The Young Turks - The Young Turks 01.09.18: Trump DACA, Senator Arpaio, Racist Basketball Team, and Teacher Arrested

Episode Date: January 10, 2018

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from January 9th, 2018. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join. Hour 1:  President Trump promised Tuesday to sign what he called a "bill of love" to extend protections to 800,000 immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children — if Congress can work out the details. Joe Arpaio, the Republican former Maricopa County sheriff known for his hard-line immigration tactics, says he's running for Senate. Segment 2  A boys basketball team was banned for playing on school property and dismissed from an Ohio youth league over racist and sexually charged language on their uniforms. A teacher asking tough questions of school board members in the Vermilion Parish School District in Louisiana was escorted out of the meeting by a security officer and handcuffed on the floor and arrested, videos of the event show. Donald Trump‘s spiritual advisor is asking her followers to send donations of up to one month’s salary money to her church as a “first fruits” offering for the new year — and warns of “consequences” from God if they don’t. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Thank you for watching or listening to this free podcast of the Young Turks. We want to make sure that you get some portion of the show every day. But if you want the full show, which is actually five segments, come become a member and support independent media as well. TYT network.com slash join.

Meanwhile, enjoy the free podcast. Welcome back to the show, everybody. Before we jump back in the news, I wanted to read a tweet from woke poppy, who says, We are grabbing the snake's tail and hoping it won't bite us. This man is so fucking dangerous. And I know that there's a lot of people who either do believe or want you to believe that, well, obviously he's not going to do that. And maybe he won't.

It is unlikely. But there were a lot of people who felt like he wouldn't actually ban Muslims. He's not going to try to actually ban transgender individuals in the military. They're not going to really give trillions of dollars to the rich and huge tax. He's not really going to try to cut your health care. Well, they did all those things. So maybe we should worry about this as well. Anyway, with that, why don't we jump back into a little bit more?

Today, in a televised meeting with both Democrats and Republicans, President Trump laid out sort of a vague roadmap for how their immigration reform process is going to go forward into the future. Here is discussion about one of the prime components that's getting, thankfully, a lot of coverage these days is the need to codify DACA into law, once again, a lot of people at risk of losing their protected status. And here are his thoughts about that being a part of the reform. And I don't know how you would feel about this, but I'd like to ask the question, what about a clean DACA bill now with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive immigration reform procedure.

I have no problem. I think that's basically what Dick is saying. We're going to come out with DACA. We're going to do DACA. And then we can start immediately on the phase two, which would be comprehensive. Yes, I would like to do it. Go ahead. I think a lot of people would like to see that. But I think we have to do DACA first. And you folks are going to have to, you're one voice. You're going to have to come up with the solution. And if you do, I'm going to sign that solution. We have a lot of smart people in this room. We need to take care of these DACA kids. And we all agree on that. 86% of the American

public agrees on that. I will say when this group comes back, hopefully with an agreement, this group and others from the Senate, from the House, comes back with an agreement. I'm signing it. I mean, I will be signing it. I'm not going to say, oh, gee, I want this or I want that. I'll be signing it because I have a lot of confidence to the people in this room that you're going to come out with something really good. My gut is to say, wow, he sounds like a great negotiator. But I also, this perhaps is him recognizing that he doesn't know anything about this topic. It's more likely that he's just not interested. It's also, I thought, and I don't know if you saw it the same way, coming out of the conversation we had yesterday and people had over the weekend of his sort of mental clarity, right?

He seemed on today. Like it seemed like the White House said, we're going to broadcast this thing. People are going to be able to watch it. He seemed better. He didn't seem like someone who didn't know what was going on, except when it came to what it was. was like he put forward a good face but he clearly is going to piss people off by what he did and he clearly made some mistakes and he clearly doesn't really know the issues so what are the mistakes that he made well i mean the mistakes he made politically from him from where he's sitting

is everything you just saw there because they're going to be right wing republics so what the hell was that right about doing a clean doc about a clean doc about finding a path to citizenship that some people don't even think they should have yeah so i think that's important yeah remember his base has no compassion for the DACA recipients. So when he rescinded their protection, they were celebrating it. And so it's interesting to see how, you know, at least for show, he seems supportive of protecting them. And he's gone back and forth on various occasions. But it's not going to be a clean DACA bill.

That's another thing. What you saw during that televised meeting is different from what's being reported in terms of what Trump is expecting from Democrats. in order to, you know, give these DACA recipients the protection that they need to remain in the country. So he wants to fund that border wall. And that will be funded if Congress signs onto it to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Yeah. Yeah, we're going to have a little bit of video about that in just a bit. But the point I wanted to quickly make, let me just finish up, is that he keeps reneging on things that he promised his base. And they still remain loyal to him, which I think is so interesting. So with the wall, okay, he might still want to fight to construct portions of that

wall. But he said Mexico is going to pay for it. Obviously they're not. He's asking Congress for the funding for it. And then also he's talking about protecting DACA recipients, which I hope he does, but that is not what his base wanted. And they still seem pretty supportive of him, which is fascinating. Yeah, maybe. It's also, I'm sorry, John, you've been interrupted three times. Make it four. Cut his mic. There was, of course, there was a full conversation that was had in that whole meeting. And Representative McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy from California was sitting two down from Trump. And after Diane Feinstand made the point of, hey, we have to do this in phases.

Docker first, we can get this taken care of because it will include some kind of border security because there's secure security in having people here and how their families maybe see each other. He went on, he interrupted after Trump agreed to it in a way verbally and said, hey, I want to make sure we clear this up. Hey, Mr. President, you know what she just said? She just said she wants to do DACA. Are you really going to agree to that? I don't think that's what we want. So all that's going to be said, and this is, again, in front of the cameras, as Anna was pointing out.

So after the camera shut down, these other Republicans went in and said, hey, dumb, dumb, we know you don't understand anything that's going on. So let me, quote, and point this out to you. You're agreeing with Democrats right now because you don't know what's being said. So they're going to make sure he doesn't mess up. Yeah, exactly. Like, he needed to be reminded of what his position should actually be. But at the end of the day, I mean, like, he can say whatever he wants, but he's also saying whatever you give me, I will sign. Right, which I call leadership.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, which also means then, but doesn't matter what promises he makes. Or even he's saying we're going to do DACA and then we'll have, and then we'll have comprehensive after that. But he also says that he'll accept whatever they give him. Yeah. Which could also be a complete dodge if he doesn't think, if he's hearing behind the scenes that they might not be able to do anything, then he didn't push for anything. He was relying on them. they failed. That's a way to avoid any sort of accountability as well. I mean, they could simply do a clean DACA bill. They could do that. It would be popular. I mean, not necessarily amongst their base, but their base isn't all they're going to need in these upcoming midterm elections. But they're not going to do the politically popular thing. And at the same time, you were pointing

out how his base continues to stay with him. It is interesting that not just the DACA thing, but also a comprehensive, perhaps pathway to citizenship. He said that he wants this to be a bill of love, which just, oh, that's weird. He's also going to Davos soon, which is, like, he's doing a lot of things that you wouldn't necessarily have expected, but that is what you get out of a person who doesn't really have any thoughts or positions and is just sort of, I think his brain was described as nine fireflies buzzing around in a glass jar. I mean, you get some random stuff for every once in a while. I like to think of him as a branch on a willow tree during a hurricane. Like, he's just all over the place. That's poetic. That is nice. But the point

is also, I've never seen anything like this, an open conversation with the president and Democrats and Republicans for the entirety of their meeting. It's usually at the very beginning where they let the press in at the end, which I think is nice, but it's also And Davos, too. It's like, the president's fine. That's what they're trying to say. He's fine. We're going to put him in front of cameras. We're going to put him in front of them. But that's also dangerous because the more they do that, the more he's liable to not be, you know, forget his mental stuff.

Just make mistakes like he made today where he seemed sharp. But it's interesting because he usually acts or communicates in such a questionable way that, you know, watching that makes it seem as though, oh, he's lucid. He's not, you know, insulting people. He seems like he wants to bring people together. But, you know, any other president, the mistakes would be glaring. That would be the first thing that stands out. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. And like you said, there is a risk even after all. It was at a meeting like that where press were allowed to ask questions at the end where he gave his fire and fury quote. Right. In flaming tensions with. North Korea. So let's jump to another area of this conversation. One of the priorities for both Donald Trump and the Republicans going to this immigration push is border security. For some of them, it might just mean wasting 10 plus billion dollars on, eventually we're just going to have mecksuits patrolling the border. Like every president. It's, we hire 500,000 more people, we throw more money into it, and it doesn't solve the problem because it's not really related to the problem. The problem has to do with international labor markets and the ability of people in the

U.S. to hire people who are undocumented. As long as they're able to do that, which they can and want to do it, which they do, they're going to continue to do it. But we're going to waste money in one of several forms. Trump obviously wants the wall. So here we have a representative talking about the actual facts of whether a wall would stop illegal immigration, which you're going to see in this clip. The wall itself, Mr. President, do you talk to your Border Patrol chief or the former Border Patrol chiefs? I've asked them, how much time does the wall buy you? They'll say a couple minutes or a few seconds. And this is our own Border Patrol chiefs that have said that.

It's not mine. Mine doesn't clear the wall words. It's not. The wall words. They say without the wall, we cannot have border security. But all you have to do is ask Israel. Look what happened with it. That's a good example.

I think that we should be patterning ourselves after that. Here's why he wants the wall, because he said it once and the crowd liked it. And because he is a simple-minded person and thinks, oh, it's a wall. You can't physically walk through a wall, so case closed. But it's got to be a transparent wall as well. Yeah, lately it's been a transparent wall. Sometimes it's a virtual wall. I don't think anybody knows because certainly he doesn't.

But, yeah, as Representative Kuehler, I think was his name? We are. Thank you. No, you can go over a wall. You can dig under a wall. A lot of places can't have a wall. That's the problem with walls. But, okay, they're still planning on spending.

something like $18 billion on it. It still doesn't solve the issue of people overseeing their visas. I mean, like, it's just, it's such a childish way of approaching a complicated issue that, look, I agree. I want border security, right? But I want it to be smart. I don't want to throw tens of billions of dollars towards something that will be ineffective. But it's also why smart people like Koyar, like Feinstein, like Durbin, who are sitting there.

I think they understand the politics of this. Let's, you know, the wall makes no sense. But if we're willing to call it border security, he's willing to buy it, let's get DACA and then let's play with the wall later. And I think that's kind of the approach the Democrats are taking here. Well, they'd like it, but are they going to be able to do that? We don't know. But if the president is saying DACA and then border security, then it seems possible.

If Democrats, if smart people are buying it, not just Democrats, but Republicans who either fear it or endorse it, who are also smart, then I think. that means it's out there and possible to have happen. The unfortunate thing, at least in the medium term, is that obviously the Democrats are going into this, needing to solve this problem with DACA, but knowing that something else in that bill is probably going to be something distasteful, both to them and their constituents, Donald Trump is president. So that's what we get. This wouldn't even be a problem right now. DACA would have already been solved a long time ago if we didn't have Republican leadership

in the House and Senate and Donald Trump in the White House. But get ready to be disappointed, even if they're successful and that they have a legislative fix for DACA in the short term. And time is running out, by the way. Okay, let's turn to a related issue. Former sheriff and pardoned convict Joe Arpaio isn't done being in the news. He is now going to be running in the Republican Senate primary race to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Flake, correct? Yeah.

Yes, so he wants to be the next senator from the great state of Arizona. And he's given some quotes about some of the things he'd like to do if he were to get into office. We've been talking about immigration. We'll continue to because that's one of his plans. Here's what he says. I have a far out plan which may look stupid. Well, let's see. When they come to your attention that they're here illegally, these young people,

deport them back to Mexico or whatever, and then try to put them on a fast track to come back to the United States legally with special permits. What's wrong with that? They'd say they don't know where their home country is because some of them have literally never been there. Or haven't been there in 18 years. because it might take a, so let them go there and spend six months because it might take that long to do paperwork to get them here legally and let them see their home country and see what it's really like.

That would be no amnesty. Everybody would be happy. You deport them and then let them come back with all their education here. I'm sure they could find a temporary job or help the foreign countries and build up relations and come back. That's just a big picture that I have. People may say I'm crazy. What am I crazy about? It just makes sense. with, it may look stupid and ends with, it just makes sense. So that's really, those are his words. Well, one of those is right, I think. I'll let the audience decide. So, yeah, these young people that, you know, they don't necessarily have any family they know of there, they have no actual memories of this place.

They can find a temporary job deport them for six months or a year. What's the difference? Who wouldn't like that? He loves attention. He's 85 years old. He would be the 86-year-old freshman junior senator from Arizona. Who literally said that he should be elected because they need fresh blood. He needs fresh blood to last through his first term.

Senate terms are six years long. Six years long. Anyway, look, I know that people probably get really uncomfortable when I bring up age, but I don't care. 85? No, Feinstein, same situation. Time to retire. Give someone else, she's 84, yes, but, you know, around the same age. Look, I really want young people to become inspired enough to, first of all, go to the polls and vote, but more importantly, or just as importantly, go out there and get involved in politics, run. We do need fresh blood, right? And we need people who have a new vision for the country.

He has a new vision. You know, he's just not an example of that. And to break the politics down here, it is sort of in a duller, but maybe more interesting way than Anna just did. I mean, The difference between Feinstein and Arpaio would be that Feinstein at 84 is a multi-term senator who has leadership. And the way the seniority in the Senate works, she has greater influence than a Joe Arpaio would have on his first day. So it's not totally fair to compare the two of them. But you do need younger people coming in here because these are issues that affect younger people. So you talk about immigration.

He's literally talking about young people there. He's literally talking about young people. And that's where they need it. Also, Arizona is a tricky state right now. This is, as you said, Jeff Flake's seat. Kelly Ward, who is a Trump acolyte there in Arizona, is already running in the primary. Arpaio would challenge her, and that would bring possibly Martha McSally, who's kind of a more mainstream Republican into the race, right? So she comes in, and now she looks a little better because the other two would fight over it, and that would be done with.

The more extremes would fight with each other. And then Kristen Sinema, the Democrat, would stand to gain a lot by that. other thing, and it's morbid to talk about, but they may have another Senate election sooner rather than later, their special election if John McCain, if his illness makes it difficult for him to be a senator anymore. And so you have our Pio's name in the hat now for potentially two Senate races. It's absurd. And they're giving him this space, and it's killing Arizona Republicans. Well, let's make it a little bit more absurd. Because obviously, when we've talked about one of the issues, perhaps as his age, I think for a lot of people that will be an issue,

There are other issues. So if you've never heard of Joe R. Pai, you don't know anything about him. Let's talk about just a few things that are... You're pardoned. You're pardoned for not having heard of him. Let's see. So as we said, he's a former sheriff. He says the most controversial, toughest sheriff in the country.

He was tough in some ways. Certainly created tough situations for people, like the many people who killed themselves in his jails because of how terrible the situations there were. Now, some were ruled to be suicides. others, nearly half of the deaths, as reported by the Phoenix New Times, were not explained at all. Nearly half of the deaths in his jailed were never explained. We don't know what happened there. Let's see. One woman lost her baby due to negligence of the jail staff and then had a guard protest when the hospital let her see the dead child before the funeral. So she lost the baby. Then they didn't want her to see it in one of his. He once framed an innocent person for an assassination plot against him that his team had invented for public.

So that's out there. Let's see. His SWAT team once conducted a raid on a house expecting to find a weapons cash, only they had gotten the wrong house. That's not where it ends. They burned the house down in the process and then forced the family's dog, which was trying to escape back into the house. Oh my God. Where it was burned to death. Okay, okay. There's a lot of lighter stuff too. Those are some of the standout things that Joe Arpaio has done, which might be coming to the Senate in the near future. But in terms of the stakes, you pointed out some of the political calculations. Arizona is a state where Trump won by four points. On that same night, Arpaio lost. So if he does become the candidate, this is one of, if the Democrats are going to take control,

a needed pickup opportunity. Arpaio, as terrible as he is, like Roy Moore, might drastically increase the odds of getting it. Anyway, okay, why don't we take one more break when we come back? Let's see, did you know that Rick Perry is still Secretary of Energy? We're going to check in with him after this break. I don't know if he did, but he's back in the news today. We'll be back shortly. You're right in the middle of this podcast. We've got another great segment coming up for you. If you'd like the full show, which is actually five segments, go to t-y-tnetwork.com slash join. You become a member, you support the show, you support independent media, and you get the whole two-hour show ad-free every day. Let's go do it now.

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the Young Turks, Anna Casparian, John Ida Rola, Michael Shore with you. I don't know why I went in that order. There was no reason for that. That's all right. I'll get over it. Youth. Okay, a few TYT lives for you.

Hammer says, if you're an elected official and gain millions as a public servant, you're probably corrupt. I'm sorry, guys. I really apologize about my coughing. Daniel Pereja says, Puerto Ricans aren't perceived as U.S. citizens because they don't have voting representation in Congress, nor do they choose electors for president. Yeah. So you're right. Which could be fixed. Unless they come and settle in the U.S. mainland, which I didn't know.

That's right. So they are allowed to. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-Fee-The Republic or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-F-The Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be, featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew

about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, you must unlearn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation

you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Vote in the primaries, But if they want to vote in the general election, they have to be in the U.S. mainland as residents. With due respect to Daniel, too, I don't know him, so I don't know why he's due respect, but I like him because he's writing in. He's a human, and he seems smart and interested, so I like him already. But if this were happening in Washington, D.C., which also doesn't have votes in Congress other than their representative, they're no more represented in Congress other than the fact that they can vote for president.

they're no more represented in Congress than Puerto Rico is, if it were happening in D.C., it would be over. Everybody would be fine now. So, there is a difference there. Absolutely. And then Gabby Marita says, whenever the Koch brothers do something seemingly out of the goodness of their hearts, be very, very suspicious. Yes, definitely.

I overall, I mean, my immediate reaction was this is probably overall a good thing. I mean, a lot of these people, like, they have political views. They're not, like, they weren't born yesterday. They do need help when they move to this new area. They'll get it. And how many of them will really be strongly influenced? I don't know how many. It's certainly a smart thing.

Look, I think that the last several years have made it clear how easily people fall for propaganda. That's true. And that is not an insult to Puerto Ricans. That is just an observation I've had about people in general. I know. I just want them to be helped. Of course. I want them to be helped too.

Maybe nobody else is. But, you know, if they genuinely cared about helping them, then maybe they would, you know, provide, you know, relief to people in Puerto Rico. They're not interested in helping out of the goodness of their hearts. There's always an ulterior motive. Exactly. That's the problem. I'm actually going to be starting up an organization purely for the goodness of my heart. It's me and George Soros, and we're going to be helping them out and then giving them books to read.

Just the two of you. Yeah, he's mostly doing the money. Right. I'm going to be, I'm going to keep it real. Right. Moving on. A recreational basketball team consisting of high school students has been banned from playing for the rest of the season following an outraged parent who drew attention to their jersey selection. They refer to themselves as the wet dream team.

And their jerseys contain some racial statements that, of course, are offensive. So Tony, Tony Rube is the name of the father who spoke out against this. He says, those names, those names are not having fun. It's not so much even if we had black students. He's a white guy, by the way, or African American students or any minority students, our kids were offended. So he's saying, look, this is not to save face for minority students in the area. Apparently the area that they're in King Mills is pretty white. Which makes this even better. It does. It does make it better because I'm glad that he stood up and said something about this and it's now become a national story as a result.

He's saying this is unacceptable behavior. They should not be, first of all, named wet dream team. But more importantly, the names that they had on the jerseys were deeply, deeply racist and offensive. Do we have any? Yes. So we have one of the photos One said knee grow, knee as in knee on your leg and then grow as a growing plant, but obviously they were trying to make a statement about it has a lot of work to go to for a really bad joke.

Another person, another student, I should say, had a jersey that just said coon on it. So just blatant, blatant. Why did they think it, I mean, I never know, this is a stupid question, but why did they think it was funny? It wasn't funny. It was just so brazen. When it's funny, it's funny. You're like, they shouldn't have done that, but that was funny or whatever. But this is, I mean, this seems to me like I spend a lot of time online and there's a sort of juvenile desire to shock.

I mean, under the heading of trolling, like, it's just like, we just want to bother people. Oh, you guys are just getting bothered by this. They're basically conforming their entire life in a way to desperately attempt to get someone to respond in that way. And they're young. So it's not going to be clever. It's not going to be funny. It's just going to be crass and obvious and disgusting. Sometimes students will do things spontaneously that are terrible and the parents or adults around them didn't see it coming and they couldn't take action before things got out of the hand. You're both right. But in this case, that is not what happened. The coach for the team obviously knew that, they were wearing those jerseys. They had them printed up. And his non-apology was ridiculous. So let's go to that. He said, we sincerely apologize to anyone that was offended by the jerseys. We offered to

cover them up or change. However, the league sought fit to remove us. And we have accepted that decision. They actually conceded faster than Roy Moore. Anyone, everyone is conceded faster than Roy Moore. Yeah. But. I mean, I don't know exactly. exactly what the punishment should have been. But the problem is with this sort of situation that, okay, so you throw them out of the league. But let's say, I mean, that doesn't solve it. Having them covered up doesn't solve it. I mean, these kids and the adults around them have serious problems. It's the adults around them that have serious problems. Yeah, but the kids wore

them. The kids were obviously weren't super offended by it. Do you know what humans are? We're uncivilized little animals. That's the what's one of those are the problems I'm talking about. We're uncivilized little animals, and the adults around us are supposed to help us grow into productive, respectful human beings, right? And that is not what's happening in this situation. So I think that's the main problem. Look, their high school students, I'm not trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. They made the decision to wear these jerseys and it was a terrible decision. But at the same time, their coach apparently didn't think it was a good idea to take action prior to this.

and who knows what they're hearing from other adults around them, you know, that's the depressing part about all of it. Because these are, younger people are supposed to be a little better than that when it comes to, you know, race issues in America. But I guess in some parts of the country, that's not the case. I think it was apparently... Apology, from the coach. So is he an adult or is he maybe 18?

Is it all kids? Yeah, some of these coaches are 20. Yeah, so they're all kids. And I don't mean is actual kids. There's no 20-year-old name. Yeah, but not even like actual kids. So what it is, it's a failure in parenting and adults in the room, which weren't apparently there or condoned it. Again, this was like high school age guys.

Maybe some of them weren't paying for it. The parents had to pay for it. Like, oh, what's this going to? Oh, going to my Negro jersey, ma. And they went, oh, good, great. Great idea, Jim. So then after this all happened, no one says anything. The apology is apparent when it says,

we're sorry if anyone was offended by our stupid-ass jerseys. No, that's not an apology. You don't know what you're talking about. What you're trying to do is still cover up for what you've already failed at in the first place. So you've already, you've cemented your ignorance and your perpetuation of the ignorance with your kids. So fuck you. Yeah. No one has to accept your apology.

I've always said that. You can apologize is all you want. I don't have to accept it. Move on. I know who you are. It wasn't even a legitimate apology. They don't want it to be that. Yeah, it wasn't really an apology.

They're not trying to make it that. They're just trying to move on. I hope the two will forget about them. All right. I try not to start every story with All Right, but it's a bad habit. And every time I do it, I cringe. Sorry. A teacher in Louisiana was forcefully removed from a school board meeting and then promptly arrested and sent off to jail because she had the audacity to question a $38,000 raise that the superintendent was getting.

while the teachers in the school district haven't received a raise in years. DeShea Hargrave is her name and we're about to show you some excellent reporting from KATC, a local station in Louisiana. Now this is a, the area or the school district, I should say, is known as the Vermilion Parish school system.

And the superintendent told KATC Monday night that he called, to ensure that police knew the system, the school system was not pressing charges against her, but she was booked anyway. Now, during this meeting of the school board members, they were discussing whether or not they were going to give the superintendent a raise and whether or not they were going to renew his contract. They did decide to renew his contract. It's a three-year contract, and they did decide to give him the $38,000 raise. Now, the teachers were not supposed to ask any questions, but the point was for people to be able to give public comment

on this situation, because this is a use of taxpayer money and people should be able to voice their opinions. Well, apparently they didn't like her opinion and she got arrested. Take a look at this video from KATC. Teacher Dasha Hargrave spoke up during public comment. Because it's basically taking out of the pockets. For issue, the superintendent's new contract. A superintendent, any person in a position of leadership getting any type of raise. I feel like it's a slap in a face to all the teachers, a cafeteria work, or any other support staff we have. I have comments on the way. She received a warning.

It was public comment only, not a question and answer session, although board officials were answering her questions. After being called on a second time, that's when a city marshal stepped in. Excuse me. Is it against policy to say you? Hargrave left the meeting, but in the hallway. What are you doing? What are you doing? Can you explain?

Are you kidding me? Stop resistance. I am not. You just push me to the floor. Sir, hold on. I am way smaller than you. Hargrave has good reason to be upset at the pay disparity here because if you take a look at this chart, Raphic 51, you'll see the maximum amount that teachers in the school district can get paid. So if you are an educator with a PhD, the absolute maximum you can make is $58,861. Now, it's not a small amount of money, but it's still the maximum that you can make in the school district. district. And again, teachers haven't gotten a raise for years. And so they're frustrated at this

situation. But if you look at the superintendent, as I mentioned, he got a $38,000 raise. His salary increased from $110,190 to $140,188. Wow. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of big tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN hides your IP address, making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell the advertisers. ExpressVPN also encrypts 100% of your network data to protect you from eavesdroppers and cyber criminals. And it's also easy to install. A single mouse click

protects all your devices. But listen, guys, this is important. ExpressVPN is rated number one by CNET and Wired magazine. So take back control of your life online and secure your data. data with a top VPN solution available, ExpressVPN.com slash T-Y-T, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for T-Y-T fans. That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. Amazing. Yeah. That's a nice little boost there. I mean, that video, I think, especially like for people who watch a show a lot, and we see, especially the town hall stuff. Like, that video is America. Like, a regular person who stands up, says, hey, this seems kind of effed up, like someone who's already doing way better than us,

suddenly gets a huge influx of money and we're suffering here. And so you send in the authorities and they drag them out forcefully. And drag a school teacher in southern Louisiana out like that. They're not pressing charges, the school district. Yeah. But they also, now the issue seems to be who it was that instructed the marshal to go over there. It was a marshal acting on his own, but I don't think it looked like he was acting on his own. So I did a little digging to learn a little bit about the school board, and the person who ordered the marshal to take her out was Anthony Fontana.

He is the head of the school board. He happens to be, as far as I can see, the only registered Republican on the school board. He was in the video. He was in the video. You can see him give the nod, like, get rid of it. rid of her. And you're right in that we don't know whether or not the arrest happened because the Marshall decided to do it or if there was a member of the school board who told him to do it. But the superintendent does not want to press charges. School district does not. She didn't do

anything wrong. Oh, she asked a question, which by the way is an incredibly legitimate question. A, that's taxpayer money. And B, when are we going to look out for the educators here who oftentimes have to spend money out of their own pocket to provide supplies for their students. When are we going to value those teachers? Once he hits 200,000 a year, then we'll start to value them, okay? He's still got a couple more bumps to come. And you're right, John, the reason why this story stood out to me so much, aside from the fact that it has to do with education, which I care about a lot, is it's a microcosm of what's

happening in this entire country right now, where you're not even able to question why the system is rigged against you, economically. You're not even allowed to call out those in positions of power without worrying about retaliation. We're supposed to live in a country that values freedom of speech, that values being able to speak the truth and fight for what you think is right. And we're seeing that get violated left and right all the time while we're distracted by nonsense.

You know, you want to talk about free speech issues. Free speech issues, sure, happened on college campuses where conservatives want to provoke protests. But more importantly, they happen in situations like this where the powerless continuously get crushed for no reason at all. That's why those right wingers are going to be doing videos about this. Oh, sure. I'm sure they're very concerned about it. I think that schoolbird does care about freedom of speech. And they know that money is speech. They just wanted to give them a lot of speech. Like 38,000 speeches more each year.

And the idea that this was just a comments, this was to error your comments, but no questions. What did they want her to stand up and clap? Yeah, they did actually. I mean, that that wouldn't have gotten her escorted and then later arrested. They threw her in jail. She had to post bond. Well, and the thing is too, like, so obviously just what you saw there, terrible. But imagine if you're that woman, he comes up, he starts to push you down.

If you pay attention to the news, you've seen that go way worse any number of times over the past few years, where she ends up with a terrible injury, ends up dead potentially. That sort of thing happens off of absolutely nothing, seemingly on a weekly or monthly basis in this country. Yeah. Anyway, I want to thank the local news stations that are keeping a close eye on that story. And if you want to watch the full report, you can do so by clicking the link in the description box. All right, moving on to the final story in the rundown today that I have to talk about. You said all right again. I know. I can't help it. I'm sorry. It's like the worst habit that I have. It's all right. That's be the worst habit you have, then you're fun.

No, I think I probably have worse habits. I don't know, but I'm not going to call myself out and tell you what they are. I can remind you of a few if you want us. All right. Look at this discrimination against white men at TYT. Boo. I just fished you. Okay, good.

Donald Trump has a religious advisor. If you can recall, her name is Paula White, and she is one of these people who has gotten incredibly wealthy through the prosperity gospel. She essentially lies to a bunch of people and scams them into giving her a lot of money. And 2018 is no exception. She is now pushing for something known as first fruits, which sounds really weird. That's what Roy Moore wanted. But we'll, we'll explain what it is. I'm trying not to, let's not go off the rails here, okay? Let's talk about what first fruits really are. So Paula White is urging her followers to donate a first fruits offering of up to their entire salary for the month of January

to enjoy blessings for the rest of the year or suffer the consequences of failing to follow God's command. So here's what she told her parishioners. Each January, I put God first and honor him with the first of our substance by sowing a first fruits offering of one month's pay. That is a big sacrifice, but it is a seed for the harvest. I am believing for in the coming year. And God always provide. What? You better provide after you've given up a 12th of your salary. The difference between, and so she also differentiates between those who tithe and those who contribute for the first fruit. Also, it's January, right after the Christmas month, when everybody spent more than they could probably afford. I mean, wow. Okay. So the difference between,

between tithe, this is her speaking. The difference between tithe and first fruit, first fruit is all of it, all of what? Well, if you want to bring God all of one day salary, one week's salary, or one month's salary, that's between you and God. I try to bring a month's salary, but at the very least, every year I give God a weak salary.

Like she's trying to convince people to give her a significant portion of their pay. And we're not talking about rich people, She's not hanging out with the Koch brothers and, you know, asking for, you know, maybe a thousand bucks at the beginning of the beginning. No, she's, like, these parishioners are not wealthy people and she's totally taking advantage of them. She also says, God claims the first of all things it rightfully belongs to him. So why are you telling your parishioners to give you money? Because you're not God.

I know you think of yourself as God. I mean, she is just openly taking advantage of them. They should all get together and decide to give their first route to another. church. Say, all right, we'll do it. I'm sure she'd love that, because this goes to God either way. She wouldn't love it. She's not after getting these other churches rich here.

Churches are tax exempt, and as a result are supposed to be apolitical, but she is obviously political. She is in Donald Trump's camp, and she's simultaneously scamming all these people out of money. See, I think we need to be aware of our biases. We're on the left. or secular. Okay, so it's easy to look at the prosperity gospel churches and say this stuff is just a scam.

It doesn't actually work. And yet you've covered a lot of these prosperity gospel people. The people who run these, a lot of them have private jets. Obviously it's working. This is, how do you argue with the results, Santa? And look, I know that there are some members of the audience who think, well, if these people are not smart enough to avoid getting scam, then they're getting scammed, that's on them. But you've got to remember, religion for a lot of people is something that they turn to when they need hope.

And to know that they get exploited like this, we should do what we can to help them, not criticize them or ridicule them or insult them. Like my mom, she doesn't believe in prosperity preaching or anything like that. But, you know, religion for her is hope. It's, you know, that faith kind of keeps her going. And in her darkest times, that's what comforts her. And I think a lot of religious people believe what they believe because of that. And I feel terrible for anyone who falls victim to Paula White in her scammy ways. Yeah.

And also especially, not to go over, but because it subverts or co-ops like an actual, a good impulse where, you know, Some of humanity, not enough, but some wants to help people. And to give, let's say with tithing, to give 10% of your earnings to try to make people's lives better would be a good thing. But if it's instead going to a church and if it's a church that doesn't actually use it for the community, if it's just for the enrichment of the religious leader, then that's even worse because it doesn't just deprive people of their money. It deprives people who need that money as charity from ever getting it. I mean, you could be a total atheist in doing something like tithing going to an organization. that deserves it, that would be a great thing.

Right. But these are just, these are sharks, basically. Right. It's money that goes towards someone who wants to live a lavish lifestyle and do nothing positive or productive for humanity. And that's terrible. All right, we actually have time for one more story, three minutes, so let me get to it. North Korea and South Korea have opened up talks.

And this has been in the work since July of 2017. South Korea elected a more liberal leader, and he has been pushing for talks with North Korea since. And so North Korea decided to go ahead and have that conversation. And so far what we know is that it is de-escalating some tension between both countries and the Winter Olympics, which will take place in South Korea, will now have two figure skaters competing from North Korea. And so this is a fascinating development, especially when you consider the fact that Trump recently, or is considering attacking North Korea to show that they're, I don't know what he's doing. I don't know what his reason is.

That they're big, strong alpha men. Right. Yeah. Yeah, and it's a particularly scary thing because, like, these South Koreans who have every moment of their life have lived with the possible immediate death from an attack from the north, now are like, well, maybe there could be diplomacy. except maybe this external force, the U.S. could ruin it all. Because, of course, if war starts, Americans will die, but far more South Koreans will die than Americans.

They're the ones who would actually pay based on what Trump might want to do. But yeah, it's great to see it. I mean, for all we know, it could just be posturing, it could just be part of larger negotiations. But if there was any chance that they could actually get over this longstanding divide between the two, that would be historic. It would be amazing. So according to reports, both countries also agreed to hold military talks to diffuse border tension and reinstate a military hotline. So that was according to the South Korean government.

So that's, you know, it's good news. It's a little bit of progress. Hopefully it remains in that trajectory. Hopefully we don't screw it all up. Right. Because we're the only ones who probably can. Yeah. us. Great to be here. Both hours day.

Yes. Yes. Yeah, it was a test run. We'll see what people thought. Yeah, I would, you know, I would, I'll wait for the results. Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow. I don't know. I have to see if TYT will invite me back. Is Jank going to be here tomorrow? I don't know. I think that he is. Yes, Jank is back tomorrow. Okay. Okay. That's good news.

When we, John has a show coming up. He's filling in for Jank for Rebel headquarters, so make sure you guys check that out. And then afterwards, we will have a postgame. Thank you for everyone else, though. Have a great night. We will see you soon. We're listening to this free version of the Young Turks podcast. You know that the full show is at t-y-tnetwork.com slash join.

If you become a member, you get the full show ad-free. We love you for watching or listening either way. There's going to be a new free podcast tomorrow. You can keep on doing that. But if you want to get the full show ad-free, t-y-tnetwork.com slash join. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work. Listen ad-free.

Access members, only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.