The Young Turks - Rand Paul vs Pompeo, Corey Booker vs Pompeo, Bank of America, and Teachers With Bats

Episode Date: April 13, 2018

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from April 11, 2018. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join.  Hour 1: Ana, Michael, Ben. Trump keeps tweeting unhinged updates on Syria. Mike Pompeo’s differing foreign policy positions under Obama and Trump. Wendy Vitter fumbles answering whether or not she agrees with Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Updates on MO Gov. Eric Greitens sexual misconduct allegations. Hour 2: Ana, Mark, Ben. National Enquirer paid Trump doorman $30,000 to kill rumor about love child. Bank of America to not finance companies that make military-style firearms. Parkland teacher in favor of arming educators leaves gun in bar bathroom. 1/3 of Americans do not believe that 6 million Jews died in Holocaust. Mariah Carey opens up about bipolar disorder. 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. Thank you for watching or listening to this free podcast of the Young Turks. We want to make sure that you get some portion of the show every day. But if you want the full show, which is actually five segments, come become a member and support independent media as well. TYT network.com slash join.

Meanwhile, enjoy the free podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to TYT. Anna, Michael and Ben, with you. A few TYT lives that I enjoyed, particularly from the Mad Lib, who tweeted, Trump thinks nuance is Beyonce's sister. Funny. Nuisance. It would be nuancee. Yeah. Totally good. That's so good. I am Sok-Rights-in. You know what the most unstable region on Earth needs? And even more unstable American foreign policy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty devastating.

All right. You guys. ready for some Pompeo? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. I don't see, watch Grey's Anatomy anymore, but I understand she's really a linchpin to making the show work. Pompeo. Pompeo. It's a Helen Pompeo, Joe. I know. I was a Bombolillo, gypsy Kings joke. Oh, I love that song. Try sing it with Pompeo. It's not as good. All right, so let's talk a little bit about Pompeo.

Mike Pompeo, the current CIA director, has been chosen by Donald Trump to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. So naturally, the Senate needs to have hearings to question Pompeo and determine whether or not he is fit for the position. Now, to give you a quick rundown of who Mike Pompeo is and what his beliefs are, in the past, he has made statements denying climate change, opposing same-sex marriage, arguing that moderate Muslims are complicit in terrorist attacks. And also, he has demonstrated on various occasions that he has a very hawkish stance on foreign policy. So especially when it comes to Iran, North Korea, Syria. So these are all issues that senators wanted to ask him about. And what I did was compile

what I consider to be the more interesting exchanges during these hearings. Now, the hearings are ongoing. I'm sure we'll have more content for you moving forward. But it's important to know that right now there are people on both sides. Members of Congress, on both sides that are very much concerned with the State Department. Dozens of senior officials resigned or were pushed out. Many jobs remain unfilled with lower level officials temporarily filling them. With the administration proposing State Department budget cuts of 31 percent, fewer young people are being recruited to join the next generation of diplomats.

So morale is low within the State Department. There are positions that need to be filled within the State Department. And right now, of course, there is an effort to replace Rex Tillerson with someone who would be competent. And you get to decide for yourself whether or not you think that. Now, let's go to Rand Paul's exchange with Pompeo. This exchange has everything to do with foreign policies, something that I tend to agree with Rand Paul on. And you're going to see a lot more commentary from Senator Paul as opposed to answers from Pompeo. But I do think this is an interesting exchange.

So let's take a look at the first video. Do you think it's constitutional? Does the president have the constitutional authority to bomb Assad's forces? Does he have the authority absent congressional action to bomb Assad's forces or installations? Those decisions are waiting. Every place we can, we should work alongside Congress to get that. But yes, I believe the president has the domestic authority to do that. I don't think that has been disputed by Republicans or Democrats throughout an extended period of time.

Actually, it's disputed mostly by our founding fathers who believe they gave that authority to Congress. It's interesting because Pompeo had a very different standard when it came to foreign policy under the Obama administration. So, Michael, I want you to jump in and kind of fill in the gaps here. Well, I mean, first of all, there's no gap to fill in there. Rand Paul called him out on it. And what Mike Pompeo, as he was a member of the Freedom Caucus, he was a member of the most. sort of conservative group of congressman when he was serving. He was a member of the most arch-conservative group of a group of arch-conservatives.

Right, that's right. Yeah, he was the far right of the far right. He was the walking fringe. I mean, and so what he advocated at a time when Obama was considering doing certain things was exactly what Rand Paul is saying to him now. Now, as he's standing for Secretary of State, it's a total reversal. And I think that, you know, a tiny bit of leeway is given to people who are going to adhere to the administration of their president. It's happened all the time.

This is so far from the person he was and legislated as and got himself in wars of rhetoric with Barack Obama over or his administration over. Obama would never honor that. It's embarrassing. Well, it's also incredible how he tried very hard to present himself as a, less hawkish individual. Because again, you know, if you look at his past statements, didn't want to shut down Guantanamo Bay, is very much in favor of the enhanced interrogation that was conducted under the Bush administration, basically torture, waterboarding.

So, again, very hawkish. But during this hearing, what I noticed time and time again was that he wanted to present himself as someone who was more in favor of diplomacy, which historically is not the case with Pompey. No, I mean, it's what you do. You go into a job interview if you've, you know, I'm trying to think of a good analog to what that is. But the truth is, you present yourself as what you think they want to hear.

Exactly. And that's what he's doing today. There's no, you know, again, we've crossed into a period with conservatives, elected conservatives in this country. There is almost no principle. And their partisanship while accusing the Democrats of being partisan and everybody is capable of being partisan, they're out of control. I mean, there is no principle on which they stand here. If it was Barack Obama was the Democrats, so you opposed him. The Freedom Caucus theoretically wanted limited government, right?

And so, and the thought was what we were peddled, which at least those guys were principled. You know, we may disagree with everything, and they may sort of advocate, they end up sort of perhaps unwittingly, but probably completely wittingly, sort of giving a voice to a significant amount of hatred in the name of fiscal responsibility. But in reality, they didn't believe anything. They just, this was what worked. This was what was worked then. It was popular. It was the right people for him to be associated. with, so he was associated with them. He is, I mean, he is a better nominee for Secretary of State

than Rex Tillerson because Rex Tillerson was a zero on a one to ten scale and Mike Pompeo is a 1.2. But it is a continued disaster for the state. Do you really think that he would be better than Rex Tillerson? Because while Rex Tillerson didn't have the same contacts, connections, experiences Pompeo, Pompeo is definitely more hawkish than Tillerson. No, just in terms of qualification for the job. I think Rex Tillerson is the worst cabinet appointment in the history of the United States of America. Wow. I think he'll go down as that.

I think he's the guy who allowed a 31% budget cut to be proposed at his State Department while we increased the defense spending by 13%. I mean, it is counterintuitive in any way to making progress. It's nice that those numbers directly mirror each other, at least the 13% increase with Trump asked for. It was like appointing a surgeon to housing and urban development. You wouldn't do – well, wait a second. But I mean, worse than that is that Tillerson again, and thank God he's gone, and we liked him a little because he recognized Trump's the moronity of Donald Trump, but it didn't really matter. Like this was still a guy who ran a giant oil company to whom the State Department was a thorn in their side. They had their own foreign service.

They had their own diplomatic corps. They had their own military at Exxon. And then we turned this guy loose. And to them, the State Department and diplomacy was tightening of their own. their belts was infringed on their ability to make a profit. I mean, he was literally the worst person in the world for the, for by far the most important cabinet job that we have. By a landslide, as bad as Ben Carson is as bad as that's his boss does. The damage they can do is so limited in comparison to the State Department. I'm not delighted that Mike Pompeo was

there. He's a horrible choice. Tillerson was worse. That doesn't mean we don't get outraised about Pompeii. You know, to this point, a Republican congressman in D.C. said to me, when I was last there said to me that Mike Pompeo is unqualified but ambitious and within these spheres right now, ambition is winning. And that's what you have here. Ambition is scary when it comes from someone like Pompeo. So, so I hear what you're saying, Ben, but my worry is that he is more aligned with Trump when it comes to the worst ideas that Trump has in foreign policy. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. And Tillerson, but. And I know that Tillerson wasn't really a mitigating factor when it came

to Trump? Maybe Trump didn't really respect him and, you know, he was just as marginalized as Kelly is at the moment. But he didn't mitigate on Israel, on the Iran nuclear deal. I mean, he was, it was, it was, it was Tillerson's voice in the room that caused the president not to go all the way in

that. So he was heard. So, too, was mad. He got one, but in Jim Jen. No, but I'm not saying. Yeah, I know. I got to tell him. It doesn't undo any argument you're making. Yeah, he was, so again, it is, but it is, the, the, the, the, the, This is a crazy conversation that we have to have in America where it's like, who do you think should be Secretary of State?

Rex Tillerson or Mike Pompeo, and it's like a joke conversation. But yes, and they're both terrible in their own interesting ways, unquestionably, one of the ways that Pompeo is dangerous, is that he could appeal to Trump's most interventionist, darkest, most militantly belligerent side. Exactly. So I actually want to skip ahead to the video where Pompeo, and Rand Paul are talking about the Iraq War and whether or not the Iraq war was a mistake. So this is video for, again, I'm skipping ahead, just a note to the director.

Let's take a look. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-E-Bing the Republic, or UNFTR. As a young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking, the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely

obfuscated by the so-called powers that be. Featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school.

For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, You must not learn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for you. and FDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Do you think the Iraq war was a mistake?

I was running machine shop in Kansas at the time, so I don't have a contemporaneous view that I expressed. No opinions back then? How about opinions now? I may well have had an opinion. Now? But no, my opinion now is, look, we clearly had bad intelligence. But it's not just bad intelligence.

But we did, we did geopolitically the wrong thing. We got rid of the enemy of Iran. We emboldened Iran. We made it worse. We brought chaos to the Middle East. But your president said it very clearly. He says that the Iraq War was the single worst decision ever made. So once again, I'm concerned that you won't be supporting the president, that you will be

influencing him in a way that I think his inclinations are actually better than many of his advisors, that the Iraq war was a mistake, that we need to. to come home from Afghanistan. He was against being involved in Syria at many times in his career. So I think he does have good instincts. And my main concern is that will you be one who will listen to what the president actually wants instead of being someone who advocates for us staying forever in Afghanistan, another Iraq war, bombing Syria without permission.

So these are the advice you will give. These hearings are always funny because any time they're asked about something that would would make them look bad if they answered truthfully. They don't recall. They just can't recall. I don't remember. But like we, these are unbelievable times. And I, you know, I'm reminded, I was listening to Springsteen radio, oddly today.

Weird. And it was his introduction to the song, Magic from 2007. And he said, we're in unprecedented times now. And I thought, 11 years ago, nope, they've been represented, right? And there are two things here that would make every Republican. not vote for them if this were not vote for this guy so that he'd have to withdraw his name the the committee uh foreign affairs committee would say something we can't support this guy one he's gonna be not he's this isn't he said i don't know i was running machine shop in kansas

at the time you're about to be secretary of state it's the biggest foreign policy decision in the united states over the past 50 years probably right and he's like i don't know i was running machine show i don't know that's great you can't have the job then i want somebody has an opinion and a thoughtful opinion and he goes well interesting you know because the consensus is that we made a mistake. I'll tell you why I disagree with that. Some answer that suggests that you've thought about it. Not, I'm not going to answer that. And then, Rand Paul, who is going to be championed by the left and the right for standing up to this, for the recognizing the mistake that we made in Iraq, then in the middle of that undermines, to me, all credibility that Rand Paul would

have when he says, you know, I think Trump has good instincts, right? No, he has incompetent instinction of Rand Paul were true to the person he was. He would be a significant thorn in Donald Trump's side instead of the fake thorn in Donald Trump's side that he is. My hunch is that he gave this answer to Rand Paul. Rand Paul has two reasons not to support him now. He's his neighbor. Right. Rand Paul will right there live next to each other and they'll get into a fight. And my hunch is Rand Paul will vote to confirm Mike Pompeius.

It's all, it's so nonsensical when we've seen two great reasons why this guy should never, ever, ever, ever under any circumstances to be secretary. Yeah, I mean, a lot of this stuff is political theater, you know, an attempt. to make sure their constituency that they're speaking strongly about things that they support and that their constituents support. I mean, an example of that would be the Senate hearings with Mark Zuckerberg. Right. Well, that's the best example.

That is the best example. It wasn't even about protecting data or privacy. It was more about, I'm a conservative lawmaker, and I am very outraged that you are censoring conservatives, which they're not, but nonetheless. Right. When there's a sexy witness, everyone in Congress wants to question. So there was political theater there, no question, but they weren't interviewing Zuckerberg for a job. You're right, yes.

And here, although maybe it was political theater, it was actually revelatory. Like those were, Rand Paul asked questions that taught us something, right? But it won't matter. It doesn't make any difference that it taught us. And that's what gets me is that maybe it's supposed to be political theater, but, oh, wait, this is good theater. Like, there's something interesting happen, and it won't make any difference whatsoever. A dollar that he votes against him. You guys love betting, I guess.

Two. Two dollars. Two dollars, sorry. All right, so I want to switch gears to another component of the hearings that I thought were worth mentioning, and it has to do with Cory Booker. So, Corey Booker asked Mike Pompeo a series of questions involving the Muslim community, his perception on the Muslim community, and also his perspective on reproductive rights. Now, Mike Pompeo is very far to the right. He was a Tea Party congressman who served three terms. He is a self-identified conservative Christian.

And so in the past, he has said things that were a little questionable when it comes to women's reproductive rights and about moderate Muslims. So let's go to video seven where Booker asks him about his feelings toward the Muslim community. Take a look. In a speech you talked about folks who worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. You sort of mourned that we live in a country where that happens. And you said something very dramatic, and I know you know this, you said that people who are silent are complicit in those terrorist attacks. Do you think that Muslim Americans in this country who serve in our military, who serve in the State Department, their failure to, speak up? Is that they're, are they complicit in terrorist attacks?

Center, each and every human, not just Americans. Each and every human being has an obligation to push back against this extremist use of violence. I also do believe this firmly that for certain places, for certain forms of violence, there are certain who are better positioned, folks who are more credible, more trustworthy, have a more shared experience. And so when it comes to, when it comes to making sure that we don't have a terrorist brewing in places that where Muslims congregated, there's a special place, right? They have a, they have an opportunity. It's more than a duty, more than a requirement, it's an opportunity. So that was his take on that. I want to actually go straight to the next video where Booker continues talking about this subject. And he kind of

calls him out on an inconsistency or hypocrisy. Take a look. So you think that Muslims, America who are in positions of leadership have a different category of obligation because of their religion. That's what I'm hearing you saying. I don't see it. It's not an obligation. It's an opportunity. Okay. So it's interesting because I would agree with you that silence in the face of injustice lends strength to that injustice. I do believe though all of us when this comes to violent actions or even violent words have an obligation. And so I'm wondering, sir, do you know Frank Gaffney. Yes, I do.

And you've been on his show dozens of times. I was on his show some, yes, Senator. I have here over 20 times. And he has talked about Muslims should be, who abide by the adherence of their faith, should be considered, should be tried for acts of sedition and should be prosecuted.

Did you remain silent when you were on his show? Did you ever question? Because I have a lot of his, statements here. What about Bridget Gabriel? Do you know her? I do. Someone who has been, who runs an organization that has been considered a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League in the Southern Poverty Law Center. Were you silent? Did you ever call her out on her remarks that are hateful or bigoted? Senator, I couldn't tell you. I don't recall each statement I've made over 54 years. Okay. Well, I believe the special obligation that you talk about for Americans to

condemn things or attacking our constitution or ideals would obligate you on your own definition. to speak out. So, you know, he's pointing out how there are different standards when it comes to the Muslim community, according to how Pompeo has treated certain situations. That was clever. Yeah. It was good. Yeah, good setup, good, you know, delivery.

And so the final portion of the Booker exchange has to do with reproductive rights. And again, Pompeo is not in favor of the reproductive rights that women have at this moment. He is not in favor of abortion. And when Booker asks him about it, he is noticeably uncomfortable. Take a look. You said in a speech that mourning in America that endorses perversion and calls it an alternative lifestyle, is your words, is being gay a perversion? Senator, when I was a politician, I had a very clear view on whether it was appropriate for two same-sex persons to marry. And by that. So you do not believe it's appropriate for two gay people to marry.

Senator, I continue to hold that view. It's the same view. And so people in the State Department, I met some in Africa, that are married under your leadership. You do not believe that that should be allowed. Senator, we have, I believe it's the case we have married gay couples at the CIA. You should know? I treated them with the exact same set of rights. Do you believe that gay sex is a perversion?

Yes or no? Senator, if I can. Yes or no, sir. If you believe that at TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of big tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN hides your IP address, making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell the advertisers. ExpressVPN also encrypts 100% of your network data to protect you from eavesdroppers and site. and it's also easy to install. A single mouse click protects all your devices. But listen guys, this is important. ExpressVPN is rated number one by CNET and Wired magazine. So take back control of your life online and secure your data with a top VPN solution available, ExpressVPN. And if you go to ExpressVPN.com slash TYT, you can get three extra months for free with this

exclusive link just for TYT fans. That's EXP-R-E-S-V-N.com. slash t yt check it out today sex is a perversion because it's what you said here in one of your speeches yes or no do you believe gay sex is a perversion that i'm going to give you the same answer i just gave you previously my my respect for every individual regardless of the sexual orientation is the same so i apologize that obviously was not about abortion that was about same-sex marriage which he has been against and you know i don't know how much of an that would have as someone who is Secretary of State. Obviously

foreign policy is more in his wheelhouse, should he get confirmed. But it still gives you a sense of who he is. It's integrity. It's about integrity. Yeah, it's also, by the way, totally related to foreign policy. I mean, how do we treat, do we fund countries in the, you know, again, you know, countries

have, African countries, for example, have had very different tax, some successful, some unsuccessful in how to treat HIV and AIDS. some countries have excoriated and victimized gay people or anyone with the disease while other countries have thought, let's distribute condoms and educate people. What do you know? The rates came crashing down.

Under the Bush administration, we were much more likely to fund abstinence and harshness than we were education and condoms. So that matters. That would exactly be something that Mike Pompeo's State Department would touch on, and I guarantee you he will be on the wrong side of it. There's no evidence. There's 100% clarity of how he would decide to attack something like that because he thinks, by the way, no matter I treat everyone the same,

except people having gay sex, which I think is a perversion, which we know that because he said it. He didn't repeat it, but he said it. Right, that's true. Well, Mike Pompeo is not the only person who is undergoing hearings. We also have Wendy Vitter,

who has been nominated by Trump to become a district judge. We will get to her hearings when we come back after the break. You're right in the middle of this podcast. We've got another great segment coming up for you. If you'd like the full show, which is actually five segments, go to t-y-tnetwork.com slash join.

You become a member, you support the show, you support independent media, and you get the whole two-hour show ad-free every day. Let's go do it now. Welcome back, everyone. Drew Wilson on the YouTube Super Chat, writes in and says was browsing YouTube a couple nights ago and came across a world record video for the world's fastest rapper. And all of the people I expected to see, it was Mark

Thompson. Oh, that's right. Yeah. I don't know what this is. From a show I did on the Fox Television Network, not Fox News Channel, the podcast of the entertainment channel called Guinness Primetime. The guy came on and set a record. Wow, that's really, that's like, you did it? You set the record? No, no, I didn't set the record. I was hosting the show and this guy comes on and the people came on to set different records. It was a great thing because you're hosting the show where people are coming out of a record. Like one guy's balancing like beer mugs on his chin and then the next guy's got the longest fingernails ever. And then you have a guy who's the fastest rapper. Uh-huh. And it was a... Was he freestyling?

I don't know. It was been a long time. I think he was, uh, yeah, I suspect it was freestiling. Fun. We had, the thing that was funny and the reason that it was kind of a bit was they had a court reporter there trying to... Oh, trying to do stenography. That's funny. Trying to write it down. And that's what made it a bit. That's fun. Yeah, yeah. And then Matt tweets in using the hashtag TYTLive. And I just, I'm amused by this. I think it's a funny tweet.

Yay, Mark Thompson on hour two, vegan power. Oh, that's right. Vegans represent. No hate toward vegans. There's a vegan power. I've never heard that before. Yeah, yeah. Well, you won't hear a lot unless you're going to vegan forums.

Then you heard a lot. Oh, okay. Thank you, though, vegans. You still have to give me some recipes, by the way. It's true. I do all you recipes, vegan recipes. All right. Let's move on to some other news today.

Bank of America has stated that it would like to do its part to help mitigate the mass shootings that we're experiencing throughout the country. And so they've come up with an idea that I actually don't agree with. And I'm curious to see what you guys think about it. Let me give you the details. Bank of America will stop lending money to gun manufacturers that make military-inspired firearms for civilian use, such as the AR-15-style rifles that have been used in multiple mass shootings. A spokesperson for B of A was quoted as saying, we want to contribute in any way we can to reduce these mass shootings. Citigroup also has played a role in taking some sort of political action to prevent mass shootings.

It was actually the first big bank to issue a new firearms policy requiring clients in the gun industry to stop selling to customers who have not passed a background check or are younger than 21. So let's talk about the strategy that Bank of America is using. While I like that strategy when it comes to this particular issue, I'm uncomfortable with banks making decisions on loans based on politics. So I think that it sets a bad precedent. I think that we should have lawmakers who draft legislation, pass legislation, and look out for us as their constituents and as as the American people. I don't like the idea of banks deciding who they're going to give loans to based on political opinions. Well, but I mean,

I'm sure they already do, right? They, you know, they, I mean, if somebody is a fringe political player and they want money for their fringe political, you know, they could make an assessment, you know, I mean, theoretically, yeah, I suppose that would be a financial decision that it's fringe money and might not be successful. But, you know, I could see them already making decisions like that that aren't just financial. Who do they want to be in business with? If this were an old-time local community bank that would go into the, you know, would work the other. It would work both ways.

Like, yeah, we want to do business with Fred runs the county store. I know he's struggling, but what is this town without Fred's County store, you know? You know, like that sounds like something would happen in the 80s. Yeah, a long time ago. Yeah, the 1880s. I don't love it. I think it's a really bad idea. And maybe there have been cases in the past where they've instituted this type of policy.

I don't agree with it. I think it should be based on the numbers. Can this person pay the loan back? Period. Right, but sometimes, yes. Okay, yeah, I got you. It certainly should be based on that. But then do they also have a decision?

So if they can pay it back no matter what it is, unless it's a crime, right? I mean, no, I'm going to disagree with you. I hear you, and I suppose one could argue that it's a slippery slope, but as you know, you probably don't know. Okay, so let me give you an example. If they start, you know, if we start allowing them to make loan decisions based on politics, imagine Citigroup. I mean, we have done some coverage on Citigroup that has not been very nice. So imagine we as the young Turks decide that we need a loan in order to expand the company, how would we feel if city group or city bank decided we're not going to give you that loan we don't

we don't necessarily agree with your rhetoric well i'll have a specific answer i wouldn't care how we feel right i mean that how we feel is irrelevant how most people feel is irrelevant most of the no it is i get i get what you're saying but i think that it has it has ramifications it's it's a form of censorship i know that it's not the government i know that it's not a constitutional violation. But I just don't want banks getting into the business of making decisions based on politics. I hear you. I don't, I mean, yes, the fact of the matter is if they start censoring well-meaning left-wing groups, I'll object to it. But that, but I don't know that we need to set the rule here. Like this is, you hurt people where it counts, and that's with money. And if I applaud

Bank of America for standing up here. Like this is a, you know, when you make the decision to loan, it's not solely based on whether you can repay the loan, right? I mean, there's, I think for big banks, for the most part, it has been. I mean, they're a moral machines. Yeah, but they also want to do business. They lose money sometimes. Sometimes they want to do business with people. I mean, you know, Lord knows a lot of banks let money to Trump thinking the whole time

is a bad deal, right? He frequently just doesn't pay us back. But we're in business with Trump, and that ultimately pays off in the end. So they may think, well, you know, if we do business, we're lending to AR-15 manufacturers in the current climate, well, we may lose some other business. for people who resent that we're doing that. And we may get some business that we wouldn't get otherwise because we're the bank that stood up and didn't do that.

So they can make an argument that it's a financial decision broad scheme, maybe not specifically. So I don't know, I admire it because I don't think that necessarily, because I don't see it leading to what you fear. But of course, I suppose it could. I think that there's not all the neutrality that we'd like to see in the banking business that perhaps is presumed by your assumption. No, no. And by the way, I'm not, I'm not assuming that there's neutrality. Like I said,

I'm sure that there have been cases where they've made decisions based on politics. And I'm against those decisions as well. Right. And I guess I'm talking about commercial neutrality as opposed to political. Although you could say everything's political in a way. So to be fair, it's probably fair to lump it into politics. Because I'm thinking of things like gambling. If oftentimes you can't do certain things with a credit card if you're gambling or if you can't do certain things with a credit card if you're involved in buying marijuana or they, and when

you go into a bank for a loan for a dance club in some area that they evaluate as not a good investment for your dance club, even though you seem as though a solid potential recipient of the money, they look at the distant proposal and I go we just don't necessarily go.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is you get into, there is a gray area in the banking world and I know that you're suggesting that indeed there is but this is so clearly a political decision. And it's sort of what Ben's saying, which is they want to be doing something, they want to make a statement with what they're doing. Look, if they are making a statement

because they believe that it'll help them, you know, with other customers who will come to them because they like this. Like, if it's a financial decision, then, okay, then there's a little more of a case to be made. But if it's purely political, again, like, it's one thing to... Hold on real quick. Why does it have to be political? Why can't it be like principled? Leave out politics that they think that the scourge of mass shootings with AR-15s is a massive detriment to society, undermines the American dream, has just a chilling effect on the enjoyment of life for all of us. And they want to take a stand against that. Well, banks can twist that same argument and apply it to businesses that we as liberals are very much in favor of or organizations that we as liberals are very much in favor of, like Planned Parenthood.

for instance. I just think we should stand with people who to sort of take that important. And don't get me wrong. I hate what's happening in the country. I want gun control more than anything. It's just so sad that we can't rely on our lawmakers to do their jobs. But we can't. We can't.

So I sort of, I hear you. Your argument is certainly a valid one that should be considered. But until evidence to the contrary, I'm prepared to let Bank of America do the right thing. All right. By the way, just relevant to that story, I did at one point say when I was referring to that thing in the 18th. I said, I talked about the county

store. I just like it when people call me out or call it. So at St. John Markleby writes, what's a county store? And I'm like, yeah, I respond to yeah. I don't know. And as I was saying it, I was like, I think I mean general store. But whatever. Yeah, it's tough when you're in middle of a thought to double back and take up

the general instead of county. What's a county store? I don't know. Nobody does. All right. Well, let's keep going with this gun theme because there are other gun-related stories that are worth mentioning on today's show. Sean Simpson is a teacher, a science teacher at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. And he was one of the teachers, actually the only teacher at this campus, who was very much in favor of Army educators.

He thought that it was a good idea. Now, unfortunately, he has been arrested because unfortunately he made a terrible mistake While he was at an establishment, the Deerfield Beach Pier, that's where he was at. I'm in the Deerfield Beach. Have you really? Yeah, it's like Fort Lauderdale. You know, it's like, it's up the, up 95. It's a place where people leave guns.

Anyway, go ahead. You just gave away the story. I just gave away the story. Okay, so let me fill you in on that. So apparently he was at the Deerfield Beach Pier. He was in a bathroom stall. He had his gun with him, a 9mm. or Glock, and he left that gun behind.

When he left it behind, a homeless individual found it, shot it, and luckily, the bullet hit a wall, and no one else got hurt. However, both individuals got arrested. Sean Simpson got arrested, and he is charged with failing to safely store a firearm, a second-degree misdemeanor, and the homeless man who shot the gun was also arrested. Two huge problems with John Simpson here. One, taking your Glock to the Deerfield Beach Pier. Why? Why?

Using the stall in the public bathroom at the Deerfield Beach Pier. I think, just go home. I don't. Maybe a hotel? Also, by the way, when you put your gun down in that stall, it's picking up all of them. Yeah, my God. Afterwards, you don't even want to shoot somebody. It's too filthy.

I mean, this is a teacher who was making the case that teachers should be armed. that they are the perfect type of people to be, like, first of all, most teachers don't want to be armed, to be fair. However, you can't make the argument that students would be safer if teachers were armed and then proceed to leave your firearm behind in a public stall. You know, the story that I got was underlined, and so I was sort of skipping around to the parts that were underlined. I didn't realize that he was the teacher who said that he'd willingly be armed.

I mean, it's literally, I don't, if you told me that, I wouldn't have believed the story. Right. I'm like it's too good. No, yeah. It's absolutely, it's like you couldn't write it better. Right, because you know where else he would leave in the stall at the school? Exactly.

In the teacher's break room at the school on his desk in the school when he ducked out real quick. Yeah. Well, there are other solutions that teachers are coming up with, or at least school administrators are coming up with in order to protect students for mass shooting. So I wanted to mention that as well. The Mill Creek School District in Pennsylvania, is looking into possibly arming their teachers, it is not legal to do so yet. However, until it becomes legal, they're hoping to arm teachers with tiny baseball bats. I'm not kidding, they're literally tiny baseball bats.

They're about 18 inches long. J.R. has one here, doesn't he? He has a real baseball bat. Yeah, but he also, we had a little one here for a long time. I don't know why those exist. Are they for children? Yeah, they're for children to hurt each other. Okay, fantastic.

They're usually, you see them around offices and stuff, people have them. They're like commemorative, like, they'll give them away. They'll be a giveaway at the Dodger game, and you got a little Dodger one, and then you get your friend with it. I know this is a little bit of a tangent. I hate when people give me stuff like that. I don't like clutter. Please don't give me. Don't give me stuff like that.

I don't want a memento or. So at the Dodger game, I was in a Dodger game last night. And it was sweatshirt night. Like, it's technically a nice give. It's a hoodie, you know. But it's got the, like, the bank sponsor name on it. Oh, you went on the hoodie night. I went on a hoodie night, yeah.

I went on the night when they gave out baseball cards. Right. I'll trade you the baseball card for the hoodie. I'll give you the hoodie. So I say, you know, and oddly enough, my wife and daughter are out of town, and they also went to a baseball game yesterday, and I went to a baseball game that night. So I told my daughter this morning that I got a hoodie, and she goes, we don't need another thing in the house.

Yes, yes. She sounds like me. She's so cute. Yeah, there you go. I love it. All right. Well, back to Mill Creek. school district. Now the 16 inch, they're not even 18, they're 16 inches. The 16 inch bats were

distributed to each teacher following an in-service training day on how to respond to school shootings. I mean, they're crazy, that they were actually given out. Somebody had an idea and had them, went bottom. They spent money. They spent taxpayer money on this. Yeah, a little less than two grand, I think is what it costs. But, you know, it's funny that they say it's a symbolic thing. And if it is symbolic, then I guess okay, but it's ridiculous. I mean, we're talking about people who are coming into these places that we want these kids to be safe, and they're coming in with these weapons of war. And then we hand out these 16-inch wooden bats to people.

It's just, I don't know. I mean, first of all, if somebody comes into the school and starts throwing you mini-sliders, you're going to want a mini-bat, hit those mini sliders. Well done. I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to mock them for, I mean, I don't want them to have guns. So, you know, no one's going to get hurt with a 16 inch bat. It's just, it's depressing to see what kind of solutions are. And look, you can't blame the school district. I mean, they're not the ones who write legislation and vote on legislation. Again, it goes back to our lawmakers and their inability to do anything in regard to these mass shootings. That's, that's the. real issue here. But since our lawmakers are refusing to do anything about it, everything feels more militarized. Everything feels as though our privacy is being violated. I'll give you an example.

So at this school district in Pennsylvania, they're coming up with other solutions in addition to the tiny baseball bats. They're proposing a concrete barrier around the high school walkway and additional security measures at each entrance. So those security measures, the metal detectors and all of that, it's just very sad that, again, everything, everyone has to be inconvenienced. We have to give up our freedoms, our privacy rights, all of that, in order to accommodate for the wrong interpretation of the Second Amendment. You know, this ridiculous interpretation that the Second Amendment means that all of us can have freaking bazookas and things like that. It doesn't, no one's saying that we should have bazookas. No, but I mean,

But, of course, like, it's not that We do regulate the guns. I mean, the line regulate is in there as part of a well-regulated militia. I mean, unfortunately, it's an incredibly poorly written amendment, leaving it open to interpretation. I'm not, I don't think intentionally, just because nobody really knew how to write back then, except like nine guys. And we can give this one to one of them. So we do regulate bazookas. We regulate machine guns, right?

So our debate right now, it's a simple one. I mean, I want to go further, but the debate right now is a simple one. We want to regulate, we want to include these guns, these weapons of war, that were designed for soldiers at war. And we want to include them in the list of machine guns and bazookas and tanks. And they want to include them on the list of handguns and rifles. Correct. It's not, you put it like that. It's like, okay, well, here, we're negotiating over this weapon right now over which list it goes on.

Exactly. All right. Let's take a break when we come back, an incredible survey regarding how much Americans know about the Holocaust. And later on, we will also discuss Mariah Carey opening up about her mental health condition. We'll be right back. Thanks for watching. We're listening to this free version of the Young Turks podcast. You know that the full show is at t-y-tnetwork.com slash join.

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