At the ripe age of 100, Henry Kissinger, one of the most controversial, noteworthy secretaries of state and arguably war criminals, has passed. He made it to 100 because that's the way the world works. [00:00:17] Doesn't make any sense, there's no rhyme or reason, there's no baked-in ethics to any of it, but he made it to 100 and he has now passed. You can see a photo of him right here. Now, at a time like this, when someone who has been so big in American politics for so long, it is important to give them credit for [00:00:33] what they were able to accomplish. He advised, I think, 12 presidents. And so we're gonna be critical of him, obviously, but I wanna give him credit for some of his most important contributions. So he helped prolong the Vietnam War, that's great. Expanding that conflict into neutral Cambodia, [00:00:49] facilitated genocides in Cambodia, East Timor and Bangladesh. Accelerated civil wars in southern Africa, supported coups and death squads throughout Latin America. And according to one analysis, can be fairly directly given the responsibility for the deaths of 3 million plus people, [00:01:06] that's a lot, I mean, that's very difficult for anyone. Veteran war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody said, there were, quote, few people who have had a hand in as much death and destruction, as much human suffering in so many places around the world as Henry Kissinger. [00:01:23] And just I'm not an expert on Henry Kissinger's life or anything like that, and there's amazing books in journalism done on his record. But I will just say that it would be a difficult task, not impossible, but a difficult task, to come up with many more people who were more responsible for [00:01:40] more suffering, death, devastation than Henry Kissinger, and perhaps even harder than that. It would be almost impossible to find someone who had done more damage and had expressed less regret through the course of his incredibly long life than Henry Kissinger. [00:01:56] For his whirlwind tour around the globe of supporting almost all of the regressive horrendous violent political movements piling up mountains of corpses. Thanks to his direct advocacy and direct control, so bye. [00:02:14] Anyway, Jordan, what do you think? Henry Kissinger finally died. >> Speaker 1: Why the evil ones always live so long? That's my question. >> 100 years old. I'm not gonna hit 50, and he reached 100. >> Speaker 2: I'm just going to start to accept the baby blood-drinking conspiracy [00:02:30] just because that's the only thing that makes sense anymore [LAUGH]. [CROSSTALK] People live forever. Yeah, why not? At this point, just prove it. No, but on a serious note, yeah, sure, we're celebrating this guy died, but nothing changes, and he still accomplished everything that he wanted, [00:02:48] and that's the frustrating part. There were no checks and balances, there was no accountability for anything that he did, anything he supported, anything he lied about in Congress, even the week that the US was doing it, under his guidance or instruction, including in Chile. [00:03:04] Just lying about US involvement, the week of no remorse, like you said. And yeah, it's always fun to celebrate when evil people with terrible legacies die, but more often than not, it's at the end of their life surrounded by family and [00:03:20] peace and quiet, with having no punishment for anything they did, no trial, no persecution, nothing. And that's frustrating. And it reflects a systemic problem that people like that can go their entire lives committing unspeakable atrocities, unspeakable acts of violence, killing [00:03:39] in this case, and being responsible for millions of deaths around the world. Governments overthrown, leaders tossed out, people tortured, long-lasting generational effects because of one person, and nothing happens. [00:03:55] And that's a systemic problem, we have a system where the powerful elite celebrate, defend, welcome that person and protect them for decades. It paves the way for other people like him, like Elliot Abrams, never gonna face any [LAUGH] real repercussions for anything that he's done. [00:04:13] He's still getting government positions, he's still in prominent positions, he still got access to people in power. So, yeah, it's good he died, but nothing ever came his way that would punish him or even slightly frustrate him for anything that he did. [00:04:32] >> Speaker 1: That is true. Thank you, Buzz Killington, for pointing out those unfortunate truths. Yes, Now [CROSSTALK], you're keeping it real, you 100% are. And there are some people in the audience, I love you all, who believe that, sure, [00:04:47] he didn't suffer any consequences before his death, but perhaps after it, there is something, some formulation of an afterlife where he will face some sort of judgment. I, unfortunately, can't fall back on that, but this is one of the few times where kinda wish I could. [00:05:03] Unfortunately, I can't. So, yeah, he did what he did, he was criticized for decades, and I think, as time went on, more and more people understood who he was and what his real legacy was. But it never, as Jordan points out, really mattered all that much, aside from some [00:05:22] student protests and a couple of critical documentaries as late as, 2016, Hillary Clinton was still like, yeah, he's my good friend, he's my inspiration, he's why I wanted to get in this. Jesus, and was still getting awards and giving speeches and [00:05:39] going to dinners and living it up, basically, despite a truly historic level of devastation all over the world. And meanwhile, if you steal some cigarettes, you could get gunned down, if you run a light and you get the wrong cop who pulls you over, you could be shot [00:05:58] in your seat, you could suffer lifelong consequences for almost nothing. And it seems like I think, Eddie Izzard sort of pointed this out, it's like once your crimes reach a certain turning point, we just don't have the capacity mentally, emotionally, certainly, [00:06:15] in terms of government, the judiciary, to really take stock of it. [MUSIC]