The Young Turks - Thoughts and Prayers

Episode Date: March 24, 2021

What to know about the Colorado Grocery Store shooting and a look at what some witnesses are calling a “methodical” event. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more a...bout your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
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. Howdy friends. Howdy friends, you're watching TYT with Anna Casparian and Wozni Lombre, Big Was, host of Wokebrose, host of Wokebrose, Bro's, a writer for the athletic, NBA writer for the athletic, and also was apparently someone who tends to have more fun hosting with Jank Yugar than with Anna Casparian, based on what Jake said to me during my break, which I promise, I won't hold against you.
Starting point is 00:01:17 I mean, I'm sure you just told him that. As you know, Anna, I'm just as good a boot liquor as there is out there. So because Jake was on the show, you know, I gave definitely. to the big dog, but come on now. I know what my bread is buttered. I wouldn't be here without you, this Casperian. So salute to you as always. I'm so, so happy to here. Well, I'm happy to have you. You know I have fun with you, but it was so funny because I texted Jank after watching you guys host together. I think it was on Monday that you guys hosted together. And I was like, Waz is fantastic. Honestly, because yes, it gives you props, but it gives me props as well. And Jank was like,
Starting point is 00:01:58 Oh, Waz didn't want me to tell you this, but he said he had more fun hosting with me. And I was like, okay, okay, I'll bring that up. Well, you know, Anna, it's one of those things. I have a friend of mine, shouts to Lynn. She met her husband and two-time baby father now at one of my New Year's Eve party. So I like to take credit for the kids, for the marriage. So you can do that now with me and Jen. You can take credit for the babies that we make together in the future.
Starting point is 00:02:28 I love it. And I will. I definitely will. Anyway, we have a giant show for you guys today. You know, I hesitate to say a great show, mostly because we're going to start with tragic news. You know, but later in the program, we're going to talk a little bit about what the wealthy have been spending their money on during the pandemic as Americans increasingly struggle financially as a result of the pandemic. inequality has continued to grow, but you know, they're spending their money on digital tokens and absolute nonsense. So that's one of my favorite stories, can't wait to get to that. And later we'll also discuss various angles of the Colorado shooting. But before we talk about all of the various angles, I think it's important to just give you the facts of what we know about the shooting that took place yesterday. And the story
Starting point is 00:03:25 continues to develop, but we'll continue to fill you guys in as we learn more. Let's get started. Let's get right to it. Ten people were killed, including one police officer in the latest mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado. The shooting took place at a King Super's grocery store at 2.30 p.m. local time. And we now have the identity of the lone gunmen in this case. But we do have a policy of withholding that individual's name. He's a 21 year old and his brother has now spoken to the press about possible motivations. But before we get to that, let me talk about the victims here. Starting with Eric Telly, who was the officer shot and killed in this shooting,
Starting point is 00:04:12 he joined the Boulder Police Department in 2010 and was identified as one of the victims of the shooting. He was actually the first officer to respond to the scene. according to Chief Herald. And so here is an image of the officer. He has seven children. And it's just, you know, anytime an innocent life is lost, it's tragic. But he's one of 10 people who were gunned down in that grocery store yesterday in Boulder, Colorado. And the police did release the specific names of the victims.
Starting point is 00:04:44 Let's go to this video to hear who the victims were. The last victim was removed from the scene at 1.30 a.m. today. By 202 a.m., all the victims have been identified. By 359 a.m., the families of the victims have been notified. I'm going to read the names of the deceased. Denny Strong, 20 years old. Nevin Stadensky, 23. Ricky Odds, 25. Trulona Barconoviac, 49. Suzanne Fountain, 59. Terry Liker, 51. Officer Eric Talley, 51. Kevin Mahoney, 61. Lynn Murray, 62.
Starting point is 00:05:33 Jody Waters, 65. Our hearts go out to all the victims killed during this senseless act of violence. And was, obviously, it's been less than a week since the tragic shootings happened in multiple spas in Georgia that happened last week. I was on break. But, you know, that people were still reeling from that. And boom, we get hit with another mass shooting. Again, the suspect is a 21-year-old here. He has been taken into custody and he's facing 10 counts of murder in the first degree. You know, I want to know what you thought, like what went through your mind as this, you know, story broke yesterday. Because I hate admitting this, but it's gotten to a point where I almost feel numb to it. Because it's part of like a defense mechanism, right? Because you get emotionally invested in these stories and you, I think there's like an element of hope where you think maybe
Starting point is 00:06:39 something will change, but we know time and time again, nothing changes, right? It doesn't matter how many people die. It doesn't matter if it's dozens of children. What were your thoughts as this story broke? You know, I've got to echo some of your thoughts, Anna, there is a sort of sense of hopelessness with all of this, because I know personally for me, I think back to what happened in Sandy Hook, where a bunch of kids, children, children at school were mowed down about 20,000. something of them by a gunman, you know, a deranged cat. And, you know, I thought for sure back
Starting point is 00:07:17 then, like, for sure, everybody on the right wing, the NRA types, nobody's going to stand for the children. Because, you know, whenever we hear stuff about anti-drugs or anti-pornographic or any of this stuff, stuff that doesn't actually kill people, whenever we hear these anti-dose measures, it's all about the kids and the children. And how do we keep them safe and how do we keep precious Johnny and Susan safe? And, you know, that's often the rhetoric that we hear. And then, you know, when children were literally killed at school and nothing happened, I basically, I'm not going to lie, I lost all hope.
Starting point is 00:07:56 And on the subject of guns, I became very cynical because at the time I lived in New York City where the gun laws are extremely draconian. and, you know, like literally just having a gun, being caught with a gun, period, you go to jail for two years. And that goes from rich to poor, to black, to white. If you are found to illegally have a gun, you will go to prison. And, you know, as a New Yorker, I grew so cynical to the point of, you know what, if they want to kill each other out there, let them do what they do. Because I live in New York, we have really, you know, stringent gun laws. I feel relatively safe as you can feel in a city with 13 million people.
Starting point is 00:08:41 And I sort of, you know, I stopped thinking about it, you know, and it's messed up and it's sad. But I sort of thought of gun rights is sort of the abortion of the right wing in the sense that like these guys, they're never changing their minds about this. And any sort of movement in the direction of taking their quote unquote rights, second amendment rights away, have become a non-starter. And so I'm not going to live. I've become kind of hopeless when it comes to any movement on this stuff. Because even children, our precious American children, don't matter when it comes to the rights of the right wings to own their guns. And I think, you know, part of the calculation here is that I think they've made the decision that this is worth it. right in the sense that in order for me to have as many guns as I want these type of things happening every now and again to people is worth what it means to have that gun and I and you know and I know I've gone on for a little while here but I just want to say this last thing I think about something like the stimulus or something like welfare where they say we got to mean tested because God forbid somebody who doesn't deserve it gets a check or gets food or get something that would be just horrible whereas with something like gun violence
Starting point is 00:09:56 violence is like, who cares if undeserving people die? I get to have what's mine and that comes before anything. You know, it's interesting, though, because the same so-called law-abiding citizens who are worried about getting their guns taken away are completely either delusional or intentionally lying about the intentions of people who are asking for, in my opinion, in common sense gun regulation, because no one's looking to take guns away from law abiding citizens. There's a problem in this country where it's far too easy for anyone, including people who have been prosecuted for domestic violence, including people who have criminal records, including people who have mental health issues, far too easy for them to access weapons like
Starting point is 00:10:45 this. And it's fascinating because it seems as though owning guns, having access to to guns is the only thing that our right wing politicians treat as like an absolute that should have no limitations whatsoever. Let me be clear, everything that's considered a right under our constitution has its limitations. Freedom of speech has limitations, right? The right to own guns also has limitations. And I think it's just fascinating that you have one side that's saying, hey, look, clearly we have a problem. You have all these innocent people dying. So let's try to find a solution without infringing on people's constitutional rights. And then you have the disingenuous side, right? You have the side that's led by NRA types,
Starting point is 00:11:36 who serve the interests of gun manufacturers and literally lie to the American people about the regulations that are being proposed. I'm going to be honest with the audience. I've definitely, you know, changed my mind on guns, you know, throughout the years. I used to have a more hardline approach toward guns. I don't anymore. I'm a lot more open to law abiding citizens having access to guns, myself included. And so I don't want to take that right away. And as far as I've seen, there has been nothing proposed legislatively that would take guns away from law-abiding citizens. But doesn't matter if people have mental health issues. I mean, Republicans love to point to that whenever these mass shootings happen. Oh, it's a mental health problem.
Starting point is 00:12:27 That's what it is. Okay, great. Where's the funding then? Where's the funding? What are you going to do about it? I mean, it's just lip service. And what I've realized, not just through this story, but through multiple stories, is that for politicians, certain groups of people are just used as props, right? That's it. They're just used as props. Blue Lives Matter? No, no, police, they're just props when you want to make a point about how much you hate black people, okay? Because a cop just got gunned down. I don't see any of these right wingers in Congress talking about how much blue lives matter. They don't care at all, okay? And it happens on the other side, too, with Democrats who weaponize identity politics and use groups of people as
Starting point is 00:13:07 props and pretend as if, you know, they're better than the other party in providing rights and all of that. But look, I just, I think it's important to hear from the victims as well, some of the people who were in the building as this shooting took place. And J.R. put this video together sharing the, you know, witness accounts of what occurred. So let's take a look at that. See a shooter. I just saw terrified faces running towards me. And that's when I turned and ran in the other direction. We were at the checkout, and shots just started going off. I said, run right now.
Starting point is 00:13:43 We have three seconds. Two shots towards us. Like, we could feel it. First, I heard like a loud bang, so I kind of thought like a shelf fell over or something like that. But then immediately when I heard multiple gunshots, I knew that it was something more than that. Could you ever imagine that you would have been in a situation like this, Ryan, where you
Starting point is 00:14:03 are? In Boulder? No. I've, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I feel like a bubble and the bubble bursts. And, and that's heartbreaking to think that, that people died in this today. Definitely panic. I think a lot of people just didn't know, like, exactly where he was. We were like sitting ducks, you know. And that's, that's, that's one thing that I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm living it. I'm looking at it in my head. And that, but that bothers me. I'm still sure.
Starting point is 00:14:36 It doesn't feel like there's anywhere safe anymore sometimes. And this feels like the safest spot in America. And I just nearly got killed for getting a soda, you know, in a bag of chips. Yeah, there's really no safe spot in America. You might have stringent gun laws in some states, maybe in some municipalities. But we're one country, guys, it doesn't matter. There's nothing stopping someone from crossing state lines. I mean, we saw that with Kyle Rittenhouse, you know, crossing state lines with weapons,
Starting point is 00:15:13 whether they're legal weapons, illegal weapons, it doesn't matter. I mean, you need actual leadership from the federal government, which is honestly unlikely to happen. But just to give you some more details about Colorado, I mean, the Denver metropolitan area had seen more mass shootings, or more mass school shooting specifically between 1999 and 2019 than any other of the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. And Colorado ranked in the top five states for mass shootings at schools. And overall, according to a 2019 analysis, by the Denver Post. And for anyone who's thinking, all right, well, if the pandemic starts to kind of get under control
Starting point is 00:15:55 and we're living in a so-called post-pandemic society, it's likely that we're going to go back to seeing these mass shootings happen the same way happened before. But, you know, my theory is no, it's likely to happen at a much higher rate because the fact of the matter is, during the pandemic, in 2020 specifically, there was a giant increase in the number of people who purchased guns. In fact, nearly 40 million guns were purchased legally in 2020, and another 4.1 million were bought in January of this year alone. So we're really swimming in guns in this country was. And for anyone who thinks that they might live in some bubble in the country that's completely safe from this type of gun violence. Think again, you know, California has pretty strict gun laws. And again,
Starting point is 00:16:42 we're one country. California isn't an island. And we have been seeing an increase in gun violence in the state of California as well in recent months. So this is, this had been the reality in America. It will continue to be the reality in America because we have an ineffective Congress that just engages in the same discourse every single time we have these mass shootings. Yeah. And another thing that that adds to my hopelessness, Anna, is the sort of lack of credibility on the other side when it comes to dealing with the problems. I'll take it to use abortion as another example. The reason why I just can't take anybody seriously about abortion, because oftentimes you hear people say, well, I'm against abortions.
Starting point is 00:17:32 All right, cool. Why don't we do everything we can to avoid them, i.e. sex education, i.e. making birth control readily available, i.e. other forms of contraceptives, et cetera, et cetera. If what we want to do is prevent as many abortions as possible, we'll take those steps to ensure that. They never want to do any of that stuff. And I think the same thing goes with gun control in the sense that, all right, if you want to say we can't take the guns away, fine. Fine. The sort of GDs out of the bottle when as in respects to guns in this country. Are we investing in mental health? And also, man, I think people
Starting point is 00:18:11 underestimate financial insecurity. You know, a lot of these people don't have a lot of prospects in their in their lives. You know, when it comes to jobs, et cetera, et cetera, and drug abuse and all of these kinds of things that we don't put the proper amount of investment in healing people from these problems that drive them to the places that do this stuff, right? So, you know, the readily availableness of guns is one thing, but the conditions that allow for people to sort of turn into the kinds of people that go out and shoot up a mall or shoot up a school. We're not addressing that either, so we're getting it on both sides. Yeah, that's such a great point. And in regard to the shooter in this case, again, he's a 21-year-old
Starting point is 00:18:58 We also know that he's Muslim, but we don't know specifically what his motive was. His brother spoke to the press and said that he's been suffering from some mental health issues, particularly paranoia. For instance, he thought that his high school was hacking into his phone and tracking him. So, you know, I hesitate to get into those kinds of details right now because the story is developing, and we don't know what his motive was. And of course, we'll update you guys as we learn more about what that is. But you're right. I mean, you do have to take a holistic approach. Like, clearly we have issues
Starting point is 00:19:32 with our gun laws. But I'm tired of Republicans bringing up mental health, pretending as though that's something that they want to focus on. But really all they do is use it as a scapegoat to deflect from the possibility of passing common sense gun legislation. And then as soon as, you know, everyone with their short attention spans focuses on whatever else is hot in the news cycle the next day, they just drop it. They don't do anything about funding mental health. They do nothing. Anna, just look at what they did with voting rights. Like, just they legislated the hell out of voting rights, right? And nothing is more foundational to our democracy than the right to go out and participate in the franchise. And every chance they get, they made it
Starting point is 00:20:23 as hard as possible to vote. Where is that same zeal and that same energy when it comes to preventing the wrong people from getting their hands on guns? We don't see it. So that's how you know it's a load of crap, Brett. Definitely. All right, well, we got to take a quick break. But when we come back, we have more updates on this story for you, including specific reactions from Republican lawmakers like Lauren Bobert, unfortunately, and Ted Cruz also unfortunately. So stick around. We have that and more for you when we come back. 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 are constantly peddling lies
Starting point is 00:21:15 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 On 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,
Starting point is 00:21:58 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 have learned 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.
Starting point is 00:22:46 Hey, everyone. of the day. I was super curious to see how you all voted on our poll question in regard to the Kylie Jenner story we did yesterday. That was the story where she asked her fans to donate to her makeup artists, you know, GoFundMe for an emergency surgery he needed to have. And the question was, which Jenner is more guilty, Kylie for the tone deaf go fund me post or Kendall for her Black Lives Matter Pepsi ad? And guess what? 64% of you believe that Kylie Jenner is actually worse for the tone deaf GoFundMe post. So there you have it. That's where we're at. I don't, I'm actually surprised to be honest with you
Starting point is 00:24:00 because I think I made a really good case about how this isn't really about Kylie Jenner. It's about like the systemic issues that we have in place right now. And come on, that Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad was so embarrassing. Like, I had seen it before. And then as I was producing that story and saw it again, I was equally shocked. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it didn't lose it. Solve racism, have a Pepsi. But also like the fact that she made, like that ad made it look like Black Lives Matter protest or like a fun street party, you know? Like, it's just so ridiculous. Right. And not getting maced and pepper sprayed and Billy clubbed and and, and choke slam by the police.
Starting point is 00:24:45 Exactly, exactly. A quick word from our sponsor and partner aspiration. When you sign up for an aspiration account at aspiration.com slash t-y-t, you'll be entered to win a lifetime membership with TYT. You'll also get other perks, including fossil fuel-free deposits. They will not invest your money in the fossil fuel companies. Also, three to five percent cash back on companies that are, you know, practicing, environmentally conscious business practices, and you also have the possible chance of a lifetime
Starting point is 00:25:18 TYT membership. So check that out, Aspiration.com slash TYT. Also, one of my favorite programs on the network airs tonight. So if you're not a member, become one. You're crazy. Old school, you can tune into old school tonight after the post game at 8.30 p.m. Eastern time, 530 p.m. Pacific. Members get the full show at t.y.com slash join. All right, I got a little bit of time left. to read a few comments from our member section. Colorado Blue Blazer Regular says here in Colorado, Lauren effing Bobert, we're going to get to this story next, sent her support to Boulder last night. How dare she or any Republican send support for any community when they actively support and endorse every mass shooting in this country? We'll talk about that in more detail in the next
Starting point is 00:26:04 segment, but I agree with what you're saying there. Also, the Dragon who says, Nye, remember when Reagan cut funding, yes I do for mental health aid and put millions of mentally ill people on the streets. Not only do I remember that, even though I was a child, I don't remember it from the time that it happened. I was too young. But I see it on our streets in Los Angeles every day. So it's an important point to bring up. Thank you for doing that. Now let's get back to our show. I'm going to be able to be. Hey everyone, welcome back to TYT, Anna and Waz with you. We have some more stories to share regarding the shooting that happened in Boulder yesterday.
Starting point is 00:27:24 You know, why don't we talk a little bit about how the GOP has reacted to it? While alone gunmen opened fire and murdered 10 innocent people at a King Super's grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, GOP Congresswoman Lauren Bobert, who's from the state of Colorado, decided instead of tweeting about what was happening, she would tweet criticism toward Joe Biden instead. Now look, there's a possibility that she was unaware of the shooting that was taking place as she was tweeting her insults to Joe Biden. But soon after a wave of tweets demanding that she addressed the shooting, she did offer more of what we've actually come to expect from Republican lawmakers. And this is what she said. My prayers, of course,
Starting point is 00:28:09 My prayers are with the shoppers, employees, first responders, and others affected by the shooting in Boulder. May God be with them, while we are still awaiting important information, blah, blah, blah, blah, violence, senseless acts of violence are never okay. Like, you get the point. It's the same that we've seen from other Republican lawmakers throughout years and years of, you know, multiple, several mass shootings. And that tweet, by the way, was followed by an email that she sent out like two hours later, okay, about how the GOP will not allow for any type of gun regulation. So as was tweeted by David Gurra on Twitter, two hours after today, shooting in Boulder began. Representative Lauren Bobert's campaign sent her supporters an email
Starting point is 00:29:00 with the subject line, quote, I told Beto O'Rourke, hell no to taking our guns. Now we need to tell Joe Biden. And that was also, you know, we have a screenshot of that email as well that was shared in the thread of that tweet. Now, for those of you who are tired of these empty thoughts and prayers, you know, just know that this is not something that's isolated with Lauren Bobert. We got more of that from Senator Ted Cruz as well. This is what he had to say in a recent hearing about mass shootings in America. I agree it's a time for actions. And by the way, I don't apologize for thoughts or prayers. I will lift up in prayer people who are hurting. And I believe in the power of prayer. And the
Starting point is 00:29:46 contempt of Democrats for prayers is an odd sociological thing. But I also agree thoughts and prayers alone are not enough. We need action. I just think the very existence of Ted Cruz in the Senate is an odd sociological thing. I don't know how that man is thought to be a good representative of anyone in this country. But nonetheless, what he's trying to do is make it seem as though religion is being persecuted here when in reality empty thoughts and prayers in lieu of actually doing your job is what's infuriating people. Thoughts and prayers on Twitter mean nothing.
Starting point is 00:30:27 And by the way, for Democrats, your chest thumping tweets about what needs to be done also mean nothing. Just get off of Twitter and do something, right? In fact, the first thing the Democrats need to do is find a way to get rid of the filibuster or reform it to a point where it doesn't serve as a giant obstacle to actually getting something done legislatively. But Was, what do you make of this? Are we being too harsh to people who want to share their thoughts and prayers? No, I don't think so. I think we're being probably not harsh enough. Would you see, oftentimes with this issue with Republicans is that they find it to be an opportunistic one because the reason why I said this is the abortion of the right, even though the abortion
Starting point is 00:31:14 is the abortion of the right too, is that people mobilize, fundraise, get active behind this very issue in a way like that email got sent out and I bet she got some money funneled into her, you know what I mean, her campaign, right? And so it's something that they often and run on. They know they can energize the base on. And conversely, you'll never see them go against the second amendment in any meaningful way. Oftentimes, you'll see people like the Democrats come out and see like, I mean, maybe we could cut Social Security. I mean, maybe Medicare isn't that important. You know, you'll see them when they want to be quote unquote brave, go against things that they should ideologically be 1,000 percent in support of.
Starting point is 00:32:03 in ways that you will just never, ever, ever, ever see a Ted Cruz type go against guns that way. And, you know, again, you see it with anything like cops, like when the cops shoot somebody on the streets or choke somebody out, it's like, you know, we got to make the cops better, but we still love the cops and Joe Biden's going to talk about increasing funding and all of that, right? But you'll never see the Republicans ever, ever go after guns. Like, they won't even hint at it because they know better than that. These guys are all spineless. They're all running scared from their base. No, I mean, it's such a good point. Republicans never bend on anything.
Starting point is 00:32:41 In fact, a good recent example illustrating what you just mentioned is the upcoming $3 trillion proposal, infrastructure proposal coming from Joe Biden's administration. You know, the talks and negotiations are preliminary. We're going to talk about that in more detail later in the show. Become a member to get the full show at t-y-t.com slash join. But already you have so-called centrist Democrats saying like, oh, but no, I mean, you got, but you're offering, you're offering things that are super popular that would make our party really popular. No, no, no. We need to think about bipartisan legislating. Like, F off. Please F off. Like if you're just going to be a pathetic, feckless. Republican bootlicker, why are you in office? Like go do something else. Go be a lobbyist, go be a lobbyist, like go make money doing something else. But stop wasting your constituents time with these disgusting bad faith arguments. Anyway, we have more from Ted Cruz because he claims that he actually wants to offer more than thoughts and prayers. It's just that he wants to lie about what people actually want to do with gun legislation first.
Starting point is 00:33:54 So let's hear a little more of that. And every time there's a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders. Senator from Connecticut just said the folks on the other side of the aisle have no solutions, while the senator from Connecticut knows that is false. And he knows that's false because Senator Grassley and I together introduce legislation. Grassley Cruz targeted at violent criminals, targeted at felons, targeted at fugitives, targeted at those with serious mental disease to stop them from getting firearms,
Starting point is 00:34:36 to put them in prison when they try to illegally buy guns. What happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats proposed taking away guns from law-abiding citizens, because that's their political objective. But what they propose, not only does it not reduce crime, it makes it worse. No, Democrats are not proposing taking guns away from law-abiding citizens. Proposals from Democrats include things like requiring universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole that allows you to purchase a weapon from a private seller, without undergoing a background check.
Starting point is 00:35:19 They want to ban the future sale, in some cases, not all Democrats, but there have been proposals, including from Joe Biden to ban the future sale of assault weapons, and also block the sale of, this shouldn't even be controversial, bump stock devices that effectively convert semi-automatic rifles into automatic rifles. Like, why is this difficult, right? No one's saying like, oh, let's go target Jim Bob. who likes to go hunting in Arkansas, like no, no one's saying that. If you want, if you're a legal gun carrier, you're a law-abiding gun owner, no one's targeting you. But Republicans in Congress,
Starting point is 00:36:02 just like with Senator Cruz in the video you just saw, consistently lie to the American people about what the proposed gun legislation would do. And the argument that, no, no, we just, we can't have any type of regulation because, you know, criminals are going to break the law anyway. Okay, great. Then why do we have any laws to begin with, right? Like, it just makes no sense, Waz, and it's really frustrating. Well, it's, it's tough because I hear Ted Cruz spew lies and nonsense and weasel speak, which is basically his default posture.
Starting point is 00:36:43 And then I have to watch him with that ridiculous mullet. on his head. I mean, can we propose a law in Congress that would confiscate the mullet of every law-abiding citizen in America? I mean, look at that thing. It's a shagg. It's ridiculous. Anna, and Jim Bob would probably agree with me. I'm telling you, shout to Jim Bob and his cousin. You know, it's just, when the people leading these debates engage in bad faith arguments, then the American people, like, people don't have accurate information. And so if you are a law-abiding citizen, if you've done nothing wrong, but you enjoy hunting, right? You do have weapons, but you're responsible.
Starting point is 00:37:34 You'll hear this fear-mongering from the right wing. And don't forget that there's a lot of corruption involved as well, because gun manufacturers certainly do not want gun regulation, that means that their bottom line's going to be negatively impacted, right? But when you hear this fear mongering, unfortunately, there's a giant part of the country that buys into it. But you need to have regulation to limit the possibility of bad actors, criminals, getting their hands on these types of guns. So one thing that I absolutely laughed at in regard to this story was the reaction coming from Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who vowed to bring House-passed gun control bills to the floor
Starting point is 00:38:21 for debate and a vote forcing his GOP colleagues to go on the record with their stance on the legislation. What are you talking about Schumer? Like, what do you talking about? What? You don't even need to do that. They're on the record. They're proud of it. They flaunt it. They fundraise off of it, right? I mean, doing this kind of vote on legislation where you suspect lawmakers are lying just to pander to voters, that's one thing. That is not happening here. Republicans proudly say what they want to say about trying to destroy any attempts at common sense gun legislation. What Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer needs to focus on is getting rid of the filibuster. That's what he needs to focus on. Like bringing
Starting point is 00:39:10 something like this up for a vote will accomplish nothing. It will fail and it will fail with Republicans bragging about how they led to its failure. And it's a political win for them. Yeah, and I would encourage everybody to just remember, I mentioned voting rights, how Republicans have gone about systemically gutting just some of the pillars of American democracy within the various state legislatures, Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country. Please do be advised to remember the drug war, right? Like, just think about the laws that we enacted. criminalizing behavior such as just smoking crack or dealing crack or selling cocaine or buying weed or just think about the laws that we had enacted against those activities, these victimless crimes essentially. I mean, sure, there's some tax evasion going on, but we'll talk about later and how tax evasion doesn't really seem to be that big of a deal either. But just think about the authoritarian laws that were enacted to combat what we consider to be a scourge on society, which was this ridiculous, racist, drug war. And now look at how they operate in and around the gun issue.
Starting point is 00:40:37 It's, you know, it's obvious where the priorities lie. Obviously, the Dems don't feel like they have the political capital or just the stomach or want to to get anything done. on this front. And so I guess you can see why we're in the state of affairs that we find ourselves in today. All right. I am going to do C block now. All right. So we have one more story on the shooting that I wanted to share with you because this has led to, I think, some pretty declarative statements. And I think that the media's take on it is wrong. So at a super's grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, a court struck down an attempt by the city of Boulder to ban assault weapons. Now, this is being cited as, you know, one of the potential
Starting point is 00:41:35 causes for why mass shootings like this can take place in Boulder. But I actually disagree. Now, the Boulder City Council did vote unanimously in May of 2018 to pass a ban on the sale of assault weapons and high capacity magazines. But on March 12th, Boulder County District Court Judge Andrew Hartman ruled that the city couldn't enforce the ban because Colorado state law preempted the city's ordinance. His decision said this. He writes that the court has determined that only Colorado state or federal law can prohibit the possession, sale, and transfer of assault weapons and large capacity magazines. I would argue that even Colorado passing stricter gun legislation doesn't go far enough. This is an issue that needs to be tackled
Starting point is 00:42:27 by the federal government because we don't have state borders that are reinforced with walls and border agents. Like we're one country guys, like can we stop pretending as if we can just pass laws in certain places in the country and then create like this safe bubble, that doesn't exist. You can just travel across state lines. You can travel from one city to the next. You can travel from one city that has laxed gun laws to the- At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying
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Starting point is 00:43:49 That's EXP-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. The other city that does not have lax gun laws and open fire if you want to do a mass shooting, right? We live in one country. We need leadership from the federal government. Yes, Congress is full of feckless losers who do nothing for us. Yes, we have a huge problem with a broken federal government. Okay, we need to have real discussions about doing something
Starting point is 00:44:19 about that, about holding lawmakers feet to the fire, about not immediately liking and retweeting ridiculous like, you know, ooh, I'm such a big, I'm a big boy. Look at these strong tweets I'm putting out there. No, I don't want to read your damn tweets. And stop retweeting them, stop giving them brownie points for their stupid tweets, okay? We need the federal government to do something about this. Boulder passing strict gun laws doesn't save anyone's life, in my opinion, okay? Because Boulder is not an island, California's not an island, New York's not an island, any other place in the country that wants to pass strict gun legislation. Not an island, we're one country. So we need to do something on a federal level. I mean, that's my take on it.
Starting point is 00:45:04 Yeah, that's tough to follow. That's tough to follow. Yeah, I agree. And I think there are just, you know, just some common sense laws that can be passed, right? You talk about the universal background checks. You know, I would like to see people that, you know, you beat your wife. You can't own a gun anymore. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:45:30 Like, just think about what we do to people, man, that keep them out of employ. You know things that can actually like save their livelihood. We tell them, yo, you know, you smoked weed one time. You went to prison one time and we just say, yo, we're shutting you out of a means to support yourself essentially for the rest of your life. We ruin people's lives with stuff as for as small as weed, possession or sales. Yet somebody could just do whatever, whenever they want. Instead, get to possess a freaking gun. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Yeah, and I mean, why do, why are bump stocks okay? That makes no sense. If we have a ban on automatic weapons, why are we allowing devices that turn semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons? Why do we have high capacity magazines for civilians? Like, why do we need militarized weaponry in the hands of private citizens. It makes no sense. Look, I get it. I get that people want to have a gun for protection. I get that people like to go hunting. I totally respect that.
Starting point is 00:46:44 And I personally do not believe in a weapons ban. I don't think that we should have a gun ban, right? But we don't have enough regulation to ensure that background checks are being done on every gun purchase. You can go to a gun show and purchase as many weapons without a background check from a private seller. These things need to be dealt with, not on a municipal level, on a federal level, okay, on a federal level. And by the way, I just want to reiterate this, the Denver metropolitan area had seen more mass shootings in schools between 1999 and 2019 than any of the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. And Colorado ranked in the top five states for mass shootings at schools and overall. And that's according to a 2019 analysis
Starting point is 00:47:36 by the Denver Post. So if you're living in a state that's swimming with guns and gun violence, again, you're not going to be able to put up walls and protect yourself in one part of that state. You need leadership on a federal level. And we're just not seeing that. We keep having the same conversations. We keep seeing lawmakers engage in the exact same discourse. And It results in no real change in the country. And journalists need to do a better job in calling out the lies by Republican lawmakers. No one has proposed taking guns away from law-abiding citizens. And the fact that they're able to run with that lie over and over again is a big problem.
Starting point is 00:48:18 We've got to take a break, but we're not done with gun violence and threats of gun violence. There were 11 National Guard soldiers held at gunpoint recently. We'll give you the details on that and more when we come back. J.M. Frasier from our member section wants to talk a little bit about the rights logic when it comes to gun laws. is the right to keep and bear arms was meant to keep the population on even footing with the government so they could defend themselves effectively against a tyrannical government. Weapons tech has advanced so much that there's no way that the public can match the government for firepower. You know, that's true, except if you're white supremacist storming the capital
Starting point is 00:49:51 and rioting and all that. In that case, wow, apparently they don't have all of that weaponry and all of that force. Anyway, the comment continues. So the second amendment crowd that argues that they need to be able to defend against tyranny has literally no leg to stand down. How many guns do you need to amass to equal one tank or one drone controlled by the government? You know, I think that you make a good point. And I do think that that is what the intention was, you know, behind the second amendment. With that said, again, like I don't think that we need to ban guns. I also don't think that we stand a chance against a tyrannical government with weapons. They obviously are, we're outgunned, let's put it that way.
Starting point is 00:50:37 But at the same time, I think like the heart of the problem that we're seeing in the discourse is just the fact that the GOP gets to run with these lies about, oh, they're going to take their guns away, they're going to take our guns away. I just haven't really seen a robust challenge to them when they spout those lies, in the media, specifically, right? All right, Mr. Adolfo loves TYT, thank you, says this. I'm a public school teacher and I'm seeing the light at, I'm sorry, I'm seeing the light at the one at the end of the tunnel through this pandemic, but the shooting is now a reminder of things I used to worry about in my classroom. Yeah, exactly. I look, I don't have children. This is part of the reason why
Starting point is 00:51:20 I don't have children. I couldn't look, I don't know how people do it. Like I would panic every single day. But you would be such a good mom. No. Yeah, I would. I would actually be a real. I'd be a great mom. I have no doubt. But no, I couldn't handle this. Like if I had a child and this story breaks and more of these types of stories are going to break, I'd lose my mind. I don't know how parents do it. But I thought about my nieces a lot today. And I'm not going to lie, like that video we showed you guys in the first story of the police official reading the names of the victims. She starts off with the name of that 20-year-old victim. And first time I saw it this morning, I just started sobbing because I know 20-year-olds are not kids, they're adults, but they're kids, they're kids,
Starting point is 00:52:07 didn't get to live his life, didn't get to experience the things that, you know, were worth experiencing. Robbed, robbed of life. And it's happened to hundreds of people every single year in these mass shootings and nothing ends up happening to change it. And we got to get back to the show. I'm sorry for taking too long with your comments today. I'll be better. I'll do a lightning round next time. So keep sending them in. For now, let's get back to the show. Welcome back to TYT, Anna Casparian and Wazni Lombray with you. Was, Waz, tell everyone where they can watch woke bros and read your work over at The Athletic. Yeah, just search woke bros. That's two words on YouTube, Spotify, Apple. You can find this on the Black Opinions Matter feed with me and my partner in crime, Nando Villa, where we talk about, you know, current events, basically from a leftward slant, you know, just basically economic issues, jobs issues. And every now and again, we talk about open marriages and things of that nature. So you should check this out on the woke.
Starting point is 00:53:50 when you get a chance. And of course, please read my work at The Athletic. I cover the NBA from sort of a cultural slant where the NBA intersects with pop culture, with music, with fashion, et cetera, et cetera. And of course, if you care about the NBA and you like audio content, please check out the Athletic NBA show where I do a show on Mondays and Wednesdays. Damn, you're doing a lot of shows these days. I know. That's all. No, I know, I know. I'm doing a lot of shows. I need a lot more money, Anna, we need the paper.
Starting point is 00:54:27 I know that. I know that. All right. Well, let's move on to our next story because we're not done with gun violence. There was a potential disaster that was averted in recently involving National Guard soldiers. So an Arizona man held 11 National Guard soldiers at gunpoint as they were transporting COVID-19 vaccines in, West Texas. Now, police have reported that it appeared as though the man was mentally disturbed. Larry Harris is the name of the suspect here. He's from Wilcox, Arizona, and he was later found
Starting point is 00:55:04 with a loaded pistol, and he was following these National Guardsmen for about two miles. Here is his image, which there it is. Also, police say that Harris attempted multiple times to run the vans off the roadway. He then turned his vehicle into oncoming traffic on the highway and stopped the vans. He then pointed a gun at an unarmed National Guardsman, identified himself as a detective, and demanded to search the vehicles and order the rest of the unarmed guardsmen out of their vehicles at gunpoint. Luckily, no one was hurt, and some of you might be wondering, all right, well, what was the motive here? Well, he claimed that he thought that the authorities were not authorities, that they were not National Guard soldiers, but they were
Starting point is 00:55:57 engaging in criminal activity. Harris told police he thought the people in the vans had kidnapped a woman and child. All 11 of the guardsmen were in uniform. None of the guardsmen were injured, luckily, and none of them were armed. So just one quick quote. One of the police chief, the police chief in the area said this. Mr. Harris appeared to be mentally disturbed. This was a very dangerous situation since the suspect was standing in the midst of the unarmed guardsman with a loaded weapon when the cops arrived to the scene. It is kind of amazing, though, without getting hurt, cops arrived. Obviously the cops are well armed, but they were able to detain him. I'm happy that they detained him. I'm happy that he wasn't shot and killed and he'll be
Starting point is 00:56:51 brought to justice and prosecuted. I just wish that, you know, all suspects were afforded the same type of treatment. You know, in this case, you have a guy who's holding 11 National Guard soldiers at gunpoint. And when the police arrived, they somehow, miraculously, had the ability to detain him without shooting him to death. It's fascinating. Hmm. Now, I can't quite put my finger on quite why that would be. But I will say this, Anna, as a guy who can't grow a beard, if you guys can see at home, it just grows in blotchy patches. I'm so freaking jealous of this Harris guy. He has an incredible beard, and he's wasting it on holding the National Guardsman hostage.
Starting point is 00:57:41 Has this guy never been on Twitter and not know that he could be cleaning up out there with that beautiful, full, bushy beard? Some people just get all the breaks, Anna, they don't get killed by the cops or the army when they pull out guns on them. And they have the ability to just grow these lush, beautiful beards, man. It's crazy. Mr. Harris, get your priorities in order, man. And get you some dates from Twitter, I'm telling you, I could put you on to some people, brother.
Starting point is 00:58:13 So we had a 45 caliber pistol with him. He also had an additional loaded magazine on his person and another loaded magazine in his truck. And that's the problem. I mean, on one hand, you have the cops claiming that he was mentally disturbed. That's what they're saying, you know, that hasn't been confirmed, but the fact that he was willing to hold, you know, 11 National Guard soldiers at gunpoint because he thought that they had kidnapped a wife and a child, you know, yeah, I think that there's probably some indication that he's mentally just. The problem that the problem is he has access. He has the ability to access this type of weaponry, right? So do we have a problem with mental health in America? that goes undiagnosed, untreated because we have a broken health care system. Yes, you couple that with the fact that we're swimming in a sea of guns and you're in a disastrous situation. And it doesn't matter if cops get shot and killed as one cop just got shot and killed in Boulder, Colorado when that Super's grocery store was shot up by a 21 year old. It doesn't matter if literal National Guard soldiers are being threatened with gun violence. You still do not see a change in the discourse that takes place in this country on the issue
Starting point is 00:59:43 of gun legislation. You still have Republicans, you still have the GOP, who love to use cops, who love to use soldiers as props to make their arguments. Never see them actually do what it takes to not only save their lives, but to save all of our lives, to protect our lives. That is literally the only role for government, right? To protect its citizens. And they're unable, unwilling to do that. Because, hey, gun manufacturers, they got to look after their bottom line. They got to make sure that everyone, including mentally disturbed, mentally ill people, have access to these guns. great yeah it's it's just example after example after example and you don't even have to search far and wide this stuff is basically happening on a daily if not weekly basis right and so you know we illustrate these points at the beginning of the show and it's not very hard for producer brent and the rest of the t y t super team to just pull up stuff like look here goes another thing here goes another thing it's so easy because it's It's so frequent, it's embarrassing, quite frankly.
Starting point is 01:00:55 And I do think it's important to talk about just how serious mental health, the mental health aspect of this story is in America, a country that does not provide the proper treatment and health care for people. 19% of adults in the United States are experiencing a mental illness. That is the equivalent to over 47 million Americans, 57% or over 26 million of adults with a mental illness receive no treatment because guess what? Receiving treatment costs money. Receiving treatment means that you would need health insurance, which many people lost during the pandemic as a result of layoffs. And even if you have insurance, it's really difficult
Starting point is 01:01:38 to find an insurance company, a private insurance provider that's willing to foot the bill for mental health treatment because mental health treatment is treated differently than physical ailments. And I think that's an issue as well, right? As if, you know, since it's a mental health issue, since it's hidden, it's not physically, you know, noticeable in some cases, people are left to deal with paranoia, depression, anxiety, all sorts of awful things that go undiagnosed, untreated. And again, you deal with a country full of guns and it's just a recipe for disaster. So in this case, luckily, it's a positive ending. No one got hurt. Hopefully this man will get the treatment he needs. Hopefully he'll be brought to justice because what he did
Starting point is 01:02:28 was dangerous and criminal. But this is not an isolated case. As you guys know, these stories happen far too often with far more tragic outcomes. We got to take a break. But when we come back for the second hour of the show, we are going to move away from gun violence and talk a little bit about upcoming legislation from the Biden administration, a multi-trillion dollar proposal on infrastructure, it's what he wants the centerpiece of his presidency to be. And then later on, is pollution making penises smaller? It is a serious story. We will delve into that and more when we come back. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free,
Starting point is 01:03:15 access members, only bonus content, and more. by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.co slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.

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