Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party were appetizers for what is to come. I have never seen the American people so disgruntled, and neither has anyone else. Every number is a record. Congressional approval is at a record low of 9%. Can it get lower? Can it go negative? The number of people satisfied with the candidates running for president is at a record low. Dissatisfaction in this category is four times higher than it was even in 2008.
While holiday celebrants everywhere may still be taking it easy, playing with all their new toys and wondering just how they're going to work off that Christmas muffin top, here at Rebel Headquarters we're burning calories faster than ever. Whether putting out the two hour daily show, the Current show, TYTU,TYT Sports, What The Flick?! or the hot new YouTube-only show everyone's talking about, The Point, we're all left breathlessly saying, "Vacation? What name so?"
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a crime against our constitution. It allows for the indefinite detention of US citizens by the military inside the US - without a trial. It's one of the worst laws ever passed in the US and it passed with nary a peep of opposition. I'm positive that a huge percentage of the population is not even aware of it, partly because the establishment media didn't even bother covering it.
Asked what a Uygur Administration would look like, Cenk says that other than some birther trouble — he wasn’t born in America — he’d happily pick a dream team including Secretary of State Russ Feingold, Secretary of Defense Bernie Sanders and as Secretary of the Treasury, none other than MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan.
“What would the banksters do then?” Cenk asks. “It would bring Justice back into the country in 18 different ways. It’s fun to imagine but I don’t think we’re going to get there.”
We all know that for some time Cenk's had a certain affinity for Kim Kardashian's body - her body of work, that is. But lately it seems Cenk has a new favorite he's been crushing on. Is it possible that the person Cenk now wants to be playing "doctor" with is an actual doctor - Dr. Ron Paul? Maybe he's just getting caught up in the heat of the GOP campaign and has caught a slight case of Paul Fever. Stay tuned to find out whether Cenk keeps building up his burnin' love for the doctor, or fellow liberals turn up the heat and get him to put out that recently kindled fire for the nation's number one favorite Libertarian firebrand.
Cenk and Peter Schiff, a self-declared "one percenter," go to the mat over tax rates for the rich.
"Are you saying the bankers are not guilty of this at all?" Cenk asks.
Schiff responds, "We don't have the benefits of capitalism any more because we don't have capitalism -- we have a centrally-planned socialist economy, and that is why the average American is getting poorer."
Cenk cuts Schiff off -- though Schiff keeps talking for two minutes into the void -- and Cenk says, "He wants to blame the government for the problems, but he knows it's his banker friends who have given those donations, who buy their senators, who buy their staff members, so they can get more money. He doesn't want you to pay attention to that, because that's how they rob you. And he comes on here and goes, `Oh, no no, it's socialism.' Socialism, my ass! The real problem is -- and he's talked about it in the past, but he didn't talk about it there -- corporatism, where the corporations come in and rob us blind."
Laura Ling and Euna Lee join Cenk to talk about the death of Kim Jong Il. The two journalists, who were held captive for five months while reporting for Current TV, say their time in prison there helps them understand the lifelong indoctrination many North Koreans experienced.
"There's such an intense level of fear," Laura explains. "Even if they do believe differently, people are hesitant to say that."
Of news images showing North Koreans weeping over the death of their "Dear Leader," Euna says, "Sometimes when you same the same thing over and over, when you hear the same thing over and over, it becomes true, whether you believe it or not."
And it's still unclear whether Kim's son will hold onto that power. "There hasn't been enough time for that propaganda around [Kim Jong Un] to really reach a fever pitch," Laura points out. "It will be interesting to see what the people believe about him."
In The U Block, Cenk digs into the topic most requested by viewers -- more coverage of the Bradley Manning hearings. Kevin Gosztola from FireDogLake.com has been reporting from the trial, where on Monday Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the famous Pentagon Papers, was removed from the room after trying to talk to Manning's team.
"It's almost as if at this stage, it appears there's going to be some punishment for Manning no matter what, so [his defense team is] making arguments about how lax information security happened to be in the area where he did his intelligence analyst work," Gosztola reports. "They're also bringing constantly up the behavioral health issues and emotional problems that Manning had."
Cenk says, "I know they're the defense, they have to try everything. But as a person who's not part of his defense team, I wish that they wouldn't do that, because I think in a lot of ways he was heroic in being a whistleblower."
Gosztola also reports that only a few witnesses were approved to testify on behalf of Manning.
This has been quite the busy week at Rebel Headquarters. Not only have we launched the new TYT YouTube-only show, "The Point," and hosted another "Politically Direct" post-debate show, this time featuring Cenk, Michael, Ben, Brian and Jennifer Granholm (aka the future Mrs. Steve Oh), but there's also the little-observed (in mainstream media outlets) fact that bipartisan agreement has been reached to end the American experiment in constitutional democracy. Don't know what we're talking about? Cenk breaks down why the nation's founders are doing high RPM grave spins here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg0EBEvoSXY
As you can probably imagine, everyone was on their very best behavior this past week when Current TV founder and Nobel Peace Prize / Academy Award / Grammy Award / Emmy Award / 2000 Presidential Election / Best Beard of 2001 Contest winner Al Gore stopped by the studio to check on his investment. He seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and the unique TYT vibe. All except for this one sweaty Turk who kept grilling the former Vice President with a bunch of questions. "Who's going to win the Republican nomination? Are you disappointed with President Obama? Is the US doing enough to combat climate change?" Geez, give it a rest, pal! Can't the former VP relax and enjoy a little quality television?
