The Young Turks - Run, Run Ronna

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

You’re vital to our work. Support as a member: https://go.tyt.com/signup. Hamas counter proposal on hostage and ceasefire deal calls for phased Israeli pullout from Gaza and plan to end war. RNC spent $1.5 Million on floral arrangements, limos and management/media consultants. Scores of N.Y. public housing workers charged in record corruption case. Rent goes down for the wealthy, but it's still rising for the rest. SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Watchlist https://www.youtube.com/watchlisttyt Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey https://www.youtube.com/indisputabletyt The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq 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. Woo! It's up! Welcome to TYT, I'm your host Anna Kasparian. It is Wednesday. When today's show is over, we are past hump day, it's over, all right?

And then we're ready for the best part of the week, the weekend, where we can all live, where we can all breathe, where we can be with our families and our loved ones, hopefully for all of us. I know a lot of people end up working on the weekends anyway, but I'm always excited when the show ends on Wednesdays. But you should be excited about the show as we're getting into it, because there's a lot of really interesting stories that we're going to talk about today. Fascinating shakeup over at the RNC, some leadership changes, some mishandling, misuse of funds, if you ask me. Really, really fascinating investigative report that was conducted by a conservative publication into the RNC.

So we're gonna get into that later on in the first hour. We're also gonna talk a little bit about things getting real spicy over at the Senate. You have Republican Senator James Langford on the Senate floor making the case that he's been dealing with some serious threats from other conservatives. We'll tell you what those threats are. And of course we're gonna update you all on the ongoing war in Gaza and the latest ceasefire deal falling apart between the Israeli government and Hamas, so stick around for that. But as always, just want to encourage you all to like and share the stream if you're watching

us live. It's a great way to share our message and get new people watching the show and hearing that message. You can also become a member by clicking on that join button if you're watching us on YouTube or you can always go to t.yt.com slash join and become a member that way. You get exclusive content, members only perks, and more importantly, you keep us independent and free of any corporate influence, which is my favorite part of membership. So thank you to everyone who already is a member. Thank you to all the wonderful people who on a very regular basis donate

members of our audience who might not be able to afford it. And for anyone considering membership, thank you so much for thinking about supporting us. It means the world to us. Now, without further ado, let's give you that update on the current situation in Gaza. We now have a response from Hamas to the the proposal that was put on the table, the way forward. We're looking at it intensely, as as I know, the government of Israel.

And there's a lot of work to be done, but we are very much focused on doing that work. And hopefully being able to resume the release of hostages that was interrupted so many months ago. I appreciate Secretary of State Anthony Blinken trying to be optimistic about a deal between Hamas and the Israeli government. And I'm about to give you the details on the latest round of negotiations. But if he seemed a little deflated in that statement, there was good reason for it. Now, Hamas has in fact responded to Israel's hostage deal and ceasefire proposal with their own counterproposal. And despite Secretary of State Anthony Blinken taking his fifth trip to the Middle East since October, in an effort to strike a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nanyahu has already rejected Hamas's counteroffer.

Of course he has. Now keep in mind that Hamas had already tempered some of their original demands, including calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Their latest offer to Israel included hostage releases in three phases, an initial 45 day pause in fighting, and eventually, eventually the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The first phase of the ceasefire would include the release of hostages in Gaza, including women and children under 19 years old who aren't enlisted in the Israeli military, as well as the elderly and the sick, in exchange for all Palestinian female, juvenile. sick and elderly Palestinian prisoners, as well as 500 prisoners named by Hamas, including those with life sentences and convictions for serious crimes. It would also include intensifying humanitarian aid, moving Israeli forces outside populated areas, a temporary secession of military operations, and aerial reconnaissance, the start

of reconstruction work, and allowing the United Nations and its agencies, like UNRRA to provide humanitarian services and establish housing camps. Now, they would need to establish housing camps since the IDF has destroyed so many residential buildings in Gaza. We'll get to that in just a bit. Now, it would also see the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in all areas of the Gaza Strip. And it would also ensure freedom of movement without obstruction by the Israeli government or the IDF. In addition, This first phase would include starting indirect talks on the requirements necessary for a complete ceasefire and negotiations on the details for the second and third phases. Hamas has proposed that the second phase

would see the conclusion of talks that would end hostilities in addition to the release of more hostages held captive in Gaza. During the second phase, all male hostages in Gaza, civilians and military personnel would be released in exchange for a specified number of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli forces would have to completely exit the enclave. Now let's get to phase three. According to what Hamas counter offered with, phase three would aim to exchange bodies and remains of those killed on both sides. It also stipulates that all crossings from the Gaza Strip be opened for trade to resume and so people can move without obstacles.

Israel would commit to provide Gaza with its electricity and water needs. So I mean, even under what Hamas counteroffered, Israel would still have an insane amount of control over the Gaza Strip. I mean, think about it. They would have control over critical things like water and electricity, which has been the case. Now, while initial responses from Blinken and Qatar were reportedly positive, President Joe Biden gave his strained update yesterday, during oppressor. Let's watch. There is some movement, and I don't want to, I don't want to choose my words.

There's some movement, there's been a response from the, there's been a response from the, there's been a response from the opposition. But, yes, I'm sorry, we're from Hamas, but it seems to be a little over the top. We're not sure where it is. There's a continuing negotiation right now. Yikes. And that was before details of the counter proposal were even shared. Based on Netanyahu's rhetoric, it didn't seem like the proposal by Hamas was likely to go anywhere.

And maybe that's why Biden didn't seem so. on the idea either. He does tend to take cues from Israel's leader rather than, you know, serve as a leader himself after all. Another, another foreshadowing sign came on Wednesday, unfortunately, when an Israeli official familiar with the negotiations said that there is no way Israel will accept the Hamas counterproposal. And it looks like that official was absolutely right. Netanyahu did in fact reject the counterproposal outright, saying that Hamas's offer is delusional. Quote, we haven't committed to anything.

We haven't committed to any of the delusional demands of Hamas. The numbers of terrorists with blood on their hands to release. There is not a commitment, there has to be a negotiation, it's a process. And at the moment from what I see from Hamas, it's not happening. Except there were concessions by Hamas, and this is a negotiation process. It's just that keep in mind, Benjamin Netanyahu has a conflict of interest here. And the conflict of interest is he wants to remain in power. He has somehow convinced the Israeli people that they should keep him in power, even though

they absolutely loathe him as long as the war continues. So if that's the deal, he's gonna ensure that the war continues as long as humanly possible because Homeboy loves power and he wants to remain in the position he's currently in. He said Israel's aim is complete victory. And the country will not do less than that. I told the U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, we are nearly there with complete victory. We are on the way to complete victory. The victory is achievable.

It's not a matter of years or decades. It's a matter of months, which is an absolute joke. What does that even mean? How do you defeat Hamas? As you're slaughtering almost every single member of a given family, the family members who remain are going to be incredible angry, they might want to be out for vengeance as a result of your military wiping out their entire family. I mean, who knows how much this has increased the number of individuals who are willing to be recruited into Hamas? If you look at public opinion polling in the

Gaza Strip and the West Bank, by the way, support for Hamas has increased as a result of Israel's handling of this war. Then Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated previous statements regarding Israel occupying Gaza in the future. Just spitting in the space of Americans, by the way, the American government that keeps insisting that they do not want Israel to do that. Netanyahu said that he told the U.S. Secretary of State that after we destroy Hamas, we will secure that Gaza is a safe area forever. History has proven that only one force can achieve this, Israel, the IDF and our security forces. Israel will be acting in Gaza whenever necessary in order for the terror not to come back. He also expressed his bitterness

over President Joe Biden, very mildly condemning settler violence in the West Bank that's been directed toward Palestinians. Some Palestinians have been driven out of their homes as a result. And so four of them have been slapped with sanctions. Reporter Barack Ravid stated on X that Netanyahu says he protested to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during their meeting about President Biden's order regarding the countering of settler violence and told him it was. Inappropriate and highly problematic, others in the Israeli government, by the way, had similar statements, including defense minister Yoav Galant, who reportedly told Blinken

that Hamas's response to the hostage deal proposal will push Israel to expand its ground operation in Gaza. He said that the response was drafted in a way that will make Israel reject it. Hamas's position will lead to the continuation of the war and our forces to enter more places in Gaza soon. Let's pause for a second. As if, as if the IDF needed another excuse to continue the absolute brutalization of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. I love, I love the constant talking point that really has like the main message of, well, Hamas made us do it. You know, did Hamas make the IDF run a disgusting telegram channel in which IDF soldiers,

basically put out snuff films and bragged about hearing a mother's bones crunching as they were slaughtering her. Did Hamas force the IDF to do that too? So it looks like despite some initial optimism, the negotiations are going back to square one. And in the meantime, the known Palestinian death toll is nearly 28,000 people after nearly four months of war. That includes 123 bodies brought to hospitals in just the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. And by the way, the death toll that we keep sharing with you, I know people like to say, well, that also includes some of the Hamas militants who have been killed. So it's not 28,000 civilians, like some portion of that includes the Hamas militants who have been killed. Okay, but that figure

also doesn't include the Palestinian bodies that remain trapped under the rubble in the Gaza Strip. So fact of the matter is the death toll, the civilian death toll is very likely higher. A quarter of Gaza's residents are now starving and 85% of the population has been driven from their homes with hundreds of thousands crammed in makeshift tent camps. Israel has ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas that make up two thirds of the tiny coastal territory. Most of the displaced are packed into the southern town of Rafa near the border with Egypt, where many are living in squalid tent camps and overflowing UN run shelters.

The IDF's bombardment has decimated huge swaths of this small territory. Satellite imagery analyzed by the United Nations Satellite Center shows that 30% of Gaza Strip's buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the Israel offensive in the densely populated Palestinian enclave. The center reported that in total a staggering 69,147 structures, equivalent to approximately 30% of the Gaza Strip's total structures are affected. And look, that's just one of the most conservative estimates that has been reported thus far. Because if you focus specifically in northern Gaza, between 70 and 80% of the buildings are damaged or destroyed.

But the IDF has continued intense military operations in the South, including Rafa, which was of course originally billed as a safe haven for Palestinians. Now the situation there is becoming increasingly dire. Rafa is the last refuge, sheltering more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people. Now it too is in Israel's firing line. But American Dr. Michael Grady is used to working in conflict zones. You can hear shooting to the left and to the right. They received patients from all across Gaza.

Last week, 39 critically injured all at once. You can imagine this location became a mass of screaming chaotic people. But still, these doctors perform wonders with only two emergency operating rooms. The other day, we had a patient who came in with an amputated leg. and his friend brought his leg in a bag. So that is what Palestinians are currently dealing with, while Benjamin Netanyahu pretends like he's engaging in ceasefire negotiations in good faith. It's clear to me, and it's been clear to me since the beginning of this war,

that he has really no concern for the Palestinian people, of course. But he doesn't even have concern for the Israeli hostages who remain captive in the Gaza Strip. because when he puts out unfounded claims about UNR, the UN agency that provides humanitarian aid, food, water, sustenance to the Palestinian people, when he puts out those fake, allegations with no evidence to back them up and more than a dozen Western countries pull their funding from that agency, he knows that it's not just the Palestinian people who are going to starve to death as a result. It's also the Israeli civilians who are held captive in the Gaza Strip.

All he cares about is his own power. He bragged about how his leadership would keep Israel safe. And he dropped the ball in the worst possible way on October 7th. The worst terror attack on Israeli soil happened under his watch. And now he is using this war that was sparked as a result of his failures to remain in power. And he keeps talking about defeating Hamas, a group that he propped up, a group that he himself funded and persuaded the Lakud Party to be in favor of funding. That's who Benjamin Netanyahu is.

So if you want to call Hamas terrorists, that's fine. But what do you call the guy who funded the terrorists? You should ask yourself that. We gotta take a break. When we come back, we've got some domestic news to get to, including some really fascinating details about how the R&C spends its donor money. You don't want to miss that one. We'll be right back.

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conditions apply welcome back to the show everyone I want to read one comment in our super chats from Stinky Stinky, who's a regular commenter. Stinky, it's always good to hear from you. And I really appreciated your comment today. Anna, completely unrelated to news, I already love it. Unrelated to news, my favorite. But I saw your video dancing with Christian on Instagram. Just wanted to say you two are so smooth like professionals.

Thank you. Christian and I, that's my husband, if you guys are unfamiliar with him, started taking salsa classes again. And I really didn't want to go to class yesterday. It was raining. raining, it was miserable. But we went and I'm so happy we did. We're getting better at it. And so it's a nice distraction from basically doing what I usually do when the show's over. I go home and I listen to more podcasts or I read and I just like delve into more news,

which is probably not healthy. So for anyone who has an unhealthy obsession with something like I do, try to find a hobby, try to go out there, socialize. You got to give yourself a break from, you know, something that you might passionate about, but it's always good to know when you have an unhealthy obsession with something and find something else to do. Anyway, we've got an incredible story to share with you about what's been happening over at the RNC. Big news involving leadership there. So let's get right to it. Let me ask you about the RNC. You know, there's a lot of criticism. Fundraising is an issue hasn't been a good past couple election cycles at all. 2022 should have been far better than it was. I think we can all agree on that, is it time for Ronna McDaniel to step aside?

Well, I think she knows that. I think she understands that. Well, I mean, it looks like Trump is getting exactly what he wants. Republican National Committee chair, Ronna McDaniel is in fact stepping down from her post after serving four terms. And even though she was expected to serve until 2025, reports indicate that she had been considering leaving for months. Look, there's a lot of speculation that Donald Trump's increasing criticisms toward McDaniel motivated her decision to leave. And maybe that's true. But what really stands out about her leadership is, well, how much money, donor money, the RNC squandered on nonsense, like floral arrangements and consultants,

while failing to fund much more electorally critical initiatives. A conservative publication called Red State conducted their own investigation into how the RNC money is spent and how Republicans differ from their Democratic counterparts in the DNC. The numbers are insane. So in light of reports that the RNC had a cash shortage heading into a critical election year, which was described as a revenue problem, and that the RNC executive board voted to authorize a $10 million line of credit in its 2024 budget, Red State analyzed expenditures recorded by the federal elections commission since the December 22 story to see where the money is going. This should be fun. I love these types of stories. Now, in addition to that,

Red State also put together a chart comparing total spending by the RNC and the DNC in specific categories between October 20th of 2022 and November 30th of 2023. So let's take a look at this chart. According to the chart, the R&C weirdly spent $290,000 on office supplies. But then you compare it to the DNC where they spent only $45,000, $45,000 to be specific. Management consulting really stood out as well, with the RNC shelling out more than a million dollars. The DNC on the other hand, they spent just $114,000. The DNC spent $0 on media booking consultants, but that wasn't the case with the RNC, which spent $116,341.

Republicans also very clearly like to travel in style, because they spent more than $263,000 on fancy car travel, limousines, and things like that, while Democrats spent just $7,000. But honestly, the most hilarious disparity in spending has to do. do with floral arrangements. With the R&C spending more than $70,000 on flowers, by contrast, Dems only spent $795, and I say they only spent it because that number looks so tiny compared to what Republicans spent. But why are you spending nearly $800 on flowers? What are we doing here? Look, there are some areas where Democrats did in fact spend more money than the GOP. It's just that they seem to be focusing their resources, you know, that donor money on things that can help them, you know, like win elections, like voter file maintenance.

So the DNC allocated $235,865 on that matter, while the RNC only spent $39,233. And while the left side of the political spectrum spent nearly $1.7 million on campaign-related text messaging, the RNC spent just $86,000, according to this report by Red State. Republicans claim that there is an explanation for this, which they provided to Red State. An RNC insider told Red State that the party supports Go TV texting efforts and voter file maintenance efforts through its transfers to state parties. supports voter file maintenance nationwide through its vendor data trust. Data trust was paid $1 million in this time frame, which should be taken into

consideration, but the DNC also transferred $10 million more to state slash affiliated parties than the RNC did. Look, I gotta give Red State a lot of credit for first caring enough to do this kind of investigation and then doing the report. And look, let's go back to that incredibly high figure the RNC spends on office supplies. In July of 2023, an OPI study found that businesses with 200 employees or more spend an average of between $27 to $23 per month per employee on office supplies. The RNC had an average of 213 employees a month during this time frame. So, an office supply expenditure of $86,265 would be in line with the industry standards.

However, nearly $300,000 in expenses were categorized by the R&C as office supplies. Now, Red State acknowledges the waste over at the R&C, and basically they acknowledge how could hurt Republicans when it comes to winning elections. Now, the DNC spent more than the RNC did overall. Still, the differences in the categories just mentioned are significant, even if looking at them on a percentage of total spending basis. And the categories the DNC invested in are the categories that matter when it comes to winning elections.

Let's just pause for a second, because look, here at TYT, we criticize members of either party when they deserve it, right? It's not like we hold back when it comes to criticizing Democrats. And to be sure, lately, there's been a lot of criticism that we've been directing toward the Democratic Party. It does feel good to share a story that was actually investigated on and reported by a conservative outlet showing that no, Democrats are actually doing something right for a change. They're actually taking that donor money and they're spending it on important things

to ensure that they have the best chances at winning elections. And apparently that's not the case over at the RNC. Now, Red State reached out to the RNC for comment. And to their credit, they did respond. That's good. But they can't stand the reporter who broke this story. Here's how they responded. This story took several days of research, albeit sloppy research, to come to fruition.

Yet the RNC was only given 60 minutes to respond. Well, that's an improvement from the last time this dishonest and biased reporter wrote a hit piece on the RNC, where she didn't give us an opportunity to comment until after publication, the disregard for the truth and transparency still oozes through. Okay, I mean, still doesn't explain the obvious waste of donor money over at the RNC. All right, now back to Ronna McDaniel stepping down and Trump's criticisms toward her. The Washington Post reported that, well, Trump's campaign had increasingly grown frustrated with McDaniels leadership, they have worried over what they view as the RNC's lackluster fundraising.

The party had about half as much money as the DNC at the end of December. Well, now we kind of know why. It's not that Republicans had any trouble raising campaign cash. Clearly, they had plenty of cash. It's just that they were, you know, too busy spending it on nonsense. You know, from fancy cars to floral arrangements to media consultants. And it is kind of funny when you consider that this is a far cry from the fiscal conservatism that Republicans love to boast about for so, so long.

So great reporting by Red State. Never thought I would say that, but credit where credit is due. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size? Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget. After all, you're in your small space era. It's time to own it.

Shop now at IKEA.ca. We want to do one more story before we go to our next break, and this one is incredibly depressing because it has to do with an incredibly important issue, affordable housing, and a government agency that, well, engaged in bribery, corruption, and abuse. As we allege, the 70 defendants charge today allegedly demanded over $2 million in bribe money from contractors in exchange for giving out over $13 million of work on NYCHA buildings. And if the contractors didn't pay up, the defendants wouldn't give them the work. That's classic pay-to-play in this culture of corruption at NYCHA ends today.

Dozens of current and former employees of the New York City Housing Authority are facing federal bribery charges following an investigation by the department. Department of Justice. Now, according to Damien Williams, the gentleman you heard in that video and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the 70 individuals caught up in the scandal makes this the largest number of federal bribery charges the DOJ has handed out in a single day, in just one day. Now, dozens of employees, including superintendents and assistant superintendents, had taken more than $2 million in bribes from contracts. Seeking to do work at apartment buildings throughout the city's five boroughs, throughout the city's five boroughs, from Stapleton houses on Staten Island to Eastchester Gardens in the Bronx. More than 300,000 working class New Yorkers depend on the city's public housing system. Hundreds of thousands of more people are currently on waiting lists, just hoping to snag a unit, an apartment in one of the buildings. As the nation's largest public housing authority, NYC receives $1.5 billion in federal

funding. The agency is run by a board of seven people appointed by the mayor. But properties that fall under the management of the NYC Housing Authority are in need of a whopping $78 billion in repairs, which is what makes this story of corruption and abuse just so disgusting, so depressing, Tenants have been complaining about the dire conditions of aging buildings, which have been riddled with leaky pipes, malfunctioning elevators, and rodent infestations. So what are the 70 current and former employees of this agency accused of doing exactly? What are the specific details? Well, prosecutors allege that the scheme involved deals with vendors for building repairs that cost less than $10,000. dollars. These deals do not have to go through a competitive bidding process. And the reason

for that is so that building managers or superintendents can address necessary repairs quickly without dealing with a bidding process. But this also unfortunately left a lot of room for abuse, as the feds are alleging in their charges. Now more than $13 million in work, however, was wrongly handed out, prosecutors said, with defendants' demand. payment to authorize work, meaning bribes, or approve it after it was done. The accused employees usually received kickbacks of 10 to 20% of the contract value, prosecutors said, though sometimes the payments were even higher. The 476-page complaint by the federal prosecutors provides very specific examples of criminal

wrongdoing, like at the Vladek houses on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where in assistant superintendent to engage, basically engaged in a shakedown in order to get a contract approved. So there were messages that the DOJ reviewed as a part of their investigation. Here's an example of it. You need to take care of me, the assistant superintendent said, according to the complaint. Soon thereafter, the contractor paid him $1,000 in cash in the basement of one of the developments buildings. The DOJ filing also details stunning allegations against assistant supervisor Joseph Fuller from the Sethlo houses in Brooklyn.

Apparently Fuller wasn't satisfied with the kickbacks, the illegal kickbacks he was getting and wanted to double the amount. So in 2021, he told a contractor that the standard 10% kickback of the contract value just wasn't enough and that he would be raising the rate up to 20%. The contractor wasn't amused and did not get any more work at that property after refusing to pay the increased kickback amount. Look, this is a classic pay-to-play scheme. In New York City, close to a hundred different buildings were impacted by it. Suspect Juan Mercado, a residential building super, solicited and accepted a total of at least approximately 314,000, 300. dollars in bribes in exchange for arranging for certain contractors to receive no bid contracts

from the agency worth a total of at least approximately $1.7 million, the Fed said. In addition to the corruption, the DOJ's complaint also details how one defendant attempted to destroy evidence by doing a factory reset of her phone to avoid turning over text messages to federal investigators. I got to pause on this for a second. I don't know if she knows this, but your text messages get recorded by the company that provides your cell service.

Like, they have that on file for a certain number of months, possibly years, depending on which company your cell phone provider is. I mean, it's just how stupid can you possibly be? Anyway, according to the New York Times, Nica's chief executive, Lisa Bova Hyatt, had alerted investigators to the suspicious behavior behind some of the charges. She also accused the defendants of putting their greed first and violating the trust of our residents, their fellow NYCHA colleagues, and all New Yorkers.

Bova Hyatt also says that the agency won't allow bad actors to undermine their achievements. But even before this scandal was unearthed, NYCHA was plagued with all sorts of issues, including the submission of false paperwork to the federal government, indicating that they had conducted inspections of lead paint in apartments. Those inspections never took place at all. And in 2019, as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors, the city accepted the appointment of a federal monitor to scrutinize NYCHA's progress, dealing with some of its most serious problems, including lead, mold, and heating failures. Also back in 2019, an investigative report by a publication called the city found that

low-level managers of developments had handed out $250 million in contracts to a small group of vendors. In September of 2021, nine contractors were indicted on bribery charges in connection with micro-purchasing schemes. As a result of this agency's corruption and the crime-ridden past that we're dealing with here, some of the residents of these properties are absolutely unsurprised by the additional criminal charges reported this week. That's how housing works, said Michael Jones, 37 years old, a tenant in the Robert Fulton Houses in Chelsea, which was one of the developments named in the scheme on Tuesday. It's all about money. The people running it always want to get a kickback.

So look, I'm glad that there are consequences here and I'm glad the DOJ is doing its job. But what are the possible solutions? Remember, we're talking about a government agency here. We're not talking about a private company. We're not even talking about a nonprofit. Well, Jocelyn Straubber, the city's investigations commissioner, said on Tuesday that her agency had suggested to NYCHA officials that they make reforms to the micropurchasing process, noting that misconduct around these smaller repairs drove up the cost of this

type of work and diverted valuable public funds away from public housing and into the pockets of corrupt NYCHA staff. But generally speaking, there needs to be way more oversight of this agency and possibly yearly audits of how these public funds are being used and whether repair contracts are riddled with inflated prices. Because seriously, consider how much these pay-to-play schemes result in government waste, meaning the government wasting your money. So if agency employees are getting 20% kickbacks, that means the contractors that they're awarding contracts to are going to inflate the cost of the repairs that they're conducting in order to provide the funds for the kickback.

In other words, they're stealing from you, the taxpayer. And luckily, there are some oversight steps that the Justice Department has proposed that NACHA luckily has agreed to implement. Our recommendations include transferring responsibility for micropurchases from development-level staff to a centralized procurement unit with necessary expertise, standardizing micro-purchase costs by establishing a cost schedule for typical services, with excess costs to be explained in writing by the vendor and approved in writing prior to the commencement of the work by the neighborhood administrator who manages staff at several developments. requirements, requiring review by NYCHA staff outside the development of documentation of completed work for all micro purchases prior to processing payments to vendors. And I want to note that the three recommendations that I just mentioned were previously made

to NYCHA and ultimately were not implemented. And like I said, NYCHA has committed to implement the recommendations that we are issuing today. Now, I hope that there is increased oversight and let's do a follow up to make sure that these proposals are in fact being implemented by NYCHA. But there is a possibility that public employees will no longer manage these buildings in the future and instead we'll have the private sector do so. Look, as the New York Times reports, a plan to shift some developments over to private management and to run others under a new public benefit corporation could unlock

billions of dollars from a new stream of federal housing aid. But honestly, I really fail to understand how switching over to private companies would make the situation any better. Much of municipal services in Los Angeles, for instance, have been outsourced to private non-profits, and it's been a disaster. There's been a great deal of waste and even less oversight. When it comes to housing providers alone, there are 1,486 housing providers, and shelters in the greater Los Angeles metro area. Combined, these Los Angeles metro housing providers and shelters employ 10,597 people, earn more than $2 billion in revenue each year, earn is a very strong word, and have assets of $7 billion. And there seems to be a new scandal

with these nonprofits every month. I'll give you the latest, just last month. A worker associated with the nonprofit urban alchemy was fired after video emerged, showing him spraying a hose just inches away from a homeless person who was scrambling to collect his belongings and get away in order to avoid getting wet. The video was just absolutely disgusting, absolutely horrendous, disgusting. And considering how much money LA spends on non-profits that are supposed to help alleviate homelessness, you should keep in mind that homelessness has obviously exploded in LA County and we keep hearing about these scandals. So again, simply switching over to the private sector really won't help without adequate accountability and oversight. And I'm

worried that we're going to learn all the wrong lessons from the outcome of the DOJ's investigations into NYCHA. And I want to end this segment with a comment from one of our viewers, one of our members actually, you can become a member by going to t-y-t.com slash join. Ms. Anonymous says, Anna, I live in affordable housing. It's not really affordable in corporations don't fix anything. A corporation took over my complex, raised the rent for repairs, but didn't fix anything. And so that's a private company coming in to manage the building. And obviously, there are issues with that as well.

So at the end of the day, if there's no accountability, if there's no oversight, abuse will take place. And it appears that's what happened here when they decided to take advantage of the lack of regulations pertaining to lower cost repairs for these buildings. They didn't have to deal with the no bid, they didn't have to deal with bidding for contracts. They were able to award contracts to their preferred contractors or vendors. And as a result, they took bribes. They engaged in corruption and they collected kickbacks. Again, really, really happy that the DOJ was investigating this and has taken action. And they say that more arrests are to come.

But it is absolutely disgusting that people were willing to do this to the detriment of working class people who rely on the affordable housing as affordable as it can be in New York City. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back, we have one more housing related story for you because I, of course, can't help myself. and then we'll get to the second hour of the show. Don't miss it. We've got some updates from the Senate today. They did debate the border bill yet again. All right, spoiler alert, the bill passed yet again. But there were some interesting things that transpired in the process of all of that,

which we're gonna share with you in the second hour. So don't miss that. In the meantime, though, let's do one more story related to housing, and then we'll wrap up the first hour. It has been a rough several years to be a renter in America. But that's finally changing. for the wealthiest people in the country. That's because according to a recent report

by the Wall Street Journal, rent inflation is finally starting to slow down, but mostly for high-end properties. We'll get to why that is shortly, but first, let's talk numbers. Property data firm Yardy Matrix found that US rental rates grew by just 0.3% in 2023. And believe it or not, that's the lowest amount

of growth since 2010. But rent prices are not, not slowing down across the board. To see what's really going on, you have to dig a little deeper. So rents at middle and lower tier apartments were actually up 2% nationally in December compared with a year earlier, according to Yardy, which tracks prices for a cohort of tenants, it calls renters by necessity. It's a nice way of saying people who don't have a down payment for a house and have no choice but to rent. That is down from the double digit rent increases is seen during the pandemic, but rents are still running some 20% higher than they were in

2020, according to several metrics. Now, asking rents at properties populated by the highest earning renters actually fell by 1% in December. That figure does not include concessions, such as months of free rent, which are increasingly common at upscale buildings across the country, and are now included in about a third of all rental listings, according to Zillow. But when it comes to less wealthy renters, they experienced something entirely different, as I mentioned earlier.

Their rents did go up, and certain parts of the country, the rent went up even more than what I just mentioned. So in Kansas City, Missouri, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Philadelphia, middle market rents increase between 3 and 6% in December compared with a year before, outpacing rent growth for luxury properties in those same metro areas, data provider co-star groups that I love the name of these companies. Anyway, that's obviously because there's a much larger market or much more demand for more affordable housing. Most people aren't wealthy and they aren't looking for luxury properties to rent. And so the Wall Street Journal spoke to a Kansas City, Missouri resident

named Tamika Dukin, who saw the rent for her three-bedroom, one bathroom home, basically skyrocket from $1,650 a month to $2,050. That happened over just two years. She said it seems like it's a new trend for your landlord to raise your rent by more than 5% each year. It gets very discouraging. And by the way, super scary. Think about how unstable, financially unstable that makes Americans feel,

knowing that at any given moment, their landlord can just decide to raise their rent. raise their rent and really depends on which state you're in. But in some states, there's no regulation that would basically cap how much the landlord could increase rent. And so I have people who live in Florida, family members who are renting and all of a sudden their landlord hits them up and says, hey, I'm raising your rent by $800, $500. It is super scary to be in a situation like that. Now, in its analysis, the Wall Street Journal claims that the reason for the disparity between wealthy renters and pretty much everyone else is high construction costs and less supply of affordable housing. But if you're an

average American hoping for less expensive rent, you don't have to give up hope just yet because there is a little silver lining or some reason for optimism according to the Wall Street Journal. So in theory falling rental rates for high income properties should eventually lead to cheaper rent for more affordable housing. That's because when high income housing becomes cheaper, more people move into those residences and that creates vacancies in places where those wealthier Americans used to live. And according to certain indicators, that's already happening. So in a handful of Sunbelt cities with high rates of construction, including Austin, rents for

non-luxury housing are also beginning to go down, just not as much as their high-end counterparts, both Yardy and co-star data show. In Phoenix, some apartments that rent for $1,500 a month, about the average rent there now advertise concessions. So remember, the concessions are like, oh, you get the first month free or no security deposit, stuff like that. The problem is that rental prices are already pretty out of control and many Americans can't afford to just sit and wait for lower rents to trickle down. Median rents were 21% higher as of 2022. Meanwhile, renters' incomes have risen just 2% during that same period of time. Half of renters in the United States spent more than 30% of their income in 2022 on rent and utilities, according

to the New America's rental housing report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. That means that 50% of Americans who rent very likely have trouble covering the costs of other expenses because of how much rent eats away at their monthly income. The share of cost burden renters increased by 3.2 percentage points from 2019 to 2022. And if we get even more specific, the numbers are insanely bleak. The amount of money that you have left over to pay for other expenses after covering rent and utilities is known as residual income. Renter households with annual incomes below $30,000 had a record low median residual residual income of $310 a month in 2022, according to that Harvard University study. For perspective, a single person household in even

the most affordable counties needs about $2,000 a month for non housing needs, according to the Economic Policy Institute. All of this is why so many young Americans are still living with their parents or they're unable to move out. And if they are able to move out, I mean, the notion of being able to afford an apartment on their own in much of the country is just unimaginable. The share of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 who live at home with parents is almost at 50%. That is a result of young adults competing with potential home buyers who themselves are being priced out of the single family housing market. So look, things still remain bleak. The idea that affordable housing is going to trickle down

as the rents for luxury properties begin to come down is, I mean, the fact that that's what we're looking at for optimism, it's just so incredibly depressing. But I just wish that there was a little more control over what gets developed, right? So there's a lot of talk about loosening zoning laws, which I agree with, especially in places like California where zoning laws are so insane. There's so much red tape that it's impossible to build new housing. But my concern is that you loosen the zoning laws. And the first thing that happens is the developers come in and they build market rate or luxury housing. We don't need more luxury housing.

We've got enough luxury housing. We need to have laws in place that ensure that new construction focuses on affordable housing. That hasn't really been happening. That's part of the problem. That's why you have this high stock or inventory. of luxury units, but very little stock in mid-tier and low-tier units and apartments. So we'll see how this all plays out. I thought that was an interesting report done by the Wall Street Journal,

but housing continues to be a mess in a country that has all sorts of other crises happening simultaneously. We really need to take care of what's happening within our borders. And in the meantime, you have the federal government thinking of ways of sending more military aid to Israel as it carries out death and destruction in the Gaza Strip. It's infuriating. Anyway, that does it for the first hour of the show. When we come back for the second hour, we'll talk a little bit about what happened on the

Senate floor today. James Langford, a Republican senator, says that he had been threatened by another conservative. We'll hear what he has to say and speculate on who that conservative is. We'll be right back.