Watch YouTube Clips from March 5
TYT on Current TV March 5 Highlights
Cenk to Bain Capital-backed Rush Limbaugh: I'll give you $10k to show me your so-called 20 million listenersCenk challenges Rush Limbaugh to prove his suspiciously high radio show ratings are even close to true. "I'll make a Mitt Romney-like wager," Cenk offers. "$10,000 if you can show me your 20 million listeners a day." If those advertiser and rating problems weren't enough, one of the not-so-surprising backers behind Limbaugh broadcaster Clear Channel is none other than Bain Capital. "Those venture capitalists -- Mitt Romney's buddies, who Mitt Romney still gets a paycheck from -- sign the paycheck of Rush Limbaugh." http://bit.ly/xLxhl6
Koch brothers aren't just buying elections -- they're investing big in anti-science think tanks
Koch Industries spent $40 million in the 2010 election cycle, but they've vowed to spend $100 million this year. That's not counting the money that goes to think tanks such as the Cato Institute or Americans for Prosperity to engineer research -- such as making voters and decision-makers "suspect of science" -- that could then help elect Republicans. http://bit.ly/wPRUZq
Obama-Geithner economic plan is 'for the 1 percent, by the 1 percent'
The Obama administration's economic plan is engineered "for the 1 percent, unfortunately by the 1 percent," Cenk says. "Is it a real progressive plan to get us all back economically healthy? I don't think so." Noam Scheiber, author of "The Escape Artists" and a senior editor at "The New Republic," joins Cenk to talk about whether Tim Geithner's influence on the economic plan was too generous to the banksters. http://bit.ly/Ae7hmG
[BLOG] Rush Limbaugh is terrible -- but what's worse is the real War on Women
http://current.com/shows/the-young-turks/blog/rush-limbaugh-is-terrible-but-whats-worse-is-the-real-war-on-women
A Challenge to Rush: Prove Your Ratings
How many listeners does Rush Limbaugh have? Well, in the press there are only two numbers you'll ever see - 20 million or 15 million. Those are large numbers, so that is why Limbaugh is taken seriously and is believed to be influential.I've got news for you - those numbers are a total fabrication. They're made up out of whole cloth. You want to know where the 20 million number came from?
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TYT on Current TV March 1 Highlights
Cenk: Breitbart treated politics like a game, and it's not a gameCenk examines the legacy left by Andrew Breitbart, the conservative provocateur and media entrepreneur who died Wednesday, just two weeks after appearing on TYT. Despite personal empathy for Breitbart's family, "We have an obligation here to talk about what he did publicly," Cenk says. "When you talk about Andrew Breitbart and his public persona, my problem with what he did is that he treated it like it a game. And it's not a game." http://bit.ly/AbKkyh
ACORN head on Breitbart: 'He excoriated an organization, and he did it with a lie'
Cenk talks to former ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis about Andrew Breitbart, the late conservative media website owner whose posting of an out-of-context video resulted in the community organizing group's ultimate disbanding. "We set a template for how they would attack other folks going forward," Lewis says. "You put out a lie, and you just repeat it and repeat it through all of your sources... He raised a lot of money off of ACORN. He knew it was a lie. He did it for ideological reasons, political gain, and he did it for the money. He excoriated an organization that for 40 years had a great impact on this country, and he did it with a lie." http://bit.ly/yeMgMX
Breitbart.com editor: 'Andrew was never an enemy of Current TV or MSNBC'
Breitbart.com editor-in-chief and counsel Joel Pollak tells Cenk that Andrew Breitbart's sites will continue to grow even after his unexpected death. "It's business as usual at Breitbart.com," Pollak says. "It's not going to be a memorial to Andrew. It's going to be a living legacy." Breitbart, 43, died during a walk near his Los Angeles house. "It was sudden," Pollak says. "It was a shock." Of wild theories on both the left and right about the death, Pollak says it proves Breitbart's beliefs about the damage mainstream media has done to the public trust. "Andrew was never an enemy of Current TV or MSNBC," Pollak says, because the networks were open about their biases. "People would rather believe a conspiracy theory than the straightforward, simple truth." http://bit.ly/xkZ5w8
TYT on Current TV Feb. 29 Highlights
Wall Street bonuses drop 14 percent, so bankers cry about losing Aspen vacation homesCenk calls out Wall Street employees whining about the 14 percent drop in their cash bonus pool. Although 2011 bonuses were at their lowest since 2008, the average Wall Street employee still took home $121,000 in cash, according to NY State Controller Thomas DiNapoli. "You've got to have a sense of perspective, and these guys don't have it," Cenk says. "They feel like they're owed everything." bit.ly/yVctNF
Mormons perform proxy baptisms to help release the dead from 'spirit prison'
Author Latayne Scott helps Cenk shed light on why Mormons keep baptizing the dead, including Anne Frank and slain journalist Daniel Pearl -- two Jewish people. Scott says, "Mormons believe you can't go to the highest level of heaven, or to any level of heaven, unless you've been immersed in water." Since the dead have missed the opportunity, Mormons believe standing in for dead individuals is doing them a great service. bit.ly/A7gQ8j
Is the White House responsible for changing the conversation on climate change?
Sam Seder and Amanda Terkel join Cenk's Power Panel to talk climate change. After more than 12 different billion-dollar natural disasters in world last year, is it time to admit that climate change is an important issue? "At the end of the day, scientists say this is what we can expect, and then we see it," Seder says. "The real problem is that the press is just not talking about the broader issue." Terkel points out, though, that "part of the reason it's out of the media is that the White House and Congress aren't addressing the issue at all." bit.ly/AcmqKp
TYT on Current TV Feb. 28 Highlights
Virginia's ultrasounds-for-abortions bill only exempts rape and incest victims who have a police reportCharniele Herring, the minority whip of the Virginia state assembly, tells Cenk that the slightly less terrible ultrasounds-for-abortions bill, which passed the state senate, is still deeply problematic. While the bill no longer mandates a trans-vaginal ultrasound, and includes an exception for victims of incest or rape -- as long as they have a police report -- Herring says it's a "humiliating" test meant to intimidate women. "This is now tantamount to state-mandated assault on a woman," Herring says. "This was never about science," Cenk says. http://bit.ly/z38ZmI
'Rolling Stone's' Michael Hastings: Homeland Security monitored Occupy Wall Street, Wikileaks emails show
Rolling Stone contributing editor Michael Hastings tells Cenk how the Department of Homeland Security monitored Occupy Wall Street activists, according to emails from private intelligence contractor Stratfor that were released by Wikileaks. Hastings asks, "Do we want our taxpayer dollars going to the government monitoring what should be a natural part of the democratic process?" http://bit.ly/y1x9bF
Corporate tax rate was 12.1 percent in 2011 -- a 40-year low
Cenk does the math to prove how totally right Warren Buffett was to say that corporations aren't being taxed as heavily as average Americans. In fact, corporations had a 12.1 percent effective tax rate in 2011 -- a 40 year low. In many cases, corporations are actually getting what amounts to a refund. "At the end of all this, they're still bitching about, 'Oh, we didn't get enough of a tax break.'" http://bit.ly/yeJ3AT
TYT on Current TV Feb. 27 Highlights
Granholm on Michigan primary: 'Romney has gone so far to the right, I don't know how he walks it back'Michael Shure talks to Current correspondent David Shuster, on location in Michigan, and Jennifer Granholm, the state's former governor (and now host of "The War Room"). "Romney has gone so far to the right, I just don't know how he walks it back," Granholm says. "People are loathe to predict [the Michigan outcome]." http://bit.ly/yn5tu1
Will GOP candidates' right turn on social issues ultimately help Obama?
Michael Shure and Power Panelists Rashad Robinson from Color of Change and Benjy Sarlin of Talking Points Memo talk about whether the "Culture War" issues brought up by GOP candidates might ultimately be good for President Obama. "This isn't a debate that even looks good for them to be having with the economy the way it is right now," Sarlin says. Robinson says, "The Republican candidate who ends up winning the nomination won't have as much time to move back to the middle." http://bit.ly/xZ19SM
Dan Savage helps us pick a #SantorumCodeName for his new Secret Service detail
When Mitt Romney got Secret Service protection, on viewer contributed code name "RoboCorp," which has become a favorite nickname for TYT. With Rick Santorum now getting his own detail, we asked you for #SantorumCodeName suggestions, and you delivered. Even Dan Savage, the architect of Santorum's "Google problem," sent in his pick. Plus, a gay Marine was welcomed home with a passionate kiss by his partner in a post that went viral this weekend. http://bit.ly/yeTtoH
Epic Guest Host Michael Shure on his first time in the host's hot seat
"Epic Politics Man" Michael Shure debriefs his first time stint as guest host for Cenk Uygur, who is out sick. "This was a long day," Shure admits. "When I heard last night that I was doing the show, I was obviously incredibly nervous. What Cenk does is unbelievable." Ben Mankiewicz gives Shure high marks. "Somehow I wasn't worried," he says. http://bit.ly/xhTU5z
[BLOG] Santorum gets Secret Service, so the TYT Army help pick some #SantorumCodeNames
http://current.com/shows/the-young-turks/blog/santorum-gets-secret-service-so-the-tyt-army-help-pick-some-santorumcodenames
Hollywood Violence, The Pentagon, & Marlon Brando Oscar Rejection (The Point)
Mimi Kennedy (actress, Midnight In Paris) makes a point about how Hollywood exports violence abroad, and Jordan Zakarin (writer/editor, The Huffington Post) shares his thoughts on the cozy relationship between the film industry and the Pentagon. The final point is on what may be the most controversial moment in Oscars history involving Marlon Brando and Native Americans. Cenk Uygur (host, The Young Turks) leads the discussion with Mike Farrell (actor/activist/writer - president, Death Penalty Focus), Tina Dupuy (managing editor, CrooksAndLiars.com), and Ed Rampell (film critic and author, 'Progressive Hollywood').
TYT on Current TV Feb. 22 Highlights
Who benefits from a war with Iran?Cenk breaks down which people would benefit from war with Iran. U.S. military and intelligence officials are against the country getting involved in conflict, but evangelicals, neo-conservatives, oil speculators, and defense contractors all have a lot to gain. Cenk points to the $3 trillion spent on the Iraq war to help explain what. "Somebody made that 3 trillion dollars," Cenk says. "It didn't just come out of our pockets and go nowhere. It went into someone else's pocket." http://bit.ly/yZ8YzH
Rep. Yasmin Neal fights the war on women with an 'anti-vasectomy' bill
Georgia Rep. Yasmin Neal joins Cenk Uygur to talk about her bill seeking to ban male sterilization. Neal says she hasn't experienced vehement opposition to the bill so far, though some Republican members of Congress also aren't taking the proposition seriously either. "It's funny that when you say, 'hey, let's control men's bodies,' everybody's like, 'oh, that's pretty funny,'" Cenk says, "but when you go to control women's bodies, they're deadly serious." http://bit.ly/wTFM28
Tricia Rose and Raul Reyes disagree with Cenk that affirmative action 'reinforces stereotypes'
USA Today's Raul Reyes and Professor Tricia Rose join Cenk's power panel to debate whether the U.S. is ready to eliminate affirmative action. Cenk worries that keeping the legislation paints minorities as people who always need extra help. He says, "at some point, we're reinforcing the stereotype." Rose thinks the national conservation has been distorted to make it seem "that fundamental white rights are being reduced. And that's not it at all." Reyes thinks preferential treatment beyond race should be investigated. "Why don't we start looking at the preferences given to legacy students?" Reyes says. "They receive many preferences and special needs that are not given to everybody." http://bit.ly/A1kaIc
TYT on Current TV Feb. 21 Highlights
Rick Santorum actually 'thinks he knows what Satan's up to'Rick Santorum continues to bring the truly crazy in an increasingly insane GOP primary field. In 1999, he compared a ruling upholding Roe v. Wade to the shootings at Columbine High School. "God protect us from predators who can do whatever they want to do with us," Santorum shouted on the floor of the Senate. Cenk says, "You run that campaign and see how badly you get slaughtered in the general election. The country's nowhere near as extreme you... This guy thinks he knows what Satan's up to. He thinks we're in a war with Beelzebub. The guy's a lunatic." http://bit.ly/ygPbUO
Cenk interviews Sandra Fluke, the woman Congress was afraid to let testify about access to contraception
Cenk talks to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student who was scheduled to testify before Congress about access to contraception, then bumped in lieu of...five men. Fluke tells the story of her friend who had to have an ovary removed because she was not able to get medically necessary birth control that could have shrunk her ovarian cysts. "So, women lose their ovaries and I guess Rick Santorum throws a party, 'cause he doesn't give a damn?" Cenk says. "This is really a women's health issue. Who would know better, your doctor or Rick Santorum?" Fluke will testify this Thursday in a hearing called by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, though Republicans have vowed to block televised coverage of the hearing. http://bit.ly/A8rTrg
Could Jeb Bush save the GOP from their own terrible field of candidates?
Michael "Epic Politics Man" Shure and Cenk talk about the potential of a third Bush presidential candidate. After the "underrated" George H.W. Bush and the "worst president ever" George W. Bush, can Jeb "the smart brother" Bush save the GOP from the not-Romney mess they've gotten themselves into? http://bit.ly/xPjtwa
TYT on Current TV Feb. 14 Highlights
Andrew Breitbart: 'I stand by precisely what I said' about Occupy protesters to 'raping people' (Interview, Part 1)Cenk talks to Andrew Breitbart about a video that captures him yelling "stop raping people!" at Occupy protesters outside the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). "I stand by precisely what I said," Breitbart says. http://bit.ly/xBxveF
Andrew Breitbart: It's OK to smear Occupy, because Tea Party has been unfairly portrayed (Interview, Part 2)
Cenk talks to Andrew Breitbart about a video that captures him yelling "stop raping people!" at Occupy protesters outside the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). "What I'm trying to understand is if you're doing it on purpose, like you know you're being unfair, or do you think you're being eminently fair?" Cenk asks. "Do you really think you can smear the whole movement?" Breitbart answers, "I'm being too fair. Fair is playing by the same rules that you and NBC and 'The Huffington Post' played against smearing the Tea Party." http://bit.ly/yQ1iiR
On Iran coverage, Greenwald says 'whoever has any tension with the U.S. is inherently the evil party'
Cenk interviews Salon.com writer Glenn Greenwald about the similarities between warmongering arguments in mainstream media about Iran and those made about Iraq. "The campaign and the propaganda are still similar," Greenwald says, "but the government seems to be lagging behind rather than driving the propaganda. The way that the American media looks at the world is very nationalistic. It's very simple-minded and very kind of xenophobic. The idea always is that whoever has any tension with the United States is inherently the evil party." http://bit.ly/zH3Hxp
'The Young Turks' crew tells Cenk he was too easy on Andrew Breitbart
Cenk and "The Young Turks" celebrated their 10th anniversary by inviting one of the most hated conservatives in America on the show: Andrew Breitbart. But in true keeping it real fashion, Ana Kasparian, Michael Shure, Jayar Jackson and Jesus Godoy aren't about to let Cenk off the hook for going easy. http://bit.ly/yl9TCd
Worst Drunken Experience?
CLICK HERE to WatchYeah, yeah, you've probably had much worse experiences drinking than Ana or John (off the top of their heads, anyway.) We want to hear about them!
John details how he made the most of a magic show and defiled the George Carlin experience, while Ana used her feminine charms to gain VIP access.
What about you? What are your worst, best, most disgusting, and most epic stories of drunken excess? Comment down below - or even better, send us a video!
Oh Carolina! Weekly Enewsletter
Hey TYT Nation!It was another week on the GOP presidential campaign trail, and therefore another week of Cenk practically jumping up and down like an excited schoolgirl relating a juicy piece of gossip as he covered yet another crazy, unpredictable Republican primary in South Carolina:
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TYT on Current TV Jan. 25 Highlights
GOP pushes ineffective, revenue damaging cuts to IRS, even as tax code gets more complicatedCenk looks at Romney's tax returns as a case study in how rich people avoid paying more in taxes. With income of more than $57,000 a day -- without a paying job -- Romney pays less in taxes than most Americans. It helps that Republicans have pushed for lower funding for the IRS, even though studies have shown that government auditors can find almost $10,000 in owed taxes for every hour worked. David Cay Johnston explains that with more complex tax laws and a larger population, the IRS actually needs more staff. http://bit.ly/zsdd8a
'I'd rather have promises Obama doesn't keep than promises Republicans might keep'
Cenk asks his Power Panel -- Michael Shure, Richard Eskow and Robert Borosage -- whether President Obama's strong State of the Union showing is a sign he can win re-election in November. "The guy I saw last night -- I thought, that guy may be able to fight back and make his case and actually beat Mitt or Newt," Cenk says. Eskow praises Obama's "fighting speech" but says it's time for him to think a couple steps ahead -- otherwise the GOP line will be ,"Nice guy, doesn't deliver on his promises." Shure says, "I'd rather have the promises that he doesn't keep than the promises that the Republicans might keep." http://bit.ly/yqelpP
MegaUpload indictment strikingly similar to Napster rhetoric, but this time DOJ does the dirty work
MegaUpload owner Kim Dotcom, who was arrested in New Zealand, was denied bail until an extradition hearing in late February. Rhetoric in this case and that against Napster 12 years ago is strikingly similar -- except the RIAA sued Napster and the site stayed open for two years of court wrangling. Compare that to the DOJ's pre-emptive shutdown of MegaUpload.com. "Industry going over to the prosecution's side and shutting these sites down is outrageous," Cenk says. http://bit.ly/xyQrY3
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