Title: DeProgram Show with Ted Ra
Show: DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Date: 2025-08-28
URL: https://youtu.be/86XYgK4nal0
Duration: 69:00

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[00:00] There you're watching the program with John Kiryaku and me Ted R. It's Thursday, August 28th, 2025. Thanks so much for tuning in. Please like, follow, and share the show, >> John. Nice to see you there. You're looking good. >> Good to see you. Thanks, man. I'm in um I'm in the Shannondoa Valley of Western Virginia where it's gorgeous, so beautiful. Oh my god, it's fantastic. Ice some friends. >> I once had spent an entire month just driving around West Virginia just because and I really was happy I did it. I mean, it was like a state that I

[00:30] didn't really know much about or had not I I'd only driven like from a lot from Dayton to New York through that little sliver near Wheeling of like I think it's like 12 miles across or something. >> Yeah, you're in you're in and out in five minutes. >> Yeah, it's very strange. Uh although, you know, Wheeling's got a couple of good restaurants at least. >> All right, so let's get to it. Uh we're going to be talking about um couple of stories out of Israel. Um I was heartened to see that there's a growing draft resistance movement uh reserveists who are uh refusing the call up to the

[01:02] ID uh into the IDF. Some of them are just tired and don't of the war, but some of them are resisting because of moral reasons. Uh we'll get into that. Um 40 to 50% of some units are no-shows. So it's kind of a big deal. Uh NPR has a piece that's really worth reading, although very disconcerting. We'll talk a little bit about that about basically the Biden administration's role in facilitating, creating, and expanding the genocide and the famine in Gaza. You

[01:34] can't possibly read it. And bear in mind, this is NPR. Uh they you can't possibly read it and come away and still defend anything that Joe Biden did. Um then, uh really interesting story, John. I want to get your take on this. uh person buys a a lady buys a TV at at Walmart, turns it on, and she's looking in some total stranger's living room. >> Huh. >> Yeah. What is up with that? >> Very strange. Uh Tulsi Gabbard uh burned

[02:05] a CIA officer. Um, looks like it was an accident, but I'm I'm sure sure he'll >> remember in my case. >> The judge said that she would not respect mena that it didn't matter if it was a mistake. If you did it, you did it. Her exact words were, "Mr. Kiryaku, you either did it or you didn't do it." And I think you did it. >> She went to law school. >> That tells you a lot. >> Very strange. Um, and finally, Russia's being accused of uh sending spy drones

[02:38] over Germany. So, we'll get into that. What What do you What floats your boat the most right now? >> I'll tell you, I'm the most interested in this Tulsi Gabbard story. Last week, and we've mentioned this a couple of times here on the show. Last week, Tulsi uh fired 37 CIA analysts, all of whom had something to do with the national intelligence estimate, saying that the Russians had interfered in the uh presidential election. Uh we know that they didn't interfere in the presidential election, but she fired all 37 of them. And we even said on the show

[03:10] last week that this is career ending because not only did she fire them, she revoked their security clearances. Right? So, if you don't have the security clearance, you might as well not live in Washington. Just just leave. Go back to whatever part of the country you came from. Okay. She listed those 37 people and the names were carried everywhere in the media. In fact, I even said on the show that I recognized a couple of the names. I didn't recognize most. I've been out of it for 20 years, but a couple of the names were senior

[03:42] senior people >> who were contemporaries of mine when I was still at the CIA. Well, it turns out one of those people was undercover. And so by releasing their name, Tulsi violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1981, which is exactly why I went to prison. I was accused of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1981. Tulsi is not going to be prosecuted. Nobody should be prosecuted for that. It's probably illegal, unconstitutional,

[04:14] because it it um squaltches free speech. U the reason why it's on the books is that nobody's ever challenged it, including me, because it was like take the deal for two and a half years or get 12 to 18 years, and what are you going to do? You take the deal. So, >> and so the way it works, right, just to be clear on this, now you're out obviously because there you are in in the Shannondoa Valley, but could you now you don't have any standing, right, to challenge

[04:45] >> I do not have standing >> because because you're out. >> Well, no, because as part of the plea deal, I had to wave my right to appeal and so it's done for me. When when I got out of prison, Daniel Ellsberg called me and he said, "We've got to find somebody uh to appeal their espionage conviction so that we can get the Espionage Act declared unconstitutional." I said, "But Dan, nobody has standing. You have to

[05:17] have been charged with espionage, refused a deal, and convicted of espionage to be able to challenge it." And he said, "Jeffrey Sterling has standing." I said, ' That's true. He went to trial and clearly didn't commit espionage, but was convicted of it anyway. >> Please remind us who that is. >> Sure. Jeffrey Sterling was a CIA officer who um filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the agency, and they came down on him like a ton of bricks, accusing him of leaking information to

[05:47] James Ryzen of the New York Times, information about the Iranian nuclear program. I believe in my heart that Jeffrey is innocent. He has told me, he's looked me in the eye and said, I was innocent. I believe him. So I called Jeffrey and said, you know, Dan Ellburg called me. This is the idea that he has. And Jeffrey said, I I can't do it. He said, I don't have the inner strength to go through any more of it. I just can't do it. And I said, you're the only person who has standing. >> You hear that a lot in in these

[06:17] situations. Uh, I had several co-plaintiffs in the LA Times thing and several of them were like in their 60s and again the you know they just didn't have what it takes. They were just like I'm not strong enough and frankly anyone you and I both know what you go through. Yeah. >> And I didn't judge. I I I was like you know I I I get it. It could kill you. >> Yeah. Most definitely. I wanted to say one other thing too. I've told a story a couple of times and we've got a question

[06:48] from Rid about Martha Kesler. >> I was going to bring that up. >> Oh, did I ever reconnect with Marth Martha Kesler after she was fired by Brennan? Believe it or not, when I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was to log on to Man. That's that app where people ask you questions. Um, and I had a question and it was from Martha Kesler's daughter and she said that she was watching the Patrick Bet David podcast PBD and she said she was shocked when I mentioned her mother

[07:20] and so she's trying to get a fuller view of of who her mother was when she was at the agency in these senior positions. And so I'm going to set up a call with her. I was fascinated to get a to get a a text from her. Fascinating. But no, I never connected. I never reconnected with Martha Kesler. And she died in 2005. So I had just left the agency when she passed away. >> And also this this is of course a good question from Frasmataz. Uh could Scooter Libby have been prosecuted under

[07:51] the Espionage Act or whoever leaked Valerie claim? I mean there was a conspiracy. Dick Cheney was involved. >> Yeah. >> Well, it was it was Rich Armadage who was the um the deputy secretary of defense who leaked Valerie Pla's name. Not only could he have been charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, everybody assumed that he would be charged, at least with that, and in fact, he was never charged with any crime. Scooter Libby never leaked

[08:23] Valerie Plain's name. He was never accused of leaking Valerie Plain's name. He was accused of perjury, and that's what brought him down. >> See, this is the thing, though. That's a good question. This is the thing. The hypocrisy that goes into these decisions to charge. If you're one of the uh one of the swells, one of the inside people, you can say anything you want, but if you are an outsider, a dissident uh in any way, a truth teller in many respects, uh be prepared for a rough

[08:56] road. >> Yeah, that's a that's an understatement for sure. All right, so what happens? I mean, can this officer successfully sue to be compensated? I mean, the career is over. There's going to be lost income. Um, I would assume, right? I mean, you you you know, you you've just been burned. I mean, or do they just simply like in Valerie Pla's case, could they have just assigned her to something else, not undercover, and she would have been fine if she decided to stay? How does it work?

[09:26] >> Well, see, that's a good question, too. And that one's not easily answerable because not only was she undercover, she was under deep cover. She was a knock, a nonofficial cover officer. Meaning instead of saying, "Oh, this is Valerie Plane. She's a, you know, political officer at the American Embassy." It was this is Valerie Plain. She's a curator at the local art museum. And so it's a whole different kind of cover. It's one that you can't come back from. You know, there are people who are blown all the

[09:57] time. their cover is blown and okay then you know you're then you're sent to a country where you're going to be declared to the local service for example when Aldrich Ames um revealed the identities of more than a hundred officers they had to be the terminology is brought in from the cold >> so they could no longer be undercover officers in Russia where they were all assigned at one time or another but they could do the job in other countries countries in conjunction in cooperation

[10:29] with the local intelligence service. One of one of them was a friend of mine, Mark Polymoropoulos. Um he was in his first tour when Ames blew his identity and he ended up becoming the station chief in Moscow which was just like a thumb in the Russian's eye, you know, oh yeah, you you blew our officer, your spy blew our officer, now he's going to be the one in charge of operations against you. And he was. >> It's Yeah. I mean, do other countries roll as spitefully as we do? I mean like I think about even non you know espionage related stuff like like we I

[11:02] forget the guy's name but there was some Soviet dissident that here in New York City uh they renamed the street after him that the so that the Soviet embassy was on >> like Seniton Lane or something like >> yeah it was it was some someone else but yeah like that >> they they did that here at the >> other countries don't do that right I mean to >> yeah yeah they do >> oh really >> oh sure yeah they do yeah they'll they'll have like Malcolm X Boulevard in in Moscow and you know >> Oh, this is a good question also from Reed. Did Joe Wilson know about his wife

[11:34] being a knock when he married her? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Because in the old days, right, like basically uh you weren't allowed to tell your spouse and it led to a lot of, you know, they all a lot of divorces. People thought that their spouses were cheating and stuff. Is that basically right? >> Yes, that is right. And that's that's I I've told a story before where my my first wife knew that I was in the CIA, but that was literally all she knew. She didn't knew she didn't know anything else. She didn't know what I did all day long.

[12:05] >> She did it first and then just stopped asking. And then when um when 17 November um assassinated our next door neighbor and they left a manifesto saying that they had set out that morning to kill me instead of instead of Steven Saunders, the British defense attaches. They put me in an armored car and took me to the embassy and I said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute." I said, "I just dropped off my kids at school. I can't just go to the go to the uh airport." And they said, "No, we're going to pick

[12:35] up your kids. We're going to pick up your wife." So, they sent a car to pick up the kids, a car to pick up my wife, a team packed out our house. But when my wife got to the airport, I was already there. And she walked up to me and she said, "I want a divorce. I'm not doing this anymore." >> Oh [ __ ] >> And that was it. We flew home together on the same plane. >> Awkward. >> And that was the end of our marriage. >> And it was just she was just freaked out by the fact that >> you had this talk about

[13:06] >> Yeah. How was work? I'd say great. What'd you do? Nothing. Well, who'd you see? >> Yeah. Nobody. And then I go out at midnight and I don't come back until six o'clock in the morning. And then I just shower, shave, and go back to work again. And she's like like this. What was her name? Did you have a fun time? >> You know, stuff like that. And I'd be like, "Listen, I was meeting with an Iraqi dude. Do I smell like I've been with a woman?" And then finally when they tried to kill me, she was just

[13:36] like, "Uh, I'm done. No more." >> Yeah. Well, not everyone's along for that can go along for a ride like that. For sure. >> Um that's that's horrible, though. >> Uh for sure. Um I guess so. Nothing much. So, will will um this uh will this undercover officer, formerly undercover officer, will they stay at the agency or do you think they'll uh leave? >> Oh, no. They were fired. >> Oh, right. Yeah, they were fired, which which is like a double whammy, right?

[14:06] So, not only is your cover blown, but you can't even put on your resume that you were, you know, the manager of a mutual fund or whatever the cover was, >> right? >> Because you actually were managing the mutual fund. >> Yeah, they should sue. >> Weren't getting paid for it. >> Although, good luck suing. >> Yeah, good luck. Has anyone ever successfully sued the CIA >> in civil court? >> Not that I know of. I mean, there have been small, you know, sort of

[14:40] picky kind of victories like you sue for the right to sue, that kind of thing. >> Right. Right. Right. Stevie is asking if we should do it if we can do a Discord server. Um, my understanding is that Robbie um is working on that for us, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. So, >> it's a good question. We we need to be on Discord. >> Yeah. No, clearly. Um, yeah. Okay. Uh, wow. I I'm still a little bit blown away by that story. Um, >> oh, it was awful. And and Sodon Sin 232

[15:12] 24, thank you very much, man. Thank you for your generosity. He's got a good question here. Is Washington DC really the Game of Thrones with Trump as king and his cabinet as his lords of the land? because I'm kind of disturbed by the CDC firings, but the CDC personnel and staff are fighting back. I'm I feel the same way about these CDC firings. Uh but yeah, I think I would call it Game of Thrones. One thing that Trump understands better than than most um Americans, I think, is that you can do literally anything you want,

[15:45] even if it is patently illegal or unconstitutional because you know that it's going to be a while before the case works its way through the courts and you're ordered to take it back, right? So, for at least a little while, you can do anything you want. Look at this poor um what's his name? Abrego guy. Uh the the guy >> Oh, a Kilmar Albrego Garcia. >> Kilmar Abrego Garcia. This poor guy is constantly having to play catchup because the administration

[16:18] is going after him like every day knowing that it's unconstitutional, but they are willing to take their chances of being at being slapped down. yesterday he declared his um intention to uh apply for asylum in the United States. >> That was that was a nice slapback. >> Yeah. I just wonder um Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure how that works, right? Because he's suing and asking the judge I I don't know if a judge can grant asylum. I thought that was an administrative

[16:49] procedure through um >> the Secretary of State. >> HH Yeah. through uh Homeland Security. >> Um All right. So, let's let's talk about these uh surveillance drones while we're on the subject of espionage. So, I mean, you know, I'm old enough to remember when violating another country's airspace was considered an act of war. >> Yeah, >> that ship has sailed a long time ago since uh I don't know, you could say since Gary Powers or uh you know, maybe and or certainly the US has had spy

[17:21] planes and drones and satellites over well, satellites don't really count somehow. if you're high enough, it's okay. But but you know, um so first of all, I guess the question is, you know, with when it comes to Russia, uh you know, there's there's uh Russia, Russophobia is a real thing, you always have to ask, you know, is it there's a lot of paranoia. Is this real? Uh and if so, is it an act of war? And what, if anything, can the Germans do about it? >> Um well, I'm going to make an assumption

[17:51] here that that these were Russian drones. I would wonder how though they got over Germany because you'd have to either cross the whole of Poland to get there or if they >> apparently they were they were apparently launched from ships in the Baltic Sea. >> That that would make more sense to me. Um but um yeah, an act of war uh not so much as a violation of airspace, which the Russians do to us all the time in Alaska, for example, and we do to them

[18:23] with some frequency as well, as do the Norwegians, the Swedes, the Turks. So, yeah, it's one of those things that what you do is you have your ambassador go into the into the um Minister of Defense's office in Moscow and and lodge a formal a strongly worded diplomatic protest, you know, saying like to quote the Stooges, why >> I thought you were gonna when you mentioned the Stooges, I thought you

[18:53] meant Iggy Pop's first band. Um uh so, uh another Midwestern reference there. Uh so we have a question from Srod uh 9216. Have we talked about Sai Hersh and his London Review of Books article on Bin Laden raid before? >> No. >> Michelle and I did. >> Uh >> yeah, Michelle and I did. Um >> I'll preface this by saying I have a lot of respect for Sih. For whatever reason, he doesn't like me. And I once told him

[19:24] that's that's cool. We don't have to be pals or anything, but um we have a lot of friends in common, so we run into each other at these events. But um my problem with Sih is is it's it's an ongoing problem with a lot of what he writes. He is the only investigative journalist I have ever met who is willing to publish based on information from one single source. Mhm. >> And sometimes it's so great that he wins

[19:54] the Pulitzer Prize and sometimes it is so bad and so wrong that he is ridiculed and ostracized. I I saw him at a Christmas party recently and he mentioned that things had gotten so bad for him professionally that he can only publish in the London Review of Books. There is not a single American publication willing to publish a story by SISH. >> Yeah. And I always I always assumed that was the politics of it, but I mean he's been on the wrong side of the politics

[20:25] for a long time. >> Yeah. For a long time. >> So, okay. So, I mean, I guess two quick questions. U Bin Laden raid article. Basically, he argued that Bin Laden was taken alive and then uh basically Obama said basically gave the okay to have him whacked and then the and that basically the body was packed up and over the mountains of Wazeristan basically they they they threw him out out they didn't no burial at sea um you know just threw him out over the mountains uh you know bye-bye bye-bye Osama.

[20:58] >> Um so you're you're not buying that one? >> No, not at all. There were so many people involved in that operation who ended up telling exactly the same story except for the one detail that three different people took credit for shooting him. Um, too many witnesses, too many moving parts. And why would you just dump a body in the mountains for some tribesmen to find it and then >> that was my problem with that. >> Yeah. bury it at a place of, you know, veneration that's going to become a mecca, no pun intended, for uh for every

[21:31] Wahhabi fundamentalist in the in the Middle East. It does it doesn't make any sense. >> However, I will say that the uh Nordstream story >> Yeah. >> rung more true than not to me. >> I mean, certainly the official story uh that we're being told. Um that guy's a pathy, right? The guy that they that the that the uh is it the Germans who arrested him? Um uh well the Germans are going to are going to prosecute him and they uh the guy who's under arrest. I mean the yacht story like I'm a diver.

[22:02] That can't be true. It just can't be true. It defies the laws of physics. It's not >> exactly right. Oh my god. I totally agree. >> But the question is I mean of course uh that's not true. But is the Saiy story true? That's they could both be wrong. >> They could they could both be wrong. Yeah. It seemed kind of obvious to me that this was Nordstream 2 was an operation that required um not just real expertise and capability but state expertise and

[22:34] capability. >> That's what I think. >> Yeah. Yeah. And we have a question. Um did I need authorization from my former employer when I published my my u first book? It took me nine months to write the book and 22 months to get it cleared and they ended up rejecting 120 pages. So, yeah, it was it was hard. Everything I write, I have to send to them for clearance. But, as the years have passed since my um since my um arrest um and my

[23:04] detractors have either died or retired, uh it's gotten much much easier. >> What do you What do you make of the guy that they arrested? Uh, thank you. Thank you, Nadia Margaret. Uh, it it was he was arrested in Italy. So, you know, what's the story here? Is it possible that this guy actually had something to do with Nordstream, too, or he's just a [ __ ] psy? >> I can't imagine, Ted. I think he's a psy. I really do. >> All right. Yeah, we're we're on the same page there. >> We really do. And I feel for the poor guy, whoever he is.

[23:34] >> Oh, it's No, it's it's really not good. I mean, like, so it would you know, what would be the purpose here? Do you think the authorities could genuinely be misled and genuinely think, "Oh, this is the guy. We really believe this." Or is it like we're going to come up with a cover story and just arrest someone who is convenient for us to arrest? I mean, how does how do these things go? >> I I hate to be cynical and I and there's nothing I hate more than sounding like a conspiracy theorist, >> but I think that they found somebody that they could just take a dump on,

[24:05] somebody who could take the fall, and they chose him. Now whether he agreed to do it for money or he really is just a psy destroyed, I have no idea. But this just seems too convenient for me. Too convenient. I mean, and also I guess the other question is like why does the I mean obviously the German government decided to look the other way when one of their main sources of energy got blown up and and and it it [ __ ] up

[24:37] their people's ability to get affordable energy to heat their homes in the winter and stuff. >> Um I mean the you have to think that the German people would not be pleased about this >> but still wouldn't the heat have been off by now? I mean pun intended. You'd think you'd think that that these European countries would have fallen apart by now. It would have frozen to death during the during the winter. I remember. >> I mean, but I what I mean is the heat is on on the the political heat. Like, you know, in other words, like they're not >> collapsed governments. It should have

[25:08] collapsed governments by now. >> But they're like also kind of like at this by this point like why not just forget the whole thing and pretend like it never happened. >> I mean, it's been a few years. Why why stir it up as we always say, right? >> Yeah, it's it's always it's the cover. Yeah, it's exactly. Don't get in the way. The cover up, you know, it's the cover up that gets you in trouble. I mean, nothing says cover up like, you know, an al like a like a cover story. >> Yep. I agree. >> All right. Well, we we're gonna follow

[25:39] that with great interest. I mean, the other thing is it doesn't make any sense even with their own narrative that he acted alone. >> Yeah. So >> he can't have acted alone. I mean it's just so >> Well, he didn't do it. >> No. No. >> He's just a random Ukrainian. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean because I mean I remember just think Yeah. I mean we could get into the physics of it if you're interested, but uh do you dive? >> I took lessons in the uh in the pool of the American embassy in 1991. And then I went diving once in in the Red Sea at

[26:12] Chararmach, Egypt in like 92. And then I never went again. >> I mean, the thing is like, yeah, this this pipeline was uh I think at about 280 feet of depth. Um >> and so the thing is, right, so you can a recreational diver at most can go down to 130 feet, right? Like that's it. >> And it's dark and really really high pressure. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That 130 is really dark. So you do an aggressive descent like you basically go you point

[26:43] straight down you kick like crazy you get down there you can the whole dive is six minutes from there down and back. So you can basically go putter around for 45 seconds and you have to make your way up and do your safety stops on the way back otherwise you die of the bends. >> That's at 130 ft. Now, because it's exponential, right, 260 ft is not twice as hard. It's four times as hard, four

[27:13] times as much pressure, which means that your air goes four times faster, which means you would have at most a minute and a half to go from top to down to the bottom and back up. I'm sorry. You're going to have what? Two seconds down there. So during those two seconds, you're going to break the shell of the pipeline. You're going to install the plastique explosives. You're going to leave and be gone before that thing blows up. And that's at 260 ft. And it

[27:46] was deeper than that. It's just not possible. Um I had a a relative, my um cousin's husband, uh he was a professional diver in the French Navy. He used to go down to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and install the for the install nuclear weapons for nuke tests. Remember when France was still doing nuke tests well into like the early 80s? So he was one of those guys, right? And they would go down to like500 2,000 ft. But they use submersibles and mixed

[28:17] gases uh and you know and they have like 15 tanks like lined up side by side. I mean, it's a whole, like you said, state. It's a state enterprise, right? I'm not sure. I mean, maybe like BP can do stuff like that. You know, maybe the Nordstream guys could do it. Like, if you believe the idea that the Russians blew up their own pipeline, which is absurd, but but like basically it's just not possible. >> No. No, it's not possible. I agree.

[28:48] Can't do it. No. Well, all right. So, although I'm getting push back here from uh Spectrum says uh you can go to 56.6 meters, which is about what 100 that's about 200 feet maybe if you go with 1.6 P2. Okay, sure. Maybe maybe maybe. But anyway, this is 200 80 feet down. I mean, it's still there's no way. Not to mention the time that you need down there. That's really the

[29:18] problem here. >> Yeah. Um, well, Spectrum's still arguing. All right, I'm gonna do a deep dive on this. Pun intended. Um, thank you, Spectrum. Appreciate it. Um, all right. So, we shall see what happens here. Okay. So, um, Walmart, we're we're going in reverse order here on the on the on the uh on this on the stuff. So, I thought this was really interesting. So, um, this uh lady goes to Walmart. Uh she buys a uh a television set. Um she's

[29:53] a Tik Tocker, so that's how this ended up breaking up. Her name is Helen Bratton. Uh she said her friend bought a Roku TV. Apparently it was previously owned and then returned. You know, sometimes you do that like at a box store or whatever. Happens to me at IKEA all the time where it's like it was returned then like pieces are missing. That's always fun when you're putting the thing back together. Yeah. Um because the original owner never lo logged out of their account, the new buyer started seeing footage from inside a stranger's house. So apparently Roku,

[30:26] this is a quote, has this thing where you can go and look at the camera through the TV. So you can monitor your house and stuff through your TV. She explained about a week ago things started popping up at the bottom of the TV screen at some random person's house that bought the TV and returned it to Walmart. The friend couldn't log out because it required a password to log out. When she called Walmart, the staff told her that it was weird and advised her to perform a factory reset. So, um, basically the person had logged onto their account on the TV and didn't log

[30:59] out, but the video has now seen I mean this is kind of like crazy that they didn't do a factory reset. Yeah. and that the reselling is so common. You know, I think John about like all the times I stay in a hotel and uh I'll log into my Netflix or my HBO Max on the hotel TV. Uh and you know, I know they they have a thing good hotels like Marriott have an automatic reset where they turn it off. And I don't really care if people know that I've been

[31:29] watching I've been binge watching Banshee lately, but but like you know I mean this has some to me this has like these these companies like Walmart need to get more serious about privacy. >> Totally totally agree. They need to get very serious about privacy. And this is something that's easy to do and it's not going to cost Walmart anything. Just reset the TV. >> Well, it cost them some time, right? They're going to have to you're going to have to plug it in and and and and turn it off, but it'll take like, you know,

[32:00] five minutes or whatever. >> You know, I I live with a with a a gay couple. They're seniors and they they rent two rooms in my house. And uh when I came up to New York last week um and and saw you and and Sean O'Brien um I was up there for what was it three four days, Ted. >> I came back >> and these guys had ben binge watched every gay love story movie on Prime. So I go to I don't Prime and I'm like are

[32:35] you kidding me? I said, "You guys, every recommendation I have no movie is some gay love story. I tend to I I tend to focus my interest on on horror and um like award winners, you know, gives you the the title award." >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> That's pretty much all I watch. And documentaries. I watch a lot of documents. >> You can create you can get they can create their own profile on your TV. >> I said that's what I said. They said, "Well, you know, we we turned it on and

[33:06] it just it Prime just popped up." And I go, "Yeah, but you create your own profile." See where it says plus? >> The plus. >> You're the plus. >> The plus is for you. >> Months to to squatchch these gay love story. >> Oh my god. >> Yeah. That's kind of like what you know that those ads forreutation.com. Uh I was curious like what do they do exactly? So let's say there's something bad about you like uh you know whatever. uh Ted Ra, you know, did this or that. So, and that comes and all they do is

[33:38] they create new content and like flood flood Google with it. So, >> bad news down >> until then. That's all which you can do yourself. >> Sure. >> So, you don't really need them. >> Yep. Yep. That's right. >> So, that's what you have to do. Oh my god. >> That's what I have to do. It's like Thanks a lot, >> Michael broke back streaming. It's like literally I It's like I wish I could quit my algorithms, but I I can't. >> Well, I can't quit you.

[34:11] >> That's awesome. That's a true to totally 21st century problem. >> Oh my god, that's so great. Um, >> okay. Well, now that we're laughing, let's do let's talk about something less amusing. Um, unless you're Israeli, you might find it amusing. So, um, I actually did kind of find it amusing that, uh, finally, you know, I've been kind of deploring how long it's taken for there to be resistance in, you know, there used to be a really big liberal contingent in Israeli politics. That's

[34:41] right. And um, you know, I used to always tell people like, no, no, no, no, like a lot of Israelis are very cool. They they want the two-state solution. They want Palestinians to have equal rights. They don't like the current situation. But that had hasn't looked like the case for a long time. But now um some the so Netanyahu is unleashing this new offensive against what's left of Gaza City. Um 60,000 uh reserveists are being called up. But some units, I mean only some units, not all of them,

[35:12] are reporting 40 to 50% no-shows. That's a lot. Um soldiers are saying, "Listen, I'm I'm not into the genocide." Or they're saying, "Listen, this shit's gone on too long and I'm just done here." And you know, Israel famously isn't good at fighting long wars. And this is officially getting to be a long war. So, um, it's to the extent that you can even call it a war. It's kind of a one-way shooting match. But, you know, like someone said in the in the in the chat here much earlier on, the PTSD in

[35:44] the IDF must be off the charts. >> It's got to be. It's got to be just out of control. Yeah. And, you know, this has happened in the past. It happened um after the invasion of Lebanon where the whole country was gung-ho to go in there and just wipe out the PLO and then after they got bogged down, everybody just wanted to go home. >> You know, the PTSD really really set in. >> Um quick quick question here from uh

[36:15] Nadia Margaret. Could you explain a cutter's relationship with Egypt and why on earth the the cutteries would inject seven and a half billion dollars into the Egyptian economy? >> Honestly, to piss off the Saudis, the Saudis have a very close relationship with uh with Egypt. They have for a very long time, at least since the early 19 mid 1960s. And um and the Gutteries have a terrible terrible relationship with Saudi Arabia. And so any way that

[36:47] the guties can just can just get a get a jab in at the Saudis and vice versa, they'll do it. So knowing that the Saudis and the Egyptians are very close, the cutteries say, "Oh, we'll give money to the Egyptians and help the Egyptians." The Egyptians are, you know, Egypt is called um Adona, the mother of the earth, right? all Arabs, they say, sprouted from from Egypt and they know all it's going to do is piss off the the Saudis. The Egyptians are perfectly happy to take the money. The Egyptians,

[37:18] though, were so close to Saudi Arabia that last year after the Saudis were particularly generous with them. They gave Saudi Arabia this little tiny uninhabited island in the Red Sea as a gift to thank them. And the cutteries are like, "Yeah, let us try to throw a wrench into that and see what sticks. That's what it's about. >> By the way, Marcel is saying on YouTube, "Fireworks are sort of de facto illegal in in Israel because people don't use them because so many people have PTSD."

[37:48] I have to admit. Uh I have a little PTSD from Afghanistan and I don't like fireworks uh for that re exact reason. Um and um yeah, so yeah, Egypt can't fail. 110 million people, Houdini says. Good. True. Um so I mean we're going to see more of this obviously John um this is going to be >> it's going to have an effect um you know I mean and then also at the same time we have this article from NPR which is absolutely devastating right so

[38:20] basically um a lot of Democratic friends of ours I'm sure you had them too were saying look behind the scenes Biden's doing everything he can he's calling BB and asking to have food aid come in and there was devastating chart that they published that showed that prior to October 7th, 2023, uh typically about 3,000 trucks worth of aid and other uh supplies entered Gaza daily. Um that number plunged uh down to a trickle of

[38:51] just a few uh ever since then. It never got higher than 500 ever again. So obviously um you know we it's not surprising that uh you know you could end up with with uh you know with famine as we have. Uh and pretty much by uh April of 2024 they were uh the highest they ever went was 400 trucks a day. Um Biden meanwhile sent $18 billion in military aid to Israel. >> Yeah. Uh, and basically there was a

[39:21] split inside the administration between people, the upper echelon, which was like Tony Blinken, you know, basically [ __ ] the Palestinians and give the Israelis everything they want, and then the lower ranking people in the State Department who were pissed off and wanted the administration to lean to cut off arms and and or at least threaten to cut off arms. And so now um all told according to NPR 60,000 of the dead and so this is higher than the Gaza Health

[39:51] Ministry estimate um died of hunger 60,000 um mostly children >> uh and that this was and basically NPR lays this entirely at the feet of the Biden administration and now Trump for continuing it. >> Um and they talk about the silly performative stuff like the pier. remember that, >> right? >> And that's what it was performative >> and the airdrops. >> Yeah. >> But like but basically there was no willingness to and basically the Israelis behind the scenes including

[40:22] Netanyahu were constantly telling their American counterparts, we are not going to send anything in. Um Netanyahu apparently told Biden at one point, if I sent in even four trucks of aid, uh the IDF tanks would be pointing at me. Well, maybe we need to take the chance and do that. >> I'm okay with that. >> I'm okay with that as well. Yeah. >> So, I mean, so to me, there's a lot to unpack here. So, let's talk about Biden's legacy. Um, you know, I mean, I

[40:54] don't think anyone, you know, when Joe Biden dies, I think this should be at the top of his obituary. like, you know, that he he was a, you know, the the devil's assistant when it came to the the big the genocide of the 21st century. >> That's right. >> Um and um you know, I mean, how likely is this to stick to him? >> I think actually it will stick to him. History has has a way of evening the playing field. And I think that that in

[41:26] the end, this is what is going to be Joe Biden's legacy. And I think scholars at the same time are going to look back um at Joe Biden's very long Senate career and say even in the Senate he did nothing to help the Palestinians, hungry children, AfricanAmericans. I mean there are a lot of things that we can criticize Joe Biden on. This is this is the worst, but it's one of many. And I think, you know, in the end, he's

[41:57] going to go down in history as the equal of people like, you know, Calvin Culage or Benjamin Harrison, people who most Americans would say who, you know, having accomplished nothing or or even having made the world a worse place. >> Totally. Um, Matthew Blarazz, thank you very much for your donation, wants to know, "What differentiates Israel from

[42:29] other Western supported countries that commit atrocities?" >> That's a good question. >> Good question. It's >> And I have my and I have and I have the answer. My the for me the answer is as an American um the United Israel is the number one recipient of American foreign aid. Um, and it is our tightest ally in the Middle East. So when they when they kill is when they kill Palestinians, they do it with US weapons and US money and their economy is completely propped up by us. So we're helping. It's not

[43:01] like if if the uh Myanmar Ha kills the Rohhinga. That has nothing to do with us. We're not helping them. >> I mean, sure, we're not invading to overthrow the government, nor should we, but um but that's that's to me the main difference. Also, I mean, I do think the Israelis go about this with a certain, you know, ethnostate, apartheid sort of mentality that makes them particularly barbaric. >> I agree. And one of the reasons why that bothers me so much is that the the

[43:35] leaders of Israel, and I'm not talking about just Benjamin Netanyahu, but I'm talking about almost all of the leaders of Israel, whether whether they're cabinet members or Knesset members or, you know, the head of the water board for Hifa or whatever. They're almost entirely European. They're not Middle Eastern Jews who have been in that area for hundreds or for thousands of years. They're Europeans whose parents and grandparents immigrated to Israel and then they just

[44:05] declared it as their own. This is ours now. These people who've been here for all these centuries, they they have to leave. >> Yeah. But wait, John, you don't think it's okay? Like, so I've been Hey, listen. I've been gone for 1900 years, >> right? >> But I'm back, so scooch. Yeah, I'll take that house. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. >> Oh, and let me bulldo your uh your olive trees that have been there for 300 years. >> Yeah. No, I mean I I mean I think that's the I mean I think that that's the

[44:35] difference, right? Like primarily. >> Um also, uh Carter, thank you very much for your generous donation. Um really appreciate it. Um look, he's looking forward to your podcast episode with Dalton coming up. >> Thank you. You know what? Dalton just texted me um the trailer and I haven't I haven't looked at it yet, but one of the things I love about Daltton Fischer is he does literally everything himself.

[45:06] Ted, you and I couldn't do that. Robbie talks and I'm like, God bless Robbie because I don't know what the heck he's talking about. And he does exactly as he says he's going to do and he's very tech-savvy and very helpful and everything runs smoothly. I couldn't do that. And Dalton does everything himself, whether it's cutting and editing shorts or sound or lighting. His studio is in his childhood bedroom in his parents house. And he told me he spent $15,000

[45:39] to make it look like a legit professional studio. That's cool. does. >> It looks like you went into some, you know, standalone building that's just there to be a studio. It looks fantastic. He's taken this very seriously. >> John, this is I'm really glad we got this question because I really want to bring this I I really want to answer this. I'll let you have a shot at it first. A boreal defit also asked fairly or it's a commentary. It's the only democracy in the region by far, John.

[46:10] >> Okay. You Oh. Oh, no. No, it's not. >> Do you want to explain why it's not? >> Uh, yeah. Because only 6% of Arabs are allowed to vote. It It's It's not a democracy any more than Kuwait is a democracy where, you know, only people who can trace their lineage to the census of 1920 can vote. Or an Egyptian democracy where, sure, anybody can vote so long as you're not too religious.

[46:42] you know. >> Yeah. It's like no, I mean, so yeah, there's not. So, Israeli Yeah, Israeli Arabs don't have full voting rights. That's not, you know, we can start there. >> But honestly, I'm I'm going to I have to go to the occupation first. If you occupy for a long time, I mean, since 1967, vast swaths of territory. basically you control uh imagine if the United States half the population was basically occupied territory with stateless people who are not allowed to vote well those

[47:14] people are under your control it's not like a to me an occupation is temporary effectively de facto Israel has annexed these territories and um and it's been over half a century and those people can't vote so most of the people under your control inside your borders effectively can't vote By definition, that's not a democracy as far as I'm concerned. >> No, I I agree. It's not a democracy. >> Um, thank you, Fasmataz. We love and appreciate producer Robbie as well.

[47:44] Producer Robbie is uh off today, but he will be probably back tomorrow, I would think. Um, so, yep, much appreciated. Uh, yeah, Marie Lur says, "Egypt's more of a democracy than Israel. Yeah, >> they're persecuted by the US and Israel, but they are a people with equality among them. >> Well, I mean certainly they there are democratic trappings to to Egypt for sure. >> Yeah. >> I mean although I don't think Cece is going anywhere anytime. >> No, that's that's an ongoing problem.

[48:17] >> Yeah. >> Uh so who keeps buying this Husbara? We should talk about what Husbara is, right? So Nadia Margaret says, "So Husbara is sort of like it's a it's a Hebrew word for basically like in I think it means like to inform or to explain and um and basically it's a movement where that that uh is either organized or in some cases you self-appoint where basically supporters of Israel put themselves out on social media or wherever in any context they

[48:48] call into a talk show and they basically try to explain things from Israel's point of view. Um, and the effect of it is if you ever notice when you're swarmed online, when you make a comment by people who all seem to have similar talking points, you're being hazbared. That's what's happening. Um, it's it might seem like, wow, there sure are a lot of people out there who really love Israel, and there are, but the truth is it's very organized. It's not really as it's not that organic, really. >> Yeah. Yeah. You know, I was I I was on

[49:21] some podcast the other day and somebody kept saying in the comments like over and over again, "Don't believe him. He's a trained fiber. Don't believe him. He's a trained fiber. He fibs. Everything he says is a fib." I'm like, "Who the [ __ ] is this?" And then somebody else wrote underneath, "John, if you're reading the comments, ignore the bot." >> And I was like, "Oh, it's a bot. I didn't even think of that." And then the bot didn't respond to it and then after

[49:52] a while it just stopped. >> So annoying. Hey, so Drogram show fan says, "John, you've often said that the CIA regularly kills people. What does this actually look like outside of wars? Who does it?" >> Yeah, that's a good question. Um, they try to make it as clean as possible. I can't even believe I'm describing it like that. What that is is um a team will fly out. Let's say let's say

[50:23] they get an order to kill, you know, some Libyan cleric. I'm just making this up. >> Sure. >> Um they'll do it in several different ways. Um you can send in a team in the middle of the night. They parachute in, you know, to wherever, 10 miles away. They steal a car, drive to the guy's house, discreetly pick the lock, they they'll have somebody from the the agency's locks and picks team, pick the lock, they go in,

[50:54] and with silenced uh, you know, suppressors on their on their guns, they'll they'll just assassinate the guy. Sometimes they will uh parachute in or boat in, you know, in the middle of the night and uh snatch a guy, throw him in a van, and just drive to the airport or drive to the boat and, you know, take him offshore. Um sometimes they'll just walk up to him in the market and as they're walking past him, you know, scratch him with something, some kind of poison that will kill him in the next

[51:26] two, three, four hours. Oh, that's like the famous um KGB killing with the Russians involved. >> Do that. Yeah, the the Russians used to do that a lot and they taught the Bulgarians to do it all the way into the early 1980s. That was a favored Bulgarian assassination technique is, you know, >> you come you come home, you feel like you have a terrible terrible flu >> catching the flu and then you're dead the next morning. >> Yeah, Ryson's crazy. >> Yeah, Ryson's a plot point in in Breaking Bad, of

[51:56] course. Right. And you can make Ryson at home. I mean, you shouldn't do it because if you Google it, the FBI is going to be knocking on your door. Um, but you >> not to mention it's very, very dangerous because it's an alkyoid. So, if it get even a little bit, you touch it with your skin, it can get into you. >> Yes. Just like anthrax. >> Yeah. So, it's it's not Don't kids don't try this at home. >> Don't do that. >> Do not do this at home. Uh, okay. Um, yeah. So, thank you firmware for your

[52:28] donation. Uh, very generous as well. Israel has an entire government department uh dedicated to Husbara with $150 million budget. I 100% believe that. Uh, Peruse S wants to know on YouTube um, does the CIA andor other agencies actively search for compromat friendly countries just in case there needs to be some armbanding in the future? not that that was they were trending

[52:59] away from that when I first started at the agency. Um, in fact, that was a question that I asked in the operational training training in the late 1990s. And one of the uh one of the instructors said, you know, we only did that because the Russians did it so frequently, but we've found that it's just not really good for source development. If if you're developing a source and you want this source to commit espionage for you or commit treason for you or report to you from from you know a position in

[53:31] place in a hostile capital, he's not going to do it because you're threatening him, you're blackmailing him. He's going to do it because he loves you and you're his best friend or you're giving him so much money that he just can't say no. But compromat doesn't work. in training. One of the instructors told us a story about um about hiring a prostitute who lured an Iranian Ayatollah. Not a senior one.

[54:02] There are thousands of Ayatollas in Iran. This is back in, you know, >> what Ayatollah Ayatollahi, >> right? Exactly. This is around the time of the revolution. Um and and she took him into a a hotel room that was wired for audio and video. They had sex. the CIA took uh dozens of pictures of him. And then when he traveled overseas in the region to another country, they confronted him with the photographs and he says, "Nice work. I'll take two of

[54:34] those in 8 by10 and give me three of those in 5 by sevens and oh, can I have this one uh on a slide so I can put it on my wall?" And he's like, "You people, what's the matter with you people? you're not going to compromise me. And that was kind of the end of compromise for the CIA. It just doesn't work. >> It doesn't work. So what what happens if you use it? I mean, do people just leave or >> Yeah. They say, "Fuck you." And then they they >> so publish and be damned basically. >> That's super super interesting. Um a

[55:06] good question actually um in the feed. I hope it didn't get like pushed up too far here. Um, Houdini wants to know, "If the CIA has its own tactical team, why did why didn't they carry out the Bin Laden operation instead of SEAL, the Navy Seals?" >> Good question. They did. That Navy Seal team was on loan to the CIA. So, it was a CIA operation. >> It was directed by the CIA's counterterrorism center. And all of the

[55:37] Navy Seals were temporarily CIA contractors. >> Was there ever any chance that Osama bin Laden could have been captured alive and brought or brought back to face justice either at the Hague or in New York? >> Yeah. Yeah, of course there was. But Obama said in his memoir, one of his the three memoirs that um that he made the decision just to kill him. just kill him. >> Is that legal?

[56:08] >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. If illegal under US law, if if the president or the president's representative, who is usually the national security adviser or the CIA director, determines that a person is a clear and present danger to the United States, any American installation or any US person, which is an American citizen or a green card holder, >> you can kill that person legally. Yeah. But the president has to order it.

[56:39] So can so this is the um uh this is the holder argument right that basically >> exactly that's exactly what it is. >> So the president is like a medieval a feudal lord has the power of life and death over every other human being on planet earth. >> Correct. Isn't that awful? >> Um that shouldn't be. >> No no it shouldn't be. So what the CIA has gone on to do, remember, you know, the killing of bin Laden was what, 14

[57:10] years ago. >> Yep. >> Um they've developed a variety of teams. There are teams that belong to the counterterrorist center. There are teams that belong to what's called the Special Activities Division. Um and now there's something called global resources. And you can send any of those three teams or components of those three teams pretty much anywhere in the world to kill who you want to kill. Remember in 2011,

[57:40] I think it was, the New Yorker broke a story about John Brennan's what they called the Tuesday morning kill list meetings. So every Tuesday morning at 7 o'clock, John >> Yeah. John Brennan would convene a group of CIA people at the uh at the White House and they would come up with a list of people to kill that week. And so the teams would go out and do their killings and then they would all reconvene next Tuesday at the White House and hear who they're supposed to kill for that week.

[58:11] >> These are these are and these are the same people. These are the the the the normal people. Um thanks Angela for the donation. Marble, thanks for that donation as well. Marble wants to know, "What are the risks of a country if a country recognizes Palestine? What happens? There must be risk." I'm not so sure. >> I don't think there's much risk. I mean, >> remains to be seen. I think >> I mean, France is doing it, the UK is doing it, Canada's doing it, Australia is doing it. Maybe there used to be

[58:41] risk. What do you think? >> Yeah, I think there there probably used to be risk and this is what the Israelis have done economically. >> Yeah, sure. the the Israelis have overplayed their hand. Um, and I think it's because the US has pretty much put them up to it. Like, you guys can do anything you want. You can commit any atrocity, any crime against humanity, and you will never lose the support of the United States. >> And so, uh, I think they just assume that the rest of of Europe, uh, you

[59:12] know, and, uh, and Australia and New Zealand would go along with that. and they've crossed a line and now there actually is a consequence. >> Philip Blair has a question um or comment and I want to talk about it a little bit. Um I was I'm curious because I'm curious what you have to say, John. Just like Obama intentionally put Aaron Schwarz in a situation where he'd likely take his own life >> and he did. Aaron Schwarz is was a US citizen. Um so Aaron Schwarz um committed suicide. He was a uh basically

[59:43] a a a militant um pro- libertarian the internet information wants to be free guy. And this zealous Bostonbased federal prosecutor went after him for basically he broke into Jtore, which is the academic database um and uh hacked into it and basically released a bunch of academic papers, millions of them on the on his theory that uh information like that shouldn't be behind a payw wall. Yeah.

[1:00:13] >> Um he did a couple other things too, but basically he busted into the MIT um uh server. I know all about this because I was going to write a book. I So, you know, I have those those little tiny um graphic novel biographies of Snowden and Trump and Bernie and so on. And I my publisher assigned me to do Aaron Schwarz. And um when I interviewed um I tried to get interviews with his family members and people who knew him, no one would talk to me. They either didn't

[1:00:44] trust me or they um or or they just were too hurt and and traumatized by what Erin had done, >> right? >> So, um and so there was no there so I couldn't do the book. I mean, I was very frustrated because I was like, look, it's going to be a respectful treatment. Um the other ones were um and so, you know, it's kind of like check me out, you know. But anyway, the point is I did learn I did do a lot of research and I did a lot of interviews um with people who did know Aaron. Um do you think

[1:01:14] Aaron was pushed to su I mean do you think he was just a fragile guy who would have committed suicide anyway or uh you know is this kind of a pro a thing where the government sometimes pushes someone I I remember thinking that when the LA Times was going after me and they were declaring lawfare and going beyond just defending themselves. They were really [ __ ] with me and and pushing the pressure points that they would have really liked it if I'd taken my own life. Sure. >> They that would have been like a a major like toast down at the old boys club. Um

[1:01:45] you know, how do you think they view things like that? >> You know, when he um when he took his life, I gave an interview to Kevin Gustala um and Kevin asked me if I was surprised that Aaron had committed suicide. And I said, "No, I'm surprised that more people don't commit suicide." >> I said, "God knows I considered it and I actually had made a decision to do it." And I think my u my wife, my ex-wife now, um

[1:02:17] recognized it. I She She was going to go to bed one night and I said, "Oh, I'm going to I'm going to stay up and watch TV." And she said, "No, why don't you come to bed?" I was going to go to the garage and turn the car on and just lay across the back seat and she just would not let me stay up and she forced me to go to bed. So, she knew what I was going to do. Uh but yeah, I I think listen when they're threatening you with 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, or in the case of Julian

[1:02:48] Assange, like a hundred years, they don't have any problem if you if you commit suicide. It's one less It's one less piece that they have to >> pain in the ass. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was a a terrible terrible loss when when Aaron Schwarz >> and I would agree um about uh Fasmataz LA Times is a known government cutout for sure. Um you know they also helped to do in u what's his name from the um from the Mercury News. Um you know who

[1:03:19] I'm talking about Gary Webb. >> Gary Webb. Yeah. The LA Times was was up front there in terms of they couldn't find enough spots in his back to sink the knife into. >> Oh, yeah. And it was no coincidence that the Washington Post story and the New York Times story that just eviscerated him came out on exactly the same day. >> Yeah, they coordinate. >> Sure. Sure they do. >> Yeah. >> Um Okay, we probably should wrap it up. take another question or two, but uh >> uh how many people is it normal for a

[1:03:51] CIA case officer to recruit? Asks oi matey, how you doing? >> Also, what happens to you if you spend months on it and fail to recruit someone? >> Yeah, good question. >> Oh, great questions. So when I was when I was in Athens, my station chief pulled me aside one day and um and he said, "You know, I've been a I've been an operations officer for 25 years." And in my 25 years, I've recruited nine sources. And he made it

[1:04:23] to the senior intelligence service level four. Huge, right? Community leader of the intelligence community. nine recruitments in 25 years. He said to me, "You've been here two years and you recruited five people." And every one of those people was a badass. Let me tell you, dangerous criminals, killers. I wasn't recruiting safe housekeepers, little old ladies, to make sure that the safe house is nice and clean when you need to use it for a meeting. I

[1:04:54] recruited badasses. And I said, you know, it's the craziest thing. I just have a knack for it. Like I can I can well hide my disdain for a person. I may hate you, but you don't have any idea that I hate you because we're talking about whatever it is that interests you. We're talking about baseball. We're talking about, you know, the founding of the Popular Front for the liberation of Palestine or all the people that went to uh Batter and

[1:05:25] Minehof's funerals when they committed suicide and we could talk about the theater. We could talk about, you know, FIFA, whatever you want to talk about, and I will make it look like I'm your best freaking friend. And that and that's why I was successful. Um, I worked for a guy who made GS-15, which is the top grade in the GS scale, before you make it to senior service. God knew he knew he was never going to make secret to senior service. But in his 25 years, uh he made one recruitment one.

[1:05:56] And it was a guy who reported on Spanish wheat harvests when that used to be a thing back in the 80s. Uh he was a disaster and he made it all the way up to GS15 with one recruitment. So if you if you have quality recruitments, you're going to do just fine. >> Gotcha. So it's not just about like it's not like a cop writing traffic tickets. You just have to get the numbers up. Uh couple quickies. Uh thanks for the donation, Marble. Uh is Trump's cabinet

[1:06:28] the most unqualified cabinet in modern times? >> I'm gonna say I don't know. You know, there's been some We've forgotten about some seriously unqualified people. I mean, my favorite was uh Reagan's Secretary of Energy, Edwards. >> Oh, James Watt. >> He was a Well, that's that's the >> interior. No, no, that was interior. >> Yeah. James Watts, who actually hated the environment. So, that's kind of >> it. >> Edwards was a dentist who inexplicably was running the secret the Department of Energy. >> I forgot that. Um, and Reagan had that

[1:07:00] weird thing of putting um, you know, so let's see who didn't he have a a general as his secretary of state at some point? Um, or a >> Alexander H. >> Alexander Hey, right. He I think he was the first guy to do that. That's supposed to be the diplomat spot. Now we can't get rid of that. Coen Powell it afterwards. >> Yeah. Not since George Marshall. >> Yeah. >> It's very I always thought that was very strange. Um, you know, there's been some there's been

[1:07:31] some very [ __ ] up cabinet picks, but I don't know, maybe in the aggregate. Um, I don't know. It's it's hard to say. I mean, the American presidency is definitely a uh a study in entropy, >> and a lot of those real clowns um you know, that we know of from the Bush years. Um, you know, they they originated in the Gerald Ford administration like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. >> They came of age with Ford. That's true. So, I don't know if you technically we would call them unqualified, but also uh

[1:08:02] this one's a soft a softball for you from Myra Gomez. Any news on the book release, Mr. John? >> So, I so I texted my um my publisher yesterday. Let me find it. Yeah, here it is. I said, "Dude, don't forget about me. You promised me a contract by Wednesday. Today is Wednesday." This was yesterday. And he says, "I Here it is." his his response. He said, "I haven't forgotten. Back shortly working on it today." So, I want to believe him,

[1:08:35] >> but I don't know. >> You're like like Moulder. You want to believe >> exactly. >> All right, guys. We're going to have to say we're going to have to call enough deprogramming for today. But the good news is we'll be back tomorrow at five o'clock Eastern time as we are Monday through Friday every week. Now, thanks so much for joining us. Uh this is Please like, follow, and share the show. Thanks for all of your generous donations and uh we'll see you tomorrow.
