Title: Two More Weeks | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Show: DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Date: 2026-04-08
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya4mAb_OzQc
Duration: 3595

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[00:10] Well, look at us. We're still here and not dead. Good morning. It's you're watching D Program with Chad Roland and Jamal Thomas. It's Wednesday, April 8th. Good morning, Jamal. How you doing, man? You doing okay? Uh well, yeah. I mean, look, uh there was a deadline last night uh that Trump had set for uh the for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Otherwise, he said he was going to destroy their entire civilization uh to the point where people in Tehran were literally preparing them steeling

[06:55] actually, let's just say that you and I were Jarmal were assigned to the production team of the Melania movie, right? I mean, look, honestly, what are some of the basic things you'd do? You would go to Slovenia. You'd interview her neighbors. You'd show pictures of her as a little girl, as a teenager, as a young as a young woman. You talk about her career. You'd show stuff from her career like as a model and all that stuff, right? None of that's in this. Nothing. You literally have There's literally nothing about her background.

[07:25] We don't learn how they met. We don't know anything about I mean, and literally it's it's like a joke. I mean, there's a scene where the documentary the filmmaker is off camera and he's like you know, oh, it's incredible to be here in the White House. And he and Trump goes, yeah, it's just so great. And she's like, it's wonderful. And then she says, fabulous. It's like like you you just used ox- like a bug has fallen out

[07:56] of the air short of oxygen cuz you just said those words. And you just wasted We're now, you know, 15 seconds closer to all of our deaths and this is all you have to say? Really? And that's what they put into the film. Well, that's that's literally all that there's there. I mean, and it's I mean, it's hilarious. I'd say a good quarter of the movie is dedicated to her in uh in in the back of a or getting into or out of a

[08:26] Cadillac Escalade and and going into uh she's always like on the move, right? Like going this place, that place. But, you know, there's no insight. There's no behind-the-scenes moments except for her like choosing like choosing what she's going to wear. Like what you know, which by the way isn't great. And and and just like No, I mean, it's it's actually baffling. I strongly urge everyone with an Amazon Prime subscription cuz it's free, it's

[08:57] included um to go to watch this piece of [ __ ] We can have a convo about it cuz I'm like, wait, wow. I mean, it's Of all the first ladies, she is the

[09:28] least interesting to me. I mean, most of them are not interesting to me in general. Yeah. But, Robbie is right. Robbie's like, we got real used to him talking about Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I apologize. My you know, okay, so let's talk about where we're at. Okay, so the clock is ticking again, uh presumably to 8:00 p.m. uh 2 weeks from last night. So, uh from 8:00 So, we have 13 more days uh include you know, to Tuesday the uh 21st, right? Um that's uh

[10:00] so, what happens between now and that? So, Israel let's talk about let's talk about Israel. Israel has a long history of scuttling ceasefire agreements and deals. Yeah. Um they they do they've done it repeatedly uh with the Palestinians, they've done it with Hezbollah. They they just it's kind of like you can count on them to to [ __ ] it up. Yeah. They want this to be they're going to want to scuttle this deal. They're going to try to stir some [ __ ] up. Agreed? Agreed. And that's what they're doing now. I mean, they haven't stopped bombing Lebanon. I mean, they've

[10:32] continued their attacks. And you know See, there there's so much gray area in this quote unquote ceasefire at this point. Um a lot of people are very excited but I think their excitement is a little premature. The United States has attacked Iran and attacked other countries in the middle of negotiations. The US wanted to drag Iran into negotiations and now they've been able to do it. Even though they're saying this is a basis um for a

[11:03] peace plan. Meaning, we will use your 10-point peace plan as a basis for negotiations. Well, I mean, the stuff that's in that plan um is effectively a surrender document for all intents and purposes. Commitment to non-aggression, continued Iranian control over Strait of Hormuz um acceptance of Iran's uranium enrichment, lifting of oil primary sanctions. That's my phone. Can you give me 1 second? Okay. Lifting of all secondary sanctions, termination of UN Security Council resolution uh, termination of IAEA Board of

[11:34] Governors resolutions, payment um, of compensation to Iran, withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, and cessation of war on all fronts, including, um, against resistance forces, meaning Lebanon, uh, Hezbollah, uh, and of course, >> Hamas, the Houthis, Are they going to do that? Well, yeah, let's talk about let's let's take them one at a time, right? Shall we? I mean, all right, so let's we'll go through the sticking points. Um, and I have to admit, this is kind of like when

[12:06] you go like let's say you're you're negotiating to buy a an item like at a, you know, like at a rug market or something, where the price isn't fixed. And if you know, like if someone wants like, "Oh, I want a thousand dollars for this rug." and you only want to spend fifty dollars, you're not going to get a deal. You should probably just walk away. These two sides are so far apart, I don't see how even in the passage of thirteen days, how they're going to get there, but, um, you know, with these talks in Islamabad. But, let's take them one at a time. Okay, so the US wants

[12:36] zero uranium enrichment on Iranian soil. Um, and Iran wants complete sovereign right to enrich, um, as much as it wants. Now, those two sides are there's not there's not There's no daylight. There's no daylight, right? I mean, well, there's there's the daylight of the Grand Canyon in there. I mean, it's a vast chasm. Um, I don't I let's and let's talk about the likelihood of where we all come down on all this. Um,

[13:06] what can Look, what can these two sides agree to? Um, I think the maybe we can go back to a JCPOA kind of arrangement, where Iran continues to be able to enrich for a domestic research, medical, and and power purposes, uh, with uh, inspectors who come periodically and and look at it. That would be a return to the uh status quo antebellum. Right.

[13:37] What do you think? I mean, that we could end up there, right? >> but Iran has gone so far as to say we don't even want the IAEA Board of Governors. Basically, we want to get rid of all of it. Meaning the provisions of the JCP that were in force at first. Gone. >> Well, they but they could but that could be a giveaway item, right? If you're going to negotiate, you have stances that you're willing to give up on. I mean, look, if these both if both these sides insist on these stances, they're not going to get there and we're going to be right back at

[14:07] people in Tehran kissing their loved ones good night and wondering whether they're going to they're going to see them again in the morning in in 2 weeks. So, they have I think this is like Let me put it this way. I'm willing to offer to fly to Islamabad and and negotiate this deal for you guys. I'm actually very good at this sort of thing. I I I I think I think that's where we're going to end up though is is somewhere like that. Okay, let's take let's let's move on to Well, wait a second. I agree with you. These are max demands on both sides. Yeah, but I don't

[14:39] It's weird though because the United States and Iran both think that they've won. Um you know, the United States has blown up a lot of Iranian [ __ ] and the Iranians own the have have clogged up the Strait of Hormuz and they own that [ __ ] and there's no getting them to un-own it. I mean, I've been doing deep dives into this for um my current my column that I just released yesterday and it's like I don't there's literally no way to un- militarily unclog the Strait of Hormuz

[15:11] and get the Iranians out of there. Even if you send in you go in a year, you raise 500,000 troops, which we don't have. We only have about two two to 300,000 combat troops and they're not all ready. But let's just say you send all 300,000 right now. Um they can only occupy a small piece of Iran. They Even if you could occupy two-thirds of Iran, their their missiles will reach the Strait of Hormuz and as long as you have a credible threat of violence, you know,

[15:42] there's no one's going to send their their their their tankers through there. So um you know, so that's why they you have maximalist demands here. Um but that's why I don't see how you we're how we're going to get there. Um >> I think the US believes that it won. Like like I'll give you an example. One of the things that came out, I believe it was the New York Times, was one of the uh reports. And they were talking about what was taking place in the White House. Mhm. And they make this point of saying that Ratcliffe, Rubio, all of these guys when

[16:12] they were in a meeting, basically were saying, "This plan is nonsense." In fact, Ratcliffe apparently said something like it's farcical. Like after which Netanyahu and Israel gives his pitch. Yep. Ratcliffe said, "This is farcical. This is nonsense." Rubio >> And and someone else said, "In other words, it's bullshit." That was Rubio. Rubio said it's [ __ ] These are hardcore neocons. These are people with a hard-on for Iran in their life. They said Israel has a tendency to oversell cuz they know they can't do it without us. Right. And Trump decided, "Screw it. Let's do it." Now, this could be revisionist history.

[16:44] >> They said regime change is not Yeah, they knew regime change was almost certainly not going to happen. Um and they knew that like they there was not going to be a revolution. Right. And Trump did it anyway. I mean but again, that's assuming that what they're saying is true. I mean this could be, you know, kind of like >> believe it. I 100% believe it. Oh, that they said told him, "Dude, this is a horrible >> And J.D. Vance is is hardcore opposed to the war. And Trump did it anyway. And so I don't get the sense that this

[17:16] kind of "Well, I said it wasn't going to work out well. If the US really believes that they won. I mean Trump says anything. Like he says, you know, well, we decided to pull out of Yemen because we accomplished our objectives. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. Like I feel like like this. I can't necessarily take something that Donald Trump says when he's claiming victory is that he actually believes that this is a victory. Keep in mind, all of this comes on the heels of a failed operation where they were apparently trying to get the uranium and wasn't able to do it. And some of the reporting is that Trump wanted to be able to grab the uranium

[17:47] and say, "Hey, we accomplished our objectives. We got the uranium. Everything is good. We're out." That failed. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I agree. I agree with you though. They're worlds apart in regards to any kind of deal or any kind of The sanctions. US sanctions and sanctions against Iran and um freezing of Iranian assets in American and Western banks has been um you know, imposed for ever since really the beginning of the revolution in 1979.

[18:18] That's like baked-in policy. Trump seems open to um unwinding those sanctions. Uh so, I think we'll see movement there. But he wants it to be graduated based on uh you know, metrics. The Iranians, I don't think the Iranians can agree to that because you and I both know that if the um you know, if it's set on metrics, after this is all over, the US will will come up with one reason after another to say, "Well, you didn't

[18:49] meet it. You didn't jump high enough. You didn't say Simon says." You know, they'll come up with some reason and that that that to some excuse to not release those funds. I mean, should There's a question about whether or not Iran should even agree to a ceasefire in general. I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have I wouldn't I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have at all. I think I think Iran [ __ ] up. I think they're trying to be they're

[19:19] they're they're they are temperamentally reasonable people and that and and that's like caused them to make an error last night. Yeah, reasonableness is weakness in this case because from their point of view your reasonableness is just weakness. And like up to this point every agreement or every deal has been violated. Israel has used ceasefires in like Lebanon or for that matter Hamas as a way of going after those countries after the ceasefire. Meaning even when they declared a quote-unquote ceasefire with Lebanon they were still attacking Lebanon continuously. And they were

[19:51] still doing the same thing. If you remember after the first 12-day war their thought was, "Well, we'll have a ceasefire with Iran and we will make this a Lebanon option." Which I thought was always ludicrous but whatever that was in their minds. Um they need to accept that the that Israel's objective is to destroy Iran. And as long as they have a willing actor in the context of the United States that plan is not changing. No. So whatever they get here in regards to it's like, "Okay, you've had this big

[20:21] explosive war." Things need to change. And what however that looks because if you agree to something that is not necessarily long-standing or it's not necessarily I don't know. Um permanent then you're going to be back in the situation again and whatever deal you come up with meets prevent you from getting back into a war again in another 6 months. You know, I talk about things that like Iran that Iran has given up. Um you know, for example, they had originally

[20:52] asked for all US bases in the Middle East to be evacuated from American troops but that's no longer on the the Iranians are no longer asking for that. Um so it shows that you know, they're kind of like willing to accept reality in some ways. I mean, you and I both know the US is kind of like herpes, very hard to get rid of once they've installed themselves. Um but um okay, so but the like the US wants limits on Iran's ballistic missiles. Iranians can't agree to that. Not going

[21:25] to happen. Right. It's just not going to happen. It's not even on the table. >> They also want the the the US also wants that I think this sounds like an Israeli demand for them to cut off their allies in the axis of resistance, right? The Houthis, the Hezbollah, Hamas. And I think they again, they can't do that cuz this is a Shia country with no other allies. So you're literally like, "Oh, you want to isolate us?" Like, "Mhm." I mean, it's not even like they're the most useful allies. They don't really do much for Iran. It's but it's nice to you got to

[21:56] have friends such as you can. Agreed. And, you know, having this kind of X factor of Hezbollah attacking, having this X factor of random Houthi missiles coming in, it's still something that's on the mind even if it's not necessarily a huge military force. Yeah, it's in the region, but they can't do that. It's they're not going to do it. Like some of this stuff is a deal breaker. That's one of them. The ballistic missiles are a deal breaker. Reparations the US will never agree to because it would set it would definitely set you know, a precedent for the US cuz we

[22:27] blow things up all over all over the world. But the Iranians, you know, they have this idea of charging this $2 million toll per vessel. Um which effectively would be a tax on global energy supplies um and sharing the money with the Omanis across the strait. That's interesting. It is interesting. By the way, Trump was asked about this. And he said something to the effect of, "Yeah, we're thinking about sharing the money with um with I think they said something like sharing the money with Iran or something

[22:57] like that." He's like, "Okay, dude. Not everything is a business venture, right?" But and Djibouti, I guess doesn't get [ __ ] Even though they're right there. But Djibouti is also a US vassal state and I think that's how the Iranians are looking at it. I see. Um what do you make of Gulf states in all of this? I'm so glad you brought that up. Yeah. I I think it's a whole new world for the Gulf states. I mean,

[23:28] if I'm those guys, if I'm the Emiratis and you know, what not, I'm thinking we have been conned by the United States and the end like the Abraham Accords and Israel, all that [ __ ] We you know, like we basically they made the mistake that the Ukrainians made, which is they don't look at them they didn't look at a map. It's like if the Iran's the Iranians want to [ __ ] us, they can. It's like, you know, the Ukrainians Russia's right next door and they're bigger than us and they can come and go as as they please.

[24:00] Um the Gulf states are going to have to make nice with Iran. I mean, they're going to have to do it yesterday. It's it's a new world. If I'm them, I'm I'm I'm like going I'm going to Tehran. I'm like, guys, let's have some tea. Let's let's bring this in for a landing. We're really sorry. Things have gone too far. Yeah. I mean, it think I mean, we need to really put this in perspective, right? The oil for gas. That was the deal. I mean, oil for protection. We'll give you

[24:32] oil, we'll have this in petrodollar and we will protect you um because we're the United States and we're going to put military bases. We're going to have like 80 bases all throughout the Middle East and we're going to protect you from the big bad Iran and Iran is never going to do anything because of that, etc. etc. etc. And within what, 6 weeks? The 50 years up in smoke. That's amazing. Like I I don't think people people are using a certain fourth world power. That you get like the US, China, Russia,

[25:04] and now they're basically saying Iran. So three of the world powers are effectively part of this kind of axis against this imperialistic West. That's fascinating. Like that's a new norm. Like going forward, I don't even entirely know what that means. I mean, that's assuming the war ends. I mean, this is just ceasefire. As we pointed out, many of these things are diametrically opposed. Um and there's going to have to be some kind of middle ground in regards to kind of coming to terms, but if I'm Saudi Arabia or UAE or um any of

[25:38] these Gulf states, new day. Totally. Yeah, I mean, I'm surprised that they Honestly, I was always surprised that they didn't sort of see this coming a million miles away. It doesn't seem like they did. I mean, it doesn't even seem like the US saw Iran's capability. Like it seems like they massively underplayed Iran's capability. I don't get it. tech and defense. I mean, it's not like this stuff was a secret. I mean, I'm a [ __ ] cartoonist and I

[26:10] knew it. Um you know, I I don't get it. >> did a Hitler thing. Like, you know, it's like you have a racist point of view towards a group cuz let's be honest, it's not like I don't get the sense that the Israelis are the most um clear-eyed people on the planet in regards to looking at Arabs or looking at >> No, they think they're [ __ ] animals. Have you been to Israel? Exactly. From their point of view, Muslims are animals. And so they don't I don't think they looked at their capability as being what

[26:40] it was. And maybe they thought the US will fight the war on our behalf. Um I I I want to We have an ad. I want to I'll read the ad. Before we do, have you been to Israel, Jamal? Yes. Yeah. So let's talk let's talk about that a little bit after the Okay. Um they can cancel your accounts, freeze your cards, decide what you're allowed to buy, say, or support. Big banks and financial institutions have total control, and they use it. That's why financial independence matters more than now than ever. Introducing Rumble Wallet, a wallet built for real freedom.

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[27:44] your future, yours to protect your family. When the system fails, when institutions turn on their own people, financial sovereignty is the difference between security and vulnerability. Rumble Wallet isn't about politics, it's about freedom, ownership, and protecting what's yours. So, take control today. We do have some questions to answer, and we should do those. But before we do, uh I just wanted to So, my you know, I've been to Israel a few times, and you know, um I was appalled at the treatment of Arabs, Palestinians, and the way open way that that that Israelis talk

[28:16] about Arabs. It's [ __ ] amazing. It's the way I imagine like racist white southerners talking about blacks like 100 years ago. I mean, I wasn't here, but I imagine it sounded not unlike that. Yeah, that was my sense, too. Like I I I give you an example. I was um the first time I went, I was going into Bethlehem and the various areas. And you had to go through like all of these checkpoints as an American, you just blaze through. I think there might have been three people in a line for the American line.

[28:48] The Palestinian line was so far back where it was like this kind of slow plotting thing. And the significance of that is there's there's a few significances or few pieces of significance, but one of them is if you had a business, how do you get supplies and materials into your business? Like there was a huge disparity between let's say like a Jerusalem or parts of Israel and then these parts of Palestine. One looked like a third world, the other one looks like little America. And the way they treat them is just outrageous. Yeah, the whole thing.

[29:18] >> and also the the smarminess, the snarkiness, the jokiness of the Israeli soldiers. They're so snotty and obnoxious the way that they act while they're doing this and I mean it's the whole thing is it's putrid. All right, let's do you ready for some questions? Sure. All right, so manchild, thanks for the donation. I feel that this whole thing could have been taken care of in the UN by simply talking. Yep, that's what the UN's for. You are on the US are founding members. Why do we continue to let [ __ ] ass dudes run the world? It's a

[29:51] good [ __ ] question, Gerald. Well, the UN I mean, what is the UN going to do? I mean, cuz think about think about the genocide for example. You had a situation where it was clearly illegal. The United Nations clearly had a mandate to prevent that. I mean, even if with the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly could have passed resolutions to override the Security Council in essence. None of them did it. We sat there and watched hundreds of thousands of people get mowed down with just deplorable

[30:22] behavior, starvation, rape, murder, etc. And the UN was like, we don't like that, but we can't do anything about that. Yeah, there's no there's no mechanism for enforcement. That's that's that's the rub. Yeah. So, I don't know how they do it. I mean, the reality of it is unless you get countries that have a willingness to do something. Then nothing happens. That's true. >> just get them stalled. Nothing takes place. It it's you know, it's unfortunate. Yeah. No no

[30:53] question. F you so thanks for the dollar. Trump always has bill. What? Who says bill? >> Who's bill? All right. F you so let us know. So Zoila Rosa thanks for the two bucks is a real Gaza ceasefire in the Iranian terms. That's an interesting point, right? Because technically there is a ceasefire in effect. However, it the Israelis have you know, hundreds of Gazans have been killed by the Israelis since the

[31:23] so-called ceasefire kicked in. I mean basically it just means that the rate of killing and destruction has slowed, but it continues. And so it seems like that would be covered by the you know, by the by Iran's desire to have be able to continue to support its proxies, but I don't think it's specifically covered, right? I think it's sort of like implied because Hamas is an ally of of Israel that of Iran. That's my take. I will make a prediction that um

[31:54] and this may piss people off, but I suspect they're going to be I think these demands are maximalist. And in the context of these being maximalist demands, there are going to be some things that they're going to be willing to throw away. On both sides. >> And I don't Yeah, on both sides. I don't know if Hamas is going to be covered under that. Like because when I think about it, if you think about it, if Iran didn't get involved in the war until they were attacked. Meaning the genocide and everything else

[32:25] was taking place, but it wasn't until Israel attacked Iran proper either in the war or this time around where they actually got involved saying, "Okay, we're going to defend our sovereignty etc., And then they add in and say, "Hey, as a maximalist demand, we want the US out of the region. We want um Israel to stop and honor the ceasefire against Hamas and everything else." But, if they break the ceasefire with Hamas, is Iran going to be willing to go back to war? I don't think so. But, I think they

[32:56] might initially ask for it, and I think they might push for it beyond just a normal immediate throwaway demand for the simple reason that this is a lot of what Iran is doing now is trying to position itself as the new dominant regional superpower in the Middle East. And I think they're going to achieve that. And and one of the reasons they can one of the ways they can do that is appealing to the Sunni Arab street by saying, "Look, uh we're standing up for our Palestinian brothers. You guys all care about them." Right.

[33:26] And so, I think that's that's like not a that's not going to be a throwaway. But, I agree with you. I I if it gets [ __ ] up, then I don't see them like starting up hostilities again. Mustafa, thanks very much for the donation. Uh Jack John Jack Johnstone, thanks for the 10 Aussie dollars. In what sense do we live in a {quote} {unquote} democracy? Opinion polls are used to gauge approval ratings, but the actual will of the people is ignored blatantly when it comes to governance, including war. [ __ ] 'em.

[33:57] I mean, as as Ronnie would say, it's a republic, not a democracy, right? But >> Um But, so we don't really I mean, look, I think if I had my druthers, if I'm King Ted of America, there would be a every morning we would wake up, and on our phones there would be a plebiscite for important topics. I think war and peace should be one of them. It'd be like, "Hey, uh President Trump here. I'd like to attack Iran. Uh Bibi Netanyahu says it's

[34:28] a good idea. What do you think?" And I'd be like, "Fuck no." And you know, and then basically the president would have to abide by these kind of votes. I don't think we should I don't really care about like how many paper clips the Department of the of Commerce buys every year. But like I think for really certain issues, we could all argue about what they should be. We should be weighing in. I mean, you know, it's it's it's we're 40 50 years into California's referendum system. Uh Americans kind of

[34:59] want some demo some direct democracy. We don't live in a democracy at all. I mean, and we don't even really live in much of a republic if you can go to war with 27% approval. Right. I mean, it's Yeah. I think it's worse than that. I mean, because ultimately what you end up with is a bunch of people who are oligarchs looking out for their own interests in regards to rules, regulations, and laws. Um it's not about what the public wants. I mean, if you ask the public, "Hey, do you think everybody should have health care?" Most people say yes.

[35:29] Do you get it? No. And even on the issues of war, if you ask most people, "Hey, should you go to war with Iran?" Most people would say no. Doesn't change what effectively people do. But I don't know with the plebiscite thing. I mean, how many people want to engage in that level of direct democracy? I don't know. Yeah, well, you I mean, and maybe but you don't have to. You don't have to vote. I mean, and I kind of think and I think yeah, maybe I I kind of feel like some people shouldn't vote. Like, you know, I don't

[36:01] watch sports, so I shouldn't vote on the Heisman Trophy. Um and I don't know. I feel like if you don't know some basic [ __ ] about like, you know, the system and about the the issue, maybe you shouldn't vote. But see, I mean, you can choose not to vote, you know? >> Kruger effect. Like where people think they know more than they they know. It's like, "I'm a professional at chess." And your rating is like 1,400. But because you only beat 1,200 people, you think, I'm you know, great at this thing or I can sing very well cuz my family member says I can sing very well.

[36:32] You're going to get that, too, though. True. But and and the thing about politics is we've all been told Americans are constantly told that everyone is entitled to their opinion no matter how uninformed it is. It's the only topic like that. Like if you go to a bar and you start talking about [ __ ] about movies and like clearly you never watch movies, people would be like, "Dude, do you ever watch movies?" Well, no. It's like let me let me shut up. Right? I've never seen this movie, but I got a very strong opinion about it. Yeah. Right.

[37:03] Um I don't know. I think you're right. Ultimately, I think you're right. Like it would be there's no perfect area, right? But at the very least, it would get you probably farther along than what you got now where it's like a small cabal of, you know, Epstein elites that decide on policy that's in their best interest in regards to one piece. I mean, Lindsey Graham, if Lindsey Graham had his ass shipped into a conflict zone, do you really think Miss Lindsey would be up there with a gun and be so gung ho about

[37:34] um voting? >> Having Having seen shots fired at in anger, some in my direction, um no. Yeah. Exactly. No. Exactly. Or at the very least, the people who um agreed to the wars need to go out and put themselves on the front lines. Something cuz this doesn't work. No, I I I I couldn't agree more. Um okay, but that is a good It is a good question. Frank Castle, thanks for the $10. Tik Tok opened me up to John Kiriakou, then DeProgram, then Ted Rall's political

[38:04] cartoons, now Jamal Thomas. I'm very entertained. Thank you, gentlemen, for the content and actual great political analysis. And thank you so much for watching and for the donation. You do it, Candace. That's fantastic. Um Jack Johnstone, uh thanks for the five Australian dollars. Iran didn't [ __ ] up. They're using their position to imply that the US has agreed to their 10-point plan without the US saying so explicitly. Exactly. That's true. But what's also true is that the is that Trump is all over Truth Social this

[38:35] morning claiming that Iran for has agreed to all sorts of [ __ ] that they haven't agreed to. For example, oh, um Iran's going to let the US in to dig up what he calls the the radioactive dust, which is actually a liquid, um which is the enriched uranium, which is not dust because um Donald, dust and liquids are not the same. Um but uh you know, it's like no, they're not Not only is that not going to happen, they'll the Israel will never allow I

[39:06] mean, Iran will never allow that to happen. No way. >> not. Of course not. I mean, but look, we have a basis of um example with the whole Ukraine thing, right? Where Trump is like, "Putin is going to allow this and Putin is going to do that. Russia has agreed to this." And he's like, "Oh, I'm completely disappointed that Russia didn't agree to so and so." It's like, "Dude, they never agreed to that nonsense." Like you would get detractions immediately. We didn't say we were going to do that. Right. No, I mean, so >> what That's what I'm worried about. I I I mean, look, Jamal, I I think the odds

[39:38] right now are like 90% 95% we're going to be right back where we were. This is like the negotiations over the Homeland Security shutdown between the Democrats and the Republicans. There's like no real way for I think in 2 weeks we're right back where where we were yesterday. Then what is the point of ceasefire? Uh you know, I I I don't know. I mean, I think I think >> Obviously, the US ex- with this route because things were going poorly.

[40:08] Meaning they're not doing >> about the Strait of Hormuz because the global economy hangs in the balance. I mean, at one point yesterday morning um oil was trading at $140 a barrel. It was 60 before it began. So, 5 weeks ago. So, of course, the whole global economy is hanging on, you know, it's it's about to fall off a cliff. That's all I mean, so we see why the why the US was scared shitless. You know the White House switchboard was buzzing with, you know, President of

[40:39] Vanuatu is on the line and he's scared to death. You know, like Angela Merkel Germany's on the line. She's scared to death. From Emmanuel Macron is scared to death even more of you than of his wife. Yeah, right. No, no, no, no. She she has a left hand on her man. She has a right hand. For sure. Um Maybe it's the straight of Hormuz. I mean, maybe this is just Donald Trump getting from point A to point B. Like just political expedience. We need something to create a loft. We need

[41:09] something to create a gap. People are freaking out. The oil prices are spiking. We need to do something. If I were the Iranians, I would have kept that [ __ ] straight closed and said, we can talk. We we can talk for the next 2 weeks, but we're not going to but we're not going to open the straight. Why do you think they I mean, looks like they would have learned from the Russians on this, right? What Putin is like Yeah. We get a cease fire when the war ends, not before. Mhm. Basically, we're not doing we are not giving you a breather. Right. Why would you?

[41:41] Yeah. I mean, the only thing I can think of is are there economic implications that are also that could boomerang on the Iranians? I mean, I don't see how. I mean, they're they're a major oil producing state, so they're going to be raking in more money. But, of course, Iran's economy is far more diversified than the Gulf states. I mean, they have a lot more going on. So, it's entirely possible that they also don't really want to see you know, global economic collapse. But, they're not as integrated into the global economy as uh you know,

[42:11] as they could because of the sanctions. So, that part is it's a little mystifying to me. Yeah, I don't know the internal dynamics of what's in their minds. I mean, from that point of view, Iran off the banks. Robbie has a good a good point. He says, I'm going to put Robbie on here. He Robbie Yeah. some insight here? Yeah, well, I think it's probably they probably did a solid to China. I mean, China needs that energy and they need and Russia just they can't get it to them fast enough with the existing structure.

[42:41] Uh, I think that that's why they did this. It's a they're doing a solid to China and just reminding that it's it's probably also their in their own subtle way reminding China is like, "Hey, uh, you do need us. If we go under They were letting China through the straight from my understanding. Russia China were being allowed in the straight. Well, well, they were, but also the a lot of people don't realize this. The Chinese know here here in North America, here in America, we complain about how jobs being offshored being offshored overseas.

[43:12] The Chinese are doing the same thing in with Indonesia. Indonesia is almost out of gas. So, if the Chinese are are offshoring a lot of these jobs the over to Indonesia, if Indonesia stops working, they didn't impact them directly. I think Myanmar is a Chinese ally and they're literally out. They're completely out. I think that I really do think that they did this not for the United States. I think they did this as a solid to China. as a solid to China and also just to remind the Chinese

[43:44] the Russians don't need us. You though do. Mhm. I like it. Thanks, Robbie. Thanks, Ben. I don't >> Um Maybe >> I mean, it's certainly I mean, the thing is though, I I if I'm the Iranians, it's like this is a winner. Well, if I'm the Iranians, I'm not stopping the war until you know. >> Me neither. Yeah, I mean, I like I got to be honest. I I appreciate China. I appreciate Russia, but this is existential for us and they're going to keep doing this.

[44:14] I mean, look man, the US has gone from country to country in the Middle East destroying those countries. I mean, think of the number of people they killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, etc. Like they were always coming to your door. And they will be coming back to your door because the objective has not been accomplished. How long did it take them to take down Syria? What? 15, 16 years? By the way, a very hilarious thing just happened. Reuters is reporting that

[44:45] Saudi Arabia has an oil pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. And sadly and tragically for them, it has been blown up. Uh also, stock stock futures are soaring. Oil prices have fallen 17% since the start of trading 16 minutes ago. I think it's like 95 bucks. Went from 140 to 90 overnight. It's still volatile. What front would say, "Well, sure. We'll work on the

[45:17] basis of your 10-point plan." Which again, I don't know what that means. The basis of your 10-point plan. Um it's probably that. It seems that he was very concerned about oil. And so, he would make statements, if you remember over the course of the last few weeks, that would get the oil price for a few hours and then it would pop back up when he realized Donald Trump was effectively lying. Maybe that's the reason or that's the US tenor in this. But again, the catch becomes, okay, what can you guys actually agree to to actually end it? And whatever

[45:48] agreement that you come up with, can you really trust the United States to maintain it? And if so, how do you entrust that the US maintains their part of the agreement? Right. If you're just joining us, Um, a reminder, Jamal and I are doing a Q&A show 12:00 noon Eastern time, so in about uh 2 hours and 15 minutes. So, tune in to that on YouTube and Rumble live for the questions. Much appreciated. Um, one comment, um, there's an American pastor going around saying women should not be allowed to

[46:18] vote. Yeah, I read about that, dude. Um, and Alexander says, "Don't they need a bit of a market in the so far first world?" How much of the capital China accumulated is our money we bought all of the made in China with basically all of our consumer goods. Having a little fun. You didn't buy it. That's like if I go to the store and buy something, um, that is an exchange that I'm making in a sense.

[46:50] It's like the store is not forcing me to do something unless it's like food or something like that. I mean, unless I'm in some just uh there's the covenant. Uh, F U So is uh clarifying Trump can always blow Bill Clinton. You missed my first rant. Yes, I've heard those rumors. Um, uh, Jeff >> Trump and Clinton had a thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Epstein Island kind of [ __ ] Uh, you know, what happens on Epstein Island doesn't really stay on Epstein Island. Right. Right. Yes, John Stone, thanks for the 10 Australian dollars. Why

[47:21] should Australia remain in the AUKUS alliance after this? We're paying $2.50 a liter. So, for Americans, that's $10 a gallon for petrol. And our Prime Minister is now telling us to take the train. At this point, we should just make nice with Iran, et cetera. I agree. You guys are like in China's neighborhood. You're not in America's neighborhood. Yeah. I mean, most of their trade is with China. And yet, a lot of belligerence is aimed at China, which is

[47:51] the weirdest thing in the world. It's like, so you're going to attack your major your your major trading partner? Is that what you're going to do? Um no, he has a point. He has a point. Totally. Uh a few other comments here. Um Daniel says more than 55 towns and villages across Lebanon are being bombed by Israel right now. Beginning to think this whole thing is just a chance for Israel to focus on Lebanon for now and expand greater Israel. I don't I don't think that's it. >> That's an interesting point though. I'm sure the Israelis are taking advantage

[48:21] though. Yeah, they're taking advantage. And one of the questions I asked Maureen this morning was um is Lebanon included in this? Meaning if Israel continues to bomb Lebanon, does the ceasefire hold? His thing was like no. Lebanon is included within the context of the ceasefire. Do you think they're going to maintain that? Because if true, this that's a whole new norm. Like up to this point, any attacks by let's say Israel on Lebanon, Iran didn't get involved. Mhm. I mean,

[48:52] Israel has been violating the ceasefire for the last what year or so? However long the ceasefire was in place between the two. >> They have But now they're under the umbrella of Iran. That is a new norm. The Israelis are completely untrustworthy. Uh they are not the you know as an ally. I mean, you're the US. You can't trust these people. I mean, you know, at all. So uh you know they don't they don't mean well here. I I Yeah. Yeah, and I I agree with you. I mean, I think that there that's the $64,000 question. Alexander says if Trump calls

[49:22] for sailors to grow a pair again, I guess we're talking about US sailors or foreign sailors and just cross the strait, would Iran attack them now? I think yes because Iran's terms for reopening the strait have been that all vessels have to coordinate with IRGC uh you know, um logistics. So they can't just go. It's not a free-for-all. It's like and I think that coordination might involve inspections, but it's certainly specific ship-by-ship approvals. So

[49:53] yeah, I think they would fire at them. Well, Trump says the US will be hanging around, whatever the hell that means. Yeah, I picture them like What's up, dude? It's like Hey. We're just hanging around. Yeah. I I I read that was like hanging around. What the hell do that mean? Yeah, like like like teenagers behind the 7-Eleven smoking by the dumpster. Like they're just smoking like Like no loitering, dude. Just hanging around. So funny.

[50:24] Smoking the shisha. Manchild asked, "Why did it take this conflict for the Gulf states to realize their infrastructure was vulnerable? What are they, stupid with two Os?" I don't know. And to make it even more interesting, how the US troops were vulnerable. Like the bases that these guys were in, these things weren't hard. Like they didn't have underground stuff that type of stuff. Like they were getting hit. Like the Those US troops had to effectively leave and move to other locations. Yeah, they did. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, Iran kept saying, "You are

[50:55] vulnerable. You have 80 bases that 80 places for us to attack or whatever that number is." And they turned out to be right. Um we have a a very generous $20 donation from GV man 43. Thank you very much, GV man. Jimal, this one's for you. Tell us about your Star Trek fandom. Oh, you don't want me to Don't don't don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. You'll be here for an hour. Um no, man, I am a huge fan of Star Trek. Obviously, I have signed photos in

[51:27] the background of the various characters. Um I don't even have all of them up. Um I am a sucker for Star Trek. I think ultimately I'm cynical in the moment. Over long term, I'm optimistic. And either we are going to destroy ourselves or we're going to get into some kind of new norm. Um think this is prehistory. And yeah, I'm a I'm sucker for sucker for sucker. Sucker for it. Deep Space Nine, Next

[51:57] Generation. I love it. Favorite series What's your favorite series? Deep Space Nine. I love Deep Space Nine. It's got It's even got mysticism in it. It does. The Well, the one with aliens. Mhm. I mean, but to be honest, all of the all of the series have mysticism. I mean, even the original Star Trek series had like with Captain Kirk had a Q-type figure. I forget um Triton, Tristan, whatever his name is. Mhm. And then you get into the next generation and you get Q. Mhm. And I love it, right? Like when Q first appears, Picard is looking at

[52:29] him and Picard doesn't say this is a god. This is some kind of demon. This is some kind of He's like, "What sort of being are you?" Like what the [ __ ] are you and why are you on my ship? It's like this thing is exuding all of these different abilities and everything else. And his thing is, "What sort of being are you?" And one of the best things in the first episode was when he's when humanity is put on trial by Q. And Picard is representative of of all humanity. Oh, it's so good. And it's so good. Um No, man. The series is good. I I sat

[53:01] here and watched the first season again of Next Generation. And I was enamored on how wholesome it is. It's scientific triumphalism. But there's a wholesomeness that that we don't see in our current um stuff. I don't know. It's just really good. Couldn't agree more. That's more honest, though. I love Star Trek, too. Um By the way, um two little Trekky things. So, um I got I used to be friends with the singer Joe Jackson, you know, is is she really

[53:33] going out with him? And anyway, he's a big Trekky and he had an incredible collection of Trek uh ephemera in his uh apartment cuz he was a rich guy. So, he had like he had like a a an original series tricorder from the set that was used on the set. He had [ __ ] like that in his It was like oh my god. Um also, John de Lancie who played Q, you mentioned Q. Yeah. Yeah, I saw him I saw him eating at the at at the same breakfast place at the farmers market in West Hollywood as me

[54:04] one morning, and it was so weird cuz he's like disheveled and like kind of like you know, run-down. He looked like you know, he looks like he drinks hard. I don't know if he does or not. Uh-huh. And and I was like wait, you run the entire universe but you look like [ __ ] It was just so weird. Um I have I I actually got a signed autograph from de Lancie. He's a big um liberal. He's a big liberal. And he um when we were at the thing, he

[54:35] was like "Hey." He's like, "You know, you got to vote for Hillary Clinton." And I was like, "Oh, don't say that." Don't say that. He's like, "Don't tell me that." He's like, "Are you telling your people go vote?" It's like, "I think people should vote for who they want to vote for." Like it's very awkward, right? Cuz he's like leaning in having this conversation. I'm like, "Oh god, man, you're cute. Don't don't do this to me. Don't do this to me." No, it sucks. It sucks when your heroes have dumb political opinions, which unfortunately most actors do. Um very

[55:06] quickly, we do I want to talk Well, let's talk about ice um and Yeah. We have this one question that I want to answer to. Jack Johnston, thanks for the 10 Australian dollars for Ted. How should war be decided under the glorious Ted Rall socialist dynasty? That's simple. Um I'll answer that one. Uh war is not is not affected by the economic system that is imposed by a very very uh certain nation-state. But I do think under socialism uh it should be absolutely you don't go to war without mass approval of the country. Um

[55:38] for Jamal, recently I watched the original Star Trek series and it's shockingly philosophy philosophical and actually really darn good. We have only 4 minutes left Jamal in today's show before So if you have questions, keep them for the Q&A 12:00 noon Eastern time. Um but ICE just shot a dude in Patterson, California. That's about 80 miles east of San Jose in California's Central Valley. So basically, the guy's do do the dude's name is Carlos Hernandez. According to ICE, he was a member of the

[56:10] LA 18th Street gang, whatever whatever the [ __ ] that is, and was wanted for questioning, you know, for you know, murder in El Salvador. No word on whether he was a suspect or not. Anyway, three ICE agents um pinned him with a a pinned his car and boxed it in from the front and the back flashing flis police lights. And new video reveals that they the agents had their weapons drawn as they approached the car. Uh someone tried to break the the window and uh and and grab the dude and open the door. He

[56:42] tried to leave and they shot him. Um I have questions, but my big one, Jamal, is why the [ __ ] are ICE agents um even involved in a situation like this? Why would this not be local or state law enforcement who are professional law enforcement officers? That's question number one. And question number two is um what about de-escalating tactics, right? Like how about just sort of like you've got the guy boxed in? Calmly ask him to come out, otherwise

[57:12] you don't want to hurt him. I mean, why do you have to breaking people's windows? Of course he's going to panic. It's human instinct. Yeah. Well, de-escalation is um usually when there's consequences for that action. Meaning, I have to de-escalate when I know that there's going to be a consequence if I take things too far. If I don't know that um there's going to be a consequence to what is the whole, you know, like where's your incentive to de-escalate in that sense? Um no, I agree with you. I mean, California is California California is a sanctuary state, correct? It is.

[57:44] So, local law enforcement is not really going to work with ICE in this state. >> Okay, so that would explain that, yeah. However, this if if there's a El Sal- if there's a um if El Salvador, which is a US ally and has close relations with the US, asks for uh you know, a suspect to be picked up, that would be a law enforcement issue. That's not an immigration issue. Right. Yeah, that's different. See, I don't know did El Salvador ask for him to be picked up? Or was this just an ICE action where they were Sounds like an ICE It sounds

[58:15] like we're being bullshitted. But, if they're trying to bring the guy in for murder, you're right. That's a domestic thing. Why is ICE involved? ICE should not be involved. And like the thing is, um under California sanctuary law, if ICE is really has a hard-on to deport the dude, they can. Cuz as soon as he's locked up waiting for uh extradition to El Salvador, they can deport him. So, yeah, I I I don't understand this at all. Anyway, um thank you everyone for tuning in. Thank you, Jamal. Uh enjoying day three of our show together. Yes. We are uh it's things are

[58:49] are it's things are progressing nicely. Thanks everyone for tuning in and for liking, sharing, and supporting the show, and following the show. Please spread the word as much as you can on your socials and so on. Uh stay tuned for TMI show with Manila and Chan and myself. That's coming right up, except no Manila Chan today. She's out doing pregnancy stuff. Robbie is going to be sitting in in the Manila seat. So, stay tuned for that. Then, stay tuned at 12:00 noon Eastern time. Jamal and I will be back right here answering your questions at 12:00 noon Eastern. Thanks,

[59:20] everyone, and see you soon, Jamal. Have a good one.

[59:54] >> Woo!
