The Young Turks - TYT Extended Clip - July 22nd, 2020

Episode Date: July 23, 2020

Trump has ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston. John Iadarola and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. 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. The new BMO ViPorter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks. More points. More flights. More of all the things you want in a travel rewards card.

And then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO ViPorter MasterC. and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply. Visit bemo.com slash the iPorter to learn more. Thank you. Thank you. What's up, everyone, and John Idaerola with you, it is a beautiful Wednesday outside here in Los Angeles.

Angeles, hopefully the weather is beautiful where you are. Hopefully you're happy, healthy, safe. I know that it's chaotic times in this country, and we have a lot of insane stories to fill you in on. John, it's awesome to host with you. How are you? I'm excited to be back on the show with you. Yeah, me too. I missed you last week. Exactly. And yeah, I always love doing the show with you, as I've said like a million times. Before we get to, thankfully, thankfully, before we get to all the news that we have prepared for you guys. Let me just remind you of one of the many ways you can help support the show. Aspiration is one of our partners. It's a financial institution that we have partnered with because it operates in an ethical way and they care about the environment. In fact,

if you sign up for a free spend and save account with Aspiration, they will plant 10 trees And, you know, you plan a tree with every purchase after that. So go to aspiration.com slash TYT to learn more. If it weren't for some of the help that aspiration has provided us, especially when it comes to one of its founders, Joe matching some of the contributions for our fundraising efforts, you know, we wouldn't be able to do what we do. So we appreciate you guys. We appreciate Aspiration.

Definitely check them out. And if we have the, I want to say umbrella for some of it. If we have the thermometer ready, let's take a quick look at the thermometer and see where we're at. We're trying to raise enough money to remain sustainable. And so far for this month, we're at 103,514. That's good, right? I mean, that's good. I don't know. I remember the number was lower yesterday, much lower. We're about two thirds of the way through the month. So I'm no mathematician, but we still got a little ways to go. There is a mathematician watching our show, though. You know who you are. You tweet in. I see you. All right. No, he's a good guy. He's a good guy.

Don't make that face. He's an awesome guy. Anyway, so let's get to the stories. And please bear with me today. I've had trouble sleeping. And so I'm going to do my best to get through the show. Lots of stories that I really care about. And I want to share with you guys. So let's start off with China. The Trump administration has ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, further escalating tensions between the United States and China. This was an abrupt move. And China was essentially told that the officials needed to vacate the premises within 72 hours. There are about five U.S. consulates in mainland China, and one in Hong Kong. And China has responded by saying that if the Trump administration

refuses to reverse this decision, they will retaliate possibly by closing. down one of the U.S. embassies in China. Now, a spokesperson for the State Department said in a separate statement that China has engaged for years in massive illegal spying and influence operations, and that those activities have increased markedly in scale and scope over the past few years. Now, the allegation here is that the Chinese foreign ministry consisted of spies who are looking to obtain trade secrets when it comes to a coronavirus vaccine. Obviously, this is a developing story, and I want to be clear about what we know and what I'm speculating on. My speculation is that this is complete BS, and I'll explain why in just a minute.

And I also believe that this escalation with China is an incredibly bad move. I think this is not the way that we want to go. But the Trump administration, of course, sees this as an opportunity to puff its chest and pretend as if it's doing what it needs to to protect national security. Anyway, so I want to go to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and it's spokesperson who has denied any of these accusations and has accused the administration of violating international law and governing norms. Let's take a look. On July 21st, the U.S. abruptly demanded that China's consulate general in Houston cease all operations and events.

It is a political provocation unilaterally launched by the U.S. side, which seriously violates international law, basic norms governing international relations, and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the U.S. China strongly condemns such an outrageous and unjustified move, which will sabotage China-U.S. relations. Now, look, I want to be clear about something. I understand the reality of what's going on. And I understand that the Trump administration has some interest in escalating tensions with China because of reelection desires and also possibly funding incentives when it comes to the Pentagon. At the same time, I'm not pretending as if China is some great place for human rights. Of course, I acknowledge that the Uyghur Muslims are being sent to these camps in order to essentially punish them for the fact that they're Muslims. So we have to be honest

about this situation and not pretend as though one side is good and one side is bad. It's a nuanced discussion, and I think it's really lacking in the mainstream press. Now, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not provide reporters with many details about why this decision was made. In fact, he's traveling to Europe to let our European allies know that the United States does in fact want to take a more hardline approach against China. Pompeo said U.S. officials had set our clear expectations for how the Chinese Communist Party is going to behave. And when they don't, we're going to take actions that protect the American people, protect our security, our national security, and also protect our economy and jobs. You know that statement is nonsense when you

You consider the fact that Americans are experiencing federal agents cracking their skulls on the streets right now because they happen to be protesters. Our economy is a complete and utter disaster for the vast majority of Americans. And there's absolutely no relief in sight when it comes to Congress providing the economic relief that Americans need in the middle of this pandemic. So no one's, I'm personally not buying what Mike Pompeo, this hawkish person is trying to sell us. But I do want to just get some of your thoughts before I give more detail to the story, John. Yeah, you're totally right to look at the full context.

Are we protecting American security and economic security and all that? But we can even zoom in just on what has happened, you know, over the span of the Trump administration, the first few years, vis-a-vis China. So they're saying they want to protect America's security and jobs. This particular move, kicking the consulate out of Houston, does that do that? To a regular person, it doesn't appear to. Now, if you are asserting that they are stealing intellectual property or whatever, specifically out of that consulate, okay, well, then you could make that case.

You're not doing that. And so the idea that they're doing that sort of stealing, I find quite plausible the Chinese government as well as other governments have been known to do that for a very long time. Were they doing it especially right now? That is what I have a harder time imagining. It seems like the contextual time thing that matters right now is the upcoming election, rather than a ramping up of, you know, IP theft by the Chinese government. And then when you look at what else Donald Trump has done in regards to the Chinese government, this increasing

of tensions, his trade war has, as we have covered ad nauseum over literally years, been absolutely devastating, necessitating multiple billions of dollars of stimulus funding to try to offset the damage that his policy vis-à-vis China has already done to us. And that is not consistent with the most important thing to us is the economic security of Americans. Okay, well, then end your trade war. Right now it looks like you want to make it look like he's being tough in regards to China and in a very see-through stupid way. So we kick out their consulate. They're going to do it to ours. Okay, so now each of us has a building that we don't use anymore. Are you going to kick out one of theirs then? And then they'll do one of ours. This is ridiculous. This seems

incredibly childish. And I don't understand how any working American could look at this back and forth and think that it truly has anything to do with them. Yeah, exactly. And I think that Americans in general, regardless of political ideology, are fatigued from engaging in senseless wars. And China is not the type of country you'd want to escalate tensions with. But if you look at the way that Trump has tried to salvage his reelection campaign. I mean, a lot of his ads really do focus on this hardline approach against China. And he tries to position Joe Biden as a dove when it comes to hostility from China. I mean, of course, we all know we've all seen Joe Biden has responded

in kind by arguing that Trump's the one cowering to China and that Biden's the strong guy. and he's going to really show him who's boss. I just think that all of this rhetoric is is dangerous to say the least. So let's talk about, go ahead. Well, yeah, and being stuck where you're going to be seeing ads from both of them asserting that we need to ramp up these tensions with China, that's a really terrible position for the American people to be in, that we have no true alternative being offered by any of the two parties. So I do want to talk about a few lawmakers who are actually speaking out in regard to tensions with China and whether China is really a threat.

So Senator Angus King is an independent lawmaker. He often caucuses with Democrats. But I mentioned that he's an independent because it's not like he's some hardcore progressive. He is usually on board with these types of foreign policy efforts. But he did raise some concern when it comes to Trump's actions. So according to CNN's reporting, Senator King, an independent of Maine who caucuses with Democrats said he was not aware of any recent intelligence of particular Chinese activities, either with regard to our elections or the whole confrontation between the two countries,

theft of intellectual property, that may have driven the decision, right? So he's like, I never heard anything about it, this seems pretty abrupt. Then he says this, there certainly is. good reason to confront China. My concern is escalating the tension is it really about confronting China or does it have something to do with an election in four months? And I think he's right to bring up the election. And then I want to bring you to a Washington Post piece that was published a little while back. And it's important to know the context behind this and who Representative Brad Sherman is when it comes to foreign policy. So this article,

was mostly about, okay, who is going to take Angles, Richard Engels' leadership position within congressional committees now that Jamal Bowman is the one who has beaten him in the primary in New York. And so conservative Democrats or corporate Democrats are really pushing for Brad Sherman because Brad Sherman has been, you know, hawkish in a very neoliberal type of way. voted in favor of the war in Iraq. Progressives are pushing for Joaquin Castro to take that leadership role. But what's so fascinating is that Brad Sherman of all people, someone who's as hawkish as he is, really like really questioned some of the narratives that we're hearing about China, right? And he's the exact type of person who would usually be on board. So let me give you

the details. And again, this is wonderful reporting by John Hudson over at the Washington Post. Sherman acknowledged his hawkish record on Middle East policy, but underscored his more liberal outlook on what may be the most consequential foreign policy challenge of the 21st century, the U.S. relationship with China. This is a quote from him, the Pentagon needs a worthy adversary to justify a huge increase in budget, and China is it. He said the defense industry and other foreign policy hawks inflate the threat posed by China's construction of artificial islands and overstate the danger to international shipping in the South China Sea. And then just one more quote for you, he says, whenever the Pentagon has faced an irregular force, it's been a

miserable experience, he said, referring to militias and terrorist groups. But whenever our military has faced a symmetrical uniformed opponent, it has been glorious. So it's not surprising the Pentagon is looking for a symmetrical opponent that justifies a bigger budget. Yeah. Now that is a hawkish Washington insider who's saying, not buying these China narratives. Yeah. Something to think about. And I hope, I hope it's honest and I hope it's durable and ongoing.

My question would be, is it easier to hold these positions while Donald Trump is in charge of the U.S. military? Is it more convenient but perhaps might change once there's a flippin power? And you know, I'm glad to hear that, but at the same time that we had a vote on cutting the military budget just today, I believe, and it was shot down with a lot of Democrats voting against it. I hope that these sorts of things signal a willingness to change that very traditional position of complete subservience to whatever the military wants when it comes to their budget. But there is also evidence out there indicating that that might not be the

case. And by the way, I have a suggestion we're talking about this very complicated relationship that we have with China and everything. It's totally true. I mean, the pandemic has seemingly worsened it with Trump trying to lay all the blame on them and everything and they've lost a lot of people and we've lost a lot of people. So one of the big things that was apparently being stolen that there was referenced in why we needed to shut that that consulate down was information on development of a vaccine. Give it to them. Why are they stealing it? There was a story like last week that Russia was trying to steal information on the development a vaccine, why are we hiding it? I mean, I get it. It's because it's not the U.S.

governments, it's some private company that gets to determine when and if we live or die. But how about this? How about since we're pumping billions of dollars into it? We get access to it if we want, and they get access. What's the worst that's going to happen? They're going to develop a vaccine that would seemingly be a good thing. And think of the goodwill if we provided information that can save tons of lives in Russia and in China. This sort of espionage is only espionage and industrial espionage because we value so much the secrets held by our particular industries. And this is a public good. This is a matter of public health. And it's not even just public health for them. If it gets crazy in other parts of the world again, then that will

eventually flow back to us as well because these viruses don't respect national boundaries. It is just a good idea to share this information. It should be an international effort. Well, John, you are a dangerous radical leftist because you believe in saving lives instead of valuing and prioritizing profit. So shame on you. But yeah, of course, I agree with you. And the way that we have created this insane... 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 that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be, featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, The UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, you must unlearn what you have learned.

And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or your un-either. uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for you and FDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Virus of a profit, you know, incentive when it comes to health care, when it comes to pharmaceuticals, I mean, it's driving what we're seeing right now. If this story, and these allegations against China are true. And if they are true, then I agree with you. Yeah, we shouldn't be, you know, holding. And by the way, the U.S. doesn't really seem to care so much about trade secrets

when they're looking for cheap labor abroad. All of a sudden, that's when like proprietary information doesn't matter so much because you can tap into and exploit cheap labor in other countries. And so you've got to look at the bigger picture. You've got to understand the context in which the United States functions alongside or against China and vice versa. And just be skeptical of any type of foreign policy narrative coming out of Washington and especially the Trump administration. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to switch gears and talk about what these federal agents have been doing and will be doing in the future if Trump can get his way.

What's up everyone? Welcome back to TYT. Right before we came back, John mentioned that Matt Gates is definitely going to go down for a scandal. I agree with him. There have already been some accusations of misuse of funds, but we'll give you more details on that story as it develops. There was obviously a lot of news today. Before I get to the rest of the rundown, I want to read a few of your member comments. I bathe in a very stable geniuses here says Trump violating international law. Gee whiz. He has so much. much respect for the laws of his own country. I find this hard to believe. I know. I mean, this, he will stop at nothing if he thinks that his actions will give him some sort of like

upper hand when it comes to his reelection. Mondo Libre says, if Biden wins his first presidential act after firing Betsy DeVos and the rest of Trump's cronies should be apologizing to the world for the previous administration. Herkle says, considering that Taiwan is officially called the Republic of China, I wonder if the Trump administration might recognize Taiwan as the real China and the People's Republic of China not to be the real China. I don't even think even at this point, I would be shocked if you really understood the dynamics between mainland China and Taiwan. He's not a curious person.

And his previous comments on it, I mean, and then I want to read one super chat before we move on, Azemi says, a new consciousness is developing, which sees the world, or sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed, Carl Sagan. Hmm, I like, I like that. I like it. So let's talk about the Chads in the world.

Do you wanna do that? Always. Let's do it. And so the department, because we don't have that local support, that local law enforcement support, we are having to go out and proactively arrest individuals and we need to do that because we need to hold them accountable.

was acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who continues attempting to make justifications in regard to the federal agents that have been sent to Portland. And now we're learning that unfortunately this type of illegal detainment of nonviolent protesters is likely to spread throughout the country, not just Portland, Oregon. In fact, Trump made some mention of that today. But what Chad Wolf said there is important because he made it abundantly clear that the Department of Homeland Security acknowledges that they have been arresting people, you know, without them even doing anything, right, arresting people on the suspicion that they might do something.

They're being proactive by arresting protesters in these cities, you know, in Portland and in in more cities to come. And I think that's important to keep in mind because it just really does highlight, John, how unconstitutional this behavior is. I mean, they claim that, oh, we're battling chaos and violent crime and we're trying to protect federal property. I mean, all the excuses that they tried to come up with in the beginning. And now Chad Wolf is being pretty clear in saying, no, we're just trying to be proactive.

And proactive indicates that you do something because you expect the individual to commit some crime or some action and you're, you know, you're acting before they can commit that action. That's not how our justice system is supposed to work. And a lot of these people have been detained without being charged and with absolutely no indication of probable cause. Yeah, and look, unfortunately for the Chads, we have video. We have video of what's going on in the protests. We can see people just standing apart from anything, being carted away, being beaten with batons. And we also have the video of him. And I've seen enough video of him now to be extremely concerned when we have this debate about whether this is a genuine overreaction and, you know,

hard tilt towards fascism in the streets of America, or is it all of that? But for campaign purposes, the thing is, Chad Wolf has given me no reason to believe that he wouldn't be willing to go down either of those avenues for Donald Trump. If it's genuine, he'll do it. He doesn't care, he has no concern for the well-being of the American people. But if it's just a ploy for the campaign, he has been in lockstep with Trump, narratively, on this issue. There have been people from DHS who've been doing interviews. I think BuzzFeed, I believe it was BuzzFeed had an interview with like 17 high up DHS employees who are saying, you know, they're extremely worried about the long-term damage this is going to do to the

DHS's like public perception and all that. He doesn't appear to hold any of that. Because again, It's like the government and military equivalent of Wall Street speculation. I'm gonna make the money I want and then I'm gonna be gone. I don't care if the entire thing crumbles behind me. And so yeah, the damage- Including our democracy. Exactly, you know, exactly. Including our constitutional rights.

I mean, it's just amazing to me that people on the right wing who have manufactured entire careers off of pretending as though they're victims who's, you know, freedom of speech was violated by lefties. They love this. They love this. This is an actual crackdown on people's freedom of speech. And people are being terrorized, intimidated, detained with no charges, no probable cause. And the right wing is completely quiet about it or is defending it, tooth and nail. And so I want to, we're going to get to the DHS officials who spoke to BuzzFeed News off the record. But I do want to also warn you. guys about what is likely to come based on what Donald Trump shared during his coronavirus briefing

today. Let's take a look. For this reason today, I am announcing that the Department of Justice will immediately surge federal law enforcement to the city of Chicago. The FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshal Service, and Homeland Security will together be sending hundreds of skilled law enforcement officers to Chicago to help drive down violent crime. Under Operation Legend, we will also soon send federal law enforcement to other cities that need help. Other cities need help. They need it badly.

They should call. They should want it. They're too proud or they're too political to do that. One of them is Albuquerque in New Mexico where a last fall, 55-year-old Jackie Veehill, was murdered as she was getting into her car to go to the gym. We're joined today by our husband, Sam, and her sons, Raul and Kevin, both New Mexico state police officers. Would you please stand? Thank you very much.

So for everyone who thought it wasn't such a big deal that immigration officials were terrorizing asylum seekers at our southern border, keep in mind that these are similar federal agents who are now going after protesters who, again, are practicing their constitutionally protected. right, to protest. Now, you know, that includes, you know, he mentioned some of those agencies in that video, but it includes federal protective services, immigration and customs enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Marshal Service. So again, these are federal agents who are supposed to supposedly protect us and our national security, But in reality, they're treating Americans, Americans, civilians as enemy combatants on American soil. And when it comes to the people who have been arrested, right, this argument that, oh, they're doing, these federal agents are necessary because they're focusing on these violent criminals who have done very, very bad things. Okay, well, let's let's talk about the few who have actually been charged and what those charges were, right?

So two people were actually arrested during the protests over the weekend and neither one of them was charged. Both were later released, okay? So detained with no probable cause, no charges. A review of federal court records for the month of July, the entire month of July by ABC News shows 18 people have been federally charged for crimes related to demonstrations in Portland. Of those crimes, 13 were charged as misdemeanors. Five of the cases involved the alleged use of laser pointers against federal agents or officers. Wow, wow, danger, danger. First of all, if the accusations of violence in any municipality, any city were true, right?

And to be fair, Chicago does have a problem with violence. It is not the federal government's jurisdiction to come in to any city and do this type of policing. That is not what they're trained for. That is not what they were hired for. And what we're seeing on the streets in Portland right now has only further escalated tensions and violence. And this is actually what Trump wants, honestly. He thinks this is a good look. He thinks that this makes him look like a tough guy. It goes along with the same thinking when he's escalating tensions with China. And it's really devastating because it's dismantling our constitutional rights. And you have the right wing totally supporting it.

Yeah, you do. You have, you have Tom Cotton, you know, on Sean Hannity yesterday saying that if they end up shooting and killing these protesters, it's on the protesters. So they support him. We get that. So you're saying he's doing this because he thinks it makes him look good. I mean, I would have the fault question, does it? I get that it's like totally other Republican playbook, you know, ginning up fear and all of that, but now internal against various American cities. But I just, I, after this year, I would have previously, I would have probably said it would probably work, that it would get people scared and the media would both sides it and make it seem as if Antifas in all these cities. And they're really scary and you should

be worried about it. But I don't know, the way that he's handled the protests from the start doesn't seem to have helped him at all. Black Lives Matter is more popular than it was at the beginning, I think in no small part because Donald Trump, his response to it has been so uncaring, so cruel, the gassing of the people outside of the White House, the Bible, you know, the photo op and all of that. None of that worked for him is bringing it to all of these different cities going to be better? Like in the months leading up to the election, let's say it does cause chaos. And there's indications that when they send in these people, the protests become stronger as a result. Doing that in all of these different cities, some of them in swing states, is that

gonna make people more excited for more of Trump for four more years of that, that he has brought chaos? And I think that it's too hard for the media to pretend that what the law enforcement is saying about the protesters is true. And we're seeing the video of them brutalizing people. It's undeniable. I think that this is sort of his last best chance, I guess. But the evidence So far from this year doesn't imply to me that it's going to be successful. It is going to be horrifying. It's just a terrible precedent. People are going to be horribly hurt. And if he does get into office with this, God only knows where it'll go from there. But I don't think that it's going to help him politically. Yeah, I mean, he's made a lot of poor decisions, especially this

year. So he might think it'll work out for him. So far it hasn't. And I think he's just trying to play to his base. This is red meat for his base. But it's really difficult to keep your base on your side when their family members are literally dying because of the terrible advice you've been giving Americans when it comes to masks, when it comes to hydroxychloroquine, when it comes to minimizing the severity of the pandemic. I mean, I think that people have been negatively impacted by this pandemic in some way or the other, either economically or because they lost a family member or a loved one or both. And so he's just, he's a failure because he's always talked his way out of things. But this is the type of situation

where you really can't talk your way out of, you know, taking responsibility for all of the death and destruction in this country. Real quick, since we promise, I do want to mention that BuzzFeed News did speak to 17 officials from the Department of Homeland Security who say, that they're horrified at what's happening. They did speak with anonymity because of obvious reasons. They don't want to lose their jobs. They don't want retaliation. But I mean, if you feel this terribly about what's happening, you got to fight. And 17 members of the Department of Homeland Security is no joke. And so coming out and revealing who you are and speaking out against this aggressively is important because this is beyond how the Department of Homeland Security looks.

This is about protecting what little we have of our constitutional rights at this point under the Trump administration. So one DHS official said the following, despite working at DHS, I watch and learn about every day's new descent into lawlessness and authoritarianism, just like the rest of the world. Being a part of this corrupt regime, even as I play no role in the decision making process, leaves me disgusted by my employer and saddened for my country. You should speak out, not with, you know, with the protection of anonymity, but reveal who you are. Your colleagues should do the same. Because again, this goes beyond your profession, your job, your career. This is about doing the right thing and ensuring that we, you know, try at least to move the country in the right direction. Reach two more quotes real quick.

This administration's utterly transparent fearmongering of sending federal officers out against peaceful protesters. in Portland and Chicago has no purpose other than to support Trump's re-election bid, it is blatantly 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 eyes of big tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN hides your IP address, making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell

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That's EXP-R-E-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. The unconstitutional and an embarrassment to the agency and the career civil servants who work here. And finally, BuzzFeed News shares one other DHS officials' perspective on this. And he says, or she says, I did not sign up, nor was I trained to be a street cop. Civil societies have immigration laws that need to be enforced. But that does not mean we should be used as this delusional president's personal attack dog just because we happen to be available.

Yeah. It's just, it's terrifying. I mean, and we just, we need people to have courage and do the right thing here. Do we have time? We should probably take our last, yeah, let's take our last break. Let's get that break out of the way, guys. Get it out of the way. We're going to come back and talk about how Democratic,

are terrible when it comes to this DHS issue because Democratic leadership actually wants to give DHS more money. I'll give you the details and more when we come back. Welcome back to TYT, Anna and John with you. Since I read member comments after the last break, I'll read some super chats and we'll move on to the rest of our news. Lynn says times are tough, but even in Canada, you guys are so important. So here is some of my severance from my former oil and gas job.

You know what, Lynn, first of all, thank you for taking that money and funneling it to our organization. I really appreciate it. And also for being honest. I always appreciate honesty. Pupa Wabagas says, y'all are my heart. Anna, thank you for being a strong example of women of all ages. I appreciate you, you too, John.

Thank you guys. Just all the sweet messages this week did not go unnoticed. Like I really appreciate all the love that you guys have shared with us this week. It really does go a long way. Okay, let's talk a little bit about surveillance because while we do criticize Republicans, there is some criticism and critique for some Democrats. So while Donald Trump continues to abuse his power by sending federal agents to crack down on peaceful protesters in Portland and now possibly in other cities. Some in the House leadership

have decided that, you know what? We might be Democrats and we might be against Donald Trump and we might pretend like we don't like what DHS is doing. But why don't we go ahead and fund them more and expand their surveillance capabilities? I'm not kidding. This is literally something that's being debated among Democrats in Congress right now, okay? And of course, the debate is between Democratic leadership, which mostly consists of centrist Democrats and progressives, like Pramila Jayapal, who says, no, this is wrong. So let me set it up for you and give you the context. In March, a sweeping set of government authorities, a sweeping set of government authorities to monitor people in the United States expired, and Congress continues to debate what limits should be put

on such powers before reauthorizing them. And the House is debating its next DHS funding bill with the Congressional Progressive Caucus pushing leadership not to bring it up for a vote given Trump's abuse of power and DHS agents role in a Portland arrest. So progressives, as usual, are on the right side here. They're like, wait, why are we having a discussion about giving DHS more funding when Donald Trump is utilizing federal agents in an unconstitutional way. House Democratic leaders are considering lumping in Department of Homeland Security funding

with appropriations for the departments of labor and health and human services, making it more difficult for progressive Democrats to oppose. So as I mentioned, Representative Pamela Jayapal has spoken out against this. I want to give you her comment. And by the way, please check out the full report by Ryan Grimm at the Intercept. This is such an important story. Jayapal says the following. What you're seeing in this giant Trump administration machine deputize every arm of government

to engage in their agenda at the expense of democracy and the Constitution. So there aren't traditional boundaries anymore for any of those pieces of legislation. Every argument is about do you want to give more tools to the Trump administration to destroy our constitution? Very simple, very clear message, and she is right, she makes the right point here. But unfortunately, there is this battle between Democrats like Adam Schiff and Ron Wyden. Ron Wyden, who's a senator, Democratic senator, is like, I'm not for this. This is not a good idea, whereas both Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler are somehow in favor of of helping DHS out here.

So the GOP talking points on this, by the way, suggests that the investigators could use internet data as a starting point in launching an investigation. That would allow DHS to collect data on every person who visited a website sympathetic to protests in Portland, then begin to surveil each of those people hunting for a crime that could justify an arrest. There are literally democratic lawmakers right now who are on board. for that, for that type of expanded surveillance, not under the next administration, possibly under the remainder of the Trump administration.

It blows my mind, and I'm gonna call specific people out in just a minute, but John, please share your thoughts. Yeah, I, you know, I wish I could be surprised by it, but yeah, you get this sort of thing on top of, you know, most of them, like we were just talking about earlier today, voting against pulling out of our wars that have lasted literally decades. Yeah, some of them will never learn. They can't be taught, they can only be replaced. And it's a reminder that while we obviously have to get out of office every possible Republican, we also have to get out of office almost every possible Democrat. And as we replace each one with someone better who's got progressive

values, who's an actual fighter not corrupted by money, we're gonna get to the place where we need to be. And so now we've been lucky enough in some of these past elections where we have people holding awesome votes like Ilhan Omar's was, you know, in the past couple of days. And unfortunately it then goes out to a Democratic caucus that is still not where it needs to be, especially on issues of foreign policy. The idea that you would hand over these powers to someone that you on a daily basis label as being a unique threat to every component of whatever America is supposed to be is madness. And if you do that, then I start to question how much you actually mean it when you make those proclamations. I say those things, but I also believe it and I wouldn't

give him these powers. In fact, I would be rolling back the powers that they have right now. Far too much power has already been accrued by American president since 9-11. The military budget is many times over what it needs to be. We need to get back to a position of rationality when it comes to executive authority and the amount that we spend on our military. And it doesn't look like with this particular leadership, Republican or the current Democratic leadership, we can do that. Yeah, we really do need to focus on these congressional races, which, you know, to Jenks' credit, he is hyper-focused on that and does want to amplify the voices of progressive candidates.

Unless we really change the makeup of Democratic leadership in Congress, it is going to be an uphill battle to, you know, get the right policies passed and to defeat all the policies that we want to defeat, including this expansion of surveillance powers for the Department of Homeland Security. I mean, they are out there cracking skulls as we speak. And you have Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Nancy Pelosi trying to help DHS expand their surveillance powers. And you know, credit to Senator Ron Wyden for taking the right stance on this issue. And it's an ongoing debate, but we'll fill you guys in as it develops. All right, a story that I wanted to share with you earlier this week, but there are many updates to share today. A teenager, a teenager on probation

has been held in a juvenile detention facility since mid-May because she failed to do her homework assignment, her online homework assignment in the middle of this pandemic. Now recently a family court judge refused a motion to release the girl. She's only 15 years old. She goes by her middle name Grace. And the judge argued that no, I think that this teenager is actually better off in a detention facility in the middle of a pandemic. It's just such a devastating story. Before I give you what the judge had to say about this, Let's go back and see a news report that explains how this 15-year-old ended up in this facility in the first place. This was not an easy decision to make.

On Monday, a judge denied Grace's request for an early release from a juvenile residential center, calling her a danger to her mother. Grace was placed in detention in May after violating her probation by failing to complete online schoolwork. Her probation stemmed from a physical altercation with her mother last fall, and for stealing a student's property. How many times does she get to jump her mom before you think that she's a threat of her to her mom? How many times? The defense pointed out that many students struggle with virtual learning, especially those like Grace, who has ADHD and is on a special education plan. So Grace has been struggling because of her learning disability. But also, you know, she had been placed on probation because of some interactions with her mother.

She also took a cell phone from one of her classmates and later returned it, but she got in trouble for that as well. So what does our system do? Immediately criminalized children. I mean, she's 15 years old. So she gets placed on probation, which means anything that she does that might be deemed inappropriate by this judge lands her in a juvenile detention facility where she's been. since May. And so now she's trying to get back to her family. She wants to get out of that

facility for obvious reasons. It's not the safest place to be in the middle of a pandemic. And so the judge, Mary Ellen Brennan, says the following, I think you are exactly where you're supposed to be. You are blooming there. There is more work to be done. Give yourself a chance to follow through and finish something. The right thing is for you and your mom to be separated right now. And Grace's heartbreaking response, John, was, I miss my mom. Yeah. I can control myself. And this is the part that just broke my heart. I can be obedient. Yeah. God, our system is just so broken in so many different ways. I've never, from the very beginning of this story, you know, through multiple iterations, I haven't understood how it existed. How is this not one of

the things where when, you know, it got picked up, they immediately scrambling. to write things, embarrassed by the fact that the nation was looking at this obvious injustice. But they didn't. It just continues. And like, ostensibly, the rationale for this is, you know, we gotta do it's best for the kid. At what point do you start to question whether that's actually the motivation? How many months are you supposed to spend there? It's just madness. No one should be treated this way. No kids should be treated this way. And that quote, I totally agree, it's devastating because of the possibility that it indicates that they were successful, that they broke her with this sort of treatment. And that's not her best interest, not in any way.

How does this, yeah, I mean, how does this help anyone? She's 15 years old. She made mistakes. She's obviously remorseful. Give you more details. The decision by this judge came despite an argument from the attorneys of the teenager, Grace, that the therapy and educational support she receives at the facility are adequate. And a statement by the prosecutor, I'm talking about the prosecutor, right? The person who's supposed to be like real tough on her. The prosecutor said that his office supports her release. But the judge is like, no, I think you actually, you're doing real well in a detention facility in the middle of a pandemic. when you desperately want to be back home with your mother. Yeah. It's just, it's horrifying.

We're supposed to be trying to get everybody out. Like we're sending, like Cohen got out and stuff like that. But we're locking kids up because they they had a spat with their parent, which every kid does. Not every kid gets locked up, but some do. Yeah, and I think, I think that the race angle really does matter. Because if you look at the school to prison pipeline, you look at the numbers. black children disproportionately make up the people, the children who end up in these juvenile detention facilities relative to what the population is for black people in society versus the population they make up when it comes to these detention facilities.

In fact, let me just give you a quick graphic explaining that, it's the very last one. According to ProPublica, from January of 2016 to June of 2020, about 4,800 juvenile cases were referred to the Oakland County Circuit Court. About 42% involved black youth, although the population in the county is about 15%. Yeah. So I think this, you know, of course, brings up the issue of racial biases and what the judge sees when a person is there in that courtroom. What kind of stereotypes or biases play a role in the judge's decision. There's no reason why this 15-year-old, who's shown improvement, who's shown remorse, who really wants to be back home with her mom, shouldn't be back home with her mom. It's what everyone wants. And if the prosecutor is saying

that she should be released, then the judge should take that to heart. But unfortunately, she's not. Yeah. All right. In the postgame show today, we're going to talk a little bit about Trump and the possibility of pardoning Galane Maxwell, because Trump is Trump, of course. and then we are going to speculate. No, Dave Rubin doesn't read books, but he pretends like he does. We're going to talk about that as well. You don't want to miss it.

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