In a functioning democracy, corporations answer to the government and the government answers to its citizens. In the US, it's the other way around. Our pseudo-democracy, through its propaganda machine, has led to a culture in decline (TM).
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10'The Phantom of the Opera' From: 'Iron Maiden'
(1980)
Featured on Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album, 'Phantom of the Opera' acted as a precursor to what would become one of the band's greatest strengths. The seven-minute piece was Maiden's first foray into the world of progressive metal, and the track is still performed live by the band to this day. Paul Di'Anno's voice shapes 'Phantom of the Opera' tremendously, while the guitar and bass follow Di'Anno's vocal pattern in daring unison.
Listen to 'Phantom of the Opera'
Scott got an F on the NAACP annual scorecard. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he voted to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress, opposed the Congressional Black Caucus’s budget proposal and voted to delay funding a settlement between the United States and black farmers who alleged that the federal government refused them loans because of their race.
Scott got an F on the NAACP annual scorecard. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he voted to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress, opposed the Congressional Black Caucus’s budget proposal and voted to delay funding a settlement between the United States and black farmers who alleged that the federal government refused them loans because of their race.
Scott got an F on the NAACP annual scorecard. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he voted to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress, opposed the Congressional Black Caucus’s budget proposal and voted to delay funding a settlement between the United States and black farmers who alleged that the federal government refused them loans because of their race.
At a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry took a shot at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over sanctions with Iran. (AP)
2
so a couple of weeks ago I talked about
00:05
Hillary Clinton's trip to India
00:06
specifically comments that she made
00:08
about the 2016 election that were pretty
00:12
pretentious she claimed that she only
00:14
won the areas of the country that were
00:17
forward-thinking whereas Donald Trump
00:19
won the areas of the country where
00:21
there's a bunch of people that are just
00:23
racist now I already told you my
00:25
thoughts on that so if you want to hear
00:27
what I had to say you can watch the
00:28
video I'll link to it down below but
00:31
after she received a lot of backlash for
00:34
those comments expectedly so well she
00:37
decided to fire back at her critics and
00:39
essentially she said that anyone who
00:42
disagreed with her and told her to shut
00:43
up and go away they're just sexist is
00:50
anyone surprised by this
00:51
I'm not because identity politics is the
00:54
only tactic she uses to fire back at
00:59
critics but nonetheless this is what she
01:00
had to say I was really struck by how
01:04
people said that to me you know mostly
01:06
people in the press for whatever reason
01:10
like oh you know go away go away
01:12
and I had a one of the young people
01:15
works for me go back and do a bit of
01:17
research they never said that to any man
01:20
who was not elected now this was during
01:24
a talk she had at Rutgers now that
01:27
comment right there drew the most
01:29
criticism and this is really what we've
01:31
come to expect from Hillary Clinton and
01:33
neoliberal Democrats if they don't have
01:35
a legitimate response to your argument
01:38
will they pivot to identity politics and
01:40
say well you simply disagree with me and
01:42
you're telling me to shut up and go away
01:44
because you're sexist or homophobic and
01:46
this is the same tactic we see from the
01:49
Israeli government when we criticize war
01:51
crimes and their illegal occupation of
01:54
Palestine what do they do they tell us
01:56
that we're anti-semitic so this is the
01:58
same neoliberal tactic if you don't have
02:01
a legitimate response this is what you
02:03
have to do those of us with legitimate
02:05
arguments don't have to pivot to
02:07
identity politics because our arguments
02:09
are strong enough themselves but I
02:12
actually don't want to only
02:13
focus on her sexism comments because she
02:15
actually did a pretty thoughtful
02:19
critique of the Republican Party
02:21
everything that she's said here
02:22
essentially what's correct the problem
02:25
is that what she said was pretty ironic
02:28
because her diagnosis of the main
02:30
problems within the Republican Party is
02:32
also applicable to the Democratic Party
02:35
as well both parties have their faults I
02:37
will I will premise what I'm about to
02:39
say and we can all do better and I can
02:43
certainly do better I mean obviously in
02:45
the heat of battle and political
02:47
back-and-forth I've said things that you
02:49
know I would like to take back we all
02:53
are like that but I do worry that what's
02:56
happened to the Republican Party is that
03:00
it's being held captive by a very small
03:03
group of powerful forces we have seen
03:08
the power of the NRA for example and
03:14
some of the very wealthy patrons of the
03:18
Republican Party are so demanding if you
03:24
if you deviate from their stated
03:28
requests they will fund somebody to run
03:31
against you in a Republican primary they
03:34
will dry up your money they will make it
03:37
really difficult now I would still like
03:40
to see some Republicans stand up and say
03:42
go ahead and try it and defend
03:45
themselves but I understand I understand
03:50
how intense the partisanship is within
03:54
the Republican Party so that you worry
03:58
about somebody on your far right coming
04:02
in to try to defeat you in the primary
04:04
and you end up kind of going along and
04:08
wondering what you can do in the future
04:11
and the only way to remedy that is to
04:15
make it very clear we are just not going
04:16
to accept that kind of politics you know
04:19
I was the first person to run for
04:22
president who had to deal with both
04:25
Citizens United
04:27
and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act
04:31
so with citizens united it was all bets
04:36
are off more money than we've ever seen
04:38
and being spent in ways we still to this
04:41
day don't know I mean the NRA spent more
04:43
money against me than they've ever spent
04:45
against anybody and all these other
04:47
groups were just pumping it out because
04:51
with the Citizens United decision we
04:54
can't stop it and we can't even follow
04:56
it and we often don't even know after
04:59
the fact and then the Voting Rights Act
05:02
which was gutted opened the door to
05:06
voter suppression like we haven't seen
05:07
in 50 years and so people are being
05:11
turned away from the polls because they
05:15
don't have the exact right ID although
05:18
they bring everything else they possibly
05:20
can bring and they're being purged from
05:23
voting rolls because maybe they haven't
05:24
voted in a year or two and now if things
05:28
don't look like they'll go your way
05:29
you've got a governor in Wisconsin
05:31
trying to stop elections so the problems
05:35
are deep and they are ones that if we
05:39
don't address regardless of party that's
05:42
why we I'm so I'm so missing John
05:45
McCain's voice right now because you can
05:48
disagree with John but he will stand up
05:51
for democratic values and democratic
05:54
institutions
06:03
and other Republicans who have spoken
06:05
out are retiring they're leaving right
06:08
here in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania
06:10
and in states across America they're
06:14
leaving because they know they will be
06:17
shown no understanding by the hard right
06:20
and the money that funds it so I'll give
06:24
her credit for admitting that
06:26
both parties have problems but Hillary
06:30
by saying both parties have problems and
06:33
then going on to explain that
06:35
Republicans have this specific problem
06:37
with donors you're implying that
06:40
Democrats don't also have this issue I
06:42
mean think about her criticism she
06:43
states here the Republican Party is
06:45
being held captive by a very small group
06:47
of powerful forces who does I sound like
06:49
to you
06:50
also the Democratic Party as well she
06:53
also said here some of the very wealthy
06:56
patrons of the Republican Party are so
06:58
demanding if you deviate from their
07:00
stated requests they will fund somebody
07:03
to run against you in a Republican
07:04
primary right that's technically true
07:06
but Hillary isn't this also true for the
07:10
Democratic Party as well let's say
07:12
hypothetically speaking that someone in
07:14
the Democratic Party wanted to shirk
07:16
their donors in the health insurance
07:18
industry and after taking tens of
07:20
thousands of dollars from health
07:21
insurance companies they decided to
07:23
endorse Medicare for all do you not
07:24
think that those health insurers would
07:27
be equally demanding of the Democratic
07:29
Party there's a reason why companies
07:31
like Cigna and Aetna are spending
07:35
thousands upon thousands of dollars on
07:38
anti Medicare for all Democrats it's
07:40
because they want to keep the status quo
07:41
so you can state that the Republican
07:43
Party's donors are certainly demanding
07:45
but that's also equally true with regard
07:48
to the Democratic Party's donors as well
07:49
she also states here I was the first
07:51
person who had to run for president who
07:53
had to deal with both citizens united
07:55
and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act
07:57
so with citizens united it was all bets
08:00
are off with more money being spent than
08:02
we've ever seen
08:03
the NRA spent more money against me than
08:05
we they've ever spent against anybody
08:07
and with citizens united we can't stop
08:09
it and we can't even follow it and we
08:11
don't even know after the facts now what
08:14
she's saying here is probably the most I
08:17
Roenick and hypocritical of anything she
08:19
said because even though she's trying to
08:20
paint herself as the victim she's not
08:23
the victim she actually raised more than
08:25
a billion dollars for her 2016
08:28
presidential campaign and according to
08:30
the New York Times outside money favored
08:32
her over Donald Trump by a two-to-one
08:34
margin and she actually maintained a
08:36
three to one spending edge over Donald
08:40
Trump when it comes to television ads
08:42
ran in swing states not to mention she
08:44
also raised millions upon millions of
08:46
dollars from super PACs that's dark
08:49
money so she's talking about here how oh
08:52
you know you can't trace this money
08:54
since citizens united well she still
08:56
benefitted from citizens united she did
09:00
so I mean I find everything she's saying
09:02
here so hypocritical and she can't even
09:05
realize how ironic all her criticisms of
09:08
the Republican Party are now she also
09:11
states here and then the Voting Rights
09:12
Act which was gutted opened the door to
09:14
voter suppression like we haven't seen
09:15
in 50 years and so people are being
09:17
turned away from the polls because they
09:19
don't have the exact right ID and
09:21
they're being purged from the voting
09:22
rolls and now if things don't go your
09:25
way
09:25
you've got a governor in Wisconsin
09:27
trying to stop elections and again she
09:30
doesn't realize her own faults here and
09:32
the irony of what she's saying she won
09:36
the Democratic Party primary because the
09:39
DNC resorted to voter suppression
09:41
tactics how many state Democratic
09:45
parties shut out independence from
09:48
democratic party primaries because they
09:51
weren't registered in time as Democrats
09:54
she talks about voters being purged from
09:57
the rolls
09:57
well between a hundred and seventeen to
10:00
two hundred thousand voters were purged
10:01
in New York illegally so she had nothing
10:04
to say about that and they were purged
10:06
in a pro Bernie district now certainly
10:09
this could have been accidental but if
10:11
she cares about voters being purged from
10:13
the voting rolls wouldn't she at least
10:15
denounce what happened in New York and
10:18
additionally her campaign with the help
10:20
of the mainstream media inflated their
10:22
pledged delegate lead by Counting
10:24
super-delegates that hadn't even voted
10:26
yet and super-delegates generally
10:29
speaking is a way to brazenly
10:30
elections if things quote don't go your
10:33
way so I find everything that she's
10:35
saying here so nauseating and
10:37
infuriating because she says all this
10:40
about the Republican Party and is it
10:41
true yes absolutely but she doesn't
10:43
realize that the same thing she's saying
10:47
about the Republican Party is also
10:49
applicable to Democrats hence why she
10:51
lost it's because the Democratic Party
10:53
is just as corrupt as the Republican
10:55
Party the difference is that they've
10:57
been corrupted by different types of
10:59
donors and different types of
11:00
billionaires so I find this so
11:04
frustrating and that's really the
11:06
problem with Democrats they continuously
11:09
denounce the Republican Party's right
11:11
wing billionaire funders and I'm glad
11:13
that they do that but if you're gonna
11:15
denounce them you also have to walk the
11:18
walk yourself and denounce the
11:20
Democratic Party's donors as well but
11:22
this is why Hillary Clinton lost and why
11:24
the Democratic Party establishment is
11:26
even less popular today than they were
11:29
when Hillary Clinton was running it's
11:31
because they refused to have any sort of
11:33
introspection whatsoever they refused to
11:35
see the legitimate grievances that
11:38
voters have with them all you have to do
11:41
when you're talking about Republicans is
11:43
look in the mirror because if you see
11:45
the problem with Republicans and don't
11:47
see how the same issues plagued the
11:49
Democratic Party that I don't know what
11:51
to tell you you're just lost support
11:55
this podcast by becoming a patron at
11:57
patreon.com forward slash humanist
there's an editorial in the near times
00:28
that I guess will appear in tomorrow's
00:30
paper
00:31
yeah because today's the 10th and
00:34
they're usually a day behind from from
00:38
you know from the web New York Times
00:41
anyway I got to share this with you
00:43
listen up why don't we take a step back
00:47
and contemplate what Americans and the
00:49
world are witnessing early Monday
00:54
morning FBI agents raided the New York
00:57
office home and hotel room of the
01:04
personal lawyer for the President of the
01:06
United States they seized evidence of
01:09
possible federal crimes including bank
01:11
fraud wire fraud campaign finance
01:13
violations related to payoffs made to
01:15
women including a porn actress who say
01:18
they had affairs with the president
01:20
before he took office and were paid off
01:22
and intimidated into silence that
01:26
evening last night the president
01:29
surrounded himself with the top American
01:31
military officials and launched unbidden
01:34
into a tirade against the top American
01:38
law enforcement officials officials of
01:40
his own government accusing them of what
01:44
he called an attack on our country
01:47
oh also The Times report a Monday
01:52
evening that investigators were
01:54
examining a hundred and fifty thousand
01:55
dollar donation to the president's
01:58
personal foundation from a Ukrainian
02:01
steel magnate given during the American
02:05
presidential campaign in exchange for a
02:08
twenty minute video appearance from
02:10
Trump meanwhile the president former
02:13
campaign chairman is under indictment
02:15
and his former national security adviser
02:18
has pleaded guilty to lying to
02:20
investigators his son-in-law and other
02:22
associates are also under investigation
02:25
this is your president ladies and
02:28
gentlemen this is how Donald Trump does
02:32
business and these are the kinds of
02:35
people he surrounds himself
02:38
with mr. Champa spent his career in the
02:42
company of developers and celebrities
02:44
and also of grifters con sharks goons
02:47
and crooks he cuts corners he lies he
02:50
cheats he brags about it and for the
02:53
most part he's gotten away with it
02:55
protected by threats of litigation hush
02:58
money and his own bravado those methods
03:02
may be proving to have their limits when
03:05
they are applied from the Oval Office
03:07
the Republican leaders in Congress still
03:10
keep a cowardly silence mr. Trump now
03:15
has real reason to be afraid a raid on a
03:20
lawyer's office doesn't happen every day
03:22
it means that multiple government
03:25
officials and a federal judge had reason
03:29
to believe that they'd find evidence of
03:31
a crime there and that they didn't trust
03:33
the lawyer not to destroy that evidence
03:36
on Monday
03:39
when he appeared with his national
03:41
security team mr. Trump whose motto
03:44
could be the buck stops anywhere but
03:47
here
03:48
angrily blamed everyone he could think
03:51
of for what he called the unfairness of
03:54
the investigation that has already
03:56
consumed the first year of his
03:57
presidency yet is only now starting to
04:01
heat up
04:01
he said Attorney General Jeff Sessions
04:04
made quote a very terrible mistake end
04:06
quote by recusing himself from
04:08
overseeing the investigation the
04:10
implication being that are more loyal
04:13
Attorney General would have instructed
04:15
justice and blocked the investigation he
04:19
complained about what he called the
04:20
horrible things that Hillary Clinton did
04:23
and what he called all of the crimes
04:27
that were committed he called the a-team
04:30
and investigators from the office of the
04:32
Special Counsel robert muller quote the
04:35
most biased group of people as for mr.
04:38
mother himself we'll see what happens
04:41
mr. Trump said many people have said you
04:43
should fire him in fact
04:49
the raids on the premises used by mr.
04:51
Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen were
04:54
conducted by the public corruption unit
04:56
of the federal Attorney's Office and
04:59
Manhattan and at the request not of the
05:02
special counsels team but under a search
05:05
warrant that investigators in New York
05:08
obtained following a referral by mr.
05:12
Muller who first consulted with the
05:14
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
05:17
to sum up a Republican appointed former
05:22
FBI director consulted with the
05:24
Republican appointed Deputy Attorney
05:26
General who then authorized a referral
05:29
to an FBI field office not known for its
05:33
anti-trump bias deep state indeed mr.
05:40
Trump also railed against the
05:42
authorities who he said broke into mr.
05:45
Cohen's office attorney-client privilege
05:48
is dead the president tweeted early this
05:51
morning during what was presumably his
05:53
executive time he's wrong the privilege
05:58
is one of the most sacrosanct in the
05:59
American legal system but it does not
06:03
protect communications in furtherance of
06:05
a crime anyway one might ask if this is
06:09
all a big witch-hunt and mr. Trump has
06:12
nothing illegal or untoward to hide why
06:15
does he care about the privilege in the
06:17
first place
06:19
the answer is of course he has a lot to
06:23
hide this wasn't even the first early
06:28
morning raid of a close Trump associate
06:30
that distinction goes to Paul Manafort
06:32
mr. Trump's former campaign chairman and
06:35
Russian oligarch whisperer
06:36
who now faces a slate of federal charges
06:40
long enough to land him in prison for
06:42
the rest of his life and what a mr.
06:44
Cohen he's already been cut loose by his
06:48
law firm and when the charges start
06:50
rolling in he'll likely get the same
06:53
treatment from mr. Trump
06:57
the grotesquerie that faded into the
06:59
background of mr. Trump's carnival of
07:01
misgovernment during the past 24 hours
07:03
was that Monday's meeting was ostensibly
07:07
called
07:08
to discuss a matter of global
07:10
significance a reported chemical weapons
07:13
attack on Syrian civilians mr. Trump
07:16
instead made it about him with his
07:21
narcissistic and self pitying claim that
07:24
the investigation represented an attack
07:27
on the country in Trump's word in a true
07:31
sense no mr. Trump a true attack on
07:37
America is what happened on say
07:39
September 11 2001 remember that one
07:42
thousands of people lost their lives
07:45
your response was to point out that the
07:49
fall of the Twin Towers meant your
07:51
building was now the tallest in downtown
07:53
Manhattan of course that also wasn't
07:59
true wow this is just I mean this is
08:11
beyond insane it is just beyond insane
08:17
let me tell you something else about
08:19
Michael Cohen I didn't know this until
08:21
today Michael Cohen was and as far as I
08:26
know he hasn't been fired yet he was the
08:29
deputy national finance chairman of the
08:32
Republican Party guess who was the
08:38
National Finance Chairman not deputy but
08:42
the national plan Steve Wynn remember
08:44
him the Las Vegas thug who was fired
08:49
because of multiple charges of sexual
08:53
predation against him what the fuck is
08:57
wrong with the Republican Party and they
08:59
still wit well don't don't even ask that
09:01
question Mike and they still remain
09:02
silent these sons of bitches like this
09:09
little snarky
09:10
all Ryan and this turtle looking Mitch
09:14
McConnell they say nothing
that FBI seizure yesterday
00:28
what's a particularly extraordinary move
00:30
I think we all know that now it's been
00:33
talked about for a good full one one and
00:38
a half news cycles now about what that
00:41
seizure represented that shit doesn't
00:43
happen we're an attorney's office is
00:47
rated by federal high federal
00:52
prosecutors and the FBI and everything
00:56
is seized because the the attorney is
01:00
under suspicion of all kinds of federal
01:02
crimes and to cap it off the attorney
01:06
it's the attorney for the President of
01:08
the United States Cohen Michael Cohen is
01:18
Trump's virtual vault that's where all
01:21
the secrets are held everything from his
01:25
business deals to his personal affairs
01:29
joyce white Vance a former US Attorney
01:32
in Alabama said quote the search warrant
01:34
is like dropping a bomb on trumps front
01:37
porch mark xayide of washing lawyer said
01:45
the seizure of Cohen's records quote
01:47
should be the most concerning for the
01:50
president and quote he added quote you
01:54
can't get much worse than this other
01:56
than arresting someone's wife or putting
01:59
pressure on a family member this strikes
02:02
at the inner sanctum your lawyer your
02:05
CPA your barber your therapist your
02:08
bartender all the people who would know
02:11
the worst about you end quote
02:16
so what did Trump do yesterday according
02:19
to reliable sources he spent most of
02:22
they glued to Fox watching Fox
02:25
Television Christ
02:30
his aides anonymously of course reported
02:35
that Trump watched cable news coverage
02:36
of surprise raids on Cohen's Manhattan
02:39
the office home in hotel room by FBI FBI
02:41
agents who took everything took Cohen's
02:44
the computer phone personal financial
02:47
records everything just hoovered it all
02:50
up as the Sun began to fall in
02:56
Washington yesterday Trump offered
03:01
reporters his initial reaction here's
03:03
what he said quote it's a disgraceful
03:06
situation he said quote I had this
03:12
witch-hunt constantly going on there's a
03:15
whole new level of unfairness leaving no
03:20
doubt that he abused what happened on
03:22
Monday to his attorney as a personal
03:27
affront Trump called Cohen a good man
03:34
Oh give me a fucking break mr. e you
03:37
know this reminds me of Goodfellas the
03:39
movie matter of fact Cohen Michael Cohen
03:42
looks like one of those unmade young
03:46
Mafia guys who tried you know coming up
03:48
trying to become a made man in in the
03:51
family that's what Cohen looks like to
03:53
me that's what this whole thing is this
03:55
whole goddamn thing is is is is a
03:58
adaptation of the book in the movie
04:01
Goodfellas that's what these people are
04:05
they're Goodfellas hey we can do any
04:09
fucking thing we want to do I'm the
04:11
attorney for the president well I missed
04:13
National Security Advisor well I'm his
04:15
son-in-law well I'm his daughter
04:17
well I'm is this well I'm is that we can
04:19
do anything we want because he's the
04:23
president
04:33
and according to New York Times we're no
04:37
washington post shortly after the raids
04:39
began yesterday morning Trump received a
04:43
heads-up at the White House he got
04:48
together with Ty Cobb who was still the
04:51
White House lawyer in the Oval Office
04:56
he's the White House lawyer who oversees
04:59
the White House is handling of the
05:02
Muller probe it's not Trump's attorney
05:04
don't ask me explain the difference
05:06
because I don't know he also met with
05:12
white House Counsel Donnell McGann and
05:15
White House chief of staff John Kelly
05:17
I thought McGann was gone but if he's
05:21
White House Counsel and not not the
05:23
president's counsel okay what's the
05:25
difference between a White House lawyer
05:27
and White House Counsel oh who cares
05:30
other aides said they did not understand
05:32
what was happening you know this meeting
05:35
in the Oval Office because nobody knew
05:37
about it yet and they struggled to
05:38
pinpoint the significance of the
05:40
seizures once they did find out not
05:43
seizures like you know brain spasms but
05:45
the seizure seizures at Michael Cohen's
05:48
office and home and hotel room men
05:53
officials tried to keep their distance
05:55
from what was going on refusing to say
06:01
anything until they knew what Trump's
06:03
strategy was going to be smart aides
06:08
said they viewed Trump's late-afternoon
06:12
comments to reporters as a necessary
06:14
venting session that's when he went when
06:17
he went off with all this bullshit he
06:20
had been grousing privately about Deputy
06:23
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein a trump
06:26
appointee now remember what Trump has
06:28
said all these Democrats there's not a
06:30
fucking Democrat in here these are all
06:33
Republicans and most of them were
06:34
appointed by Trump but there's a
06:36
difference you know the difference is
06:37
with these Republicans the ones he's
06:41
bitching about
06:42
they're following the rule of law Trump
06:44
doesn't know from the rule of law what's
06:46
the rule of law
06:47
Trump has never followed a rule of law
06:51
he never had to
06:53
he always had Michael : or somebody some
06:55
bully boy somebody to put out the
06:57
warnings like they put out on stormy
07:00
weather you don't want your daughter to
07:03
grow up without a mother do ya rule of
07:08
law then Trump complained about Rosen
07:17
sign again Monday in private according
07:21
to White House adviser there's more
07:23
goddamn leaks in the in the Trump
07:24
cesspool then than there is in a sieve
07:27
upstairs in our kitchen it's just
07:29
unbelievable and he he stood all
07:32
afternoon about the warrant to seize
07:34
Cohen's records at times raising his
07:36
voice whoa really can you imagine what
07:42
the fuck is going on right I'm the
07:46
president Hey
07:48
not for long
