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Posts by Cenk Uygur
The Most Racist Comments About Mexicans Ever Allowed On-Air
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on May 4, 2009 at 9:00 AM.
I am not quick to call something racist. In fact, I wrote an editorial pleading with everyone not to call the NY Post chimp cartoon racist. I went on MSNBC and defended that position. I’m afraid calling someone racist often times shuts off dialogue and should be reserved for only the clearest and worst cases. I also defended Don Imus and insisted he should not be fired for his comments.
So, I have some credibility here when I say conservative talk show host Jay Severin should absolutely be fired for his racist comments against Mexicans on the radio. I hesitate in writing about this because Severin is a pathetic nobody who might be looking for national attention by making these kinds of incredibly ignorant comments. But, on the other hand, there have to be consequences for this kind of deeply hateful speech. And if people don’t argue forcefully enough against it, there won’t be enough pressure on the station to get rid of this hateful racist.
So, what did he say that’s got me so worked up?
As you heard in the video above, Severin has been suspended by WTKK-FM in Boston. But that is not nearly enough. If you don’t get fired for this, what do you get fired for?
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
What if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Had Died?
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on April 23, 2009 at 8:46 AM.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times. We practiced sleep deprivation on him for 11 straight days. I don't know how many times we smashed his head against a wall, slapped him in the face, put him in a stress position in a freezing room and/or put him in a coffin sized box in extreme heat. But the right-wing argues that it doesn't matter because none of this is torture. They are adamant in saying that it is not even open to interpretation.
Because, remember, if it's at least open to interpretation, we should investigate to see if laws were broken and we crossed the line into torture. Their logic is that this is so obviously not torture that it does not require any investigation at all! It's an open and shut case.
Obviously, I disagree. It's one thing to admit that this appears to have crossed the line but you have no problem with that because we should be torturing the bad guys to get information out of them (that is a less morally defensible position but at least it's logically consistent). But it's another thing to claim that all of these "enhanced interrogation" techniques are nowhere near torture.
So, let me ask you this -- what if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had died during one of these extreme interrogations?
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
When Will We Reach the Tipping Point on Guns?
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Huffington Post on April 6, 2009 at 10:27 AM.
How many shootings does there have to be in the news before we wonder about the wisdom of allowing just about anyone to get a gun in America? Our gun culture is completely out of control.
In just the last two days we have had 13 people killed in Binghamton, NY with a 9 mm and a .45-caliber, three police officers shot and killed in Pittsburgh with an assault rifle and two other guns, and a five children killed with a shotgun in Washington at the hands of their own father. How many will it take before we say enough is enough?
How about the eight people killed in a nursing home in North Carolina a couple of days before these shootings? How about the ten killed in Alabama a couple of weeks earlier? Is there any point when gun rights advocates would admit that we have too much gun violence in America? What will it take for them to acknowledge the most obvious thing in the world?
Of course, their answer is that we don't have enough guns in the country. If we just allowed concealed weapons at schools, nursing homes, work, bars, airports and just about anywhere else you can imagine, then we would have less gun violence. Yes, maybe in bizzaro world, but in this world the more guns we have had in this country the more people have been shot ... with guns.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
The Flaw in the System: The Bankers Don't Care About the Banks
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on March 3, 2009 at 6:28 AM.
Alan Greenspan says he is in a "state of shocked disbelief" that the concept of self-interest did not protect the banks from taking excessive risks and destroying themselves. But he, along with Tim Geithner and Larry Summers and many others, are missing the fundamental flaw in the system. The bankers don't care about the banks; they care about the bankers.
The enlightened self-interest of the bank executives has been separated from the interests of the banks they work for. In the 1970's, the banks were still privately owned. So, the guy up at the top wanted to protect his company, his interest and his money. If his executives took unwarranted risks with the boss's money, they were goners. But these days the people at the top of these companies don't own the companies. It's not their money.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Rush Limbaugh 177, Barack Obama 0
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Huffington Post on January 30, 2009 at 3:44 AM.
Barack Obama tried to charm them, Rush Limbaugh tried to bully them. And the results are in. Round 1 goes, by unanimous decision, to Rush Limbaugh. Not one House Republican voted with the president on the stimulus package, even after his "charm offensive."
These guys are the barbarians at the gate, there's no charming them. President Obama went to visit them, he invited them over to the White House, he had drinks with them, he stood by while they bad-mouthed congressional Democrats, he adjusted the bill for them, he cut out the contraception education and he added tax cuts. In the end, what did he get for his efforts? A big fat doughnut. Nothing.
Not one House Republican voted for his stimulus package. 177-0.
On the other side, they went groveling over to Limbaugh, tripping over themselves to court his favor and take his tongue-lashings (how grotesque does that sound?). In the end, he got them all (and all the national attention -- which was his true goal).
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Bush Drops Fake Cowboy Shtick
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Huffington Post on January 16, 2009 at 4:12 PM.
George Bush bought his "ranch" down in Crawford in 1999 shortly before he started running for president. And now that he's done with politics, he is moving out of there as soon as he possibly can. The Bushes have bought a new home in a tony neighborhood (and until recently a whites-only community) in Dallas. So, what happened to retiring down to the ranch?
Well, it's what most of us suspected -- all total bullshit. He was never a cowboy. That ranch had nothing on it. No cows, no farming, just a lot of bullshit brush that Bush pretended to clear (for what fucking purpose?). The ranch was always a political gimmick. It was purchased so that Bush could play the role of the Texas cowboy when in fact he has always been the Andover cheerleader.
So, that pisses me off a little bit. And his brazen abandonment of the ranch as soon as he is out of office just throws it in everyone's face, as if he's saying, "You didn't really believe all that cowboy bullshit, did you? You weren't that stupid, were you?"
But what pisses me off a lot more is how the press never told the American people the truth. Now, it might seem like a small thing, in light of all the horrors of the Bush administration and how the press hardly challenged him on any of it. But it is truly indicative, and it did matter when it counted -- during the elections.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Black Republican Gets Enraged Over Katrina at RNC
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on September 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM.
The Young Turks have been broadcasting all week long from the Republican National Convention. We have had some really interesting interviews with Duncan Hunter, Heather Wilson, Bob Barr, Sen. Dan Coats, Rep. Bob Latta, Joe Klein, Michael Medved and the list goes on (you can check out a lot of these interviews on our You Tube Channel here).
Although there were great disagreements in many of these interviews, none of them got out of hand ... except one. The founder of HipHopRepublicans.com took exception when I suggested that George Bush might have been late in responding to Hurricane Katrina. He said he was shocked that I would suggest that late response might have cost some people's lives.
He proceeded to knock my mike down and then hit our camera on his way out. He also got within inches of my face as he stood over me.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Bush Destroying the Environment on His Way Out
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Brave New Films on August 13, 2008 at 8:54 AM.
Watch more at www.theyoungturks.com.
And watch Cenk's new show: Meet the Bloggers.
White House Ordered CIA Forgeries to Wage Iraq War
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Brave New Films on August 6, 2008 at 7:43 AM.
Think Progress has the full story on Suskind's allegations.
Watch more at www.theyoungturks.com
And check out Cenk's new show: meetthebloggers.org
Obama Gets "the Idea" of America
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on July 25, 2008 at 8:32 AM.
Watch more at www.theyoungturks.com
For Obama's full speech in Berlin, click here.
And check out Cenk's new show, Meet the Bloggers.
AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.
John McCain Calls Social Security an "Absolute Disgrace"
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on July 11, 2008 at 10:15 AM.
"Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace ..."
Uh, pretty sure most Americans understand the basic principles behind social security.
Two terrible economic blunders that make the McCain camp look out of touch in only one week. Are they going for some kind of record?
AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by filmmakers are their own.
GOP Internal Memo: "No Republican Seat is Safe"
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 30, 2008 at 11:19 AM.
Cenk thinks that this recently leaked memo confirms that the GOP are preparing for a hurting this fall.
The memo reminds Republican candidates to "empathize with voters," and includes a statement from Karen Hanretty, communications director for the NRCC, that recommends Republicans running for House seats avoid association with the national GOP and do their best to keep the upcoming elections local.
John McCain Meets With Gay Republicans (In Secret, of Course)
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 27, 2008 at 11:30 AM.
The Gay Patriot, an online community for gay conservatives, reported that John McCain met with Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Sammon this week.
Sammon confirmed the meeting in an email yesterday, saying:
We’ve had a series of productive meetings with the campaign since Sen. McCain won the nomination—including a recent meeting with the Senator. We expect to have more conversations with the campaign as we head toward November.
Of course the meeting was not on McCain's public schedule. Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks Television sounds off.
Senator Russ Feingold on the New FISA Bill
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 26, 2008 at 1:55 PM.
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) talks with Cenk Uygar of The Young Turks about the new FISA bill, which he personally plans to filibuster.
Senator Feingold sits on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, making him a well informed voice against this disastrous attack on Americans' privacy.
Imus Defends Comments About "Pacman" Jones
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 25, 2008 at 10:30 AM.
On Monday, Don Imus' sportscaster, Warner Wolf, mentioned that football player Adam "Pacman" Jones has been arrested six times. Imus retorted, "What color is he?"
"African American," said Wolf.
"Well, there you go," said Imus. "Now we know."
Imus is now saying that he has been misunderstood. Was Imus making more racist comments, or do we buy his excuse?
More importantly, do we even care anymore?
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