The Young Turks - In Hot Water

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Ana & Cenk call out Governor Gavin Newsom for failing to prepare California for deadly fires. Republicans say disaster Study Makes HORRIFYING Discovery About Gaza Death Toll. Hosts: Ana Kasparian & Cenk Uygur SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE ☞ https://www.youtube.com/@TheYoungTurks FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER ☞ https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕MERCH ☞ https:/www.shoptyt.com 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. We're going to be able to be. All right, welcome to the Young Church, Jake U. Granik is sparing with you guys. Still not for the Bolly Market Studios, hopefully tomorrow we'll see how it goes. And we've got a lot of news for you guys, yes, from fire ravaged LA and some of the

national repercussions of that, some of the political fallout from that. But we also have tons of news on are the January 6th guys going to get pardon? Could Biden have one, believe it or not? Some folks on TV are going back and saying, nope, he had it. He had it. If you, if this, if these young rascals had not intervened in a Scooby-Doo fashion, Joe Biden 101. All right. So a lot to get to in today's show. So Anna, let's get started. So I wanted to start with some updates on the fires in Los Angeles. In addition to engaging in a bit of a deep dive on the utter incompetence of the local politicians. here. So without further ado, let's get to this. I think that Gavin is largely incompetent, and I think the mayor is largely incompetent, and probably both of them are just stone cold incompetent. What they've done is terrible.

You say what to people who insist that these independent investigations or calls for them? Are you passing the blame on to other people? How could it be when we're doing an independent investigation? President Trump has blamed you for this crisis. He called you incompetent. And it turns out that Gavin Newsom absolutely is incompetent while giving the appearance of someone who's poised to be a president. Now we'll get to all those details in just a minute, but it is important to understand that California Democrats are absolutely getting blasted for their inept leadership and lack of fire preparedness in the lead-up to the devastating fires that have ravaged large parts of Los Angeles County, devastated areas, including the Pacific Palis. Alta Dena, California, which is near Pasadena. Now, Donald Trump in particular has been going after the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who just keeps getting caught in various lies, including the one

that you're about to hear. The reservoirs are completely full of the state reservoirs here in Southern California. That miss and disinformation, I don't think advantages or aids any of us. We do know, though, from reporting here locally that that one reservoir that serves the palisades was not full. And that's exactly what. triggered my desire to get the investigation to understand what was happening with that local reservoir. That was not a state system reservoir, which the president-elect was referring to. Why did you say all the reservoirs were full? And then when you're hit with the facts of one of the major reservoirs being completely empty, well, you know, that's why I'm calling for

investigations. And you know, that's not a state reservoir. I'm going to pass the buck. I'm going to pass the buck. Please don't blame me. It's not my fault, even though I am the governor of this state. That's who Gavin Newsom is. In every single interview that he has done amid these wildfires, if you listen carefully, all he does is look for other people to blame. Oh, it's the city government. It wasn't the state government. No, no, you're the top dog, politically speaking, in the state of California, and he has failed the people of California, not just in regard to the current wildfires, But he has consistently failed the people of California in response to these wildfires, the aftermath of the wildfires.

I mean, just take a look at what happened in Paradise, California, okay, the so-called campfire, which absolutely destroyed that community, robbed people of their homes as a result of PG&E, one of the electrical utilities here in this country, in this state. He bailed them out. He bailed them out. I mean, this is who Gavin Newsom is. And I have a lot more to get to, but Jank, I want to give you an opportunity to weigh in. Yeah, so I'm very looking, very much looking forward to finding out what caused these fires. So, and it might be a couple of different reasons.

We don't really know, but, but if it's PG&E again, then I'm going to be furious because Gavin Newsom took $10 million from them and then has not. force them to bury their wires and their wires that are hanging above us all are kind of like a democracy sword hanging over all of our heads in California just so that Gavin Newsom can collect more campaign donations from PG&E. It's disgusting. I can't stand it. So, and then to your point, Anna, why did you say that you're ordering an investigation because the reservoir was not filled for the Pacific Palisades. But like literally 15 seconds ago, you said that all the reservoirs were filled. Both of those things can't be true at the same time. And I don't

mean that as hey, maybe he might have did a slip up on the reservoir not being full, but you just explained 15 seconds later that it was so important to you that you ordered an independent investigation, including of yourself, then it's hard for me to believe that you forgot that when he asked you the first time around. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I think Karen Bass is a lot of explaining to do in LA. And I think that, yeah, and the Santana is more of a local issue than a state issue.

But I think that overall your point about Gavin deflecting, well, he's done it literally in every interview. And in this case, I want you guys to understand the trick that he's doing. Because he's doing one of these investigations is a great way to punt and award responsibility when everyone is paying attention. When that report comes out, even if it's a scathing report, it'll come out six months from now, nine months from now, three months, however long it takes. And by that point, people will have moved on to some degree, right? And Gavin gets to pick the people doing the independent investigation. And then even if it comes out against them, by that point, the energy has dissipated, and he knows that. But Anna, I gotta say one thing. He,

look, Democrats usually, unfortunately, over the last, you know, a couple of decades, I guess at least pre post Obama, right, have had two messages, two problems. One is they don't deliver our own policy, and two, it's just terrible on messaging and politics and strategy. At least Gavin Newsom is slick enough that he knows how to deflect. So he doesn't really perform. professionally, if you're not paying attention and you just saw that on MSNBC, I think that a lot of those Democratic voters are going to think, Gab is on top of this, man. He's nailing this. And I know that that's what drives you even more crazy. But he's at least adept at pretending he's doing something while doing nothing. We don't need an investigation. We don't need an investigation because we know exactly what happened with that empty reservoir.

And the reason why that reservoir was empty is because of the fact that it needed repairs to a floating cover so debris doesn't get into the water. And it's been empty for nearly a year. Why has it been empty for a year? Well, because constructing anything, building anything in this state, thanks to the environmental activists, or I should say, thanks to the individuals in this state who use environmentalism as this sheet. in order to pass regulations to make it incredibly difficult to build anything, including housing, right? They've succeeded at that. So to build anything, whether it's a reservoir, whether it's a repair to a reservoir, whether it's building a house, whether it's building anything, becomes incredibly expensive, becomes incredibly difficult to do, takes years on end. The last reservoir that was built in the state of California was built in the year, it was completed in the year 2000.

Groundbreaking on that reservoir began in 1995. Explain to me how the fifth largest economy globally, the state of California, has that much difficulty building a reservoir. Five years? Last one again was finished, completed in the year 2000. In 2014, voters in California overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure to support building more reservoirs in the state in order to bulk up our water infrastructure. because we live in a drought prone state.

That passed in 2014, funding was attached to it. You want to know how many reservoirs have been built since 2014? Zero, zero. This state is an utter joke because of the people who are governing it. Gavin Newsom right now is at the top of that list. Let's get back to the Santa Anaenez Reservoir. So officials said that the Santa Anaez Reservoir had been closed since about February of last year, 2024, okay, for repairs to its cover, leaving a 117 million

gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Pacific Palisades for nearly a year. Unacceptable. So why hasn't it been repaired? Like what's going on? Well, the city began emptying the reservoir in February of last year due to this tear in the floating cover. They were worried about debris getting into the water. Totally understand that. The repair would have taken a week, but it didn't take a week. It never got done because repairing anything in this damn state is impossible. Okay, so then we hear about the upcoming wins.

Look, we were not surprised by this. I want people to not make the mistake of drinking the Democratic Party's coolate on this because we were getting reports about the intense Santa Ana wins and the upcoming fire weather almost a week in advance. I knew about the fire winds and all of that the Friday before the fire started on Tuesday. Now, I bring that up because there was nothing wrong with the actual structure of that Santa Ana's reservoir. It was just the floating cover that had issues. So if I were the mayor of Los Angeles, knowing that these winds are coming, knowing that those winds could create a terrible

hazardous wildfire situation, I would hurry up and fill that reservoir, not really concerned about the debris getting into that reservoir, because we might need that reservoir specifically to fight fires. She didn't do that, though, did she, jank? She knew about the wind. She knew they were coming. And what did she do? She went on a taxpayer-funded trip. Us Angelinos paid for her to travel abroad to Ghana, okay? For what? For something important that's going to benefit the people of Los Angeles, no, to watch their incoming president get inaugurated. You are the mayor of a major city. You're not a diplomat. You're not an ambassador. What the F are you doing in Ghana? Why were you not here preparing for a potential disastrous wildfire?

The fact that she went to Ghana, Jank, isn't just about the waste in tax payer money. It isn't just about her absence. It's about the fact that it shows that she underestimated what was about to come. She didn't have the foresight because she doesn't care. That's the issue here. So guys, we're gonna give you a lot more details about how unprepared they were in a sec. And so all I want us to do in prefacing that, and I'm not as animated as Anna is about the Ghana trip. And so- Why are we paying for that? No, I get it, I get it. But politicians do it all the time. Republican and Democratic mayors do it. They go abroad on taxpayer-funded trips. And obviously she didn't know that our giant fire was going to start, although it is fire season.

And but the major thing I want you guys to keep your eye on is, as now I'm in, this is the part that's beginning to arrange me a little bit, as I see a lot of people on our side defending Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom just because they're Democrats or they're on the left, or because Donald Trump told a wild lie about the fires, or because Karen Bass is a black woman. Now that's a new theory that she, that she wouldn't have been criticized otherwise. This is the largest fire in LA history. Trust me, she could have been Martian. She'd be criticized. And so the number one thing I want you to keep an eye on for is there, I think they're pathetic excuse for, no one could have seen this coming. I mean, it's just wind, wind, that's all.

I mean, are you kidding me? There's wildfires in LA all the time. And you know generally what season they're going to come in. You know they're going to be devastating. You know that your own donors are causing it half the time. So you couldn't know it any better. You've been in trouble for it before and you come into LA or California and you don't prepare adequately for this. And then afterwards you're deer in the headlights and you don't know how to answer any questions and you don't show any leadership. No guys, don't make excuses of people on our side. Because those homes burn down. Those I know families that were affected, my family's affected, and do not make the mistake of thinking because Republicans did X or Y, that we should let people on our

own side slide because them sliding year after year, decade after decade in blue states and blue cities is what has caused their complete arrogance. And like, and the reason in Karen Madison answered that question by Sky News reporter is because she thought, I don't a ass have to answer questions of anyone. I'm a Democratic leader in California. I'm above the law. It's even worse. It's even worse. They're not used to tough questions. They're not used to tough questions. The corporate media absolutely does PR and provides cover for the Democratic Party, whether it's on a local level or a federal level. So when she was hit with a simple question, do you regret going to Ghana, knowing that these wins were coming? Do you regret cutting the fire

budget? She didn't know how to, she was stunned. She didn't know how to respond, which is why she remain silent. It is pathetic to say the least. Real quick, though, you know, there was a lot of talk about how, well, the fire, you know, there wasn't enough water pressure in the hydrants in the Pacific Palisades in order to fight the fires effectively. And so it wasn't really about a shortage of water. It was really about the lack of water pressure. Okay, that is a lie or it's true in a way, but it's shielding the fact, hiding the fact, that the way that the water infrastructure works, the way the water pressure works, is wholly dependent on the volume of water in the reservoirs. So when you have an empty reservoir in the main area where the fire is happening, well, you're going to have issues with the water pressure because, again, the water pressure is dependent on the volume of water in the reservoirs.

In fact, the Los Angeles Times in writing about the San Anaz Reservoir being empty, spoke to various people. had the reservoir been operable water pressure in the palisades, would have lasted longer on Tuesday night, said former DWP general manager Martin Adams, an expert on the city's water system. A DWP official acknowledged that the reservoir's absence likely contributed to some diminished pressure and dry hydrants in upper regions of the palisades.

However, a spokesperson for the utility said in a statement that DWP was still evaluating the effect of the reservoir being placed offline. That reservoir carried 117 million gallons of water. Okay, I get it. The DWP wants to skirt responsibility too. There is no reason why, in the lead up to this fire, after all the warnings we got about the upcoming weather, that reservoir should have been emptied. It should have been full just in preparation, just in case a wildfire broke out.

What's also concerning is that even though the reservoir has been empty since at least February for repairs. Again, there was absolutely no construction on that site, no indication that the repairs were anywhere near to being done or even any indication that they had even started. Newsom told Californians that he had signed an executive order to overhaul the state's approach to land management by significantly increasing prevention efforts. And it turns out, through a 2021 investigation by CAP Radio and NPR, by the way, they found Newsom's kind of lying about this. So let me give you the details on that as well. So when it comes to fire prevention or mitigation, one of the most important things you can do is land management, meaning you clear

dry brush, okay? You manage the forest. I get that Donald Trump sounds moronic when he talks about raking the leaves in the forests. But what he was trying to get at is actually something really important. Okay, we do need to do land management. We need to do prescribed burns. We need to, you know, deal with dead vegetation, dry brush. You get the point. Even Gavin Newsom acknowledged that that was something that needed to be done.

But a 2021 investigation by Cap Radio followed up on what Newsom was really up to. The investigation found Newsom overstated by an astounding 690 percent, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns. In the very forestry projects, he said, needed to be prioritized to protect the state's most vulnerable communities. Newsom had claimed that 35 priority projects carried out as a result of his executive order resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. Wow, really impressive. Except when you dig in, the state's own data show the actual number is 11,399. And look, to be fair, at first, when Gavin Newsom took office, there was an increase in

private, in fire prevention activity. But when people stop paying attention, Gavin Newsom does one thing and he does it really well. He stops doing what he promised. Okay, so Cal Fire's fuel reduction output dropped by half in 2020 to levels below Jerry Brown's final year in office. At the same time, Newsom slashed roughly $150 million from Cal Fire's wildfire prevention budget. Now, look, to be absolutely fair, under Newsom, there was an increase in land management. But you still can't forget the fact that he says one thing. And when you look at the numbers, it's actually a lot less than what he has claimed. Okay, so in this case, you know, you're talking about treating 90,000 acres of land,

clearing dry brush, dealing with dead vegetation. Turns out it wasn't 90,000 acres of land. It was a little over 11,000. These are the things that need to be done. Democrats accept that climate change is real. I accept that climate change is real, okay? But to use climate change as an excuse to do nothing or to do little, and then when disaster strikes, you just say, oh, it was climate change and it's the Republicans' fault?

I'm not buying that. Obviously there needed to be mitigation efforts in place and those mitigation efforts were not in place. They just weren't. Yeah. So Anna, I think the climate change excuse makes it worse because I don't want people to misinterpret what I'm saying. I think I 100% believe that climate change is leading to more severe storms all across the country. And I think that that might be a factor.

here, but wouldn't that make you want to get more prepared, not less prepared, especially if you believe in climate changes we do, and you're a Democratic governor or you're a Democratic mayor, and you've been warning about climate change this whole time, wouldn't you want to hurry up and fill up reservoirs, do more of the controlled burns that you need to do, do all the things that you're saying that you're doing while you're not actually doing that, right? And so look, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, right? So the problem in some of these deeply blue states, and by the way, definitely true in deep red states as well, is that mainstream media does no accountability, zero for anyone in power. So when, you know,

and that's why Alabama and Mississippi, by the way, is rank at the bottom for so many different categories because the mainstream media in those areas kiss up to Republicans. And they're like, what a wonderful job by the governor of the mayor again, as they're 49th and 50th, right? And in California, oh my God, the mainstream media loves Democratic politicians because they're in power. So they never have any accountability. So that's why Gavin can lie about, you know, and be off by 690% can say that every reservoir is filled and 15 seconds later say, oh yeah, the main one wasn't filled because he never gets called out on it. And so that allows for them to keep coasting and not actually delivering for their voters, which then blows up like this where people

get enraged. By the way, if you don't know, Karen Bass is that Ghana er. She's goneer. Gone. There's no chance of reelection. And if you're listening to shows that are lying to you and pretending that the people of L.A. are okay and that they've still backing Karen Bass because of unity and because Trump lied about something. You're totally wrong. Everyone in L.A. Hates Karen Bass now. And so finally though, in terms of could you see it coming? To me, that's the most important part, right? One of our viewers did a super chat here that I think is so good. Tachala's son wrote in State Farm definitely knew the fires were coming. Yep. Okay, and I need to explain that to you if you don't know what they're referring to. There's someone at TYT that this

happened to. Their insurance is going, fire insurance was going to be canceled in February of this year, so next month. And he knew that before the fire is because of a conversation he had with them. Why? Because these insurance companies are like LA's becoming uninsurable because there's so many wildfires. I don't know if they're taking into account that our leaders are doing almost nothing to prevent them. In fact, sometimes they're doing things to add on to the great risk. But either way, it's not like, oh, nobody could have seen it coming. When there was profit on the line, all the insurance companies saw it super clearly. So when Gavin Newsom or Karen Bass, or any Democrat lies to you and says, oh, no,

one could have seen it coming, ask him about State Farm, okay? Because that shows you everyone saw it coming. So they're totally and utterly lying when they make excuses for their lack of preparation. Look, the other thing I'm going to bring up, and I know I'm going to get a lot of heat for this, but it's just the truth. It is the truth. And I am just desperate for something to be done about it. I had to evacuate. So I evacuate to where you think it's going to be safe. in the middle of the San Fernando Valley where I grew up, Reseda, California. Okay.

But then there was an encampment fire, a giant encampment fire that threatened the neighborhood I was staying in. There are encampment fires daily, dozens of them, daily. Add that to high winds. Add that to dry conditions. And I mean, you're just creating the worst possible situation. people are terrified.

No one is safe in California or Los Angeles when it comes to this issue. So when it comes to fire prevention, dealing with these encampments appropriately is also part of the equation. But people are afraid to even talk about that. I mean, Jake, am I wrong for bringing this up? The wildlife preserve near me, a reserve, I should say, near me, has been lit on fire dozens of times over the last year alone. Yeah. So no, that's just, there's nothing wrong with what you're saying. So look, guys, the PG&E has been the cause of most, of the most amount of fires that we have tracked. Okay. That doesn't mean they're the only source of fires. And do, unfortunately, do homeless folks who are almost always the fire started by someone who's hooked on drugs. They're starting it for the drugs because you cook some of the drugs.

Is, has that been a major source of fire here in LA over the last, you know, half a decade to a decade? Absolutely. Anyone who says that that's not true is just literally, indisputably lying to you. And I guess the reason they would lie to you is, oh, we want to protect our unhoused neighbors. So let's cover up the fact that they're starting fires to get high. So, but remember, not all homeless people are the same. That's the minority of homeless people. We're not trying to be, you know, say any disparaging about homeless people.

We're just telling you a reality and you covering it up doesn't help at all. And it's to do something about those fires is not to say that you should hate homeless people or that you should take it out on all homeless people. But if you say because we're worried that someone else might criticize homeless people, we're going to bury an incredibly important fact about safety that affects everyone, including the homeless by the way, because the fire first spreads in the homeless areas, right? and it endangers them as well. That's just absurd, and I'm not gonna participate an absurd democratic ass covering, okay? So when someone starts a fire in LA, I don't give a goddamn what their conditions are

or why they did it, and don't tell me, oh, well, it's okay, because they were super high on drugs and they needed a fire to start their new batch of drugs. No, there should be severe penalties. Yeah. I mean, you're doing it in the middle of a place that is known, for gigantic wildfires and you want me to have sympathy for you? No, that's you saying, I don't care about anybody else's life here,

including, by the way, my homeless neighbors. I'm going to endanger all of their lives. I'm going to endanger everyone's life because I want to get high again. No, there should be severe consequences. All right, when we come back, we'll talk a little bit about what the national conversation is in regard to the wildfires in California. Some Republicans want strings attached when it comes to federal relief money. We'll get to the details on that and more when we return.

some handle and Sam Littlefield. So they hit the join button below, became Young Turks members. They sustain us and we answer only to you guys. So we appreciate it. Become a member today. If you can, you could of course also do it through t.yt.com. All right, Anna. Here's what we have next.

Are you the public providing a to talk right out and conditions at all? I think we've got to have a serious conversation about that. Obviously there's been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. And it does come down to leadership and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that's something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that date. What about the debt limit increase? What about tying the debt limit increase to it? There's some discussion about that, but we'll see where it goes.

As you just heard today, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that federal aid, any federal aid, to the state of California in response to the devastating wildfires that the state has suffered should probably come with some strings attached. Now, he's not the only Republican lawmaker who's making this argument. In fact, let's watch in order of appearance. Senator John Barrasso, who's the Senate Majority Whip, Senator Ron Johnson, Representative Ron Johnson, Representative. Ronnie Jackson, Representative Zach Nunn, and Congressman Warren Davidson, make similar arguments. Do you expect, though, that Congress and Republicans will still help these Americans in need, even if they don't like their local politics in the party? I expect that there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved,

and it has to do with being ready the next time because this was a gross failure this time. I certainly wouldn't vote for anything unless we see dramatic change in how they're going to be handling these things in the future. It's going to have to be in conjunction with some reforms that California hasn't been willing to make on the way they regulate their water and things of that nature, their forest management, all these other things. The things that led to the fire. We can't just dump money into a broken system. We will certainly help those thousands of homes and families who have been devastated, but we also expect you to change bad behavior. We should look at the same for these blue states who have run away with a broken tax policy. We want to be able to help out our colleagues in New York, California, New Jersey, but we also want those governors need to change their tune now.

If they want the money, then there should be consequences where they have to change their policies. We support the people that are plagued by disaster, but we have to put pressure on the California government to change course here. Senator, why should other states be bailing out California for choosing the wrong people to run their state? We shouldn't be. They got 40 million people in that state, and they're voting these embeciles in office. If you go to California, you run into a lot of Republicans, a lot of good people, and I hate it for them. But they are just overwhelmed by these inner city, woke policies with the people that vote for them. And, you know, I don't mind sending them some money, but unless they show that they're going to change their ways, they don't deserve anything, to be honest with you.

Unless they show us, they're going to make some change. The last individual you heard from was Tuberville. And look, the whole woke argument is driving me insane because the woke issue is not an issue here. There was a lot of attacks toward the fire chief, Kristen Crowley. She's a fantastic fire chief. And in fact, the firefighters have done an amazing job considering the limited resource sources they have. They have put their lives on the line to protect human beings, to protect businesses, homes. This is not about, oh, it's the fire department is too woke. But I do think

that some of these Republican lawmakers are making good points about the mismanagement of our water, the mismanagement of our infrastructure, the mismanagement in fire preparedness. I do not agree with withholding money from any state that is suffering from a natural disaster or tragedy like what California is currently undergoing because ultimately the people who are harmed are ordinary citizens who should not be used for political fodder, should not be used as pawns. But at the same time, and by the way, I mean, if you do this, get ready. It opens a Pandora's box for every situation in which a state is victimized by a natural disaster, getting caught up in a ridiculous political debate when people need relief immediately.

But, Jank, you have to acknowledge that there's a lot of mismanagement of funds, especially in the state of California. There is, it's true. And now, hold on, hold on. So first off, yes, there's tons of mismanagement, but no, I do not agree to this. I'm actually furious about it. So, okay, Tommy Tuberville talking about imbeciles. You kidding me? One of the biggest imbecile in Congress. And he comes from the state of Alabama. Next time there's a natural disaster in Alabama. I'm going to talk about how every moron Republican mayor and governor and senator in Alabama doesn't deserve any money until they fix how stupid they are. Okay, so look, don't come telling us about how you are so much better

and you're not going to give us relief after the blue states have contributed to the red states every single time and we never question their utter imbeciles in charge in those states. But now all of a sudden they're like, no, when it comes to California, we don't want to pay because they're jerks, they're selfish pricks. And they're like, when it's me, I deserve all the money. But if it's a blue state, oh, no way, unless you elect Republicans, we're going to withhold the money. No, hell no, hell no. And this is a terrible precedent. Because if this happens, then every time there's a Republican president, the blue states are not going to get any help at all, whether they burn to the ground or not. And if the Democrats have any sense, if they win,

then they're going to say to the red states, all right, that's it. You guys made a mistake. You elected the wrong people with a bunch of dumbass Republican politicians. Now you're not getting any money. If you drowned in the south because of the hurricanes, your goddamn problem, not my problem. All right, let's talk about the moron Greg Abbott in Texas. So we're talking about that. He let his citizens freeze to death. Why? As always, same reason as California to protect his donors. Because all those electric companies and those utilities had donated to Governor Abbott. So what? We should have let those people freeze to death?

Because Abbott's a crook and he's an imbecile? No, no, we go help American citizens where they are. This kind of talk will lead to civil war politically, where we will just divide into blue states and red states. We have been incredibly honest about how incompetent Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom has been in this regard. If they do this, they're going to force everyone back into their partisan camps. And next time there's any kind of natural disaster in a red state, we're all going to have to now find out all the things that every single elected Republican in that state did wrong. Sorry, we're not giving you money. sorry, don't care that you froze to death or you drowned or you burned to death because I'm playing politics over here. No, avoiding responsibility by saying you're politicizing it

is gross, I hate it, and I've come out against it. But then if you're going to actually politicize it and go, no, I'm not going to give to you because you put it for the wrong people, then you're at fault. The Republicans are 100% at fault here for politicizing this in a disgusting way. And let's be honest, they don't want to give us the money because they are selfish pricks. And if it's their precious ass, don't give me the money, give me the money. You're not doing red states are so precious. They're the real Americans. They're the real Americans. You're going to give us the money, okay? And now when California needs it, I don't want to give it to you. Okay, duly effing noted. All right, we got to take a break.

When we come back, we'll switch gears, talk about some other news, including some international news with a check-in on Gaza, so stick around. members, thanks for signing up by hitting the join button below. All right, Anna, what's next? Well, there's a damning report in regard to the death toll in Gaza. Now, we've been hearing a lot about how the death toll has been inflated by the Gaza health ministry. But is that really the case?

Let's get to the details. We wanted to really understand what was the underreporting by the Ministry of Health. So our findings indicate that the numbers from October. 7 till June, actually were underreported by around 40%. This actually puts the number that the ministry is saying that already people is saying is quite high, is even higher. And these are one of the highest, very high mortality rates. If you look at children under five, children under 10, 15, 20, under 18 year old, these mortality rates are quite high.

Now, despite constant allegations that the Palestinian Health Ministry has inflated death toll numbers coming out of Gaza, it turns out that a new study, a damning analysis suggests that the death toll is actually much higher than what the Palestinian Health Ministry has reported. So this is a peer-reviewed study that was published Thursday of last week in the Lancet Journal. And the researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that they estimated, based on their analysis, as many as 64,260 people were killed in traumatic injury deaths in Gaza between October 7th of 2023 and June 30th of last year. Obviously, some time has passed. The war has continued to rage on in Gaza, so the death toll is even higher than that. But the authors of the study estimate that the death toll for the first nine months of the war was around 41% higher than the figure of 37,877 reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry. Women, children under the age of 18, and people over the age of 65 accounted for 59.1% of the 28,257 deaths for which age and sex data were available. And they did not provide an estimate of how many of those individuals were combatants.

But neither does the Palestinian Health Ministry, so we're comparing apples to apples here. Now, to arrive at a more accurate death toll, the authors relied on statistical sampling or a statistical sampling technique that's known as Capture Recapture. So if you're unfamiliar with that, which is totally fine because I was as well, it's basically something that's been used for mortality estimation in other words. war zones, including Kosovo, Sudan, Guatemala, Colombia. And so the lead author, Zenia Jamaluddin, says that this entails basically going through different lists of mortalities, excuse me, including hospital reports, surveys,

and social media obituaries to basically find overlap and come up with a more comprehensive, accurate estimate of the death toll. As for why there might have been such a significant undercount, well, I have my own theories, right? But Zenia argues that while the Palestinian Health Ministry initially did have robust electronic death records, the destruction of Gaza's health care system has made it incredibly difficult for them to compile numbers when it comes to the death toll. Plus, there are still thousands of people trapped under the rubble in Gaza, which has effectively been leveled by the Israeli. defense forces, especially in the north. And using their analysis of the first nine months of the war, the authors also argue that the current death toll estimate is even likely below the published

numbers as well, or yes, well below the actual death toll numbers. So although we only analyze data up to June of 2024, they write, the official health ministry estimate from October 7th of 2023 to October 6th of 2024 was 41,909. The study says, adding that if that level of underreporting continued from July to October of 2024, it's possible

that number of Palestinians killed in Gaza now exceeds 70,000. And by the way, Jake, even that might be an undercount. So take a look at this and then I want to get your thoughts. In reality, the number of mortality

might be higher if We also include the issue of not accessing health care, heart attacks, and some of that aspect. Infectious diseases, maternal care, pregnant women not being able to get access to proper delivery and so on. So the situation has been dire. We knew that. But in terms of the number of people who have been killed, the numbers are obviously even more dire than what people expect. Yeah. So a lot of thoughts here. First, Lancet Journal is a very respected outlet here. So if they published it, they very likely double-checked the science on it, et cetera. So it's a good estimate. But of course, it's an estimate. So is the number exactly right? Of course, they would tell you it's not exactly right. They're estimating based on what they know about this particular disaster and other disasters. that they have studied, right? But the core fact is indisputably true, which is that it's much higher than the 46,000

that the health ministry in Gaza's reporting. And it's obvious logic, by the way, because they're not reporting anyone that hasn't showed up in a hospital or in some sort of health facility and who has passed away, right? Either before they got there or a while they got there. But if you're buried on the rubble, well, you didn't get counted.

And there's tons and tons of people buried under the rubble. And then, so I don't believe in adding in numbers like heart attacks. Heart attack could have happened in a million different ways. But did the lack of humanitarian aid lead to starvation and infectious diseases? That's indisputable. I would add those numbers. I would add, you know, so there's a real way looking at this. But now back to the propaganda you normally hear from Mayshree media, they will always say,

But Israel disputes the 46,000 number because they say Hamas. Like they will say, oh, the Hamas health ministry has given that to you. Just saying Hamas in a sentence doesn't prove a goddamn thing. Remember, even if you take Israel's wild outrageous, obviously made up numbers, these days they're claiming they change the number all the time. These days they're claiming that 17,000 of the people killed were militants. And then press asked them, oh, that's super interesting. number, where'd you get that number from? And they're like, nowhere. They're hilarious.

They just make stuff up. But even if you believe that number, which you shouldn't believe at all, it's an outrageous, ridiculous lie based on absolutely no evidence. But even if you believed it, that leaves 30,000 to 50,000 civilians killed. Remember, all of this was because 860 Israeli civilians were killed. So now they're saying we've murdered 30 to 50,000 in retaliation for the 860 less than a thousand for civilians. There was also military killed on October 7th. But you see our civilians are worth more than 50 of your civilians because we are superior to you and we get to colonize you, we get to murder you, and we get to take your land. So this is yet another piece of overwhelming evidence that adds on to the

genocide and ethnic cleansing that the terrorist state of Israel has been doing for well over a year. the United States. And the study that we're referring to is a peer-reviewed study that's been published in the Lancet. But nonetheless, the Israeli government is rejecting the study. And in fact, they claim that there is a hateful bias against Israelis. I mean, it's the go-to talking point here. So let's get to a statement that was issued by their embassy in London. They write that, as has already been proven countless times before, has it? Any information that derives from Gaza cannot be trusted, nor can you ignore the Lancet's history of anti-Israel bias? What a bunch of morons, calling scientists anti-Semitic because of facts. I mean, it's really, it's peak mental,

right? Because to them, their one excuse for everything is, everybody's an anti-Semite. The whole world's against us. So no, we're not the ones lying. Literally everyone else on earth, all of the press also, by the way, including tons of Jewish members of the press, all the human rights groups, tons of Jewish members in the human rights groups, etc. They're all lying, they're all anti-Semites. We provide, Israel says we provide no evidence at all. All we just say is Muslim dirty terrorists. You have to believe us, otherwise you're an anti-Semite. No, everyone putting out those statements and every and all the people in the cabinet in this right wing government of Israel, they're all deep bigots. They're like the worst bigots on earth.

They just they think Muslim lives are totally and utterly worthless. And so I'm not interesting, interested in what these racists think is anti-Semitic, okay? No, none of that. Anytime you hear an Israeli, I'm not talking about American Jews, there is anti-semitism across the world and there is here in America. But when you hear a monster terrorist from the Israeli government talking about anti-Semitism, that's the cover up their own bigotry and racism, which is a thousand times worse than any so-called anti-semitism at Lancet, at the Lancet Journal, one of the most respected medical journals in the world. You'd have to be a lunatic to believe that's driven by anti-Semitism. It's driven by data and science. Your hatred of Palestinians and your deep lust for murdering

them is what's actually racist and bigoted. And when you say 50 of your people murdered is not equivalent of one of ours. That is by definition racist. There's no defense of Israel left that isn't based on racism. We get to murder 50 times, a hundred times more than they kill of ours. Why? Because their lives are worthless and our lives are superior. And the most important thing in the world, America, send me more of your money. I haven't murdered enough Palestinians yet. That's what I think of this disgusting Israeli government. They're also, when they put out statements like this, inherent in the statement, inherent in the denial is an acceptance that these death toll numbers are insanely high

and make the Israeli military and government look really bad. And it kind of reminds me of what happened in the hospital bombing that took place in Gaza early on in the war, where the Israelis were like, we didn't do it. It was actually a result of one of Hamas's rockets that misfired and hit the hospital. We would never do it. We would never do it. And then they proceeded to bomb every single hospital in the Gaza Strip. Everyone. They destroyed every hospital in Gaza, every hospital.

You know who does that? Terrorists do that. If you say Muslims are terrorists for killing one Israeli, but Israelis are not terrorists for killing 50 Palestinians in return. And that is, by the way, the most generous reading based on totally made up numbers by Israel on the number of terrorists that they killed. And if you say even by Israel's numbers, 50 of them of course are not worth one of us, well, brother or sister, I hate to break to you, but you're a deep racist and you're supporting a terrorist government that proudly declares that they're not done murdering yet. Self-defense, all this was an accident, all the civilians killed, they did not intend to kill. That's why they're not terrorists. The Muslims are dirty, dirty savages. And whenever they kill,

it's not to fight an occupation. It's because they're violent by nature. But when we slaughter and slaughter and slaughter and slaughter Muslims, no, no, we're pure innocent. We didn't intend to kill it. If you believe that Israel didn't intend to kill any civilians in Gaza, please go into a mental health facility. You have no idea how much you've grown detached from empirical reality. Your biases have let your brain rot to a point where you think, no, only Israeli lives matter. And you see how everybody else is biased against me? No, I don't see it. I think you're deeply biased against those poor, poor Palestinians. Can you please, for the love of God, Stop murdering them.

It's not that complicated. So the death toll is so egregious. The war has been so brutal toward the civilians in Gaza that now mainstream media is finally speaking up against Joe Biden continuing to fund Israel's efforts in slaughtering people in Gaza. And so here is MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes weighing in on the matter. President Biden is going to hand a blank check for Israel over to the incoming Trump administration, $8 billion in weaponry given over to an ally, waging what I think can only be described as total war in Gaza, that has, according to, I think, multiple independent experts and reports, reporters and NGOs, been committing war crimes, and ethnic cleansing, according to a former

Israeli defense minister, where Israeli soldiers say they have been ordered to target and kill innocents arbitrarily, including children. We know which vision of American global engagement the Trump administration will carry out. But it isn't just Trump who this week is making an absolute mockery of every last lecture we deliver to the Russians or the Chinese or anyone else about respecting human rights and international law.

It is President Joe Biden too, leaving a disgraceful legacy, a liberal president doing untold damage the liberal international order. I mean, what liberal international order? Biden has aided and abetted the deterioration of international law, especially as it pertains to war crimes, and he did that on behalf of Israel. Period, full stop.

I mean, what liberal international order? What liberal national order? What are we talking about here? Yeah, total nonsense. So when look, I hated that Russia invaded Ukraine. I'm the only guy apparently left who believes in what George H.W. Bush said that that we should have a new world order where you are not allowed to attack a sovereign country that did not attack you. But apparently that's too much to ask for Republicans, for Democrats.

And so Russia should have never invaded Ukraine. But when Israel attacks five, six of their neighbors, and we go, oh, that's allowed. Yeah, that's fine. And we say, well, terrorism is not acceptable. You can't kill innocent civilians, but we allow Israel to kill 50 times the number of innocent civilians that any terrorist has done to them. We make a mockery. We make a mockery of the rule of law, international law, our standards, human rights. And by the way, it is a mockery. It's a joke. The American leaders are totally lying.

They will allow us to kill anyone we like. We kill nearly a million people in Iraq. They'll allow Israel to kill endless number of Muslims. And they'll never, ever, ever hold them to account. Why? Because APEC was the number one donor in American politics this year in this election cycle. Number one. So they bought our Congress. That's just look, if you don't know, okay, that's just reality, man. They bought our Congress.

Washington, D.C. is occupied territory. Okay, it's not just Gaza. God knows what they're going to do to us next. So now with Chris Hayes, brilliant segment, loved it. You guys should watch the whole thing. Give Chris a ton of credit. Because none of the other cowards at MSNBC would dare do that because then they are going to get a stern talking to. You're not allowed to oppose A-PAC or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. How dare you?

You have to keep saying how nice they are. Yeah, I mean, they funded the genocide. They funded ethnic cleansing according to Israel's own former defense minister. But you're not allowed to tell the truth on MSNBC. So I appreciate that Chris did it. Now, I do have to be honest and say, he, and along with everyone else, should have been doing it for the entirety of the last year that would have given Israel three months to defend itself and slaughter and slaughter and slaughter and slaughter and still give you a whole year to criticize Biden. But no, no, no, no, you can't do that before an election. Democratic ass must be kissed no matter how corrupt they are, no matter how much they violate all of the principles that Democratic voters.

believe in and vote for. But the liars at MSNBC will trick you into thinking that they're nice people. Well, there was nothing we could do but fund ethnic cleansing and genocide. No, there was a lot you could do. You chose not to do it, Joe Biden, because you're deeply corrupt and you're a terrible and evil person. So thank you, Chris, for finally saying it. Of course, none of the other cowards are going to say it on MSNBC. And it's not too little too late because we're still funding is we just gave him another $8 billion to kill more Palestinians because they haven't murdered enough according to every sick person in power in Washington, D.C. Kelsey Gabbard reverses her opinion on government spying and more when we return. Don't miss it.