her system that could have led to that miscarriage. And there have been cases of women who have been arrested and prosecuted for murder as a result of that. And some of you might say, well, I mean, if she's pregnant, she's taking drugs, well, she's terrible, there should be consequences. But if you have a system in place that's that punitive toward women who might have a drug addiction,

for instance, what does that do? It discourages them from seeking help to get rehabilitation so they can have a healthy pregnancy. But it doesn't matter, this whole debate, as I've said a million times before, is not about saving lives. It's not about helping new mothers have an easier time being mothers. It's not about keeping viable children healthy and safe. It's all about control. And I'll give you the details about that Texas law that she's referring to in just a moment. Jank, thoughts on the video.

Yeah, so real quick guys, the other problem with the making miscarriage is illegal if you do drugs, et cetera. Then they say, okay, how about alcohol? Did you ever drink wine? Cigarettes. Well, what kind of food did you eat? What kind of did you fall? Was it your fault that you fell?

Okay, now we're judging women on everything. The minute the pregnancy begins, they say you're now property of the state, okay? And you will be judged harshly. And your life doesn't matter anymore. Your liberty doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that matters is the zygote, and your body is the property of the government. I mean, if anything was the jackbooted thugs of big government, it would be people telling women what to do with their bodies.

and then imprisoning them if they don't follow those strict guidelines. You know, it's interesting because where do you draw the line? I mean, when you think about it, there are so many foods that a pregnant woman is not supposed to eat that she's advised to stay away from, like sushi, for instance, or even deli meat, which I found out fairly recently for my sister-in-law, and I found that shocking. But yeah, I mean, pregnant women are, like, advised to, like, not eat anything other than, like, rabbit food and, like, whatever. It's, like, sounds like a terrible, terrible time.

But nonetheless, if a pregnant woman decides, well, you know, how could, what would it hurt? Let me have a sushi dinner. And then later on, it turns out that she has a miscarriage. Is she going to be prosecuted in some of these red states? I mean, who knows? That's how crazy the environment is right now in regard to this issue. And she referenced Texas in her video, so or in her speech. So let me give you the details on that.

One Texas law passed last year lists several medications as abortion-inducing drugs and largely bars their use for abortion after the seventh week of pregnancy. But two of those drugs, misoprostol and mithoprostone, are the only drugs recommended in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Guidelines for treating a new patient after an early pregnancy loss. By the way, again, this is not an argument to like, you know, fight for a carve out to be able to use these drugs specifically in the case of a woman miscarrying. This is to highlight how abortion is not just about ending a pregnancy. It's about health care for women.

It's about women being able to make that choice for themselves along with advice from their own doctors. And remember, Jank, when we were covering the Affordable Care Act, you know, before it had passed, as the debates were going on, what was the argument that Republicans made over and over again? That government getting involved in health care would mean that they would get in between you and your doctor. 100% every time. What is this? I mean, it is inarguably getting between you and your doctor. Now, the right wing, as usual, every one of them hypocrites. None of them care about life. or facts are like, oh yeah, the government should get between you and your doctor.

Of course that's what the government should do. The government should also get inside your uterus. And by the way, freedom, we were just kidding. You shouldn't have any freedom at all. The government should control your body. They're a joke. They're an international joke. Look, what's not funny is what they're doing these poor women and what they're going to do

all across the country when that decision actually gets handed down. Oklahoma now passing a new, more draconian anti-abortion law because they think the Supreme Court is going to allow it. And so it's getting worse and worse every day. One of our members wrote in, I'll give them credit, Kabuki Dragon, and said, look, the point is the trauma. It's not like, oh, they accidentally traumatized women. No, the idea is that, like, we showed you a hundred times about how they don't care

about babies, including in today's show, there's a baby shortage, food shortage, supply a problem, and they go, oh, yeah, I don't care. No, nine of them voted no on everything. Most of the Republican Party voted no on another bill that would help. They are criticizing the Biden administration for sending into detention centers where women can't leave. If they don't have the formula, their babies are literally going to die. They don't care about the babies. They separate the babies from their moms.

They never cared about the babies. It's all about controlling women. And that's why you're like, wait, miscarriages. How do we get to miscarriages? Because it isn't about abortion. The Bible's pro abortion. Numbers 511 through 31. Read it.

Read it for yourself. It is very clear that God does abortions if he thinks the woman cheated on their, husbands, okay? And the priest is the one that actually does the, carries out the abortion. So it has nothing to do with religion or any of those things. It has only one purpose. We want, we are in charge white Christian right wing men and we want to control women. That's what this is about. Switching gears, let's talk about the ongoing housing crisis. It is hitting every part of this country. But we haven't really tackled it from the perspective. of short-term rentals and how that is taking a huge toll on housing availability. So let's discuss.

are actually outnumbering the number of long-term apartments for rent in New York. And we're specifically talking about New York City and all of its boroughs. New studies indicate that, well, inventory of rental apartments in all of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Northwest Queens in April was just 7,669. the number of entire apartment and entire home Airbnb rentals available in New York City right now is 10,572. And that's according to analysis that was done by AirDNA, a third party site that tracks short-term rentals. So this is not at all surprising, especially when you consider that landlords might reconsider long-term rentals when they could actually make a lot more money

by doing short term rentals, and that's exactly what's happening right now. The net effective median rent in Manhattan, by the way, went up year over year to a new high, $3,925 at the largest rate on record, and listing inventory had the most significant annual decline on record. So there was already a housing shortage. I mean, it's a long running issue in New York. There's no mistake about it, even before Airbnb was around. But And after Airbnb and some of these other short-term rental apps came out, it became a lot worse. And New York is not the only place people are experiencing this. I want to get to some videos showing what happened to Joshua Tree, California in just a minute.

Because it's telling, and it shows you, again, doesn't matter if it's a big city or a small town, these short-term rentals are having a negative impact. So I lived into New York here. I grew up in New Jersey, and then I went to Los Angeles. in New York, and so lived there for three years. And I don't know any friend, and I used to have a lot of friends who lived in New York, who remains in New York other than one guy who worked in finance. Everyone else has gone, because it's absolutely impossible, though, for the apartments. I mean, look, I just did the math on it. You're not supposed to spend more than 30% of your

income on housing. And so based on the average Manhattan apartment that they just explained there, and was that Manhattan? Yeah, Manhattan. That comes out to you need to have a salary of 160, $60,000 to afford the average apartment in Manhattan. It's crazy. $160,000 a year. And that gets you to your max of 30% that you should be spending. Who has that kind of money? How could an average worker in New York working at a deli or working in construction

that I have $160,000 a year just to be able to afford rent in an average apartment? Average apartment. So I want to get to these videos I came across regarding Joshua. Joshua Tree is a wonderful place in California near a national park called Joshua Tree National Park. But they're having an issue with these short-term rentals as well. Let's take a look at the first video. I stumbled upon a corporation out of Chicago that owns 100 Airbnbs in Joshua Tree.

100. I don't understand how we have these neighborhoods that are zoned residential that are full commercial properties at this juncture. I don't get it. It's weird. There's no limits. They can do whatever they want. And now the costs of that are starting to be felt in the business community.

Right now we're hitting the wall. There's not enough, not everyone can succeed with the amount of workforce there is here. We're all competing for the same people. And it's stymieing new businesses. And I'm afraid a lot of businesses are not going to make it. They're not going to be able to do it. It just makes running business really hard. So why does it make it so difficult to run a business?

Jank, you actually had some experience with this when you went to Wyoming, I think, right? It's because the workers in the area, the people who have like actually grown up and lived in that community can no longer afford the housing because they've been squeezed out and landlords end up selling to corporations that then turn around and they don't flip the houses. They don't, you know, what they end up doing is using those properties for short term rentals instead of long term rentals. Yeah. So we went to Wyoming as Yellowstone Grand Teton there. And then there's Jackson Hole, which is a fancy place. And so they don't like the riffraff there. So the housing prices are sky high. And so you know what happened?

We couldn't get a meal because the restaurants were open only for a couple of hours. There was a gigantic line at McDonald's which is the only place open. Why? Because no one could afford to live there. And you'd have to drive literally hours to get there if you want to work there. So they just didn't have enough staff. They didn't have waiters. They didn't have, it was unbelievable.

And then we went white water rafting, and then we asked the woman that was doing that. What are you doing? She's like, oh, we all sleep in our cars. That's the parking lot. We all go to all the workers. And we sleep in our cars and we do it for the summer for cash. And then we have to leave because no one can afford any apartments here. And guys, zoning is super important because sometimes you say, well, all right, well, we'll put six people in a room.

And then they say, no, no, no, no, we don't want any commoners here. So they will outlaw multiple people living in the same apartment. under zoning laws. And that brings us back to this housing issue. Because if you try to, if a small business tries to go to a residential area and set up shop, if my wife, who's a therapist, for example, set up a therapist office, man, they would rain down holy hell on her. And they say, you know, no, that is not zoned for that. But the biggest corporations in the world are buying all over residential zoning areas. And nobody's saying anything. So big businesses isn't, aren't just crushing their workers. They're also crushing their competition. Small businesses.

So, and all this is happening, and politicians don't do anything about it, because who do they get funded by giant corporations? And look, there are parts of the country where they've outlawed, you know, the short term rentals, Palm Springs is a good example. So if you're trying to get an Airbnb or Verbo, whatever, whatever, one of those short term rental services in Palm Springs, it ain't going to happen. And I think that's the right way to go. You know, there are neighboring areas where you can get an Airbnb. The way they did that, I think, makes sense because Palm Springs is still, people are still hustling there. Like the businesses are doing pretty well, you know, it's, you compare Palm Springs to other parts of California, and it's honestly night and day. And I think it's because they're more protective of their community there. And they won't allow some of the predators to come in for their own profit motives.

One more video, because I think it's important to hear from the workers in Joshua Tree specifically. Our landlord is selling our property. Having people come in and look at the house that I've been living at for the past couple years is pretty annoying. I don't recognize any of the people coming in. They all look like investors. They definitely want to Airbnb it, and it just doesn't seem fair. Some of my employees have had their houses bought out from underneath them to become short-term rentals, some of them illegal short-term rentals. I have one full-time employee who is engaged, pregnant, and has been trying to find housing for her and her fiancé for six months now.

What we really need here is a bigger work pool, and what we need to get that is housing. I have several employees right now who are in complete danger of losing the housing they have, and I have several others who have recently lost long-term rentals that have been sold and are becoming vacation rentals. So this activity, again, impacts every community across the country. We're seeing it all over the place. Joshua Tree, small town in California, same experience that people living in New York are now experiencing as a result of the limited housing inventory and big corporations coming in to scoop everything up. Yeah, and one last thing here, guys, I'm also a little guilty too. We're always honest with you guys. Guilty in the sense of I like Airbnbs and I like staying in.

at them, okay? And in fact, there's this town, a little area in LA called Manhattan Beach that I really like. And I found out recently that they don't have Airbnbs. And I was like, damn it. And then I was like, no, you know what? Good for them. Yeah. And that's my point to you guys. Even if you enjoy some of the things, if it's hurting the local community, don't do it, right? So, or at least respect their decisions. If they want to do it and they're okay with it, great. But if they don't want to do it, understand that there's a good reason why they don't want to do it. Yep. All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we've got some, some of the latest labor news involving fast food workers. And then later on

in the show, we're going to ask whether or not it's acceptable to be a stay-at-home girlfriend. Don't miss it. Ooh. All right, back on T.Y.T. Jank and Anna with you guys. Anna. Let's do some labor news. Those were McDonald's workers in Chicago who walked out of Iraq who walked out and went on strike in Chicago who walked out and went on strike recently to demand better treatment in the workplace and also union rights. They're one of many fast food strikes that have been going on

across the country in recent weeks, but you probably didn't know about it because it's not being covered at all in the corporate media. And we'd love to see organized resistance like this, especially when it comes to hardworking people who are not getting their fair pay and when they're working in terrible conditions. And that makes way for one of our new segments. Let's take a look. Now there is more on the walkouts in Chicago, but rather than put words in the mouths of these workers,

Why don't we hear from them ourselves? Let's watch. You've got the people that feed the neighborhood. I'm one of them type of people. I haven't been feeding people for McDonald's for years. I just want to feel like I'm a part of a team. I want to be part of something. I don't have to walk on TV and watch other people live,

constantly and do stuff. Just want the equal right for the average person out there. You know, I represent the average man that goes on to his kids and try to provide. You know, I really do. I don't mean to walk out, but it's a standard. It's a movement. It's something that has to change. This is the only way that stuff can change.

We have to show it. Other than there, there was walk over us. And Jake, this is something that's been going on with fast food workers for such a long time, right? You see record profits year after year, profits, not just revenue, profits, year after year with fast food companies like McDonald's. And they just refuse to reinvest that money into their employees. And especially during the pandemic, you know, there's been, shortages with workers having to do mandatory overtime and things like that.

I'll get into the details specifically about what these workers are complaining about. But it's just, it's never ending. And keep in mind, these are workers who are not unionized. So they don't have the protection of a union and they're still deciding to take a stand and do the strike. So Frederick Douglass said a long time ago, power never concedes without a demand. It never has and it never will. And that is very literal.

And so, especially in the case of public corporations, they're in. in the business of maximizing profit. They must do it by law. They're not going to voluntarily pay their employees more. It's just not going to happen. If you see them raising rates, that's only because of competition when there was a labor shortage, all of a sudden they raised rates. Did they raise it when there wasn't a labor shortage? No, they didn't. Now, could they have? Of course they could have. They're making literally billions on top of billions in profit every single year. Could they share a tiny percentage of that? We did a story about Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

They gave a $5,000 bonus to every employee, and they were so psyched, right? And you know what it turned out to be? Now, look, that's not a chain, but it's still a major operation in Vegas. It turned out to be $27 million. But remember, they're making billions in profits, not cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan that get, I think they did about 400 million in profits. So can they do 27? We did the math on it.

It's about 7% of their profits. Right. So all of these companies can do way less than 10% of their profits for their workers, but they're never going to voluntarily choose to do that. They're always going to maximize profit. So that's why you have to have leverage. That's why the strikes are necessary, because if you don't organize and you don't fight back, they will never give you that raise. They'll only give you, I'm being quite literal here, the absolute bare minimum.

Right, because they have, especially if it's a publicly traded company, they have a fiduciary responsibility to not their workers, to their shareholders, right? To maximize profits and provide a return on that investment. And so let's talk about other examples. For instance, on April 26th, workers at a jack in the box restaurant in Sacramento, California also went on strike for three days due to faulty equipment, short staffing, and also this horrifying incident. So the fight 415 NorCal Twitter account tweeted that after a pregnant co-worker was threatened at gunpoint, she was told to finish her shift and her hours

were cut when she refused. This is obscene. We filed a complaint with Cal OSHA. And that doesn't surprise me. Honestly, with the crime wave, the individuals who are really dealing with the brunt of that are workers, people working at fast food restaurants, metro workers in Los Angeles. It's been pretty terrible. And it doesn't surprise me at all that, you know, in this case, you have Sacramento Jack in the Box workers dealing with guns pointed to their faces and then they're demanded to continue working after that traumatic incident. Also from April 23rd to May 1st, workers at a Wendy's restaurant in Weaverville, North Carolina went on strike due to sexual harassment and abuse by a general manager. Charity Bradley, one of the workers, was actually removed from the schedule

and locked out of the crew app after she reported the harassment. And the Guardian reports, when we reported the abuse to upper management, they pretty much just blew it off. They really didn't do anything. We called the corporate hotline several times and never received any response. Wendy's could be a good place to work. They need to get it together and start taking care of their people and start doing what's right, not sweeping it under the rug. That was a direct quote, by the way, from Charity Bradley to the Guardian. And on May 2nd, workers at the Dollar General store in Marion, North Carolina also walked off of their job due to low wages. And there's just so many examples, Jank.

And the thing is, every day there's so much of this labor activity, whether it strikes, whether it's efforts to unionize, they get no airtime in corporate media, zero, zero, zero. MSNBC radio silence. Obviously, Fox News is not going to cover it. CNN doesn't cover it, network news doesn't cover it, they just don't care. And then when there's a labor shortage, they're like, why is there a labor shortage? Is it because the workers are lazy? No, how about we take a look at whether there are any incentives for these workers to be there in the first place? Yeah, look, those media companies are also multi-billion dollar corporations.

And so the idea of their workers rising up doesn't appeal to too many executives as CNN or MSNBC. And so it's also not just about wages that of the stories that I mentioned, the one really stood out to me. They had that terrible odor and it didn't go away for a whole year. People are vomiting. This is at a restaurant, right? On the job, people are getting sick. They got a call and sick because it's obviously there's something very wrong, right? Over a year they didn't fix it.

So they finally go on strike and then they say, oh, okay, fine, we'll look into it. I mean, what does that tell you? That tells you they don't care about their customers. customers because they also have to deal with that and they don't care about their employees at all because, oh, we fixing it might cost a little bit more. We might have to dig under the ground and that's really going to stop business for a little while and it's going to cost a little bit more. No way, no way. Would any of the executives at that restaurant work under similar conditions? I can tell you with absolute certainty, there's no way they were tolerated for past two days. If it happened to the executives, it would be fixed. instantly. And the restaurant that you're referring to is actually McDonald's in Los Angeles, California. So the workers on May 2nd called out the restaurant. They went on strike as a result of the faulty plumbing that was causing all sorts of health issues. And it also caused that terrible odor. In fact, one of the McDonald's workers was quoted as saying, it gives me headaches,

stomach aches, and nausea. And it's been happening to my coworkers also. It has become a horrible smell all over the kitchen and store, and we've noticed there's water also leaking with disgusting debris. That's Jasmine Alfaro, who needed to take several days off work due to her medical issues. And by the way, of course, she wasn't compensated while she was out. Yeah, it's super last thing. The media still has this mythology that like, oh, your companies will take care of you and they care about their workers. Really? For some private companies and smaller businesses, yeah, That's still true because they interact with people. There's good people who run those smaller and mid-sized companies.

But for public corporations, the multibillion dollar gigantic corporations, do any of you that work at them get a sense that they care about you? No, come on, man. And that mythology is just pushed by media, tell you how great corporations are. Nobody's seen that in decades. All right, let's take a quick break. That does it for our first hour. But when we come back for the second hour, we'll tell you how much.

Moderates are trying to squeeze out progressives in Congress. And later, we'll also discuss how the group that destroyed Madison Cawthorne's reelection bid now have their sights set on Lauren Bobert. We've got that story and more coming right up. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work. Listen ad-free. access members, only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash

t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.