Title: DeProgram Show with Ted Ra
Show: DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Date: 2026-03-04
URL: https://youtu.be/lSX5xFPy53c
Duration: 59:00

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[00:11] Good morning and thanks for joining us. It's Wednesday, March 4th, 2026. You're watching the program with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou. Sitting in for John Kiriakou this morning, John has some other stuff to do, is producer Robbie West. Robbie, thanks for joining us. Of course. It's a good day. I passed my cane got fried. So, this is a no matter what else happens. We will be talking about the Well, I don't know about no matter what what else happens considering that we're in day five of the US-Israeli war against Iran. So, a lot could happen that's very bad. Some

[00:42] of it economic. So, speaking of which we'll be talking to friend of the show Achilles Larrea. He will be of Larrea Wealth Management, financial and personal planning expert. He's going to fill us in on the state of the economy and what we can expect as oil prices continue to surge. Um stocks bounced back a little bit this morning. Uh we'll be getting into you oil prices and gold, silver, all that jazz. Um let's bring us up to date on what's going on just now. Obviously, the lead

[01:14] story is Iran. Um the Iranian state media is reporting that 1,045 Iranians have been killed so far by the United States and Israel. Iran's accusing the Israelis and the Americans of destroying Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tehran. That is by the way, if true, um it goes against international law and US law. We're supposed to be careful not

[01:45] to do that. Air raid sirens currently going over Bahrain. Um The US is advising all of its citizens to shelter in place or to flee the the East if they can, but it's very hard to do that given the fact that the flights are all closed and all the airports are shut down. The Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claims that the Iranians were not negotiating in good faith during right before we launched our sneak attack.

[02:15] Lots going on also. Basically the the main story here is about Iran's strategy for survival. Basically it's like the TV show Survivor. They have to basically outlast and outwit the United States as long as possible. Even as the US is trying to mop up their navy. The US just destroyed an Iranian submarine in the Indian Ocean or at least they're claiming that they did. Probably did. And the Iranians meanwhile are going to

[02:45] close the Strait of Hormuz and the US on the other hand is promising to escort US vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. I don't know what that would look like. Turkey says that a missile Iranian missile headed into its territory was intercepted by NATO defense systems. So what does that all mean? And finally the but certainly not well actually penultimate and so so not not last and not least

[03:15] Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba Mojtaba is the current frontrunner to take over his murdered father's job as supreme leader of Iran. Meanwhile over in Texas we were all watching the results of these Texas primaries. On the GOP side things are a little bit boring. It ended up basically being a neck and neck result between the two Republicans. But on the Democratic side there's some drama. Jasmine Crockett never a stranger to drama was

[03:47] going in went into this election heavily favored to win 56 to 44. Polls were running in her favor. That would be a hard, if not impossible, lead to over-uh come. Yet, James Talarico, who's sort of the centrist here, uh ended up defeating her 53 to 46. Um right before this happened, the Supreme Court ruled against her campaign's request to give Dallas County voters an extension because Republicans at the very last minute decided to move all the

[04:18] Democratic voting precincts away from the normal place where they were located. Used to be that Republicans and Democrats voted side by side in Texas during their primaries. That's what Texans are used to. Uh they basically decided to uh have it so that a lot of Democratic voters showed up to their customary polling stations only to find that there was no place for them to vote. Obviously, you have to assume that some of them were discouraged and decided like, "Screw it. I'm not voting." Um and so, you know, I mean, Jasmine Crockett, I don't really

[04:49] I I don't care for her or against her, but it does sound like she has a credible case that she was cheated. Anyway, um and we have uh Achilles joining us at 9:15, Robbie. We have a big pile of questions in the Aha slides. As usual, please like, follow, and share the show. Please put your questions into the live chat on YouTube and Rumble. Uh if you're just joining us, uh John is out today. He'll be back tomorrow. We're here 9:00 a.m. Eastern time from Monday through Friday. Well, that's a whole lot

[05:19] of I get accused of talking too much on the show, but there's a lot of health to it. Um okay. Let's talk about I always let John decide where we're going first. So, Robbie, you get as the as today's John, you get to decide where we go first. Um good news first. Okay. >> I have I have no problem with good news first. Uh the the fact that Apache McCain lost his primary, uh that that uh that that gives me the warm tinglies almost almost to Jeffrey Toobin level as

[05:52] an American >> to explain exactly who you're referring to and what happened here? Yeah, so uh Dan Crenshaw was a congressman from Texas from a very conservative part of Texas. And uh he was elected and long story short the guy went full neocon right out the gate. I mean, he just got the he he has gotten bed with the special interests. Uh he called he said that he would kill Tucker Carlson on on a hot mic because

[06:22] Tucker dared to criticize um all of the wars that uh that Crenshaw supported and uh because Tucker uh criticized the Israel lobby that of course pissed off Dan Crenshaw even more because he's a wholly-owned [ __ ] of the of the uh Zionist lobby. There's no other nice way to put it. Um the guy was a representative for Israel in in

[06:53] Texas, not the Texas people. And seeing him get shown the door is fantastic. It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, it does not matter if you are a Republican, you should be rejoicing today. Um let's talk about the Democratic side cuz we have a lot of ground to cover before Achilles joins us. Um let's talk about Jasmine Crockett's um accusations. Uh I know some people might take issue with my characterization of Jasmine Crockett as like sort of she's sort of a

[07:24] progressive. She's not really a Bernie Sanders AOC progressive, but she's certainly an aggressive Democrat. Um the DNC clearly did not want her to be the Democratic nominee in this race. Um and uh so they decided to back Talarico and um you know I have to say I watch a read a lot of polls I look at a lot of results I've been around a long time I've never seen a lead like this evaporate literally in 48 to 24 hours before have I mean

[07:56] I smell a rat. It could just it could be a rat it could be that the polls were wrong. I mean we have seen that happen before that what happened with Oh yeah I mean look at I mean Hillary Clinton was supposed to be was pushed to be coronated. And it said she got wrecked. >> She was expected to win 52 to 48 and that didn't I mean that's not I mean I mean so she she didn't but the point is that's like a two-point reversal at most. Here you're talking about like you

[08:27] know a you know basically a God I'm trying to do the math here a nine-point flip I don't know. Well also I wonder you know if they were just pulling very heavy Democratic areas I I've wonder if they just were victims of people drinking their own Kool-Aid and the other thing it could be is whoever the pollsters were contacting there is the possibility that they said yeah I'll vote for her because if they said they wouldn't they'd be afraid of being called racist.

[08:57] So I wonder if that plays into >> but I mean you know these polling organizations are pretty good. I mean the idea that I mean pollsters can be wrong in a tight race but this wasn't a tight race Robbie I mean and then we'll move on but I don't know I mean I know she got wrecked. And look I think look you can't ignore the factor that the Republicans literally moved the ballots. I mean so I mean logically if you have two candidates one's severe one's really in the lead you suppress turnout and the people who hate her probably there were

[09:28] a lot more emotions against her than for her people who who supported her probably just weren't that excited about Talarico but maybe not that excited about her. I don't know. I mean, we need some Texans to chime in on this. You know, I maybe we can get some into the chat. Robbie, before we move on well, before we bring in Achilles who I don't see yet anyway. We're expecting him in a few minutes. Let's talk about Iran. So, the basic actually we should do some

[10:00] questions because Iran is going to require like a further expose I say. So, let's go ahead and get into the hot slide. Well, actually we have a This is why we need three people doing this show. Yeah, we really do. Okay, so we have there's a super chat in in today's in YouTube. Where are you? Where are you super chat? I saw God, I just saw it. It's so

[10:32] annoying. I'm looking for it, too. Oh, there it is. John Cusack, one of my favorite actors. Thanks for the 999. If and when do you think Iran will use sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz? Do they have the small boats required? I do think they're going to they're going to mine the straight. That is a violation of international law, but this is war. And at this point there you know, I think they're going to do that. Now, the thing is the US is as Trump threatened, the US is steadily

[11:04] involved in trying to degrade if not destroy Iran's fleet. Iran's fleet isn't that big a deal, but they only need a few boats to to block this the straight. Not to mention they can shell and launch missiles from shore. So, you know, they can do this. They can close the straight very easily even without any naval vessels whatsoever. So, I think that is going to happen. Also, reports are breaking out of this is from Elliot, of NATO shooting down Iranian missiles heading for Turkey. Could this

[11:35] be a false flag intended to get NATO to attack Iran versus Article 5? Robert >> Oh, they're they're probably just trying to fly over Turkey. Like they're they're probably aiming for uh no uh Jordan or someplace like that. So, going over Iraq look that like what they normally do. They're probably just trying to a different trajectory. I I did I did think that. Either that or it could be an overshoot also. Or it could be or it could be one of the militias there in northern Iraq that shot the missile. I mean, who the hell knows? Uh

[12:06] uh Adam, probability that Iran runs out of rocket launchers for uh missiles and drones within the next 7 days? Gulf countries have good poker faces regarding stockpiles. Interested in our takes. Um well, I mean, they we are obviously targeting those. The US and Israel are targeting those launchers and uh obviously they're taking them out as much as possible. The Iranians are going to disguise them and move them. But, I think uh you know, what happened in the West Bank with Hamas shows that you can continue to launch rockets even in your in a from a heavily degraded situation.

[12:38] Yeah. And also with drones, you don't need those the those big honking launchers. There's that. And just one thing about the point that you brought up you know, about mining the Strait of Hormuz being a a war crime. You know what else is a war crime? Blowing up a girl's school. Committing a genocide. Uh we went full Pearl Harbor Japanese style launching a sneak attack during negotiations. So, if there is any country on the face of this earth that has zero business whatsoever clutching its pearls and

[13:09] pretending like it cares about international law when we uh uh are the self-proclaimed owners of a rules-based order. Uh sorry. Uh that just doesn't hold water with me. All right, there's Achilles Larrea. Uh he is the CEO of a of Larrea Wealth Management and a friend of the show. Good morning, Achilles. How are you? Good morning, guys. How's it going today? Um well, I'm I'm doing better than the stock market. Um maybe so So, basically, um you know, the the cliche Achilles is always that

[13:40] war is good business. Um you know, this is it always stimulates the economy. That's how it you know, World War got us out of the Great Depression. And yet, almost immediately, as soon as the uh missiles started flying into from the US and uh Israel into Iran, um the securities markets around the world started to respond. Uh mostly negatively. Overwhelmingly, um stocks tanked about what, 2.2 full percentage points yesterday? Um and the uh the only exceptions were,

[14:11] unsurprisingly, energy uh and uh defense sectors. Um I was very interested in the fact that gold and silver also fell, tumbled on the news. Usually, there's a flight to um you know, precious metals in in times of instability. But, um and then, of course, oil prices are skyrocketing. Uh when I checked before I went on the show, oil futures showed um that uh the per barrel price was already up. Right now, we're at $74.27 a barrel. Um that's way up. And um so,

[14:43] you know, some analysts are predicting $100 a barrel prices. That could, of course, trigger global inflation fears. Um Break it down for us. What Why is Why don't the markets like this war? Let's actually take a step back, okay? And we're going to talk about investor mentality and how decisions are made and what managers are talking about, and there's a lot of misconceptions, okay? Absolutely, you're going to have oil

[15:14] going up. Absolutely, you're going to have commodities going up. And you could see that in a very short period of time. Yeah, gold and silver went down. That's a you know, that's another thing that could go up very quickly. War is good for business. I've always said that. I I I you know, I've always believed that. We if we as a money managers will say to ourselves, there are striking opportunities in these areas. But the money has already kind of

[15:46] been made. You know, here's something that you know, not everybody's going to tell you, but I'll tell you. You know, the money was made I want to say 2 months ago when certain institutions got into it. You know, you getting war war doesn't just happen in the moment, although many people believe it does. There's been a significant build-up by the United States heading in this direction for quite some time. >> Which we've been talking about here on this show. So it's a it's a it's a it's a coin flip at this point. You know,

[16:18] before that point where if you're going into that area, you say to yourself, you know what? I got 50% chance that I'm going to be right on this and I'm going to make some serious short-term money. And a lot of houses do that. So and this is how they stay in the business, you know, making money. Now, let's also talk about the defense contractors. The defense There's always a war going

[16:50] on somewhere on the earth. And that will continue. So your Lockheed Martins, your RTX's of the world, Raytheons, your Honeywells, you know, all the companies that produce this infrastructure of the war machines per se are going to benefit greatly and we saw that. But inversely, what takes a tumble? Cyclicals. What What are other areas,

[17:22] you know, that are just not You know, there's a big distraction. Technology is still the best place to be. What does this do, guys? This creates a distraction. So, you know, yesterday I was going in and buying again. And this is why we always keep a high cash position at Luria Wealth because there's always opportunity here. And you go in and you buy it at a deal, you know, high-quality stocks, technology stocks, or the like at decent prices.

[17:53] You know, there's going to have to also be a rebuilding of sorts. Who do you think is going to be there when the rebuilding starts? You're going to have companies like John Deere, you're going to have companies like Caterpillar. They're already acting like growth stocks right now. They're very out of character making money, you know, and I'm not just saying this to you know, talk about those stocks as per se, you know, what I'm really getting at is that positioning yourself

[18:24] in the your portfolios to take advantage of world events will enrich you over a long period of time. But, most people are emotional. Most people don't have the savvy to know all this. Some people do. I would say less than 10% honestly. But, now the talk is, guys, as I said at the beginning, oh, I'm going to go into commodities. Kind of late to the party, you know, yeah, you might make 2% to 3%, you know,

[18:55] but you're not going to make much there. If you had been there 2 months ago, all of a sudden you made 10 15%. I have a question for you. It can lead Absolutely. So, now you're talking, now And I hear what you're saying about the about the investing class. Now, the people who've got money, who have invested in the stock market. But, what do you have to say about the people who live paycheck to paycheck? Who are not in the stock market? I mean, Trump ran on a strong economy bringing back good paying jobs. He has failed

[19:27] completely, totally, and utterly with with that. Inflation was already creeping up before this all started. So, if you're just concerned about now, how am I going to pay the bills this month? And then we go and we start a war without congressional consent, without without our president even trying to get the approval of the American people. He's not trying to sell it. And now we're seeing energy prices go up. That's going to trickle into everything. Um how does normal people factor into this? Do they

[19:58] factor in at all? Do people like me factor in at all? Yeah, absolutely. >> or we just or we just [ __ ] No, no, no, no, no. Okay, first we have to step back, Robbie. We have to talk about mindset. Okay. Right? This is something that a lot of people don't understand. 20% of your pay should go to your 401k. If you can pull that off. Pre-tax is better if you have a regular standard 401k. All right? 20%. Why do I say such a high

[20:29] number? Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, it sounds like a lot. >> not going to be any matching for most employers. Correct. And more more importantly though, why do I say such a high number? Because then you can start thinking about, you know, there are certain communities in the world who have followed this model for years. It's proven. They live simply. They do not do any extemporaneous wasteful spending.

[21:00] And they are able to put money away. So, talking about mindset, that's very important. That's the first step. The set you know, I'll just uh I'll take a a business owner for example, right? Like myself. A business owner has been struggling for years. And then he changed his mindset and he said to himself, "Well, I'm not happy just doing the bare minimum."

[21:31] Have you ever done the bare minimum on something athletic? Oh, every day. >> [laughter] >> All right. I was an athlete at one point and let me tell you, bare minimum gets you nothing. Yeah, I I I got you. It's the same thing when it comes to your money. You have to treat it with reverence. You have to treat it with significance and the fact that you're going to make money over the long period. Now, whether you do this within your 401k or whether

[22:03] you do this otherwise is not the most important part. The most important part comes from and this is really from my karate days, from discipline. You have to discipline yourself. You know, let's just say I said 20% but even if you put away 5%, that's better than 0%. You know, and this is >> like the first when you said that, the first thing I thought of is I know people are watching and thinking, "Oh,

[22:33] if I put I don't know, 5%, 10%, 20%, whatever, uh you know, assuming I have it to do which is like not most Americans. Most people are living uh you know, hand to mouth for sure. Um but uh if you have if what if you put that money away, then it all gets wiped out in some stock market crash. Then you're like, "Well, why did I put that money away when I'd have been better off just you know, put why did I invest in my 401k? Why didn't I just put it you know, into my albeit low interest savings account or keep it in the mattress or

[23:05] whatever. Okay, let's take that apart, all right? If you're going to put it in the mattress, you get your you're guaranteed zero. If you put it in the bank, you're guaranteed to lose money every single year. Inflation is higher than the savings rate that you're going to receive. >> higher. Yeah, so you need to seriously consider going back into the market while certain prices are low. When these events happen, guys, you have to take advantage of it. You can't sit by idly. You have to put more money in and not

[23:38] you know, damn the consequences. I'm not saying not to pay your rent. I'm not saying not to pay the significant bills that are recurring every single month. I'm saying that the money that you would normally spend to go out eat, you know, you might you might eat once or twice a month, right? But take one of them, you know, one of those instances or tighten the belt, all right? This is nothing new. And when people tighten their belts and really concentrate on the positivity

[24:09] that comes from putting a significant amount of money away, yes, you must have a cash reserve, absolutely, right? But when that cash >> There's a risk, always. There's risk in anything. You walk across the street, there's risk. Right. >> But the market's risk reward ratio, the reward is much better than just keeping it under the in the under the mattress, than keeping it in a money market account. Money market is great. I'm going to tell you when it's

[24:39] the only time I think it's great. When you're going to go make a significant purchase. That's the only time. All right? So you're putting money aside for like a down payment on a home or something like that. Right, you know, and then you get your paid 3.7% and the like before you actually purchase the home. All right? So, that's one instance. Or you go to buy a car, or you're going to buy something specific. >> term. Yeah, it's for the moment. All

[25:09] right? >> let's talk about the crisis. I'm sorry, but I do want to get this I mean, I know that's what our um our viewers are going to want to know about. I mean, so how do you see you know, how do you see things playing out here with this conflict? You know, what kind of timeline you know, what's going to be you know, what sectors how are the various sectors of the market going to respond? And I'm really curious about this gold and silver thing. Why didn't gold and silver go up? Yeah, um let's take this apart. If we're talking about conflict time, who knows?

[25:42] You know, the talk is 1 month, talk you know, it could be 6 weeks. No one knows. No one knows at this point. However, Iran does not have an unlimited supply of munitions. You know, versus the United States. >> Neither did Afghanistan, but they kept us bogged down for 20 years. Well, you know, there's a lot of ineptitude and uh you know, a lot of bloated uh wasteful spending that occurred in Afghanistan. We're not going to a ground war yet. Now, if we go to a

[26:13] ground war, then war starts becoming more expensive. If we can you know, wait this out and keep doing what we're doing particularly, you know, with minimal uh ground forces, then you know, I could see this lasting a very short period of time. And honestly, we don't need to be the uh policeman of the Middle East on this. So, that's one aspect. >> Well, it does look like that's what um that's the direction that we're heading

[26:45] again, right? Uh well, yeah, policy aside, let's talk about gold. All right? The reason why gold didn't move Gold has experienced a significant upturns. Gold and silver, actually, have experienced significant upturns in a very short period of time. What You know, the gold bugs, as I call them, whenever there are periods of uncertainty in the stock market, gold and silver tend to go up, not in tandem, but they

[27:15] tend to go up. However, that uncertainty is unfolding in the market. And in this particular case, I think that what's happening with gold is that we're seeing a bit of a correction taking place there, which is normal and part of the their market. Uh the gold investment, per se, is still a very good investment. I don't believe it should be more than a certain

[27:45] percentage, you know, 2 to 3% of any given portfolio at this particular point, because it's important to have it, but it's not important to bet the farm on it, Ted. So, that's my feeling towards that end. What other sectors are going to benefit from this? Aerospace, absolutely. You know, um so, your uh as I mentioned before, your Honeywell's, Raytheon's, and uh Lockheed Martin's of the world, they're always going to benefit from this.

[28:15] >> a big What people don't think about a lot, I think, is that wars like this are a great It's a unique opportunity for real-world testing of new weapons that are online uh and new weapons systems that are normally only can be tested theoretically, but here they have actual battlefield applications that can be used to be you know, marketed to uh new customers. I think that's one of the You know, we saw that happen in Ukraine with the first truly widespread drone war.

[28:46] Yeah, I agree with you completely. There is so much opportunity to test out munitions that have not had the opportunity. Absolutely. And this in turn creates that market for those munitions. And this in turn creates a another income stream that will come into these companies. Absolutely right. So, I have a question. Just kind of just bring this back to Main Street and away from Wall Street cuz that's that's where I live. I'm in a little quote-unquote town in the middle of nowhere, Montana.

[29:17] And so, it's I I get to see it. Uh a lot of the ranchers who I know, they're getting concerned because as the price of oil goes up, the price of getting feed to their cattle is going up. The cost of them selling their their their their product is going up. The cost of everything is going up. And the the concern that I have is that I understand that war is great for business. I mean, it's famous the famous saying is that war is the health of the state. That that's fine.

[29:48] But, when it comes to people just trying to figure out how you're going to live month to month, this is a disaster for them. Or am I wrong? I mean, gas prices going up 30, 40, 50 cents a gallon isn't going to affect somebody who's making a couple of million dollars a year. But, if you're making 30 or 40 thousand dollars a year, that's a crisis. And if you're using credit to buy your groceries, which a lot of people do, unfortunately, it's just our society we have, you can't save because you have to pay

[30:19] on that credit card. And those groceries are more expensive in part because they they cost more to ship to your local store. >> And everything goes up. Oil prices, yeah. Yeah, well, everything goes up. And tariffs and and the like. You know, there's no dearth of or lack of expenses that could come to bear. Now, if you just go back 13, 14 years ago, we had oil prices spiking up. People deal with these issues however they need to. Now, the Wall

[30:50] Street Journal just had a article today saying that there's a record number of people raiding their 401k's right now. And that is absolutely true. When times of crisis hit, that's one of the first places to go. So, you know, and then as you mentioned, credit cards, with credit cards being, you know, 28% to 33% or higher, you know, that's another place people are going to go to. Um this but once again, it's mindset and short-term thinking because you're doing

[31:22] whatever it is that you have to do to survive and not thinking of the long-term damage that you're doing to yourself. And you know, I I would just go back and say to yourself, "Hey, you know, is this absolutely necessary necessary or can I hold off and weather the storm to a point?" Yeah, I guess we don't know what how bad the sport the storm is going to get um economically, obviously. Um last question, Achilles, um where do you

[31:55] feel oil prices going? I mean, and it's just a, you know, it's just by the way, the market just opened um and we see some uh recovery. It looks like uh the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up about 0.13% right now. Um so, there's a little bit of profit taking. Um Anyway, where where do you think uh you know, how how how high will oil spike uh due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and all that? Well, I the question now becomes how is

[32:26] it really closed, you know, is it uh how affected the strait is in terms of that. And is the United States, they say we're going to start escorting tankers through the straight. You know, how effective that ability is. So, the question now becomes if those two factors are occurring, then we could see a very modest move to the upside. Remember, oil, you know, when it goes up, always dramatic at the

[32:57] beginning at the pumps. But, you ever notice that it doesn't come down as dramatically once the the emergency's over? Yeah, the downward pressure is always slower. Um exactly. >> Although, you can get some settling. Um we did see it if enough time goes by. >> [snorts] >> Yeah, you know, we're looking at probably anywhere between a 10 to 15% move on the upside. However, we'd see it going Yeah. Well, I mean, we're talking from the start. You know, so we're already into that. Yeah.

[33:27] >> Right? So, you know, does it have more legs to go on? Who knows? You know, I can't take my crystal uh oil bowl out and tell you. >> [laughter] >> Well, if you can't, give me a call. Not that it would Not that I have spare money lying around. I'm going to go play the lottery if that's the case. But, uh you know, that all kidding aside, yeah, we're looking at probably another move, you know, 3 4% more. Uh if this gets resolved through diplomacy,

[33:58] you know, I mean, diplomacy has you know, take a look at the United Nations. The United Nations has stopped major wars have occurred on many fronts. But, let's just say for argument's sake, diplomacy starts getting a foothold into this, you know, with the different Arab nations involved and the like. Hopefully, that takes root and we can come to some sort agreement. But, if it doesn't and this becomes prolonged and the ground troops get into there, then

[34:28] we're going to face some challenges. And it wouldn't be crazy to say, you know, beat oil being $85 a barrel and the like. But, I also want you to remember and consider that oil has been a commodity that has been depressed for quite some time, Ted. So, this is nothing that is out of the ordinary. It's just that when these events occur, they are most certainly challenging. They hit as Robbie would say, hits the pocket book

[35:00] right away and you feel you know, and we're already feeling it at the grocery store. We're already feeling it at the you know, the gas stations. How much more can we take? And this is the time where you really have to say to yourself as a consumer, do I need this or do I need to be more strategic about my expenses? Because that mindset of being strategic will help you immensely

[35:31] when you're making your day-to-day decisions. Achilles, thank you so much for joining us. Achilles Larrea is the CEO of Larrea Wealth Management in New York City. I will have you back soon, I'm sure. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so Robbie, if we have an ad, let's go ahead and get that ad when you have a chance. Um >> Yeah, I'll go ahead and do it now. Now, that's actually a good segue because I had a a commenter ask if we have angel investors. I'm going to go ahead and answer that right now while I get this pulled up. Our angel investor is you, the viewer.

[36:02] We have no corporate backing. We have got no one with deep pockets backing up this show. >> And we have and to be very specific, we have no financial relationship with Achilles whatsoever. None whatsoever. And the listen, the the fact of the matter is is that this show >> like it. We got to know We got to know him on Sputnik. So, you know. Yeah, I mean Yeah, and 100% and I mean you can agree with them, you can disagree with them. Personally, I do disagree with them. I

[36:32] think that this war is going to be a disaster for the for the worker, but it is important that we all have different views. Yeah, wealth management always relies on having wealth, something most Americans don't have. Most Americans don't have savings. I mean, you know, it's like you have to have spare money lying around after you pay your bills. Most people don't. A lot of y'all hate my guts because of my stance on immigration and nationalism. It's okay to have people on that you disagree with. It's a good thing. It's a good problem to have. And that that adds up now, Ted. Yeah, thank

[37:04] you very much. I'll go ahead and do that now. Hey, hey, so still haven't tried 1775 coffee? Well, I know Robbie has cuz he drinks it every day. Now it's your shot. 1775 starter kit just dropped. Only 1,000 units. You're getting the bold dark roast that hits hard, the smooth medium roast, and the vitality mushroom coffee for clean energy and laser focus. No crash. All single origin, small batch, toxin-free, and mold-free. Plus, you're also getting a gold spoon clip because freedom isn't scooped with plastic, a frother strong

[37:35] enough to stir up your coffee and your mother-in-law's opinions, and a black 1775 tumbler. $170 worth of coffee and gear yours for 99. This is for the ones who've been watching 1775 blow up on Rumble wondering if it's actually worth it. Spoiler, it is. Go to 1775coffee.com/studio and grab your starter kit before they're gone. Bold beans, clean fuel, and a morning routine that stands for something just like Rumble does. And seriously, I I don't I will ask John about this, but I'm sure I speak for the

[38:06] both of us to say that if we ever did, hopefully we will get a sponsor at some point, that would be 100% revealed and we would not allow that sponsor to control anything about what we had to say, our opinions about anything. Uh John and I, and Robbie, uh one of our major personality flaws is that we will not shut the [ __ ] up about what we think. Yeah. For at our detriment. Yeah, for sure. >> it it it happens. And I'm I'm dead serious. Y'all listen to me.

[38:38] Just because you disagree with someone does not mean that person is your enemy. Your enemy is the Your enemy is the person who is in a suit working at some fancy bank, working at a lobby group, or is a politician in DC who is reaching into your pocket, stealing your money, and then wanting to send your your sons and your daughters off to go fight a war that we have no say in, that we have no consent in, that bends you over the table and screws you every single day.

[39:09] Just because someone has a different opinion does not mean that that person is your enemy. Talking money, thanks for the $5. Sorry to interrupt No, you're good. Robbie. Is China likely to push Iran to negotiate if this lasts past 100 days in order to avoid an energy crisis? Thoughts? Well, first of all, I do want to I'm glad that this question came up, Robbie, because there are reports that Iranian intelligence officials reached out through informal back channels to the CIA. I'm I'm going to ask John about

[39:41] this tomorrow. Um I know this is kind of like it sounds surprising and sketchy, but I know in the past this kind of thing has happened um to see if the US might be open to some kind of peace deal. Trump says, officially speaking, that he's willing to talk to Iran. However, he was talking to Iran before at the same time that he was attacking it. So, I don't know how much of that is to be taken seriously. My feeling is that the Iranians probably would not be wise to to engage in serious negotiations at this point. I

[40:13] mean, they did this They've already been through, you know, this is their third time at the dance. Um, you know, they they know, I think, that they need to inflict some pain on the Americans and on the on their Western allies. Uh, otherwise, you know, they're they're not going to be able to outwit and outplay and outlast the United States. Yep. And uh, shout out to Ray over there on Rumble. He dropped two $5 Rumble rants. Straight. Celebrating the ouster of Eyepatch McCain. So, great work to

[40:44] you. Thank you, Ray. Much appreciated. Um, so, let's All right. So, and thanks for the dollar on soon heaven. Much appreciated. If you're just joining us, it's 9:42 Eastern Time. And thanks for the um, Emirati dirhams from Umar Sheikh. 50 of those. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. Uh, your generosity is always overwhelming. But, if you're just joining us, Robbie West, producer, is filling in for uh, for the um, I don't say vacationing. He's working. John Curia. Who? John will

[41:15] be back tomorrow. Um, again, just please like, follow, and share the show. TMI show coming up at in in uh, at 10:00 Eastern Time. Um, let's talk a little bit Let's take some more questions, Robbie. Yeah. Let's just go knock out the questions in the in the time we got left. All right. Let's do it. All right. Um, good morning and thanks for the steady content info. Much appreciated. What potential paramilitary or military factions in the region might the US try to supply or support if they decided to go that route? Thanks again, guys, and have a good one. Robbie, um, my take

[41:47] here, and I've been, you know, mulling this story over, you know, I'm sure you have, too, over the last 5 days. I really think the most likely outcome here, and I'm not sure that it's one that the United States would view as an unhappy accident, is going to be civil conflict. I mean, Iran is an empire carved together Not it's not one unified culture. It's got a dominant culture, but it's got, you know, a Kurdish region region and a Zari region and a Baluchi region and you know, some of them get

[42:18] pretty spicy. I could really see when Central Authority starts to to weaken in Tehran which obviously they are now that armed militia groups, especially if they were supplied through back channels by the US CIA and other outside factions could start to break away and launch a civil war in Iran. I think that's the goal. I mean we only have two options really to replace the Iranian government. One, well, I guess three. Uh

[42:49] Uh the first one is just simply bomb them into submission. I don't think that's going to happen. Uh I mean it's it's an ancient culture. It's a it's a militaristic culture. They understand war. I don't think they're going to be going away. We can't bomb them into submission. Option number two is an American invasion. I cannot think of anything that cause that would actually cause more unrest here in this country than us deploying ground troops to go fight and die for Israel in a ditch in Iran. I just don't

[43:19] see it. So that leaves civil war. And I think that's what Biden is over going for and the question I have to ask myself and I mean this sincerely. I see a lot people in the chat say, "Well, Robbie, why are you supporting the Iranian government?" I don't support the Iranian government, but also is not my problem. My government is my problem. The Iranian government is not my problem. And to get to that question >> to say Saddam Hussein was evil and the United States should not have invaded Iraq. It is entirely possible to say you know,

[43:51] the two both the Democrats and the Republicans are evil. It is entirely possible to say that there are no likable characters in this play. The Iranian government is extremely unpopular. I've been to Iran, Robbie. I mean you know, people have been asking me over the last few days like how do Iranians feel? And like look, there's 92 million people, right? Imagine if you were traveling overseas and someone said, "Oh, what do Americans think about this or that?" You'd be like, well, it depends who you ask, right? Um but overall, you [clears throat] know, Iranians they are

[44:22] more secular and more liberal than their government and they don't want women behind veils. The the majority of them, particularly in the big cities. They want to drink. Uh they don't believe in Sharia law. They you know, they they they definitely would prefer a different government. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they want Reza Pahlavi back in charge. Only 21% of Iranians last year in a poll said they were open to some sort of constitutional monarchy. They didn't even talk about Pahlavi.

[44:54] Um and you know, and it doesn't mean that they want like a US to be a US puppet state. They're too proud for that. I mean, the Iranians I think most and then of course, it's true that the the government does have support in in rural areas. Well, one thing people forget about this. Persia was old when Rome was young. Mhm. Rome no longer exists. Persia does. Still going. So now, factor that in. Let's go into the next question. Yeah, let's do this this one's

[45:24] a great one for you, Robbie. I'm really glad that you're here for this one. The US watchdog Military Religious Freedom Foundation says it's received email complaints that US service members are being told that the war is meant to cause Armageddon or the biblical end times. Is this the new Crusades? And will it do more to unite Islam against the US? Um thanks for your thoughtful insight. I'll try to watch everything you appear on and am much better informed for seeing it. If you're a dispensationalist, yes. If

[45:55] you are >> explain. So a dispensationalist means that you follow John Nelson Darby and and what he laid out with dispensation dispensations which is like God works and he works off of a calendar and there's different dispensations of time. And that before Jesus can come back there's certain things that must be fulfilled like the temple the temple must be rebuilt because that's where the Antichrist is going to rule from. The Jewish state must be must be recreated. And these are these are

[46:26] things that dispensationalists teach. And that's one of the reasons why American evangelicals are so are so much in bed with Israel cuz they think that for Jesus to come back this has to happen. Uh as a as a Christian I can tell you right now Jesus does not need your help. He will come back when he's doggone good and ready and he does not need to come back because of a a nation that hates him and teaches that he is boiling in in semen and and a crap uh

[46:57] blows up at mosque. It's [ __ ] I mean so I mean do you believe these I mean I do believe these reports. I mean that Israel >> Oh they believe it. Yeah. I was I mean that's what they want. They want this to happen and will it would it unite the Muslim world against the West? I can't think of anything of anything greater that would. Um Paul is asking what do we know about a bio weapons program? Do they have one? There's they might but there's no evidence whatsoever. Um let's see. Hearing the two of you talk

[47:29] let's see. Uh some of some suggest that the US backing the Kurds to fight in Iran. How do you think this affects their somewhat autonomous autonomy in Iraq position in Syria and what would Turkey think? Um I think that I think the Kurds are not going to form a unified front. The Kurds are divided across the you know these different borders. They there is you know obviously they're the same people but they don't they don't have the same internal governance. >> [snorts] >> Yeah I I think that the the Kurds are a pawn.

[48:00] That that's what they are. They they're there to be moved around and sacrificed. I don't think anyone has any interest in helping them set up a state. Turkey's opposed to it, Iraq is opposed to it. The Iranians aren't going to give up any of their territory for it. And I mean, why would they? Um let's see. There's some question um Okay, so all right. There's another question about that. Um Earthquake in Iran today, was this a nuclear test? What happens if Iran nukes Israel? It was not a nuclear test. That was

[48:31] probably not >> Um they're not nearly close enough to test a nuclear weapon. Uh that and also Iran is very seismically active. They get a lot of earthquakes. Yeah, well it's that also they're kind of getting bombed and they're getting bombed with bunker busters. So I mean those can definitely trigger some seismic activity. If you're >> Yeah, well that's true. And when I was in Afghanistan, um I was um woken up in the middle of the night and when my window broke, a window that had survived several years of civil war, uh when uh a bunker buster was used 26 miles away.

[49:03] And uh the the earth shook. So you were right about that. There's a seismic effect at all. Um do we believe the Adrian wants to know, do we believe that the Western world can sustain a protracted Middle Eastern conflict? Uh I don't see anyone, especially in my Gen Z generation, looking at a future in the military. Would a draft be something you could see coming back? Speaking personally, I'd rather be shot or locked in prison than fight BB's war. Well, good good thinking. Um I don't think a draft is coming back. I mean, you know, the draft was forced

[49:35] upon the uh US military. They didn't want it. I mean, sorry, a volunteer army. They did They wanted to keep the draft. They went out kicking and screaming. Now they would never want the draft back because the volunteer army is great for them. Uh you know, people who they're not having like people like me aren't having our kids drafted and sent to wars we disapprove of. The only people who are going are volunteers. And so there there's a higher level of enthusiasm or at least passivity. Well, you're a student of history. I mean, remind me, Ted, when when was the first

[50:07] draft in the United States initiated and which president initiated it and what happened in New York City when he did? Uh that would be Abraham Lincoln, your favorite president. And half the city burned down in the draft riots. So was it 1862? I want to say. >> 1863. It was So I mean let's not pretend that the government actually gives a crap about what we want. If this war gets big enough, yeah, there'll be a draft. And and our kids will be ones paying the price for the ineptitude of our government. Uh so um what role should India play in

[50:39] this conflict? Stay out. That always wise. Um was Ali Reza Arafi selected on this from um and then killed requiring another selection that yielded Mojtaba Khamenei or was Ali Reza Arafi disregarded entirely? Or if so, why would the Assembly of Experts ignore Ali Khamenei's wishes against his son being selected? Um you know, it's impossible to know these deliberations. They're I mean, the

[51:11] Assembly of Experts building was bombed by the Americans, right? So they're in chaos over there. It's I think I I think maybe one day we'll find out. Um Yeah. >> Um do we think this bad war could eventually cause Democrats or Republicans to finally grow some balls and stand up to Israel in the future? Yes. I hope so. Um Gavin Newsom of all people um just yesterday made some news by saying that he could see cutting off

[51:44] all aid and financial assistance to Israel under a new some presidency. I would vote for him just for that. And I just and you know my politics, Ted. You know my You know my politics. I would vote Listen, I would vote for anyone on the promise of telling Israel to piss off. That's enough for me at this point. That's enough. Here's a good question from Jimmy. How closely do the decisions of Netanyahu and his administration

[52:14] represent the Israeli population? Um closer than it should, right? I mean, like when I went to Israel the first time in the '90s, um it was a country that was like a good half of the population or a little more, they were, you know, they they were liberals. They wanted to live side by side in peace with the Palestinians in their own Palestinian state. Um those people are gone now. They've been radicalized or they've left the country.

[52:45] They're like 5% of the country. Um everybody else, they're all I mean, if you can even see the anti-war protests, the anti-Netanyahu protests, they were complaining that Netanyahu wasn't doing enough to get the hostages back. They were not complaining about the way the Palestinians were being treated in the apartheid state. Um the Israeli people are highly Netanyahu tolerant or I I would say, uh if not fully in agreement with him these days. I I have a question for you, Ted,

[53:16] because you've been there, I haven't. I just don't know. Has the right-wing shift in Israeli politics has that largely been influenced by all of the Russians and Ukrainians uh who went to Israel back in the '90s and the early 2000s? Like did they push Israeli politics to the right through demographic change and I mean, is that what happened? I think that's part of it, but not maybe not all of it. I mean, I think what really happened was that the right-wingers kind of won the

[53:47] argument by, you know, they by building the security wall, right? Once they built that wall, sort of there used to be like in the in the '90s to board a bus in Jerusalem was to take your life into your own hands. You never knew if it was going to arrive without being blown up. You want you know, you want to pop into a cafe to get in Tel Aviv to get a latte, you didn't know if you were coming out. Um they built that [ __ ] wall and um and they basically, you know, created the apartheid state full-on and it really greatly reduced

[54:19] the number of PLO attacks in Israel. Um I hate that it worked uh not to say that I'm pro-terrorism, but the point is this proved effective in terms of the right said but you know, the right was like we kept you safer. Let us do our thing and people love safety, I think more than anything else. They care about their own personal safety more than they care about justice for other people, especially people from a different ethnic group. Yeah, I could see it and uh just to reply to a comment that Robbie is gay.

[54:51] Listen, I am the gayest person you're ever going to meet. I am happy. I'm one of the happiest people you're ever going to find in your life. So uh that's not an insult. I am I I am as gay as you could possibly be in the old-school [snorts] traditional uh definition of that word. Very happy. Three minutes left. Let's do a few more questions and Robbie, thanks thanks for filling in for John. Um Clay Dellinger, to young Americans who feel like they're starting to wake up to the complexities of foreign affairs and the corruption at home, is there specific advice you would

[55:22] give uh external news sources seem like a start. 100%. Yeah. Um external news sources are definitely a good start. Yeah, uh question everything. Uh verify, verify, verify. And if you're especially feeling social media >> Like when we had Akilies Luria on earlier and people were like, "Wait, do you guys have any financial ties with him?" That's a good [ __ ] question and you should be asking questions like that. 100% and that's not a bad thing. Questions are not bad.

[55:53] Uh what one thing that I would that I would recommend that that you look for is if you're seeing all the big influencers and they are all saying the same thing Yeah. They're they're getting they're getting talking points from someone. Yes. It's a good idea to balance things out with people who you agree with and people who you disagree with. That way you won't fall victim to your own confirmation bias. I'm a right winger. It'd be very easy for me to just surround myself with right-wing

[56:25] influencers. Conversely, two of my two of my best friends are lefties. It's a very good thing to have your feet firmly in both camps and don't be afraid to ask questions and learn and admit that you're wrong. 100%. Uh Goon7956, was the Iranian girl school really hit? Yes, it was and you're going to say, "Ted, how do you know?" The reason I know is because there's no question about there's the people who are best situated to oppose it, to say that this was a false flag, that the Iranians did it themselves, or that it didn't happen

[56:55] aren't saying that. The There's no denials coming from the US or Israel Israeli government saying that this didn't happen. That those denials wouldn't mean that it didn't happen, but when there's no denials everybody's on the same page, yeah, it happened. Yeah. Um How long do you think the UAE, Saudis, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman will keep accepting getting attacked by Iran and getting their economies hurt? There's There's back channel calls right happening right now between the Trump

[57:25] administration and those countries and they're trying to decide like, you know, you know, whether they should or can get involved, those countries have a problem. They uh oppose Iran on behalf of Israel, but their their people don't. And so, they have to That's the needle they have to thread. Yeah, I agree with that. And monarchies, contrary to popular belief, even the monarchies, dictatorships, They care about public opinion. Well, because if they don't, their heads end up on spikes. Uh

[57:57] That That's happened to the French. >> Even Nazi Germany, they used to have uh Hitler had spies in cafes and bars all over Germany to find out what people were really thinking. Even if if if Adolf Hitler had to care, everybody's got to care. Everyone, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for watching the program with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou. 9:00 a.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. John was out today. Robbie Weston was filling in. Thank you so much. Thank you, Achilles Larrea. Thanks everyone for your support. Please stay tuned. We'll be back tomorrow. John will be back. Uh please stay tuned for the TMI show with me and Mel O'Malley Chan,

[58:27] and Robbie will be there, too. Take care, all. And uh oh, and uh let's see. Uh how are we going to do this? Oh, yeah. Here we go. >> [music]
