This is the Humanist Report with Mike Figueredo. The Humanist Report podcast is funded by viewers like you, through Patreon and PayPal. To support the show, visit patreon.com forward slash humanist report or become a member at humanistreport.com. Now enjoy the show. Welcome to the Humanist Report podcast. My name is Mike Figueredo. This is episode 290 of the program. Today is Friday, May 14th and before we get started, as usual, I want to thank the folks who helped this show not just to survive, but thrive as well, all of our newest Patreon, PayPal and YouTube members, including the great Camila de Palo, Chacesta, David Williams, Diana Rowley and Corb. So thank you so much to all of these kind individuals. If you'd also like to support the show and join the independent progressive media revolution, you can do so by going to humanistreport.com slash support, patreon.com slash humanist report or by clicking join underneath any one of our YouTube videos. So this week we have a bit of a more heavy, relatively depressing episode, but I hope that you find it informative if nothing else. So of course, we'll talk about the East Jerusalem city of Sheikh Jarrah and how Israel is trying to expel Palestinians from their homes and why Rashida Thalib is calling on Biden's administration to stop supporting this apartheid regime once and for all. We'll discuss Andrew Yang's disturbing defense of Israel's genocide against Palestine, followed by the backlash he received, and we'll of course talk about all of the new friends on the far right that he's made with this particular stance. Also Nina Turner's opponent tries to get in bed with the Israel lobby. Even more protesters in Colombia are disappearing and getting slaughtered by police. Newsmax, TV and Fox News get confronted by their own guests about their 2020 election lies. Caitlyn Jenner's campaign is off to a very rocky start and anti-maskers newest conspiracy theory might actually turn them into maskers. I'm not kidding about that. So that's what we've got on the agenda for today's episode and a little bit more. Hopefully you'll enjoy the program. So if you've tuned into the mainstream media lately, I'm sure that you've heard something about a clash between Israel and Palestine as it relates to Sheikh Jarrah, a small territory in East Jerusalem. Now the most charitable reporting that you'll probably hear from mainstream media is that both sides are equally culpable here and both sides need to stop so that way the violence can dissipate. But I think the most common and worst interpretation that American audiences are fed, which is propaganda, obviously, is this line that Palestinians are unilaterally responsible for all of the violence. Had they not provoked Israel, Israel would not have been violent against Palestine. But all of that is nothing more than propaganda. Because what's actually happening here is that the apartheid state of Israel who is occupying the Palestinian territories is committing war crimes against the Palestinian people. And this is what you need to know. You need to know the context because I don't think that neutrality for the sake of neutrality is useful at all. If you're wondering why the violence isn't ending, why both sides aren't stopping the violence, it's because both sides aren't equally culpable here. Israel is the aggressor. And in this situation, what's happening is Israel is trying to expel eight families out of their homes in Sheikh Jarrah. And as any reasonable person would, they're refusing to go there, saying, no, this is our homes. We don't want to leave. So there have been protests. And as a result, Israel has responded to the protests with brute force, firing rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters who are rightfully refusing to leave their homes. Now, thankfully, we have members of Congress who are actually courageous enough to condemn Israel. But better than that, we have members of Congress. We have a Palestinian American member of Congress and Rashida Tlaib, who's calling on the Biden administration to stop them sitting, actually take a side and condemn the actions of the apartheid state of Israel. But before I tell you what Rashida Tlaib said, because I think what she says here is really important, I do want to give you some additional context here. And this isn't a comprehensive list of things that's happening. But this is a jumping off point for you to do more research on your own to learn about this situation, because really what we're seeing is a rehash of what's been happening. And when you learn about the history here and the history of violence that Israel has done against the Palestinian people, this story is just another chapter in a very long book that isn't going to end unless the US government stops being complicit in Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. So as Reuters reports, a putrid stench hangs over Sheikh Jarrah, a tiny neighborhood of East Jerusalem where protesters are trying to prevent Israel from evicting eight Palestinian families and letting Jews move in. Over the past week, Israeli police have repeatedly fired a foul-smelling liquid known as skunk water that lingers through the night to try to disperse the demonstrators. The standoff has seen violent clashes around the walled old city and on Monday led to rocket fire by Gaza militants drawing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that health officials there said killed nine Palestinians and of the nine Palestinians killed by Israel, three of them were children. Now, you probably even got a sense of the bias in that article that we just read. There were clashes, which led to, but they're not actually giving you all of the details. Now, for more on this, we go to Andrea Germanos of Common Dreams, who adds Hamas said it fired rockets into southern Israel Monday in retaliation for over 300 Palestinians injured by rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at the site known to Palestinians as Al-Haram al-Sharif. Describing Israeli forces' attack on Monday, Nawor Mator, a Palestinian who spent the night inside the al-Aqsa mosque, told Al-Jazeera snipers went on the roof of the gate at the mosque compound and began to shoot rubber bullets at everyone, women, men, everyone. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it was denied access to Israel to treat the injured inside and that members of its team had been targeted. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Net-Yahu, meanwhile, vowed to respond to the rocket attacks, which left one civilian lightly injured with great force. So to simplify the story, Israel triggered all of this violence by stealing land from Palestinians and forcing them out of their homes. Palestinians rightfully protested that injustice, which triggered Israel to crack down on said protesters, which provoked a response from Hamas, which Israel then used as justification to indiscriminately kill Palestinians. This is a war crime. And then they targeted the medical groups who were trying to provide aid to people who were injured. Now, this is going to be a bit of a difficult video to watch. It's explicitly violent. So content warning for those of you who don't want to see it. But this is a video of Israeli forces targeting the al-Aqsa mosque, shooting into it with tear gas and rubber bullets. Take a look. Now, to be clear, there were protests around the al-Aqsa mosque, but the people in the mosque were praying. They weren't actually part of the protest. Israel chose to target them. And for some additional details here, we're going to go to a clip from Democracy Now, who talks to someone who is an eyewitness of what happened. And additionally, it's then going to cut to somebody who's a writer living in Sheikh Jarrah, who is forcing eviction by the Israeli government. And he gives us some more details about what's happening. And this is absolutely gut-wrenching. But I think it's really important that we hear out this story. Eyewitnesses described a scene of terror when Israeli forces began opening fire while people prayed. We were praying in the mosque. Suddenly, the soldiers located the mosque without any alert. They started to shoot the bombs. And there are many, dozens of injured, dozens of people who were injured from the bombs here and the bullets. It's amazing. This is a praying place, not for a fight. Al Jazeera reports, 305 Palestinians were wounded. 228 have been hospitalized with seven in critical condition. Israeli forces also attacked the al-Aqs-Gamaqs on Friday, on a night when at least 205 Palestinians were injured. Today's raid came hours before Israeli nationalists were scheduled to begin an annual march through occupied East Jerusalem to mark Israel's 1967 capture of the area along with the West Bank and Gaza. Tension has been escalating in Jerusalem for weeks. On April 22, a group of right-wing Israelis marched through the old city chanting, Death to Arabs and May Your Village Burn. Video from the night shows Israeli mobs attacking and harassing Palestinian families and throwing rocks at Palestinian buses and homes. Meanwhile, Palestinians have been staging weeks of protests to block Israel from evicting dozens of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem to give their homes to Jewish settlers. A court hearing on the eviction scheduled for today was postponed Sunday. The United Nations has described the planned eviction as a possible war crime. UN Rights Office spokesman Rupert Colville said last week, quote, the occupying power cannot confiscate private property in occupied territory. This comes as the Biden administration is coming under increasing pressure to directly condemn Israel's actions, last week governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain issued a joint call for Israel to stop all settlement expansion in the occupied territories. We go now to Jerusalem, where we're joined by Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian writer and poet who's organizing to save his family's home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. First, give us the overall picture, Mohammed, of what has been happening. Describe what's been happening at the Al Aqsa Mosque and all around the area. And then we'll talk about Al Jarrah. Sheikh Jarrah. Thank you, Amy. Yeah, thank you, Amy. And it's a pleasure to be here with you to sum up what's been happening at Al Aqsa Mosque. It's complete state settler collusion. There is, it's clearly that the Israeli occupation forces are working in service of the Israeli settlers to terrorize and assault Palestinian worshipers in their mosque today. Palestinians have been met with rubber-coated bullets in the face and in the upper body, tear gas inside the mosque at the women and the children, praying in their, in addition to many other forms of brute force. The same thing is in Sheikh Jarrah, and this image becomes even more stark when compared by how the Israeli occupation forces are treating the settlers. Today an Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian youth and instead of being captured, the Israeli police raised his gun at Palestinians who are protesting this act of terrorism. So we're seeing clear state settler violence and clear state settler collusion in Jerusalem and occupied Jerusalem. I just want to reiterate that last point that he made. A far right extremist ran over a young Palestinian and when Palestinians protested that, rather than actually trying to apprehend the individual who committed an act of terror, they threatened violence against the protesters who are protesting a terror attack. It shows you how much the Israeli government has dehumanized the Palestinian people. And it gets worse than that. I want you to try to imagine yourself in this situation. So the young Palestinian writer, Muhammad, in that last video that we saw, he's going to explain to Amy Goodman how not only is he facing eviction, but for the last 12 years, he had a literal squatter move into his home where he and his family lives and he's not really able to protest or speak out against the squatter. Because if he does, he knows that the IDF is going to hurt him, potentially kill him for speaking out. Take a look at this. You are stealing my house. And if I don't steal it, someone else is going to steal it. No, no one is allowed to steal it, Ammi. In 2009, we were coming home from school and we found that the entire neighborhood was on lockdown. It was besieged from our areas. And there were more occupation forces and settlers than there were residents of the neighborhood. And they used tear gas and sound bombs and sun grenades to take over our home. And these settlers, these thieves, have squatted in our home since then and obviously you cannot resist this. Or otherwise you will be shot and killed. We know how the Israeli occupation forces behave around Palestinians. We know how they target Palestinians. So they've been forced to live with strangers under the threat of violence. But somehow that was even more preferable of a situation because now they're just outright facing expulsion.  Imagine if somebody just moved into your apartment. They just chose to occupy one room in your apartment and they wouldn't leave. And if you tried to get them to leave, if you called the police, the police would actually side with the person who's squatting in your apartment.  After putting up with that for 12 years, now they're just being kicked out of their homes. Do you understand why they're protesting? Why that's absolutely justified? This is a takeover of their land. And this continues to happen. Israel keeps building more and more settlements. And the United States keeps rewarding Israel with aid. And we're usually the one defender of Israel at the UN Security Council where that veto vote. So anytime the international community condemns Israel, we have Israel's back and we're literally defending apartheid. That's what our government is doing. So you can understand why progressives like Rashida Tlaib are calling on the Biden administration to actually take a stand here. You know, the stance that the US has taken historically has been very staunchly and unapologetically pro-Israel. But Rashida Tlaib is calling on Joe Biden to do better as the situation worsens. Now, the Biden administration released an embarrassing mealy-mouthed condemnation of the violence and kind of both sides it and stated that we'll remain committed to Israel's peace and security, but we do express some concerns about the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, but of course, the rocket fire from Hamas, that's definitely indefensible, even if it lightly injured one person.  I know that three children were killed, but maybe tone it down a little bit. And I want to show you this video from the State Department because they can't even condemn children being murdered. And the line that we hear from the US government is, well, look, Israel has the right to defend itself. They have the right to self-defense. But look at what happens when a reporter asks, does Palestine have the right to defend themselves? Watch how embarrassing this is, because a US government official, it's going to be incapable of even condemning, even tepidly, children being murdered by the apartheid state of Israel. Talk about what you said about the principle of self-defense. Does that in any way apply to the Palestinian? Do they have a right to self-defense? Do Palestinians have a right to self-defense? I'm, in broadly speaking, Said, we believe in the concept of self-defense, we believe it applies to any state. I don't think that, I certainly wouldn't want my words to be construed as... I understand. I want to ask you, I don't want to harb on this either, but the Israelis killed 13 people just now. Including maybe five or six children. Do you condemn that? Do you condemn the killing of children? Said, I'm asking, do you condemn the killing of Palestinian children? Obviously, and these reports are just emerging, and I understand, I was just speaking to the team, I understand we don't have independent confirmation of facts on the ground yet, so I'm very hesitant to get into reports that are just emerging. Obviously, the deaths of civilians, be they Israeli or Palestinians, are something we would take very seriously. So the United States government has been complicit and endorsed the crimes against humanity that Israel has committed against Palestine. But Rashida Tlaib went on MSNBC and not only did she condemn Israel and what they're doing, which is pretty rare for a U.S. lawmaker to do, given how influential and powerful the Israel lobby is, but she also called on Joe Biden to do the right thing if he wants to be taken seriously. Take a look at what she had to say. Do you think the Biden administration needs to take a stronger stance right now towards Israel for the developments that we're seeing there? Absolutely. We need to hold the international human rights laws that are saying to our folks across the country that they have to buy buy. Well, why not Israel? Why not say to Netanyahu currently who is, you know, running on anti-arab rhetoric consistently accepting violence by allowing Israeli police and military forces to side with Israeli citizens who are literally throwing, physically throwing people out of their homes. U.S. taxpayer dollars should not be used to commit human rights violations. That needs to be said. I have yet to hear anybody from the Biden administration declare that, that our money will not be used to degrade, to dehumanize, and to kill or evict people out of their homes. Now, other progressive lawmakers, besides Rashida Tlaib, are speaking out against this and it's really nice to see because this hasn't really been something that's that's very common. It's a new phenomenon to see U.S. lawmakers even self-proclaimed progressives speak out because a lot of folks have been too afraid to speak out and condemn the apartheid state of Israel as they commit war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people in the Palestinian territories that are occupied. Now, the interviewer asked Rashida Tlaib, well, look, I know that progressive lawmakers are all tweeting about this, but is there anything that can be done legislatively to stop this, to at least stop aid to Israel? I'm paraphrasing what he asked her, but she made a really, really devastating point. She said that 75% of lawmakers in the House of Representatives signed a letter supporting Israel unconditionally, meaning that most U.S. lawmakers will support Israel no matter what, even when they do things like this, when they try to expel Palestinians from their own homes, they'll support it. Even if they kill protesters and end up killing children, they'll support it because their support is unconditional. So the only way that we can actually make a difference here that progressives can make a difference here is if they pressure Joe Biden. Now, I think that just initially starting by pressuring him is important, but they can also threaten to withhold votes for key legislative items that Biden wants passed if he doesn't take a good stance on this. I think that they have to actually draw line in the sand here and the Obama administration didn't really take an adversarial stance towards Israel until the end of his two terms. So hopefully, progressives are going to exert prolonged pressure on Joe Biden so that way we don't see this coward kind of semi-repudiation of what Israel is doing when you have two weeks left in office actually take a stand now when it matters, when it's going to count. Now, to get back to my original point that we started this video with about propaganda, you know, a lot of folks might question, how can anyone see what Israel is doing killing children, you know, brutalizing protesters and accept it? Well, it's because in the United States of America, we are bombarded with propaganda. And I want you to see the short clip that the Empire Files shared on Twitter. This is from the documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom. It's available to rent on YouTube. I'll link you to that down below. It's also streaming for free on MeansTV. Basically, this is the way that the US propaganda machine justifies violence against Palestinians by dehumanizing them so much to get actual viewers to think that they're so barbaric that it's Palestinians responsible for killing Palestinians, not the Israeli government. They're paying them to get shot, believe it or not. They're paying them something like $500 per gunshot war.  It is reported that someone in a wheelchair was fatally shot, Mr. Ambassador. Hamas is always very good at trying to put out all sorts of propaganda and myths. That's their expertise there. And they intentionally moved up the day so that it would coincide with the opening of Embassy Move so that we would all be disgusted and heartbroken when we saw this horrible split screen of Ivanka Trump looking like she was at a country club next to poor desperate people dying at Gaza. I agree with you. They planned that. Absolutely. Right. And I'm just saying let's not fall for a trap that is being set by a theocratic authoritarian group that is sending women and children to the human field. I couldn't agree more with all of that. I think it's terrible that Hamas is butchering its own children. Hamas is conducting massive self-genocide.  They want the more dead, the better. They're pushing civilians, women, children into the line of fire with the view of getting casualties. We try to minimize casualties. They're trying to incur casualties in order to put pressure on Israel, which is horrible. What they're deliberately doing is seeking to kill as many Palestinians as possible in order to yell to the world to help us. And much of the world is condemning us for war crimes. Basically they're serving Hamas's goal. That's just what Hamas is about. Make no mistake, Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday. No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has. And that said Israel only targeted people who were actively engaged in violence. We only used live fire in a measured and surgical way. Why the Israeli forces were shooting dead protesters at the Gaza crossings? Well, we can't put all these people in jail. You're probably thinking there's no way that Americans believe this, right? There's no way that they're being told that Palestinians actually want Palestinians to die. And they're believing this, right? Unfortunately, most people believe it because when you've dehumanized a group of people so much, you're inclined to believe everything about them. That they're barbaric. They're not human. They deserve what Israel does to them. Everything is justified. Perhaps Israel is harsh, but they're the aggressors. But what we have to do is break away from this propaganda and understand what's happening. This is apartheid. This is ethnic cleansing. Israel is committing war crimes against the Palestinian people. And right now it might be difficult for folks to see it, but when we look back at this moment in history, I think it's going to be clear what's going on here. It wasn't clear at the time when it was taking place. Ronald Reagan wouldn't condemn apartheid in South Africa, but now I think it's pretty clear who was on the right side of history. And so if you are one of the individuals who's duped by propaganda, I encourage you to actually inform yourself about this subject. And there are some folks who are just woefully ignorant, or they are cowards and they take a pro-Israel position and vow to never be critical of Israel under any circumstances, because that is what is currently politically expedient. But I think that the tide is starting to turn. The problem is that it might be a little bit too late, because Palestine is shrinking more and more. Israel continues to do these settlements. And by the time everyone actually acknowledges that what Israel is doing is wrong, Palestine might be erased from the face of the earth and might be too late. So educate yourself and call out the folks who are propagating lies against the Palestinian people. Look, I'll preface this conversation by saying that I genuinely believe that Andrew Yang is a nice person. He's very personable. I brought him on my program in the 2020 election cycle and I asked him really challenging questions. And I think that the way he engaged with me was really commendable. He took the tough questions and he tried to answer them to the best of his ability. And he's just overall a really nice guy. He follows me on Twitter, although probably not after this video.  He might be a nice guy, but this whole shtick that he is an outsider, he's anti-establishment, it's all a ruse. And I say that because it's abundantly clear that he is willing to sacrifice his principles, the minute it becomes politically expedient. We know during the presidential race he moved away from Medicare for all and now he even moved away from his own proposal of universal basic income. Now it's just basic income, it's not universal, it's means tested. And it also is being used as a Trojan horse to gut the social safety net in New York City. But that's not the worst aspect of Andrew Yang. Andrew Yang decided to expose himself by petting an op-ed in support of Israeli apartheid. Now he went on Crystal Kyle and Friends, a podcast where they challenged him and it was just a phenomenal interview from a journalistic standpoint. And you saw that he was incapable of answering Crystal and Kyle's questions. Take a look. Do you see criticism of Israel as fundamentally anti-Semitic? I do not see criticism of Israel as fundamentally anti-Semitic. I think BDS is a very different thing than criticism of, let's say, the Netanyahu administration or even some of Israel's policies. Well, it's an attempt to push back on the occupation of the occupied territories, what's seen as an illegal occupation by international law. It's modeled on the successful movement in South Africa, it's nonviolent. What is it about that movement that you single out to say that as anti-Semitic and you equate it essentially to fascism? BDS specifically, as an organization, as a movement, has refused to disavow extremist elements that have frankly declared that Israel does not even have a right to exist. So that's quite extreme. It doesn't make the most sense to take the most extremist elements of a group and define the whole movement that way. And we've learned that lesson in the context of other movements and other groups. But would you concede that there's a difference between, say, Boycott's divestment and sanctions of all of Israel versus Boycott divestment and sanctions specifically of the illegally occupied territories? Because, again, as Crystal pointed out, that is the model that effectively worked in apartheid South Africa. No, I'm not sure I understand the distinction you're drawing Kyle genuinely. Like, I'm just not sure I understand it. I could explain it further if you want. It's the areas that it's a matter of historical record and fact that are being illegally occupied right now, that the international community all agrees. There's no dispute over it. Some elements of the BDS movement only want to Boycott divest and sanction from those particular areas. So in other words, the other areas of Israel, they leave alone. But particularly the occupied territories, they say, let's do Boycott's divestment and sanctions in order to try to bring about Palestinian human rights. Don't you think there's a difference between boycotting in the areas specifically where they're violating international law and boycotting areas where they're not? I'm on the record as supporting a two-state solution, which I think is a fairly mainstream perspective. And if I understand your question, Kyle, people who are advocating for a two-state solution, I would agree with that sentiment. Yeah, not a good look. Now, by then, if Andrew Yang was actually a good faith actor and he wanted to educate himself about this issue, he would try to learn about the history when it comes to Israel, Palestine. But rather than doing that, he chose to double down. And to me, this is it. This is like where you draw the line and you have to acknowledge Andrew Yang is not the real deal. Because what we're seeing currently in East Jerusalem, in Sheikh Jarrah, Andrew Yang is defending what Israel is doing. Now, for those of you who don't know, there are about eight families in the East Jerusalem territory of Sheikh Jarrah. And Israel is forcing them out of their homes. They're protesting. And as a result, Israel is brutalizing those protesters, firing tear gas and rubber bullets into mosques near their protests. They killed three children. So to defend this is to quite literally defend in ethnic cleansing. But that's what Andrew Yang went out of his way to do on Twitter, showing his true colors, writing, I'm standing with the people of Israel who are coming under bombardment attacks and condemn the Hamas terrorists. The people of NYC will always stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel who face down terrorism and persevere. So effectively, Israel has the right to defend itself. And there's no justification for Hamas firing rockets. OK, does Palestine have a right to defend itself? Do the Palestinian people have the right to exist? Because it's Israel who is trying to expel Palestinians from their homes. And when they protest, Israel brutalizes them. Hamas then responds after being provoked by Israel. And Israel then uses that as justification to kill Palestinians, including three children. Is that really what you want to defend, Andrew? Is that really what you want your legacy to be on the side of apartheid, on the side of a state that's doing ethnic cleansing? Is that really what you want? I mean, imagine having to live with yourself if you supported apartheid in South Africa. Is that really what you want your legacy to be, Andrew Yang? I guess so. Because after his appearance on Crystal Kyle and Friends, he had the opportunity to further inform himself on the situation. But he's doubling down. And to show you who's pleased with Andrew Yang, well, it's actual fascists who love that he is cheering on ethnic cleansing by the apartheid state of Israel. Stephen Miller tweeted out Andrew Yang is exactly right. Ilhan Omar is outrageously wrong. Ted Cruz tweeted out Bravo to Yang for opposing the rabidly pro Hamas in anti-Israel attacks from fellow Democrats. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Meghan McCain tweets out, hashtag Yang gang.  Congratulations, Andrew Yang. Fascists and white supremacists are applauding you for supporting ethnic cleansing. When somebody tells you who they are, I think it is reasonable to believe them. Andrew Yang right now is telling you who he is. He is pro-apartheid and he is defending Israel as they commit war crimes against the Palestinian people as Israeli forces target the medical people on the ground trying to heal people. That's a war crime. This is indefensible.  And if you live in NYC, he's not the best candidate. Diane Morales is. And she actually supports Palestinian human rights. So if you're offended by what Andrew Yang said here and anyone who actually cares about human beings should be, then send a message to Andrew Yang. Donate to Diane Morales, because she's the actual progressive in this race. Not Andrew Yang, who's a tech bro, who keeps falling on the sword for the establishment, sacrificing his principles whenever it becomes really convenient for him to do so.   Absolutely craven, gross behavior.  So I've never been invited on mainstream media or Fox News, but if I did, I always acknowledge that, yes, I would accept that invitation so long as I wouldn't have to leave home to do the interview. Like if they invited me to come on their program and do it via Skype, I'm cool with that. But I always imagine that I'd go on and I'd go 100% row. There's like an 80% chance I'd go full rogue and I'd just take over the segment and say what I want to say. I'd call out the network for propaganda and the harm that they're doing to the country and the planet. But two people actually kind of did what I've been wanting to do for a long time on two different networks. So this week, we had Newsmax and Fox News called out for the big lie that they spread about the 2020 election. So the first is from Newsmax. That's the first clip that we're going to play. So former Obama speechwriter David Litt goes on the program seemingly to talk about Elon Musk's SNL performance, which nobody should care about. And he then took that segment in an entirely different direction and it was glorious to watch. And you can see how uncomfortable the Newsmax host was. What did you think of Elon Musk's performance? This is the first time since 2015 we've had a non-athlete, non-entertainer on the show, the last person to do that. And do well with great ratings. Our former president Donald Trump. Well, Rob, it's a great question. I mean, what happened on SNL this weekend was that people made stuff up and then said it on television like it's true. And that actually happens pretty frequently in American TV. For example, in 2020, Dominion voting systems sued Newsmax over its false claims about election fraud. Newsmax was lying to its own viewers and Newsmax had to settle that lawsuit. So actually, I just need to check in. Are you still telling that lie? Why are you telling new lies? What are we talking about? I'm sorry, David. Are we talking about, do you want to talk about something completely non-related and try to catch me on a Monday morning totally off topic or do you want to talk about Elon Musk? Well, I can see why you don't want to talk about Dominion voting systems because if you do, Newsmax could get sued and lose billions of dollars because these are lied. David. David, David, David, that's listen. David, that's fine. David, I know this is a very funny moment for you. I'm sure you didn't sleep last night as you prepared to sort of try and get the morning anchor on Newsmax. I'd be happy to talk with you about whatever you want to talk about. Obviously, it's not the topic that we have set up for right now. So if you'd like to talk about Saturday Night Live, I will do that with you, but obviously I'm not going to talk about anything else right now. So you decide right now in this moment on live television. Go ahead. Did Dominion voting systems have any impact on the 2020 election? That's unfortunate because I was really excited about this interview. I didn't watch SNL on Saturday night, but I thought Elon Musk did an okay job and he also said that he's got Asperger. So I thought that was a fascinating component. Of the monologue. So David, we look forward to having him back on very soon again. That was a stellar interview. David Lit, thanks so much for joining us. We'll be right back. Oh, that was so awkward. And I love that he doubled down there and said, well, I can see why you don't want to talk about the Dominion voting systems because if you do, Newsmax could get sued and lose billions of dollars because these are lies. I mean, how awesome is that? That is incredible. Brilliant work to David Lit. I mean, I don't usually give anyone from the Obama administration credit because I assume that anyone who worked for Obama is a bad person. And I work backwards from that conclusion until they prove otherwise. But I mean, certainly he deserves credit for that. Credit words do. That was phenomenal. And that's what they need to hear. They need someone to infiltrate their network and call them out on air for spreading lies and misinformation about our democracy, which we all have a vested interest in protecting. Now, the second clip is from Fox News, where the American Federation of Teachers President, Randy Weingarten, she went on and she also called out Fox News for spreading the big lie. And she was brought on for a segment about how critical race theory is being taught in classrooms in America. And apparently that's really bad and we should be fearful of this. But she called out Fox News for their spreading of misinformation. Big believer in celebrating diversity and actually looking at and helping look at people's lived experience. But if you're really talking about misinformation now, Martha, and I hope you are, I really would hope that Fox would really look at what happened in this election and how we can, because every social studies teacher is wrestling with this, discern back from fiction. We have to do that as social studies. Yeah, we have, well, we have a president, President Biden was elected in 2020. I think that all of that is quite clear. So I'm not sure why you are so concerned with that part, with that particular moment in history. Every election is significant. Nobody is hiding anything under any rocks here. But I do want to, the fact that you have- That was phenomenal. Credit words, too. Look, no news outlet or even a podcast that spread this lie should ever be able to live this down. It was one of the most brazen lies and one of the most harmful things to ever be said about American democracy. That lie, I think, it did irreparable harm to this country, not just to unity, but to democracy itself. And that has to be called out. Now, I think that this goes without saying anyone who knows my work, who watched me particularly during the 2020 Democratic Party primaries, knows how disappointed I was with Elizabeth Warren. And Randy Weingarten helped Elizabeth Warren smear the base of the only progressive candidate who actually had a chance of winning. So, you know, it kind of feels a little bit dirty to give these folks credit, an Obama administration official and an Elizabeth Warren supporter who was very prominent in her campaign as a spokesperson. Credit for anything when they in no way contribute to further progressing of American society. Like these people, I can't stand them, to be honest, but I have to give them credit where it's due. I believe in positive reinforcement and that they actually want to turn things around and help progress the country further than I think that part of that process requires us to condemn people and discredit and delegitimize folks who spread very dangerous and harmful lies about American democracy. And I'll leave that there. These segments were phenomenal. I want to see more of this.  And what I really want to see is somebody go on Tucker Carlson and do just that. You might not be invited back on Tucker Carlson's program ever again, but would you be a rock star? Would you be basically famous in leftist circles forever for doing something like that? Damn right. And rightfully so. So whoever gets invited on to Tucker Carlson next, call him out. And I promise you, it will be something that we all celebrate on the left. So Andrew Yang is learning the hard way that if you go out of your way to endorse a genocidal apartheid regime right when they're in the middle of an ethnic cleansing of a particular area in East Jerusalem, you're going to get some pushback for that. And that should be expected because I think most people are against war crimes, especially as we learn more and more about how many children are being killed by Israel's airstrikes. So he was in the streets of New York City and he was confronted by activists who did not like what he had to say via Twitter, defending Israel's war crimes. Take a look. This is just a served woman inside of the Holy spot, one of the Holy spot. And you're supporting them. And you want to be mayor of my city? You want to be my mayor? Hell, we have no more voting. You're done for. You're done for.  You're literally sitting here getting support from people that are all white supremacists. Like, we know this to be true. You just came back to New York City. You also live in New York City. Oh, yeah. And you moved away. You went to work last year. 26 years. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. We got to continue going. That's a result. What do you have to say about your tweet directly to New Yorkers right now? It's heartbreaking right now. It is real for that. You can let me Israel for their unjust acts against the innocent posting. Sir, we got the publicist over here. I'm talking to him.  That's why you don't have my New Yorkers. That was great. The woman in that video said, you don't speak for us.  She sees right through him. I hope that most people do. It's painfully obvious that what he's trying to do, what he did with that tweet, was pander. He's just pandering. He was never really good on the Israel-Palestine issue when he was running for president. In fact, he was terrible to be frank. But what he's doing now by going out of his way to defend Israel and effectively draw a line of the sand saying I will defend Israel no matter what unconditionally is he's taking the politically expedient cowardly position of trying to appease as many people as he needs to get elected. He knows that if he doesn't unequivocally support what Israel is doing, even when they're literally doing war crimes, the Israel lobby might not support him. They may not just withhold funds from Andrew Yang. Perhaps they could fund one of his opponents. So he knows that he kind of has to say this in order to get elected. But I mean, if it were me and saying something like condemning a genocide would lose me an election, then so be it. Because if you can't even condemn a genocide of an apartheid state, then what good are you? If you don't have the spine to stand up now because you're too much of a coward, then when you get elected you're not going to stand up to special interests or any industries.  And as you saw with that confrontation he didn't even commit to saying the bare minimum. He called the deaths on the Palestinian side heartbreaking but he still refused to condemn Israel's airstrikes. It's so shameless and craven he should be ashamed of himself. I'm actually shocked that he's showing his face in New York City after putting out a tweet where he effectively endorsed genocide. That's just it's disgusting. Are you going to come out in favor of South African apartheid next? Yang. So there was another video that I want to play for you. He was supposed to attend an event where he delivered groceries to organizers for Eid which is I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly by the way so if I am forgive me but basically this is a post Ramadan feast so he was supposed to deliver groceries and all of a sudden that's not on his schedule. So a reporter asked what was what happened and he explains that he was disinvited presumably because of his progenocide tweet. The organizers of the event decided it would be better if we did not attend and we were happy to to abide by their wishes. Relating to what you tweeted about. I believe so. You know I'm not sure. Yeah and I think that they were right to disinvite him. If he can't even take a stand and say the bare minimum while Israel is evicting people from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah I mean you have no business trying to even create some sort of dialogue with the community. I think they should shun you. They're right to want to shun you because you drew a line in the sand. You you just basically said with that tweet that I'll support Israel no matter what they do. They're always justified because they are the ones dealing with terrorists. They're not the terrorists. What they're doing evicting Palestinians from their homes. That's not terrorism. Doing airstrikes, killing children. That's not terrorism. Everything that they do by definition is justified because they're the ones fighting the terrorists. So yeah, I don't think you should show your face in these communities. Not unless you issue an apology and actually condemn Israel's crimes against humanity. Now AOC saw that video and she responded saying I'm really shameful for Yang to try to show up to an eat event after sending out a chest thumping statement of support for a strike killing nine children. Especially after his silence as Al Aqsa was attacked. But then to try that in Astoria during Ramadan, they will let you know. Yeah, and she is absolutely correct. And I say that as someone who has been critical of AOC's comments regarding Israel Palestine in the past, I think that she needs to brush up on her foreign policy and imperialism and really speak more clearly about these things and not try to speak in vague generalities and beat around the bush, just unequivocally condemn the war crimes being committed against Israel. And she does that for the most part, but she still needs to improve here. Having said that, though, the difference between Andrew Yang and AOC is like night and day. She is far superior to Andrew Yang. Andrew Yang is basically as bad as you can get. I mean, if you take a position where far right extremists go out of their way to applaud you for taking said position because you're supporting ethnic cleansing, you might want to reevaluate your priorities and who you really want in your political coalition. But even though what Andrew Yang did was terrible, his rhetoric supporting genocide is unforgivable. Quite frankly, he did manage to pull off one thing that a lot of folks had no idea was even possible.  And it's kind of true because you see leftists from all factions, from all sides, united in condemning what he said. It's that bad. It's that morally reprehensible. But what I really want the left to be united behind is a campaign to beat Andrew Yang. Support Diane Morales. And if you live in New York City, sign up to phone bank and canvas for her. Donate to her campaign because if you want to stop Andrew Yang and actually elect a true progressive, Diane Morales doesn't mince words when it comes to Israel-Palestine. She's not afraid to condemn the war crimes being committed against Palestinians by Israel. And I'll leave that there. You know, Andrew Yang, he wants to support genocide. Well, now you're dealing with the consequences of your advocacy. So congratulations, Andrew Yang. The dumbest of all the Trumps, I'm of course talking about Trump Jr. obviously, is joining the chorus of far-right extremists cheering on Andrew Yang for defending the apartheid state of Israel. Writing via Twitter, do yourselves a favor and look at the quote tweets and replies to this tweet. Dems are now legit pro-terror. First of all, it's rich for him of all people to call somebody else pro-terror. But let me just say that it's not the Democrats who are condemning Andrew Yang here. It's the leftists who are condemning Andrew Yang. For the most part, Andrew Yang is in lockstep with the Democratic Party who supports Israeli apartheid. In fact, 75 percent of House Democrats signed a letter saying that they support Israel unconditionally. No conditions on their support to Israel. They can do genocide, ethnic cleansing. It doesn't matter because their support is not conditional. So Andrew Yang isn't saying anything that the Democratic Party establishment wouldn't say. It's the leftists who are actually being principled and they're calling out his defense of terrorism. And if you look at the quote tweets and replies, as Trump Jr. says you should, then you will see that they're the ones very clearly and vociferously denouncing terrorism.  Exactly. David Kim writes, Not sure what happened here, but I don't agree with this tweet. Apartheid is never something to support. Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah are being brutalized and murdered for refusing to give up their homes. Roxane Gay says, Where do you stand on the terrorism Palestinians are experiencing as they are terrorized out of their homes? Karina Kashfrio writes, Thanks for showing us you're cool with ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. New York, this is your cue to vote for Diane Morales for Mayor. Now to be fair, not all of them were as specific in pointing out that Yang was supporting ethnic cleansing. Others were more straight into the point. For example, Ashley Feinberg writes, Mr. Yang sir, I am begging you to please get fucked. Beautifully put. So if you step back and you looked at all of the responses to Andrew Yang's defense of Israeli apartheid, the responses like those folks, they're speaking out against terrorism. And you know, it's funny that you say this as there's mounting evidence that Israel is very clearly indiscriminately killing Palestinians. Nine children have died at the hands of the Israeli government. And remember that all of this started because Israel is trying to expel Palestinians in East Jerusalem out of their homes. So Israel, they're the aggressors. They're the terrorists. They're the occupiers. Let's be clear about that. But getting back to who is or isn't pro-terror, Trump Jr. should never ever call anyone else pro-terror ever again. And I'll show you what I said to him on Twitter. Your dad is literally a terrorist. One of his first murders was of eight-year-old Nawar Alalaki. And she was only the first of his many victims.  And by the way, Nawar Alalaki is an American citizen. Your dad murdered her. Her blood is on his hands.  Do you still love your dad?  So I really, really hope that he sees that tweet. I'm just, I'm crossing my fingers and toes that he's going to see it and respond because I can't wait to pounce. I can't wait. But I do want to share some additional replies to Trump Jr. Because people just went out of their way to call out his idiocy and he's so easy to dunk on. But this is great. This is the low-hanging fruit, nonetheless. Let's enjoy this. One person writes, terrorists, nine Palestinian children died. I guess that's not terrorism then. Also, didn't your father literally incite domestic terrorism? As a matter of fact, he did.  Right. And his daddy also said that we should kill the families of ISIS. Which would be, let's say it together, terrorism. Right. Exactly. So, Trump Jr., maybe sit this one out. Maybe no when is the time and when it's not the time to jump into a conversation that you know nothing about. Especially as it relates to who is and isn't a terrorist considering who your dad is and who you are. The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies along with the Los Angeles Times conducted a poll to gauge the level of support for the recall effort against Governor Gavin Newsom and more importantly for purposes of this video gauge the level of support for celebrity Caitlyn Jenner. And I've got to say that the results of this poll might have single-handedly restored a little bit of my faith in humanity. So as Phil Wilson of the LA Times explains the campaign to recall Governor Gavin Newsom has failed to gain momentum in recent months as significantly more California voters favor keeping him in office and only anemic support has surfaced for reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner while other Republican candidates hoping to take the governor's place have little backing according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll that was co-sponsored by the LA Times. The survey's results were especially bleak for retired Olympic gold medalist Jenner as just 6% of Californians who took part in the survey said they would vote to have her replace Newsom a vast majority of Democrats Republicans and unaffiliated or independent voters said they would not be inclined to support her candidacy. Ouch, that has got a hurt. And look, I've got to admit I'm taking a little bit of a breather. I thought that she actually had a chance and I say this not because I don't have faith in my fellow Californians even though they're a deep blue state. Look, you all don't really get a pass from me after voting to elect Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan. After that, we can never trust you all again. I'm so sorry.  But Reagan, Schwarzenegger, yeah, after you elected those two I could see how it's possible you might vote for a reality TV show star. Sorry, not sorry. Shots fired. No, but in all seriousness, I honestly thought she had a shot but you can see how there were so many missteps in her campaign right off the start. I mean, she immediately face planted by coming out against trans rights. She knew that it was going to be hard as a trans woman to run in the Republican Party who is currently running a nationwide campaign to vilify transgender people with bills in multiple states cracking down on trans athletes in high school. Bathroom panic is a thing that still exists and even trying to ban gender affirming care for youth in some states criminalizing it. So she knew that if she wanted to have any room to grow within this party that she had to be anti-trans or at least support anti-trans policies and legitimize transphobia as a trans woman. But that didn't really work because people didn't take her seriously. So when she said, oh, it's a matter of fairness and we shouldn't have trans high schoolers you know who are female compete with cisgender females. Well, people very quickly pointed out that she participated in a women's golf tournament.  In other words, she threw her entire community under a bus and she didn't even believe what she had to say. That is craven.  And on top of that, she very clearly tried to go for the populist Trump style of Republican Party politics. And what she did was she tried to appeal to anti-elitism and that sentiment, the anti-establishment sentiment in the country. But the optics of her campaign were awful. So in her Sean Hannity interview, they literally conducted the interview in her hangar and in that interview, she complained about all of the homeless people that are in California and her rich friends who also have private jets. They are frustrated with all of the icky poor people and homeless people in California. And as she's talking, you can hear the private jets taking off. The optics couldn't be worse. But I mean, this is a very, very rich person. And you know, when rich people get bored, they tend to get involved in politics. Does it mean they actually care about the issues? No, but Kaylyn Jenner, you know, as a wealthy person, she couldn't do the things that she really enjoyed doing. She couldn't even go out to dinner because of the lockdown in California.  I'm sure you want caviar with all of your rich celebrity friends. And she didn't like that there's a lockdown. So she just thought, well, look, I'm bored. There's a pandemic going on and I don't like this. There's a lockdown. So I guess I'll run as the anti-lockdown candidate. You kind of need more than that, right? When so much is at stake, when we have less than 10 years to save the planet and you want to be the governor of one of the largest economies in the world, I think you have to offer a little bit more substance. Perhaps in the 1990s, you could have made it as a reality television show star, probably not as a transgender person because there's, you know, if you thought that transphobia was bad now, I mean, you don't even look back to the sentiment in the 1990s. But I mean, like this, this type of candidate, the rich elitist celebrity, they could have probably made it in California in the 1990s or early 2000s.  You can't just say, hi, I'm rich and I'm a celebrity. Have you seen my show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians? Do you love it? Well, vote for me because you'll get more of that. No, that's not going to cut it, Caitlin.   It doesn't look like it's going to pay off. Now, you know, there's still time left. Perhaps she gains momentum, but if you want a chance, stop being so terrible.  That's the preferable option. We don't need more rich people. And reality television shows stars getting involved in American politics.   So stay out. Good. I'm glad that you're pulling at 6 percent. That's too high as it is, but I'm not going to lie. I'm relieved because I thought she had a chance. That's how little my faith is in the American people and humanity, more broadly speaking. But 6 percent. Oof. That's got to hurt. Anti-vaxxers have concocted a new conspiracy theory about the COVID-19 vaccine. That is so bizarre that these anti-vaxxers who are also simultaneously anti-maskers are now switching sides and slowly but surely they're becoming more and more pro-mask because they're afraid of vaccinated people. Now, if you're wondering, what does that even mean? Well, let me just read a couple of headlines to you that gives you a little bit of insight into what news agencies are having to debunk. Reuters reports fact check. COVID vaccines do not shed from one person to another and then cause reproductive problems. Associated Press reports no. COVID-19 vaccines do not shed. USA Today writes fact check. No, interacting with a vaccinated person won't cause miscarriages or menstrual changes. Now, your first instinct is probably That sounds kind of dum dum dum dum Obviously, right? The fact that this many news organizations have to come out and say this is a little bit bizarre but what exactly do these anti-vaxxers believe about vaccinated people? Well, for more details on this, we go to a Vice News article which explains a conspiracy ripping through the anti-vaxx world may finally drive some anti-maskers to do the unthinkable. Wear a mask and keep their distance. The conspiracy which comes in several shapes and sizes more or less says the vaccinated will shed certain proteins onto the unvaccinated who will then suffer adverse effects. The main worry is the shedding will cause irregular menstruation infertility and miscarriages. Jesus Christ. The entirely baseless idea is a key cog in a larger conspiracy that COVID-19 was a ploy to depopulate the world and the vaccine is what will cull the masses. This is literally the plot of utopia. Anti-vaxx influencers are instructing their fellow anti-vaxxers as well as anti-maskers at this point the two communities overlap to a huge degree that one of the best ways to defend themselves from this blight is to co-opt social distancing. The very strategy they have long decried, Sherry Tenpenny, an anti-vaxxer who was found to be key in spreading COVID-19 conspiracy theories suggested on a recent anti-vaxx live stream that you may have to stay away from somebody who's had these shots forever. Oh, if only we were that lucky. Another prominent anti-vaxxer suggested quarantining people who have been vaccinated. There is something being passed from people who are shot up with this poison to others who have not gotten the shot, said Larry Pilebsky, a New York pediatrician and anti-vaxxer on a separate live stream. They should also have a badge on their arms that say I've been vaccinated even though it's not a vaccine. So that we know to avoid them on the street to not go near them anywhere in society, he said. It's not just social distancing that anti-vaxxers slash anti-vaxxers are begrudgingly accepting. Some conspiracy theorists are wondering if perhaps their longtime bane, the mask, could become their salvation. One perplexed poster on the fringe side for Chan asked their fellow Anons if they should wear a mask around the vaccinated because they shed the mRNA stuff. Wow, how the tables have turned. Now all of a sudden the anti-maskers, their argument has come full circle. Now they're the ones who want to mask up to stop the spread of something that they think is going to make them sick, but really they're just delusional. And they're seemingly literally pulling all of these lies about the COVID-19 vaccines out of thin air. And just when I thought that the conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccine couldn't get any dumber, they took that as a challenge and of course they surprised me.  Now I will say this, as someone who's almost fully vaccinated, I'm about a week and a half away from being two weeks out from my second dose.  I would love for you to stay as far away from me as you possibly could. If that requires me to wear a shirt or a badge that says I'm vaccinated, I think it's totally worth it. I think it's totally worth it if it drives away the dumb fucks.  You're complaining about the lockdown, you're against masks, you're against the COVID-19 vaccines. It seems like you're on the side of the virus and now all of a sudden, you're afraid of other people. You told us not to be afraid of the virus, but now all of a sudden, you're the ones who are afraid of a different illness being spread to you. Now, you're delusional, you're making that up, but forgive me for kind of enjoying this. I'm enjoying your fear because you downplayed the significance of COVID-19 for the last year and now you're kind of reaping what you sowed.  Now, based on my preliminary research, what these dumb fucks are saying is that they're not just worried about shedding, but they're worried that through the shedding, I believe, and this isn't necessarily clear to me yet, that people can also transmit, besides the mRNA stuff, they can transmit the virus as well and it's because they believe not necessarily that if someone is vaccinated, comes into contact with someone who's positive for COVID-19, they can spread it. No, no, no. They believe that if you get the COVID-19 vaccine, you're getting injected with the live virus and therefore you are then contagious. It's hard to honestly follow their logic because there is none. It's just based on emotions and stupidity overall, but this isn't just some fringe movement contrary to popular belief. These weird conspiracy theories are already being put into practice in the real world. Like it's having real concrete consequences in society. So in Miami, there's one private school that idiotically decided to ban vaccinated teachers from being around students. I repeat that. They banned the vaccinated teachers from being around students.  Now, to make all of us Americans feel a little bit better, there's a business in Canada that banned people who are vaccinated from coming into a store. And I want to play this clip. This is from Global TV. It'll make all of us Americans feel a little bit better.  But he kind of gives us a little bit of insight into his deranged thinking. And it's almost like I almost feel bad for him. But nonetheless, let's watch. An Okanagan business is causing a stir in Kelowna by banning vaccinated people and the wearing of masks. We'd rather not be exposed to people who have been vaccinated and who could shed the virus. Sun City Silver and Gold Exchange's owner, Steve Merrill, says the ban on vaccinated people is to protect his clients and himself. Shedding is real. It's a problem now. And it's going to be a bear problem as more and more people line up for these experimental vaccines. Signs outside the store tell patrons no masks are allowed inside and the same goes for anybody vaccinated.  Wow. So, yeah, look, whether or not this conspiracy theory continues to gain momentum is yet to be seen. So far, it's not as widespread as something like, you know, anti-vax generally speaking. The baseline anti-vax and that people don't want to take it because they think that they're unsafe or experimental or Cuban like it's not that popular yet. But does it have the potential to spread? Absolutely, unfortunately. But it is a little bit funny. I have to admit that if we come to a situation where we're in a post pandemic world and all of the vaccinated people are no longer required to wear masks, but the former anti-maskers are walking around wearing masks because they're afraid of the vaccinated people. OK, I can't be mad at that.  But have at it, I guess.   I don't want folks to become complacent, but I will say this. I think that as it stands right now, Senator Nina Turner is in a very good position to win the race that she's running in Ohio's 11th congressional district. And you can really gauge how well she's doing based on the level of desperation that we're seeing from her opponents. And it's it's almost embarrassing like you feel sad for her opponents, one in particular, who's practically begging and pleading with super PACs to help fund her campaign against Nina Turner. And the types of super PACs that she's really targeting here and asking for the support of, they come from the Israel lobby. And it's really just this is this is craven, honestly. So for more on this, we got a Ryan Grim of the Intercept who explains Chantel Brown's campaign for Congress is blurring one of the least subtle messages sent to a super PAC since the outside money groups were legalized by the Supreme Court in its Citizens United VFEC decision. Brown's campaign has listed on its website a set of negative talking points about her opponent Nina Turner, all enclosed in a bright red box. Directly under the red box is a quote from Democratic consultant Mark Melman, the leader of a major pro-Israel super PAC that has consistently spent large sums of money against Senators Bernie Sanders and his congressional allies. Red box is a campaign industry term referring to the spot on the website that candidates use to communicate with outside groups like super PACs. The communication on Brown's website is a textbook case of red box signaling used to communicate with outside groups within the letter of the law to understand how the signaling works. It's useful to review the conventions of post-citizens United campaign practices. Per the citizens ruling, campaigns cannot coordinate with outside groups and doing so is a clear violation of one of the few bright line rules in campaign finance. The challenge then for a campaign is figuring out how to guide a super PAC or outside supporters messaging without running a foul of the laws around coordination. For that campaigns have developed what is called the red box. The candidate posts opposition research or videos on their website about their opponent, which anyone in the public is then free to use for any purpose. The OPPO also generally includes messages about both candidates that have tested well in polls allowing the super PAC to align its communications with the campaigns. What makes Brown's approach unique is both how blatant it is and how beseechingly it directs itself to a particular head of a particular super PAC. First, the OPPO research of Brown's campaign posted is literally inside an actual red box removing any confusion as to the purpose of the exercise. If any confusion still existed the link PDF is called sb4credbox. Now to actually see what Ryan Grimm is talking about here in this article let's go to Shantel Brown's website. Now as you can see there is this giant red box and within said red box are all of the talking points that she is giving to super PACs. They're negative talking points against Nina Turner and talking points for herself. Ideally I think she wants these talking points to be included in an ad that the super PAC runs on her behalf. Now additionally if you scroll up there's some quotes here that really stand out because these are the only quotes here. Quote. There's no question that Brown is going to be a strong advocate for the US-Israel relationship. This is by DMFI PAC president Mark Melman. She wants to learn. She is inquisitive and she has a track record of being collaborative. Mike Siegel of the Jewish Agency. We need leaders in Congress who value the US-Israel relationship and will work to strengthen security, economic, scientific, and cultural relationships between our two nations. And that candidate in the 11th district race is Shantel Brown by Jeff Mendelssohn of Pro-Israel America. In other words, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, Israel Lobby fund my campaign more. I really need your help. I have your back. Please have mine. This is what all of the leaders in the Israeli lobbying industry are saying about me. So please, come to my rescue. Now, if you're wondering, why would a candidate in the 11th congressional district of Ohio care so much about this one issue in particular, care so much about Israel?  I mean, the health care industry, the pharmaceutical industry. But why in particular, is she focusing on the Israel Lobby? Well, there's a very specific reason for that. Brian Grimm continues. The hybrid super PAC run by Melman, Democratic majority for Israel, spent heavily against Sanders during the presidential primary, dropping 1.4 million in its effort to slow him in Iowa and beyond. The super PAC also spent more than 1.5 million attacking Jamal Bowman and supporting then incumbent New York representative Elliot Engel despite their efforts, Bowman won. It also threw in $179,000 against Alex Morse, who challenged House Ways and Means Chair, Richie Neal in a Western Massachusetts primary. DMFI was also bankrolled in 2020 by a super PAC that tried to unseat Representative Ilhan Omar in her Minnesota Democratic primary. Americans for Tomorrow's Future, which spent more than 3 million taking on Omar and also worked against Bowman, sent $500,000 to DMFI. There was overlap among donors as well. A top donor to AFTF, who contributed 300,000 in 2020, also gave 1.245 million to DMFI. So in other words, she knows that these groups usually fund candidates who are running against progressives. And so she's hoping that they will listen to her and realize the situation and that Nina Turner is doing really well and help give her a little bit of a bump. It's honestly embarrassing.   It's just, it's disgusting. It's grotesque. And I wonder if she is going to get any questions within her district about her begging for support from the Israel lobby as Israel is trying to expel Palestinians out of their homes in the East Jerusalem city of Sheikh Jarrah. I wonder if there's gonna be any questions for her. It seems like she's more concerned about what's happening in Israel than what's happening in her district. And I mean, look, this is what desperation looks like. And I think that we all know what we have to do now. Since she is putting out the signal to super PACs to help bankroll her campaign and smear Nina Turner, we have to help Nina Turner. So go to Nina Turner.com and donate to Nina Turner. You can also buy merch. I purchased the sweater. It's great. All of the donations that we're giving to Nina Turner right now, I consider it a sort of investment because Nina Turner, she's not going to fight for any lobby. She's going to actually represent the people, not just in her district, but in America, broadly speaking. And Chantel Brown, she's trying to find reasons to attack Nina Turner, but Nina Turner is running a very substantive campaign. So the best she can come up with is that Nina Turner isn't adequately loyal to the Democratic Party. Okay, so are we running on loyalty or are we running on actual policies? I think it's clear where Nina Turner stands. She supports policies that the people in the 11th Congressional District of Ohio need and want. So we have to have Nina Turner's back because I guarantee that the super PACs are going to see the bat signal that Chantel Brown is putting out and they're going to listen. They're going to support her as they did support others. They did support other corporate Democrats against progressives. So we have to make sure that whenever we see this happen, we ramp up the effort, not just when it comes to donations, but if you can get on the ground and do some grassroots campaigning, activism, phone banking, door knocking, if you can for Nina Turner, because that is what is needed currently to make sure that Nina Turner is electorally successful. It's not a foregone conclusion that she's going to win. She's doing very well, but as she does better as her polling numbers increase, as she gains more support, that's when it's going to get more difficult for us and when we really have to show our support for Nina Turner, because that's when the attacks and the money is going to roll in to try to stop her momentum. So we'll try to stop that as much as we can and support Nina Turner. The situation in Columbia continues to deteriorate and the death toll continues to climb. And when I say death toll, I'm talking about the state sanctioned violence that we're seeing against protesters who are on the streets protesting against government austerity and increasing authoritarianism. But we haven't talked about this yet. So before I give you the update to the story, I want to give you some additional context here and some background. And there's a phenomenal article that I'm going to point to in Jacobin, written by Stefania Martinez. And I'm just going to go over some of the article to give you the basics so we have some understanding about the situation. But I would encourage you to read the entire article because she really goes into the details and breaks it down in a really nuanced way. And it's definitely worth reading. But nonetheless, she writes in Columbia, a proposed deeply regressive tax reform bill was the straw that broke the camel's back. Thousands of Colombians have joined protests since April 28th when a massive general strike against the bill became the flash point for mounting unrest with President Iván Duque's authoritarian neoliberal regime. Even though Duque has recently announced he would scrap the tax reform, protesters remain in the streets amid concerns that the Colombian government is simply repackaging a similar bill. Ever since November 2019's massive demonstrations against Duque's proposed austerity measures against labor tax and pensions, Columbia has been approaching a tipping point. Social indicators paint a stark picture. Over 72,000 COVID related deaths, more than half of the labor force in the informal sector and 4 million unemployed, nearly 10% of the population. The peasant sector has been largely left to fend for its own amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, the peace process between the Colombian state and the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia is at risk of being undermined by increased state sponsoring paramilitarization. The reform bill proposed by Duque, which seeks to shore up Colombia's finances in response to the pandemic-induced financial crisis as anti-worker, the centerpiece of the original bill is increased taxes on wages and consumption. Colombia's capitalist oligarchy and other dominant classes are largely exempt. Worse still, the bill seeks to maintain the country's sizable military budget, ensuring that any challenge to Colombia's neoliberal model, based on concentrated land ownership and forced dispossession, will be met with increased violence. Colombia's current strike wave is also a response to the increasingly militaristic and authoritarian turn the country has taken under Duque. In addition to the assassination of the indigenous governor, Liliana Peña, from the coca-producing department of Caca, protesters are denouncing the murder of more than 1100 peasants, union leaders, Afro-Columbians, and women since the beginning of the Havana peace agreement between the state and the FARC guerrilla group in 2016. Not only has Duque ignored that agreement, he has pursued a policy of extrajudicial killings under the false positives model implemented by Alvaro Uribe's government in 2006, wherein murdered civilians are disguised as guerrillas and presented as combat casualties. So that's, I think, the basic breakdown, but I mean, we're barely scratching the surface. Again, I really want to encourage you to read Estefania Martinez's article because it really is comprehensive. Having said that, though, I think that we have enough information to understand why they're in the streets. They're protesting against austerity induced by their neoliberal government as well as increasing authoritarianism. Now, the response to the protesters has been to be brutal and crack down on them. And as a result of this crackdown, the death count is racking up. So as Manuel Ruda of AP reports, 42 people have died during anti-government protests that began two weeks ago amid discontent fueled by growing poverty and inequality during the pandemic. Columbia's Human Rights Ombudsman said Tuesday. The government agency added that 168 people had been reported missing during the protests, which were set to continue Wednesday. On May 5th, the Human Rights Ombudsman said 24 people had been killed in the protests and 89 were missing. The new figures from the Ombudsman are similar to those recorded by Timblores, a non-governmental group that tracks police violence. Timblores said Tuesday that 40 people had been killed during the protests and incidents related to police violence while one policeman was stabbed to death while trying to stop a riot. So the death count keeps ticking up. Cases of police brutality are increasing. Now estimated to be at around 2000 and people who are protesting are just getting disappeared. This is deeply, deeply undemocratic. It's just outright authoritarian, plain and simple. Now I want to share a video from AJA Plus because they kind of detail the violence against the protesters and it's a bit outdated. It's from May 7th, but still it does give you like a good overall look at what's happening and just how brutal the police is against the protesters. It's honestly gut-wrenching. And if you've watched any of the reporting from Twitter or people on the ground, grassroots activists, sharing cell phone footage, it's honestly gut-wrenching. And the details, you know, they speak for themselves. They're opening fire on protesters and there are reports of semi-automatic weapons being used. I just, what do you even say to that? This is very obviously state-sanctioned violence. And the murders are all state-sanctioned murders.  The government is introducing policies, enacting policies that harms the people and when they finally say enough is enough, they get brutalized. And it's not something that is a unique phenomenon that we're only seeing in Colombia. I mean, we're seeing this to an extent in the United States and other countries who protest austerity induced by their government. And it's just, it's despicable. And I think we have to call it out when we see it and we have to stand in solidarity with our comrades in Colombia fighting for a better world, a better future for themselves, and not just a better future, a better present where they're not starving due to austerity, being left to fend for themselves as they lose their jobs during a pandemic. Now, during the last portion of that video, you saw something that's really familiar, the accusation that these protesters are just, you know, that they're astroturf. It's being funded by criminal organizations. They're not legitimately angered by the government's policies. They're just, they're there because they're getting paid. It's the same thing that we see in the United States. Whenever you see a lot of people take to the streets, there's always this accusation from right-wingers.  The idea that people would be dissatisfied with their government's austerity and authoritarianism and militarism, it's inconceivable to so many people. But it's so common. Whenever enough people take to the streets, there's going to be a concerted effort to discredit and delegitimize them. Not actually address their concerns and make it seem as if their concerns are invalid because they're not actually there because they care about the policies. They care about making money for themselves because they're being paid to be there. I mean, to a lesser extent, we saw this with Occupy Wall Street, where, you know, for the first time in a very long time, we had this nationwide grassroots movement emerge and we saw the entire media just collectively try to discredit this organization and talk about how, oh my God, this movement, it doesn't even make sense. Like, what is the message? They don't have any leadership. You know, it's horizontally structured, so I don't even know what they want. There's not even a leader that we can meet with and also they're, you know, spreading trash everywhere and occupying, making these cities look terrible. This is always what we're going to see. This is nothing new. But that doesn't mean that we should, you know, not condemn it, not speak out. So this is a developing situation.  And the response to them responding to the oppression that their government is imposing on them is even more grotesque. And I cannot feel just distraught looking at some of the images, most of which I didn't play because YouTube would take down the video because they're that violent. But nonetheless, that's a bit of an update to the situation but I'll try to keep you posted as more details emerge. Little by little, the situation is getting worse and it's very worrying to see. My national security staff and defense staff has been in constant contact with their counterparts in the Middle East, not just with the Israelis but also with everyone from the Egyptians of the Saudis to the Emiratis, etc. And I had a conversation with Bebe Netanyahu, not until long ago. I'll be putting out a statement very shortly on that. My expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later. Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory but I had a conversation for a while with the Prime Minister of Israel and I think that my hope is that we'll see this coming to conclusions sooner than later. Thank you. That was President Joe Biden's predictably terrible response to Israel's war crimes against the Palestinian people. Simply put, Israel has the right to defend itself. End of story. Yeah, I'm wondering what he thinks about whether or not Palestinians have the right to defend themselves because they're the ones currently being forcibly removed from their homes in the east Jerusalem city of Sheikh Jarrah. Do they ever have the right to defend themselves? I mean they can't even speak out against what Israel is doing let alone defend themselves but I mean when they protest they get brutalized by Israeli forces.  I mean I'm sure that if Joe Biden had an intruder come into his home he'd be perfectly cool with that. Right?  It's just it's outrageous but if you thought what Joe Biden said was bad Nancy Pelosi somehow managed to be even more ruthless and racist against Palestinians in a press statement that she released saying quote I condemn the escalating and indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas against Israel. Israel has the right to defend herself against this assault which is designed to sow terror and undermine prospects for peace. Every civilian death is a tragedy that we mourn. Hamas's accelerating violence only risks killing more civilians including innocent Palestinians. The recent inflammatory provocations including by extremist forces in Jerusalem have exacerbated the situation and restraint must be shown by all to de-escalate the crisis. Let us pray that the situation will be resolved immediately and peacefully. So let's be very clear about what this statement is. This isn't merely a defense of ethnic cleansing this is a full-throated endorsement of ethnic cleansing. Nancy Pelosi should just be honest and say she believes that Palestinian lives are meaningless they have no value whatsoever therefore Israel should be allowed to indiscriminately kill Palestinians till their hearts contend. Just saying Nancy stop being a coward because that's what you're advocating for. You are supporting war crimes against the Palestinian people and she's really quick to unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks that Hamas is firing. Any word on the airstrikes? Nancy have you heard about the fact that they're killing children? Are you concerned that they're firing tear gas and rubber bullets into mosques while people are praying? Any word on that? Any concern whatsoever Nancy Pelosi for them?  Completely minimizes and erases the suffering of the Palestinian people and just permits Israel to carry out an ethnic cleansing. Shameful. Shameful. This is the speaker of the House this is a leader of the Democratic Party who's supposed to be against war crimes and crimes against humanity but here she is endorsing not only an illegal occupation but all out ethnic cleansing. Brilliant. And when she says that Israel has the right to defend itself when Joe Biden says that Israel has the right to defend itself let's be clear this is what Israel looks like when it defends itself. So I know that you think you heard women and children screaming and babies crying but that's not actually what you heard what you heard was Israel defending itself. Rooflessly bombing densely populated areas. This is what they support. This is what they support and not only support but enthusiastically endorse whenever they have the opportunity to do so. Now a young Palestinian man who is living in Sheikh Jarrah who's facing expulsion went on CNN and he shared the situation shared his experience and he really concisely put things into perspective for a CNN reporter who was asked about violence from Palestinians because there's this assumption that you know Palestinians they're just inherently violent these people are barbarians so everything that Israel does Israel is just defending itself but watch what he says to a CNN reporter. Do you support the protests the violent protests that have erupted in solidarity with you and other families in your position right now? Do you support the violent dispossession of me and my family? I'll take your silence as a cue that it's time to cut to a commercial break. So that was Muhammad El-Kurd and he has been on numerous mainstream news shows surprisingly to even bring him on is pleasantly surprising to share his story because usually we exclusively hear just one side but he talked about how him and his family were facing expulsion and unfortunately he was very quickly proven right and just like that he was expelled from his home if he fights back he dies if he tries to protest he gets brutalized absolutely no choice whatsoever because the occupier has determined that his home belongs to them so they just take it like that nothing he can do so I want to go back to Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden two individuals who endorsed the ethnic cleansing that Israel is currently doing so does Muhammad have the right to defend himself because you talked about how Israel has the right to defend itself does Muhammad have the right to defend himself because currently he doesn't have the right to defend himself he had zero choice in the matter I'm sure that if Canada decided to take over portions of the United States and they decided that they want the area where all of the houses are that Nancy Pelosi lives and they just barged into her mansion and they kicked her out of her home with two $10,000 refrigerators I'm sure Nancy Pelosi would just be totally cool with that well look it's unfortunate I really wanted to stay in this place but you know the occupiers that I have to go so I feel compelled to oblige and I don't want to have to put them in a predicament where they're forced to defend themselves against me I mean we know that these folks would never ever accept this if it were being done to them Joe Biden would never allow someone to expel him from his home without a fight so I ask the question again at what point do U.S. lawmakers who unconditionally support Israel even acknowledge whether or not Palestinians have the right to defend themselves they don't acknowledge it because they don't believe that Palestinians have the right to defend themselves Palestinians to these racists are not actually human beings they've been dehumanized and so all they are is an obstacle obstacle in the way of Israel's total domination so they don't believe that Palestinians have the right to defend themselves them not saying it is a tacit admission that that is in fact the case but understand right now it might be the most politically expedient position somehow to support ethnic cleansing having said that though time will pass and eventually things will change and history is going to judge racists like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden accordingly for not only their complicity with the actions of the Israeli government but their assistance they're aiding and abetting of a genocide of an apartheid regime and again it's not surprising I don't want you to think that I'm surprised by the statements we're seeing from lawmakers after taking days to mull over the situation but nonetheless that doesn't make it any less egregious and certainly it still needs to be condemned because if you support ethnic cleansing I think that you should receive a little bit of pushback to say the least it truly is hilarious whenever you see a Republican claim to care about democracy because what we're witnessing in numerous states now are Republicans openly literally changing the rules to effectively rig future elections in their party's favor I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that and they're doing all of this under the guise of restoring the integrity of our democracy because so few people now trust democracy because they believed the lie that the last president told after losing the election that he didn't actually lose rather the election was stolen from him so since these idiots believed the lie well we have to make voting more difficult and literally become less democratic in order to appease these individuals who think every election going forward will be stolen from them if it doesn't go in their direction it's truly just it's bizarre it's it's insane and even Republicans like Brian Kemp who didn't play into Donald from his hand in 2020 he's not going to waste this opportunity to further crack down on voting rights he was one of the first governors to sign one of these voter suppression bills into law effectively Jim Crow 2.0 now the way that Republicans are trying to rig future elections in their favor is twofold first they're trying to consolidate power and make sure that they have more means of challenging election results and controlling local elections and they're doing this pretty brazenly and when I say brazenly I mean they're literally packing their high courts in some states I'm not joking about that as the AP explains Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia have signed bills passed by GOP dominated legislatures to expand the number of seats on their states respective high courts in Iowa the Republican governor gained a greater leverage over the commission that names judicial nominees so in other words court packing for me but not the and it's funny that Republicans even have a leg to stand on when they cry about the Democrats who want to pack the Supreme Court first of all Democrats aren't going to do that because they don't have the spine necessary to actually pull something like that off but they already stole two Supreme Court seats Gorsuch Barrett I mean what do we call that if not court packing but even you know leaving that instance aside they're literally expanding the number of seats on courts in some states so they can have more institutional power so that way in the event there is a power change and you know these laws that they're passing don't actually align with their state's constitution well they have the power judicially to strike down the new laws that actually are better for democracy it's honestly a clusterfuck it's a mess and overall what's happening is effectively going to amount to Republicans having a huge advantage and when I say a huge advantage I mean if some of the laws that are being passed specifically the one in Georgia if that were actually in effect in 2020 it would have tipped the scales in Trump's favor literally so as Dave Weigel of the Washington Post explains when it comes to Georgia last year to ease pressure on polling places and on voters who couldn't easily or safely reach them Atlanta's Fulton County launched two mobile voting units buses that functioned as fully staffed voting booths for a cost of around $750,000 the county collected 11,200 votes across both buses which stopped in different Atlanta locations at times announced by the county in advance Joe Biden would go on to carry the county with 73% of the vote the new law grounded those buses mandating that mobile voting stations shall only be used in emergencies declared by the governor it also altered the state's provisional ballot rules requiring voters who show up to the wrong polling place before 5 p.m. to relocate and find their real polling place before 7 p.m. voters arriving at the wrong precincts tend to cast most provisional ballots which must be validated after the election 11,120 valid provisional ballots were cast in the state last year breaking about 2-1 for Biden over Trump combined the ballots cast by both methods are nearly double the margin by which Biden won Georgia I'm going to read that last sentence one more time combined the ballots cast by both methods are nearly double the margin by which Biden won Georgia so in these states where Joe Biden very narrowly won they don't have to do very much they just have to tweak a little bit around the edges and that'll be sufficient they tip the scales back in their favor making sure that in the next election in 2022 and in 2024 the odds are once again stacked against the Democratic Party as they make it more difficult for the Democratic Party's base to come out and vote now when it comes to Arizona as NPR explains Republicans in Arizona have enacted a new law that could remove voters from the state's early ballot mailing list if they don't use their early ballot at least once in two straight two-year election cycles now you don't do something like this unless you are deliberately trying to make it more difficult to vote but there's more Wagle continues Republicans initially pointed to Florida as a 2020 outlier a case of best practices being followed and a result coming out quickly the state's GOP quickly joined the effort to change election laws anyway targeting dropboxes which about 1.5 million Floridians used to cast ballots last year mobile dropboxes in use last year are now banned in Wisconsin through at least January 2023 Democrats controlled the governor's office in Madison with power to veto any new election laws that don't get bipartisan support the GOP legislature's bills aren't at all likely to become law but they set out what a new Republican governor could sign before the next presidential election one bill would prevent ballot collection events anytime before the final two weeks leading up to an election that would have prevented democracy in the park a September 2020 event organized by election officials in Dane County the state's Democratic stronghold where 10,813 ballots were collected one would prohibit election officials from filling in missing but known voter information on absentee ballots which was used to complete more than 5,000 million ballots from Dane and Milwaukee County we know the total from those counties for a simple reason the Trump campaign sued to get them disqualified as it sued to get the democracy in the park ballots tossed in Texas hours before election day last year nearly 127,000 people in Houston's Harris County waited to hear whether their votes would count they'd taken advantage of a new drive-thru voting system put in place by then county clerk Christopher Hollins a Democrat a group of Republicans sued to toss their ballots arguing that unless stopped illegal votes will be cast and counted in direct violation of the Texas election code at the United States Constitution a Republican appointed judge throughout that case but the election bills moving closer to Republican Governor Greg Abbott's desk would have prevented Harris from ever setting up the drive-thru sites so they know what they're doing they're deliberately making it more difficult to vote because if that happens then you decrease turnout and then you have a better shot at winning because Democrats they fare much worse when turnout is low Republicans are aware of this they're savvy enough to acknowledge the reality and what they're doing is very deliberate they might claim they're trying to protect the integrity of the vote but it's really curious that they're specifically targeting the things that drove up voter turnout in the 2020 election and they're trying to stop that before the next election takes place so they can secure the stronghold that they have in their respective states and it's incredibly transparent but a lot of people still fall for their bullshit and um look if they if they had their way they would just outright ban people from voting if that were legal if that were constitutionally permissible but since they can't they try to just make voting as difficult as possible I mean it's the same thing that they do with abortion since they can't outright ban abortion well what do they do they just put a lot of regulations on abortion make it more difficult to actually have an abortion make sure there's less clinics available for women to have abortions and effectively you accomplish what you wanted to accomplish without having to ban abortion itself that's what they're applying but now to voting and it's not like state Republicans are uniquely terrible national Republicans are in lockstep with the effort that we're seeing take place in all these states in fact just this week all nine Republican senators voted against Senator Ossoff's amendment that would prohibit states from placing restrictions on volunteers ability to offer food or water to voters waiting in line and of course that includes Mitch McConnell the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate now why would they be against something seemingly insignificant I mean they claim that they care about the integrity of the election but yet they're trying to make it so people can't deliver food and water to folks waiting in line well it's because this was never about election integrity this is about them beating Democrats by any means necessary including rigging elections eroding the democracy that we have what's left of our democracy I should say because our Democratic institutions have already been hollowed out by Capitol by getting commodified with super PACs Citizens United and so what's left of democracy they're trying to kill it by disincentivizing voting so even if you know somebody wants to bring you water they're making it so that's not acceptable they are shameless but I've got good news and also bad news the good news is that there is a fix for this that fix is HR1 it's the for the people act which would override all of these undemocratic bills popping up across the country but the bad news is that it is overwhelmingly likely to die single-handedly at the hands of Joe Manchin who is seemingly in agreement with these 11 states that have passed voter suppression laws saying I believe Democrats and Republicans feel very strongly about protecting the ballot boxes allowing people to protect the right to vote making it accessible making it fair and making it secure so he's buying into two separate narratives here he's accepting the narrative that this is about making elections safer and he's also buying into the narrative that widespread voter fraud is a thing that happens when that's not actually the case widespread voter fraud is not a thing voter fraud is statistically insignificant these Republicans are trying to create a solution to a problem that doesn't exist but I shouldn't say that because the problem for them is that too many people are coming out to vote especially people of color and people of color overwhelmingly vote against Republicans because Republicans have policies that fuck over people of color but Joe Manchin says yeah I see that and it's fine I agree with that Joe Manchin might just unilaterally kill the one thing that could save democracy and it's not like HR1 is perfect there are provisions in it that disadvantage third parties that I disagree with that I want amended but overall the bill itself is intended to stop voter suppression efforts and if Democrats want a chance then they can't allow these laws to stand otherwise come 2022 2024 these voter suppression laws are going to hurt them and they're going to hurt them pretty badly so if you disagree with Joe Manchin let him know his DC office phone number is<PHONE_NUMBER> I'm going to send him a quick message and let him know that he needs to support HR1 Hello Senator Manchin I just wanted a call to let you know that you need to stop being a coward and stop cowtowing to the Republican Party and actually support the for the people act it passed in the House of Representatives and now you are the one individual I believe who's holding it up and so you're buying into the Republican Party's lies about widespread voter fraud being a thing and it's not a thing it is statistically insignificant so this isn't something that you actually have to be a coward on like on this issue you're not really going to offend your corporate donors by just doing the right thing like I understand why you know you don't want to pass other types of legislation like the infrastructure bill or God forbid Medicare for all because you're big pharma donors you're you know big business buddies who pull your strings like the puppet that you are won't like that but for the people act this is about democracy so if you care about democracy then pass the bill you coward okay grow a spine pass the goddamn bill do what's right for once I mean Jesus Christ with Democrats like you who needs Republicans just terrible I bet you love all the attention that you're getting you just love this you just love having so much power to screw over working Americans shame on you I don't know how you sleep at night but I'm assuming it's on a very large bed of money that you cover yourself in you should be disgusted with yourself and now I sure am and I know millions of Americans across the country are too shame on you mansion you suck and we'll leave that there if this is not stopped then I'm telling you democracy as we know it is finished because the more you suppress the vote the less people turn out to vote the more that democracy is eroded and ceases to exist all together so if Democrats don't act and do something about these efforts across the country it's not going to be good for the future of America or the planet as a result okay I get that the bar is really really low right now and it's to the point where when a Republican does the bare minimum and even just acknowledges basic reality even that is pleasantly surprising but still I think that liberals really have to try to do a little bit more to resist the inclination that they feel to turn the Republicans that do the bare minimum into heroes I'm of course talking about Liz Cheney who is all of a sudden being propped up as a hero because she was ousted by the Republican Party for not peddling the lie that Donald Trump lost the election because it was stolen from him that's pretty obvious we shouldn't reward people who are adults who admit something that is very obvious I mean I do believe to an extent in positive reinforcement right if you're trying to potty train a toddler and they don't shit their pants maybe reward them for that but by the time you're 10 years old 15 years old 20 years old I don't think that we need to applaud you for not shitting yourself you've done the bare minimum good job that's expected of fully functioning adults with any brain cells that are left but that's not what we've seen with Liz Cheney liberals and liberal media they've gone out of their way to turn her into a hero which is very very dangerous because Liz Cheney even if she acknowledges orange man bad Liz Cheney is terrible herself what we're witnessing is a civil war within the GOP and both sides are terrible and usually I try to not perpetuate any false equivalences where I both sides certain issues that don't need to be both sides but in this instance both sides are actually pretty terrible they're both psychopathic albeit for very different reasons but if one side is fighting the other and the other side is fighting the other set back and let them tear themselves apart now sure you could acknowledge Liz Cheney told the truth and that objectively is a good thing but to make her a hero no that's not acceptable in fact that's actually really dangerous and Ryan Grimm of The Intercept explained in a brilliant article probably the best I've seen about this Liz Cheney kerfuffle why liberals need to stop doing that do not shed any tears for Liz Cheney because she was ousted from GOP leadership because she's not opposing Trump's lies because she is principled and cares about democracy every action that she takes is a coordinated political move that she believes will further help her own career so Ryan Grimm explains there can be no question of whether Representative Liz Cheney is correct in her particulars the electoral college has voted she said from the floor of the House on Tuesday evening interrupting a Republican gapfest devoted to the topic of cancel culture to speak of her own cancellation scheduled for the next morning Liz Cheney is a leader of great courage patriotism and integrity House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said with a straight face on Wednesday after Republicans dismissed Cheney from her post by a voice vote as Democrats and the cable networks that revolve around them think through the meaning of Cheney's excommunication from House leadership little could be more important than being relentlessly reminded that as the dude might say while Cheney may not be wrong she's just an asshole indeed her assholeness is central to any political analysis of the moment and it's an analysis of exceeding import because getting it wrong will lead to a very very dark place ask the Iraqis in the run-up to Cheney's ouster MSNBC pundit Nicole Wallace slammed the GOP for coming after Cheney for her refusal to go along with the big lie and the assault on democracy it has ushered in Wallace of course a dedicated salesperson of the Iraq war having served as the Bush administration's communications director knows as much about the big lie as Cheney Cheney knows lies both big and small she with Wallace was a leading booster of her father's war she has shown no remorse or reflection over the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan quite the contrary it was Trump's attack on the decision to go to war in Iraq and later his insistence on exiting Afghanistan that triggered her most deeply and drove her to work publicly with Democrats to keep the occupation going Cheney's celebration of America's commitment to democracy abroad as example by her floor speech on Tuesday is as brazen as Trump's own fuckery the Cheney wing of the Republican Party has shown nothing but contempt for democracy around the globe in the period since World War II reveling in the overthrow of democratically elected leaders only approving of elections if they are won by the candidate preferred in Washington or if the promise of them can be used to justify an invasion Liz Cheney's father Dick Cheney served as deputy chief of staff and chief of staff to President Gerald Ford as his administration welcomed the rule of Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge in Cambodia sparse the pay-ins to democracy Liz Cheney's affection for US interventionism may mark the origin of her hostility to the Trump wing of the party but the question of whether her stand today is truly one of principle could best be answered by her sister Mary Cheney now let's just stop right there because I think it's obvious that the conclusion that Grimm is working his way towards is this fact that Liz Cheney doesn't actually care about democracy she's not speaking out because she feels compelled out of her desire to save democracy she's speaking out because she's a political opportunist that is all this is about now the story regarding Mary Cheney and how Liz Cheney reacted to her once she started running for office that tells you how much of an opportunist Liz Cheney is and there is not an authentic bone in her body her only calculation is what is going to be the most politically expedient for me she has zero principles this is all about power so Grimm explains the story of Mary Cheney for years the Cheney family stood apart from the Republican party's culture war against the GOP even as the Bush Cheney administration cynically deployed opposition to marriage equality as a tool to drive out the evangelical vote for the party Lynn and I have a gay daughter so it's an issue that our family is very familiar with Dick Cheney's set that year with respect to the question of relationships my general view is that freedom means freedom for everybody running for senate in 2013 Liz Cheney threw her sister overboard quote I love Mary very much I love her family very much this is just an issue on which we disagree she told viewers of Fox News wow Liz, this isn't just an issue on which we disagree you're just wrong and on the wrong side of history Mary, a Republican operative herself shot back on Facebook Liz has been a guest in our home has spent time and shared holidays with our children Mary's wife Heather Poe wrote to have her now say she doesn't support our right to Mary is offensive to say the least Dick Cheney sided with Liz because for the Cheneys power comes before everything so it's not merely as simple as Liz Cheney being a bigoted homophobe and just rejecting her sister's homosexuality she literally publicly retroactively withdrew support for her sister which she loves she knew her sister's wife and was around them but publicly she had to denounce her sister because she wanted to win an election and that's the only way you can appease a homophobic Republican party even denouncing your loved ones that's a must so Liz Cheney is one of the biggest political opportunists in America because we know that she doesn't believe that gay marriage is bad but this demonstrates that she said what she believed she had to say to get ahead in politics and nothing has changed nothing has changed if you believe that she cares about democracy there's this bill called the For the People Act that is one of the most effective measures to combat the consequences of the big lie so Republican-controlled legislatures across the country they're using Trump's lie about the election to crack down on voting rights so if Liz Cheney was really concerned about the consequences of Donald Trump's lie I mean she would align with Democrats to pass the For the People Act to make sure that this undemocratic these undemocratic laws that are getting passed around the country don't actually have any legs you know she can override it like that by passing the For the People Act however the bill already passed Liz Cheney was not a co-sponsor of that bill and when the bill came up for a vote guess how Liz Cheney voted she voted against the For the People Act and we're supposed to believe that Liz Cheney cares about democracy that everything that she's saying is authentic if Liz Cheney actually cared about democracy she could have supported the For the People Act but it turns out she doesn't actually give a flying fuck about democracy and this is all about her next big career move perhaps she's carving out a lane for herself in the 2024 Republican Party primary and she's gonna be the anti-Trump Republican who's going to take on Donald Trump or someone who is a Trumpian Republican like Ron DeSantis but either way I know that all of the liberals who are buying her bullshit you're legitimizing a wing of the party that is perhaps equally as terrible as the Trump wing of the party the neocon wing of the Republican Party the amount of people they've murdered by lying about wars talking about the big lie she's a putter of the Iraq War and the lie that they had weapons of mass destruction so I'm sorry Liz Cheney is not a hero I'm not going to shed any tears for her because she was ousted from GOP leadership if you do that you're assisting someone who's an apologist for war crimes for illegal and unconstitutional wars don't do that and stop doing this it's not just Liz Cheney like liberals go out of their way to rehabilitate George W Bush who should be in prison as we speak the fact that he's a free man in and of itself should be outrageous to liberals but since he says orange man bad well that means he is welcomed into the resistance with open arms stop doing this stop it's affecting normies liberals I know now all of a sudden they think that Liz Cheney is courageous but that's not the case Liz Cheney is a fraud and the fact that she was ousted from leadership it says nothing about her character she would be taking the opposite stand defending the big lie if she believed that was the best move for her career period end of story she's given us more than enough evidence to deduce that that is exactly what she would be doing so shut up about Liz Cheney liberals she's terrible stop defending her stop making her a star for the love of god CNN reporter Donnie O'Sullivan showed up to an America first rally with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and at this point I'm convinced that CNN is trying to give this guy brain damage from too much exposure to MAGAJUDS because he's constantly at these rallies asking them questions and you could probably sense that by now his soul has been sucked out of him nonetheless he showed up and he spoke with two Donald Trump supporters who believe the big lie about the 2020 election and that Joe Biden stole that election but more outrageous than the fact that they believe the big lie perhaps is the reason why they believe the big lie and it is quite interesting the things that you're going to hear them say take a look you guys both genuinely believe the election was stolen I mean that's you know if you believe that that's true is that horrible yeah I know it is is it horrible that we would even be in the situation to even think that but it's false I know it is not why would they have all those ballots hidden under tables why did that man drive that truck all the way across state lines it wasn't like even the ballots the ballots under table thing with Giuliani and Georgia that's all been proven to be false it has not I watched it on TV of course what they mentioned there are conspiracy theories about the election that have been debunked for many many months but it goes to show that the message the big lie about the election has a very very receptive audience here in the villages take a listen to what happened inside the event did anybody in here vote for Joe Biden do you guys really think he won and while some might look an event like this as a fringe element of the republican party it really isn't take a look at these poll numbers from last week it shows 70 percent of republicans believe the big lie that Joe Biden didn't really win the election the republican party continues to grapple with conspiracy theories so the proof that the election was stolen from Donald Trump quote I watched it on TV I watched it on TV so case closed checkmate liberals can't argue with that logic also you know just speaking for myself here but I've also seen people who can fly on television I've seen dragons and magical wizards on television so I guess that that must confirm the existence of people who can fly dragons and magical wizards checkmate libtards I mean I shouldn't have to explain this to someone who's probably twice my age but not everything that you see on television is real I mean things might be presented as if they are real reality television show stars quote unquote news but that doesn't mean that it's real and of course you know in the event you have Marjorie Taylor-Green still continuing to spread lies about the election presenting zero evidence that it's been stolen and any arguments and evidence that they've presented it's all been debunked now it's funny Donnie O'Sullivan flabbergasted by their stupidity he says you know so you still believe that the election was stolen and uh the guy chimed in and said isn't that horrible isn't it horrible that people would even believe such a thing yeah but that doesn't necessarily speak to the severity of the situation the reason why you believe in evidence-free conspiracy theory is because you're unable to push through the cognitive dissonance that you're feeling you thought Donald Trump would win you're angry and refuse to accept that he did not win therefore you're making up all of these conspiracies about how he actually did win and Joe Biden just stole the election from him and uh the lady cited how well you know why would they have all those ballots hidden under the tables why do that man drive that truck all the way across state lines listen I'm no expert on things related to election integrity but I have to say that if I wanted to rig an election I probably wouldn't hide a bunch of illegal ballots under a fucking table nor would I want to just brazenly drive a truck presumably filled with millions of illegal ballots across state lines that's pretty brazen I mean wouldn't you you want to be a little bit less conspicuous if you're going to steal an election and all the things that she's referring has been debunked again and again and again so at this point if you still believe the big lie I have to assume that you're just not a reasonable person but don't take it from me take it from one of the individuals who was an attorney for Donald Trump who pushed the big lie I'm of course referring to Sidney Powell whose attorneys argued on her behalf as she faces a defamation law student court that quote no reasonable person would conclude that the statements she made were truly statements of fact so even the person who spread those lies doesn't think that you're reasonable people but she still believes the lies he still believes the lies I mean are these the dumbest Trump supporters in America it's hard to actually pinpoint out of the millions of Trump supporters which one is actually the worst and who believes the most deranged things but I mean like to say I know something is true because I saw it on TV she has to understand how silly that sounds right I mean when she felt those words leave her lips did she not think for a second that kind of sounded stupid because you see a lot of fake things on TV I mean I hope so right I hope that she has gone home she saw herself on TV acknowledged how stupid she looked and she's reflecting and she's trying to be introspective and try to do better but odds are that isn't what's happening odds are her friends probably saw her on CNN and she got a bunch of calls about how great it was that she stuck it to that libtard and you know the same lie is going to be believed so at this point I'm not shocked that there are this many folks who believe the big lie but I have to say it's still is soul-crushing to see people that deluded believe something so stupid with no evidence it's just honestly it's demoralizing but it's important that we call these lies out because when we're talking about democracy we can't mince words we have to be very clear the election was not stolen but if you truly care about democracy you can look to all of the states controlled by Republicans I'm of course talking about Ron DeSantis in Florida Brian Kemp in Georgia who are actually trying to steal elections enact voter suppression laws that make it more difficult to vote see to them they don't see that voter suppression as election rigging things that they like that's not voter rigging things that they don't like that's fake news or voter rigging they operate purely on the basis of what their emotions dictate they believe and that's a really dangerous way to create a political ideology for yourself it's weird it's not based on facts it's based on emotions and that's deeply dangerous for democracy if enough people believe it and that is the case so we have to continue to push back against this lie until people stop being stupid and stop believing it well that's all that I have for you today if you've made it this far in the program thank you so much I hope that you enjoy the show as usual we're not going to end without thanking the people who make the show possible all of our newest Patreon, PayPal and YouTube members you truly are the lifeblood of the program and I just want to say like a side note here if you're subscribed on YouTube and you haven't been seeing our videos show up in your subscription feed let me know we're having some issues on YouTube lately and I don't necessarily know if this is a glitch but from time to time we get issues where the impressions for our videos are really low and not a lot of subscribers are seeing our videos now perhaps people are just tuning out and the algorithm isn't showing the videos that we produce to you but I'm not sure so I'm trying to figure out how to adjust my practices to better get the videos out to you so please let me know in the comments if you haven't seen the videos or if there's anything that you think I could do to make sure that the videos show up in your feed aside from recommending that you click notifications turn them on but anyways I'll leave that there if you want more of the Humanist Report podcast on Thursdays at 8 p.m. PST you can watch me on twitch.tv slash Humanist Report where I'll play video games sometimes we'll just fuck around watch some funny videos it's always a blast it's always a hoot the people on Twitch are phenomenal shout out to all of them so yeah we'll leave that there my name is Mike Figurato this has been the Humanist Report I will see you all next week take care everyone