The Young Turks - Texas Aborts Abortion

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

A controversial new Texas law that bars abortions at six weeks went into effect early Wednesday morning after the Supreme Court failed to rule on emergency requests brought by abortion providers. Republicans are turning up the pressure for House minority leader Kevin McCarthy to impeach President Biden. Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Scott Perry claimed that allowing “poorly-vetted” Afghan refugees into the U.S. could lead to “little girls raped and killed in the streets.” A man working out of his apartment in Las Vegas has been arrested for selling a miracle bleach solution that supposedly cures COVID-19, cancer, and autism.  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. What up, what up, what up, what up? You're watching The Young Turks. I'm Anna Casparian solo hour today, but it will be followed. by the second hour, of course, with John Ida Rola, who will help me break down the fact that Joe Rogan has just disclosed that he has tested positive for coronavirus. But there's more to the story than that. So you do not want to miss it. We'll break it down. We'll talk about what happened. But more importantly, we have lots of other great stories to get

to in the show today, including Tucker Carlson, pretending like he's always been against US intervention and forever wars, you know, continuing on with his faux populism nonsense. Later in the show, we'll also discuss the fact that the Supreme Court has failed to weigh in on Texas's anti-abortion law, which effectively bans abortion in the state of Texas and could have ramifications across the country. That'll be our top story, which we'll get to in just a minute. And later in the show, we will also talk about various coronavirus scams that you should be on the lookout for, but more importantly, you should have conversations with your friends and family about to protect them not only from being scammed, but from possibly dying as a result

of using or taking various forms of medication that could in some cases kill them. Now without further ado, let's get to our first story and bear with me here because there is a lot of rage that I've been feeling all day over the fact that this has now become a reality in the state of Texas. Texas is six-week abortion ban has gone into effect after the Supreme Court and other federal courts failed to weigh in on this measure. Now, the legislation is effective today, and it means that individuals, women who happen to be pregnant, but want to get an abortion, will not be able to do so if they are past six weeks of pregnancy. But believe it or not, that's not even the worst provision that's part of this law. In fact, let me give you the details on what else this law does and how it will effectively shut down most of the abortion clinics, if not all of the abortion clinics and providers

within the state of Texas. Now, the lack of judicial intervention means that the law, which is one of the strictest in the nation and bans abortion before many even know that they're pregnant, goes into force absent further court intervention. The law allows private citizens to bring civil suits against anyone who assists a pregnant person seeking an abortion in violation of the ban. There's no exception for rape or incest, although there is an exception for medical emergencies. Now the Supreme Court could have waited on this.

They chose not to, which is an issue. They didn't say, well, we reject the case, we're not going to hear it. They just haven't weighed in at all. And of course, there's a lawsuit by the very abortion providers that this is impacting that has made its way to the federal courts, but the federal courts haven't waited on it yet. Now, the Supreme Court is poised to hear a case involving the restrictive abortion law in Mississippi. That's the law that bans abortions past 15 weeks, and the way that they rule on that will really

have a huge impact on how this situation in Texas plays out. But whole women's health, which operates clinics in McAllen, McKinney, Austin, and Fort Worth, and led the federal lawsuit challenging the ban, said that it was only offering the procedure if, quote, no embryonic or fetal cardiac activity is detected in the sonogram. In fact, I want to give you guys a few tweets that they put out to give you a sense of the panic that women were feeling in the state of Texas just yesterday before this law came into effect. Whole Women's Health CEO has said that we have staff and doctors providing abortions in Texas still at this hour and they are all in to provide care until 1159 p.m. tonight

just before midnight of course. Our waiting rooms are filled with patients and their loved ones right now. And a subsequent tweet reads the following. The answer anti-abortion protesters are outside, shining lights on the parking lot, we are under surveillance. This is what abortion care looks like, human right warriors. Now, of course, that last part was sarcastic. These are not human right warriors at all. These are people who feel emboldened by the vigilante provision that's included in this law, the one that essentially encourages private citizens, not just in Texas, but across the entire country to essentially surveil their fellow Americans and turn them in to authorities in Texas.

If they suspect that someone is driving a woman to a clinic to get an abortion, or if they suspect that a woman is going over to an abortion clinic and she might be past six weeks, or if they suspect that an abortion clinic is not abiding by this ridiculous draconian law. And so it pits Americans against one another as if we're not already living in a climate where Americans are tearing each other apart. And what's even more disgusting about this law is what it's based on. This lie that the very lawmakers who passed it somehow have a genuine concern about human lives. You know, they're just trying to save babies. In reality, these are politicians who couldn't care less about human. human lives. And I think that their behavior during the pandemic has made that abundantly clear.

These are politicians who are just pandering. You know, they're big panda bears looking out for their political interests, trying to pander to the evangelical vote, conservative voters, moronic single issue voters who think that this is the most important issue in the world. That human life, this is about human lives, everybody. This is about human lives. All right, let's talk a little bit about human lives for a second. Okay. Let's take a quick look at what a pregnant woman's, what a pregnant woman is carrying at seven weeks. This isn't six weeks, we'll give them an extra week. At seven weeks, this is what the pregnant woman is dealing with. I don't believe that's a human. Humans are able to live, breathe,

function appropriately outside of a woman's womb. In fact, I initially believe that at this stage, it was referred to as a fetus, but I was actually wrong about that. It's actually the embryonic period. That's how early in the pregnancy we're talking about. The embryonic period of development lasts from two weeks after conception through the eighth week, during which time the organism is known as an embryo. At the ninth week post-conception, the fetal period begins. From this point until birth, the organism is known as a fetus. So we're not even talking about a fetus. We're certainly not talking about a human life.

The only human life that's being impacted here is the woman who is forced to carry a pregnancy to term because a bunch of lawmakers in the state of Texas wanted to suck up to the evangelical vote. That's the only reason why they did this. And by the way, I don't hear the evangelical voters who claim that they care about human lives up in arms about the failed policies in states like Texas that have led to tens of thousands of Texans dying during this pandemic. Deaths that could have been prevented. And I actually do want to talk about that a little more. Why don't we take a look at how many Texans have died in the duration of this pandemic because of people like Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick,

certainly Governor Greg Abbott. Texas has had a total of 3.6 million coronavirus cases. In terms of deaths, they're losing about, on average, 230 Texans a day at a time when those deaths could easily be prevented. And a total number of deaths right now stands at 57,205. And so maybe I'm being unfair, maybe I'm being unfair to the lawmakers who on one hand claim that they care deeply about embryos. But on the other hand, when it comes to living, breathing human beings, they don't seem to care

much at all. Maybe it's not their fault that more than 57,000 Texans died during the pandemic. And then I remember that early on, about two weeks after the shutdowns happened in response to COVID in 2020, you had someone like Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick saying the quiet parts out loud, letting us know exactly what he genuinely feels about human lives. Let's watch. We're crushing the markets. We're crushing this country. And what I said when I was with you that night, there are more important things than living. And that's saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us. And I don't want to die.

Nobody wants to die. But man, we got to take some risk and get back in the game. and get this country back up and running. But what about the markets, everybody? The markets, my precious stock portfolio. Dad Patrick urging, urging businesses to open prematurely. So Texans, workers in Texas, put their lives on the line. You know what, I mean, no one wants to die, right? But we gotta take some risks, my precious stock portfolio.

We gotta open up, we gotta open up. All of a sudden, when it comes to the markets, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick doesn't give a damn about human lives. And guess what? When it comes to embryos, when it comes to zygotes, when it comes to fetuses, he doesn't give a damn about those lives either. He does care about his political future though. He does care about pandering to the right wing vote.

I want to give you a little more because Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick isn't the only one who has advocated for policies during the pandemic that have gotten Texans killed. Governor Greg Abbott certainly should take some blame as well because he's the one who implemented a ban on mask mandates. Let's hear from what he had to say about his failed policies that have gotten more than 57,000 Texans killed. The Texas Supreme Court has sided with Texas Governor Greg Abbott temporarily blocking mask requirements issued in major school districts, including the one around Dallas. This as the number of children hospitalized with the virus hits an all-time high.

I spoke to several residents about how COVID has impacted them and what they think of the governor's decision. Take a listen to what some of these folks shared with me. I believe it's premature. It is irresponsible and consequently it is placing the entire state of Texas in harm's way. He's trying to put things back to normal. But I don't think we're ready for that. I don't know in my mind, I'm still afraid, to be honest. I lost my grandfather like three weeks ago of COVID.

And I'm like, are you serious? Like I really going to open everything after everything that has been happening. A lot of people have been dying recently. And I'm like, I'm like, are you serious? You're being that selfish. Yeah, he is being that selfish. In fact, everything that these lawmakers do is selfish. It's all about self-serving nonsense that isn't meant to keep anyone safe.

That isn't meant to save human lives. It's all about political gain or in the case of reopening businesses prematurely during the pandemic, financial gain. They're precious stock portfolios, everybody. But we're supposed to sit here and pretend that these right-wing lawmakers and the morons who vote for them on this single issue, genuinely care about the lives of embryos? Really? That's what they genuinely care about? While they sit back and either aid in a bet what's happening in regard to the pandemic? Or, you know, sit back and enjoy the fact that there are living, breathing children within the state of Texas right now who don't even have

a home to live in, who are living out on the streets. Do they care about that? No, no. Because you know what this is really about? It's about controlling women's bodies. That's what this is about. It's about punishing women for doing something that men do on a regular basis and don't have to suffer the consequences for it, having sex for pleasure. How dare they? They can't do that. And so if they're gonna make a determination that an embryo is the equivalent of a viable human being outside of a mother's womb, then I think that we should really start monitoring whether or not these men are masturbating. I mean, sperm, it's a living organism.

I want to know if we are killing those living organisms. If men are pleasuring themselves and committing mass murder, mass murder. I mean, that's the ridiculous logic that these people are using to bolster the argument in favor of this disgusting new law in Texas. And shame on the federal courts for refusing to weigh in on this in time. Shame on them. But hey, you know what? I don't know. Some of these people posing as progressives or leftists told me that federal courts don't matter,

that the Supreme Court doesn't matter, that they have no impact on our lives, that we shouldn't vote strategically and vote for the lesser of two evils because who cares about the Supreme Court? It's not going to have any impact on us, right? Real rich for people to say stuff like that while they're sitting in their $2 million homes in Los Angeles, living their privileged little lives as the rest of us suffer. And let's talk about what kids are facing in the state of Texas, where lawmakers pretend like they care about their lives. Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2018 to 2019 school year

shows that an estimated 114,05 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 5,823 students were unsheltered. That means they're living on the streets. Hey, are evangelicals up in arms about that? Of course they're not. Don't hear a peep. 10,952 were in shelters, 8,159 were living in hotels and motels. And 89,121 were living with a different family, essentially doubling up.

No concern about that. I mean, maybe doing something about that would hurt poor Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's stock portfolio. We got to look out for the markets. We got to take risks, guys. The risks are important when it comes to making sure that the privileged continue making profits. So human lives, profits, I mean, profits are always going to come above the human lives that these lawmakers claim they care about. But at the end of the day, what makes me so furious about all of this is that these anti-choice religious zealots think that they can just position themselves as the righteous ones, as the people who care about the lives of these unborn embryos. And we know that that's not true. And hey, you know what?

I mean, I made myself clear. I don't think an embryo is the same thing as an actual human life that's viable outside the womb. I made that very clear. But others might have a difference of opinion. And we live in a country where if you have a religious belief or you have religious values that indicate you're not allowed to have premarital sex, don't have premarital sex. Your religion tells you you're not allowed to take birth control. Don't take birth control. Your religion says that you shouldn't have an abortion, don't have an abortion. But don't try to turn this country into some sort of dictatorial regime that forces your religious beliefs, on people like me, because I don't subscribe to it.

I don't believe in it. And if we're gonna go around and judge the way other countries treat their women, we should take a good hard look at how we allow this nation's religious zealots to control the lives of women who don't subscribe to their garbage. We gotta take a break, we'll be right back.

Welcome back to TYT, Anna Casparian with you. John Ida Rola will be joining me for hour two. In the meantime, I would love for you guys to like and share the stream, get as many people on this program, watching this program. We really, really would appreciate that help, so thank you. For now, let's move on to our next story, because looks like right-wing lawmakers want to impeach Biden, and I say they should try, and I'll tell you why at the end.

GOP lawmakers, including members of the far right House Freedom Caucus, are discussing whether it makes sense to impeach President Joe Biden for his decision to remain committed to pulling troops out of Afghanistan. And he did just that by August 31st, and they're livid about it. Remember, the neocons from the Bush era didn't magically disappear, they still exist. And despite the fact that pulling troops out of Afghanistan pulls very well among American voters, they're genuinely considering impeachment proceedings. And I say, sure, go for it.

That would be great. I'll explain why in a second, not because I think that Biden should be impeached. But I think that this could be a wonderful strategy where we get to sit back and watch the right wing fail and destroy itself. Now, before I get to that argument, let me give you the details. Representative Barry Moore, a Republican from Alabama, said it's a grassroots pressure. We're feeling it. I think even some of the Democrats are feeling it. Doubt it.

No, Democrats are not feeling pressure to impeach Joe Biden for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. Now, in the Senate, of course, you have well-known, notorious warhawks like Senator Lindsey Graham, who also floated the idea of impeaching Joe Biden for pulling troops out of Afghanistan. Let's hear what he had to say. You called for his impeachment over Afghanistan. Do you still feel he should be impeached over this? Yeah, yeah, I think it's dereliction of duty to leave hundreds of Americans behind enemy lines, turn them into hostages, to create conditions for another 9-11 that are now through the roof.

Yeah, I think he's been derelict in his duties as commander-in-chief. create conditions that would lead to another 9-11. Of course, he didn't elaborate on that. He didn't explain exactly why he believes that that's the case. The Taliban did not do 9-11. In fact, when the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan, the Taliban had offered up Osama bin Laden to the Bush administration. They rejected that offer and proceeded to invade Afghanistan anyway.

And then once they were there, military generals are like, yo, bro, what are we doing? Are we fighting the Taliban now? And by the way, by 2002, the Taliban was done. But the Bush administration didn't pull out then either. My point is bringing up conditions for another 9-11 is a very intentional way of fear mongering. And somehow convincing Americans that 20 years and two trillion dollars later, it's not enough. We got to remain in that country. You know why?

Because that very man, Lindsay Graham, is paid by defense contractors. I don't know. We're creating in another condition for 9-11. Oh, are we? Do you really think that? Or do your defense contractor buddies think that and are literally paying you to say that? Lindsay Graham is such a garbage person. It's incredible. I mean, apparently more than 2,500 U.S. troops who died in Afghanistan in that failed war wasn't enough for Lindsey Graham.

He wants to see more dead troops. That's what his defense contractor friends want. That's what his donors want. So why not? Anyway, back to the impeachment issue. So not all of the Republican lawmakers happen to be committed to the idea of impeachment because they rightly realize that there could be some unintended consequence. Right. Now, one of the unintended consequences would be, and in their magical thinking, if they were to succeed in impeaching and convicting Joe Biden, and of course this would have to happen after the midterms, assuming that Republicans take control of both the House and the Senate. Well, then Kamala Harris would be president. And they're like, I don't know. I mean, we really don't like Joe Biden, but we're also super racist. And so do we really want Vice President Kamala Harris to be the president? Well, unintended consequences. We don't want to make sure that we see that coming. The other thing that they're concerned about is the fact that Marjorie Taylor Green, a noted lunatic that even Republican lawmakers acknowledge, has become the face of the impeachment,

you know, calls for impeachment. And they're like, I don't know, do we really want to align ourselves with that person? Probably not a good idea. But what's also really fascinating about this story is just how willing these Republican lawmakers are to, on one hand, applaud Trump for doing the very same things or saying that he wanted to do the very same things, that Joe Biden actually executed, that Joe Biden actually did follow through on. So McCarthy, for instance, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who endorsed former President Donald Trump's calls to pull troops from Afghanistan, already has promised a day of reckoning that includes investigations and hearings on Biden's handling of the U.S. pullout if Republicans win the majority. He's not done. There's more hypocrisy to go around here. McCarthy told reporters that the U.S. should not negotiate or recognize the Taliban, even though the Trump administration. administration's approach was, by the way, to negotiate with the Taliban, and he supported that.

He supported the fact that Trump negotiated with the militant group and it brokered a deal with Mike Pompeo involved in those negotiations. So really, this is about like, we don't like Biden. We don't like Biden. Okay, we don't like Biden. We want to impeach him. That's what this is all about, 100%. And I say, let them. Let them do it. Let them do the impeachment proceedings because the majority of American voters wanted to end the forever war in Afghanistan. They wanted to bring the troops home. Regardless of what someone might think, or regardless of what these warhawks might think about the pullout, the American people are sick of trillions of dollars being taken away from them and redistributed to defense contractors. They're sick and tired of watching their families fall apart because their wives or their husbands have done multiple tours in Afghanistan

and came back with all sorts of mental health issues or even physical issues that were basically ignored and abandoned as soon as they came back to the United States. I think they're pretty sick and tired of watching their family members die for wars that don't even have a clear objective or goal. And that's the other thing. Journalist and author Stephen Cole, who wrote the book Ghost War, you know, talks about the fact that, you know, early on in the war in Afghanistan, they didn't even know what it meant to win the war. They didn't know what the objective was. So if Republican lawmakers think that this could be a good little political tactic, like yeah, let's go after Biden, let's do impeachment proceedings, let's go after him over something that

the American people are actually in favor of. Have at it. Do you, boo? I would love to see it. And you know, then you have some who argue Republican lawmakers, of course, that, hey, you know, I mean the Democrats, you used impeachment for political reasons. They just didn't like Donald Trump, so they decided to impeach him twice. Yeah, except on one hand, you have a two decades long war that Americans want to end,

and that's what Biden has done. On the other hand, you have Donald Trump who got impeached for two different reasons. First reason being, he wanted the Ukrainians to meddle in the general election. He withheld congressionally appropriated military funding to Ukraine and dangled it over their heads unless they announced a sham investigation into Joe Biden, his political opponent for the 2020 general election. Yeah, there's quite a bit of evidence proving that he did that. And had the Democrats held control of the Senate, he would have been convicted of that.

But of course you have a bunch of feckless, self-interested Republican lawmakers in the Senate who didn't do the right thing and didn't convict him for that. And by the way, the second impeachment was about the fact that he very clearly incited the riots that took place in our nation's capital. I mean, okay, so you want to compare those two things, that's fine. But remember, this process of withdrawing troops and we gave Trump credit for it, and we did start under Donald Trump. Republican lawmakers were totally fine and dandy with that.

But all of a sudden now, oh my God, we gotta beat the war drums again. The neocons are back. They're all over cable news. And they're in such a Washington bubble that they forget the fact that the American people don't want this war. They didn't want it, they wanted to bring our troops home. And these clowns think, no, no, I mean, everyone thinks the way we do. I mean, everyone's influenced by defense contractors like we are, right?

Let's try to go after Biden for this. Okay, do it. I'm looking forward to it. Now, Jackson White spoke to some conservative voters, and they happen to be from a different planet, but I think what you hear in their answers regarding the possibility of impeachment just makes it clear that it's not about

what Biden did in Afghanistan. It's really about the fact that, that I don't like Biden. Let's watch. Do you think that it is an impeachable offense the way that we withdrew? Yes, I do. In terms of the refugee situation, do you believe that we should be taking them in? They need to be vetted first. Just going through the general process. Yeah. I mean, there's a legal way to do everything. I think that's an impeachable offense. I think Joe Biden should be impeached. Personally, I hate him. I hate him with a passion. I would like Biden to be impeached from the day, even from day one. And although there are reasons, there are many reasons why he should

be impeached much, much more than Donald Trump as far as him. But I don't think he'll be impeached because of Nancy Pelosi. Somebody should be impeached, they should be impeached. Whether not you can do it is another question. I think the thing with Afghanistan, I think, is impeachable. I think it was a dereliction of duty. I think it's a, it was very serious. And I don't think people talk about it as much as they should. Jackson White did a great job in that field reporting. Please check out that full video on our YouTube channel,

YouTube.com slash the Young Turks. But I mean, I think they made themselves pretty clear. Yeah, yeah, Afghanistan, sure. Yeah, you should be impeached over Afghanistan, whatever. But I hated him from day one. I hate him. He should have been impeached on day one. And by the way, this should be a teachable moment for Joe Biden.

How's that unity working out for you, home boy? Not so great. Not so great. So we should take the money that we're saving from the garbage war that we fought in Afghanistan and lost. And fund the social programs within our country that actually help working Americans. No more, no more, you know, plain patty cakes with Republican lawmakers. No more patty cakes with clowns like Democratic Senator Kirsten Cinema. It's hardball time.

I'm ready to see some hardball. Because the only hope that Biden really has in unifying the country is helping to benefit their lives in a material way. It's real hard to hate Joe Biden when he's got childcare figured out for you. Really hard to hate Joe Biden when you can take paid family leave. Hard to hate Joe Biden when his $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill fixed that bridge that was crumbling. You know, the bridge that you were afraid of driving on because it could possibly collapse at any moment. Hard to hate Joe Biden when you're unclean, lead infested drinking water is now safe to consume.

We have so many ills within our borders and you have all these warhawks paid off by defense contractors furious about the fact that we're not wasting money in a war that had no objective. So I say let him have it, do it, go for it. For the right wing lawmakers who think that trying to impeach Joe Biden is the right play, have at it. I can grab my popcorn and certainly enjoy myself while I watch. All right, let's talk a little bit about refugees. There's no shortage of awful right wingers in the news today, unfortunately.

Pennsylvania GOP representative Scott Perry was one of the same. 16 Republican lawmakers who voted against a bill that was meant to expand the number of Afghan refugees into the United States. Now on one hand, we hear conservative lawmakers claim that they're so concerned about the Afghans. That's why we need to occupy their country for eternity. But then on the other hand, when it comes to Afghans who assisted the United States on the ground or Afghans who are fleeing the country as refugees, no, no, no, we can't. have them. In fact, why don't we smear them in the worst possible way? Now, he was speaking to Greta Van Sustrin about this. Let's hear what he had to say. You're one of the few no votes

in July on a bill that would have expanded the SIV, which allows some Afghans to be replaced here in the United States. I think the number was about an 8,000 addition. Why did you vote no? Because I don't think it's appropriate to bring poorly vetted people from an Islamic state to the United States of America. And it's certainly part of the calculation has to be as the Biden administration's in charge. They left the southern border wide open. And look, you're looking at a spectacular failure right now. If you're comfortable with that, you know, that's fine. But I'm not comfortable with that.

I represent the United States of America and American citizens. And it's my job. And I think it's his Congress's job to ensure their safety. And if there was any question of appropriate vetting, then I think that the answer had to be what it is. Oh, that's fascinating. You know, it is a little concerning that we have lawmakers who vote on proposed legislation without being fully informed on what they're voting for or against in this case. You know, we tend to have trust in these politicians to represent the best.

interests of the country, of their constituents. And it is unfortunate that, you know, Representative Scott Perry, who has quite a bit of time off every year, as most members of Congress do, just can't seem to find the time to figure out what the vetting process is for refugees. So no worries, no worries, I'm here to help. So why don't we go through it? We've done it before. So for those of you who have seen previous segments on this, I apologize that it's become a little repetitive, but unfortunately we have idiots running the country and they need to be informed by independent news shows like ours where we're stretched thin for resources. But that's okay, that's totally fine. Okay, totally fine. Let me give you the details.

This is what the vetting process looks like. It's a 20-step process that takes several years. It starts off with a registration to the United Nations or with the United Nations, followed by an interview with the United Nations. Then refugee status will be granted by the UN if the UN chooses to do so, right? People can, of course, get rejected. Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm going to have to write you a ticket to my new movie, The Naked Gun.

Liam Nissan. Buy your tickets now. and get a free tilly dog. Chili dog, not included. The naked guard. Tickets on sale now. August 1st. Furl for resettlement in the United States.

Then the person needs to go through an interview with State Department contractors. Doesn't end there. That was only five of the 20 steps. Let's go to the next three. First background check happens. Cool, you know, you've got to do the background checks, of course. Higher level background check for some, for some. Now, if you guys can remember Syrian refugees, that issue became highly politicized back

in 2015. So for certain refugees, we got to do additional background checks, which okay, all right, cool, cool. Then there's another background check after that. Not one, not two, three background checks. And that's after talking to the UN, you know, interviewing with the UN and all of that. Now the refugee's name is run through law enforcement and intelligence database. for terrorist or criminal history. Some go through a higher level clearance before they can continue.

A third background check was introduced in 2008 for Iraqis, but has since been expanded to all refugees ages 14 to 65. Wonderful. Seems like a pretty thorough vetting process already, but there's more. First fingerprint screening takes place, photo taken, and then second fingerprint screening, just in case they didn't get it right the first time.

the first time. But don't worry, if they messed up twice, then there's the third fingerprint screening. The refugees fingerprints are then screened against FBI and Homeland Security databases, which contain watch list information and past immigration encounters, including if the refugee previously applied for a visa at a United States embassy. Fingerprints are also are checked against those collected by the Defense Department during operations in Iraq. But we're not done yet. We're not done yet. We still have more steps, guys. Let's go to step number 12 out of 20. Cases reviewed at the United States immigration headquarters. And then some cases are referred for additional review. Then you got the extensive in-person interview

with Homeland Security Officer. Remember, this is after you've already done an in-person an interview with the State Department. Then there's a Homeland Security approval process, that's required. Screening for contagious diseases. We don't want to have sick people come into the country, right? We gotta screen for contagious diseases, okay, fair enough. I don't know, I don't know, is this thorough enough for conservative lawmakers who had no problem bombing the hell out of that country and killing more than 47,000 Afghan civilians?

I mean, are they okay with going in, destabilizing a country, and then, you know, doing a vetting process this thorough and maybe allowing a few people in? I don't know, are they okay with that? Then there's a cultural orientation class matched with an American resettlement agency, multi-agency security check before leaving for the United States, and then step 20, there's a final security check at an American airport. Is that enough? I'd love to know. I mean, quite honestly, that vetting process is way more thorough than the vetting process that our police officers go through. We have literal gang members, street gang members within the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. Like, let that sink in for a second. And while

you're thinking about that, why don't we go to the second part of the interview that Representative Perry had with Greta Van Sustrin? We weren't just talking about the interpreters, the translators that worked with the American military. We were talking about expanding that, and it was expanded very broadly. And even when we were talking about interpreters that work with the military, there was also plenty of evidence that they would turn on their Americans and actually be part of the complex or less than complex attacks against the very Americans they were working with. So I found this highly questionable, and I wanted to see it tightened up very much before I would sign my name onto it. I'm not going to be responsible seeing our little girls

raped and killed in the streets because we wanted to bring people that are poorly vetted into the United States. Oh, he's worried about, you know, girls getting raped. I wonder what he thinks about Texas's new anti-abortion law, which forces girls and women to carry a pregnancy to term, even after they've been raped. I'm sure he's really concerned about people getting raped. Sure, he's worried about the rapes that take place in prison, something that's just a well-known fact, that our congressional lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, refused to do anything about. But they're really worried about rape. Yeah, okay, sure. By the way, in 2017, Afghan immigrants ages 18 to 54 in the United States were incarcerated at a rate of 127 per 100,000 people. That same year, U.S. citizens in the same age range were incarcerated at a rate of, oh, oh, hmm, 1,477 per 100,000 people. Oh, that's weird. It's almost as if Afghan refugees and immigrants are less dangerous.

is. In other words, as Alex Norashita from the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity says, Native-born Americans were about 11.6 times as likely to be incarcerated as Afghan immigrants. Afghans don't pose much of a serious criminal threat in the United States. By the way, let's also be clear that we have a problem with over-incarceration, and we incarcerate all sorts of people who have no business. being behind bars. So I think the numbers for American citizens happens to be way too high, which is why we need prison reform and criminal justice reform. But that's a different story for another time. My point here is that the United States thinks that it's totally fine

to invade countries with no clear objective, and yes, that was the case with Afghanistan, destabilize that country, kill tens of thousands of civilians, and in the process of doing so, risk the lives of our own troops, you know, more than 2,500 U.S. troops died during the war in Afghanistan as well. But then after we destabilize those countries, after we engage in actions that only emboldened and empower the Taliban, then we turn our backs to the Afghan civilians who are fleeing for safety. It's shameful, it's embarrassing. I can't stand the fact that these are the lawmakers

who represent us on a global stage. And we got to do something about it because people like that have no business legislating or governing. They have no business serving in any type of position of power. Because if he doesn't have the time to understand what our vetting process is for refugees, then maybe he needs to go do something else.

Go kick rocks. But again, no business sitting in a position of power. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. I hope you guys are dancing during the breaks, okay? That music is my kind, my kind of jams. All right, that's DJ Bart Kyle on the ones and twos. So if you're not a member, you should become one because Wednesdays mean we're going to have an ice cream party.

That's going to be a new TYT tradition here. John Iderall and I will be having an ice cream party while sharing some more news with you. So I'm really looking forward to that. You can become a member by going to t.com slash join or if you're watching on YouTube, you can become a member through YouTube by clicking on that join button. Now let's get to our next story because hopefully this will keep some of you safe. but more importantly, I'm hoping you guys have conversations about this with your family and your friends to keep them safe as well, because there's no shortage of COVID scams. There has been an abundance of coronavirus-related scams, and unfortunately people are getting

hurt. In some cases, people are dying as a result of these grifters exploiting the panic or the worries that people have about the pandemic. And in one case, a Las Vegas man has just gotten arrested after he was caught selling dangerous chemicals as an alleged COVID cure. His name is Elias, Beltran Suarez, and he was charged with acting as a medical practitioner without a license after police learned that he was manufacturing and selling miracle mineral solution from his apartment. A woman had recently contacted Beltron after his, after her six-year-old son was diagnosed with the coronavirus, and police said the 53-year-old offered to sell her equipment to make chlorine dioxide for $800. So here you have a mother who's panicking, she's desperate,

and this awful person decides to exploit her panic and her, you know, need to make her son feel better, her desire to make her son feel better. Charges are $800 for garbage. Now, six-year-olds obviously here he is. Garbage person, I'm glad that he's now facing charges. I'm glad that he was arrested. I mean, but really, isn't this what Americans have been conditioned to be like? I mean, when you look at the behavior of the U.S. government and how there's really no crisis that they refuse to capitalize on, you're going to have situations like this where people are like, oh, I mean, yeah. I mean, doesn't it make sense to be a massive grifter in a moment of crisis? Now, six-year-olds obviously can't get vaccinated.

The vaccines have not been approved for people under the age of 12 yet. So they're still studying it, they want to ensure that it's safe. But that's something that people should pay closer attention to. The fact that vaccines actually go through a very rigorous process to ensure its safety before it's available, before it's out there. And by the way, the vaccine is free. Now here we're talking about a six-year-old who can't get vaccines. year old who can't get vaccinated, but for those who are still skeptical about the vaccine,

are you also hitting up some dude in Las Vegas who's selling crap out of his apartment? Does that make you feel safer? Let me give you more, the so-called miracle cure. What was in it? Well, it contains potentially unsafe levels of chlorine dioxide, a chemical commonly used in industrial bleach. I don't know, industrial bleach sold from some random, apartment in Las Vegas or the vaccine. I don't know. You want to spend $800 on this? Have at it.

But look, look, I also can't blame individuals, right? Like, I'm not mad at this mom. I'm not mad at people who are desperately searching for other solutions. Because there's a giant amount of disinformation out there by people who have a vested interest in lying to people about the vaccine, and that vested interest is to sell whatever it is that they're selling. They're hucksters.

There's more, though. Okay, he's not the only one. Then there's the self-described anti-vax mama who sold hundreds of fake COVID vaccine cards. So this was discovered by a TikTok user, TikTok user who goes by the name of Tizzy Ent, spotted an Instagram post that caught his attention. A woman with the handle anti-vax mama was out of

advertising coronavirus vaccine cards with real serial numbers available to be mailed to any state for the low, low price of $200 a piece. Yeah, I mean, the vaccine is free and it prevents people from getting hospitalized. It prevents people from dying. Maybe that's a better option than getting a fake vaccine card. But okay, Manhattan District Attorney announced that the person behind the Instagram, account, Jasmine Clifford, 31 year old from New Jersey, has been charged with selling hundreds, hundreds of fake vaccination cards. Some allegedly went to frontline workers, including hospital and nursing home employees. Those frontline workers should be fired. They should be fired, okay? That's it, they should be fired. I mean, do I really need to provide an argument for why they should be fired?

They're using fake vaccination cards as frontline health care workers who are, they're supposed to be keeping their patients safe. I mean, no, you're not going to do your job. You're not going to do the bare minimum of keeping your patients safe because they're not just treating coronavirus patients. They're treating other patients. So what are they doing? You're using fake vaccine cards. And also, I don't know, I just questioned the judgment of someone who's literally a professional in the health care industry, but somehow isn't smart enough to understand that there are hucksters out there intentionally spreading disinformation about the vaccine. Like, if you're not educated enough to be able to make these important distinctions, then I don't know, should you really be tapped?

with caring for the health and well-being of others? I would argue no, there you go. I gave you an argument that they should be fired. But I'm not done yet. Nadazia Barclay, a 27-year-old, was also charged in the alleged conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged that Barclay entered at least 10 people who bought the cards into the New York State

Immunization Information System database. Okay, so let's pause for a second. hearing about breakthrough infections. And so I want to know if there's a robust investigation into people who have had breakthrough infections who maybe didn't really get the vaccine. Because if we have people who are, who have access to the state databases on vaccines, and they're committing fraud and entering people's names in when they have an actually been vaccinated? Well, then how do we know that a person who gets coronavirus actually had a breakthrough infection? That's a little bit of an issue, no? I'm glad that this woman got caught,

but how many others across the country are doing something similar? I don't know, and it should be investigated. A Chicago pharmacist was arrested in charge with obtaining authentic vaccination cards and listing them for $10 a piece on eBay. So, I mean, the grift that we're seeing all across the board, whether it be with unproven medications or like fake vaccination cards, how are we supposed to get past this pandemic? I feel like it's just never going to happen. I feel like this is going to be our reality forever

because we can't get adults to behave like adults. And at the same time, there's a profit motive behind what they're doing. Now I bring you to the final, final issue. And this is the one that I would argue is the most important. Because we keep hearing about ivermectin, which is for parasitic infections. So if you have tapeworm, roundworm, if you've got livestock that has a parasitic infection, Ivermectin might be the right choice for you. Okay?

Now, viral infections are different from parasitic infections. A virus is different from a parasite. But I've always wondered, where did Ivermectin come from? Like, why is Ivermectin suddenly being pushed on people? Well, one of the organizations that encourages people to take Ivermectin is America's frontline doctors. And they're profiting handsomely off of pushing this drug that is not in any way proven as a preventative measure or a treatment for coronavirus. Let me tell you how they make their money. On the website for America's frontline healthcare, America's frontline doctors, people looking for a COVID-19 medicine are told to click on a button labeled,

contact a physician and pay $90 for a consultation. The link then takes customers to another site, speak with an MD where they're asked to submit payment information and told that one of the frontline doctors will call them within a few days. So let's pause for a second. You can go directly to ask an MD and they actually charge you less than that $90 fee.

So whatever the difference is, America's frontline doctors, they pocket that money. Let me give you more details. It's not clear how much America's frontline doctors get from each patient referral. The service is marketed on their website for $90, while a direct telemedicine consultation through speak with an MD is listed at just $59.99, a $30 difference. America's frontline doctors declined to comment on whether they receive any financial benefit from the referral. And that's just a small part of their little scam. There's other scams involved, including, you know, obtaining the actual prescription. They're in some cases charged insane, exorbitant fees or prices for Ivermectin, which is a relatively cheap drug.

You know what's cheaper than Ivermectin? The vaccine, that's free. could literally walk into any CBS, any Walgreens, any right aid, without an appointment. You get the vaccine for free. No questions asked. No appointment needed. But hey, you got these people looking to capitalize off of people's panic, off of their fears. And at the same time, they're very intentionally spreading disinformation about ivermectin

and previously hydroxychloroquine because who cares about human lives? they can make a quick buck. That's what they're doing. That's what these disgusting grifters are up to. Tell your friends, tell your family, please have conversations with them about this because people are getting killed as a result of this greed.

When we come back, I promise we will lighten things up. John Iderall will join me, and you will love it. We'll see you in a few minutes. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free,

access members only bonus content and more by subscribing to apple podcasts at apple dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon