Aggressive Progressives: February 21, 2018

In Aggressive Progressives - On Demand, Membership by Gigi Manukyan69 Comments

Jimmy Dore is joined by Steve Oh, Stef Zamorano, and Malcolm Fleschner to talk Mueller’s indictment, school shootings, and Malcolm’s “happy shitty birthday.” Max Blumenthal skypes in to give more information about the Russian troll farm and media’s panic.

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  1. Love the back and forth between Steve Oh and Jimmy on this episode. Anytime you see Steve is on a segment it’s worth watching, anytime you see Jimmy is on a panel it’s worth watching. Put them together though and it’s an unstoppable combo. This is why AP is the best show on the network. You don’t see this anywhere else.

    Stef and the Fleshlight guy are pretty good too!

  4. With regard to the indictments and Russia: 90 people and a few million dollars is not paranoia or something to dismiss. I’m not saying this is a HUGE deal, but it is also how a smart prosecutor works…from the bottom-up.

  5. Jimmy always gets ??? from this viewer. He truly is an aggressive progressive who is able to sift through the BS (on Russia especially) and put stories in layman’s terms for his audience. The Young Turks has a real blue chipper here and they need to promote him far more than they currently do.

  6. I think that Rachel was threatened and told to hold her tongue. The folks who are criticizing reporting on Trumps’ Russian connections are ignoring the hundreds of millions of Russian mob dollars that Trump, Kushner and all of the little turd-lettes in their orbit are gobbling up like hogs at the trough. They are all co-conspirators in a quasi-organized crime cabal. They have committed many capital crimes, including high treason..

  8. May I offer just a little pushback?

    On the “Russia is just defending itself from Western aggression” point:

    While the Russian state certainly views its moves as defensive in nature (both in the modern context and the historical context that Malcolm mentioned), it’s important to understand the reality on the ground that is manifested in these ‘defensive’ actions. The reality is that Russia’s “defense” almost always includes propping up autocratic pro-Moscow regimes that suppress the freedoms and liberties of the masses in those countries. Moscow’s supremacy over these areas is always enforced from the barrel of a gun.

    First to the historical context- The Soviet government post WWII certainly saw the occupied nations, later formalized as the Warsaw Pact, as a defensive buffer to buy time in the case of a Western ground invasion, however any analysis must keep in mind that Soviet forces staged sham elections that installed pro-Kremlin autocrats and put them at the head of oppressive state security apparatuses to maintain status quo. The “defensive” action the Soviet took in Afghanistan, which Malcolm alluded to, involved an invasion that resulted in nearly 1 million dead in Afghanistan and the region.

    Fast forward to more recent context- Under the post-Soviet government of Yeltsin & Putin, respectively, their use of hard power and propping up pro-Kremlin autocrats is a somewhat updated version of the Soviet modus operandi on a smaller scale. The governments of the Commonwealth of Independent States are by and large controlled by pro-Kremlin autocrats and tow Moscow’s line in exchange for economic, military, and political support. When some nations get out of line like Chechnya did in the mid 1990s, the Russian state responds with force. The result in Chechnya was two wars of almost genocidal extent and the installation of an autocrat whose tactics of maintaining power are reminiscent of the worst Latin American dictators. In this quelling of dissent inside Chechnya, Russian military and security forces play a central and active role. Brutal Russian counterinsurgency actions have spread to the neighboring countries of Dagestan and Ingushetia where the Russian state, and their local proxies, employ same oppressive playbook as in Chechnya.

    If all of these moves that the Soviet and the subsequent post-Soviet governments of Russia have undertaken sound familiar, you’re not wrong. The US has gone to nearly identical lengths to “defend” what it sees as its interests and security. Propping up oppressive autocrats and invading countries is precisely (but not limited to) the means with which both great powers seek hegemony in the international system, but with particular regard to their respective regional dominance.

    So before starting in with all of this “poor put upon Russia” nonsense, it’s important to keep in mind what the actual shape of Russia’s “defensive” moves mean for the people on the ground. Being mindful of the Russian state’s view of the situation is an important part of analysis of power politics, but an observer should in no way seek to paint either the US or Russia as a victim of the other’s aggression. The policies of both nations routinely result in awful consequences for the masses on the receiving end, and that must be the foremost thought if any concern is going to be doled out.

    1. It is essential for the masses to unite across national, racial, and ethnic boundaries and stick it to the elites who seek to control and dominate them. These state systems, be they American or Russian, merely seek to advance their own interests and accrue power for their own benefit. The people are beginning to wise up. Hopefully this will lead to them challenging the previously unquestioned assumptions and ideologies that underpin oppressive state power and the private tyrannies that that power serves.

  9. I thought Max gave a very succinct overview of the throttling that is going on. Why did Steve Oh not believe him? Malcolm had to explain it to Steve a second time. Things are much more dire than I realized. If we lose control of the internet, the hill we are pushing the boulder up will get a lot steeper.

    For my own mental health, I need to see some great results come out of the Arizona primary next week.

  10. Best show and panel, Max provides a great perspective.

    David Sirota just did a great report expanding on what Steve and Max talked about dark $ and foreign influence..and how its been influencing both parties and elections for years through think tanks and lobbyists, https://youtu.be/5pLwZCRxrRc.

  11. Finally, an intelligent conversation about Russia!

    It wasn’t the Russians who colluded with the DNC and the media to black out any trace of Bernie’s campaign.
    The Russians didn’t write those emails.
    The Russians didn’t take 126,000 voters off the rolls in Bernie’s hometown of Brooklyn.
    The Russians didn’t reduce the number of polling places, nor did they supply voters with worthless provisional ballots.

    The truth is, no one voted FOR Trump. Instead, they voted AGAINST Hillary.

    So please, can someone tell us exactly how the Russians managed to get Trump elected when Hillary ran such an openly dirty campaign?

    2. Ruth M – the best explanation I saw (or one of the best) was that apparently 13 Russians are SOOOOO SMART that we might as well all just give up now. Of course it was sarcasm, and I loved it.

    1. What am I saying?? AP is the best and most important show in all of media! Malcolm should “de-profanitjze” his birthday segment to “have a chitty chitty bang bang birthday.” Ok, back to my wine.

  13. You may not hear this, but I’m putting this out there anyway. I love Jimmy. Not trying to be creepy, just saying. I live in Bellingham, WA. We are 30 minutes from the Canadian border when taking I-5. Please come here! You could drive, there is both a shuttle or a plane right to Bellingham from Seattle (only extra $100 per flight). Seattle would love you too! I just don’t want to have to drive 2 hrs, try to find parking, pay for it, etc. to see you (I love you, but don’t put me through that. Seattle is a traffic nightmare). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE COME HERE! I have a hard core right wing Republican bf, raised in Texas, but every once in a while he will listen to you. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, COME HERE!! He hates all the corruption and the Russia bullshit, when you cover it, he all of a sudden thinks he’s a crazy liberal because he agrees with you, yet he dates me, the crazy liberal (I am not!), it scares the fuck out of him. He knows I will go anywhere to see you, yet he won’t step foot in the liberal California, because it might rub off or something. I want to see you and I will drag him with me (he loves me, so he will go). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, COME TO BELLINGHAM, WA!!! Look it up on a map, popular venue is the Mt Baker Theater, but there is the UpFront theater that is ran by Ryan Stiles too, he lives here. There are so many venues, if you have the stamina to perform repeated nights I could guarantee you would sell out all of them if even I had to stand on the street with a sign for weeks before you come, just to make sure you did! Bellingham is full of terrible liberals! Please make us laugh!

  16. The on demand video of this show i watched did not contain any segment on the school shooting as it states in the summary.
    I was interested in hearing stef

  17. One more thing
    AP – stop the Russia Russia! I had to turn off half way. WTH — lets dissect the Red Herring,
    I actually fell asleep during MB’s soliloquy- bla bla bla Russia bla bla bla Russia.

  18. Oops – replying to Lars b amble – don’t bring God into your TYT whine.
    Go out there and do something to create change.

  23. In my opinion NBC is the official unofficial network of TrumpCo. It covers everything Trump does. SNL’s satire is approved satire by TrumpCo. I don’t trust anything on NBC, MSNBC any more than Fox

  24. Try saying this stuff on the Facebook…I think that’s why I don’t get too many comments on my posts

  25. It’s both…those Russian sanctions were approved by Russia, btw. Don’t think that Putin is innocent in this. Trump is a puppet, but not Putin’s

  26. Bottom line…you really can’t charge Treason technically if someone works with Russia because Russia is not a declared Enemy of the State…actually it NEVER was. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg shouldn’t been executed. It’s the tampering of the Voting Machines that what needs to be the focus. Whether Mueller will get there or not is the question. That would negate the entire election from local up to Presidential. This focus on Russia is misdirection and deflection. NeoCons…yes…Bill Kristol and the now Foreign Policy Initiative. Formerly The Project for a New American Century…

  27. Rachel Maddow defends the 9/11 Commission Report. She lost all credibility for me when she did that.

  29. Robert Mercer and Cambridge Analytica are the culprits…the puppetmasters. Russia did its part along with Wikipedia. The Russians are the trigger word that works for Americans…and simplifies the enemy to focus on. But they did their part. It IS like 9/11 …right…a drop in a far larger bucket that includes Brexit and Netenyahu

  31. Yes, everyone suck Trumps dick during election and they should always acknowledge their part…BUT….I watch MSNBC for Hayes, Maddow, Reid, Melber, all do a great job. Even Velshi and Ruhle are ok, at times. I also watch TYT, Democracy now and Sam Seder and on and on. I also Listen to Best of the Left, Congressional Dish,(thanks for that). When Jimmy and Max say I never watch MSNBC but it sucks, forgive me if I am a bit critical of there critique. Not for nothing, I read/listen to the Intercept too but in small doses.

  32. it’s a god damn shame that this show remains behind a paywall while we get part-time-total-blithering-idiots cenk and anna ranting on the main show about how russian twitter bots are trolling about the black panther movies, and steve STILL trying to cover for the rest of TYT.

    jimmy and his regular co-hosts are the only ones left at TYT with their heads fully on straight. it’s disgusting.

    1. with all due respect, the only way you could liken jimmy to alex jones is if you have a very limited understanding of history and facts in this country. just cause jimmy tells you the truth you don’t want to hear doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. alex jones is a nutjob – jimmy is just right about everything and sounds nuts cause the country is full of so-called-news that’s closer to alex jones than reality.

  34. Another great show Jimmy!! Max is the best and so smart. Cold war red scare bull shit is the story of the day or should I say year. Like I told you before Jimmy when I saw you at people’s summit (Chomsky was right all along) God I wish we had more people like you with integrity and guts!! See you guys when you’re in Chicago for comedy show again! Thanks again for everything you’re doing.

  35. When it comes to corruption in politics we have turned into the parent that beats their kid to point of bleeding and breaking bones but gets pissed when someone else (like a family friend) yells at our kid. Only Americans can manipulate our electorate.

  36. So what I’m hearing is that if I don’t like Hillary and then did NOT vote for Her, then my mind was obviously corrupted by stupid memes or some shit said on FaceBook?
    It has nothing to do with me feeling that Hillary & Neolibs are a pus-oozing, blood-thirsty leech on the Dem Party. But it DOES have to do with the “Communist Threat?”
    I’m 53, so I remember the USA Good/USSR Bad…. Rocky vs. Drago.

    Commies?!? Is this 1950 or 1980? WTF.
    The British commentators talking about Corbyn “selling state secrets to Communists.” Are you fucking kidding me. I would not believe it unless I’d seen it myself. It’s bizarre.
    This is ALL a distraction from the continued crushing of real people & real lives. People, who if you asked if they cared more about Russia or Healthcare, Social Security, etc… would laugh in your face.

    It seems to me that Russia is more a dictatorship built to softly stroke & cradle their Oligarchs, Corporations & Greedy politicians. JUST LIKE THE USA.

    1. Hillary voters who think we voted Jill Stein because of Putin must also think:

      i) Putin hacked into Congressional voting records to change her vote to a “yes” for the war resolution.
      ii) Putin hacked into Hillary’s brain when she defended the Iraq vote during the 2016 debates.
      iii) Putin told Hillary they were taking her to Hillsdale Elementary High for a reading of My Pet Goat, but drove her to Goldman Sachs instead, locked her in a room of execs, and crammed a half million dollar check into her mouth.
      iv) Putin told Hillary that “superpredators” was Russian for “very fine folk”.
      v) Buying off the national party and using it to launder money bypassing campaign finance rules is totally not corruption. People thought it was so only because Putin told them.
      vi) Sanders and Jill Stein’s platforms were actually written by Putin and slipped under the door. Putin then kidnapped Debbie Wasserman Schultz, put her away, put on a Debbie Wasserman Schultz costume himself, fucked with the debate schedule and Sanders supporters for the rest of the primary season.
      vii) Putin also told Hillary that “we came, we saw, he died” was Russian for “we never should and will not fuck with Libya’s internal politics and rule of law”.
      viii) Everytime Hillary tried to go to the rust belt states, Putin fucked with air traffic control and led her plane to South Carolina instead.

      God, if I tried to complete the list, this would become a book….

  38. We know Bernie Sanders groups on Facebook had to kick Russian bots and sock accounts out regularly because they would come in and shitpost. 40k-80k minds is all they had to shift. If a black muslim dad talked to his family about what a piece of shit Hillary was (true as well) and his 5 kids didn’t vote Hillary cause they couldn’t afford to take off work for someone the mainstream media said was going to win hands down… 5 votes? 10 votes lost from 1 fed up dad and 9 sympathetic ears? The right-wing is asking how kids are getting riled up and blaming it on George Soros. It’s pretty easy with little to no money to change opinions on Facebook if you have the facts on your side the one the right Wings case they usually have to make up their own pretend facts.

      1. @lars b amble Sam got that MSNBC money. He ain’t ‘BOUT to like what Jimmy says.
        Sad for him. More people watch Jimmy anyhow.

        John Lucas

      1. People who don’t know the difference between smart conversation and a nicely pressed shirt and glasses think of Sam Seder as some kind of intellectual genius.

    2. @MarcoAntonio The show’s name is Aggressive Progressives. Not Milquetoast Softbreads.
      Sam has not place on this program.

      John Lucas

  41. can’t believe no one’s taking into account how stupid people can be..¸12 bots can push out thousands of posts (daily?) and once someone RT them they are like wildfire. check out Trump’s twitter feed and how many RT’s the most obvious bots get. their reach is underestimated in my opinion..

  42. I watched at least one installment of Malcolm’s “Reporting In” and it was very good; it’s very “meta”-tyt, checking in with the various TYT hosts, contributors, and reporters. Gave me more insight into the day-to-day work of the journalists at tyt.

    I made a similar comment to Stef’s in another of the recent tyt videos–the link between animal cruelty and violence to humans has hard data behind it, yet very little is done to monitor or enforce animal welfare regs; Trump is dismantling them. Anyway, it’s the biggest red flag of all. If anything, there should be a national database of animal abusers.

  43. Wow ! Just look at that BBC guy ! If only Cenk would have shown that kind of intestinal fortitude, I would bump my TYT sub tenfold.
    It’s a whole different world in journalism the very moment you step out of the United States. My cabbie pal listens to BBC radio while driving, and I learnt more about the war in Yemen on those rides than from all US media combined.
    And Jimmy, don’t you give up on chasing down these sonofobitches with a stick ! Terrific job on getting the Bill Binney interview, and Max today. TJDS is delivering like a boss.

    1. Andrew Neill, the BBC guy, is a Tory party member and former Tory activist and is normally anti-Corbyn and anti-Labour, so for him to call them on this was stunning

      1. Yep, infact if you watch the whole clip, he was actually grilling the Labour guy (Andrew Gwynn) sitting next to him on their Brexit position, especially trade. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t letting the Torrie’s smear bullshit pass.

  44. Your video guest is full of shit. Look at the full history of Russia. I’m an Ancient history BOA and things go back so much further than ppl understand. America is young and in some respects dumb to these manipulative tactics. I am so disappointed with this show that you had such a ridiculous person on. I thought you had merit and now I question my decision to watch if you have someone like this on. Jimmy your better then this

    1. We know for a fact that Russia invaded Crimea and they got sanctions for it and I’m pretty much 90% confident that Trump undermined that by having his spokespeople talked to Russians say we’ll take care of it the FBI was worried that there were Russian operatives that we’re going to get security briefs we have people that are entirely on able to get security clearances dealing with information at the top level Trump doesn’t tell us when he talks to Russians Rachel Maddow is contacting the government to find out why someone who had sanctions against him was in the US, she was told to contact the Russians the Russians are aren’t getting back to us and now they’re changing their story and saying that he was never in the US. The list goes on and on brushes save Trump’s business by having a whole bunch of crime syndicates living in Trump Tower to the point that it has been reported that people would call it little Russia or little Moscow because of so many Russian tenants. I just wish they would chill out cuz I feel like they are going to lose so much face when the bough breaks in the Cradle Falls.

  45. Rawstory.com uses clickbait-ish headlines all the time. Interview goes “off the rails”, when it doesn’t, and so and so “destroys” so and so, when they don’t. The “unglued” Stein headline through me off too, but I’d bet they had a sensationalism-quota to meet that day.

  46. funny how the last 2 weeks the first – supposedly ‘free’ and available to all – 15 or so minutes are NOT available online on the Young Turks main page … why is that? what is Cenk afraid of? Max pointed out that there was a noticeable drop in traffic to The Young Turks online and that’s when I saw the Glenn Greenwald screen capture tweet of someone accusing you guys of being Putin puppets … now I know why Cenk is so unhinged – he’s afraid of being put in that category – apparently to the point of no longer putting up the damning evidence that shows what an Establishment media stooge he’s being about Russia …

    what the fuck guys? why aren’t the free sections from the last 2 shows up on the website – what are you trying to hide?

    2. They’ve already addressed stuff like that. But hey thanks for giving them your $10. I just wish that you wouldn’t sit there and try and connect the dots on every person you see that has freckles I sometimes. Don’t need to be connected there’s not always something to draw when you connect the lines

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