National security this year alone the trumpet ministration secured a near record 750000000000. 00 in defense spending but what kind of security are you buying us one a simple virus can crush our economy and Health Care Infrastructure in just a few short weeks naturally the most common answers we as citizens get in return when we ask these questions is either a litany of spoiled toddler like finger pointing like the kind we witnessed this week when us President Donald Trump tried to claim his inadequacies and failures were all the fault of the World Health Organization or or the other excuse one of my own personal favorites in political excuse making the a big protests we just didnt see this coming. Which which might be true appear in every average every day jane and john q citizen but when you were the House Speaker when you were the Senate Majority leader or were near the president of the United States we didnt see it coming is no excuse especially when the very military Industrial Complex that you worship that you and our money over to warn you of this very catastrophe 3 years ago according to a 2017 u. S. Northern command plan out of the pentagon the nation reports that the pentagon was not just well aware of the threat of a nobel influenza but even anticipated the consequence scarcity of ventilators face mask and face mask and hospital beds. Schumer palosi donal rubio cotton and all and all and all the rest my friends late run out of excuses recent weeks have taught the American People that we are far from in the trillion dollar Security State they have built around us in fact we are out in the cold as we start watching the hawks. Whats going on a city you street. Looks like to see the rises you always stay ill see you always. Great to see this least systemic deception is complete show which was so when the joke was. Well the one watching arcs i am tired rover those are and im nice across a major im sorry the the excuses just keep piling up now but in that its like every other day its well it is World Health Organizations fault well known as this persons ball when at the end of the day im sorry im a little angry but at the end of the day im tired of excuses out of our leaders especially one it seems like every other week that this virus goes on we see the bay knew somebody knew everyone knew it well advance and ahead of time that this was coming to. Oh absolutely and at this point trump has he feels like he has to play the blame game because he does not take responsibility for anything on his own we know that hes known about corona virus since january the alarms were raised they were doctors they were scientists they were other nation state leaders who were telling him about it there was also a task force that was supposed to take place then that we did not see actually happen until just a few weeks ago so he cant say that he did not know he cant also just point blame to the World Health Organization the World Health Organization for its part issued warnings early on as well and i ifill as though at this point we have a president who would just doesnt like taking responsibility for anything but also the initial peak that he saw from his announcements about coronavirus report weeks ago in terms of polling has now gone down so initially there was a bump that said that you know people were gathering they were doing that round the flag gathering that americans do when there is a certain tragedy that is happening but then they saw him say that everything will be open by easter they saw him you know tell businesses that everything will be fine they saw him tell the American Public that this was not going to be a big deal and all of that fell flat on its face he doesnt want it but his own role definitely been a buzz but what about congress you know congress is the ones who theyre the ones who decide what money goes where theyre the ones who spend you know a trillion dollars on National Security and clearly were not that secure clearly our priorities were not you know our priorities were what weve got to build more warships and guns and tanks and bombs that doesnt care about that now people might say oh well thats hindsight 20 twentieths well no its not when you were at the pentagon telling you in 2017 saying hey this is a major issue that could be coming down the pipe to practice i mean they literally pointed right to the family that coburg team belongs to saying the most likely and significant threat is the nobel respiratory disease particularly a nobel influenza disease i mean they had it right there would be more plain than that what we know about congress is that they have a habit of writing blank check. To many things particularly as it relates to as it relates to a lot of our military intervention a lot of our funds for that its interesting that they did not take because they also didnt take this seriously when were talking congress from both sides of the you Congress Members did not see this as something that we should actually be really building up our awareness for that we should be building up a lot of the supplies for if they did if they had paid attention to this to this acknowledgment years ago we would not be where we are right now even during the george w. Bush administration and now you know chump the administration is making his look glowing but during the Bush Administration he had a stockpile and believe that there would be Something Like this that what happened in this was what 2 administrations ago at this point and it baffles me that congress has chosen not to pay this any attention until now youre not the only one baffled Dennis Kaufman who served as the head of Infectious Diseases and Countermeasures Division at the Defense Intelligence agency from 20142017 he actually told the nation quote the Intelligence Community was warned about the threat from highly pathogenic influenza viruses for 2 decades at least they have warned about a crowd of viruses for at least 5 years he went on to call law curves quote there have been recent problems with the corona virus pandemic represents an intelligence failure failure its letting people who ignored intelligence warnings off the hook that excuse basically use them trying to say oh dont blame. You but yet you are precisely who we should be blaming right now absolutely and we dont have a problem in paying intelligence warnings attention when they dont have to do with hill clearly exactly. And because nothing says protecting u. S. Citizens from a buyer is more than starting a potential war u. S. Navy warships are now headed to the caribbean and the coast of venezuela in a dangerous new move that could escalate direction between the United States and been its way or the u. S. Claims its Navy Presence in the region is to counter illegal narcotics operations but theyve been selling government says its preparing for any potential conflicts r. T. Correspondent john hoodie has more from miami. Americas war on drugs is taking aim at venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his socalled cartel of the sons the trumpet ministration indicted madeira and several others on Drug Trafficking and narco terrorism charges march 26th an extraordinary announcement that diverted attention at least briefly anyway from another ongoing war the coronavirus war then last week President Trump announced u. S. Navy ships were heading to the caribbean and the coast of venezuela to beef up americas anti drug operations in the region were deploying Additional Navy destroyers combat ships aircraft and helicopters coast good cutters and air force Surveillance Aircraft doubling our capabilities in the region. Might do it all in response to the indictment called President Trump a quote racist supremacy cowboy and announced last week he was preparing his military for battle the calling for a cease fire during the coronavirus pandemic in this tweet he blamed us and colombian conspiracies to quote fill venezuela with violence moderate has long been accused of being involved in venezuelan Drug Trafficking along with the cartel of the sons a reference to Venezuelan Army generals who wear the sun insignia on their shoulders and are also accused of providing safe haven and support to the colombian antigovernment Guerrilla Army organization fark venezuela has become a major cocaine distribution route used by drug. Flying through Central America or by sea and going through the bahamas and then on to destinations here in the United States like miami or new York New Jersey bought some more and philadelphia among other ports like the us invasion of panama and arrested men well noriega also accused of Drug Trafficking in 1909 the trip administrations indictment among dural is being seen as an effort to remove him from power perhaps even by force whether or not the u. S. Indictment of madeira and the naval presence in that region is a precursor to an invasion remains to be seen but it is clearly shining a spotlight on madeira and venezuela socalled cartel of the sons for our t. V. John. You know its amazing to me that you see whether its venezuela or even iran over the middle east that play right now at a time of imminent danger to citizens at home the word were worried about Nicolas Maduro whether or not hes a drug trafficker that seems ridiculous to me we always have a habit of finding someone else to attack and someone and another group to demonize you probably already know how i feel about the war on drugs in general the global war on drugs it is even more problematic and there may be some issues with the under which he might think that people could admit to that but the United States basically going out on an all out drug war in the midst the bit pay a debt a Global Pandemic is its not the right time its not the by place and i think that my comments towards towards donald trump and what were seeing happen there are extremely poignant at this moment. Really and whats what blows my mind is you really want to stop the drug war you want to you want to crack down on drugs i have an idea and the prohibition of narcotics and the prohibition about because guess what thats the only reason the only reason that you have violence around the drug war is because its illegal because you know people criminals are running it you take that out of the equation and suddenly you dont have a problem anymore but this you know element of saying oh were. Go after but as well to me its just you know its using the drug war to promote regime change but like under cover of drug war you know its like well we didnt like the guy but lets like drum up some charges against him just so we can quickly remove him from office while everyone is distracted with the absolutely i think that that is that hit the nail on the head specifically because everyone right now news cycles are covering the pandemic 10 pandemic 247 no one is really talking about this and any time you bring up drugs you bring up gangs you bring up weapons and then it is often used as a reason to not have your actions question because nobody likes drugs gangs and attacks of course but you know and nobody likes a but the but lets also lets also be real about the drug war for a lot of communities across this country thats the only option they have for economic its a liability theyre got so its tragic about it the shadow economy is the only economy thats reaching into their neighborhood saying they will bring their jobs will bring your money will be able to pay so your family can eat thats the real tragedy of the entire drug war to begin with and instead of supporting a global metric of. Development for a lot of these countries that are central and south america who are falling to gangs and drugs same as communities that are fall into gangs and drugs right here in the United States this president and i would argue Congress Members as well arent doing enough to support and to build these areas up no theyre not and we still have to remember too is that most theres also been theyve not theyve also brought forth any actual Hardcore Concrete evidence of this alleged cartel thats but operating out of venezuela apparently from the president down. But in fact most u. S. Data says that a small fraction drug routes do run through but as wayland but most of them run through our ally colombia and mexico and things like that venezuelas small amount list so thats why i mean its really just kind of stinks to me at the end of the day over hey everyones talking about pandemic lets lets move over and see if we can depose but while were at it. And no one will raise too many questions because if we did this when people were worried about getting sick then there might be more questions about that kind of resilience regime change and theres always time for it. All right as were going to break remember that you can also start watching the hawks on demand through the brand new portable t. V. App which is available on smartphones through google play on the Apple App Store by searching for double t. V. Or stream most to your t. V. By downloading the portable t. V. App which is on apple t. V. And online at portable t. V. Ive said t. V. A lot but thats what you should be watching is portable t. V. And it will be available more and more devices coming soon coming up we discuss the fight for equality in the Health Care Industry for the L G B T Q Community in the time of colbert 19 with Preston Mitchell as your professor of law at Georgetown Law Center stay tuned to watch the. Join me every thursday on the alec simon show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business im showbusiness ill see you then. Is youll be via reflection of reality. In a world transformed. What will make you feel safer. Isolation or community. Are you going the right way or are you being lead somewhere. Direct. What is true whats his face. In the world corrupted you need to descend. To join us in the debt. Or a maid in the showers. The l. G. B. T. Q. Community is disproportionately affected in our Homeless Population theyre being discriminated against and work in educational environments not to Mention Health care and access to quality care the child administration and the Republican Party have consistently refused to allow the equal rights act to see the light of day denying much needed support for this Underserved Group and the harsh reality for americans is that minority groups are 2nd class citizens for l. G. B. Team members of society covert 19 has brought their daily realities to the forefront even in a Global Pandemic there is little News Coverage of how this particular group is affected considering the barriers to Health Care Access members of the community are at great risk according to recent polling 72 percent of the population expressed concern about the impact of coronavirus on them and their families their concern is valid america has a long history of discrimination against groups specifically game in and trans women and even when these brave individuals are stepping up to help others in need they are reminded of their 2nd class status in december of 2015 the f. D. A. Ruth a lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood to a one year deferral period for any man whos had sexual intercourse with another man this ban was in place where god was of the fact that all blood irrespective to soul Sexual Orientation has to go through rigorous testing now lets be honest the ban doesnt make much sense considering it only targets came in what about heterosexual women and men who engage in risky behavior with multiple partners are they any more safe. And now amid the covert 900. 00 out break as calls for blood in plasma donations rise and blood banks find themselves at a crossroads to meet the growing need the f. D. A. Rethought its stance on blood donations the new guidelines reduce the donation deferral period for sexually active gay and bisexual men from 12 months to 3. It shouldnt take a pandemic boy quality and lifesaving support to reach the forefront of american consciousness could become all of virus be a watershed moment for l g b t rights and advocacy here to tell us more is Preston Mitchell writer in abject professor of law at Georgetown Law Center welcome present. And you drag me. Its really fascinating when you look at the history of the f. D. A. As treatment of gay men i mean originally they were banned from giving blood donations back in the 1980 s. And with the hiv aids epidemic weve come a long way since that era not only in our