🔍
Texas, Mississippi Lift Mask Mandates; GOP Silent on Amazon Union Push: A Closer Look - YouTube
Channel: Late Night with Seth Meyers
[1]
-Texas and Mississippi announced
[3]
that they're lifting
their COVID restrictions,
[4]
including mask mandates
against the strong warnings
[7]
of public health officials,
and the same Republicans,
[10]
putting workers in harm's way
are also silent
[12]
on a courageous drive
to unionize Amazon workers.
[16]
For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look."
[18]
♪♪
[22]
We are tantalizingly close
to what could very well
[25]
be the end of
the COVID pandemic.
[26]
No one knows exactly
when that could happen.
[29]
Predictions for when
we'll hit herd immunity
[31]
and return to normal range
from as early as April
[33]
to as late as Christmas.
[34]
But we know with vaccines
[36]
ramping up
and cases trending down,
[38]
especially as we get
closer to summer,
[40]
there are genuine reasons
for optimism.
[42]
And I know it's hard to believe.
[43]
When I hear good news,
it's like when a vegan
[45]
eats a cheeseburger.
[46]
My body
doesn't know what to do with it,
[49]
but it knows it's good.
[50]
Our souls have all been ground
to dust by a relentless winter
[54]
and a year
of being trapped indoors,
[55]
drinking gin straight
from the bottle
[57]
and bingeing increasingly
obscure TV shows.
[60]
It got so bad I downloaded
a German streaming service
[63]
called<i>
Unterhaltun fur die Menschen</i>
[65]
to watch a crime show that takes
place in Baden-Wuerttemberg,
[67]
starring famed German character
actor Albert Van Mueller-Schmidt
[70]
as Detective Otto Jaegerhauer.
[72]
Oh, man, let me tell you,
[74]
episode three
is a real "clippenbugel."
[77]
That's German for cliffhanger.
[80]
Anyway, the point
is we're so close,
[82]
we can't screw it up now.
[83]
We need to spend the next two
[85]
or three months
really crushing this thing
[86]
so we can all have
a potentially beautiful summer.
[89]
The Senate is on the verge
of passing a massive COVID
[92]
relief plan to help get everyone
through the next few months.
[94]
And President Biden
has announced a production deal
[96]
that could ensure vaccines
[97]
for every American
by the end of May.
[99]
Think about that.
[100]
Come July 4th,
you could be knocking back
[102]
a cold one
in your neighbor's yard
[104]
while he flips burgers
and drones on
[105]
about how much better
it is to cook with charcoal.
[108]
You'll be seeing
so much of your neighbors,
[110]
you'll start praying
for the next pandemic.
[113]
We could get there.
It's possible.
[114]
We just have to spend the next
few months not screwing up,
[116]
which of course,
means some governors immediately
[118]
started racing
to screw it up.
[120]
-The governors of Texas
and Mississippi say
[122]
they are lifting nearly all of
their states' coronavirus
[125]
restrictions and mask mandates
in the coming days,
[129]
now despite new warnings
that the US could soon face
[131]
a deadly fourth surge
of the virus.
[134]
-Health officials
are warning Americans
[136]
should not become complacent
[138]
because this pandemic
is not over yet.
[140]
We are still seeing roughly
1,500 deaths
[144]
every single day
from the virus.
[146]
-All businesses of any type
are allowed
[150]
to open 100%.
[153]
Also, I am ending
the statewide mask mandate.
[158]
-Your reaction to the governor's
announcement today?
[162]
-Insanity. I'd like to say that
Governor Abbott
[166]
has lost his mind.
[167]
-In fairness,
maybe he didn't lose it.
[169]
Maybe it just froze during
the massive power failure
[171]
that happened on his watch.
[173]
-Damn it, guys, we're so close.
Why are you doing this now?
[175]
You really want people
to congregate at full capacity
[178]
in bars and gyms and nightclubs?
[180]
I wouldn't even go to a
[181]
full capacity nightclub
without a pandemic.
[182]
I mean, why?
[183]
So I can awkwardly wave my hands
[185]
in the air to some EDM
[186]
while a jacked due on molly
touches my face
[188]
and asks me how Stefon is?
[190]
He's fine.
[191]
He's fine and he's fictional.
[194]
And by the way,
this isn't the fault of Texans.
[196]
They need and deserve help and
vaccines as much as anyone else.
[200]
It's the fault
of their political leaders.
[202]
And look, I get it.
[203]
Businesses really
are struggling.
[205]
It's still too early
to reopen the riskiest ones,
[207]
and we should just be giving
everyone money to survive.
[209]
But I understand --
it's a difficult trade off.
[211]
But rescinding
the mask mandates?
[213]
That's just full insanity.
[215]
Masks work.
There's so much proof.
[216]
Thanks to masks and
social distancing,
[218]
the flu basically
vanished this year.
[220]
Meanwhile, South Dakota resisted
a mask mandate
[223]
and that state's mortality rate
[224]
has been the highest
in the country since last July.
[226]
Masks can actually help us
open up more safely.
[230]
Plus, I got to be honest,
I'm surprised politicians
[232]
that are so pro cowboy hat
find masks uncomfortable.
[235]
Maybe it's my weak neck, but I'd
rather wear 100 masks
[238]
than one of those big ol' hats.
[240]
That's a shame though, because
I look very good and natural
[243]
when I wear one.
[ Laughter ]
[245]
That's real.
That's not Photoshop.
[247]
One of the most galling parts
[249]
of rescinding the mask mandates
is that many of the people
[251]
who will suffer
most are workers.
[253]
The mask isn't just
for your safety,
[254]
it's for the safety
of those around you.
[257]
Workers who have no choice
but to show up to their jobs
[260]
in person will be at risk
[261]
and the politicians
will be fine.
[263]
So, please, keep wearing a mask.
[265]
The last thing
a Footlocker employee needs
[266]
is for you to show up maskless
[268]
and spend an hour trying on
different sizes of red Yeezys
[270]
that are gonna look ridiculous
on you no matter what.
[272]
And by the way,
this is the same party
[274]
that, as we speak,
[275]
is trying to rebrand itself
as a workers' party,
[278]
even as they needlessly
put workers in harms way.
[281]
In the aftermath
of the Trump presidency,
[283]
you've probably heard
a few Republicans
[284]
ludicrously trying
to rebrand themselves
[286]
as the champions
of the working class.
[289]
You know, the same guys who cram
[290]
through a $2 trillion tax cut
[293]
for corporations and the wealthy
in the dead of night
[295]
without a single hearing
and literally scribbled notes
[298]
in the margins
at the last minute
[299]
to make it easier
for the wealthy
[301]
to avoid taxes by using
pass-through companies.
[303]
All that stuff Springsteen's
always singing about.
[306]
♪ Got a wife and kids
in Baltimore, Jack ♪
[309]
♪ But I can claim them
as consultants ♪
[311]
♪ And I get it all back ♪
[ Laughter ]
[314]
I mean, now it's good.
I had a bad one last week,
[316]
but now it's fully
like he's here.
[318]
[ Laughter ]
[320]
Remember when Elizabeth Warren,
[321]
who is now pushing for a wealth
tax on the richest Americans,
[324]
that the fake Republican
populists also opposed,
[326]
tried to read the text
of the GOP tax cut
[328]
and couldn't even make out
what it said?
[330]
-They're sending around
their edits as we speak.
[335]
"Adjustments attributable to
conversion from S corporat--"
[339]
Oh, it's been cut off --
"to corporation.
[343]
Section 481 is amended
by adding at the N."
[348]
I assume they mean "end,"
[350]
but again, it's all cut off.
[351]
"The following new subsection,
adjustments
[355]
attributable to conversion
for a corporation..."
[361]
Something.
C Corporation.
[363]
Per in...
[366]
Dangerous? That can't be right.
[369]
-Sounds like she's trying
to read the text
[371]
on a bottle
of Dr. Bronner's.
[373]
Made with mint, lavender,
juniper, and...
[376]
whale meat?
[378]
That can't be right.
[380]
By the time they were
done with it,
[381]
that bill looked like
a science textbook
[382]
you got for six dollars
at an off-campus bookstore,
[385]
the one where the last paragraph
says, "As of this publishing,
[387]
Jonas Salk is getting
some promising results."
[390]
And I have to say,
watching a Harvard professor
[392]
try to make heads or tails
of nonsensical writing
[395]
gave me chilling flashbacks
to college.
[397]
"So that's why Pacino
and De Niro make convincing,
[400]
if unlikely, adversaries
in the movie 'Heat.'
[404]
Now, Mr. Meyers, you do know
[405]
this is a chemistry class,
right?"
[407]
"Hey, you're not going
to find better chemistry
[409]
than De Niro and Pacino
in their prime.
[411]
That is a much
more explosive combo
[413]
than hydrogen peroxide
and sodium iodide."
[415]
[ Chuckles ]
[416]
They should do a remake
of that movie now.
[419]
And instead of a diner,
they'd meet virtually.
[421]
"Thanks for meeting me
in the Zoom room!
[424]
All ready to Zoom tonight,
baby!"
[428]
"I can't hear you. Somebody
muted you. Somebody muted you."
[431]
"What? I'm on mute?
[435]
Nobody mutes
Alfredo James Pacino!
[441]
My mic is always hot, baby!
[444]
[ Laughter ]
[446]
And I'm feeling sky-high!"
[454]
It's very nice when there are
no people here...
[458]
'cause then I can give
the people what they want.
[460]
[ Laughter ]
[463]
So, the same guys who wrote
and voted
[466]
for that massive giveaway
to corporations and the wealthy
[468]
who are needlessly
putting workers in harms way
[471]
by repealing mask mandates
[472]
and using them as cannon
fodder against the virus
[475]
are now trying
to rebrand themselves
[477]
as working class populists.
[478]
Texas Senator Ted Cruz
tried that last week
[480]
at the Conservative
Political Action Conference
[482]
and then again this week
on Fox News.
[485]
-The Democratic Party
has abandoned
[487]
the working class men and women,
[489]
the millions of people
who are out of jobs,
[491]
who are seeing their wages
pulled down,
[493]
who are competing to provide
for their families
[495]
with people coming illegally.
[497]
That's not who the Democratic
Party represents anymore.
[500]
They don't represent
unions anymore.
[501]
They don't represent
construction workers
[503]
or truck drivers
[505]
or working men
and women anymore.
[506]
The Republican Party
[509]
is not the party
just of the country clubs.
[512]
The Republican Party
is the party of steelworkers
[515]
and construction workers
[517]
and pipeline workers
and taxi cab drivers
[521]
and cops and firefighters
and waiters and waitresses
[525]
and the men and women
with calluses on their hands
[527]
who are working
for this country.
[529]
That is our party!
[530]
Oh, please, Ted Cruz,
your hands are so delicate
[533]
you need an epidural
to get through a manicure.
[535]
The only calluses Ted Cruz
has on his hands
[537]
or for checking Kayak
on his phone.
[539]
Also, I'm willing to bet
the only truck driver Cruz
[542]
has ever met is this guy.
[543]
But yeah, sure, we all believe
you're a pro-union,
[545]
blue-collar guy who's fighting
for working people
[548]
from your flight
to the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun.
[550]
I'm sure
those construction workers
[552]
you're pretending to care
about are thrilled
[554]
that, thanks to the tax bill
you voted for,
[556]
they can finally convert their
S corporations to C corporations
[559]
and use their corporate
pass-through vehicles
[561]
to reduce their tax liability.
[562]
Everybody remembers
the famous photo of steelworkers
[565]
sitting atop a skyscraper.
[567]
But did you know they wrote off
those lunchboxes
[570]
as business expenses
by funneling their income
[572]
through a limited
liability company?
[573]
But if Ted Cruz and his fellow
faux-populist hucksters
[577]
like Missouri Senator
Josh Hawley,
[578]
really wanted to prove
[580]
they're supposed pro-union
blue-collar bona fides,
[583]
they could easily speak up
in favor of a courageous
[586]
and unprecedented union drive
by Amazon workers in Alabama,
[590]
because right now those workers
are bravely taking on
[593]
one of the richest and most
powerful companies in the world.
[595]
And the company is going to
extreme lengths to stop them.
[598]
-An historic labor showdown
in Alabama tonight
[601]
involving the world's largest
online retailer,
[603]
and it's drawing the attention
of the White House.
[606]
Thousands of workers
at an Amazon warehouse
[609]
voting on whether to form
[610]
the company's first labor union
in the U.S.
[612]
Amazon pushing employees
to vote no.
[615]
-Bessemer, Alabama, is home
to an Amazon warehouse
[618]
where about 6,000 employees
are voting right now
[622]
on whether to form the Internet
giant's first union in the U.S.
[626]
It's a bitter battle.
[628]
Warehouse employees like
Jennifer Bates
[631]
constantly get texts
from Amazon,
[633]
warning that union
dues could leave them
[636]
with less money
than they already have.
[639]
Anti-union fliers
are even posted
[641]
inside a warehouse
bathroom stalls.
[644]
-First of all, Amazon, stop
sending anti-union texts.
[647]
In fact, stop sending
texts in general.
[649]
Amazon texts me
more than my wife,
[651]
especially when I ask her
about one of my impressions.
[654]
Seriously, Amazon,
I don't need a text every time
[656]
I place an order,
then another one
[657]
when that order's received,
and then another
[659]
when the package is shipped,
[660]
and another
when it's dropped off.
[661]
What's next --
a text when my neighbor gets mad
[663]
that I left the package
in the hallway for too long
[666]
and reports me
to the co-op board
[668]
for a disciplinary hearing?
[669]
Janet, I know you've been trying
to get me kicked out
[672]
because you hate my welcome mat,
but too bad
[674]
because I think it's funny...
[676]
and we need to laugh, Janet!
[679]
It's hard to overstate
just how seismic
[681]
and historic
this union drive is.
[682]
Amazon workers are fighting
[684]
against the largest retailer
in the world
[686]
run by one of the richest men
in the world,
[687]
which is going all out
to stop them.
[689]
-Why do you want to join a
union?
[692]
-Because I feel like we need
an amplified voice.
[696]
We've been talking to Amazon
about issues that we've had
[699]
and they've ignored us,
so we need a sense of security
[703]
and a louder voice
and better wages.
[707]
-Amazon hired a group
of union buster consultants
[710]
that they paid each consultant
$3,200 a day
[714]
to try to convince these people
to vote against theirselves.
[717]
Amazon is no more than when
we look at things down there,
[721]
it's a sweat shop
and people are out there
[724]
just working --
They have to touch a package.
[726]
Every eight seconds
they have to touch a package.
[729]
They're only allowed
two 30-minute break a day.
[732]
-They have to touch a package
every eight seconds?
[734]
That's insane.
[735]
Not even
the TSA works that fast.
[740]
[ Laughter ]
[742]
Fred, where's my rimshot?
[746]
Fred, that joke clearly called
for a rimshot, buddy.
[751]
Okay, you know what? We're going
to have to have a meeting.
[753]
Well, where was I?
Oh, right.
[755]
They have to touch a package
every eight seconds.
[757]
[ Rimshot ]
[759]
[ Laughter ]
[762]
Just too late, Fred.
[765]
But also, it's insane they
only get two 30-minute breaks.
[767]
They're essential workers
employed by a company
[769]
whose CEO increased his wealth
[771]
by $75 billion in 2020
[773]
and they basically kept
the entire country
[774]
running during a pandemic.
[775]
Without Amazon, I probably
[777]
would have had to camp out
at Trader Joe's for toilet paper
[780]
like the standby line
for SNL when BTS performs
[783]
or when I hosted.
[784]
You should have seen the line.
[786]
[ Wind howls ]
[790]
I did not sign off
on adding a tumbleweed.
[794]
[ Laughter ]
[797]
This is an actual fight
by courageous
[799]
working-class union organizers
against a corporate Goliath.
[803]
If you were to actually take
the pretend populists
[805]
of the GOP at their word,
[806]
this is the exact kind of thing
they supposedly care about,
[808]
and yet they've been silent.
[810]
Meanwhile, Biden released
a major
[811]
and truly unprecedented video
in support of the effort
[813]
and without
mentioning Amazon by name,
[816]
warned companies
to stop intimidating workers
[818]
who want to unionize.
[820]
-The choice to join a union
is up to the workers --
[824]
full stop.
[826]
Full stop.
[828]
Today and over the next few days
and weeks, workers in Alabama
[832]
and all across America
are voting
[834]
on whether to organize
a union in their workplace.
[837]
This is vitally important --
a vitally important choice.
[842]
And there should be
no intimidation, no coercion,
[846]
no threats,
no anti-union propaganda.
[850]
No supervisor, no supervisors
should confront employees
[853]
about their union preferences.
[855]
-And of course
Joe came out for the union.
[857]
He was one of those guys
eating lunch on that skyscraper.
[859]
You think he's going
to be out-blue-collared
[861]
by Ted Cruz, of all people?
[863]
He's ridden Amtrak
so many times,
[865]
he's probably got
a railroad union card.
[867]
If politics didn't work out,
[869]
his fallback plan was working
in the snack car on the Acela.
[872]
"We got gum and coffee,
and that's it."
[876]
So Biden came out forcefully
in favor of union rights.
[879]
And yet we've heard
radio silence
[880]
from the so-called populists
of the Republican Party
[882]
who pretend to be pro-worker
and anti-big tech,
[884]
although in fairness,
[886]
they do have much more important
things going on right now.
[888]
-Well, first it was
Mr. Potato Head
[890]
and Mrs. Potato Head,
[891]
now it's Dr. Seuss.
[893]
-They want to cancel
the Muppets.
[895]
They want to cancel
Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.
[897]
So when will this stop?
[899]
-You see last week they tried
to cancel Kermit the Frog
[902]
and Mr. Potato Head?
You see that?
[903]
-Look out, Mr. Potato Head.
You're next.
[906]
-If I wanted to buy one
and let's say
[908]
I had the boy at home
and I wanted the girl,
[911]
the box is going to say
"potato head."
[914]
How am I going to know
which one I'm getting?
[916]
-This week alone, they canceled
Mr. Potato Head.
[919]
You know, this week alone,
they canceled the Muppets.
[923]
You know, they're canceling
Dr. Seuss.
[925]
-First, they outlawed Dr. Seuss
[927]
and now they want
to tell us what to say.
[929]
-Ah, yes, the party
of the working class,
[931]
if class in this case
means third grade.
[933]
Do you guys really think
any actual adult
[935]
in their right mind cares
about a few Dr. Seuss books
[937]
getting pulled from publication
because of racist imagery?
[939]
Even my kids don't care
about Dr. Seuss.
[942]
They want to watch the League
of Legends World Championship,
[944]
even though I'm still trying
to get them into
[945]
my favorite board game,
"Ocean Master,"
[947]
which has a new expansion
pack called "Port of Call."
[949]
The way it works is
[951]
you get skill cards
for every port you dock at,
[952]
which helps you mine resources
which translate to gold coins,
[955]
which you can then use
to hire deckhands
[957]
who help you find islands
where you collect minerals,
[960]
and whoever collects
the most minerals
[961]
gets to pick
a different game to play.
[964]
Republicans are preposterously
trying to rebrand themselves
[966]
as a party of
working-class populists,
[968]
despite the fact
that they're still in lockstep
[970]
behind a racist
billionaire tax cheat
[972]
who helped them dole out
trillions in tax cuts
[974]
to corporations
and the wealthy.
[976]
And now they're needlessly
putting workers in harms way
[978]
by prematurely
lifting mask mandates.
[981]
And one of them flew
to a luxury resort in Cancun
[983]
while his constituents
froze to death.
[985]
Meanwhile, courageous
Amazon workers in Alabama
[988]
need and deserve the support,
and Republicans are silent.
[990]
Turns out
there's only one worker
[992]
they're willing to stand up for,
and that's...
[993]
-Mr. Potato Head.
[995]
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[997]
♪♪
[1000]
God's Love We Deliver
cooks and brings
[1002]
over two million meals a year
[1003]
to men, women and children
living with HIV AIDS,
[1005]
cancer, and other
serious illnesses,
[1007]
and they need your help
now more than ever.
[1009]
If you're watching this online,
you can hit the donate button.
[1011]
Stay safe,
wash your hands, wear a mask.
[1013]
We love you.
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