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 My Sh*t Take on Russell’s Sh*t Take on Congressional War Profiteering

Originally posted to Reddit Saturday 19th March 2022

Ok, so this is pretty much something I already posted in reply to someone else asking what I thought about Russell’s video of March 18th “You couldn’t make this sh*t up”, about war profiteering by members of US congress. I thought I’d share as a new post, just to bask in your approbation and opprobrium.

Russell’s sources: 

[Benzinga](https://www.benzinga.com/amp/content/26063227)


[Business Insider](https://africa.businessinsider.com/politics/american-made-javelin-and-stinger-missiles-are-heading-to-ukraine-at-least-18-members/fvp7k4z.amp)

[Prospect](https://prospect.org/power/another-possible-congressional-stock-trading-loophole/)

[The Intercept](https://theintercept.com/2022/03/10/ukraine-russia-nato-weapons/)

Original (kinda) post as follows:

Not his shittest take, but still up to his old shenanigans.

1. Why not post links to the sources in the description? It’s such an easy thing.

2. Cherry picking within the stories. He doesn’t mention the objections from within congress that are reported. Ilhan Omar and AO Cortez were both quoted. And the proposed bipartisan legislation to ban trading of individual stocks isn’t mentioned till he shits all over it at the end of the video. Also doesn’t mention those who sold their shares before the war, presumably to avoid conflict of interest accusations.

3. Stochasticism: Russell is a neutral party, but is only going to talk about things that would appear to delegitimize western efforts to support Ukraine.

4. Provides cover for Putin. Yes, war profiteering is absolutely obscene, but it doesn’t happen without a war! Russell continues to build straw men that distract from the fact that Putin is solely responsible for this situation.

5. Strategic hypocrisy-  He can switch from pragmatist (Ukraine should surrender to stop the slaughter) to an idealist (practical legislation to reign in congressional trading is imperfect and therefore worthless). Ignore the practical realities of politics when convenient. Also “something, something, mainstream media”, while the only factual news source he used was Business Insider.

6. Personal hypocrisy. Accuses politicians of abusing their positions as legislators for profit, completely fails to acknowledge his own financial interests when using his, not inconsiderable, platform. A live performer campaigning against COVID lockdowns and restrictions? No conflict of interest there. It would also be interesting to see his own portfolio- I will bet that he does not practice either ethical or activist investing. Nothing gets between Russell and his money!

Russell lecturing about the misdeeds of other rich people is just so boring. He lives in a $5m estate in one of the wealthiest parts of England. He keeps another $3m property empty in LA. Want to help a Ukrainian charity? Open your doors to refugees.

Want to talk about how shit western governments are? Spend time talking about the UK government’s pitiful failures at sanctioning the Russian money swilling through London. The blatant xenophobia and shameful failure to take in refugees.

One thing of note: this video heavily implies that Russell’s YouTube channel is monetized. That is interesting.

By the way, if you are in the US, write or call your rep and senators to insist they support legislation that bans them from trading individual stocks. 

If you are in the UK, call or write your constituency MP to let them know you want to see Russian billionaire oligarchs sanctioned, their dirty money in the UK seized and used to fund relief efforts in Ukraine, their mansions  used to house Ukrainian refugees.

Additional resources:

[Senate Trading](https://www.quiverquant.com/sources/senatetrading)

[House Trading](https://www.quiverquant.com/sources/housetrading)

[Open Secrets - defense industry](https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=D)

I’ll be honest, I was surprised how FEW of them are profiteering, but it will get worse as disclosure time limits roll by.

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