...About Politics (Week of March 10, 2024 - Part Two)

News about Russia's continual oppression of Ukraine and its own people, as well as what it will *really* take to gain peace in the Middle East.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
I'm Stephen Monteith, and I'm goingto talk some more about politics from the
week of March ten, twenty twentyfour. This is the second part of
this. So if you listened topart one, you know that I ended
it by talking about some LGBTQ plusnews here in the United States. And

(00:28):
there's one more thing that I wantto cover on that general topic. There's
there are more than a dozen athleteswho are currently suing the NCAA, that's

(00:50):
the National Collegiate Athletics Association. They'resuing them over their transgender policy. Now.
The the policy as it is saysthat basically, athletes can compete in

(01:15):
the category of their affirmed gender ona sport by sport basis and there and
they say that they're taking into accountthings like balancing fairness and inclusion and safety
for all who compete. Now,now, there's obviously been plenty of controversy

(01:51):
about this topic about whether a transgenderedathlete should be allowed to complete in the
in the gender with which they identifyor that or whether they should be kept
in forced to compete in the genderthat they were assigned at birth. Basically,

(02:16):
and and a lot of people areupset because they think that it's unfair
that somebody who was assigned male atbirth basically would be allowed to compete with

(02:40):
people who were assigned female at birthjust because that person personally identifies as a
woman. They think that it's aslippery slope. You know. They seem
to be making the argument that awhole bunch of people, a whole bunch
of men, are going to suddenlystart competing in women's sports just because it

(03:06):
would give them a chance to dominate. Yes, it's like they saw that
episode of Futurama where Bender pretends tobe a female robot just so that she
can just so that he can competein the women's Robots Olympics, the thinbot
Olympics. And I just want tosay that if you think that someone would

(03:42):
subject themselves to all the pain,all the effort, all the bigotry,
and all the ridicule just so thatthey can be better at a sport than
someone else, then you really don'tunderstand transgender people at all. You don't
understand the the pain and the oppressionthat they go through all the time.

(04:11):
You don't understand the bullying and thebigotry that they face. You think that
somebody would go through all that justso that they can win at a sport.
This isn't a cartoon. These arereal people's lives, and they go

(04:31):
through so many trials and so muchtribulation, and they do it not so
that they can win a medal.They do it. They do it so
that they can feel more like themselves. I'm not transgender, but I can

(04:58):
tell you that I've struggled with someidentity problems of my own over the years,
and I've and I've also struggled withbullying in my life too, And
I would not go through any ofthat for something like a fifth place metal

(05:24):
at a swim meet, because that'swhat because that's where this lawsuit stemms from.
It started with. It started witha pair of swimmers. One of
them is named Leah Thomas and oneof them is named Riley Gaines. They

(05:49):
both came in They were both inthe twenty twenty two NCAA National Swimming Championship.
They both came in fifth place.Now in one of the events.

(06:10):
Now, when it came time fora photo with the winners, Riley Gaines
was told that in the official photothat it was important that Lea Thomas be

(06:30):
the one holding the trophies with theone holding the trophy rather for a fifth
place. Now Leah Thomas is transgender, and the lawsuit alleges it says the
secret of Thomas's meteoric ascendants and dominancein NCAA women's swimming was retained male advantage.

(07:03):
Thomas had been competing in the men'scategory before the NCAA ruled that transgender
athletes could compete in the category thatmatched their gender identity. Now, the

(07:23):
plaintiffs say that what they're really afteris equality and fair opportunity to succeed,
for everybody to be equal at thestarting line. That's what their lead attorney
said, and the NCAA said thatwhile it does not comment on pending litigation,

(07:46):
the association and its members will continueto promote Title nine, which is
a federal federal law that prohibits sexbased discrimination in any school or any other

(08:07):
education program that receives funding from thefederal government. They said that we will
continue to promote Title nin make unprecedentedinvestments in women's sports, and ensure fair
competition in all NCAA championships. Nowa Leah Thomas, in an interview with

(08:43):
ABC News, she said, transpeople don't transition for athletics. We transitioned
to be happy and authentic and ourtrue selves. Transitioning to get an advantage
is not something that ever factors intoour decisions. I knew there would be

(09:05):
scrutiny against me if I competed asa woman. I was prepared for that,
But I also don't need anybody's permissionto be myself and to do the
sport that I love. Like Isay, it's ridiculous to think that somebody

(09:30):
would go through all the effort totransition from one sex to another just so
they can be better at a sport. Whatever you think of transgendered people,
you cannot think that. If youthink that, then you're already starting from
the wrong place. Now moving onto the international stage when it comes to

(10:01):
LGBTQ plus news, Japan has hada number of court cases that at various
levels in their legal system that haveruled that same sex marriage is in fact

(10:26):
constitutional. You see they have seeJapan is one of the is one of
the few I don't want to sayadvanced countries, but it's definitely it's definitely

(10:48):
an advanced country and it still banssame sex marriage. There I mean,
just like the United States did upuntil up until about a decade ago,
we finally had our Supreme Court rulethat same sex marriage was constitutional. That's

(11:15):
not exactly what's happening in Japan rightnow. The law still needs to be
changed, and government officials say thatthey're closely monitoring public public opinion on this
kind of thing. And I certainlyhope that, just like with our legislature

(11:46):
here in Virginia, that Japan's legislatureand all the all the countries in the
world will eventually realize that same sexmarriage is just as much a right as

(12:11):
heterosexual marriage is. Now that we'removing on to the international stage with this,
let's talk a little bit about Let'stalk about what's going on in Ukraine

(12:33):
and Russia. I promised in thefirst part of this that I would talk
about Vladimir Putin and about what's goingon with him, and it is important
to talk about him right now.The war, of course, is still

(12:54):
going on. We're about a monthand two the third year of it.
It's been just over two years sincethe war in Ukraine started. Pope Francis
has called for negotiations, but asI've pointed out and there's plenty of other

(13:24):
people have pointed out the only negotiatingthat Russia wants is to have Ukraine become
fully part of Russia. They alreadyoccupy several sections of it, including Crimea,
which Justin Trudeau of Canada has justthis last week reaffirmed is not really

(13:50):
part of Russia. The only negotiationthat needs to happen is for Russia to
say that they've called off the warand that they're completely withdrawing. That's the
only negotiation that should be taken place. As the Ukrainian Foreign minister has said,

(14:13):
they will never capitulate. Now,you may recall that Donald Trump has
said that he could end the warin Ukraine in a day if he were
president. He thinks that highly ofhis negotiating skills. He thinks of himself

(14:33):
as the great diplomat who can endany war in a day. He even
thought he could have negotiated the CivilWar. But especially as it comes to
Ukraine, I've always wanted to askhim what is it he thinks he can

(14:54):
do to end it in a dayas president? Especially, what does he
think he can do as president thathe can't just do right now? Well,
as it turns out. His planis just to withdraw support from Ukraine

(15:15):
entirely. His plan is just tolet Putin win. This is coming from
Victor Orbon who's the Prime Minister ofHungary. He was at mar A Lago

(15:35):
last week and he says that hesays that Donald Trump's solution is to give
not one more penny to fund Ukraine'sdefense, and that apparently is how Trump
is planning on ending the war there. This is not surprising. I mean,

(15:56):
this is what Donald Trump was impeachedover the first. First time he
was impeached, he said that hewouldn't give Ukraine any more money unless they
gave him dirt on Joe Biden touse in the twenty twenty election. Donald

(16:17):
Trump has always sided with Vladimir Putinover Ukraine. He's sided with Vladimir Putin
over the United States itself at times. But for him to say this now,
for him to want to completely withdrawsupport from one of our closest allies

(16:38):
while allowing Putin to win, nobodycan nobody but him and his most ardent
followers can think that that's a goodidea. You know, last week there
was a national security bill passed inthe Senate with seventy votes. That's plenty

(17:04):
of Republicans joining Democrats to send aidto Ukraine as well as aid to Israel
and Taiwan. Of course, it'sbeing blocked in the House of Representatives by
Speaker Mike Johnson. Like I said, a bill has to get passed in

(17:25):
both the Senate and the House beforeit goes to the President to be signed
into law. Now, US intelligenceagencies have warned them that they've testified before
Congress. They've been warning them thatChina is watching us, in watching our

(17:48):
lack of action in providing support tosomebody who's trying to fend off a hostile
invader. I've talked about this before. For in previous posts, I've talked
about how Ukraine matters because as Chinais next. If Russia is able to

(18:14):
just conquer Ukraine without US doing anythingto stop them, then what's to stop
China from just reconquering Taiwan? What'sto stop North Korea from just conquering South
Korea. You have to stand upto dictators when they try to conquer other
countries. You can't just say,well, I'm going to end the war

(18:40):
by not supporting the people who arebeing invaded. That is one of the
worst things that anybody could say,much less somebody who's running to be the
leader of the free world. Speakingof the free world and Russia, there

(19:04):
was an election taking place this lastweekend. Vladimir Putin is despite invading another
country, he's very concerned about whatthe world thinks of him. You know,
he doesn't want to just come outand say I'm a tyrant now.

(19:29):
He wants to be able to makethe case to the world, even if
nobody believes him, that Russia isstill a democracy. So in the presidential
elections this last weekend, he stillmanaged to set up some opposition to him

(19:52):
in the forms of people who wouldI don't know if they'd be worse than
him, but the Russian people apparentlythink they'd be worse than him. It's
all for show. His most seriousopponents, they're all either in exile or
in prison or dead. As Italked about in a previous post about Alexi

(20:15):
Navoni and what happened to him.Well, like I say, they need
to give the appearance that the peoplein Russia have a choice. This is
this is this is basically nineteen eightyfour, the book by George Orwell.

(20:44):
There are a lot of people whowill will tell you that Orwellian tactics are
being used here in the United States, that elections are being stolen here in
the United States. Russia is showingus what happens when an Rwelian government actually

(21:07):
steals an election, even in occupiedparts of Ukraine. Like I said,
there are parts of Ukraine that areoccupied by Russia. They are forcing people
to vote in this election literally atgunpoint. That's dictatorship, plain and simple.

(21:36):
And not all Russian people are fallingfor it. Believe me. There
are protesters who are making their presencefelt at these voting stations. There was
video of fire being set at apolling station. There was a video of
a woman dumping ink in a ballotbox, completely covering the ballots that were

(22:02):
inside it. And you can seein the videos that this woman expected to
be arrested afterwards. She didn't eventry to escape. Protesting of any kind
is very dangerous in Russia, farmore so than here in America. We

(22:25):
take our right to protest and ourright to vote for granted. I think
maybe in a way we always have, but watching Russia crush those rights in
front of our eyes. It shouldmake all of us just a little more

(22:45):
grateful to have them, and itshould confirm to everyone the need to remove
Vladimir Putin from power. At thevery least, we shouldn't be putting people
in power who support him or whorefuse to stand against him. Let's move

(23:17):
on to talk about Israel. Thewar there is just getting worse. Like
I said before, it's not justa matter of dealing with Hamas. The

(23:47):
leadership on the Israeli side needs togo as well, maybe not eliminated,
but certainly removed from power. Ifthere's going to be peace in the Middle
East, it's not going to beunder Benjamin Netton Yahoo's government Senator Chuck Schumer,

(24:10):
who's the Democratic Majority leader in theSenate and the highest ranking Jewish lawmaker
in the United States. He gavea speech on Thursday, and apparently this
speech was made available to the WhiteHouse beforehand. In the White House reviewed

(24:36):
it and was okay with him makingthis statement. He said that in what's
being classified as a major address,that while Netan Yahoo's highest priority is the
security of Israel, he also believesthat the Prime Minister has lost his way

(25:04):
by allowing his political survival to takethe precedence over the best interests of Israel.
He also said that the Israeli PrimeMinister is in a coalition with far
right extremists and has been too willingto tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza,

(25:26):
which is pushing support for Israel worldwideto historic lows. As a lifelong supporter
of Israel, it has become clearto me the Netanyahoo coalition no longer fits
the needs of Israel after October seventh. October seventh, of course, being

(25:49):
the Hamas attack that just last yearthat started this most recent and disastrous conflict
between Israelis and Palestinians. Senator Schumerwent on to say the world has changed

(26:12):
radically since then, and the Israelipeople are being stifled right now by a
governing vision that is stuck in thepast. Now, there has been pushback
on this speech, of course,some of that's coming from Joe Lieberman,

(26:40):
a former member of the Senate andeven a former vice presidential candidate and Jewish
as well. He says that hecriticized Schumer's comments by positing a scenario in

(27:00):
which somebody in the US government toldthe United Kingdom to get rid of their
prime minister, saying that it wouldbe considered unacceptable then and it should be
considered unacceptable now. But what makesthat a terrible analogy is that the UK

(27:22):
isn't at war with anyone. Andif the UK did go to war with
somebody, and if in the courseof that war the prime minister approved not
only the killing of civilian men,women and children by the thousands, but

(27:47):
also actively prevented humanitarian aid from gettingto civilian survivors, then yes, it
would absolutely be appropriate for everyone tocall for that prime minister to be removed
and replaced. I would certainly hopethat we would do that, regardless of

(28:15):
which country was perpetrating such atrocities.And if you can't see what's happening to
the Palestinian people as atrocities, thenfrankly, you're part of the problem.
These people are victims not only oftheir own government, but of the Israeli

(28:36):
government. Like I've said before severaltimes, now get rid of from us
and get rid of the current Israelileadership. That's the only way there's going
to be peace in the Middle East. Other people who've spoken out include director

(28:59):
Jonathan gla at the Oscars last week, he and producer James Wilson, both
Jewish. They won the award forBest International Film for a movie called The
Zone of Interest. It's about thelife of a Nazi commandant whose house is

(29:23):
just outside of the Auschwitz concentration camp. During the acceptance speech, Glazer said,
right now we stand here as menwho refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust
being hijacked by an occupation which hasled to conflict for so many innocent people,

(29:48):
whether the victims of October seventh inIsrael or the ongoing attack on Gaza,
all the victims of this dehumanization.How do we resist? He basically
accused the Israeli government of using theHolocaust itself as part of their justification for

(30:22):
continuing the war, but some saidthat he was being absolutely disgusting and a
fool for comparing the Holocaust to Israel'sactions against the Palestinians, while others pointed
out that he was talking about thosewho would use the Holocaust as justification for

(30:45):
committing even more atrocities. The Holocaustis obviously a very very sensitive subject for
some many people, and for twopeople to have just made an entire movie

(31:07):
about life near an Auschwitz concentration camp, and to win an oscar for it.
To then stand up and say youshouldn't be using this dreadful event as
justification for your actions. Well,it's no wonder that so many people have

(31:36):
had such mixed reactions to it.But I think what they've had to say,
and what Senator Schumer has had tosay, and what President Biden has
had to say is all correct.My heart goes out too to all the

(32:07):
people who have been caught up inthis horrible conflict. Israelis the Palestinians.
They're all the victims, and theyall deserve to live in peace. That

(32:30):
can't happen if they're both being ledby people who only want war. Well,

(32:54):
this is probably the most I've hadto say in any one podcast.
This podcast, of course, isjust part two. I hope that I
hope that some of what I've hadto say has has been helpful to you

(33:17):
out there. Frankly, sometimes I'mnot sure who, if anybody, is
even still listening to what I haveto say. But if you are listening,
then I just want to say thankyou, and I'll talk to you
more later.