The Young Turks - Ticking Time Bomb

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

The Biden administration has publicly warned that Russia might seek to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine as the White House rejected Russian claims of illegal chemical weapons development in the country it has invaded. Vice President Kamala Harris has been criticized for breaking into laughter after she was asked whether the US will take in Ukrainian refugees. Inflation hit another 40-year high as the Consumer Price Index jumped 7.9 percent in the past year. Republican-led state legislatures are intensifying attacks on transgender and reproductive rights by trying to bar people from leaving their home states to receive gender-affirming healthcare and abortion care. Sidney Powell has secretly been funding the legal defense of the Oath Keepers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. We're going to be able to be. All right, really young Turks. Thank you, Grant, I'm with you guys. Look, it's a great mood, but of course, mixed news. We will make fun of Republicans in hilarious ways later in the show,

so that's fun. Obviously we have news on the war, that is, that's disastrous. But man, they're taking out some Russian tanks. No, I'm like you're gonna love that video, okay? And so I'll do a little Debbie Downer on that one too, okay, just sprinkling a little bit of Debbie Downer. But overall, man, the Russians did not see this coming. And we're gonna explain why too, but a lot to get to.

So Casper. Well, I wanted to start off with some Russian propaganda that is making its way through the internet, it's being amplified by the typical individuals. And I want to address it right away because there is a tiny, tiny, tiny sliver of truth that is being twisted in a way that fits the Russian narrative. So with that said, let's discuss. In its late in its latest propaganda meant to bolster support for the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, Russia and its minions are now going around spreading this theory, this idea that. Ukraine was developing biological weapons and Putin had no choice but to invade in order to mitigate that threat.

Now we'll tell you a little of who is basically pushing this narrative. We'll give you the reality of what's really happening here. Who made the claims? Well, there are certain Russian officials, including the spokesmen for Russia's defense ministry who said that it was, quote, obvious that in the wake of the special military operation illegal invasion, the Pentagon started having serious concerns about secret biological experiments uncovered on the Ukrainian territory. There was another Russian official, the Russian deputy United Nations ambassador who urged

Western media on Wednesday to cover the news about secret biological laboratories in Ukraine. Now here's the problem, these biological research facilities are not a secret. In fact, the US embassy and Ukraine website is like very open and honest about it. It's published on their website and I'll give you what the website says in just a second. But here's another individual, the Kremlin spokeswoman who also told reporters on Wednesday that Russia had concluded that in Ukrainian laboratories close to our borders, components of biological weapons were being developed. Let me be very clear, there is absolutely no evidence of Ukraine developing biological weapons.

None. They haven't provided a shred of evidence and the idea, I mean, they just keep finding excuses to bolster their illegal invasion into Ukraine, okay? They're denazifying allegedly, oh, you know, we're liberating the Ukrainians. Now all of a sudden you're hearing about biological weapons. Now, unfortunately, you have the same useful idiots pushing the same narrative. One of those individuals, of course, is Glenn Greenwald. And then you have Republican lawmakers amplifying this messaging.

Thomas Massey is one of those Republican lawmakers who said, there's so much propaganda on both sides that I didn't take the concern over Ukrainian biological lab seriously until now. This is a serious admission under oath from a person who would know. Oh, fascinating. Okay, great. Well, what are they using to provide evidence of these biological weapons? Well, there was an exchange between Marco Rubio and the Undersecretary of State, Victoria Newland, listen closely to this exchange, and then I will kind of explain what's going on here.

Does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons? Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces, should they approach? I'm sure you're aware that the Russian propaganda groups are already putting out there all kinds of information about how they've uncovered a plot by the Ukrainians to release biological weapons in the country and with NATO's coordination. If there's a biological

or chemical weapon incident or attack inside of Ukraine, is there any doubt in your mind that 100% it would be the Russians that would be behind it? There is no doubt in my mind, Senator, and it is classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy what they're planning to do themselves. That very last part was accurate, because this is a page from the Syria playbook. This is the similar strategy that we saw by the Russians in Syria, where they would claim, oh, the United States is going to accuse us of doing a chemical weapons attack, you know, and then they would do a chemical weapons attack. It's like they would put out a warning in their own propagandistic way.

But with that said, let's talk about the difference between biological weapons, which of course there is no evidence of, and biological research facilities, which by the way, exist in most countries, including Russia, including the United States, including China, everywhere, right? So what is it? Well, the website for the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is very open about this. The U.S. Department of Defense's Biological Threat Reduction Program collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks, deliberate, accidental, or natural of the world's most dangerous infectious diseases. The program accomplishes its biothreat reduction mission through development of a bio-risk management culture, international research partnerships, and partner capacity for enhanced biosecurity, biosafety, and biosurveillance measures. They continue to write about their partnership with Ukraine on this. The biological threat reduction programs priorities in Ukraine are to consolidate and secure

pathogens and toxins of security concern and to continue to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats. Now using this as an example or evidence of biological weapons is the same as pointing to nuclear power plants to claim that Ukraine is developing nuclear weapons. That they're gonna use on Russia. Yeah, it's just not true, okay? And so, Jank, I want to hear what you have to say, and then we'll talk about the parallels with Syria. Okay, so is responsible people what you would do in covering the story is say, look, these biological weapons, biological labs exist. They are, as far as we know, as

as far as anyone knows, they're not making any weapons there. And we read you what the governments are saying as to what they do. Now, there are many labs throughout the world that study pathogens. The overwhelming majority of them are perfectly legitimate. I don't know that any are illegitimate. Is it a good idea to do that? Well, in the pursuit of science, there's a good reason to do it, but is it dangerous? Sometimes it is dangerous. So, you know, I've never landed on a conclusion of how COVID broke out in Wuhan in the first place. So it's not like these labs, whether they're in Ukraine or anywhere else, don't pose some level of risk, but in a normal world and about viruses and pathogens, et cetera, and it made a great point.

Like, the low IQ of Glenn Greenwald, Jimmy Door, gray zone followers are amazing. They just go, did you know that Ukraine has biological labs? And they all go, oh my God, that's it. The Ukrainians are guilty. Of what? They didn't even say that they did anything. They don't, they have no evidence of it being used as weapons. They have no evidence of anything.

But wait a minute, we have biological labs. And your beloved Russia has biological labs. So if we just turn it down and go, did you know Russia has biological laps? I assume those same incredibly low IQ people. Oh my God, they're launching the weapons. No. You have to see, what are they doing? Did they do anything?

What is it, right? Well, just to give you a talking point. And I read Greenwald's entire substack post about this. And what he is implying here is, well, look, I mean, why is Victoria Newland so concerned about Russia gaining control of these biological research facilities if they're not, if they're not dangerous? Why are we concerned about Russia seizing control of nuclear power plants? Exactly. I mean, he knows.

He's not stupid. That's the thing. I mean, look, I referred to Glenn Greenwald as a useful idiot earlier. And I actually want to apologize for that, because Glenn Greenwald is not a useful idiot. He's not an idiot at all. He's certainly useful for a certain narrative that he's been pushing that seems to provide apologism for Russia, regardless of what they do, including their disgusting behavior in Syria involving chemical weapons and the propaganda that they put out about false flags and how

chemical weapons weren't actually used against the Syrian people. Yeah, so I want to get there too. So look, guys, again, I agree with that in both fronts. Number one, like the Jimmy Doors and Aaron Matase of the world combined have about three brain cells. So they're useful idiots, they're chasing money. Jimmy's doing all these stupid videos. Now I'll give you one quick title to give you a sense of it. Ukraine commits war crime against Russian soldiers.

Okay, that's a typical Jimmy Doer video. And his followers are like, oh yeah, Ukraine is guilty for getting invaded. Any mention of the Russian war crimes that are taking place right now? Including bombing a children's hospital where three people died to marry a poll. Okay, yeah. Any coverage of that? Probably not. No, no, they're full blown propagandists.

They're the worst people, but they're genuinely stupid. And I know they're chasing cash, but they're fair to call them usefulities. Glenn, on the other hand, is smart. That's why I think he's deeply immoral. Glenn, you don't know that simple point about, why are the Russians trying to gain the nuclear reactors? That could be dangerous. Yeah, nuclear reactors are very, very dangerous.

That doesn't mean they're making nuclear weapons. is no, you're using it for energy purposes in Ukraine and and everywhere else. But it would still be dangerous for them to grab it. These are such obvious points, only a propagandist. Like, and what's sick and sad about Glenn Greenwald is that he used to be a decent person and a decent reporter. And for him to sell a soul like this is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. So now back to the, the expert that we showed you there.

I disagree with a part of what she said. She said, no, I'm positive if something were to happen, it would be the Russians. Well, you can't know who did something that didn't happen yet, right? So let's just be clear about that. It doesn't matter how much the other side is doing propaganda. You always have to be fair no matter what, okay? Because this isn't a battle between us and them. It's about what's true and what's not true, okay?

So on the other hand, why is she, if I'm guessing why she's so certain, it's because Russia has a very clear pattern of what they do in war. They go and they level civilians, whether it was in Chechnya, Syria, or Ukraine. They do the same exact talking points about, oh, we're opening up humanitarian corridors, and then they bomb, okay? And one of the things that they do almost every time is they commit a biological or chemical attack and they go, oh, the other side did it. Oh, can you believe these powerless people who have all who we invaded and are murdering

endlessly are the ones that are guilty of war crimes? Sure, sure, that's never been true because that stuff already happened. We investigated it and by the way, the gray zones and the green walls have been lying through their teeth about that from the day one, Anna was the first one to expose it. That's why they got so emotional. They're like, oh my God, oh my God, somebody's actually calling out our obvious, obvious lies and propaganda. Well, this is what it was leading to.

That's why they're sick people. Yeah, absolutely. And look, there's been an analysis in regard to which sources are pushing this biological weapons line the hardest. And you have the National Pulse, you have Glenn Greenwald substack, you have RT, the Gateway Pundit. I mean, come on, it's just, if there's evidence, actual evidence of the Ukrainians developing biological weapons, let us see it. But to point to a research facility to provide, you know, credibility to the propaganda coming from the country that has done the illegal invasion, not buying it, I'm sorry. And guys, listen, you don't even have to take our word for it.

You do your research, read exactly what they're citing. You know, a common trick that they did with the chemical weapons attacks in Syria, there were multiple chemical weapons attacks. And so let's say you want to prove that. you know, the OPCW report in regard to what happened in Duma indicates that chlorine gas was used, right? What they'll do is they'll show you an OPCW report in regard to a completely different chemical weapon attack. They assume that you're not going to read what they're citing. Read what they're citing, read it carefully, and ensure that there's actually

evidence to bolster whatever their claims are. Yeah, I mean, for Glenn Greenwald to turn from opposing imperialist disgusting wars of aggression that Dick Cheney and George Bush launched against Iraq to supporting disgusting imperialist invasions just because Vladimir Putin is doing it. It's just, it's beyond disgusting. But again, this isn't about personalities, guys. What's important is the Ukrainians are being murdered now. They were invaded, no rational person. I mean, it's Trumpian to say with no evidence, at all, that the Ukrainians are guilty and that the Russians are the innocent ones here. And poor, poor Vladimir Putin, he's just an angel with a soft heart. And they have to defend

him against these evil Ukraine. It's disgusting for him to turn into a fanboy of imperialism and war and death and destruction. So I don't care who's doing it. I hate it when America does it. and I hate it when Russia is doing it. But some people apparently have incentives to pick and choose which imperialists they like and which wars of aggression they like and which chemical attacks they'll lie about and biological attacks. By the way, that in Ukraine, let's be super clear, there has been no biological attacks. The Russians didn't do them either, okay? The Ukrainies haven't done them. What you're dealing with right now is the same exact propaganda and playbook that Russia did in

Syria. They say, oh, watch out for the other side about to do biological attacks or chemical attacks. And then they launched their own. It's proven conclusively in those cases that the Russians launched it. And then they turn around and go, oh, I can't believe those farmers did that. Yeah, sure. They had, you know, well produced chemical bombs that landed from the air and that they launched with farmers launch with their own planes. Right. I mean, It's just insanity. Yeah, exactly. And by the way, let me just give you this quick excerpt from The Guardian, because I think

that they put it well. The anti-Assad opposition groups that still held northern Syria had heard it all before. From 2015, when Russia took a prominent stake in the conflict, and throughout the gruesome years that followed, claims that they, instead of Assad's regime, had used chemical weapons were a ready-made slur that put them on notice of an imminent assault. So that's the reason why Newland and the White House is concerned that this is a foreshadowing sign, that this could lead to the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainians. Again, that has not happened.

There's no evidence of that. But I think considering the pattern that we saw in Syria, there is reason to be concerned. So last thing, one of the websites that Anna read you about spreading these conspiracy theories of totally false is gateway pundit. Gateway Pundit, if you don't know, is an extreme right wing site filled to the room with conspiracy theories. And of course, about poor Trump got the election stolen, et cetera. But you just like even crazier stuff than you've ever seen. Okay, so we told you that the doors and the gray zones and the green walls had gone, and Tulsi Gabbard had gone over the right wing. And they were publishing things that were identical to extremist right wingers.

Now, Gateway Pundit and all those guys are publishing the same things. How could, if you're a progressive, how do you consistently and always agree with the most extreme right wing people in the country? That's because you're a liar, you're not remotely progressive, and stop smearing the name of progressives and just be honest for once in your life and say, yeah, I'm a sick right winger who now loves wars when Putin does it. Just be honest and we can say, okay, look, we disagree. That's fine. We disagree with Dr. Carlson. We disagree with Glenn Greenwald. Frickin war monger doing propaganda for tyrants. That's what you've reduced yourself to. Glenn, you disgust me.

All right, we're gonna take a break, but we have more news about the Russian invasion into Ukraine when we come back. All right, back on TYT, Casper. Well, we've got some updates on how the Russian troops are doing in Ukraine. So let's discuss. Turns out Putin really underestimated things. Russian troops in Ukraine have been attempting to encircle Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. But it is very clear that Vladimir Putin really underestimated Ukrainian forces and how aggressively

they would fight back. Nothing made that clear than a video. It's footage from a drone showing how Russian tanks were essentially ambushed by Ukrainian forces. Let's take a look at that video and we'll discuss. These are scenes from the town of Brovery, which is about 10 miles or so to the east of the city. It's an armored Russian column that has been trying to work its way down the east side of the Ukrainian capital. But there are images taken from a drone from the air. And you can see the moment at which the column it comes and that ferocious attack from anti-tank missiles in a sort of ambush as Ukrainian forces really pounding those armored vehicles. And then from the ground level as well, you can see people have gone up to the tank column after it's been destroyed.

One of the narrators on one of those clips I think you're playing now saying, look, you come to Ukraine. You come to this land and this is what you get and show it under. underlines just how defiant and how effective the Ukrainians are being at the moment in pushing back those Russian armored columns as they attempt to encircle this city. So while it's difficult to get a confirmation on how many Russian troops have died, you know, U.S. officials claim that as many as 6,000 Russian troops have died in this war so far. Again, it's hard to confirm that. But that's what they're saying. And honestly, it's, it's, It's, even me, like I'm pretty shocked by all of this because we're dealing with Russia, which of course has much stronger military capabilities than Ukraine does. And Ukraine is really putting up a fight here.

I know that you're gonna, you love that video, you're gonna talk about it, but I don't know, I don't like seeing people like get destroyed. No, no, let me explain it. Let me explain. So first of all, rushing tanks, go F yourself. So you're goddamn right, I love that video. And so I'm gonna get to caveats in a second, very important ones, okay, but why? Why?

Because unfortunately, you know, as we've done this show for literally two decades now, all I've ever seen, and unfortunately, it's been mainly the US, okay? But other countries as well, Russia, in Syria, Chechnya, and other places, giant countries with tons and tons of weapons, go into a defenseless country and just obliterate it, right? And it's, or Saudis with Yemen, how are the farmers of Yemen going to fight back? They, they don't have weapons, they don't have resources, et cetera. So this time Russia rolls in and goes, oh, we are mighty Russia. We have more money.

We have more weapons than you. We're going to roll you over and we're going to destroy you. And there's nothing you could do about it. And the Ukrainians say, well, agree to disagree. There is something we can do about it. So Russian tank, go F yourself. Okay. So I love the hubris of Putin.

It's like, I'll just roll my tanks in in a 40 mile column, have them as sitting ducks. But the Ukrainians will surrender to me because I'm so mighty. Well, it didn't turn out that way, did it, Vlad? No, they're sitting ducks. Now Ukrainian drones, Ukrainian missiles are taking out the tanks one by one. And the reason they were stuck on the road to Kiev for so long is because the idiot did a 40-mile line of tanks. just sitting there. So you take out the first one, you take out the second one, they're stuck. So they were stuck for days and days and days. And so I love that their invasion is going poorly.

I do not agree with Russian propagandists like Jimmy Dore doing videos saying that the Ukrainians are committing war crimes against Russian soldiers. No, it's not a war crime when someone invades your country and is in a tank to blow up your house and your hospital and your school. for you to fight back. The war crime is invasion. The war crime is the warship and the tanks. Fighting back against that is not a war crime. It is the definition of self-defense.

Okay, now having said that, I've got to say this in it. Sorry. Nonetheless, because I'm a progressive, I think about those poor Russian soldiers in that tank, who didn't vote on the war? Who didn't do anything for it? They had a misfortune of having a monster be their leader in Russia. It's all Putin's fault.

And by the way, the oligarchs who support them, all those billionaires, including the guy who owns Chelsea, the soccer club in UK, and all of them, they all supported this, they all made money off of Putin, they're all monsters, they sent those poor Russian soldiers to go die in Ukraine. So I love the Ukrainians for fighting back and they have no choice at all, at all. It's literally either they're going to die and their families are going to die or they have to fight back against the Russians, but you shouldn't celebrate the deaths of those soldiers. We don't celebrate the deaths of anyone.

I'm celebrating the fact that the Ukrainians were able to miraculously fight back here and stop a war of aggression in its tracks for a little while. And obviously the more frustrated Putin is getting because of his idiocy and his arrogance, the worse he gets and the more humanitarian crisis that he creates by then going and bombing from the air, which also is a huge downside of this. But what are you going to do, blame the Ukrainians for fighting back and protecting their families? That's insane to do that. Right, I agree with you on that front.

Obviously, they have the right to defend themselves and fight back against the Russians. There have been a few things here and there that are problematic, right? And you want to ensure that, like look, Ukraine was legally invaded by Russia, okay? They have the moral standing for the most part, but there were there have been a few things that I think are worth mentioning because we should be fair. So for instance, these near daily press conferences that they do where they have these Russian prisoners of war, essentially part of the press conference, you know, they're held hostage and they're being forced to say things.

That does go against certain rules of law if those rules really exist. You get what I'm saying? I do and look guys it's not we're always going to be fair because the whole point of a news show if you're doing it right is to give you the truth right to give you reality in the facts so I'm against wars of aggression that's my perspective I hope to God most of you are right but the facts are the same no matter what and if the Ukrainians started doing terrible things we would tell you in fact yes so of course we don't trot out the hostages and make them do hostage tapes etc but at the same time what do you

Ukrainians are trying to do is say, no, we're gonna fight back and you're not gonna take this country without a fight. And if you, and so the, like the little old lady is coming and giving the sunflower seeds to the Russian soldiers and saying, put it in your pockets because when you all die here, we'd like to have beautiful flowers grow up, grow in the dirt where you died. No, I like, yeah, I could feel bad for deaths on both sides, but I love that woman. And I love the guy who said, told the Russian worship to go to office himself. defending their land, their families, their lives. So easy for us to nitpick, right?

Yeah, and go, oh, a little bit here and a little bit there. And I wish you were a little bit nicer as you were trying to make sure your wife and children weren't murdered by these Russian soldiers. Yes, it's, and it's just the same with us guys. When we invaded Iraq, those American soldiers, it wasn't their fault. It wasn't their fault in Vietnam. And except for a few guys like American sniper who was a maniac and killed civilians on purpose. But overall, America sent those soldiers and the decision makers are guilty.

Bush and Cheney are guilty. And in this case, the decision makers in Russia are guilty. And so if you're angry and you should be, you should direct that towards Putin and the people who are backing him financially. All right, well, let's move on to our next story, this time involving US officials and some of the backlash they're facing. So Vice President Kamala Harris is getting quite a bit of backlash from individuals who first of all are on the right, but also watched her press conference with Poland's president.

Now there was a question about how Ukrainian refugees are going to be treated in places like Poland and the United States. There has been a lot more pressure placed on a few countries to take in refugees, whereas other countries have not committed it to doing so. And so after the question was asked, just pay close attention to the kind of reaction you see from Kamala Harris. My colleague here in Poland noticed, he recently spoke with the mayor of the largest border town who told him that the refugee system is essentially not set up for this, that it will collapse. It's an improvised system that can work for maybe two weeks, but not indefinitely.

And I'm wondering what the United States is going to do more specifically to set up permanent infrastructure, and relatedly, is the United States willing to make a specific allocation for Ukrainian refugees? And for President Duda, I want you to know if you think, and if you asked the United States to specifically accept more refugees. Okay. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Okay. I can first. Okay, it's okay, this time.

So they're looking at each other who's going to take this difficult question first, that's my guess, and they landed on Kamala Harris, which is why she went ahead and she started answering the question. But this was a moment that was taken advantage of by Republicans, by the right wing, people who actually never care about refugees, in fact have done pretty aggressive campaigns against accepting asylum seekers and refugees. But nonetheless, George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide, says she's awkwardly laughing again, discussing refugees is no laughing matter, why she laughs that this is deranged.

Oh, so you think laughing at refugees, rejecting them, abandoning them, allowing them to fend for themselves, possibly die, you think that's a laughing matter, right? Except that's what the Republican Party represents over and over and over again, certainly when it comes to refugees from Syria, refugees from majority Muslim countries, we know what they're all about. One more, Jenk, Betty Johnson, who's with Turning Point USA, says only Kamala Harris would find it appropriate to laugh when talking about the topic of Ukrainian refugees. So look, I'm conflicted on this. On the one hand, there's no question that Anna's right about the Republicans' point of view on refugees. So, I mean, you want to talk about a joke, you're a joke.

The minute we wanted to bring in Afghan refugees, our interpreters, et cetera, it was the right wing. It was like, ah, they're brown, we don't, we don't want them in the country from Iraq, oh, we don't want them, they're all terrorists, you don't know, you don't know if they've been vetted. That's the number one right wing talking point. You don't know if they've been vetted enough, right? And so. Tulsi Gabbard's one of them, by the way.

Of course, of course, Tulsi Gabbard hates Muslims, she's a bigot. By the way, Ukrainian refugees juries out, white Christians all of a sudden a little bit more open to them, right? All of a sudden, the right wing is like, oh, our heart goes on the other hand, Russians committing war crimes are kind of like that too. It's because they're not woke. They're not woke. So they're kind of split on that. So now, on the other hand, Kama Harris has got to reel it back in, man. She has the most awkward laugh in American history. It's not just about her laugh. She, you have to look, you have to take a step back and not judge based on one moment, right? So if it was just one moment that looked bad and had bad optics, I would dismiss it. However, she, I don't know what happened to her.

I mean, when she's in the context of cross-examining someone during a Senate hearing, she rocks it. But ever since she's been vice president, she's really struggled in terms of public speaking, getting her messaging right, awkward laughter when she's asked difficult questions. It's just not good. It's not a good look. She's really flailing and I don't understand what's going on. I think she's nervous. I think she's incredibly nervous. It's a, you know, you're on the international spotlight here. By the way, credit to the reporter for an excellent question. Okay, so, you know, your hearts go out to Ukraine. Yes, but do your visas go out to Ukraine? So are you going to take Ukrainian refugees in America? Are you going to help Poland who is swamped at

Eastern Europe is now swung with 2 million Ukrainian refugees, right? And so that's an excellent question. And no, she's not laughing at the question. She is laughing at the awkward moment between her and the Polish leader as to who is going to take that hard question first. But by the way, in loss and all this brouhaha over the laughter is, yes, but our policy is not that good right now. No, it's not.

So can we talk about that actually? Because I think that that is, first of all, reporter did ask a great question. And I would like to talk about the asymmetrical nature in which refugees or countries are taking in refugees, okay? So let's go to graphic four here because the UN has done some good things. The UN's refugee agency welcomed a decision last week by the European Union to offer temporary protection to Ukrainians and third party nationals who have refugee or permanent resident status in Ukraine, offering them immediate protection. So if you are a Ukrainian and you make your to a European Union country, you are protected, at least temporarily.

So far the majority though, the majority of those fleeing have crossed into countries neighboring Ukraine like Poland, Hungary, you have Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, while thousands of others have made their way to countries farther, including Germany, France, and Ireland. Okay, but when you look at the United States, we have not committed to taking in Ukrainian refugees at least not yet. Other nations are being accused of falling behind, particularly Britain, after it acknowledged issuing just 300 visas to Ukrainians so far in response to the crisis. The UK issued the visas under a program for refugees with family links to the country. The home office had received a total of 8,900 applications under the program with appointments

made at visa application centers for nearly half of those cases, and 340 of them, them undergoing security checks. So understandably, Britain's getting a lot of heat for this, and the United States has already taken some important steps to help Ukrainians, including offering temporary protected status, so the same thing that EU countries are doing. But again, where they're falling short right now is committing to taking in like X number of refugees. There hasn't really been a statement on that yet.

And I wanna remind you all, two million refugees, or two million refugees, or two million Ukrainian civilians have fled Ukraine. Yeah. So I just want to say, I don't think NBC News is right that it's that important step that we took that those are for people who already had visas here and happened to be here on business or tourism or students. That's not that many people. And so yes, they can't go back to Ukraine a lot of them and it makes sense for us to do that. But that doesn't really address the refugee situation at all. Let's just be clear about that. Right. So that's where we are. I think it is important to

focus on what the reality is. And yeah, Kamala Harris has not been doing a great job in. But look, part of the problem is, Jank, does she have foreign policy expertise, right? So people say that all the time, I hear you, but to me, it's not that hard. You just like you learn, right? So how did we learn the things that we know? We study the news, we study the facts. So I didn't need to go to Poland to understand Ukrainian refugees streaming into Poland.

I understand the issue of refugees because we've covered it for 20 years, we've studied it, we know it. She could do likewise. And she's got a like look, simple advice here for whatever it's worth and we're not big fans of Kamala Harris within the Democratic Party. So I'm sure she's not looking forward to advice from us. But it's okay to say, hey, that's a good question. We'll follow up afterwards and get you a clear answer, right? So you don't have to know every answer, you don't have to be perfect on it. You just have to say, hey, this is what I have now in terms of information. I'll get you more information later. But she's, she's, at this point, she's frazzled because everybody's attacking her, and I get it. That's a tough, tough spotlight,

right? And she's, and there's all those stupid articles that came out in Washington a couple of months ago saying, oh, she's no good and her office is in disarray. And now all of a sudden, she's lost a lot of political capital, and so she's getting more and more nervous. Just one of her advisors, just stop telling her to laugh or giggle in serious situations. I'm telling you this, not, I know we're not on the same side within the Democratic Party, but I'm genuinely saying it because it looks terrible. It comes across as callous, right, especially in a serious context like that. So I think you're right. And listen, she's the vice president of the United States.

incredibly powerful position. I get it, especially when you're being bombarded with negative news or negative attacks, you've got to brush it off and you got to at least put on a brave face and get the job done. We got to take a break. When we come back, we're going to move off foreign policy related news and talk a little bit about what's really transpiring with inflation in America. with you guys. Forward. All right, so let's talk a little bit about inflation, because it's certainly something that corporations are taking advantage of to increase their profits. Inflation continues to harm American households across the country. In fact, the Bureau of Labor

Statistics has released new data showing just how deep the problem is. Now, the reasons for inflation should also be addressed, and corporate greed has a lot to do with it. And we'll get to that in a bit, so hold tight. First, let me give you the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They find this, that the inflation hit another 40-year high as the consumer price index jumped 7.9% in the past year, increases for food, gasoline, and shelter, contributed the most to inflation with gas prices increasing 6.6% and accounted for nearly a third of all items monthly increase. Now the index for food has also increased by 1% according to this data,

while the food at home index increased 1.4%, with both being the biggest increase since April of 2020. And keep in mind, this news comes as we have learned more about increases in wages. That's something that some of these corporations try to celebrate, but wages have not kept up with inflation. The news comes despite the fact that the United States added 678,000 jobs in February, and wages jumped 5.1%. Now, the fact of the matter is, these corporations seem to have taken full advantage of the inflation hysteria, the inflation narrative in the press to just jack up their prices to bolster their profits, even if they don't. need to do it, even if there's no problem with supply chain shortages or supply chain issues. So the top 30 companies, for instance, in the major industry categories of the consumer price index have raised prices while collectively boosting their profits by $151 billion.

And that's according to a watchdog group known as accountable US. The three biggest firms in the food at home category, Walmart, Kroger, and unfortunately Costco as well, saw their net incomes rise a combined $238 million. Grocery prices were up 8.6% in February compared with the previous year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Tuesday. And what do they do with these profits, folks? Do they use these profits to help out their employees with the inflation that they're causing by just arbitrarily increasing prices? No, of course not, they don't do that at all. What they do is pay themselves again further by buying shares of their own stocks.

So the companies also bought back an additional $28 billion of their own shares, a strategy to boost the stock price, which also happens to boost executive compensation because they own shares of the company themselves. I should also note that the board for Amazon has just approved another $10 billion. in corporate stock buyback. So that's what they do with the profits. After they increase prices following all of these headlines about inflation. Okay, guys. So let me explain who's responsible for inflation. When you look at the margins, you see the clear answer. And you'll be able to see it for yourself. So you see inflation going up depending on the quarter,

six to eight percent, right? So one of the most, well actually the most recent quarter that we have information for is the fourth quarter of last year. And so for the S&P 500, those are the top 500 companies, what was their profit margin? Now this is important because, hey, listen, if it turns out that inflation is at 8%, but their profit margins are down at Walmart and those giant companies. And so they're passing on some of the price increases to you guys, but they're also taking a hit and their profit margins have gone down. Then you would say, hey, inflation is a real problem for everybody and business are just responding to supply and demand, right? No, their profit margins are up. And last quarter, they were up to 22%. 22% for the top companies in the world

and in America, that's a giant profit margin. And their profit margins didn't go down. They went up. In fact, I'm going to read you a quick summary from near the end of last year from Reuters, one of the most established news organizations. They say U.S. companies have retained strong profit margins through the pandemic because they have cut costs and pass along high prices to customers. So corporations maximize profit. That's what they do, period. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a child.

And so they saw this opportunity. They're like, look, no one's holding us accountable because of the economic, macroeconomic forces, because of quantitative easing, having put tons of money into the economy and into those particular companies, well, what we can do is we can actually cut our costs and raise prices. Yep. And our margins will be literally record breaking. That's what Reuters was reporting. Record breaking profit margins.

Yep. So it is an indisputable. fact that the prices are higher because companies are making decisions to take advantage of this situation, not share the pain, but double the pain on you guys. Yes. They then ironically send their lobbyists to go tell the politicians that they own all of the Republican Party and unfortunately a decent chunk of the Democratic Party to go out there and tell you guys, oh, your wages went up too much.

That's why there's inflation. You know what? We can't do child tax credit. We can't do all these things that would help your family because of inflation. I mean, look at that monstrous lie, right? They take advantage of their inflation to increase your prices, and then they use their greed to ironically argue you shouldn't get anything more. So don't worry. The Biden administration is aware of what's going on. And Biden has taken action already. He has wagged his finger and he told them to cut it out. Oh wow, that should be really effective.

But honestly, look, what would Biden do? I'd love to know. Like what could Biden unilaterally do? Well, look, here's a couple of things. First of all, tell the truth, it makes a giant, giant difference. It does, true. Okay, now when I'm telling you that the profit margins are up 22%, and I explain these simple business and economic facts, you guys get it, right?

It's not that complicated. And so now, and a lot of people see it because we're, right? relatively large show, right? But imagine if the president said it or Jen Saki said it and they showed you these giant graphics showing how, and they name names of different companies and they shame them. Now you say look, that's not the best option, right? But it's a lot better than nothing, right? And so what that would do is that would create pressure on Walmart and all these other

companies that are jacking up the prices and it would call them out and it would get everybody angry, oh, it turns out the prices are up, not because of macroeconomic forces, but because those companies decided to take advantage of those forces to rob us blind and a time that we need it most. And then he would argue, as we do here, no, it's not the time to cut from the American people. And if, and at Walmart and all your goddamn lobbyists, if you, and I'm just picking on Walmart, but there's 500 companies, they're all doing the same thing, okay? Because their job is to maximize profit, get it through your thick skulls.

You like the reporters are just, they're just so depressingly unintelligent and uninformed. They can't tell any of this stuff. They repeat those corporate talking points and the lobby's talking points like like puppets. There's just so, so sad. That's why I gave you the Rory's report because every once in a while, they accidentally the truth breaks out because they're like, well, it is true that their profit margins are at record numbers, right? Now, but they don't connect it back to, hey, wait a minute, when we talk about inflation, it was clearly, obviously the corporations that

did it, right? So if the president does it, it makes a big, big difference. And then he could say, you know what, I'm passing these bills. You want to stop money going to people's kids? Because you know what? If they're having trouble keeping up with the prices, then we could help them through the government by giving them a child tax credit, right? And instead they're saying they're arguing the opposite. And they're letting mansion run the entire country. And the mansion is a corporate prostitute. He just does whatever his donors tell him. And Biden doesn't to have the courage or the morals to call out mansion for who he is. 100%.

And so what we're really seeing here is a wide scale, you know, what we experience in the very beginning of the pandemic with people buying up all of the toilet paper and then selling it on eBay for insane prices, right, price gouging people. Imagine and remember how infuriating that was, now you have corporations doing it on like a broad level. It's just, it's gross. All right, well, I wanted to get to one more story before we move over to our second hour. And this is about what states like Idaho and Texas are doing toward trans students, it's absolutely disgusting. So red states have unfortunately launched a full scale assault on transgender youth in the country. And not just transgender youth, they're going

after transgender, transgender students whose parents are actually loving parents who are seeking the help that they need, things like mental health care, which is incredibly important for transgender students. Now, in Idaho, on Tuesday, the state house passed a bill that would make providing gender affirming care to transgender youths a felony punishable by life in prison. It also includes a provision making it a crime for parents or guardians to permit their child to travel out of state for treatment. And this is an ongoing trend that we're seeing among right wing lawmakers and state legislatures. I recently shared a story about a state lawmaker in Missouri who is attempting to pass legislation that would punish anyone who helps a woman from Missouri seek an abortion out of state. They're trying to legislate, pass their own jurisdictions.

That's how disgusting this is. And the bill, by the way, in Idaho, H.B. 675, easily passed in a 55 to 13 vote, with just one Republican joining all the Democrats in rejecting the measure. The measure will now move to the state Senate and may be signed into law by Governor Brad Little, who is a Republican. So it's very likely that this could pass and become law in Idaho. Now what is this about? Note that they're focusing on care for transgender youths, right?

That means if you are a parent who is concerned and wants to ensure that your child is getting mental health care, that would qualify as something that would break this proposed law. Okay guys, so first I want to clear the record on something they always lie about and try to mislead you on that's critical to this law. And then I want to tell you why this is, fascism is here. It's, if you live in a red state, you're very close to living under fascist rule. I don't think that's an exaggeration. I'm gonna tell you why, and we're gonna show you another example from Texas that is,

I can't believe it's happening in America, okay? So number one, they make it sound like it's young kids who are getting gender changing surgery. It's not true, that's not allowed, okay, and they're not taking hormones either. It's only things that are reversible, but the majority of it is just simply mental health treatment. And suicides are an enormous issue, especially in the transgender community. And these monsters, these Republicans are like, no, I don't want you seeing a therapist. I don't want you feeling any better about yourself. It's disgusting.

We want to demonize you. And to 14 year old kids, 13, 15 year old kids, we want you to know that you're evil and that that you're a problem and that you should feel terrible about that. Don't you dare seek mental health treatment, okay? They're disgusting people. So okay, now look, two parts of this bill that are unreal. Number one is they're the Gestapo now, as we're gonna show you in Texas, other law states are passing similar bills.

They're going into people's houses and they're, they're, it's the jackbooted thugs of the government. Yep. We claim they were against, right, and take and going to people's houses and say, well, okay, let's see if you're breaking any rules, forget even breaking rules. They're like, how are you treating the kids? Are you actually taking care of them? You're taking care of the kids?

We might lock you up for life, life in prison, for taking care of your kids. How does this not break HIPAA regulations? How does it, like, the person who should, or the people making the decisions about the health and safety of children should be the parents, right? I was under the impression, I wasn't really, but I thought that parents mattered. The parents' choice matters. All of a sudden, a war on parents,

and it's led by Republicans. Everything they say is a lie. In Virginia, they say, oh, it was a war on parents because some parents don't want their kids to wear a mask. Now they literally bust into your house, and they ask you, are you treating your kids well? If you are, you might go to life, prison. It's insane. They don't want you to treat your kids well. They want you to treat

them so don't get them healthy, etc. Guys, it is not like Gestapo. That is Gestapo. That is fascism. And the last thing, we'll talk about it more in a second. I know Anna talked about it yesterday. They're not letting people leave the state. You're now, if you make the mistake of living in a red state, you could be taken prisoner by that state. Wait, I got a, hey, I want to do my own care in a different state, whether it's for my kids, it's, it's, it's for a woman, et cetera, no, you're banned from leaving. You're now in prison by the state of Missouri when it comes to women, the state of Idaho when it comes to families.

And we're taking away all of your freedom. This is the party that claims here for freedom. What a bunch of grotesque liars. And if anyone assists you in seeking reproductive health care in another state, the proposal coming from Missouri is that anyone who helps you, even if it's someone who answers a hotline to give you information, they face penalties, they face prosecution, they face consequences. That's what the proposal is. Now let's go to Texas because once you understand the details of what's happening to parents

who have transgender children, you'll get a sense of why Jank is so furious, why we're so furious. So first a little bit of context, Texas Governor Greg Abbott's directive calling on the State Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate the families of transgender youths who obtained treatment has pushed Texas Children's Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the United States, to halt gender affirming care for minors. Texas parents of transgender children are now looking to get treatment out of state or move altogether. Okay. So again, I want to really emphasize the kind of care that we're talking about here. Because these disgusting right wingers would have you believe that there's like

12 year olds getting, you know, sex reassignment surgery. That is not what's happening here. We're talking about mental health care, and we're talking about, you know, creating a situation where transgender youth feel comfortable in their bodies until they're old enough to make those difficult decisions for themselves. So for instance, let's go to Graphic 8 and 9 here. The American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics advocates that young people who have gender dysphoria should be connected to gender affirming care to ease depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. Now for most trans children, gender affirming care means what? It means mental health services or reversible blockers that pause

puberty and kids with gender dysphoria until they are old enough to decide if they want to medically transition. That is what they are going after in Idaho, in Texas, and they're not only going after these kids, they're going after their parents, and I'll give you a specific example from Texas. So it's the Briggle family, okay, Amber and Adam Briggle have come forward because as a result of what's happening in Texas, they're being investigated. They have a transgender child, and here's what they are going through. Amber Briggle said she learned of the investigation on February 28th,

when she found a sticky note on her desk at the message studio or the massage studio she owns saying she had missed an urgent private call. When she called the number, the woman on the line informed her that she was a child protective services investigator, and she was 30 minutes away from the Briggle home. They're doing a home invasion. Yeah, no, it gets worse, it gets worse. When the inspector showed up at their home, Wednesday, March 2nd, they showed the investigator, their backyard, gardens, and a trampoline.

They stopped her at the kids' bedrooms, letting this person a stranger who was investigating them into the children's space felt like a violation, they told her. The Briggles had a legal right to stop the, had a legal right to stop the investigator and refused to answer questions their lawyer told them. And the worst part about all of this is as this investigation is taking place, the Briggle family has no choice but to explain what's happening to the children. Imagine what that makes the kids feel like. And so Amber Briggle says, we told the children that they have the right to not answer questions.

We told them that the government is trying to spy on us even though we have done nothing wrong. Okay, child protective services is supposed to come in in situations where the children are in danger, they're being beat, their lives are in danger, etc. And they do important work. Instead, they're now using them to bully and intimidate American families. And remember, this is for helping their kids. So in terms of mental health treatment, look, the right wing, unfortunately, They are great at propaganda. So they'll go around telling all these lies about about surgeries, et cetera. And oh, what are they telling them in mental health, how does that help them or hurt them?

They're making the case that mental health treatment, therapies hurt the kids so much that the kids should be taken away from their parents, put into foster care, and that the parents should be in prison. So let me tell you what it actually does, human rights campaign explain treatment, quote, reduces the risk of moderate or severe depression by 60% and suicidal thoughts by 73% in transgender young people. So the Republicans are saying, oh, well, that might save the transgender kid's life. We don't want that. Right, the pro-life Republicans who are legislating and regulating women's bodies, because they purport to care about human lives, apparently don't care about human lives at all, right?

I mean, this is a perfect example, and we have many other examples that we've shared with you in the past. But these people on one hand will claim that they value liberty, they value freedom. They don't, they're complete and utter liars. They love nothing more than to get into your bedroom and tell you what you can and can't do within your own family, within your own home, with your own children, okay? And let me just, let me help you guys visualize what Republican liberty and freedom looks like in America. Let's watch. Chosen his war-way

never come from thee. Blessed in light of thee. Blessed and vireter, joyously said. The only my name, be drawn to yet. The only time they're ever concerned about freedom is deregating corporate. so they can rob you. That's the only time they care about small government.

Okay, I'm gonna read you one last quote from the father in the Briggle family. Because remember, they're threatening to imprison them and prevent them from leaving the state. He said, if we have to become political refugees in our own country, then that's what we do. But I don't know where it's safe. These people aren't like fascists. They are fascists. So at this point, I don't want to hear any talk from Republicans about, oh, no, guys, we just have simple disagreements. Well, you know, we think we should bust into people's houses, take their kids away from them because they love their kids and they were treating their kids well.

We should make the decisions for them about how to treat their kids. And then if they disagree with us, we should make sure they can't leave the state and then stuff them into prison. And in Idaho, life in prison, life in prison for loving your children. No, Republicans are ugly, they're immoral, and they're fascists. I don't want anything to do with them. That's the reality of what Republicans are today in America. So no, I don't want any BS happy talk from stupid reporters and Democrats in Washington telling us, oh, let's just all get along.

I can't tell who's right or wrong. Well, the right wing or the left way, I can't tell. I can tell. The Republicans hate our freedom. They hate our families and they hate our right to choose whatever we want and our equality. And they hate justice. And I don't want to deal with fascists. And that's exactly what these people are.

All right, we gotta take a break, that does it for our first hour. But when we come back for the second hour, looks like Donald Trump has taken a page out of the televangelist book. And now he's trying to scam his supporters for a private shed. We've got those details and more when we're. we come back. 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.co slash t-y-t.

I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.