The Young Turks - The Young Turks 12.19.17: UFOs, Gorsuch, and Tax Bill

Episode Date: December 20, 2017

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from December 13th, 2017. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join. Hour 1: Cenk. The former head of the Pentagon’s secret, $22 million UFO-hunting progra...m says aliens may have visited Earth. “My personal belief is that there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone,” Luis Elizondo, former leader of the so-called Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program noting he does not speak for the federal government. A clip of one of President Donald Trump’s federal judicial nominees struggling to answer rudimentary questions about the law garnered well more than 1 million views in a matter of hours on Thursday night and stoked speculation that another of the president’s nominations might get derailed. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., shared footage of Matthew Petersen, a nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, getting quizzed by Sen. John Neely Kennedy, R-La., on basic aspects of trial procedure during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Video of the interaction. Trump was considering rescinding Gorsuch’s nomination.  Hour 2: Cenk & John. More information on the tax bill. Houses passes the bill and Senate will decides its fate tonight. Corporate tax loophole they said would be closed but are not. Electrical vehicles will get tax breaks and companies will no longer get tax breaks for providing employees lunch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 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. You're about to watch what we call an extended clip of the Young Turks, and the reality is somewhere in the middle. It's a little longer than our YouTube clips, but it's actually shorter than the whole two-hour show, which you can get if you're a member. You can get an ad-free and make sure you catch every new story we do that day. You're going to love it as a full show. that's at t-y-tnetwork.com slash join.
Starting point is 00:00:32 Thanks for watching. All right, well, I'm the young church. I'm your host, Jake Uyghur. I need you to understand what a phenomenal show we're going to put on tonight for you guys. You know why? It's not us. It's you.
Starting point is 00:00:45 No, it's not us. It's the news. The news is phenomenal. Every day it surprises me a little bit, and today it surprised me a lot. In just a little bit, I'm going to give you UFOs. I'm not kidding, and now the world has changed. Anyways, and I've decided after reading the news today that 2018 is going to be mind-bending.
Starting point is 00:01:10 If you thought 2016 was crazy and 2017 was mental, wait until you get a load of 2018. Okay, so, all right, later in the program, the world is so topsy-turvy that Aaron Burnett had a shining moment on television. We're going to tell you about that. A guy trying to become a federal judge did not have a shining moment. You're going to see that in a little bit. And then I'm going to tell you what a Wofa is and how you're going to be involved in a Wofa, and you're going to love Wofa. I'm going to tell you about how there's a new insane conspiracy theory.
Starting point is 00:01:45 Of course, on Fox News Channel, and that one doesn't even have anything new with the UFOs. I'm going to tell you about how Elizabeth Warren has responded to TYT's stories. I'm going to tell you, if I have time, I'm going to pick apart Jimmy Doar. What? Oh, interesting. Okay, you're going to want to catch this whole show. And then Michigan has a wonderful experiment in democracy. What is going on? There's even good news on the show today. All right. Now, by the way, it's a perfect moment that if you don't have young tourist membership yet, and sometimes, of course, you're going to miss parts of the show, and it's a two-hour show, and then there's a post game and all that. And then there's old school and aggressive progressive. So get the gift of membership, either for yourself or for a loved one. $25 bucks, gets you three months, try it out, have them try it out, and I think they'll love it. TYT Network.com slash gift, okay? Let's go over here and do UFOs. Apparently, the Pentagon had a fascinating project called Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.
Starting point is 00:02:50 Now, if you're the Pentagon, you're going to want to identify threats in the air. That makes sense. So were they trying to identify Chinese or Russian threats? No. Indian, Pakistani, no. UFOs, alien threats. Awesome. This whole story is made of awesome.
Starting point is 00:03:09 At the end, I'm going to show you a video of UFO. I think. And apparently the U.S. government thinks. Hold for it because you want all the details of this amazing story. So New York Times wrote this. They explained that it was, that there was actually. a group, and it was run by a military intelligence official, Lewis Elizondo. I'm going to give you clips from him, too, in a second.
Starting point is 00:03:32 On the fifth floor of the Pentagon Sea Ring, deep within the building's maze. Already it's cool. From now on, anything that's secretive, I'm going to say that's on the fifth floor of the sea ring. Okay, which is great. Okay. Now, they explained that this program ran for a little while, and I'm going to still be running, and that the Pentagon had looked into this in the past.
Starting point is 00:03:55 So let me give you details. The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which says it's shut down in 2012. But its backers say that while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence. That's our old alien beep. Okay. For the past five years, they say officials with the program have continued to investigate
Starting point is 00:04:21 episodes brought to them by service members, while all. also carrying out their other Defense Department duties. Now, look, you know, your Uncle Harry, who's halfway there and halfway, not there mentally, he comes over at Thanksgiving and tells you about UFOs that did X, Y, and Z to them. You say, maybe, maybe not, right? But these are, most of these data is collected from U.S. service members. So now, does that mean that a guy because he's in the U.S. military is, by definition, more trustworthy? No, not necessarily, of course, but so when Bob comes in and tells me, look, man,
Starting point is 00:04:59 I know how aircraft act and they don't act that way, I give that zero percent credibility. Okay, when a Navy pilot's in the air and he sees a UFO and says an aircraft does not act that way, I give it a lot more credibility, okay, it's not to end all be all, but it's pretty interesting. So let's go back in time for when they originally started doing programs like this and find out what they found out back then, which when we had a lot less technology at our disposal. In 1947, the Air Force began a series of studies that investigated more than 12,000 claimed UFO sightings before it was officially ended in 1969. The project, which included a study codename
Starting point is 00:05:38 Project Blue Book. I love names like that. Started in 1952, concluded that most sightings involved stars, clouds, conventional aircraft, or spy planes. Although, 701, remained unexplained. Okay. So, but that was back then, and we just didn't have that much technology, and people believed in more kooky stuff back then. So, all right, you know, grain and more grain of salt. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:09 Now, let's come back to what was happening recently. The shadowy program, parts of it remain classified, began in 2007, and initially it was largely funded at the request of Harry Reid, in Nevada. Democrat who was a Senate Majority Leader at the time and who has long had an interest in space phenomenon. Okay, hey, Harry Reid did something in the Senate. Bless this hard. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:32 And if he found aliens, okay, maybe he rescued his legacy a little bit. Anyways, by the way, I liked Project Blue Book. If somebody comes to me and says, do you want to be involved in Project Blue Book? My answer is a definitive yes or a definitive no. Okay, because it either involves murdering somebody or finding aliens. I'm in for the alien part, not in for the murder. Okay, anyway, you can tell that I find this story cool, but they have real evidence we're going to get to in a second.
Starting point is 00:07:00 So where did the money come from? Well, most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reeds, Robert Bigelow, who is currently working with NASA to produce expandable craft for humans to use in space. Now, the money that was allocated to, it was tiny. It was only $22 million out of us at the time, $600 billion dollar Pentagon budget, $22 million, not billion. So it's a very small number for the Pentagon. I don't like that it went to Harry Reid's friend.
Starting point is 00:07:35 You can't apparently do anything in the Senate without at least a little bit of corruption sprinkled in. They would argue that it's not, but I wish that it went to someone who was not a friend of the guy who financed it through the government. Anyway, even Harry Reid says this was so-called black money. Senator Stevens knows about it, in a way, Senator Inouye knows about it, but that was it, and that's how we wanted it. So it was those three senators that okayed it. Also, the first time black money has ever been used in a positive connotation. Usually black money is, oh, that thing where we sent a lot of money and weapons down to Nicaragua and 22,000 civilians died, that was black money. Or, oh, a bunch of billionaire donors got together and got themselves a
Starting point is 00:08:17 trillion-dollar tax cut. That was black money. actually black money or dart money that actually went to something interesting to try to see if there's UFOs. But notice, by the way, those two senators who approved it back then, apparently in a secured room in the capital with just those three senators, Reid, Inouye and Stevens. Reed is now retired, Inouye has passed away, and so is Stevens. They were both really old. Anyway, now back to Bigelow, who's the one doing the research. You might have seen him on 60 Minutes. He's very wealthy, and he's certainly very positive about whether there are alien forces on this planet and whether they've reached out to us.
Starting point is 00:09:05 He explained that he was, quote, absolutely convinced that aliens exist and that UFOs have visited Earth. Let me break down that sentence for you guys, because do aliens exist? Almost certainly 99.999% chance, and you can keep going with those nines. Because what? We're the only thing in the whole universe with billions upon billions of stars and galaxies and planets were the only sentient life forms in the universe that's preposterous. Almost certainly not the case. And it's egotistical to think that it would be the case.
Starting point is 00:09:40 And I would argue borderline ignorant. Whether they visited Earth, the second part of the sentence, is a completely different matter. And that requires evidence. And previously, we had not had it. So let's dive in a little bit more. We're working our way towards the video here. Working with Mr. Bigelow's Las Vegas-based company, the program produced documents that described sightings of aircraft that seem to move at very high velocities with no visible
Starting point is 00:10:06 signs of propulsion or that hovered with no apparent means of lift. Interesting. Now look, this guy is convinced that aliens exist. I don't know he became convinced because of the project or he was convinced before the project. That would affect his credibility a little bit. But remember, they're gathering the evidence largely from U.S. military members and other credible sources, okay? Officials with the program have also studied videos of encounters between unknown objects and American military aircraft, including one released in August of a whitish oval object.
Starting point is 00:10:41 about the size of a commercial plane, chased by two Navy F.A. 18F. Fighter jets from the aircraft carrier Nimitz off the coast of San Diego in 2004. That stuff's real, man. So you do that information, whatever you're like. Let me just give you a couple more facts before the video. They said they collected metal alloys and other materials that Mr. Elizondo and program contractors said had been recovered from unidentified aerial phenomena. I don't know how they know that it was recovered from those UFOs, if they know that. But boy, that's interesting. Also, researchers studied people who said they had experienced physical effects from encounters with the objects
Starting point is 00:11:31 and examined them for any physiological changes. But remember, a lot of this is still classified, so we don't know if there were any physiological changes or what the results there were. The program collected video and audio recordings of reported UFO incidents, including footage from a Navy FAA18 Super Hornet showing an aircraft surrounded by some kind of glowing aura, traveling at high speed and rotating as it moves. And ladies and gentlemen, buckle up, brace for impact. This appears to be a U.S. military plane and its crew coming into contact with an unidential. identified flying object. Watch. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations
Starting point is 00:12:23 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
Starting point is 00:13:09 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. Dude, I don't have a fucking drawn on, bro.
Starting point is 00:13:48 There's a whole fleet of them. Look on the ASA. My gosh. They're all going against the wind. The wind's a hundred point out in the west. Oh, that thing, dude. That's not an honest though, is it? It's not a lot of us, though, is it? Well, if there's like that thing, it's rotated.
Starting point is 00:14:19 And they didn't have me until it rotated. And when it rotated, I was like, oh, oh, that's interesting. because it looks unidentified flying object. Could it be that the Chinese have come up with a drone that's amazing and can do that stuff? Maybe. But if it's not maybe the Chinese, I don't know what the other maybe is. So mine blown. Hold, here comes Elizondo.
Starting point is 00:14:48 He was in charge of the program. He went on television recently because he ran it until it was financed from 2007 to 2012. And then he continued to run it with the CIA. others when it wasn't technically financed. Finally, in October, he was frustrated that Defense Secretary Mattis was not giving it the support that it needed, so he resigned and now has come public. Let's listen. So let me just ask you point blank the question. Do you believe that life from somewhere else while you ran this program came here, visited, observed? I will tell you unequivocally that through the observation, scientific methodologies that were
Starting point is 00:15:24 applied to look at this phenomena, that these aircraft, we'll call them aircraft, are displaying characteristics that are not currently within the U.S. inventory, nor in any foreign inventory that we are aware of. I love how military guys talk. It is not currently in the U.S. military inventory, nor in any inventory we're aware of. Already sounds badass. Burnett, doing a great job here with a follow-up question. Let's watch.
Starting point is 00:15:52 So I know you're using, you're being clear, but I mean, the answer is yes. My personal, I can't speak on behalf of the government. Obviously, I'm not in the U.S. government anymore. My personal belief is that there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone. Whatever that means. Here's what it means. They're here. Look, guys, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:16:20 I don't know. Of course I don't know. It requires evidence. And so before there was no evidence that we knew of publicly. Now there is some make of it what you will, and I don't know what to make of it. And it's entirely possible that they are unidentified and we'll later be identified and we'll figure out what the hell is going on. We got to, you know what?
Starting point is 00:16:40 I need an alien ban until we figure out what the hell is going on. We got a ban country. People coming in from other countries. I mean, other planets and galaxies. Anyway, it's exciting times. And the other thing that tripped me out from that video is when the pilot said, quote, there's a whole fleet of them. Wow. That's all I got to say about that.
Starting point is 00:17:12 Man, could you imagine? Could you imagine? Okay. Okay, I don't know how I'm going to beat that story. Let's just end the show. And we don't have to worry about politics anymore. Commander Calgon, take me away. Old school reference to a commercial.
Starting point is 00:17:33 Anyway, some of you will get that. So, I got to go on with the show. I'm sorry, I got to go on with the show. But you guys are going to love this story too. Okay. So Trump has been putting up some ridiculous judicial nominees. more about some of them after the videos, but you're going to love the videos. This is one of them, Matthew Peterson. He largely worked at the Federal Election Commission, which
Starting point is 00:17:55 means that he mainly did nothing with his career. Those are the people who refused to investigate dark money and also the questionable corruption that happens in the country. But he was getting questioned by Republican Senator Kennedy from Louisiana, so he probably thought, well, this isn't going to be a problem. He's going to give me a bunch of softballs. We're on the same team here. Terazette, not on the same team. Kennedy did not give him softballs. Instead, he came with another thing that you use in baseball.
Starting point is 00:18:24 It's called a bat. So let's watch. Have any of you not tried a case to verdict in a courtroom? Mr. Page. Have you ever tried a jury trial? I have not. Civil? No.
Starting point is 00:18:43 Criminal? No. Bench? No. State or federal court? I have not. Have you ever taken a deposition? I was involved in taking depositions when I was associate at Wiley Ryan.
Starting point is 00:18:56 I first came out of law school. Have you ever, how many, how many depositions? I would, I'd be struggling to remember. Less than 10? Yes. Less than five? Probably somewhere in that range. Have you ever tried to take a deposition?
Starting point is 00:19:15 by yourself? I believe no. Have you ever argued a motion in state court? I have not. Have you ever argued a motion in federal court? No. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking
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Starting point is 00:20:29 Check it out today. That last thing my head in the center was here. Yeah. Look, I, that was so bad. I started to feel bad for a Trump nominee. I was like starting to get embarrassed a little bit like, oh, stop hitting him, man. It's like when the Jew bear was pounding on the bat in the cave before he came out
Starting point is 00:20:53 and he got the Nazi and inglorious bastards, I'm like, oh, man, no, don't hit him again. Don't hit him again. He's going to hit him again. Watch. When's the last time you read the federal rules of civil procedure? the federal rules of civil procedure I have when's the last time you read the federal rules of evidence
Starting point is 00:21:19 the federal rules of evidence all the way through would well comprehensively would have been in law school and you tell me what the Dober standard is Senator Kennedy I don't have that readily at my disposal Do you know what a motion in limine is? Yes, I haven't.
Starting point is 00:21:45 Again, my background is not... Just for the record, do you know what a motion in limine he is? I would probably not be able to give you a good definition right here at the table. Do you know what the younger abstention doctrine is? I've heard of it. How about the Pullman abstention doctrine? I heard you. You all see that a lot.
Starting point is 00:22:08 in federal court. Okay. Look, I'm sure I don't agree with Kennedy on anything. I'm sure you voted for the tax cuts, though. But it was hard not to enjoy that. Okay. Have you ever seen a courtroom? Have you ever walked by a courtroom?
Starting point is 00:22:27 Have you ever seen a courtroom on television? Do you know any legal rules at all, at all? Name one legal rule. I object, Your Honor. All right, he's not done with him yet. One last piece of questioning here. It's a little unusual, but check it out. Okay, all right, fine.
Starting point is 00:22:57 That wasn't Kennedy and Spencer, okay? Or Peterson. Look, Peterson would have been a thousand times better off, just saying, Senator, these are great questions, but I'm not a trial lawyer. You're absolutely right. I'm not a trial lawyer. I had different legal experience, and I hope that I could apply that to the bench. But he didn't have enough sense to say that. Instead, he kept going, no, no, not at this time. I mean, kind of in law school, though. Oh, those are bad answers. Those are really bad answers.
Starting point is 00:23:29 So what has happened now? Well, Mr. Peterson has withdrawn his nomination, and the president has accepted. And oops, there he goes. Kennedy says that Trump called him and was like, well, you know, it's a good job for you to find the problem once. You know, that's what you're supposed to be doing. No, your job is to pick good nominees. It's not to pick a bunch of guys who have never seen a courtroom and then hope that for once a Republican senator does the job. Oh, God, he's such a child. Anyway, Peter said, again, I feel a little bit bad for him, had this to say,
Starting point is 00:24:04 I had hoped that my nearly two decades of public service might carry more weight than my two worst minutes on television. Well, that's not really how it works. So, and look, if you're going to be a great judge and you're up for a really important judicial position there, you have to be able to put together an argument. And I know that you're not a trial lawyer, but you could have defended yourself a little bit there and talked about what experience you do have. So that did not go well and didn't give a lot of faith to, I think, the American people that you had this thing figured out. Peterson is Trump's third district court nominee to get derailed over a lack of qualifications. Brett Talley, a 36-year-old lawyer who had never tried a case and earned a rare and unanimous not qualified rating by the American Bar Association withdrew his nomination last week, Jeff Mateer, who had described transgender children as evidence of Satan's plan is not moving either.
Starting point is 00:25:06 Okay, so those other two guys way worse and thrilled that they are not moving forward. Peterson, I mean, I hope he finds a job where he does something. I mean, his real job at the FEC, that if you don't know, the Federal Election Commission has let corruption run rampant. They almost never take any action. Maybe part of the reason why Peterson hasn't learned anything in those last couple of years. Anyway, again, nonetheless, even though he's a Trump nominee who's unqualified, I feel tiny bit bad for him. Maybe it's the lip in me, seeing him get pounded like that. But the other guys I don't feel bad about at all.
Starting point is 00:25:41 And you shouldn't feel bad for Trump overall because finally, let me share this fact with you. The Senate confirmed 12 of Trump's circuit court judges this year, more than any president has gotten in their first year since those courts were created in 1891. that's in addition to putting Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court and getting 6th District Court nominees confirmed as well. And so, by the way, the reason for that is not because Trump is a master at getting nominees confirmed. It's because the Republicans blocked everything Obama was doing the last two years. So there was this huge backlog of judicial positions that needed to be filled. So as soon as a Republican came in, the Republicans were like,
Starting point is 00:26:21 all right, great, now let's confirm all the judges. And the Democrats who had been blocked all along, of course, couldn't figure out how to block any of these judges, other the ones that the Republicans on their own, like Kennedy, decided this is too embarrassing to go forward. So I'll help the Democrats block him. Otherwise, the Democrats in their usual incompetence couldn't get anyone blocked. And so that's why Trump has had so much success, even though he's clearly not even vetting the candidates. Oh, what's his standards? Is he a right winger? Does he have good blogs?
Starting point is 00:26:52 Is he good with words? He's got big words? Oh, I like big words. And most importantly, is he loyal to Trump no matter what? And that's his main being a factor that he's looking at for qualification and why some of them are an absolute disaster. And unfortunately, far too many of them have already been confirmed. So John Kennedy, I think even stumbled into questioning this guy to find out how absolutely
Starting point is 00:27:17 unqualified he was. Because he asked the five people that were up there. He goes, have any of you guys ever done this? all of them had except for him. So Peterson's the one who raised his hand. Then he honed in. He didn't even realize, maybe, I don't know, this is my assumption. Based on the fact he didn't go at him right away, he went at him because he was the one who didn't know anything or didn't have any experience.
Starting point is 00:27:39 Then it carried on. And he was like, this is amazing. I didn't know it was this bad. And on top of that, think of the fact that all these guys get rushed through. So how many other unqualified people in every level of this administration's tenure? so far is absolutely unqualified, and has no idea what they're doing, Amorosa. So these things happen all over the place, and it just goes unvetted or unanswered. We don't see all the two minutes of the worst television, but it probably happens a lot more
Starting point is 00:28:05 than we even know. Yeah, no, no, you're very right about that, although Kennedy had definitely laid an ambush. He was waiting in the cave. And Aldo the Apache knew he was in the cave, and then he was going to come out. I don't know if you saw the movie. But anyway, because he was ready with the in liminey stuff. He had those questions ready to go. And to be honest with you, I'm theoretically a lawyer.
Starting point is 00:28:27 I don't know what the emotion in limine or lemon drops or whatever it is. It's either. So, but I was not appointed to a federal bench, right? And if I was, I'd have studied. Okay. All right. Now, let's move forward. I got one more judicial story for you guys.
Starting point is 00:28:45 Okay. This is an unbelievable story. I know that you get that a lot in the Trump here. but it's still shocking. And it's quite unbelievable, but you should believe it. The reason is this is one of the best sourced articles that I've seen in a while. It's in the Washington Post. They had 11 different sources.
Starting point is 00:29:06 Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders were in the room when Trump made these comments. And so apparently there was a lot of congressional leaders, and they all confirmed. And at the end, there's a kind of a tacit admission from the Trump team about it, too. So what's the story? Well, Washington Post starts explaining by saying this. For nearly eight months, President Trump has boasted that appointing Neil Gorsuch, the Supreme Court ranks high among his signature achievements. But earlier this year, Trump talked about rescinding Gorsuch's nomination,
Starting point is 00:29:38 venting angrily to advisors after the Supreme Court pick was critical of the president's escalating attacks on the federal's judiciary in private meetings with legislators. What? No. Really? After he nominated him, because Gorsuch wasn't, quote, unquote, loyal enough to him, as you're going to see, he thought about rescinding it. Wow. Just when you thought he couldn't get any worse or any more childish. Let's get more details. Trump, according to several people with knowledge of the discussions, was upset that Gorsuch had pointedly distanced himself from the president in a private February meeting with Senator Richard Blumenthal. telling the senator that he found Trump's repeated attacks on the federal judiciary, quote, disheartening and demoralizing. And Trump apparently lost it over that.
Starting point is 00:30:31 But wait a minute, you knucklehead. The Supreme Court justices are supposed to be separate from the executive branch. So when they go to their process of getting confirmed, that's literally the first thing that they say, oh, I'm independent of the executive branch. I'm independent of the guys who appointed me. I'm independent of politics. So that is what Gorsuch is doing. In order to get on the bench, I don't even really believe him.
Starting point is 00:30:55 But of course he's going to say that. He'd be incredibly stupid not to say that. That would be the only thing you could say pretty much that would block your confirmation. In fact, the very first question asked was from a Republican, Chuck Grassley, in his hearings, public hearings. And he said, hey, are you independent of the president? And Gorsuch started by saying, Senator, that's a softball. Of course I am. But Trump is so stupid.
Starting point is 00:31:21 He doesn't know that. So he's like, what do you mean you're independent of me? How dare you say that? Oh, God, you're so stupid. If he hadn't said that, he wouldn't get confirmed. All right, more details from the story. The president worried that Gorsuch would not be, quote, loyal, one of the people said, and told aides that he was tempted to pull Gorsuch's nomination and that he knew plenty of other judges who would want the job.
Starting point is 00:31:47 It's not how the Supreme Court works. I know Bobby down the street. He did my tax work once. He's a lawyer. There's plenty of judges that want the job. And they'll be loyal to me, like my lawyers that also work for the mob. They're loyal to me. They're good look guys.
Starting point is 00:32:02 Maybe I'll get them on there. Remember when he was first asked, and I know that this also sounds unbelievable. But during the primaries, when he was first asked who he thinks would be a good Supreme Court nominee, he said, Andrew Napolitano, the Fox News, judicial analyst. This man is an utter buffoon. More. In a meeting with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
Starting point is 00:32:28 Trump attacked the judge in sharp terms surprising his fellow Republicans. At this point, I, you know, we shouldn't be surprised. I shouldn't be surprised. But, I mean, he doesn't know anything. He doesn't know how the Supreme Court works at all, at all. You know more about the American government by an order of magnitude 10 times more than what Trump the president knows. Remember when challenged during the campaign that he doesn't know really important things like
Starting point is 00:32:56 the nuclear triad and other parts of being president, he said, oh, well, when I get in there, I'm going to learn it's so good, it's going to make your head spin. Does it look like he did a lot of homework and he learned it so good that it made our head spinning? Our heads are spinning, but for a different reason, I think. More from the Washington Post. The person added that he largely fault, that's another one of their sources, that he largely false the White House for failing to adequately prepare Trump for Gorsuch's comments and to explain that Supreme Court nominees asserting their independence from the president
Starting point is 00:33:27 who appointed them was a natural part of a successful confirmation process. In other words, they forgot to explain it to the man child and forgot what an idiot he is that you'd have to tell the president. Now, remember, okay, don't get upset, Donnie. He's going to say that he's not going to be 100% loyal to you. he's probably lying, but the point is that he's supposed to say that to get confirmed. Okay, man, child, like, what a pathetic, pathetic mess of a guy. Okay, so he goes off the handle here thinking about pulling him.
Starting point is 00:34:02 They have to, like, tie him down, make sure he doesn't pull the thing because people would be livid, right? And he would lose his base, his base really liked it. Now he's bragging that he, oh, yeah, I was on Gorsuch's side the whole time. I'm the one who picked him. He didn't even pick him. Anyway, but then Gorsuch winds up sending him a note. Apparently the note got there late. The reason why I don't believe that Gorsuch is independent of Trump is Gorsuch is basically
Starting point is 00:34:31 an ass kisser. That's how he got the job in the first place. You have to remember the main thing about Gorsuch, the one thing that made him stand out in why corporate America picked him and handed him to Trump is that it, you know, In one case, he's been pro-corporate in almost every case, right? But in one case, he said a truck driver should freeze to death if his corporation asked him to. Otherwise, he should be fired. Every other judge, there was nearly a dozen judges that looked at that case up and down the judicial system in America.
Starting point is 00:35:02 And they said, no, the guy doesn't have to freeze to death. And Gorsuch says, if a corporation says you freeze to death, you shut up and you freeze to death. That's who Gorsuch is. So you think he wasn't going to kiss Trump's ass? He's been kissing ass his old career. So it turns out he did send him a note and the note said, this is to Trump. Your address to Congress was magnificent. And you were so kind to recognize Mrs. Scalia.
Starting point is 00:35:29 And remember the justice referring to Justice Scalia who had passed away. And to mention me, my teenage daughters were cheering the TV. Okay, I know they have to write pleasant notes to each other. And I know that you have to write stuff like that. Otherwise, Trump will get mad and throw fits and maybe end your career. AIDS said Trump did not immediately receive the note, but it was retrieved by legislative affairs director Mark Short and then viewed by Trump on March 10th, helping ease his concerns. So earlier in March, he's livid because he said one little thing against Trump, Gorsuch did. but it turns out he knew it and he sent a note oh my god don't worry don't worry i love you and i love
Starting point is 00:36:14 your ass and i love everything about it believe me i'll serve you i'll serve you master so then he gets the note he's like oh okay that's better that's better now mark short that same guy who retrieved the note pretty much admits it when he says the process obviously caused frustration but that frustration was compounded by the fact that gorsuch had sent him a personal letter that he never received. In other words, yes, this story is entirely accurate. He threw a little fit, like the child that he is, and nearly pulled Gorsuch. But when he got the ass-kissing letter, he thought, oh, that's much better. Now he respects me. This guy is totally Joffrey. He just is. He's like a petulant child. And so this is what he was thinking of doing with the Supreme Court
Starting point is 00:36:59 pick. God knows what else he would do and what kind of danger he poses to all of us. But don't say you weren't warned, the president is an unreal character with incredibly low IQ, paper thin skin, complete narcissist, petulant, immature, and an absolute disaster. Young Turks. Thanks for listening to this podcast. You're only halfway through. So hold, hold, stay right here. Just want to remind you if you want to get all five segments of the Young Turks commercial free. These are just two of them. day we do it. So go to t-y-tnetwork.com slash join, and you'll get the whole five segments, two hours. Add free. Do it now. All right, back on a young turks. A couple of quick tweets for you guys. Left of Center says,
Starting point is 00:37:54 you can't fight crazy with nice, and the far right is fucking crazy. So when you look at the Kevin Jackson of the world, it does appear that way. Ray for Madness says, The right has his conspiracy theories about a coup on Trump by the intel agencies. The nominal left has its conspiracy theories about Putin staging a coup in America. I've seen more evidence of the former, but neither rise to any level of serious credibility. Yeah. Okay, agree to disagree. Look, I'm not talking about Putin doing a coup.
Starting point is 00:38:25 A coup is an actual physical act involving usually tanks and force and violence. But I know there's some of you guys out there who still don't believe in in Russian interference in the election or otherwise It's okay. We'll see. You're wrong, but bless your heart. We'll see when the evidence comes out. All right, let's go over here and do more stories. Okay, no, no, not yet. I want to do Elizabeth Warren first. I'll get to Jimmy in a second. Okay. So TYT and Veskes has been doing a great series. on how companies that are claiming that they're going to create jobs with the giant tax cuts that they're getting aren't actually creating jobs. And they have no intention of creating jobs.
Starting point is 00:39:12 And first in that series was featuring UPS and FedEx. So our reporters don't have any grudge against any particular company. They just haven't to look at companies from different verticals, including Apple, Lockheed Martin, and these particular companies. And to see, well, are they creating jobs? Do they have plans in motion to create jobs? And if they do, they do. And if they don't, well, then they probably shouldn't use the talking points about how the tax cuts are going to create jobs because that is not their intent.
Starting point is 00:39:44 Well, they found out that in the case of UPS and FedEx, they actually do not have any intention. And please go back and read those stories. We'll have some of them in the links in the description box below and see how they explained that and how they proved it. So let me give you a quick synopsis in this story by Steve Horn. T.YT reported that two companies among America's largest employers already have billions of dollars in cash on hand, and are investing hundreds of millions in initiatives that stand to reduce their employment levels. That's referring to UPS and FedEx. Well, now, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has picked up on those facts and is talking about it.
Starting point is 00:40:26 She said giant corporations like UPS and FedEx have billions of dollars in cash on hand that they could already be using to increase wages or hire more workers. If they aren't using this money to improve the lives of Americans now, there's no reason to believe they'll do otherwise with a windfall they'll get if Republicans pass this reckless tax bill. So look, I'm really proud of the TYT Investigates team. That portion of the company does objective reporting and the results speak for themselves. At the same time, if it leads to recognition among the people that can do something about these issues and they actually take action to address it, that is wonderful. So in this case, the Democrats are outvoted and the Republicans will almost certainly pass that tax bill. But at least we're getting the word out that it is not for jobs.
Starting point is 00:41:17 It does not do that. So more to that, Elizabeth Warren also said, the big lie Republicans have been telling for decades is that massive tax cuts for corporations will lead to higher wages and more jobs. The last time we handed out big tax breaks to corporations, they walked out with sacks of money while the American worker got kicked to the curb. Well, Steve Horn actually went and investigated
Starting point is 00:41:38 that as well. That was, her charges about something that happened in 2004, so let's give you the facts on that. He says, Warren was apparently referencing or referring to the 2004 tax holiday on corporate repatriation of overseas profits. A 2011
Starting point is 00:41:54 report by the Institute for Policy Studies, found that the companies repatriating the most money actually laid off workers in the years following because there was no mandate in the legislation to create jobs. So I've reported about that in the past on the Young Turks and the companies that did lobbying for that tax holiday, as they call it, corporations are apparently so much of people that they even get to take vacations, including tax vacations,
Starting point is 00:42:25 although you, actual human beings, don't get tax vacations, they do. But that tax vacation or holiday, the amount of money that they spent on it, they got a 24,000% return on investment. So that's why they buy off these politicians. But they couldn't buy off Elizabeth Warren, and she's pointing out the facts. Now, Lamar Alexander is from Tennessee, where FedEx is a huge center. And he voted for the bill. He's a Republican. Corker, same thing.
Starting point is 00:42:53 has also gotten a lot of money from FedEx, they both have. So conveniently, they thought, no, no, we'll take FedEx's word against the facts. When asked to explain themselves, Lamar Alexander said, the GOP tax bill takes, quote, the handcuffs off job creators to grow their economy. Well, there were no handcuffs on them to begin with. The corporations have run amok. They make incredible profits. FedEx and UPS have billions of dollars.
Starting point is 00:43:23 stored away. They're not creating any jobs with it. And when we looked into their so-called plans to create jobs, we found out they're actually automating things and will reduce jobs. Lamar Alexander said, yes, but did my check clear? Okay, he didn't say that part. That's me reading into his intentions. Now, they point out, and here are facts again from TYT investigators. Alexander has taken $68,300 in campaign contributions from FedEx during his political career. Gee, I wonder if that had something to do with it. Okay. On the other hand, one more fact from this story that I find really interesting. Look for all this information at YouTube.com slash t-y-t Investigates and also, of course, on our website, t-y-tnetwork.com.
Starting point is 00:44:09 So, and whenever we do a story, guys, whether it's our own story or other stories, we'll usually have the link to the article in the description box below. So they also found out that the Steve Cohen, who's also from Tennessee, but a very progressive Democrat, has taken a little bit more money than Lamar Alexander. And Alexander is a senator. Cohen is just a congressman, but he took about $69,000 from FedEx. So normally in politics, when that happens, the politician, whether a Democrat or Republican, will find a reason to say, oh, yeah, I think FedEx does a great job anyway.
Starting point is 00:44:47 Yay, let's vote for the tax bill that they want. But credit to Steve Cohen, because he did not do that. Here's this quote. The massive corporate tax cut comes with no promise that companies will create jobs and no prohibition that it won't be transferred to stockholders as dividends. FedEx is one of Memphis's largest employers, a boon to the Memphis economy and makes a great effort to give back to the community. But the bill should at least have incentives for companies to create jobs. Otherwise, it is just what I've called it from the start. A massive gift to the 1%.
Starting point is 00:45:22 Hey, we found a politician that's honest. So, you know what? Just when you thought it wasn't possible. All right, great reporting by TYT investigates and great to see that it's having an effect. And as always, thanks to the Young Turks viewers who made that team possible. Okay. Now, last story for you guys. This was just fun, okay?
Starting point is 00:45:54 So we covered the 2016 elections together here at the Young Turks, and a lot of different hosts were involved. And Jimmy Doer was among them. Jimmy does a great show on the network. You should check it out. The Jimmy Doors show, of course. You can find it on YouTube. We could find it as part of the TYT network. There's another host on the TYT network.
Starting point is 00:46:12 It's Khan Kalinsky. He hosts Secular Talk. Another great show. Please check that out. We'll have links down below to both those. In fact, we also have links at this eye. If you move your mouse to the eye in the corner of your video, if you're watching on YouTube, that also has the links.
Starting point is 00:46:28 If you're watching on Facebook, the links will be in the comment section. Anyway, Kyle says me an email just a couple of days ago saying, hey, Jake, did you see this old clip from October of 2015? I said, no, Kyle. I hadn't. He's like, you're going to want to see what you and Jimmy bet on. I was like, ooh, I think I do want to see that. So Jimmy was convinced that Trump couldn't win the election. Now, to be fair to Jimmy, he's a great guy, love the guy, okay, in October of 2015, Jimmy was not alone. Nobody thought that Trump could win the election. The primary voting had not even begun yet. They began voting in January. So all that has happened in October of 2015 is some of the
Starting point is 00:47:11 Republican debates. So we had just covered one together because we do all those debates live here on the Young Turks. And we were doing analysis when this happened. You guys have talked me into increasing the Trump's chances. No, we keep underestimating. 10 to 1. I'll give you 10 to 1 on Trump right now. I will take it. Finally. He's going to say this all show long for three hours. I could be a hundred, a hundred dollars I win $1,000 to you. Really? You're going to give me a thousand dollars. Yes.
Starting point is 00:47:42 Domination or general election? He wins. General election, what are we talking about? Okay, okay, I'm going to be a man of my word, and I'm going to make that bet. What can I do? I'm a man of my word. So, now, I explained why I thought that was. The other guys were saying, no, he's got no chance.
Starting point is 00:48:02 The more they said it, the more I thought he had a chance. Now, as you'll see in this explanation, not all the details about the policies came to fruition, But the general idea was right, that people were underestimating Trump's chance of winning because politics is actually simpler than people realize. Anyway, here we are back in October 2015. Here was the conversation. That's it. I'm moving up to 12.5% chance of winning.
Starting point is 00:48:28 The whole thing. I had them at zero for the nomination. I had them at 1% for the nomination. I had them at 5% for the nomination. Tonight I'm moving up to 12.5% not for the nomination, but for the general election. Okay, this Republicans love alpha males. The guy is keep it simple, stupid, okay? He keeps it simple.
Starting point is 00:48:47 So that kind of braggadocio, clear bully that you hate John, lack of intellect, lack of any substance, they love. You're underestimating Donald Trump's ability to change all of his positions. He has no principle, he has no shame. Donald Trump is super right-wing in a lot of things now. And then when it comes to general election, he'd be like, what do you mean? Of course. For Latinos, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to increase food stamps. I'm going to give Latinos free education. Who cares? I just want to win. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. Right?
Starting point is 00:49:21 Like, hey, listen, I'm talking about bad guy immigrants. I'm keeping them out so I can give a good guy immigrants here and Latinos in the country. Everything they want. They're chicken in every pot. I'm horrified right now. He has no shame. Right. And by the way, a third of his positions are far more progressive than the Republican position. So he can come out and say, hey, wait, I'm the guy who wants to cut, who wants to increase taxes on hedge funds. And Hillary Clinton said during the debate says she represents Wall Street. Nah, he didn't do all that, but he did a lot of it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:49:55 So what were my two principal thesis? Keep it simple, stupid. Republicans are not that bright. They'll like the alpha male that's keeping it simple. And Trump has no shame or no principles, and that'll help him win. I'm not saying, told you, except for the graphic next to me, that says told you. Even down to him saying, oh, yeah, I'll take away the hedge fund tax breaks. Just today, it is confirmed that even though he did say that in the campaign, he will not be taking away the tax breaks for hedge fund guys.
Starting point is 00:50:26 Why? Because he has no shame. He knew that he just needed to win. He didn't actually need to deliver on any of those promises. So I'm going to ask for your help here on how much I should make Jimmy Penn. Okay, but before I do, because I'm the most reasonable man in America, I want to show you the very end of that clip, and we'll have the link to the whole clip down below as well. Look at what, so we go through a 10-minute explanation, and then Jimmy at the end panics a little bit and says this.
Starting point is 00:50:56 Like, now you're getting a little scared, right? Yeah, I mean a little scared. Well, after all, they called him. So he joked about five to one. So let's go to the public here. Let's go to you guys, and you help me decide. That picture of Jimmy's awesome. TYT network.com slash the bet.
Starting point is 00:51:19 How much should Jank make Jimmy pay? $1,000 because that was the bet, $100 for 10 to 1 bet. That's the one we shook on. $500 because at the end, Jimmy said 5 to 1. Okay. Or C, come on, that was all in good fun. Let him go. Let him go.
Starting point is 00:51:36 No, make him pay. you. Now, I think I'm going to do whatever you guys say. Okay, so this poll actually matters. Of all the polls we've ever done, this probably will have the most effect. And Jimmy will probably vote a thousand times. So outvote them, okay? I know which one I'm going to vote for. Look, we'll see if you guys are, you know, which way you come out on it. I'll tell you this. If Trump had lost, would I have given Jimmy the $100? Absolutely, right? So your call, your call, and I'm not looking for a pound of flesh.
Starting point is 00:52:15 Overall, nothing but fun. And Jimmy's great. Check out his show. You're going to have nothing but fun. He was raging during the elections. He's still raging today because he's right about that. All right, we'll be right back. Thanks for watching what I hope was a lovely edition of the Young Turks.
Starting point is 00:52:30 Now, you know that that is two of the five segments that we do, because that's free. we want to have you support independent media and come watch the whole show that we do every day. That's five segments overall. No ads at all. That's at t-y-tnetwork.com slash join. Come become a member. Thanks for watching either way.
Starting point is 00:52:48 Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to 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, Jank Yugar, and I'll see you soon.

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