Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - This Week in Stupid (15⧸01⧸2017)

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Jan. 15, 2017 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin

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This Week in Stupid (15⧸01⧸2017)

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	Hello everyone, welcome to this week in Stupid for the 15th of January 2017 and I will try and get the title right in this video when I upload it.
	So, continuing my coverage of Jeremy Corbyn, he's actually done something quite surprising this week.
	Corbyn on Brexit.
	The UK can be better off outside of the EU.
	Jeremy Corbyn will use his first speech of 2017 to claim that Britain can be better off outside the EU and insist that the Labour Party has no principled objection to ending the free movement of European workers in the UK.
	Fuck, I never thought I would see the day.
	So apparently Labour's priority in the EU negotiations will be full access to the European single market, but the party wants managed migration and to repatriate powers from Brussels that will allow governments to intervene in struggling industries such as steel.
	I am honestly quite amazed by how useful these suggestions are, coming from Jeremy Corbyn.
	Managed migration and repatriation of powers is exactly what people are voting for when they voted Brexit.
	So I'm just genuinely shocked that Corbyn would actually suggest something that people wanted.
	In fact, I'm actually starting to think that maybe he watches my videos and follows my channel.
	This week Corbyn came out and suggested that maybe there should be a maximum wage, 20 times the minimum salary of the company.
	So, and I just want to say that's something I've kicked about just as an idea, as a thought experiment, what would happen if this was the case.
	And the reason I think it's something that might have to be considered is because the amount of wealth inequality is simply on the rise and people aren't going to stand for it.
	I mean, this is where communist revolutions come from, so better to nip the thing in the bud.
	And I don't think that's the worst possible solution.
	The rich will still be rich, the poor will still be poor, but the rich won't be so rich and the poor won't be so poor that they decide maybe communism is the better option.
	But anyway, as you can see, the spectator has described this as being Corbyn's stupidest idea yet.
	And the reasons for this are not bad reasons, and I don't disagree with them.
	There are certainly mainly political reasons.
	But the thing is, this is an idea that actually polls really well with the public, as in the majority actually support this.
	Because research for the Independent reveals that governments encouraging companies to introduce a wage cap for bosses earning more than 20 times that of their lowest paid worker is supported by 57% of the public.
	Just 30% of those surveyed disagreed, while 13% didn't know.
	As I've said before, I'm not an economist, and I look forward to those more economically literate people in the comments pointing out exactly why I'm wrong on this.
	But I don't know why there would be a giant economic hit if this was the case.
	In fact, it seems to me that it would just increase the amount of consumer spending that the lower orders would be able to do by increasing their salaries.
	I don't see why it should affect supply and demand of any particular products, so I don't see why it would increase the value of products.
	So in, as far as I can tell, this should simply amount to a greater amount of disposable income being spent in the market, which surely is a very good thing.
	But like I said, I honestly don't know, and so I look forward to hearing what people have to think about this.
	But I do think it's important to remember that the public will vote for things that the intelligentsia do not think are wise, as we can see with Brexit and Trump.
	So the fact that this is widely supported should be enough to get people's ears pricked up.
	If things keep going the way they're going, and Corbyn realises he's onto a winner with the public about this, then he'll keep pushing it.
	And this, I have to say, is specifically part of a Labour drive to be more populist.
	So if this message resonates, and there's every chance that it will, and it might be picked up by other people than Jeremy Corbyn, other political parties, it could become something that will become a major political issue.
	So it's, I think, worth at least keeping in mind.
	And of course, Jeremy Corbyn is collaborating with Russia, says Defence Minister Mike Penning.
	Because everyone's collaborating with Russia these days.
	Everyone you don't like is a Russian fucking hacker.
	This is in response to the NATO build-up along the Russian border, as well as Russia's build-up along the NATO border, which I have to say I'm not particularly thrilled about myself.
	When asked whether Mr. Corbyn supported the Estonia deployment yesterday, the Labour leader spokesman said, Jeremy has expressed concerns about being one of the escalations of tensions that have taken place.
	I have to say I'm rather concerned about that as well.
	I don't think Corbyn is wrong there at all.
	He said, it's unfortunate that troops have gone up to the border on both sides.
	I think it's fucking unnecessary, to be honest.
	And he also said, I don't want to see any more troops deployed on the borders between NATO and Russia.
	I want to see a de-escalation, ultimately a demilitarisation and a better relationship between both sides of it.
	There cannot be a return to the Cold War mentality.
	Now, you might be thinking, hang on, isn't that pretty much exactly what Donald Trump has been saying?
	Let's normalise relations with Russia and work to build a productive relationship with them, rather than building up for a new war with them.
	So since we're already on the subject of Russia, we may as well talk about the big news of the week.
	That obviously false dossier.
	This has been the real litmus test of who is actually reliable and who is not.
	And unsurprisingly, BuzzFeed, Vox, all of the usual regressive outlets, journalists from these outlets, took to Twitter and treated this like it was fucking gospel.
	Everyone else, everyone with a shred of credibility, even including CNN, said, well, we're just reporting on the fact that people are talking about this dossier.
	The contents of it are obviously bullshit.
	So this dossier was released by BuzzFeed, in the full knowledge that it was total horseshit.
	The second sentence.
	The allegations are unverified and the report contains errors.
	As in, nobody would take this seriously, which is why nobody had really reported on it before.
	But they published the dossier and it contained this.
	A wonderful paragraph on how Donald Trump had paid to use the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where he knew the President and Mrs. Obama, whom he hated, had stayed in one of their official trips to Russia and defiled the bed by getting prostitutes to perform golden shower shows in front of him.
	The Russians had obviously filmed this, and now they were puppeteering Donald Trump, getting him to do whatever they wanted, because otherwise they'd release this dirt on him.
	There are so many things wrong with this dossier, it's just embarrassing.
	I mean for a start, do you really think that is any worse than him being caught saying a grab women by the pussy?
	Do you think that's worse?
	You idiots are basically making Trump scandal-proof.
	You're never addressing his strengths.
	You always address his weaknesses.
	And I don't know whether you've noticed, but nobody actually cares about his weaknesses.
	They all accept him in spite of his weaknesses.
	They just don't care.
	Because they don't speak to the real issues that these people are having troubles with.
	The things that actually affect them in their day-to-day lives are not affected by how many pussies Donald Trump grabs.
	It just doesn't matter.
	And this, oh, say, let's imagine that Trump is into fucking piss play.
	Maybe he's not actually orange because of Suntan fucking fake tan.
	Maybe he just stinks of piss wherever he goes.
	Do I care if he's going around saying, well, you know what, if you elect me, I'm going to do all the things you want me to do.
	Is that what I'm going to vote for?
	Or is it that I'm just going to be like, well, I mean, I would love to vote for the one candidate who's actually saying the things I like to hear, and the things I actually would like to see implemented.
	But I mean, it does smell a pee.
	And the thing is, even BuzzFeed knew how bad this was, as the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed basically said, look, there are serious reasons to doubt the allegations.
	We just think this reflects how we see the job of reporters in 2016.
	Which is effectively BuzzFeed saying that they see them as gossip merchants.
	People who report unsubstantiated rumors as fact.
	Or not even as fact, but just say, hey, look, we denounce it, but you know, this is what they're saying.
	You know, Ben, we know, everyone knows that this was just another in the long line of attempts for you guys to smear Donald Trump.
	And for those of us who are not progressive lunatics, for whom this is not actually confirming our biases, this is obvious nonsense and we are forced to defend Donald Trump.
	You are making yourselves less credible, if such a thing is even possible, and you are making Donald Trump more credible.
	Because he and Putin, all they need to do is say, this is not true, and then you lose the argument, because you can't prove it.
	You're making all of these unsubstantiated allegations, probably unverifiable allegations.
	And you're shooting yourselves in the foot doing it.
	You're fucking stupid.
	You should be attacking him on things that actually matter.
	But I assume you can't, and so you don't.
	And if you can't attack him on his strengths, then that must mean he has some valid points.
	That must mean there are actual legitimate issues that you are actually just trying to take the focus away from.
	And that means you're not serving the public, you're serving yourselves.
	You are not a help to anyone.
	Even The Guardian came out and denounced this, saying that the unsubstantiated report raised ethics questions.
	And I presume that they were following the pack.
	Even Donald Trump deserves journalistic fairness, tweeted David Korn, Mother Jones Washington Bureau chief who reported on October on the existence but not the contents of the memos.
	Rare that a story stinks from every possible angle.
	The source, the content, the consequence, the messenger, the target, tweeted Wolfgang Blau, chief digital officer of Condé Nast International and former Guardian executive.
	Not how journalism works.
	Here's a thing that might or might not be true without supporting evidence.
	Decide for yourself if it's legit, tweeted Brad Heath, an investigative reporter for USA Today.
	Adam Goldman of the New York Times blamed CNN for opening the can of worms.
	Sequence of events.
	CNN finds a way to sort out reports and BuzzFeed uses that as reason to publish.
	Media critics are going to be busy.
	Oh, we fucking are.
	On the other hand, Richard Tofa, the president for the investigative news organization ProPublica, applauded BuzzFeed, saying, citizens should have the evidence to consider for themselves.
	Yes, we should.
	I totally agree.
	I am entirely on board, in complete alignment with your stance, that the CIA should release the evidence that the Russians hacked the DNC.
	Totally agree with you.
	The citizens should have the evidence to consider for themselves.
	And as this report happens to contain zero evidence, that means that the onus is now on the CIA and the rest of the intelligence community to provide fucking anything.
	Interestingly, the blog Lawfair said the allegations, though unproven, needed to be taken seriously because intelligence chiefs appeared to be giving them some credibility.
	So let's talk about former MI6 agent Christopher Steele's frustration.
	As the FBI sat on Donald Trump Russia file for months, this is the man, the former MI6 agent, who apparently compiled this dossier.
	Listen to this narrative.
	Christopher Steele, former MI6 agent who investigated Donald Trump's alleged Kremlin links, was so worried by what he was discovering that at the end he was working without pay.
	Mr. Steele also decided to pass on information to both British and American intelligence officials after concluding that such material should not just be in the hands of political opponents of Mr. Trump, who had hired his services, but was a matter of national security for both countries.
	However, say security sources, Mr. Steele became increasingly frustrated that the FBI was failing to take action on the intelligence.
	He came to believe there was a cover-up, that a cabal within the Bureau blocked a thorough inquiry into Mr. Trump, focusing instead on the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.
	So not only was this guy apparently just such a saint that he was prepared to work on this without pay, but he also concocted a conspiracy theory to explain why people weren't taking this unsubstantiated report more seriously.
	Fusion GPS had been hired by Republican opponents of Trump in September 2015.
	In June 2016, Mr. Steele came on the team.
	He was and continues to be highly regarded in the intelligence world.
	In July, Mr. Trump won the Republican nomination and the Democrats became the new employers of Mr. Steele and Fusion GPS.
	We've got a handed to him.
	Trump was the uniter he said he'd be.
	There is a distinctly bipartisan effort to dislodge him at any cost, even their own fucking reputations.
	I think what I love most about this is that it comes packaged with a victim narrative as well.
	Mr. Steele is now in hiding, under attack from some Tory MPs for supposedly trying to ruin the chances of Theresa May's government, building a fruitful relationship with the Trump administration.
	Why?
	What's that got to do with Theresa May's government?
	She stated that he hasn't worked for the intelligence agencies for years.
	What's this got to do with Theresa May?
	Some of them accuse him of being part of an anti-Brexit conspiracy.
	Well, fucking hell.
	We're just making up conspiracies as we go along.
	No, no, no, no, no.
	There was a conspiracy against Hillary Clinton in the CIA.
	No, that means that this is probably an anti-Brexit conspiracy.
	Fucking.
	Oh my god, it's just open season on total bullshit, isn't it?
	That's what it is.
	Just open fucking, it does not matter.
	You know what?
	I've got a conspiracy theory.
	You're all fucking retarded.
	I think it's the fluoride in the water that has made you all retarded.
	And of course, a good conspiracy theory was all it took for the Guardian to completely rescind its position on journalistic ethics and go, well, the leaked Trump-Russia dossier rings frighteningly true.
	There is factual confusion in this document, but its depiction of the Kremlin's tactics is sound.
	Yes, okay, it might be.
	In a work of fiction, because apparently there's factual confusion, as you stated.
	For the love of God, it's obviously made up.
	We actually have a statement from James Clapper, a key advisor to the president on security and intelligence, who said, The intelligence community has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions.
	This is him totally rejecting this document as illegitimate.
	He's saying he doesn't even have a stance on it because they are not paying it any attention.
	And he's saying that because there is nothing verifiable in the document.
	Forbes put out an article called The Trump Dossier's Fake, and here are the reasons why.
	And this is why I'm paying particular interest in this article.
	The author says, I have studied Russia and the Soviet Union professionally since the mid-1960s.
	I have visited Russia as a scholar, as the head of a multi-year petroleum legislation project, and as a business consultant close to 100 times.
	My first visit was in 1965, shortly after Nikita Khrushchev's removal.
	I have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in Russia, and I follow the Russian press regularly.
	I personally witnessed the creation of the in the early 90s of Russia's giant energy concerns in the offices of the oil minister.
	I met with St. Petersburg officials in the early 90s, but do not remember meeting then-Deputy Mayor Vladimir Putin.
	I have written and co-authored reports for the State Department, Congress, and the intelligence community, so I know how these sort of things work.
	As someone who worked for more than a decade with the microfilm collection of Soviet documents in the Huber Institution archives, I can say that the dossier itself was compiled by a Russian, whose command of English is far from perfect and who follows the KGB, now SFSB, practice of writing intelligence reports, in particular the practice of capitalising all names for easy reference.
	The report includes Putin's inner circle, Peskov, Ivanov, Sechin, Lavrov.
	The anonymous author claims to have trusted compatriots who knew the roles that each Kremlin insider, including Putin himself, played, in the Trump election saga and were prepared to tell him.
	Needless to say, that's fucking unlikely.
	The idea that you can have such detailed information about such powerful people in Putin's inner circle, and that for some reason, these people are just able to pass on all of this detailed and accurate information without any kind of consequence to themselves, is fucking unlikely.
	He says, there are two possible explanations for the fly-on-the-wall claims of the Orpis report.
	Either its author, who is not Mr. Steele, decided to write fiction, or collected enough gossip to fill a 30-page report, or a combination of the two.
	The author of the Orpis report has one more advantage.
	He knew that what he was writing was unverifiable.
	He advertises himself as the only Kremlin outsider with enough reliable contacts to explain what's really going on within Putin's office.
	The Orpis report spins the tale of Putin insiders, spurred on by Putin himself, engaging in a five-year courtship of Donald Trump, in which they offer him lucrative real estate deals that he rejects but leaves himself open to blackmail as a result of sexual escapades with prostitutes in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
	The famous Golden Shower incident.
	Despite his reluctance to enter into lucrative business deals, can you even imagine?
	Trump and his inner circle have accepted regular intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.
	This story makes no sense.
	In 2011, when the courtship purportedly begins, Trump was a TV personality and beauty pageant impresario.
	Neither in the US or Russia would anyone of authority anticipate that Trump would one day become the presidential candidate of a major US political party, making him the target of Russian intelligence.
	And I have to say, I couldn't believe it when I first heard it, and I don't think anyone could believe it when everyone first heard that Trump was running.
	And then he started attracting crowds and it was just like, oh my God, what is going on here?
	It's just crazy.
	It's just...
	I mean, Putin is an amazing fucking statesman, but he's not that good.
	No one's that good.
	You couldn't predict this.
	I mean, no one thought Donald Trump was even going to win.
	This is just nonsense.
	The Orpus report claims that as the election neared, Igor Sechin, Putin's right-hand man and CEO of Rosneft, Russia's national oil company, offered Trump a deal that defies belief.
	I'm just going to read out the relevant part.
	He offered Paige Associates the brokerage of up to 19% privatized stake in Rostneft.
	In return, Page had expressed an interest and confirmed that were Trump elected US president, then sanctions on Russia would be lifted.
	That is amazing.
	That is incredible.
	And it's not surprising that he says, this story is utter nonsense, not worthy of a wacky conspiracy theory of an alien invasion.
	To offer Trump $12 billion, the market value of 19.5% of Rostneft's shares, in an act of near-madness would wipe out the cash that Putin desperately needed for military spending and budget deficits, all in return for a promise to lift sanctions if, and what a big if, Trump were elected.
	There is no fucking way people would have banked this heavily on Trump getting elected.
	Anyone, anywhere.
	No one would have been this stupid.
	And I just want to just check Wikipedia quickly.
	Oh, that's right.
	$12 billion is a colossal amount in Russia.
	For example, they have a budget deficit this year of $21 billion.
	So they're suggesting that they would pay Trump as a bribe half their budget deficit for the year.
	As on the off chance that he gets elected.
	It's just unbelievable.
	No one would make a decision like this.
	The story of the purported multi-billion dollar bribe was picked up by the Russian liberal press directly from the Orbis report without comment but with big question marks in the title.
	A 10.5 billion Euro bribe?
	Putin and Sechin gifted Trump 19.5% of Rostneft's shares?
	The story has given Putin's weak opposition the chance to accuse him of wasting national treasure on a stupid bribe.
	And another point that the author points out is that one of the key roles is played by Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who apparently met them in Prague.
	Michael Cohen then just came out and said, I've never been to Prague.
	And since no one can seem to provide any evidence that he has been to Prague, that is simply an outright fabrication.
	Okay, so I think I'm going to leave it there because this is all just based on no evidence.
	There is no proof for any of this.
	And people have been saying, well, Trump says that he also thinks that now.
	It's like, well, I don't care.
	I mean, do you take Trump's word as gospel?
	I don't.
	I just think I can believe in what I have proof of.
	And since no proof has been provided, and it's coming from people with a long and storied history of lying, I'm afraid I'm still not going to believe that this is true.
	And given the way the media has been reacting, the particularly biased segments of the left-wing press especially, and they have been lapping this up, and they've not been slightly sceptical, where real journalists have been like, we're not even going to report that this is happening because this is salacious gossip that actually has no bearing on anything and cannot be verified.

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