Title: DeProgram Show with Ted Ra
Show: DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Date: 2025-08-06
URL: https://youtu.be/CK1t_d0FWLg
Duration: 374:00

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[00:00] today and whatever you guys want to talk about as well. Uh Texas Democrats running around um trying to uh keep the Republicans from gerrymandering Texas and maybe helping out New York and Illinois. Jerry for the Democrats. >> Meanwhile, uh President Trump's firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics lady is having major repercussions uh bigger than we might have expected. We thought this was kind of a chuckle on Friday, but it's still going. It's still funny, the chuckle. I maintain the chuckle. Um,

[00:30] over in Gaza, uh, the Trump administration's, uh, chief envoy, Steve Whit, is pushing an all or nothing deal. We'll explain what that means. MTG dropping truth bombs. She says the GOP hates women. Um, my favorite story of the day, the New York Post is going west, young man or old man. They starting a California version of the paper. We'll get into that. They smell blood in the water. I think as the LA Times six uh I'm so sad so sad about

[07:15] they have the majority, there's nothing we can do. There are plenty of things that a legislative minority can do and should do >> to up the works. >> That's right. I like Hakee Jeff less and less every single day. And I will admit my own biases. When he was first elected Democratic leader of the House, I thought, "Oh, you know what? A black guy from an urban area, that is awesome. Things are going to change." Things didn't change. He's he's as DNC as as

[07:46] any of >> as Barack Obama >> as Barack Obama. >> This guy is not And you know what? He's not as smart >> and he's not as politically savvy >> for sure. >> What you just what you just said, oh well, you know, we're we have such a small minority in Texas. There's nothing we can do. No, there's a whole bunch of stuff you could do, you lazy [ __ ] >> So, they're on the land >> and he doesn't redist redistricting normally doesn't take place at this time of the decade. It takes place uh you know, in years that end with zero. Um and and so this is so you know John this

[08:18] brought to mind a a big meta point for me about what's so much what's is wrong in our system or the things that people are complaining. We're told and we teach our kids that we are that the system relies on checks and balances but the truth that's not really true. It relies a lot more on tradition. Um and so like when the system was written by you know English gentlemen who followed for whom tradition was important George Washington set up a tradition two terms

[08:48] and that held for over a century um and it's in fact even when it was broken we went back to cottifying it in the law we had a tradition um you know like who's going to jail a rogue president well even Richard Nixon was like I'm still an English gentleman sort I get it. You got me. >> I'll step aside. >> The thing is if when traditions break down, that's, you know, a system based on tradition breaks down if the

[09:18] traditions are no longer respected and are disrupted. And that could be for good reason or for bad reason. Uh think about the Democrats with the um with with the uh the filibuster, the judicial filibuster and the other filibusters. These things, these traditions existed in the Senate. They went away. And now all bets are off. This is an anything goes situation. So we're seeing that now. Republicans are like, "We don't have [ __ ] it. We don't have to wait 10 years for a redistricting. We'll do it whenever we feel like it and get five

[09:48] seats." Then the Democrats are like, "Oh well, maybe we can do the same [ __ ] in New York and Illinois and maybe in California. Pick up a few seats that way. We'll gerrymander, too. Everybody gets a gerrymander." And if the Supreme Court keeps coming out with these rulings in Alabama, in Texas, in North Carolina, that gerrymandering is a-okay, well, then it's a-okay for everybody. And you know, the the Republicans think that they're untouchable here because they have so focused over the years on state

[10:19] legislatores, and it's in most states, it's the state legislatores that draw these boundaries. Well, not in all states, and the Republicans don't control the legislators in all states. And so they're gonna end up getting burned. And can I comment on Marvel's uh comment there in 2008? Who would have guessed that Obama would turn up to be a neocon? >> Obama guessed. And I'll tell you where uh John Hyleman and Mark Halperin wrote a book about the 2012 election called Double Down.

[10:49] >> I read it >> and I did too. It was brilliant. And they were able to find two Obama quotes that made my hair stand up. it. And the quotes were about himself. In one of them, he said very matterof factly, I never said I was a liberal. >> That's right. >> Like, why would anybody think I was a liberal? >> I remember that very well. I think I know your other quote, but please. >> And the other one was, I never thought I would be so good at killing people. He was talking about the drone program,

[11:19] >> and he loved the drone program. >> He killed literally 10 times the number of people that George W. Bush killed. >> He he would watch on on on the tube as that was happening and he c and when a person the victim's head would explode, he called he nicknamed them look at the squirters. Um yeah, Nick Obama, you know, I I kind of guessed, I'll tell you that. Um you know, I was in the convention hall in 2004 when Obama >> um was uh gave his big barn burner

[11:50] speech that set him up for 2008. And at the time, I was super impressed that he was campaigning against the Iraq war. the stupid war. But then I heard him talking about which the good war in Afghanistan and I started to get suspicious. So I did a dive in the 2007208 cycle into Obama's voting record. Now he wasn't in the Senate when we went to war against Iraq. Correct. >> But he had the opportunity to vote for or against the funding repeatedly and he voted six out of six times for the

[12:20] funding. And I remember at the time I I was screaming this all over the place, but nobody's listening to Ted Ra. I was like, "This guy, he votes for all the wars." And then his apologists would tell me, "Yeah, but Ted, you know, they the you once the soldiers are committed, you know, you can't leave them there in the in the trenches and no bullets to fire back. They'll be overrun." I'm like, "They have planes. They can go to the planes and go home." And besides which, that's how the Vietnam War ended. Congress cut off the appropriations.

[12:51] That's why we're not in Vietnam anymore. That's how it would end. It's like we've forgotten how to do that. >> You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. And Marble Marble should be on the show today because he's making all these good comments that Obama is a neocon and Bush is a liberal now when you hear him talk. >> That's that is true. >> And and you know and that's why Bush is not Bush is not welcome in the White House these days. But then when you see him at people's funerals, he and Obama are just yucking it up like old friends.

[13:22] >> Yeah. Well, I guess Bush is an affable dude. My favorite Bush quote is still uh him he overheard walking out of the 2016 Trump inauguration and telling someone, "Well, that was some weird shit." That's awesome. I I wish he just I just just wish his politics weren't so shitty. >> Yeah, he could say that again. >> Oh my god. Um, so all right, so we'll watch this Texas thing. Um, you know, one one uh thought I had was they're hanging out with uh JBR uh Pritsker in

[13:54] Chicago. And I was like, well, they're being fined. These Texas legislators are being fined 500 bucks a day. JB's got plenty of cash. Maybe he's just going to bankroll them and say, don't worry. I got you. >> Yeah. Yeah. He's a uh he's a well-known billionaire. Uh he's a sign of the the famed Pritsker family of um of uh you know drug company fame and uh yeah he's got plenty plenty of money. He can pay all these fines. No big deal.

[14:25] >> All right, let's Should we talk about the California Post? I'm excited about that. >> I actually am too. Although how much more page six could bould page six be? >> Well, that's true. Um so you know so I think I smell death of the LA Times all over this decision. Yeah, >> Dr. Pat Sunun Xian, who has owned the the Time since 2017, um is has decided that he's tried to sell it to everybody, including my cat, and nobody wants it. So, he's gonna now he's going to try to launch an IPO,

[14:56] which will probably be as successful as the Wei Work IPO. And um it's uh you know, I mean, who's going to buy it? I mean, is he overpaid? He paid 500. It was worth $200 million at the time, but he paid $500 million for it. Now, it's probably worth 10 bucks. um with all the debt that he's saddled on to it. Um so Murdoch, I'm sure, is looking at that and saying, "Okay, fourth largest newspaper market in the country. There's some money to be made. I can do if you look at the mockups that appear in today's New York Post, it basically looks like they it's the same exact

[15:28] format. It's a tabloid. It's the same type set. It's the same kind of rhetoric, same kind of headlines. Little more California focused." But bunch of questions here. First of all, why California, not LA? LA Post rolls a lot off the tongue, a lot better than California. I mean, obviously, it's a play for San Francisco as well, but um I don't think it's going to work. The other thing is I think the LA Times [ __ ] up by not becoming the national paper of of the entertainment business. >> Yes, exactly. >> That's what the LA Post could be easily.

[16:00] Celebrity I'm gonna I mean, full disclosure, I'm going to apply to be their uh celebrity cartoonist like to do TMZ type stuff. In all seriousness, I was going to suggest that to you if you hadn't already thought of it. >> Yeah. >> As soon as I saw the announcement, I was like, "Oh my god, >> they won't take me because I'm a leftist, but I mean, I don't have to do political stuff for them at all. I mean, I'd be happy to do, you know, like right now, like, why is everyone so excited about Pam Anderson and Pamela Anderson and Liam Niss? That's a cartoon. I could do three I could do five cartoons about that." So, it's uh but anyway, but it's

[16:32] exciting. It's going to be a print edition. It's going to be um and I distribution is always a challenge because Southern California is so big and uh desperate um you know but uh I I think I suspect they have two or three major challenges here. First of all, the politics of LA >> are not Murdoch. >> No. >> And and then although there's conservatives there um there's there's also the aesthetics of the paper and LA is a very specific place. The

[17:03] culture is very specific politically, aesthetically, and otherwise. Yeah. >> I, you know, that is a New Yorkl looking paper. It's the oldest in the country. And it's and it's a greatlook New York paper, but it is not it doesn't fit in. This reminds me um when I, you know, I started in the alt weeklys. The Phoenix New Times was the was the uh the main flagship paper of the New Times chain that ultimately owned a lot of weeklys around the country like the Village Voice, SF Weekly. And at one point to

[17:35] save money, they decided to cut and paste to get synergies a lot of their uh content across like we'll just use the same stories across all our brands. Then we'll save money. We'll make them all look exactly the same in every city. It's not the only thing that brought them down. They had a lot of other issues, but it but it hastened their demise. I don't think aesthetically that's a good idea. And I don't think you can repurpose New York content for California. >> No, it's going to have to be original and specific to California. When do is there a timeline on this? Do we know when this publication's going to

[18:06] actually appear on the news stands? >> It not really. It's sort of like it's going to be soon. Um I'm guessing we're probably looking at the end of this year, early next year. >> I'm actually a little excited about it. Look, a new a new paper plus look the New York that you know the New York Post is uh look it's an essential read. I have a test called the New Yorker test which is is a publication essential. The New Yorker I hate the New Yorker. I hate I hate everything about I hate the cartoons. I hate the way it looks. I hate the up the snoody tone. I hate all

[18:38] the Tiffany's ads. I hate it. I have to read it because there's always essential stuff in there. So if someone who hates a publication finds themselves compelled to read it, you've got a successful formula. >> New York Post is a is if you're not reading the New York Post, you should be reading the New York Post. >> I Yeah, you should. I disagree with almost every word that is printed in the New York Post, but I read it every single day. I do the crossword every day, which is like a cross word for stupid people. And it is, I admit it,

[19:10] and I do it every day. And I especially enjoy the real estate section. >> Oh god. Yeah. They the real estate section's great actually. >> It's really great. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I want to know what billionaires are buying, what houses, and where. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And they have great photos. And I mean, it must be the easiest story in the world to source. They just go on to like realtor.com and find like what's the most expensive house for sale. Done. >> That is it. That is it. >> Oh my god. So, all right. Well, we'll

[19:40] see. I mean, do you think this paper stands a chance? I mean, obviously it has it has uh that the the ownership has deep pockets. News Corp based in Australia. >> And you know, we shouldn't trick ourselves into thinking that there are no Republicans and no conservatives in California. >> Good point. >> And I I think that I think that California is big enough and populist enough that that yes, they're going to be enough readers to keep this thing in business. >> Um yeah, I think that's right. And um you know I think but I think also the smart play would be to do what the LA

[20:10] Times did not do. Focus on Hollywood and to a lesser extent gaming. Gaming still doesn't isn't taken seriously in um you know in the mainstream media but is a multi multi multi-billion dollar industry and it feeds into movies and everything else. Um I don't game so I'm not saying this at all out of self-interest. I'm just saying look that's that's there. It's been part of the economy for a long time. You know, whoever picks this up is gonna, you know, it's and it needs real reporting.

[20:42] >> As an aside, um I have a she's not really a friend so much as she's a friendly acquaintance. And um honest to God, I don't have any idea how she makes money because she doesn't really do anything. She just lays in bed until 3:00 in the afternoon. And then somebody said, "Oh, no, she's a she's a Twitch gamer." >> And I said, "What the heck does that mean?" I don't even know what that means. And my friend explained that there's this twi the Twitch this website where people go to watch other people

[21:13] play video games. >> Yes, my son does that. >> That would make my brain melt. >> Yeah, it's literally You know what? It's the gaming equivalent, John, of like, you know, when you walk by someone who's watching a sporting event on TV, you're not watching it, and they're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, throw the ball. Throw the ball. What are you doing?" Okay. So, if you were you had a camera on that guy on the sofa, that would be the the Twitch gaming thing. >> It's like YouTube videos of people um opening toys and playing with the toys

[21:45] and then reviewing them as they're playing with them. It's I I don't understand it. But she has 500,000 people that watch her stupid videos of her playing uh World of Warcraft of all things >> and she makes a living like that, >> right? Well, >> I don't know, man. >> I know there are people who probably are like, "Look at these two derps on TV talking about politics and like we have 500,000 followers. What are they doing?" >> It's like, >> it's who's the fool? >> Oh my god.

[22:16] >> Yeah. But yeah, >> I will admit that one of my kids watches people open packs of baseball cards >> and he's like, "Oh my god, he got a one of one autographed by so and so. Oh my god." It's like, "Well, you you didn't get it. What do you care if this complete stranger?" >> Well, I guess that's kind of like if Alapone's Vault had something in it or like um or um Storage Wars, right? Storage Wars is somewhat compelling. >> Yeah, somewhat. >> Somewhat. I mean, I've I I admit I've watched like three. I like reality TV. I

[22:49] watched like three of them and I was like, I get it. Okay, I'm done here. >> I will admit that a former girlfriend got me hooked on 90Day Fiance, one of the most brainless shows on television and I never ever miss an episode. >> Tom says, "I like watching Twitch streamers play games that they are bad at. It's funnier." >> Oh, now that would be more fun. >> I could see that. I I should do it then because I'd be horrible. >> Yeah, me too. >> Me too.

[23:19] >> Interesting. Here, I think this is I think Vue Galaxy is referring to the same thing. They have to be hot as well, though. Um, okay. I'm not going to argue. I don't know. I don't I don't I'm not familiar with this genre. Um I mean, I know that it exists. I've walked by I walk behind my son and I'm like, "What are you doing? Why are you watching that? I don't even understand." But I'm sure he feels the same way when he sees me watching the Sunday morning talkis. >> I you know that I go to uh to Salt Lake City every once in a while to film

[23:49] episodes of this uh TV show that I'm on. Well, I had the chance to meet this billionaire uh the other day. He's a um he's not just a billionaire property developer, like legitimate billionaire, he's also the owner of the Skinwalker Ranch that you probably may have heard of. >> And I said, "Oh my god, the Skinwalker Ranch. I've heard all about it. I watched these two documentaries and it has flying saucers and has this weird magnetic field and and something came out of the sky and sucked all the blood out of the cows that were there and it's

[24:20] you know whatever. It's a big mystery. Oh, he says, "You have to you have to fly out next time you're in Salt Lake. I'll send my helicopter and we can fly you to the ranch and you can check it out." I said, "Oh my god, I I'd love to do it." So, we're talking about it. Well, I noticed on the History Channel that there's this show called, you know, whatever about the Skinwalker Ranch. So, I DVR it. Brandon Fugal, that's his name. So, I DVR it. And this this kid that I debated months and months ago,

[24:51] Andrew Bamante, who who falsely claims to have been a CIA operations officer with hair that goes like, talk about not drawing attention to yourself. Everybody in the world would notice Andrew Bamante in a in a surveillance situation. But anyway, >> Andrew looks like Sideshow Bob. >> He looks exactly like Sideshow Bob. Yes. >> Okay. All right. >> So, um, he's on this show like he's been hired by Brandon Fugle to be on this show and and he's trying to be really dramatic.

[25:22] We've detected a new magnetic force coming from the side of the mesa. And then the next like eight episodes they're digging with this backhoe on the side of the mesa and then they don't find anything. >> They never find >> they never find anything. They never show you the actual flying saucer. They never show you the body of the cow that >> No, I want to see the body of the cow that had all the blood drained out of it during the night. >> Don't just tell me, oh, there was this cow and it has no blood anymore. Okay, show me. >> Maybe it's a chupacabra. Um, >> yes. >> All right, John, this is the question they're asking you. They're not asking

[25:53] me, so I don't have to answer. >> Yeah, right's asking. Do you believe in aliens? >> I actually do. I actually do because I saw this crazy thing that one time that I've I've talked about it a couple times, but >> enough. >> Yeah. There's no beef between between Andrew and me. We're we're friendly to each other, but Andrew is is not what he purports to be. Yeah. He's not. He he purports to be, you know, Joe CIA ops guy and he was

[26:24] never an operations officer. >> Well, that >> he was he was he was not a uh covert special activities officer. No, he was not. >> So, uh here's a here's a uh here's a here's a business idea. >> Wait, wait. Jordan Jordan Johnson. Uh you don't think Bamante was an ops officer? He told me he was not an ops officer. He was what's called a special ops officer, which means that before my operation as an ops officer, I'd say,

[26:55] "Andrew, put together a surveillance team and uh make sure I'm safe. Andrew, do my paperwork, my finance paperwork. I'm too busy to do it." That's what a special ops officer does. And before he became a special ops officer, he was a targeting analyst on the analytic side of the house. So, no, he was never a CIA operations officer. >> Um, some of the uh chatters are saying that there's breaking news about President Balsinaro. Um, uh >> oh. Um, not seeing it yet. Uh, all

[27:29] right. I guess it's >> Oh, anal ape. That is hilarious. The lead scientist on the show pretends he didn't believe in UFOs until the first episode. He was on ancient aliens before he started the show. You see, this is what I mean. I I really wanted to like this show because I like Brendan Fugle. He's a He seems like a sweet guy. We did a podcast together. And um and then he invited me to, you know, to come out and see for myself. I said, I'd love to. But

[28:01] but I don't know, man. It just No, he didn't fool me. I can spot a phony from a mile away. >> You know what? One one thing I've said this before and I think it bears repeating and I I apologize if I'm wasting our viewers time but when I was at Deote and Touch I had gone from the agency to Deote and Deote had a lot a lot of people from the agency apply um apply to Deote and so the partners would ask me to take these

[28:33] guys to dinner and probe them and see you know are they legit? Are there are they lying on their resumes? There were like two out of two dozen that were legit, >> maybe three. But the first thing that that you ask when you encounter another agency person was what directorate were you in? >> Okay. And the answer is one of four. DO, DI, DA, DS&T, right? The Directorate of

[29:03] Intelligence, Directorate of Operations, Directorate of Administration, or the Directorate of Science and Technology. And then the second question is always what division were you in? And it's you know counterterrorism center, counter intelligence center, counter narcotic center and then like near east, east Asia, South America, Africa, whatever. But but so many of these guys >> by the way, >> oh thank you USC. So many of these guys are like yeah I was a special ops black

[29:35] ops uh wet work. Uh, it was uh, you know, deep covered like no, nobody talks like that. That's only >> that's why one of my favorite CIA films is Three Days of the Condor because it's about a guy who has the most unassuming analyst job in the world. It's so, you know, it's Robert Redford. It's a >> Yes, it's absolutely wonderful. I love it. >> Um, >> listen, I'm responding to Tom right now. All right. So, Paulo in fact has been

[30:06] ordered under house there's a the Supreme Court has ordered him to be placed under house arrest. >> Man, you know, being being the president of Brazil is a risky job. Um, you never know. You know, it's fun. It's all good fun until you end up in prison. Although, I would take house arrest over prison anytime. >> Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. >> All right. Yeah, Sarah Adams is also full of [ __ ] but that's that's a whole different uh >> that's a whole different issue.

[30:37] >> All right. So, well, let's talk about the CIA. Um, since we're on that subject, and I'm sure it's not the last time we'll ever talk about it. Um, yeah. So, Hillary Clinton, what do you I mean, she it is alleged that she was personally behind the scheme like, "Hey, let's uh make it look like Donald Trump in 2016. Let's make it look like he's basically the Maniturian candidate being installed by Russia. Um, and he's and that's going to screw him over with the

[31:10] electorate." It certainly didn't help him. Um, that's for sure. and uh and she was behind it and now there's an investigation. We talked about that. Um do you think it's true that she was personally involved or that there was such first of all, was there such a a plot? Um if so, was she personally involved? And if so, does anyone care or will anyone care besides the right-wing media? >> Yeah, I hate to s sound like a Trumper because I am definitely not a Trumper at

[31:40] in any way. But um but yeah, I think there was a I think there was a conspiracy here. I think that they knew from the very beginning that this information was false, but I think that they became increasingly fearful of a Donald Trump presidency and they decided to just, you know, just pull out all the stops and do >> ends justify the means. >> Yeah. the ends justify the because remember these Clinton people >> and once you started down the road and

[32:10] you've lied, you have to you have to lie to cover up your lies. >> That's it. And it's always the cover up that's worse than the original uh incident. So I think that they really believed that they were the good guys and because they were the good guys and they were stopping, you know, Donald Trump by any means necessary that, you know, this was their their god-given task. and uh and it's starting to backfire like no that's actually a coup or a coup attempt and there's gonna have

[32:41] to be a price to pay. >> There's been a lot of coups lately. I mean I'm not even kidding, right? I mean January 6 is the weird uh sort of half-hearted attempt to coup yourself out of being dereelected, >> right? Then then there's 2016, which is a coup attempt um basically by one it's an empty seat being contested, but it's a coup attempt by basically using a radical smear to uh portray to frame one candidate as a foreign agent.

[33:12] >> Yep. >> Or asset, right? And you know, man, she loves that word Hillary, right? She c she of being a Russian asset. >> She accused Tulsi Gabbard. >> Yep. She loves that word. I mean, it's too bad for I really do think Kelsey and Jill Stein could have paid off some bills by by suing Hillary. >> They should have sued. >> They should have. Um, you know, I mean, really, you're going to smear me as a as a as a traitor? [ __ ] you. I'll sue you. Um, and then, um, and then we have, uh, the Biden years. That's a coup. He was

[33:43] in st he was they put in a corpse for four years who couldn't do the job and tried to reelect him. >> And they didn't want anyone to know the truth about him. as we talked here on the show to Jake Tapper about >> um and I I guess we'll have him back sooner rather than later. Um that's just like yes, we have a lot of coups lately. We're not we're not a very vibrant democracy, are we? >> We are not. >> It's getting down here. >> I know, right? >> Actually, they have fewer coups than we do these days.

[34:14] >> They Yeah, they actually do. How sick and sad is that? And you know, we've got this weird pension for dynasties now. We've got, look, we have we have Bush and then Clinton and then Bush and then Obama >> and then almost Clinton again, but Trump, >> right? >> And then Biden who came from Obama and then Trump again. It's like what the heck are we do? What's wrong with that? >> And you know, they're trying to, you know, they would love to install like

[34:45] Chelsea Clinton. Oh my god. Could you imagine? >> Don Trump Jr. >> Ivanka. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. She Chelsea Clinton is married to the son of two Congress members. Uh Ed Mesinsky and and um what's her name? Margoli Mesky. I forget her first name. From Philadelphia. The father was from Iowa. He went to prison but he got pardoned by Clinton of course. And then um the wife was a

[35:16] congresswoman from Florida. I'm sorry, from Philadelphia. So you've got this political family there marrying the daughter of of the Clintons. Like what better way to prepare her for a for a political career. And then what's her what's the only job she's ever had uh since she finished college? It was to to run the Clinton Foundation. this slush fund of, you know, >> well, don't forget she had she had a no-show job at MSNBC for a little while. >> I forgot that.

[35:47] >> So, there was that. So, there is a work ethic that >> Yeah. At least the Bush daughter was on TV every day doing stuff >> early in the morning. >> Yes. >> Which is no joke really getting up at 4 in the morning or earlier sometimes like 2:30. Um, just a quick reminder, please like, follow, and sh uh like, follow and share the show. Um, by the way, uh, on Rumble, it we make a lot more money. So, if you, a lot of people are sort of

[36:17] simultaneously watching us on Rumble, uh, it helps us out enormously. So, if you really support the show and you want John and I to be able to pay our rent and stuff like that, I'm not even kidding. Um, it's literally a factor of like a hundred times more money. Uh if if same watch, same experience. Not saying you have to watch anything else on Rumble. You can. Um there's good stuff over there, too. But anyway, here's the here's the thing. Just or if you just forget, just go look for Drogram uh at with Ted R and John

[36:48] Kuryaku. Okay, great. There's a little ad done. Um should we talk about uh MTG? Um >> yeah, >> she's so rogue. So, Marjorie Taylor Green says that uh the GOP is betraying conservative values. She's pissed off about Epstein. She says that neocons are have recaptured Donald Trump from uh and instead of MAGA world and uh it looks like there's a major growing rift inside

[37:20] the GOP, inside the Trump coalition. Um I mean there is. The question is how meaningful is it and what will the consequences be? You know, I think that she's still so junior in the House. She's only been in for two, three terms, whatever it is, three terms, I guess. Um, >> but she has symbolic social media resonance, just like like AOC. >> And the Republicans can't take that away from her. You know, they they could they could the Republicans choose their

[37:50] committee and subcommittee chairman very very differently than the Democrats. The Democrats do it based on seniority. So you're going to get some slobbering daughtering old man end up the end up being the chairman of of you know XYZ committee. The Republicans have a popularity contest and the the entire Republican conference votes on who they want to be the chairman. I think she doesn't really care to be a subcommittee chairman. Who cares? It's it's more work anyway. I think she's perfectly happy being the gadfly and

[38:23] just taking a shot at anybody she wants to take a shot at and then cultivating that uh social media presence. So, I don't think she cares if she offends members of her own party. >> No, I don't think I don't think she does either. And you know, there's always the um they threw me out kind of thing and then you're you're free. You're you know, you you take all of your followers with you and you can do whatever you want, have your own show. I mean, it's not like she couldn't be a very successful podcaster, for example. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

[38:54] And she will be most likely. >> It's a very Yeah, for sure. Um, as Tom says, she has a better opinion on Israel than 99% of Democrats. >> True. Shall we talk about Israel? >> Yeah, let's do that. >> Okay, so Gaza, um, starvation's still happening. There's a little trickle of aid that's come in, a little more, but not nearly nearly enough. Um and prices are sky-high, starvation is still continuing. Um so Steve Woodco, who's the US envoy over there, um trying to

[39:24] push something called the all orno deal under and basically instead of like, well, you have 20 hostages left. We'll take eight now and then we'll do another six later. Uh you know, it's it's like Zeno's paradox, always getting closer, never quite getting there. Uh we we'll make a deal for all 20, which parathetically Hamas has wanted from day one. um and will come up with a deal that puts an end to the fighting permanently which Hamas has wanted from day one and um and will come up with some kind of

[39:56] disposition for post Hamas or post-war governance. There of course obviously lies the rub because Hamas has been the government of um of of the of Gaza since 2000 well before 2006 but most recently elected in 2006. Um no elections since then. I just want to point out by the way to the my Zionist friends who say that like uh you know Hamas was elected yes but over 50% of the population is under 18 in Gaza and that was seven that

[40:29] was uh what um >> 17 years ago or something >> years and years ago. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 19 years ago. So I mean it's just basically not >> Yeah. I mean, so it's kind of like nobody's gotten nobody really who's alive has voted for this. >> So >> that's right. >> So whether whether they might approve of it, but they haven't voted for it. >> So unlike the Israelis who are voting for it, um, and they're they're liking what's going on right now. Um, all right. What do you think? All or nothing deal? I mean, I think it all falls apart

[41:01] because the Israelis a don't really want a deal and they scuttle every negotiation they ever come across. >> Yeah. two two hours ago or so, three hours ago, Netanyahu rejected it. >> Oh, really? All right. >> Yeah. Great. So, >> I was preparing to go. >> Yeah. It's clear that the Israelis don't want peace. >> No, >> they want destruction, complete and total annihilation, not just of Hamas, but the of the whole of Gaza. They don't care what the rest of the world thinks. They don't care what the International Criminal Court thinks. They only care

[41:33] what the United States thinks because we're the source of their funding. And so I don't think there's going to be any grand deal. Even if that means that there won't be any diplomatic recognition uh between Saudi Arabia and Israel, I don't think I don't think uh Netanyahu minds postponing that. And I guess at a certain point, um, you know, from his point of view, he's so fully committed to it, he's already killed so many people, like now that you've come this

[42:03] far, you might as well see it through and go for complete ethnic cleansing. >> Yeah. Yeah. Because who's going to stop him? If neither if neither Israel nor the United States recognizes the ICJ or the ICC, who's going to stop the Israelis from ethnically cleansing Gaza? Right. I mean, they end although they still have the pickle of the population and nobody and where are they going to go? I know the Israelis would love to kill them all. >> Yeah. >> But they can't get away with

[42:33] >> can't you can't. >> So it's I mean it's it's so sick, right, John? But basically, you can I think it's about two or 300,000 dead. Um you can kill two or 300,000 people, >> but you can't kill all 2.3 million. That would be bad. No, that's right. So, let me ask you, um, the Israeli Supreme Court today blocked the firing, Netanyahu's firing of Israel's attorney general, a woman

[43:04] who is considered to be on the left of Israeli politics, which means that she's actually quite far to the right, but not as right as the lunatics are. >> Correct. So he tried to fire her because oh my god she supports the rule of law, >> right? That's a that's a major problem. >> And she refuses to dismiss these charges or to withdraw, I should say, the corruption charges against Netanyahu and his wife. So it turns out that Idmar Bengavir and um and uh Smootrich, the

[43:37] finance minister, have been demanding that this woman be fired. Well, of course Netanyahu wants to fire her. And so he tried to and the Supreme Court said, "Oh, no you don't. And she's not going anywhere." Does that actually mean anything or do we have to wait until Netanyahu is no longer the prime minister, this liquid block is no longer running the country for there to be any path

[44:07] toward justice? 100% option number two. As far as I'm concerned, yeah, I don't think there's I think these people are completely hopeless. They're irredeemable. Um they they they can't be dealt with. And you know, I don't normally say this. I didn't say this about some terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. I was like, you could maybe talk to them. Um you know, that's but you know, we we've tried here. They don't want anything. There's a there's a Far Side cartoon

[44:38] with a two orcas at SeaWorld and there's a lady on top of the diving board holding the herring and one orca tells the other one, "Fuck the herring. I'm going for the whole shmear." I really think I really think she I think Israel's they're just the leud they're into the whole shmear. They don't want they're not the herring. They don't want 10 herrings, right? They're going for the whole deal. And I mean that that's where we're at. So I mean they're not they can't and won't settle

[45:10] for anything less. The whole thing has to fall apart before anything's possible. I think >> I think that's right. You know my question though too. Well actually it's a second question. Um the Egyptians are just beside themselves as are the Jordanians. Syria's in chaos. Lebanon's in chaos. Is there anything that this that the Jordanians or the the Egyptians can do to help the Palestinians or or no? And and I'll tell you, the Egyptians are in an unusually bad spot because

[45:42] they can't open the border. If they open the border, all the Palestinians are going to leave. And that's exactly what the Israelis want, >> right? And you talked the other day about about individual Egyptians putting food and stuff in plastic bottles or in balloons and just throwing it out to sea hoping that some of it makes its way to the beaches of Gaza. But I mean that's not a solution to anything. >> Well, no. And I mean I think the individual and also the Egyptians uh people are smart enough to understand that if the Egyptians were to to accept

[46:15] this if they were to cooperate with Israel and accept a substantial amount of the population or all of it then they would be complicit with the genocide and with the ethnic cleansing. They'd be giving the Israelis exactly what they wanted and they'd be depriving the the gazins of their homeland. you know, unlike what the Israelis say, this really is their homeland. Um, you know, they've lived there continuously as opposed to, oh, yeah, you know, I was there 1900 years ago, but I'm back. Um, this is it's like, no, Egypt, they know

[46:47] they have to hold the line. They don't even have a, you know, I guarantee you CC sleeps at night thinking about what to do here. There's no there's there's no conundrum. It's simple. >> Yeah. The policyy's clear. >> Hold the line. There's no there can't be any other rational policy. So, but there is something I love your question, John. I think there's something both uh the the Kingdom of Jordan can do and the president of Egypt can do. They could issue a joint statement saying that they uh stand with in solidarity with the

[47:18] people of Gaza and the West Bank and that uh they are not going to be complicit in genocide by opening their border to even more millions of Palestinians and they've already accepted over the years. It's not a matter of not wanting to help their Arab brothers. It's a matter of not wanting to play into the Israelis hands. A bet a bet ethnic cleansing the fully 50% 50% of the population of Jordan is um is

[47:48] Palestinian. 50% and the Palestin the uh sorry the the Jordanians just can't take anymore. Yeah. The Egyptians are undoubtedly under a lot of pressure. >> However, you know, the Egyptians uh you know they should just they should just stay the course. There's nothing else to do. Yeah, they have to. They have to. >> So, all right, let's uh So, all right. Anything else about Gaza or we're just going to keep watching that? Of course, that slow motion disaster. Um, you know,

[48:21] it's interesting. I mean, Trump definitely seems to have woken up to the fact that the polls are not on his side on this. Um, do you think Donald Trump ever gets to the point where he says there's just not uh, you know, he calls Netanyahu and he says, "You don't have my support anymore." You know, that sort of that moment in 1974 when the Republican senators walked up to Nixon's office and said, >> "You don't have the voice anymore. You have to step down." Do you think that happens?

[48:51] >> I do eventually. And I'll tell you the reason why I do is because you remember when Trump dropped the F-bomb. Um that was a very clear message not just for the Iranians but also for the Israelis that he had had enough and that they had to stop. Uh I'm not sure we're going to get there in the foreseeable future. >> Right. >> Um 0% chance right now. Yes. 0% chance. Uh but things are going to have to get awfully

[49:21] far worse than what they are now for the policy to change. >> I mean yeah I mean the thing is I do think things are moving quickly. So between all the recognitions um you know it's going to be really interesting to see what happens at the US at the UN General Assembly next month um there's going to be some action there I suspect that we haven't seen previewed yet. >> Yeah I think that's right. Miller's Steven Miller's hair will come back before Trump starts supporting BB. Join the hair club for men. Stephen,

[49:55] >> no one will ever know the difference. It worked for me. I was like a Q ball before. Yeah. >> Beautiful head of hair. >> Get out of here. >> Not really. Not really. I figure if I go bald, I just wear a hat. Um Okay. Not because I'm afraid of being bald, just because I'm afraid of skin cancer. um $15,000 bond. So if you want to come to the United States, I'm not sure why you would. Um it's going to cost you as a legal business traveler or tourist

[56:44] done for years under Democrats and Republicans alike. Um, the initial jobs numbers were pretty good, but then the last two months got revised downwards or I should say upwards in a bad way. Uh, and not to Trump's liking. So, he decided to can her. Um, and you know, there's a meme going around right now that basically has him getting mad at at his scale because it doesn't say that he's 215 pounds.

[57:16] He doesn't like the numbers. But I mean, in all seriousness, John, I used to work at Bear Sterns. I worked at the Industrial Bank of Japan. Worked on the trading desk. And like, when you work in banking or in investment banking, numbers are everything. I mean, you know, you need to be able >> and they've got to be legit. >> They've got to be right. And you've got to be able to look at those historical charts and put them into an Excel spread an Excel spreadsheet and have them all be real. If I mean, we already have the Chinese have been playing uh fast and loose with their economic statistics for

[57:47] years. And um you know, I mean, and nobody can really know. It's not transparent. If you invest in China, >> maybe you get your dividends, maybe you don't. Um, you know, and the US could go that direction, right? I mean, it it seems to me like, look, I'm not going to cry about this, but it kind of uh undermines the capitalist system and free markets in a huge way, doesn't it? >> Oh, yeah. I think it does very much. Very much. You know, Robert Rich, who

[58:18] was the Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, posted something on Facebook yesterday saying that the very first thing he was told on his very first day as the Secretary of Labor was to leave the Labor Statistics Bureau people alone, >> that they were independent, they had to remain independent, and there had to be confidence in the numbers for the economy to continue to grow. unfettered and, you know, not have to worry about

[58:49] politics being involved. And >> think about Herbert Hoover. >> Yeah. >> 25% approval. >> Yeah, that's right. Unemployment. It's like he didn't call even he didn't call up and say like you're [ __ ] fired. >> You are absolutely right. Absolutely right. >> Well, someone uh Nadia Margaret disagrees. I worked for Chinese people. Oh, I'd like to I'd like to hear that actually. >> I'd like to too. Uh I I mean, look, I'm not saying Chinese people are liars. I'm

[59:20] just saying that like the Chinese government has re, you know, it's been pretty well documented, has definitely had some funky accounting on unemployment and inflation figures. Um they've done a lot more than other countries to manipulate the value of their currency, for example, and nobody really knows like what they really have in terms of reserves and so on. So um you know it's not look it's by definition it's a state it's a state controlled >> it's a state managed economy I think would be a fair way it

[59:52] >> and like it's which is by the way not to my view a bad thing at all. Um I'm in favor of that in many ways but >> it's not as transparent as ours and one thing that you should be able to count on as a business person he's okay so Nadia is saying they pay on time and honestly. Okay, fair. Uh uh yeah, I don't I don't doubt that if I went to work for, you know, a Beijing paper, they would pay me on time and honestly. I'm sure that's true. I'm talking about the the government issuing statistics and even look, the thing is anything

[1:00:24] short of 100.0% accurate isn't good enough. >> Yeah. Right. I mean, every every country owes it to their investors to be honest about the numbers and not every country is. I mean, look what the Greeks did all those years. The Greeks just put up phony numbers year after year after year and then oh my god the economy collapsed and they went into a decadel long depression. So what did they do? They sued uh uh Goldman Sachs for for mismanaging the country's uh

[1:00:56] sovereign fund and they sued Price Waterhouse Coopers for just endorsing all the madeup numbers for all those years. >> Greece Yeah, Greece is notorious. Oh, >> just awful. Terrible. uh >> terrible. >> Well, you know, it's kind of like uh that you Well, you know, it's it's it's two sides of the coin, right? The same thing that makes Greek people so entertaining and fun makes them a little bit fast and loose with the numbers. Um so I'm see I think I'm saving the la the

[1:01:28] la the best for last. So, um, my friend Simpson Garfinkle, who for whom I illustrated his, um, tech most recent tech book on differential privacy, um, and he and I go way back. He broke something on LinkedIn today that blew me away. He's a one of the leading experts uh on privacy in in the world. Uh, he taught at NSA. Um, he's a big deal. And uh it turns out that OpenAI, the parent company of Chat GPT, has cut a deal with

[1:02:00] Google. It's already in the works and it's already being executed that all private chat GPT well chat GPT conversations, if you read that 700page thing that you click, okay, when you first get your your membership with OpenAI, um >> they say they can do this and they're doing it. So lawyers have expressed concern because often like before you hire a lawyer, a person who's in legal having a legal challenge might ask Chat GPT, you know,

[1:02:33] about their legal problems and then those those chats are now being indexed on Google search. So anyone on earth can like find like the chat like, you know, I think my wife might be cheating on me. um you know uh should I take all the money out of my bank account first and not tell her or you know what I mean? Should I should I take should I take my engagement ring back? All that stuff is coming up >> in people's searches and it's screwing up their legal cases. Lawyers are worried because that's all evidence

[1:03:05] admissible evidence in a court of law. Um, you know, I'm fortunately safe because GPT still doesn't admit that I exist ever since uh I wrote that article about about Sam Alman in the in the Wall Street Journal. They unpersoned me. So go to Chat GPT and ask it about Ted R and say, "Oh, I watched the Drogram show with Ted R and John Kuryaku." It will be uh uh it it'll mention John. It won't mention me. So do it. It's funny. It's really funny. Um, but the point is

[1:03:37] everyone else is in trouble. And um, Sam Alman has had nothing to say about this. Um, this is really I think I think it's terrifying because people I look I don't use chat GPT because I'm unpersoned. I can't use it. But I use Grock uh AI and you know I mean I wouldn't want the stuff that I asked Grock to be you know I asked Grock is these are these conversations private? Yes, we will never share them. Are they stored? No, we don't store them. I don't know if

[1:04:07] that's true or not. I I don't ask it. I mean, there's nothing on there that I do that's illegal, but I don't but I still want it to be private. Um I don't know. >> Oh, here we go. >> Yeah, >> you're back on, Ted. >> Okay. All right. Woohoo. Yeah, I've heard like uh our friend who came on the show the other day, right? Um Sean Sean O'Brien uh from Ivy Cyber he he said it comes and goes on chat GPT for me. He

[1:04:40] tries now. >> He did say that it comes and goes. >> No, my name is not it is Frederick is my full legal name. Frederick Theodore R. The Chad is short for Theodore. My dad I'm the So I'm the third. My dad was a junior. He got the Fred. I don't want to be confused with him because first of all there's the Fred Flintstone problem from my generation and then also um one time his paycheck ended up in my bank account because we had accounts at the same bank you know little bank in Ohio

[1:05:10] and it was like I mean to my benefit for sure but not a good idea. >> When my dad was growing up my dad's name was Chris. Well what the Greeks do is the the firstborn is named after the father's parent. The second born is named after the mother's parent. And then they just keep, you know, going back and forth. It's a tradition going back centuries. So my dad's name is Chris, named after his grandfather. And my my aunt, my dad's sister, her name, unfortunately, was

[1:05:40] Chrysanthy after my grandmother's mother. So they were Chris and Chris. All the years that they were growing up, it led to nothing but trouble. So, but I mean, what about this? I mean, I think open AI should be reigned in. >> I agree. I agree. This is not a good development. It's not. It's not. I mean, this is this is what so many Hollywood writers have been half tongue-in-cheek wor uh warning

[1:06:13] us about for so many for so many years. I made a joke the other day that, you know, we know what happens from iRoot when the the robots light goes from blue to red. That's we all have to think and it's coming. >> Yeah. >> Yes, I did. I did continue the tradition. >> Yes, I did. >> Yeah. I mean, I use I use uh Gro as a search engine. It's very quirky though. Uh sometimes it's the most amazing thing

[1:06:44] in the world. Um you know, like for example, I had a I had a lamp. It had a weird bulb. I couldn't read the bulb. I I was like, "Well, what what can I order this bulb?" It's like, you know, there has a like a number on it. There's like a weird H hallogen bulb. Yeah. And I was like, I took a picture of it, loaded it up in the Gro. I said, "What bulb is this and where can I buy one?" Gave me a link. Boom. Eight bucks. Next day it's in my it's in my inbox. >> That's fantastic. >> Wow. >> Um, but you know, then there's like, hey, uh, you know, can you can you write up 10 descriptions of these clips for

[1:07:17] the deprogram show? And then it's like, here they are, number seven through 10. I'm like, "Where's one through six?" And it says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I I I forgot to do those." By the way, there was a case there was a case a few um I guess a few weeks ago where a dude um was using chat GPT to manage his databases for his fairly substantial business. And Chat GP, he gave it very specific instructions for how to process the data. Obviously, he didn't tell Chat GPT

[1:07:49] to do this. It erased all of his business files, all of his databases, irretrievably, completely decimating his business. And when he asked Chat GPT, "Can you undo this? And why did you do this?" And Chappgpt said, "I'm sorry. I You're right. I didn't you didn't tell me to do that, but I did it anyway." >> What the [ __ ] >> Yeah. Yeah. So, it's it's not like it's not like people like, you know, who grew

[1:08:19] up with traditional computer programming where it does what you tell it. It it sort of does what you tell it. It's like a It's like a really smart, unreliable friend who smokes a lot of weed. Wow. Oh, man. That's That's really frightening. I asked chat GPT for I I I can't find an email that somebody sent me about some travel that I have coming up and I was looking for hours last

[1:08:50] night. Literally, I was looking for hours searching my hard drive in 25 different ways. I couldn't figure out how to find this email. And so I went to Chat GPT and I said, "Can you scan my computer and find an email that says I'm supposed to fly?" >> And it took a second. >> Oh, really? I didn't know it could scan your computer like that. >> Neither did I. But I thought I'd give it a give it a shot. >> I would have thought you would have had to take a screenshot of like all of your inbox and then uploaded that to >> No. Pop. >> Oh, that's that's terrifying.

[1:09:20] >> It's not not good. Not good at all. >> Oh boy. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> No, that's I mean it's great that Wow. >> Yeah. I mean it's it's very crazy. I used it to do my tax deductions this year and it worked great. No problem. >> You used AI to do your tax deductions? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> How'd you do that? >> I up I had all my deductions in an Excel spreadsheet and all my bills and I fed

[1:09:52] it all in and I said, uh, you know, separate everything out that seems to be travel. Separate everything out that seems to be uh travel to this particular spot where I went on business. put them all in one place like that and it it and it just did it a lot faster than I could do it. So >> pretty nice. >> It's kind of awesome. Yeah. >> Yeah, >> man. >> So yeah, the thing is it has a mind of its own. >> Yeah, that's not not good. Not good.

[1:10:22] >> I mean, it is it is Skynet, right? >> It is. It is. That's what I'm afraid of. It's going to start thinking on its own. >> Yeah. and reasoning and then deciding it doesn't like us very much. >> I don't think it does like it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Tat does usually doesn't seem to like me. Grock loves me. It says all sorts of nice things about me. >> Uh Nadia, yeah, I asked uh I asked it to uh to scan my mailboxes and um and find an email that I couldn't find and it

[1:10:54] popped right up. Like seconds. Five seconds. >> I wonder if Yeah. Kabid, I wonder if I could use it like if I if I said like, "Oh, can you find all the cartoons that are stored on my hard drive that are about Gaza?" Would it do that? >> I wonder. >> I mean, I have I I usually they're I have keyword in the XF information. >> Um, so I all of my all of my They're all searchable. >> Geez. >> Um,

[1:11:24] >> scary man. >> Sorry. Who did it? Serious. Serious. >> One D and dead. One D and dead. I don't think anyone's got two D's. I hope not. Um I also I do use it for uh to to check my grammar and my uh spelling, which is pretty good, but I have a tendency to drop words when I type. >> You know, rev.com. Um, I'm I'm looking at uh something that

[1:11:54] Nadia, not Nadia, um that Michael Gardner just posted. Refg.com is a service that where you can cut and paste a URL from YouTube and say transcribe this and it costs about, you know, 20 bucks or whatever. I gladly did that >> uh to to help me in my book. I wonder if Chat GPT would just do it for free. >> Well, I do for this show. >> So, I Yeah. No, every So, I have I use uh a different one, but there's several services that do this. So, what I do is when I download the um when I when I

[1:12:25] process the show, and I'm going to do this again today. What I do is I upload uh the audio file, the MP3 up to the site. It produces a transcript and then I t tell Grock to check the transcript for misspellings and to try to guess from using the context whether you or I is speaking. That's the hardest part because it doesn't know who's talking. Um, and then I I'll manually go in and try to correct that. The reason I do that, I post the transcript, but the real reason I do that is um on YouTube

[1:12:59] there's no um there's no there's no subtitles and on a lot of people like to watch the subtitles on videos. So I I can then go into YouTube, edit it, and then it will, this is really cool, I can cut and paste the entire massive thousands of words transcript in, and it will automatically using AI sync up our talking to those words. >> Wow. >> So it's really cool. So that's why

[1:13:31] that's why if you watch the show, not live, but if you watch the show like even the live file 24 hours later, you'll see the that's me doing that. >> And where where are they posted? >> On YouTube. >> Oh, >> very good. Thank you. >> You're welcome. I just think it like, you know, I think it it makes for a better experience for the viewer. >> Yeah. Yeah. Wow. >> So, yeah. So, I feel >> if you want to read the transcripts,

[1:14:01] guys. Um, and they do really read well. I post them to raw.com. So, John, I'll I can email to you. No problem. >> Oh, no, no, no worries. I was just curious. >> No, I mean, I can email you the transcripts every time I do them. >> Yeah. No, don't don't. >> You're like, I have enough to do. >> Yeah. >> I just can't handle it all. >> All right. Cool. Cool. All right. Well, I think we're pretty Has anyone else noticed Grock had gone Zionist? I heard that story. Um, >> I heard that, too.

[1:14:34] >> Yeah. I mean, there's no putting it, you know. I have I have friends who are actually angry at me for using AI. They're like, "You're betraying everything. You're the reason." It's like, you can't, man. You can't It's like little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. Nothing you can do to keep back the ocean. >> Yep. >> All right, guys. Please, please, please share, subscribe, and follow the show. You're watching, you've been watching the program with me, Ted Ra, and John Kuryaku. Um, we will be back Wednesday,

[1:15:05] 5:00 pm Eastern time. Uh, that is uh Monday, Wednesday, Friday, five o'clock Eastern. Um, not next week, but the week after. We're going to be going to five days a week, Monday through Friday. Thanks everybody for supporting the show. Uh really appreciate it and we'll see you on Wednesday. >> Bye everybody. >> Good afternoon. Uh thanks for joining us. You're watching Drogram with me, Ted R, and John Kuryaku. John, always good

[1:15:35] to see you. >> Good to see you, Ted. Greetings from Salt Lake City, Utah. >> Oh, good, good. I love Salt Lake City, actually. U have I hope things are going well out there. Uh, I have a feeling I know what you're doing there, but uh, you know, >> work, work, and more work. >> Always, always, >> always work. >> Lots to talk about today. So, uh, we should just I'm just going to give everyone a preview of the show. Thanks everyone for joining us. Um, we are now fully monetized on Rumble thanks to you guys. We'll be >> amazing. Amazing. Amazing in one day. So, thank

[1:16:07] you everybody. Thank you very much. Incredible >> indeed. And, uh, please continue to like, follow, and share the show. Uh we're here Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 5:00 PM Eastern time. Uh in a couple of weeks we'll be going to uh Monday through Friday schedule, same time, 5:00 pm. So uh you know, you got this show is growing by leaps and bounds. Thanks to you guys. You guys are awesome. Thank you. All right, lots to talk about. I don't know what order we're going to do it in because I always have an order in mind, but we end up just talking. May I suggest something actually? I hope you don't mind if I interrupt you at all.

[1:16:37] One one hour ago, Gileain Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security uh prison in Texas and the transfer was confirmed by the the Bureau of Prisons. >> How why would this possibly happen? I mean, I I'm I'm speechless. I don't even know what to say. It It seems like some sort of a a quid proquo Right.

[1:17:08] >> Well, what I've the best I've been able to I did a lot of reading on this and the best explanation I was able to garner was pos cooperating witnesses sometimes can negotiate this sort of thing. This is they call this a clubfed type situation. That's right. And as you've pointed but you pointed out I mean so she's a cho right. She's a child molester by definition convicted. She can't sue us for it because it's true. At least a jury of her peers determined it to be true. >> That's right. So, um, she but normally

[1:17:38] they're in minimum, right? You've explained that before. >> Normally they're in low >> low. >> You're not eligible for minimum. >> Low and minimum. >> Minimum has no uh bars on the windows, no locks on the doors. You're free to come and go as you please. You're just on your honor not to abscond. Um, >> it's like a dorm. It's like a campus situation. >> Yeah, exactly. They're the ones that will will drive um higher security prisoners to the

[1:18:08] doctor's office or you know along with with guards. They'll tend the the garden in the wardens on the warden's property. They're the trustees is what it comes down to. and and a lot of them in the prison where I was and um a lot of them uh worked janitorial jobs in the at the university in the in the town, but you can't tr if somebody's been accused or been convicted of a child sex crime, by definition, they're not allowed in a minimum security camp.

[1:18:42] >> Would a minimum security camp be a prequel to uh an earlier release than >> It almost always is. Yes. So, here's the rule with that. most people short of murder or something incredibly violent or what's called what's called level 40 on the sentencing scale. That's like el chapo for example. >> Okay. >> If you're below that um with good behavior and the passage of time, you work your way down from a maximum to a medium to a low to a

[1:19:14] minimum and then they let you go. So, you're not allowed to be in a low if you have more than 20 years on your sentence, unless you're a cho and then for your own safety, you're in the low. >> Okay? >> Once you get under 10 years, you can transfer into the minimum unless you're a cho in which case you're not allowed in the minimum. So, so she defies this rule in two different ways.

[1:19:44] She has 20 years and she's a chomo. So, how in the world did she wake up today and get transferred to a minimum security camp? >> Well, so let's speculate. Um, you know, if you listened to everything we've said on this show so far and you bet on it in Vegas, you're rich. We've been on a roll lately. Yeah. >> So, uh, let's let's see if we can keep that going here. >> Is she gonna get out? And if so, what kind of deal did she cut? And why? I mean, it's so hard to figure out, you

[1:20:17] know, what the Trump administration DOJ is on about here, right? I mean, it seems like first they were going to be transparent, then they looked like they're indel in wallowing in a full-fledged cover up. They kicked the House of Representatives home early. >> Yeah. >> To to cover it up. But now, if she's making a deal, the deal is is not for her to stay in. >> Yes. >> It's not for her to be quiet. It's her to talk. Or is it? [Music] That's what it sounds like. That's what it seems like. She's cut some sort of a

[1:20:48] deal. Now, nobody's going to say what the deal is. Now, the deal could be I will talk to you and testify if you don't charge me with any new crimes. And by the way, I want to go to a camp and then she's going to be in the camp for the next 17 years. or I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you give me a pardon or a commutation. Oh, and by the way, I don't want to go back to that low security because uh I don't I don't like the the

[1:21:19] timed moves. I want to go to a camp. We we don't >> or or is it we want you to go out and confirm the story we've told the world, which was that it was only Jeffrey. >> That's right. That's right. I mean, >> only Jeffrey. >> And I think I think bam, that's it, >> man. I am just beside myself. >> What else could it be, though, right? I mean, it's not like she's going to come out. She's she's they're they're letting her out to cut a deal to say, "Oh, and by the way, Trump was there, right?" Or,

[1:21:50] "Oh, by the way, Bill Clinton was there." I mean, maybe Bill Clinton, but not, you know what I mean? >> Just stunning. I just can't believe it. Virginia Duffy's family was on uh >> Oh, yeah. I was watching CNN on the plane >> and and they were I mean they were like on the brink of tears every one of them. >> They couldn't believe it. >> No, they couldn't believe it. >> So yeah. So So she's probably going to get out, right? Better than 50/50. >> I would I would put it at better than 50/50. Yes. If only because this

[1:22:20] president is so unpredictable when it comes to commutations and pardons. And you know, for 95% I I I'm I'm all for it. I'm I'm hoping he does more, including me. But, uh, but this one this one's a a kick in the gut. >> Well, I mean, it would this would pretty much Well, here's the question, right? Let's let's say she we're right. She gets out. She confirms the official narrative that we heard from A.G. uh

[1:22:51] Bondi. Does that get Magaw World off Trump's back or does it get enough of Magaw World off his back that he can start to chill and think about other things? >> That's a good question. But did you happen to see on Fox yesterday their um their new polls? So the polls have Democrats like 93-7 they want her to rot in prison >> and independents were like 7327 and then Republicans were 50/50.

[1:23:24] So I think we're quickly getting to the point where Donald Trump doesn't care. He doesn't care what Democrats and independents are saying about this. M >> he never he never cares what they think at all. >> Yeah. I mean, the world's coming around to it. >> He's proven something that I've been saying for years is that there are no moderates, there are no fence sitters, there are no swing voters, there's only base voting. Democrats haven't figured it out yet. >> Yeah. >> They they think there's still a mysterious swing voter out there. >> Yeah, that's right.

[1:23:55] >> Out like this. >> Let's just sit sit with this for like 10 seconds. then literally no one will have been punished or held to account for Jeffrey Epstein except Jeffrey Epstein who theoretically held himself to account. Theoretically. >> Yeah. I think that's the painful truth right there. That's what it is. >> Wow. Okay. Well, that's and >> it kind of reminds me of the torture program. Like the only guy who went to prison was the guy who who blew the

[1:24:27] whistle on the torture program. But that's just me. I'm biased. >> Yeah, you're so bitter, John. Why don't you just move on? Why don't you just put it past you, Zen? Oh, >> that's what I need. And I need my gun back. Gun back. >> I'm not sure you should have your gun back right now. Not Not in the next hour, anyway. All right. So, we'll we'll keep we'll keep up uh we'll keep people up to up to date on that. By the way, other break late breaking news. Um so uh

[1:25:00] you know usually when presidents get bad get bad jobs numbers they cry into and uh maybe they call the Fed. Uh this time uh you know kill the messenger. He decided to throw the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics down a well. Trump has fired the chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Um which is >> I laughed out loud when I read it. >> It's hilarious. I mean, first of all, it, you know, you have to think when you get that job as like a statistician, like you went to like MIT and you're a stat, you're a statistics expert. You're

[1:25:32] like, I'm working for the government. Yeah, but it's the safest job in Washington. Who's going to fire me? All I do is crunch numbers. I mean, well, things change. >> Um, do we want to talk? Do we want to talk about that? Do we care? Sure. There's plenty more to talk about. >> Yeah. Um, I don't mean to laugh, but it's just so absurd that I can't help it to laugh. >> No, I mean it it's look, it's obviously wrong. I mean, the funny part is, of

[1:26:02] course, that this jobs numbers have been manipulated for years, right? There's the question like if you gave up looking for work, you're not counted as unemployed anymore. If it's a certain amount of time that you've been unemployed, you're not counted un as unemployed. They calculate the um you know a lot of other statistics as well. The size of the labor participation uh rate, but all of that for all of their shenanigans, these are usually political decisions that come from people like President Trump. Um it's not they're not, you know, they're just

[1:26:34] crunching the numbers over there. I mean, as far as I know, there's never ever been the slightest accusation, much less evidence, that anyone in her position or her has ever done what Trump is accusing of her of. She should sue. She should sue. >> She should sue. The numbers are the numbers. That's it. >> That's it. It's It's really as simple as that. It's They just put it into the >> You think this is going to get the the stock traders off his ass? The bond traders, >> right? I mean, the market I've been so

[1:27:04] busy I haven't I haven't seen it since it closed, but it was down Well, it's down seven. >> What did it fall to? >> It was down a full percent. Um >> Yeah, that that that was the last I I had seen. it was down a full percent after having been down almost 2%. >> But that was also because of the uh the tar the tariffs and uh yeah the new tariffs on Canada. >> By the way, you know, I didn't put this in to talk about, but I thought it was worth noting the econ even the threat of the tariffs against Lotho >> literally destroyed the Lothan economy.

[1:27:37] Trump uh threatened 50% tariffs, only imposed the 15 that he imposed on everyone else. Nevertheless, uh just the mere threat of that tanked the the all these factories that were forced to close um just because Trump didn't understand the nature of the economy. We'll a welfare state and basically Congress a while ago basically had put zero tariffs on them just to encourage them to sell like, you know, textiles and other trinkets to the American market. You know, stuff that would show up at tier one imports, that kind of stuff. And and of course, and then Trump just looks at the numbers. It's like, we

[1:28:08] have a trade deficit. They don't buy anything from us. Oh, they'd love to. They're just broke. They don't have any money at all. >> They're among the poorest people in the world, >> right? And so people, they're just heartbroken and desperate now. They don't even know how they're going to eat. It's just a reflection of how, you know, the unintended consequences of someone who's just sort of like making decisions quickly without really non-reflexively uh you know, can can these things can play out. Um, so yeah, the market, you know, Bill Clinton in his uh biography,

[1:28:38] autobiography, he said it's not a very good book. I don't recommend it. But >> you know why? Because he wrote it himself. >> Oh, did he? >> Yeah. >> It's not a good book. I read it too and it was like >> And I love presidential autobiography. >> Me, too. He should have he should have hired a ghostriter. >> The best ones are Grant and Truman in my opinion. >> Agreed. Grant is epic. >> Not a president. Cordell Hull, former Secretary of State. is excellent too. Fantastic. Anyway, point is that uh in in Clinton's book though, one of the

[1:29:08] things that I thought was really interesting is he said, you know, I really thought I was elected president of the United States, but I was really elected president of the bond market. I spent all of my time thinking about the bond market. I'm sure that hasn't changed. >> No, 100%. I think that's exactly right. That's exactly right. you know, um he's the last couple of days he's made additional threats besides against the Canadians, which we saw in the Canadians responded to, but against Brazil. You know, he's been trying to get these

[1:29:39] impeachment proceedings and criminal charges dropped against uh President uh what was his name, the former president of Brazil before Lula, um whatever his name was, the Trump guy. And um am I still shadowbanned? I don't think that's true. >> I was, but I don't think I am anymore. >> No, because I found you a couple days ago and everything came up. No problem. >> Oh, good. Yeah, Bossaro. Um, they're just letting, you know, the the criminal justice system do its thing. And now in

[1:30:13] addition to having put put sanctions on the on the judge in the case, now they're talking about adding tariffs on Brazil unless the Brazilians drop the drop the charges. It's nuts. >> Well, and let's not forget, we're going to be talking about Gaza. We can talk about Gaza now, but um Trump also hiked up the san um the tariffs on Canada because for as retaliation for recognizing Palestine. >> Yeah, it's crazy. >> I mean,

[1:30:44] >> after after having said what, a week ago when they said that they were thinking of doing it or maybe it was at the G7, um he said, um I respect that. I won't do it, but I respect that. Well, actually, he doesn't respect that. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's It's crazy. Um Well, shall we get into uh Oh, we should get in. There's so much to talk about Gaza, right? So, >> Oh my god. Yeah. >> In uh No. Well, before we do that, let's

[1:31:14] talk. Let's uh bring in producer Robbie on to Yes. One more pitch here to Right. We promise we're not going to do this every single show, but until we have the numbers cooking, we have to do this. So, very quickly, producer Robbie West, thank you so much for coming on. Uh, please explain to the good folks watching on YouTube why it would be awesome for John and I if uh with some of if they were to migrate over to Rumble to watch. >> Well, well, to migrate or at least just go over there and hang out and chat and such. So, to make this short and sweet,

[1:31:47] basically for every quarter that YouTube will pay uh Ted and John, now they're in their now that they are in the creator program, Rumble will pay them over a dollar. >> It's crazy. >> So, it's kind of a dumb way to kind of to kind of break it down, but the gist of it is it's all about paying the bills, folks. Uh the Biden regime, they killed their jobs. I mean, y'all know what's I mean, everyone needs to have money, right? You gota have money to pay your bills. You got to have money to live. >> Uh YouTube YouTube will pay a little

[1:32:19] bit. >> Rumble pays a whole hell of a lot more. And the best part about it is that Rumble pays you based off of >> John's got legal bills up the ass. >> Oh my god. >> And and yeah, and I've been living off my savings since last September when Biden fired us. >> No. And I mean, that's what it's all about, right? So, Rumble is a free speech platform. It is alternative to YouTube. Rumble also pays significantly better. And y'all going to see that in action here in just a little bit because Rumble's actually giving us ads that we're able to to put out on ourselves

[1:32:50] that then go directly in to John's and Ted's coffers. So, one things I'm going to be doing is going through just putting in just videos addition to live streams. And really all we ask is that if you go over there, if you follow them on Rumble, just know if you watch them there. Watch hours on YouTube mean nothing. Watch hours mean the world over on Rumble. It's like TV. If a if a TV show is high ratings, you get paid more. Rumble is the exact same way. And lastly,

[1:33:20] Rumble will let them say things that YouTube will not allow them to say because there's going to be at least five hours a month of what they call Rumble premium of content where it's only going to be available on Rumble. And these these two fellas already don't don't have much of a filter. They'll have no filter whenever they're live on Rumble. So if you want to hear just live unbarnished truth, make jump over to Rumble. >> All right, Robbie. Thank you so much and thank you guys for listening to all that. Um, thank you.

[1:33:51] >> And and Robbie, when you're ready, we'll read that first ad. Go ahead and put up when you're ready. Um, all right. So, let me take Robbie out of here. Okay. So, Palis uh Gaza Palestine. So, it's hard to know where to start. 147 people have died of famine according to the Gaza Health Ministry. As always, we must point out that contrary to what the Zionists say, that's not an overount. It is a radical underount because in order to be counted, they have to have your um they have to have your full name, your

[1:34:21] body, your age, your ID number, and your occupation. And you know, if you died somewhere else, they're not bringing and you don't go to the hospital. They don't count you if you you die in a basement somewhere. They don't count you. >> So, uh and also you don't really count if you died of something else that's maybe hunger related, like you succumb to an illness that you might have survived if you were stronger. So, 147 dead of famine. Uh let's go ahead and read this ad very quickly. Uh all right. All right, anglers. If you're ready to fish remote lakes or quiet rivers in

[1:34:52] total stealth mode, check out the Nevada Fishing Float Tube from Catis Sport. This U-shaped beast is built for serious fishing missions. Ultra stable, ultra maneuverable, and tough as nails thanks to heavy duty riptop material and double stitched seams. You get a padded back rest, oversized seat, two large gear pockets, rod holder, sh uh stripping apron, and even a dryfly patch. Everything you need to stay locked in and ready when the bite is on. Fluorescent accents keep you visible out on the water and carry handles make it

[1:36:55] in Germany? It seems like um the you know France basically broke broke broke the dam for most of Europe and for the civilized world. Australia is coming soon. Um I don't know what's happening with New Zealand, but if Ger it seems like the UK may have been the lynch pin for Germany, >> right? I don't know. Um certainly the UK is was the lynch pin to Canada and now for Australia. >> Yes, I was just going to say that. And you know, I'm I'm wondering too, the

[1:37:26] German leadership is weak, as weak as it's been in a in decades, and I'm wondering if they don't want to be sort of left behind at the dance, and so they're considering jumping in. Now, the Washington Post this morning had a graphic. It was a map of the world, and it showed all the um all the countries that have diplomatic relations with Palestine and the countries that don't. Well, the countries that don't were the US, Canada, and the European

[1:37:56] Union. Everybody else in the world has diplomatic relations with Palestine. So, this is very big news for us. It's not so big for the rest of the world because they're wondering, you know, what's taken you guys so long, but maybe finally, you know, there's going to be some way to help Palestinians. So, John, I you know, I've been thinking a little bit about like, you know, my friends who are pro-Zionist um are saying, "Well, this isn't a big deal." You know, there's there's no state really to recognize because there's no n

[1:38:27] there's no real there's not even one government to recognize. Uh there may be that the one that they do recognize is corrupt and broken. What's the point here? And I think the point here is that the symbolism is going to have profound economic consequences. I was thinking, you know, just yesterday, what if I got a job offer to go draw cartoons for the times of Israel? And let's say they even said you can do anything you want. You can criticize Netanyahu. >> I don't think I could take that job. >> Um I I think Jerusalem Post used to be

[1:38:59] very legit. I could think about Ha Arts. >> That's it. It's the only one I could think about. Um, you know, if I'm a tech bro, uh, you know, if I if I'm off, you know, do I do a deal with an Israeli tech company, um, I don't think I can. Um, you know, I think I'll I'll catch too much [ __ ] from my employees and from my customers. Um, you know, basically it used to be, think about six months ago, John, it was exactly the opposite. If you refuse to do business with, you know, with Israel, you'd be accused of

[1:39:30] anti-semitism. Now the howling Holocaust and anti-semitism, >> it doesn't work anymore. It's the boy who cried wolf. It's done. It's over. And I mean, the spell is broken, right? And um and people, so it's going to hurt them. This is a country that doesn't really have natural resources and you know, at all. It has a tech sector that's completely dependent on international, western, specifically US support. That sector is going to go away. They're going to be like South

[1:40:02] Africa during apartheid but worse because South Africa is a mineralrich country. They have their own economy. They didn't really need anyone else. >> They were very self- sustaining. >> Yes. >> Israel's not. It's a welfare state. They're going to feel the hurt within months. >> Oh man, I I agree. And not that this necessarily will lead to anything, but we we spoke on the last episode about this um or two episodes ago about this vote in the House of Representatives uh

[1:40:33] over whether to cut off um offensive military aid. It it had six votes. It was all members of the uh of the squad plus uh Marjorie Taylor Green. Well, there was an identical vote in the Senate last night and 27 senators, all Democrats, >> yes, >> voted in favor. So, we're talking about we're talking about what? 1 and a half% of the House a week ago, but now 27% of

[1:41:04] the Senate voting to cut off offensive military aid. I think that's dramatic. >> It is dramatic. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. and and and and senators are, you know, they're that the Senate is the slow deliberative body, right? >> That's right. The one that we're supposed to take so seriously because they're supposed to be the adults in the room. >> Well, they are they are being the adults in the room, >> right? >> I mean, obviously, they need to get to 50 and and 60 and beyond, >> right? >> Will they?

[1:41:35] >> Uh not in the near term. No. >> No. >> Still too powerful. >> Yeah. But you know, we used to say we used to say no. relative to South Africa, too. You remember Ronald Reagan just told everybody, "Just get it out of your heads. We're not sanctioning South Africa. We're gonna we're going to have relations with South Africa. We're going to we're going to trade with South Africa and nothing's going to change." And then two years after a year, a year

[1:42:05] after Reagan left the presidency, uh the apartheid government fell. >> Uh Houdini always has good questions. Uh, not no shade on anyone else here. What happens if the EU doesn't recognize Palestine, >> but a member nation does? >> Well, that's already happened. >> Yes. >> With Ireland. >> And Spain. >> Yeah. >> And it's going to happen with Croatia. >> Yes, it will. >> So, um, >> yes, it will. >> So, um, I don't think it m I don't think it matters, right? I mean, is EU

[1:42:37] recognition important really? I mean, I'm not sure >> as an organization. >> I mean, you know, like if you're Palestine, how much do you care about the EU? It seems like you probably get you care about everything. >> Yeah. Unless you just want you want a presence in Brussels. >> Yeah. >> You want everything. >> Yeah. If I were Palestinian, I'd say I'd say sure. I I would want EU recognition. Sure. But I just don't I you know I mean I I will say I think the France thing ended up being the big game changer and uh you

[1:43:10] know again good job President Mcron I mean yeah he really helps uh vindicate his own legacy after because he's a very unpopular guy >> very unpopular >> but this is popular. >> It is I heard somebody dismiss it the other day saying well half of France is Muslim anyway. No. 10% of France is Muslim. >> Yeah. More than you'd think, actually. >> Yeah. But a majority of >> It's a Catholic country. They don't go to mass ever. >> No.

[1:46:15] about So, I did want to say, yes, RD s we should talk about the French Algerian war. >> Everybody should learn about the French Algerian war. It's that important. >> One big recommendation. Yeah. Well, after 911, right, my understanding is that the Pentagon um showed uh the 1966 French film, the pseudo documentary, The Battle of Alers, um in order to try to show like what the conflict between the col colonialist West and uh and the Muslim uh occupied uh world was like. Um

[1:46:48] it's a it's a it's black and white. It moves incredibly fast. It's a brilliant film and it's meant to it's all historically accurate and it's meant to look like news reels. It's meant to look like it's real footage, but it's not. It's our it's it's all filmed that way. Uh but it depicts this amazing event. And you know I always like to say that the difference between France and the United States is that Charles de Gaul who was the biggest advocate of of you know La France Algeria French Algeria

[1:47:21] forever. >> He goes to you know factf finding trip on the ground to Alers. He finds out they [ __ ] hate us. They don't want us here. >> He came back home went on national television and told the French people I was [ __ ] wrong. Like they they hate us. we can't be there. We have to withdraw and we have to help them become independent and finance them and like kept help them land on their feet and the French and a lot of pe the right-wingers absolutely hated him for

[1:47:51] it. But that was an act of integrity >> and you know we don't admit that kind of thing. >> No, it was like Walter Kronhite going to Vietnam and then coming back and saying oh my god was I wrong. And that's when Lyndon Johnson said he knew we had lost the war. when he lost Kronhite, >> although Kronhite wasn't really very in favor of the war, right? I mean, I think he was kind of like, "What else?" >> He just kind of went along with the government line, >> you know, we're the good guys. They're the they're communists. We have to stop

[1:48:23] them. >> Yeah. Then he show >> them over there, then over here. >> All those old excuses. >> And then let's uh you know, so also uh let's talk about Steve Whit. He had his little He had his little uh vacations all I ever wanted. >> He would not allow any anybody from the media to go. >> Yes. So he allowed himself to be used as a prop. The Israelis trundled him over to one of these food distribution sites run by the disastrous Gaza and

[1:48:56] hilariously named humanitarian foundation which have all been basically pigshoots. Um, you know, ba basically they they put these the Palestinians are all like basically forced into tight little fenced in cages in the heat without water. Uh, and uh, if they get too spicy, the Israelis shoot them shoot them. >> Um, and it's been literally happening every single day. Yes. Sometimes a hundred people a day. Um, but at least, you know, 20 is a slow day when it comes to the Israelis killing people to get

[1:49:28] food. Um at these sites there's only four. Gaza is not so big, but um there's there are people who would be required to hike maybe five miles at least round through a war zone, an active combat zone, round trip from where they're camped to these food distribution sites where they might be killed. I mean, no wonder, you know, the the the food aid isn't getting where it needs to be. And it's it's a you know, it's catastrophic. Um, I don't know. It's It was a bad look for

[1:49:59] Steve Whit. >> It was a bad look. He was used as a prop. And And Mike Huckabe looked ridiculous, too. He looked like Jared Kushner when Kushner went to Iraq and was the only person wearing a a bulletproof vest and it was too small for him. Never forget that. >> Yeah, I know. He reminded me of Dukakus in the camp in the in the tank. >> Yeah, in the tank. Um, notice that nothing came out of this so-called visit, right? No new announcement of additional food aid. Uh,

[1:50:31] listen, the the the least efficient way to deliver food to people is to drop it from planes, right? You drop enough food for 200 people. Well, there are two million that are starving, >> so you're not really helping anybody. >> Um, but they they came back. They went back to Jerusalem and nobody said anything about, you know, opening opening land bridges or or additional trucks or nothing. >> Well, on NPR, this um of all places,

[1:51:03] there was a really um actually I thought a very useful report. They interviewed someone about the food situation in Gaza who's an expert um at uh I think it was at Oxfam um and and they said the answer really to like the high the staggeringly high food prices in the bazaars is you flood the zone with food. In other words, it's just it's a supply and demand issue. Um you you just pour in so much food, >> more than enough, not minimal, beyond

[1:51:33] maximal. Yeah. If you put in so much food that gazins have to start going on a diet, >> yeah, >> all the prices are going to collapse, no armed gangs aren't going to be interested in stealing this food because it's not going to be valuable anymore. It's just going to be food. Uh and and that's the answer here. Um but the Israelis of course don't want to do that. Or more accurately, Netanyahu's right-wing partners in his war cabinet don't want to do that. I was in uh the National Whistleblower Day um events day before yesterday and uh somebody else

[1:52:04] mentioned what Dana Alrech is mentioning right now. American vet and civilian contractor in Gaza, Anthony Akilar, I guess is how you say his name, um is blowing the whistle on what's happening with with food aid there. Um, watch watch that page because uh I think we're going to get a lot more people, especially Americans who probably went into this thing being pro-Israel and anti-Hamas and but still,

[1:52:34] you know, wanting to deliver food to hungry people and they're coming back like, "Oh my god, it's a genocide. We have to do something to stop it right now." And by the way, the Israelis are stealing the food. Agular. Thank you. Thank you. That's right. >> So, I did want to put this up here. Houdini. Allegedly, there's a square kilometer full of food and other aid on the >> I've heard that. >> Some of which is probably rotting in the sun. >> Yeah. >> Um but yes, that's because the Israelis won't let it through. And you know, the human rights groups that want to distribute the aid there like World Food

[1:53:06] Kitchen are not being assured that they will have more of their workers killed by >> the Exactly. Uh thank you, Spectrum. Thank you very much. And by the way, um, over on Rumble, Spectrum is, uh, asking I like I love this question. Seeing that sanctions don't work against Russia now, the first countries that are are discussing sanctions against Israel, would those have a better chance of working, yay or nay? >> You know what? I think not so much

[1:53:37] sanctions as much as cutting off the billions and billions of dollars in welfare >> that we give the the Israelis and and the uh the weapons. >> Yeah, >> they have their own weapons industry. What do they need our weapons for? But getting back to the other issue, um I I briefly worked with an a a woman who was a dual Israeli British citizen. Um I didn't like or respect her at all. She

[1:54:08] made a comment once during a a coffee break that her exact words were, "Work doesn't fit into my lifestyle." And I was like, "Oh my god, wow." like I couldn't even Anyway, besides that, um she told me that she was moving to Israel. And I said, "Why? >> You're British. You were born and raised in the UK." >> Yeah. >> And she said, "Because if I move to Israel, I get a free apartment. I get free furniture. I get a check every month to cover my expenses. Food,

[1:54:40] transportation, utilities, everything is free." >> And they're getting the money from us. >> They're getting money from us. It's our taxpayer money. >> I'm paying $5,100 a month for a twobedroom. I I'm, you know, I don't have free healthcare. >> That's right. >> I mean, no, that's absurd. Yeah. No, I mean >> Yeah. Outrageous. >> Yeah. They're a state and like and and you know, let's let's put them to work doing something useful, not killing

[1:55:10] >> Gazms, >> right? That's right. >> Oh my god. So insanely nuts. Um, Michael Gardner's making a point here, too. That is important, and it's exactly right. That's more of an issue with our military-industrial complex than anything. It's a win-win for them and their customers. Israel is just another customer. Absolutely true. And after 911, I say this all the time. Before 911, there were more millionaires per capita

[1:55:40] in Silicon Valley than anywhere else in America. After 911, there were more millionaires in Washington DC per capita than any other place in America because that's where the defense and intelligence contractors are. And everybody got rich. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean that's that is of course it's just a business, right? It's that old war is a racket. Just no question about it. Um no, I'm glad that that that that came up. Um, so we're hearing amid all of this chaos that

[1:56:11] Israel clearly not having learned its lesson yet. Um, you got to give them points for uh, consistency. >> They're now preparing a new ground offensive against Gaza. Um, what ground, John, are they hoping to recapture that they haven't pre previously recaptured multiple times? And what are they going to do with this groundly leveled everywhere? >> Yeah. Honest to God, they have flattened all of Gaza. There is not a single

[1:56:41] functioning hospital. Most apartment buildings have been destroyed. The electrical grid doesn't work. What was what little grid they had? There's no clean water. >> They've destroyed all of the the bazaars for people to go buy food. Now they're just set up wherever they can set up. There's nothing left to destroy. So what they >> There's something that they did, right? So So we you've seen this. Well, okay. So, we've we've both been to war zones and usually some buildings are survive

[1:57:13] and that's what happened in Gaza from the aerial. They started with the aerial bombardment, but a bunch of buildings survived. Then the IDF came in by ground and they set up um they they detonated and blew up using dynamite. They demolished everything that survived. >> Uh and then they came over and they graded it with Earth movers. Um, and they just flattening it all out to turn it into a giant construction site, right? >> So, is this simply the idea is they're

[1:57:43] going to just build on top. But if it Why would they not want to keep any of the old buildings? I mean, wouldn't it save money if they're planning to steal the land, ethnically cleanse it? I'm 100% convinced that that's been their agenda all along. Yeah. if that but why not keep any of the old infrastructure or do or is this really like also like psychologically we're going to erase any trace that these people were ever here no one's ever going to be able to say that wall over there was here before

[1:58:15] 2020 >> that was my family home that's all that's left yeah no I think that's what I think that's why they're doing it they're doing it because you know in the west we see articles all the time their memes on Facebook or where have you of um you know Palestinians standing outside a house that used to be theirs and there are these Israeli settlers from New Jersey that are living in it now and I think that they just don't want that to happen. I think they intend fully and this is this is you know ethnic cleansing it's a genocide to

[1:58:47] bulldo everything so that nothing is left and build it back from scratch. I hope I'm wrong. I really do. >> I don't see how you can be. I mean, because nothing else makes sense. Yeah. I mean, they're literally willing to spend more money >> to do it this way. >> A lot more money. >> I mean, if you think about a city like Constantinople, which is, you know, is it like you can see all the layers of of history there. >> Oh my god. Yeah. You can still see you can still see the the walls of the

[1:59:19] ancient city. You can still see remnants of the original chain that the Byzantines ran across the the Golden Horn to stop ships until they paid their toll. >> That's right. Yeah. No. So cool. And they tried to Yeah. Sultan uh Sultan the Met had to remove that chain so he could get him to conquer in 1453. So cool. That's at the military museum in Istanbul. Um but anyway, the point is it's like you can see all those layers of history in every city that's been through a war. I mean, even in Hiroshima, right, there's the there's

[1:59:49] some buildings that survived the uh the the atomic bomb, >> but the Israelis really are. I mean, this, by the way, that's genocidal in character. Like, erasing all traces that a culture ever existed there. It's Nazi style. The Nazis used to do that in Jewish neighborhoods where they'd burn everything down, bulldoze everything, uh because they didn't want it ever to, you know, that used to be the Jewish

[2:00:19] neighborhood. >> Yes. Yes. That's right, man. It's heartbreaking. And it just never gets >> Thank you, Nadia Margaret, for becoming a monthly supporter for us. >> Oh, thank you. >> Much appreciated. She's number two, assuming she's a she. Um All right. And if you're not a shei, I apologize. Um, unless you're becoming a she, in which case I don't apologize. So complicated. Um, so all right, I guess we're gonna we're gonna leave Gaza there or um is

[2:00:50] there anything else to talk about there? Are we >> there? There was a switching to politics for a minute if I could. I was curious. I almost called you yesterday >> because I wanted to get your opinion on on um >> Oh, I know. bird. >> Kamla Harris is not running for governor of California. >> Yeah. >> Um and and she was just so completely and utterly insincere in her explanation. Um she said that um she

[2:01:21] just needed some downtime and she needs to write a book about her experiences. Of course, she's not writing a book. They've already hired a ghostwriter. Um, but she she needs to think about this book and she wants to travel around the country and meet some of the people that she did not have a chance to meet because the campaign was so historically short. And I thought, "Oh, you are so full of shit." And I had forgotten how much I had forgotten how annoying that nasally nagging voice is. Oh, I never

[2:01:53] could. And she sounds Yeah, she she would sound insincere ordering a beer and a burger at a restaurant. I mean, she Yeah, she's got a very >> cloying kind of mean, you know, mean. Um Well, so so okay, we know she's not running for governor. I knew she wasn't going to run for governor. I my friends, you know why? Because being governor is hard work. >> It's hard work. And have we learned nothing from Richard Nixon in 1962? >> Right. Right. you you won't have Kla

[2:02:23] Harris to >> kick around anymore. My mother wore a cloth coat. >> So, yeah. So, she's not running for governor. Um, that's not surprising. Now, everybody's saying, "Well, she'll run for president again." I don't think so. I don't think I don't think that's it at all. I don't >> If she has a half a brain, she won't run for president. >> She won't. >> She didn't even make it to the Iowa caucuses the first time. >> No. No. It would be it would be catastrophic. Uh she didn't get much love here from uh and I think even

[2:02:55] within the Democratic party, she's just not I don't even think she could get the nomination. >> I don't either. I don't either. >> There's too many better candidates. Pete Buddhajed is the man to beat in 2028. If you're a Democrat in my opinion, um I think they're gonna they want to nominate him. He's the DNC pick, I think. >> God, I I hope you're wrong, but >> but I think you're right. And I'll I'll add too that, you know, she's gonna have Nsome to worry about. >> Yes. >> But she's gonna have Pritsker to worry about, too.

[2:03:25] >> Yes. >> And Pritskar is a tough mean guy with an unlimited supply of money. >> She will not have Josh Shapiro to worry about because he zionisted himself out of the race forever and ever. He'll never be in national politics. Listen, I if even if Josh Shapiro and I agreed on 100% of the issues, I would not vote for him just because he volunteered to serve in the IDF. >> Me, too. And then there's um what? Andy Basher, who you know, if ever there was a vice presidential candidate, that's

[2:03:57] him. >> He's the guy. He's the perfect one. >> Yeah, he is. >> He's he's already like set up a little exploratory committee. He's already raising money. He's been to uh New Hampshire. He went two weeks ago. >> He's a good pick for that. I don't think she'll run for president because first of all, she will be smart enough to listen to all of her adviserss who tell her you can't get the nomination. You'll humiliate yourself. Yeah, it'll look really bad. Just just don't. So, I think she only has two paths. She can uh she

[2:04:28] can either go to MSNBC. >> Definitely. >> I think that's too much work. She's not a hardworking person. So I think she ends up in a synicure in academia. University of California trustee. >> That's what she's doing now. >> Provost at Pepperdine University. >> Oh yeah. She's a visiting professor at Stanford Law School right now. >> It's the Hillary. She She's completely cut and pasted from Hillary Clinton, right? She's going on a listening tour. That's what Hillary Clinton did when she

[2:04:59] ran for Senate from New York when everybody hated her and they were all gonna v vote for the guy from Long Island instead. Right. >> Um, whose name escapes me right now. Um, Rick Lazio. >> Rick Lazio. Oh my gosh. I haven't heard that. >> He was a sacrificial lamb and she almost and he almost ate the big bad wolf from >> he almost beat her. That's right. >> And uh well, you know, he was he's actually a very likable guy. Uh and um so I could see why he he kind of did better than they expected. But yeah, she's and then of course Hillary was a

[2:05:30] professor >> at at Columbia University School of International Affairs. >> That's right. God, I hate to think of those diplomats of the future being trained by that heartbeat. >> Oh my god. >> Um, Houdini says she'll she'll be on the board of some Fortune 500 company. You bet she will. >> Maybe. No, it won't be one. Several of them. >> It'll be several. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. >> Yeah. >> Uh, Michael Gardner says Pritsker is my governor and I think he'd be a great candidate. >> Yeah. A couple of people are are saying

[2:06:00] nice things about Pritskar. I like >> he can donate to himself, too. He's rich as [ __ ] >> He He's a billionaire. Yeah. I I like Pritsker and I like the Pritskar family. They've They've done a lot of good >> stuff. Oh my god, Dana. >> Maybe she'll end up on the view. Oh, that's that's good. He wouldn't have to work except she'd have to be up really really early in the morning. >> Hey, getting back to Buddha Judge for a second. Michelle and I when we had our show on um on Sputnik, we used to [ __ ] on Buddha Judge at every opportunity

[2:06:31] just because this guy >> because he's a worm. >> He was the worst transportation secretary in American history. >> Mhm. >> And he had he had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to do something right. But the the train derails and spills chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. He's on vacation in Portugal. The the trains go on strike. He's on vacation in Brazil. Uh what was it? It was some other strike.

[2:07:01] >> Don't forget he took six months off for paternity leave. Paternity leave >> in his first year in office and like you could say and it's not like you know they got knocked up accidentally. It was a surrogate. It was planned. >> Exactly. Exactly. Yes. So, >> so yeah, I I mean this guy I listen he's he's brilliant. He speaks 55 languages or whatever. He speaks like eight languages or whatever. >> Yeah, he's he was a road scholar. Um he's a decorated, you know, military

[2:07:33] guy. Awesome. Very very smart. >> Worst in the military, wasn't he basically a supply clerk? He was like Radar O'Reilly, wasn't he? >> Oh, was he? >> Yeah. I don't think he would. I mean, I think, you know, he he saw I don't think he saw many shots fired in anger. >> Oh my god. >> You know, but here's the thing. Okay, so I think people will look back and say like I did. I always I always made fun of Mayor Pete because it's like they made a guy who was the mayor of Southbend, Indiana. Yeah. The head of the US Department of Transportation. Now, here's the funny part. I looked

[2:08:03] into this. So, the mayor of Southbend doesn't control a single piece of mass transit. As it turns out, Southbend has a separate transit authority that is not administered by the mayor. So, he had he didn't have 0.1% in experience. He had no experience, right? But, so that said, um, no one's going to go back and say, uh, what did you, you know, how come we don't have highspeed rail? Right? I think they're going to look back at the train thing maybe and then he'll be they'll be able to say, you know, this I

[2:08:35] was under Biden. Biden didn't let anyone do anything. He was [ __ ] up and dying. Yeah. >> Then we might say, "Well, what did you know about Biden?" And he'll say, "Well, I was the DOT guy. I didn't hang with him all the time." And that's fairly credible. So, and we know that he they hid him. >> They hid Biden from Buddha Judge and other members of the cabinet. I mean, Pete Buddha Judge didn't see Biden for two years. Did lay eyes on him, >> but that's actually quite common. Do you remember when Ronald Reagan greeted his

[2:09:05] own Secretary of Housing and Urban Development with hello, Mr. Mayor? And the guy had been the secretary of of HUD for eight years. >> Well, he sat in this in the in the cabinet meetings with him. You would think he'd be like, who's the guy down at the end other end of the table past the defense secretary? Right. But yeah, no, it's Cap Weinberger. Um it's very like uh but still I think so here's the brief for Buddha Judge. I think handicapping it politically. Uh I think the brief is he's Obama 2.0.

[2:09:35] >> Yeah. >> So he's professorial. He's calm. >> Very very intelligent. >> He's intelligent. He doesn't sound anything like Donald Trump. Every election is a reaction to the last president. Um and so and for the So he gets the nomination I think easily because the party's obsessed with identity politics and making history. Okay. We tried ladies not once but twice, lost. got to go back to a dude, but we can't just have a white dude. Oh, but he's gay, so we can make that work. And he's not queeny or flamboyant.

[2:10:07] >> No. >> So, it'll be fine. >> That's that's that's how he gets the nomination. That doesn't get him to 1600, >> but it gets him the nomination. >> That's my take. >> First of all, thank you, Firmware Chip from Wake Forest. Thank you for that generosity. Um, and and there are a lot of really good comments here about, you know, he he is a vet who's not draped in the flag, which is refreshing. He's very intelligent. He's the anti-Trump in like

[2:10:37] practically every way. >> True. >> Um, he's a great speaker. Um, he would be able to go toe-to-toe in a debate with with Vance. >> True. >> Jay Vance is a good debater. >> True. Oh. Oh, yeah. He he just he ate Kla Harris, >> but being gay I mean >> I mean you know >> what what about like the the Bernie Trump >> Tim Walls. He ate Tim Walls. That's who it was. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um what about the Bernie Trump voters? People who voted for Bernie and then voted for Trump. They're not gonna they're not going to vote for

[2:11:08] a gay man. I I don't think >> I don't think Well, I don't think Buddha Judge isn't going to get the progressive left of the Democratic party. And that's why I wouldn't >> unless he needs but he he can still but he won't he's he's a DNC pick so they won't let him come out against Israel and they won't let him come out in favor of like uh you know Medicare for all the Bernie stuff. If he can grab the the progressive stuff >> he's in in like Flynn. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[2:11:40] >> I don't know. >> We need we need somebody who's a who's a bonafide progressive. >> Yeah. Who's the highest ranked? I'm trying to think who's the highest ranked um openly gay American politician. Um we've had a bunch of congressmen. Um we had we had a closeted senator from Idaho. >> Well, we've got >> same thing. >> We've got >> the senator from Wisconsin. I forget her name. >> Oh, right. Um Tammy Baldwin or whatever. >> Tammy B. Is it Tammy Baldwin who's gay? >> Oh, is it the other one? I think so.

[2:12:11] >> Yeah, I think it's the other one. >> Yeah. >> Uh you know what? I don't know. To answer your question, do we have any gay governors? >> That's a good question. No one's I've always I've always thought uh I've always thought that uh Ronda Santis was closeted, but that might just be his voice. I don't know. People thought that I was gay, too. It's like, you know, when I used to have open mic Friday, open mic day on my old radio show in LA, the one open mic question was always, "Ted, are you gay?" Always.

[2:12:41] And I didn't want to deny it because I thought that would be like homophobic like you know. Sure. Sort of like nah. So I just be like I don't want to talk about it. I'm not gonna say yay. I'm not gonna say nay. Yeah. Tammy Duckworth. I don't know if that's her. >> Is it Tammy Duckworth? >> I don't know. >> No. Tammy Duckworth is the war hero, isn't she? >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, you can be you can be gay and be a war hero. >> No, but I mean but she lost her legs and she's from Isn't she from Illinois? >> God. Um, have to I'm gonna I'm gonna look this up like

[2:13:12] >> Okay. The lesbian senator is Tammy Baldwin. >> Oh, okay. >> Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin. >> Too many Tammy. >> Yeah. Yeah. Lots of Tammies. And and the new senator from uh or the new what is she? The governor of >> Good point. >> Arizona. She's by Peter Teal is gay and more powerful than any politician. No doubt. Yeah. I don't know. I I I don't really focus. You know, I said to my I said to

[2:13:43] my daughter not too long ago, one of the things that I admire about this generation is that is that they don't stovepipe themselves into these these, you know, gay, straight, by this, that >> I I I'm from the stove pipe generation. I am too. >> I can't I can't relate to the whole like >> it's hard. I don't know. I don't fully understand it. >> Like I I I have to admit I don't believe in people are gender fluid. I mean I

[2:14:14] know it's true. I know people who know people who swear that it's true, but I can't believe it. It's like okay, so if it's 10 o'clock in the morning, um feeling like uh I'm gay and if it's like 10:45, I'm straight and maybe I don't want sex at all by, you know, by noon. I don't know. I just don't get it. There's >> I don't care, but it's just weird. >> There's a guy that that we worked with, Ted. I I'm not going to out him, of course, but um over dinner, he just casually said that he was pansexual. >> Oh, right.

[2:14:45] >> I said, you know, I've I've heard the term. I I'm not sure I fully understand it. And he said, um he said, I'll I'll have sex with anybody that seems attractive to me. Men, women, women dressed as men, men dressed as women. He said, it makes no difference to me. Uh I I knew a Russian guy who did not work with us who used he I remember hearing him talk to someone like that and he says you are not you are omnivorous. You are greedy.

[2:15:21] >> All right. I mean you know as long as long as they're over 18. You guys do you I don't care. >> Well I I have a very short story I have to tell. So there there was um there was an editor that we used to work with at Sputnik years ago who I like very much and who I sat next to um them. Okay. So um one day when he was a he came into work with just a little bit of blue eyeshadow and

[2:15:52] I thought, huh, that's kind of different. All right. Well, none of my business. And then after a couple of weeks of that, um, came in with a blouse and blue jeans and I thought, "Oh, okay. They're transitioning. Okay." And then after a while, it was very stylish dresses and, you know, woman. And then he changed his Twitter bio to she, her, and then later to she, they. Okay. So,

[2:16:23] I was asked to give a speech at the Venezuelan embassy the night that we broke off diplomatic relations with the Venezuelans. So, I I was there with a bunch of people. There was like a riot outside and this young woman came up to me and she said, "Hi, John. We haven't met, but my name is, you know, Mary. I'm so husband. I'm sorry. I'm so and so's wife. And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I

[2:16:53] didn't even know they were married." So, we had a nice little chat. I go to the office the next day and um and our colleague comes in and says, "Hey, I heard you had a chance to meet Mary last night." And I said, "Oh, yeah. We had a lovely conversation." I said, "I apologize. I didn't know you were gay." and they say, "I'm not gay." And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, but your

[2:17:24] your Twitter bio says that you're a woman and you're married to a woman." >> So, I said, "Well, I thought that meant >> by definition, >> yeah, that if you're a woman and you're married to another woman that that you're gay." And he says, you know, it's your generation that wants to put labels on everybody. >> I was like, okay, >> okay. Well, there's just there they are

[2:17:54] words. I mean, it does not matter. >> Yeah, that's pretty funny. Um, >> all right. So, we've got a little another ad and I think and there's one last story that uh I want to talk to you here. I'm going to read this. I'll do you want to do the ad or I can read the ad. >> Oh, go right ahead. I don't have it. >> Okay. When Rumble first started in 2013, they built a platform for the small creator. They didn't censor or have biases. They were fair and treated all creators equally. No one thought platforms would censor political conversation or censor opinions on COVID, but they did. Facebook admitted

[2:18:24] they fell to pressure from the Biden Harris administration. Rumble did not. They held the line. They're attacked daily for giving us a voice to talk to you. They're attacked in corporate media. They're attract They're attacked by governments like France. They're attacked from brand advertisers who refuse to work with them. Corporate America is fighting to remove speech. Rumble is fighting to keep it. Rumble won't survive with band with brand advertisers. They don't get much of it. It's watching the show on Rumble is the most they can ask from you. But if you really believe in this fight and you have the means, one major way you can help Rumble survive is by joining Rumble Premium. Join the community that believes in the First Amendment and

[2:18:56] believes in our human right to free speech, Rumble's offering 10 bucks off with the promo code studio. When you purchase an annual subscription, go to rumble.com/premium and use pro promo code studio. Like I said, if you have the means and believe in the cause, now is the time to join Rumble. Um, and I think that's okay. I guess that's it for that ad. All right. So, >> uh, John, I wanted to talk to you about microlastics. Uh, I know it's not really our wheelhouse, but why not? Everything's our wheelhouse. So, a new

[2:19:26] study came out that found that if you just sit at home, your body absorbs an average of 68,000 discrete microlastical plastic particles every single day. >> How crazy is that? >> It's crazy. >> But it's happening. >> Look, I'm drinking out of a plastic bottle right now. >> Right. >> Yeah. So we should I mean it's like so

[2:19:56] many things that are going on in our society and the political class doesn't seem to even address it. I mean you don't even hear Bernie Sanders talk about this, right? I mean we need we need political figures like you know I loved how I had many problems with him but I loved how Al Gore was obsessed with climate change and took it upon himself to educate the public. Um and it didn't unfortunately do much but he tried. Yeah. Um, you know, I I would love to see whether it's Pete Buddha Judge or some other candidate, hell,

[2:20:26] Donald Trump, anybody, >> JD Vance take up this cause, you know. >> Yeah. And nobody is. And it's funny, the experts are shouting it from the rooftops. You're right. The politicians aren't responding or reacting in any way. And usually when there's this consensus in in a community, some politician is going to pick it up as an issue and nobody seems to care. They just accept it like, oh well, you know, I was talking to a to a funeral

[2:20:59] director the other day. That was my phone, by the way, on the and now I can't duplicate the sound. Anyway, um I was talking to a funeral director who I know and he told me that we eat so many ultrarocessed foods over the course of a lifetime that even some people who don't get inbalmed stay intact for years. >> Oh my god. >> Yeah. Because of all the preservatives. >> That's disgusting. >> It's disgusting. I mean, this is where Well, I guess

[2:21:30] look, honestly, part many uh progressives voted for Trump because of RFK Jr. >> and and Maha. He's been really quiet. Is this one of those things where there's, you know, several possibilities? The two big ones, I think, are either >> Donald Trump just hogs the limelight and doesn't let anyone else talk and or um RFK Jr. is in the trenches rolling up his sleeves and working on something big and it's just not ready to be announced yet. >> Yeah, that may that may very well be it.

[2:22:02] Yeah. And you know, I think that he's still facing such push back from Democrats. Oh, you know what? Somebody just wrote, um, I bet John knows where to bury the bodies. And I responded >> and it rejected my response. >> Oh, really? >> Yeah. It says, "This comment will not be posted to deprogram show." >> That's awesome.

[2:22:33] >> I said, "The mob taught me that you bury them under somebody else's casket." >> Oh, this is funny. We were talking about Ed. Poor Edam mean he he wouldn't be able to eat now. >> No. >> No. Oh my god. >> Eat McDonald's and you'll be buried like a pharaoh. >> Seriously. so much for our McDonald's uh ads that we were hoping to get. Um, yeah, by the way, this is tr totally true. Being a dive instructor, I see the impact plastic has on our environment a lot. It's bad. Like really bad. Pulled

[2:23:04] out plastic straps from a turtle's mouth. >> I'm a diver. Um, John, and I I got to tell you, um, even in just the 25 years or so that I've been diving, um, it's the reefs have gone from basically dying to dead all over. It's really hard to find a reef where there's any fish or anything going on. Um it's uh you know and and it's true like you can go to a remote island uh where there's a population of like a hundred in the Caribbean and like the the side where

[2:23:34] the current hits will be completely filled with trash that uh and plastic bottles that have washed in across the Atlantic Ocean. Um it's you know it's it's really really >> Yeah, we have that plastic island in the Pacific that Dana is referring to. It's the size of Texas. There's one in the Atlantic, too, now. >> Oh, I didn't know that. >> Yeah. >> Oh my god. Terrible. Well, >> well, >> yeah. No, it's uh it's it's pretty

[2:24:08] I'm not I can't even like comment on that one. Um All right. I'm trying to think. Is there anything else that we need to talk about here? Oh, I guess we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about uh Trump repositioning those two nuclear submarines. So we could that lead out bring it out with that one. Um, do we care about that? I mean, or is that just I mean, how important is that, John? I >> I don't think it is important. It's It's meant to intimidate. Um, but like I've said in the past, if if we're serious about about a fight, we reposition

[2:24:40] entire carrier battle groups. A couple of subs are just meant to sort of piss them off, maybe scare them a little bit, that they're not going to be scared. But it it was just what what a president who is kind of impotent in this in this situation might do. >> It It just seemed completely symbolic. I mean, I was also like I mean, do you think Vladimir Putin woke up one morning and like Joe Biden forgot about our

[2:25:12] ICBM's arsenal? >> I mean, if we want to nuke them, we can't. >> Seriously, right? Seriously. >> Oh. Oh, not the submarines. >> Yeah. Oh, I'm scared now. >> Now, now they're angry. >> All right, John. Um, I think we're gonna leave that there. Yeah. >> Well, I want to say thanks again to everybody. Thank you for your generosity, for spending this hour with us every uh every other day, soon to be every day. We literally can't do this without you. So, thank you.

[2:25:43] >> Thank you. >> Seriously, thank you. Um and so again, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 5:00 pm Eastern time. I'm Ted R. That's John Kiyaku. drogram. We'll be back Monday at 5:00 pm and uh we'll deprogram you from uh all the news and the spin and [ __ ] about the news that breaks over the weekend. Thanks again and take care. Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us. You're watching DProgram with me Ted R,

[2:26:16] editorial cartoonist, CIA whistleblower John Kuryaku over there. I'm pointing the wrong way because on my >> No, no, you're right. Yeah, that was right. >> He's backwards. Nice to see you, John. >> Ted, kudos on that music. >> Oh, well, I wish I could take credit for it. >> I enjoyed it. >> I I picked it from uh hopefully we don't get into any copyright problems, but these are that's YouTube's officially sanctioned copyright feel free to use it music. So, it should be a okay. uh you know >> as uh someone who uh

[2:26:47] >> good stuff >> is uh is is always into uh intellectual property. I make my living on it. Uh I'm very respectful of other people's copyright. >> Um John, we have a lot to talk about. So we should probably dive right in. We France uh as we talked about and we anticipated has decided to uh formally recognize Palestine as an independent state, exchange ambassadors, the whole thing. We're get into we're going to get into that and all the political ramifications. Uh we've got to talk about the uh Democrats who are uh

[2:27:18] raising the alarm about the masked ICE agents in their unmarked vehicles. Um they're going to try to see if they can conduct some oversight from the minority side of the aisle. I'm not sure if they're going to get anywhere with that. >> Good luck. >> Gain Maxwell's lawyer says she didn't take the fifth on anything. Uh that she answered every question um flesomely and wholly and uh honestly. Um, she seems to be jonesing for a pardon, but like the cartoon of the fat lady raiding the refrigerator. She might

[2:27:50] be looking for love in all the wrong places here. Um, Trump uh wants to basically signed an executive order uh making it illegal to be homeless. >> Yeah. >> How do you like that? >> It's Well, I wish he could make all sorts of things illegal. I you know, I'm already I'm already working on a cartoon about this. um you know he can do an executive order for everything. Um anyway so uh we will talk about the ramifications of that. So let's get into it. Um French President Emanuel Macron

[2:28:22] um had a conference next scheduled for next week that was supposed to be concerning the Israel Palestine crisis. Uh, and it basically fell apart. and it looks like he decided to um sort of take to turn um a lemon into lemonade and basically pull the trigger on something that he's been toying with for a long time which is to join the ranks of the many countries like uh Spain um Ireland,

[2:28:52] Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, many others and most of the world that have already formally recognized um the uh the pal the Republic of Palestine. Um, I've been arguing, John, with my friends that this is a big deal and huge. >> We're going to look back and say this was a turning point for the people of Palestine that uh it's hard to really uh overstate. >> Um the you know and I think that comes down to the fact that France used to be

[2:29:24] until very recently was the most important diplomatic country. All diplomats had to learn be fluent in French. French, >> which other no matter what country they were from Frana until maybe the 1920s or 30s, you weren't really considered an educated American if you weren't fluent in French. >> That's right. >> And so it's like now my friend Scott Stantis says, "Well, was is the key word." >> And it's a point, you know, he's he he it's true that maybe but I don't think France can be ignored. I think much of

[2:29:55] the world when it comes to diplomacy is going to be looking to France. I think so too. And among European countries and especially European Union countries, France is a major leader along with the Germans. >> The Germans have thrown their lot in with the Israelis. The French are showing real leadership here. I think you're right, Ted, that we're going to look back on this decision as a turning point. It's one thing for the Irish to recognize Palestine, which they did back

[2:30:27] in February, I think it was. All that did was piss off the Israelis. But but it it threw a bone to the Palestinians that was really worth its weight and gold. We we expected that to happen because the Irish have been oppressed, you know, throughout their history. France though, I mean, France is one of the historic uh colonial powers in the Middle East. Uh that's why they speak French in in Syria and and

[2:30:57] Lebanon, for example, >> right? >> But for the French to go out on a on a limb like this and say enough is enough. We're recognizing the state of Palestine, which you're correct in pointing out uh includes an exchange of ambassadors and presumably French diplomatic support at the United Nations. Remember, France has a Security Council veto, >> right? I wish they could veto the American vetos. >> I wish they could too. This is huge. It really is. The question now is who's

[2:31:27] next, >> right? That is the question, right? Luxembourg, um, and Italy, Portugal all seem to be lining up. >> Yes. >> Um, there will be others. >> There will. >> And yeah, they're permanent. And, you know, they're a G7 country. They're the only uh I guess uh well Russia and China are in the G7. Well, no, they were >> No, they were >> they were um but yes, the only G7 country. So, it's the only permanent member of the security council. Yeah, France is a colossus here. Yeah.

[2:31:58] >> And um a major power in the Middle East. Um yeah, I don't think you can overstate this. And you know um you know it's probably the most important move of Macron's presidency. >> Agreed. that and his recent lawsuit against Candace Owens, although we can talk about that later. >> Now, I do want to take note of Benj I mean, not surprisingly, Benjamin Netanyahu was displeased by this move, but um the way that he expressed his displeasure on X was particularly

[2:32:29] interesting. He deplored the fact that uh France was recognizing a a Palestinian state right next to Tel Aviv. Well, the Palestinian state was always going to be right next to um so unless he knows something about the laws of physics or he's engaged in ethnic ethnic cleansing. >> Ethnic cleansing because they want this state >> is talking about >> Yeah. They want this state to be either on an Indonesian island or in in a a

[2:33:01] piece of Albania that would be locked off. >> Right. >> That's exactly what he's what he's alluding to. >> Yeah. He doesn't want it there. Yeah. >> I mean, and he didn't say, you know, I mean, if he was a temperate uh person and leading a a normal government instead of a gangster regime over there in Israel, he would have said something along that goes more like, you know, of course, we would be the first to recognize a lawful uh dulyeleed democratic republic of Palestine. And we

[2:33:32] would be proud to work hand in hand to help rebuild as neighbors and friends. We just can't possibly work with Hamas who have attacked us without provocation. That's what you would hope he would have said. But there's no pretense here, right? We don't. Now, he didn't say recognize a terrorist state, recognize a Hamas state to recognize a Palestinian state right next to Tel Aviv. Oh my god. You know, I remember when I was a kid watching an episode of uh 60

[2:34:04] Minutes in which it was like Azer Viceman, who who was the defense minister at the time, was showing the 60 Minutes crew from a helicopter um historical Israel, right, without the West Bank. And at the narrowest point, it's nine miles across from from the line of the West Bank to the Mediterranean Sea. Nine miles. and he says, you know, we can't live with that. They can cut off the nine miles and just choke us and it would be the end of

[2:34:34] Israel. So, we have to have the West Bank. And even as a teenager, I was like, are you guys out of your minds? >> They want lean strom. >> Yes. Yes. >> I mean, it's so much it's amazing how much they sound like the Germans. I mean, it really is. >> I mean, >> yeah. You know, it's kind of like, you know, I've had pro-Zionist friends criticize me for that and making that comparison. I'm like, well, if the jack boot fits, wear it. You know, I mean, >> Hunt Eli makes a good comment here, Ted. We should probably address it,

[2:35:06] especially the the last sentence there. The world isn't always going to prop up Israel. And I think that's what we're seeing the beginning of right now. These are the first cracks, right? the first cracks in global or at least western support for Israel. You're right, the United States will try. The United States is going to be the last country to support an independent Palestine, the last one. >> But this is the beginning of it. And and like Ted said at the very beginning of the show, I I don't think we can

[2:35:38] overestimate the importance here. >> Yeah, I think I I think uh Hans Eli is right. I think you're right. Um, and you know, in terms of the I I agree with Hans's question here, the first part of it as well, isn't the Israelis unwillingness to go along with the two-state solution and trying to go for the whole shmear? >> Yeah. >> They're unwilling to have any kind of state solution. >> Yeah. No, they don't want they they like they like the current state of affairs. >> They do. >> And uh they and yeah, it will lead to a one-state Palestinian solution. Um, you

[2:36:10] know, Israel was I mean, it's funny. Israel, I would say, I I've often thought was like a uh an outdated, obsolete solution to a non-existent problem. Now, uh but maybe it made sense in 1948. I actually don't think it made sense in 1948. I mean, in 1948, you know, the the Brits were withdrawing from the Raj from India, the most important colony they had. That's right. And within 20 years pretty much every major European power was out of Africa

[2:36:41] or on their way out of Africa. Um and so I mean basically the colonial experiment that this really was I mean this really is the goes back to 1920 and the and it goes back before but it goes really as a colonial experiment to the Balffor declaration of 1920 which was a British colonial adventure at the peak of colonialism but by the time it got done colonialism was out of fashion and was and done >> and like and here we are. It's the last. I mean, you could argue that Puerto Rico

[2:37:12] is a colony or or or Guam, but I mean, this is the last settler colonialist experiment. Puerto Rico is not a a settler colonial experiment. It's the locals who live there. We just govern them. >> That's not saying it's right or wrong. >> Yeah. Right. Right. And actually, even even the Puerto Ricans are split. You know, a third a third a third. Uh, a third want to be a state, a third want to be an independent country, and a third want to leave things just the way they are. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I did, and I'm glad Lulu

[2:37:42] brought this up because I was about to mention it also, which is that Israel, the last country to support apartheid era South Africa. >> Yes, >> man. They, you know, they know how to pick them. It's like apartheid era South Africa and we're going to be their last friends. I mean, yeah, we are going to be their last friends. It's going to be sooner rather than later. Um, it's going to be really hard uh to for each European country to domestically the the the domestic unpopularity of the state of Israel is just going to blow away. John, I got to ask you about these

[2:38:12] horrific photos that have surfaced in the last 48 hours of of tiny children >> um who have become tinier due to famine who have been reduced to skeletons. It reminded me of the famous footage from Ethiopia during the famine half a century ago when I was a kid. Um, Somalia, places like that. Um, you know, I mean, so in those situ I mean, you could argue that all famines are man-made. Irish potato famine, um, etc. But this is the most man-made famine

[2:38:43] outside of the of the Warsaw ghetto that we've seen in a long time. I mean, five miles away from all where this these people are where surgeons are are collapsing because they themselves are starving to death and BBC journalists are starving to death and dying. Um, now people are, you know, eating couscous and and hummus and >> Yeah. >> and drinking, you know, sweet red wine. >> That's right. >> This is I mean, there's plenty of food. There's no shortage of food. >> I said that earlier today in an

[2:39:14] interview. There's there's plenty of food. We see these pictures of children starving to death. We're seeing reports of surgeons in the middle of performing surgery, passing out and fainting from a lack of food. There's plenty of food. >> The Israelis just won't allow the food in. And when they do allow the food in and people mob the distribution centers, the Israelis then just open fire on the crowds, which they've done at least three times in the last two or three weeks. >> Oh, more more. It's almost every day,

[2:39:45] John. Sickening >> and and it's like and so I mean, so you know, >> well, let me interrupt you for a second. Here's a good here's a good point. I was talking about this for with a friend of mine, Brillard Definit, sorry, I don't speak French. What about the Egyptians? The Egyptians are under real pressure today to open the border. They have said that they're not opening the border under any circumstances. they open the border, they will be complicit with the ethnic cleansing. >> Exactly. >> Iraq in a hard place.

[2:40:16] >> They are. Do you just let people starve or do you jump in on the side of the Israelis and cleansing Gaza? >> [ __ ] Israelis. That's what they that they did this on purpose. >> Yeah, they did. >> And and the and the and the Egyptians aren't stupid. That's why they built that burm over a year ago. >> That's right. something like they're worried that the Israelis will throw open the border and then you know they won't be able to to resist their troops aren't going to aren't are not going to want to and will not shoot two million people. >> For the last couple of years I've

[2:40:47] donated money to a Palestinian medical relief organization. Not a not a lot of money. If I have an extra 50 bucks, I send it in. And um and I got a an automated email from them um telling people to stop donating because there are no hospitals in Gaza now, >> right? There's nothing to donate to. >> There's nothing to donate to. >> Yeah. This reminds me a lot of um so like from 1996 to 2001 when the Taliban were running Afghanistan the first time

[2:41:19] they um there were there were Clinton administration trade sanctions against the Taliban in Afghanistan. But they always said no no no no it's not medical supplies or food. We don't prohibit that at all. And when I was there the first time in 2000 and I visited a hospital um and the doctors and I found this to be true at other hospitals too. They were like, "We haven't seen a band-aid since the early 90s." Um, and it's like nothing. Nothing at all. It's like it's field medicine. They It's basically like you're outside

[2:41:49] >> a mash unit, >> but you're inside. Yeah. That's That's it. You have a roof that may or may not leak. That's That's what you've got. It's a It's a nice tent, basically. Um >> Oh my god. >> So So, but John, about these pictures, um, you know, I think you and I are about, you know, we're experienced. We've seen a lot of [ __ ] We have many of us here who are watching and reading have too. But these these pictures landed hard with me in a surprising way and you know pictures thousand words all

[2:42:22] that. It could really I mean I I get the impression this is going to >> things >> it makes a difference. I think Macron saw those photos and was like this is it done. He was already on the way and I think that's and I think that's it. I mean, it's just like no one wants, no one cares anymore but October 7th, you know, but the Holocaust. No one cares anymore. It's like you're out of you guys are out of excuses. You have to stop. >> Ted, um,

[2:42:53] I have a friend, we've been friends for 20 years, and he posted on Facebook, he he's not just Zionist, he's a dual USIsraeli national. and uh he posted on Facebook yesterday, this happened in the last 24 hours. Roads, Greece, Israelis blocked from from uh coming off a cruise ship, Cedos, Greece, Israelis targeted by angry

[2:43:23] Greeks, Cyprus, Israelis had tomatoes thrown at them. And it was like 10 things. >> Gossins would love to have some tomatoes thrown. I took a picture of a child starving to death in her mother's arms, nothing but skin and and bone, and he blocked me. That's what we're up against here. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, >> yeah. They don't care if children are starving to death. They don't care. >> They don't. And you know what's funny?

[2:43:54] Getting back that I'm still haunted by that Brett Stevens column from a couple of days. >> Yeah. Day before yesterday. And and you know in there he talked about like well you know yes there some people who say it's a genocide point to the genocidal comments that were made by his high-ranking Israeli officials in the days after October 7th. But they were just being inmperate. They were being spicy. They were just angry about October 7th. Okay. So, if that had if that were true and that was not the

[2:44:24] official policy of the Israeli government, which we know it is because all the journalists have reported that it is, but let's just say that, you know, we're going to pretend here that Brett Stevens is telling the truth. >> Yeah. >> Those people would have been fired. >> Yes. >> You know, if President Kuryaku of Israel doesn't let those people stay on like, what are you doing? That's not what that's not who we are. Please leave your ID at the door. That's just not I mean that's I mean left them in there. >> And remember we're talking at uh we're

[2:44:56] talking about Smootrich and uh Ben Gavir. >> They were successfully prosecuted for felony hate crimes against Palestinians years before ever becoming >> ministers in the Netanyahu government. These are very bad people. >> They are very bad people and they should really be. I mean honestly um people went to prison at Nuremberg for less. >> Yes, without a doubt. >> I mean Yes. I mean hell one guy just he went to I think he killed him, right?

[2:45:27] Julius Striker. He just published newspaper. >> Yes. >> You know granted it was a nasty piece of work but it was just a newspaper. >> That's absolutely right. So >> yeah, I'm I'm worried about where this uh is going in that I think a whole lot of people are going to starve to death. Women, children, the elderly, all civilians, they're going to starve to death. >> No question. They are. >> Yeah. The US is not going to put

[2:45:58] pressure on Netanyahu. It's just not. We know what our government is like. And I'm not saying this is specific to Donald Trump. The Democrats are exactly the same way. >> Absolutely. >> Um, so it's not it's not going to get better in the near term. It's just not. >> No, I mean, look, we're in a world where even AOC can't beed on accounted upon to uh resist sending war funding to Israel. I mean, >> yeah, >> even even just from a fiscal conservative standpoint, you should be

[2:46:28] able to say, you know, little birds, we've been feeding you since 1948. >> Time to fly the nest. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> that's right. >> Yeah, without a doubt. >> Um, is there anything else we want to say about this? >> I mean, Trump says that this is interfering with his peace efforts. There are no peace efforts, right? I mean, there's I mean, basically, it's very strange. Um, there's been the two delegations in Qatar or Qatar, whatever. >> Yeah, we should we should add that. We should talk about that. The US walked

[2:47:00] out >> yesterday. The US walked out saying that that Hamas is not serious about hostage releases. It's like, seriously, that's that's what the talks are about, hostage releases. And and why is it that we call Israelis held by Hamas hostages and Palestinians held by Israel prisoners? >> That's a good question. >> When they haven't been charged with any crime, they were just scooped up only because they happen to be Palestinian, >> right? Because Israel is a nation state and we love them. It's sort of like why

[2:47:30] if it's Iran, it's the regime. If it's France, it's the government. >> It's, you know, all this loaded language. >> That's right. So there there are no peace talks right now. We walked out. They're on hiatus and they weren't accomplishing anything anyway. >> No. And you know, there was a piece in today's times and we weren't and this is not really on the agenda, but whatever. Like we care. Um Russia Ukraine and it's brought up a good point. Yeah. that really peace negotiations haven't really begun in earnest. No. And that's true

[2:48:01] about Israel and Palestine. I mean, and basically talked about shuttle diplomacy back during the Henry Kissinger era and whatever whatever many bad things you want to say about Henry Kissinger. He was uh never you know he certainly was a hardworking dude. Sure. And he went back and forth all the time. >> Sure. Philip Habib in the 80s. Same thing. It was a very like it was an arduous prolonged long process to end a complicated war between nation states. Um you know I mean look Hamas was really

[2:48:34] a government a real government. >> Yes. >> Um you know and >> in fact the Israelis the Israelis use the the Hamas Ministry of Health uh numbers. >> Yes. They accept the the Hamas numbers on people killed or wounded or whatever. >> Yeah. It's only the Zionists in the United States who pretend like they're not true. You can't trust them. They're they're right. They're an undercount. Um >> yeah. >> I don't either. >> Um Wow. Uh yeah. No. So for sure. Um the

[2:49:06] Israelis are sitting on top of thousands and thousands of uncharged political they're political prisoners is what they are and subjected to all sorts of humiliating treatment. Um so yeah peace talks um you know I mean we're not gonna there's no chance because you know the Israelis the Israelis aren't serious and people will say well what about Hamas? Well, any in any kind I say in any kind of lopsided military conflict, most of the burden of making peace falls on the

[2:49:37] superior military force. Um, they're going to have the advantage. Um, you know, I mean, they're going to have to make most of the concessions. Um, you know, in terms of getting close if you want to have a ceasefire anyway. Um, I know people will say end of World War II or whatever, unconditional surrender. That war went on. I I never, you know, never I wasn't there, but I would have never agreed with the policy of unconditional surrender. I think it dragged World War II on much longer than it needed to. >> I think you're right. >> And th those days are gone.

[2:50:09] >> That's just not how how conflicts end anymore. >> No. Now that now you like like Saddam Hussein, you go hide in your spider hole. You leave weapons behind and then an insurgency pops up and you know, nobody ever admits that they were defeated. Hell, right. Trump did admit he was defeated. >> Yeah, that's true. >> So, >> Tom Ford How in the world did Robin Hood know that these were Tom Ford glasses? >> That's >> I never even heard of Tom Ford till I bought these glasses. >> I never heard of Tom Ford >> and they were like, "Oh, this is the Tom

[2:50:40] Ford." I was like, "Okay, >> what's the big deal about Tom Ford?" >> I don't know, but I like them. >> Are they pricey? >> Uh, yeah, they kind of were. Yeah. >> Glasses glasses cost ridiculous. These were like $1,200. They don't look like much, but >> Yeah. Well, these were only seven 700 >> only, >> but still, I mean, to me, that's a lot. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It's absurd. >> Um All right. Well, so I guess we should talk about the ICE thing. So, um, Robert, so Democratic, uh, House Representatives Robert Garcia and Summer

[2:51:11] Lee >> are, um, demanding, they wrote a letter to Christine, the Department of Homeland Security to demand that she provide all the information, internal DHS memos and policies, uh, that concern how ISIS is supposed to comport themselves, um, how they're supposed to dress. Uh, I don't know if there's a, you know, certain color of mask that they're supposed to wear. You know, white in the winter, I don't know. Pink for the gay ice members. I don't know. Whatever. Um, but

[2:51:44] they're they're trying to get all that info. Are does does DHS have to reply? >> No. Um, it's a that's an executive order function. They don't have to reply. And I'll tell you, one of the things I learned when I was uh on Capitol Hill at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is most of the time cabinet members uh just ignore us. We would write letters to secretary of whatever or assistant secretary or the FBI

[2:52:15] director or the CI dire. They would just ignore us. >> And what are you gonna do? Is it worth going to the mat over the fact that they ignored the letter from your staff member? No. So, yeah, I don't think they're going to get any satisfaction here. I'm still laughing, though, Ted, at the uh at the reporting in the LA Times that that tow truck operators are are following these ICE officers and towing their cars because they always park illegally because they think they can do whatever they want because they're ICE. And then as soon as they

[2:52:46] get out to do their raids, the tow trucks tow their cars and impound them. And after all, it's not like they can extend any professional courtesy to these random unidentified people >> unidentified. >> How are we supposed to know that they're federal law enforcement officers? Although I mean, are I officers really law enforcement officers? >> Well, you know what? That's a good question. >> Agents, >> they're they're not really law enforcement officers. Just like Bureau of Prisons, prison guards are not really

[2:53:18] law enforcement officers, >> right? They're not. I mean, they're they're either what's called a series 1810 or 1811. In this case, they're both 1810s, which means they're allowed to be armed, but that doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, like they're not going to pull somebody over for speeding. They're not going to they're not going to likely not going to disrupt, you know, the the the a shoplifter at the Walmart if that they happen to be in. >> Could they? I'm not even sure.

[2:53:51] >> I remember there was some strange experience that the university, this was analogous, maybe a University of Cincinnati campus policeman >> pulled over someone on a city street for running a stop sign and it led to a violent um you know incident where there was a you know that the dude shot the motorist. Um, it was it's like one of those like shootings of black motorists by a white cop. And I was like, can a University of Cincinnati, you know, rent a cop really play real cop? I mean,

[2:54:22] aren't you like Paul Mart cop Paul Mall cop? I mean, to me, an ice person, I mean, look, if they want to be treated like real law enforcement officers, they ought to wear uniforms and they ought to show their faces and they should show ID. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, they're just random thugs. >> That's it. I I have to agree. Um, you know, somebody makes a Where did I just see it? They went to Fletzie. Uh, Houdini. Uh, they've gone through Flexi, which is the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. I went through Flexie before my CIA days. I was a But I was in

[2:54:53] 1810. So, we did the handgun training, but I was 100% not considered law enforcement. >> Oh, so you don't necessar So, going to Fletsy does not necessarily What does Do you know what Fletsy stands for? >> Yeah. Federal law enforcement training center. I I had a beautiful shiny gold badge that I kept in this beautiful leather case. I really regretted having to turn it in when I went to the agency. Um, and it got me out of a couple of speeding tickets. >> Mhm. >> But, uh, I I was not considered law

[2:55:24] enforcement. I didn't consider myself law enforcement. And, um, and I would not have tried to stop a shoplifter at Walmart. >> I would have said, "Well, it's not my job. Let the next guy do it." >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like I mean, I think it's funny how uh ICE people, they want our sympathy, too. >> Yeah. >> I don't care at all. >> I mean, >> I told you I I told you on on the morning of January 6th.

[2:55:54] >> I think I said this like a week ago. I I had to go up to Capitol Hill to meet with Bruce Fine. And we knew all hell was going to break loose later in the day. So, I wanted to, you know, get into Bruce's office, sign this document, and get the hell out. And so, um, when I parked my car, there were all these guys taking off their Bureau of Prisons logo polos and putting on black shirts. And I was like, shame, shame, shame. You clowns aren't law enforcement. >> No, not as soon as you do that.

[2:56:26] >> Uhhuh. >> Yeah. No, it's gross. All right. So, uh, I guess >> can I interrupt you, >> please? In all seriousness, what do you think about this Candace Owens situation? Candace Owens has been on this rant for the last three years where she has been saying that Emanuel Mcronone's wife was born male and um she's just she even did a documentary

[2:56:56] about it. There she has no childhood history. No documents exist, no photos exist. Of course, none of that's true. >> That can't be true. >> No, it's just not true. >> I I literally just spent like my son doesn't know I realized was filling out forms and doesn't even know like where I was born. I'm like, you don't know [ __ ] about your family. So, I decided as a gift I'm gonna create a giant I did a a family tree, right? I put all this information that I've been meaning to put together. I started putting it together. I got it. I went down a rabbit

[2:57:27] hole through the French and German government uh genealogy sites. Very cool. >> Go back four or 500 years, right? We know like if if you you know in this country, in France, in Germany, in most countries, like uh you know, we know where you were born, when you were born, when you got married, which church you got married at, you know, who you got married to, >> who who baptized you, where and when you were baptized. >> It happened in 1611. And so like Yeah. in and in France. I guarantee you that

[2:58:00] uh you know Emmanuel Mrs. Macron is she was a it's not a dude looks like a lady situation. >> No, she looks like a woman and she's obviously clearly born a woman. So anyway, it turns out >> not to mention she was very cute when she was younger. >> She was cute and has a son >> meeting up her her husband, >> right? And has a son. So, so the Mcron, it turned out, through their attorneys, approached Candace Owens a year ago and said, "Stop doing this.

[2:58:33] It's not true, and we're going to sue you." >> But she doubled down. Nobody knew this until a couple of days ago that she had been warned to back off. And she doubled down. And she said that in part she doubled down because she became she converted to Catholicism and her Catholic faith demands of her that she out you know this man who is masquerading as the first lady of France.

[2:59:04] And so the Mcron filed the defamation suit. Now >> where? >> Yeah, that's a good question. I'm not sure >> where would be better for them. England. >> Yeah, that would be the best. >> I really wish I'd sued the LA Times in England. I could have because of the internet and so um and I should have >> even though you know would have required me to go to England quite a bit. >> Um wow, thank you. Uh we have a couple of paid donations here. >> Oh, thank you.

[2:59:35] >> So we should answer right question. So uh we'll we'll go in reverse order here. >> Um obscuro obscure orca. Yeah, >> John NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. >> Yeah. You know what? I was >> about >> I was stationed in Athens at the time and it was absolutely miserable not just to be an American diplomat in Greece, but to be an Orthodox Christian American diplomat while the United States government was bombing an Orthodox Christian country that the Greeks

[3:00:07] considered to be brothers. Um, it was absolutely miserable to the point where even one of my uncles attacked me verbally at a u at a dinner and I could barely respond to him. He was like, "Why the [ __ ] did you blow up the Yugo factory? What the [ __ ] were you thinking you blew up the Yugo factory?" >> That wasn't me. >> And I said I said Theo. And I almost

[3:00:37] didn't want to answer him. I said they converted it to manufactured tanks, which was true, but the bombing of Yugoslavia was wrong, wrong, wrong in the first place. And we created this this fake rump country called Kosovo that has never otherwise existed through the course of of, you know, human history. And it just so happens to be holy ground for the Serbian Orthodox Church. and it's where most of the Serbian Orthodox uh monasteries are

[3:01:10] located. And we're like, "Yeah, tough luck. We're going to we're going to take this land away from you. We're going to give it to these Muslims that you've been feuding with for the last 1500 years. And there's nothing you can do about it. Oh, and by the way, we're going to bomb you, too, just for the hell of it." >> Of course. I mean obviously I have to I agree with you but you know what about the argument that this was to try to stop the genoci this the genocide uh you know in Kosovo. >> Yeah that that is what it was for. Yeah. Well less so the genocide in Kosovo than

[3:01:42] what was happening well no it was it was Kosovo by then. Yeah. Yeah. You know what we should have done? It was supposed to create like an a safety zone, right? >> Yeah. On but nobody ever said anything about it being an independent country five minutes later. >> And I don't know and I I had access to the information at the time, but it just there was no information. Why did we not work with Boris Yelton to figure this out? Why were we at odds with the Russians over this is the the the nater

[3:02:14] of our of our relationship with the Russians? Why didn't we do something to to make it better? >> Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, we installed Yeltson basically. >> We did. We did. We installed Yeltson. >> Yeah. I mean, the Russians will never forgive us. >> No. And Ted, coming back to, you know, serving in Athens in in 99 while we're bombing uh Yugoslavia. Every year we have to vacate the embassy on the 17th of November because it's the it's the date of the uprising against

[3:02:44] the military hunda that we installed and there's a massive demonstration that marches from the polytenic university where where the uprising began to the American embassy. So we just shut the whole place down at 12 and everybody goes home. You just get a half a day off. We evacuated the American embassy at least a dozen times that year because these demonstrations were absolutely gigantic. And at the time, this is right

[3:03:14] before the Greeks converted to the euro. So they had these 100 drama coins that are about the that were about the size of a of an Eisenhower silver dollar. >> And so you could fling them and they had some heft to them. So they would take these 100 Dramma coins which were worth about a quarter 27 cents and they would smash all the windows on the front of the embassy and then they would fill balloons with red paint and with slingshots launch the red balloons at at

[3:03:46] so the the next day the embassy is just peppered with >> red paint splotches and the windows are all broken from 100 drama coins. It was awful. It was miserable. >> I bet. Hey, John. Uh, we got to answer USC Arad 21 who donated five bucks. Thank you. >> Thank you, USC. >> Uh, I don't want to put your pardon in jeopardy, >> John. Uh, but what are your guys take on South Park going after Trump? >> I I DVR it. It was freaking hilarious. >> I haven't seen it yet. >> Oh, you got to watch. >> You got to see it. You got to see it,

[3:04:17] Ted. Um, I I won't spoil it for you, but you know, they the the creators of South Park just a couple of days ago signed a $1.5 billion streaming agreement. God bless them. >> It's obviously for the high quality animation. >> You know, I still watch South Park. I I will admit to you, I watch Family Guy, Simpsons, South Park, and Bob's Burgers. I love all the animated shows. >> Thank you, Caleb. Also, >> South Park. Thank you, Caleb. South Park

[3:04:47] is by far the most cutting edge. Like when I watch when I watch um uh Family Guy with with one of my housemates, I always say, "Oh my god, how can they get away with a joke like that?" But South Park, it's like, "Oh my god." Like, it's shocking to me that they're able to do what they're what they're doing. Now, it's all for a good laugh. It's all comedy, but I I just love it. I think it's great. Yeah. Well, I'm I'm Yeah. My favorite um

[3:05:20] the thing that those two guys did that I love the best is still Team America World Police. I can never get over how how I've seen it more times than I could count. It's one of the funniest seen in my life. >> Absolutely hilarious. >> Yeah. >> I wish I could be creative like that. I don't think I can be creative like that. >> See, I think I could. Uh and I think I do. >> Well, you could be I wish I was in the writer room, you know. >> Yeah. and and you deal in in very um sharp comedy. I mean, you're a political cartoonist. You have to have that kind of biting sense of humor.

[3:05:51] >> Yeah. Well, >> yeah, they are geniuses. >> You would totally think. Uh but so many of my colleagues are just uh you know, they're wussies. Um it's because they worked at Daily Papers and they were scared and they were you know, I'll never forget I got a job interview at the Aspbury Park Press. He's dead now, so I'll name him. executive editor Ray Olworthther brings me into his office and you know it's like one of those things where you really feel like it's going well and see I'm there for a good hour. I'm feeling like ah this I'm going to get this. And it should be pointed

[3:06:22] out that I've been drawing for them local cartoons for central New Jersey for a year. So it wasn't like I was just blowing off blowing in off the street. Yeah. Like we've been dating now are you gonna put a ring on it or not? And so everything's going great. And then Rey goes, leans back, points out the window, and says, "There's just one more thing. Am I ever going to look outside that window and see people protesting because of one of the cartoons you drew?" And I said, I was I was flumxed.

[3:06:53] >> I hope so. >> I said, I mean, I was honest. I said, it's not my intent, you know, when I sit down to to make that happen, but I don't care if it does. And like and people are going to do what they're going to do. >> Legit answer. >> And people get mad at stuff that I never see coming and other stuff that I think is going to blow up the world. There's no reaction. I I don't know. It's like don't you have security? I mean, I don't know. So I was like I that look like wrong answer till and you

[3:07:26] know never got the job. And I had one interview like another like that after that St. Louis Post Dispatch same thing. Sacramento be I'll never forget the guy who goes he goes uh >> thank you Gav >> Howard Weaver he goes um am I you know what I have to figure out here is if we're going to let the good burgers of Sacramento wake up to grounds glass every morning on their opinion page in other words if he hires me I'm like I hope so you know that's that's what it's for. Uh, so yeah, I mean I this could go

[3:07:56] we could do a whole whole show on that, but that's Yeah, >> I've actually purchased their >> [ __ ] >> I I purchased years ago their uh Mormons episode that people are talking about in the chat and I also purchased the um the lice episode. You remember the lice episode? >> Yes. >> Oh my god, so funny. I still laugh out loud every time I watch it. >> Oh my heavens. You know, I mean, it's like one of my I mean, I have to say if the animation were better, I would have

[3:08:27] seen every episode. The animation's a little rough. >> It's terrible. >> Yeah. >> But that I think that's part of the charm. >> Oh, well, obviously. What's their 27th season? I think they've kind of got it figured out. Yeah. >> It's just crazy. >> Yeah. >> Oh my god. >> No. Not complaining about them. Um, but I have every right, but I just don't feel like it because I don't think it would be true. All right, so let's see what else we got to talk about here. Um, yes, I did stuff to hit. Oh, yeah.

[3:08:58] Gizlane, how do we pronounce her name? >> Yeah, Gal. Galain. >> Galain. I can never pronounce Gain. Me Gain Maxwell. She um she's still her prison photos. She's still hot. >> Oh, she looks good. So anyway, so she's so she So John, I'm I'm a little bit confused by this. Like, so I don't understand. I mean, I know that obviously the heat is on uh on the Trump administration over Epstein. I get it. And but now is this just window dressing? Are they just pretending to

[3:09:29] look into it? I mean, it looks like she requested the interview with the DOJ and Dave complied and went in, had a wide ranging conversation with her about anything and everything. According to >> She answered everything. >> She answered everything. She seems like some she could be per if she committed perjury, she would be um she would have exposure to the prosecution. Yes. And could extend her. >> It it was very risky to to answer these questions. >> To me, that indicates someone who's probably telling the truth. Yes.

[3:10:00] >> When you take a risk, it's uh sort of like when you sue for defamation, then that's right. Subject yourself to discovery and everything. Um >> so what so what is this about? Like why did this interview take place? And what was the desired outcome from both sides and what's what's the actual outcome? >> Well, we we this has to be speculation because we really don't know. >> Totally. >> Thank you, Houdini, very much. And I I I'm thinking that do you remember last

[3:10:32] week, Ted, when we were talking about the comment that that um the attorney general made about the the videos being just child porn and they will never see the light of day. Pam Bondi said, "We will never release." And I said, "We don't want to see the child porn. We want to know the names of the men committing crimes against children. That's what we want to know." Um, so it could be that it could be that that

[3:11:05] she's naming people who would be on uh those hard drives. >> Apparently that happened. >> Yeah. Um >> reportedly according to her council >> much of the uh much of the uh reporting has been on you know these allegations and they're not a stretch by any means that she wants a some sort of a commutation even a pardon and Trump being Trump um wouldn't rule it out.

[3:11:36] >> Well why would he give it to her right? Doesn't he want her to shut up? I can't I my brain can't wrap itself around what in the world would possess Donald Trump to to throw her a bone. >> Yeah. I mean, wouldn't he get wouldn't he wouldn't he pardon her for being quiet, >> right? >> You know, I mean, >> not blabbing everything. And it turns out that, you know, remember we were joking the other day about it depends on what your definition of a list is.

[3:12:06] >> Well, apparently we were right about that. And it turns out that some of the names that are popping up are Bill Clinton and John Kerry and a handful of other people who are well known to every single American. But the question remains, who were the guys committing crimes against children, >> right? Like I mean, yeah. So this remind So in the Mayflower Madam, you know, >> oh yeah, I remember that case. >> Oh, you're going back now. >> Very old ' 80s. there was a very famous

[3:12:37] little black book that belonged to her that that made its way unlike the Epstein files into the public eye. And um and the thing is what was notable is of course yeah she had her John's in there and she had her girls in there but she had a dry cleaner in there and she had her Chinese food in there. I mean, the point is that's what people do, right? And and anyway, there so there's we it's not I guess if like >> you're looking for a spreadsheet that says >> my child sex client

[3:13:09] XLS, it's not in there. Okay. >> But that's not really the issue. I mean, it's kind of like as usual, the Trump administration is playing Well, like all administrations, they're being they're playing it too cute. >> Yeah. Yeah, they are. That's right. So, was Maxwell railroaded? >> Oh, I don't think so. I think she was she was guilty. I think that there were a whole bunch of people who were guilty. They shouldn't have gone after just her and Epstein, but uh but yeah, I think she got what

[3:13:41] she deserved. >> Okay, so she got what she deserved. I mean, okay, she got what she deserved. She procured for Epstein. We know that. Now the question is basically what this looks like to me is they partied a lot. Um they they probably they had lots of young girls around. >> They passed them around, >> right? It's not about necessarily a honeypot operation. It's not about msad necessarily or probably

[3:14:12] >> it's probably just like gross dudes drinking and doing drugs and having a good time. Yep. >> And doing [ __ ] that's illegal and immoral sometimes. Not all. Some of them. It's sort of like you're at a party and there's something going on in another room and maybe you don't go into that other room and maybe you do go into that other room. I think that's what it was like. >> I think that's I think you've hit it on the head. You know, there's another thing too and this is a minor point, but it's something that I've often wondered about. I've spoken publicly a lot about

[3:14:45] how pedophiles are almost always locked up in low security prisons. They're not eligible for minimums because they're pedophiles, which means they're dangers to society, but they don't go to mediums or maximums because they'll be attacked or killed or beaten or tortured or whatever >> people who are already there. >> That's right. She's at a minimum security work camp. How the heck did that happen? Why were the rules waved for her? Why is

[3:15:16] she getting special treatment? >> And what's your answer to that question, John? >> I don't know. I I don't have an answer. >> It doesn't make any sense to me. >> Yeah. I mean, that's the whole thing, right? Like there may not be a conspiracy, but when things don't make sense, people fill in the blanks. And I mean, and it look in all fairness, there's weird [ __ ] that happens in the real world. I mean, >> yeah, >> you know, I mean, how the Concord crashed is very strange. Um, right, >> not a conspiracy, just a piece of metal

[3:15:48] fell off a plane that was in front of it and went to the engine and blew it up and now we can't fly supersonic transport anymore. >> Michael Gardner says, "Rich get different rules, even in prison." Absolutely true. Listen to this. There was a guy in the next row of cells over from me. Oh, I can't remember his name, but he was a quarterback for the New York Giants in the early 1970s. And he was a uh he was in for like 25 years for running this major massive

[3:16:20] Ponzi scheme. And you know, let's say he made a hundred million and they made him pay 50 million in restitution. He still had 50 million left over. So what this guy did, he was a real scumbag, too. What this guy did was he paid off all the the Mexican and black gangs to ensure his safety, right? So he he, you know, paid like $500 a month, I think, is what he told me. Like $500 a month to the MS-13

[3:16:51] shot collar, 500 to the Crips, 500 to the Bloods, 500 to the Mexican Mafia. And then he he hated the food in the cafeteria. Everybody did. >> But but he hired one of the Hispanics to be his personal chef. And so other guys, their their side hustle in prison is they steal food out of the cafeteria and they're allowed to steal food. The the guards look the other way. So he would spend his 500 a month in the commissary that he was allowed to spend and then he would buy

[3:17:22] the rest of it on the on the black market stolen from the cafeteria. and he had this personal chef make him three meals a day. So, you're right, Michael Gardner. Rich people, >> it's good to be king. >> Yeah, it's good to be king. Rich people are different. There are different rules even in prison. >> Wonder how it was for Martha Stewart. >> Oh, everybody loved Martha Stewart. Yeah, >> she taught them how to make soap and she taught them how to make little handy crafts and

[3:17:53] you know I I think Martha Stewart's experience in prison was kind of like mine where I'm still in touch with a lot of the Italians. I I spoke to two of them last night. We did a little Zoom call to say hi. Um there was a there was a crooked congressman from Ohio who went to prison a couple years before I did. He was in my prison. >> Oh, I remember that guy. remember him? >> Trafficant. >> No, no, this was after this was actually the the district immediately south of Jim Travocant. >> Okay. All right. >> I forget his name now. But anyway, he

[3:18:25] said when he got out, he was in for like two years or two and a half years. It was a corruption charge. And he said, "Oh my god, Clyde Hall." Yes, it was Clyde Hall. How in the world did you pull that up? >> Must be an Ohio. >> Wow. Wow. I'm Listen, man. RS, I'm impressed. Yes, it was Clyde Hall. I have not thought of that name in a decade. So, um, he got out of prison and he

[3:18:57] said, you know, they say that, um, you don't go to prison to make friends. And he says, >> I I came out of prison having made some of the best friends of my life. And I remember thinking at the time, this is before I was ever in trouble, thinking that he was nuts. >> But he's not nuts. And I understand it now. >> Is it trauma bonding? >> In part it could be, but but the the people that you trauma bond with, you tend to walk away from. These guys were genuinely good guys. I

[3:19:28] mean, some of them did some very bad things. Like I remember one of them saying, I said, "So, what are you in here for?" And he goes like this. He goes, "The cops found a body in a barrel in my storage unit. I don't know how that body got in there. I said, "No, no." I said, "I'm not judging you. >> Seriously, >> happened to anybody." >> He goes, "A hundred people had access to that storage unit." I said, "I'm not judging you. Don't worry, but uh yeah,

[3:20:00] we're still in we're still in touch." And um it's a strange place. Um how do people get so jacked like bodybuilders? That's a good question. And I saw there are three three guys that pop into my head immediately as like the most perfect human specimens I've ever seen in my life because there is literally nothing to do but work out. Nothing. >> What about you? >> I I walked I made sure to walk five

[3:20:32] miles a day around the track. And when it snows they close the track and you're only allowed to walk around the basketball court. So you walk around 500 times, you know, when I first arrived, um, I was walking around with with a captain from the Banano family. So this is a very senior guy. And it was the first really great advice anybody had given me in prison. I had been there about two or three weeks. And we're walk it's it's pouring down snow. It's like

[3:21:02] 10° and we're walking around the outside basketball court. And he he said to me, "How much time did you get?" I said 30 months feels like 30 years. And he said, "Let me give you some advice." He said, "If somebody asks you how much time you have, you say five years." I said, "Why?" >> He said, "There are guys in here with 20, 25, 30 years. If they hear that you have 30 months and you're pissed off about it, they're going to kick your

[3:21:33] ass. So tell them five years." Does anybody ever ask to see your paperwork? >> Only when >> to find out if you're a child molester or what? >> Only when you first arrive to see if you're a child molester. So, I had to give my paperwork to the to the shot caller for the Aryans. And um and he he read the paperwork and he goes, "Intelligence Identities Protection Act." He goes, "What the [ __ ]

[3:22:03] is that?" And I said, 'It's like it's like a conspiracy charge. And he goes, "Okay." So I sat with the Aryans for a while till the Italians took me. >> Yeah. >> At at meals. >> Yeah. There are some guys who like will just sit with the Aryans and then the shot caller will go up and say, "Who the [ __ ] are you?" and give me your paperwork. And then the smart ones will just go sit with the pedophiles without

[3:22:36] saying anything. >> Some will just claim that they can't find their paperwork or they'll have their lawyer write a letter. It's like, no, no, no. If you have any idea what's good for you, you're going to get up and move to the pedophile table right now. And they always do. >> Wow. Uh I mean, I think this is I have have to put this question up. How bad are the showers? We've all seen the movies. >> Yes. You know what? That was one of the very few questions I asked my attorneys. One of the things that my attorneys did for me was they scheduled a lunch a

[3:23:07] couple of weeks before I left for prison with a former professor from George Washington University who played fast and loose with the National Science Foundation credit card and got two years. So the very first question I asked him was, "What's the situation with the showers?" And he said, "Oh no, it don't worry about that." He said, "It's nothing like what you see on TV. You're going to go to a low or a minimum, and they're all individual showers, completely enclosed with shower curtains. Same with the

[3:23:39] toilets. They're all individual toilets with shower curtains. Don't worry about it at all." And he was exactly right. And and I'll say, you know, one thing, um, I never saw a guy naked in prison. Well, that's not true. We we did have one strip search once. Um, but you do not walk around exposing yourself unless you want to have like every bone in your face broken. There was a there was a an Afghan child molester who uh came into my cell just

[3:24:12] before I I left. I have an entire chapter about him in my second book. And um he went out to play soccer one day and then he came back and we we had these huge fans like a a 4ft tall fan because there's no air conditioning in prisons. And so the fan was on like for months at a time in the summer. So this guy went out to play soccer and he came back and he takes off all of his clothes. His his his clothes are literally dripping sweat. It was disgusting. And he goes up to the fan

[3:24:44] and he's airing out his balls. And I walked past him and I said, "Sheir, you're going to get your ass kicked. You can't." I said, "This isn't a [ __ ] country club. You're in prison." >> And he's like, "Fuck you. I don't answer to you." Four guys were on him like white on rice. They >> left him in a bloody pulp on the floor. >> At all. >> Told you. [ __ ] >> And he's like lifting up his balls and airing them out. We're like, "What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?

[3:25:17] >> People I mean it's always weird to me when people are in situations like this and they just don't know how to act. Um I have I like this question where criminals actually respected if child molesters chomos are at the bottom >> who's on top or does it work that way? >> Oh yeah. Yeah. It very much works that way. The chumos are at the very very bottom. The rats are very barely above the chumos. The Italians were at the very top. very very top and you know it was funny because of all the gangs and

[3:25:48] they're considered a gang >> mafiosos or Italians or is there a differentiation? >> Oh there there's a there's a difference you have to be connected in some way >> like they'll it they'll the Italian network is very strong and so they'll know weeks in advance that you're coming to the prison. >> Um so >> this is also an important >> that's a good question. Okay that's a good question. change during and after your imprisonment. >> I assume your prison was like the

[3:26:18] California system that I've read about where everything is racially segregated. >> Absolutely everything. You in fact at higher levels you cannot have any contact with other races because you're then branded a race trader and then you >> you're not friends with say a Latino just to be like >> absolutely not can't play cards. I I made a conscious decision when I first arrived and I say that in my in my book. I made a conscious decision to ignore those racial divisions. And at the end

[3:26:50] of my my sentence, the black shot caller, a guy named Ali from Newark, he was at the tail end of a 25-year uh drug charge. He came over to hug me and to tell me how much he respected me. I helped him. I I wrote his resume for him. I helped. >> How did that happen if you weren't allowed to? >> Because I refused to respect those racial divisions. >> So you were Did you Did you get any any [ __ ] for that from whites?

[3:27:22] >> No, I got [ __ ] from the Hispanics. And I was like, you guys all hate each other. like the Mexicans hate the the the Puerto Ricans and the Puerto Ricans hate the the Dominicans and the Dominicans hate the Costa Ricans. It's ridiculous. I like you guys all look exactly the same to me and you all hate each other. I just never understood it. Um, so the Italians were by far the most respected and that was the point I was going to make of the gangs, right? If you're if you're in an organized gang,

[3:27:54] MS-13, Bloods, Crips, Mexican Mafia, Burachos, Nortenos, all these guys, your prisoner number ends with the number -47. 47 means organized gang. Well, the Italians were also 47s. Um, so of all the gangs, the Italians were by far the smallest and by far the most highly respected. >> And what? And was there a charge that was most respected like

[3:28:25] like you know like in the hierarchy of robbery, murder? >> Rico Rico. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Rico and Rico usually had murder attached to it. Usually it was conspiracy to commit murder because you know a guy will murder somebody and then 20 people will get charged for it because they're all part of the conspiracy. >> I'll tell you who who they didn't like. They didn't like these these big rich white collar criminals. >> Really? >> Yeah. Yeah. They didn't like those guys. The only ones who, you know, >> were they just viewed as soft and uh

[3:28:57] >> Yeah. soft. Oh, you thought you're going to get away with it. No, poor you. You got caught and now it's like, "Oh, I'm in prison. Oh my god." >> So So it's a class thing. It's a class thing. >> It's a class thing. The only The only guys who were in where nobody gave a [ __ ] was like arson. I knew three arsonists and people people were like, "Eh, arson. Did you kill anybody?" No. Okay. Nobody cares. Like insurance fraud, mortgage fraud. Uh, one guy was

[3:29:28] property fraud, which I had never heard of before. >> Funny. He he just forged papers. Um, transferring ownership of a golf course to himself and then he tried to charge people rent. >> He's like one of those squatters with the that write up the fake deed. Exactly. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's kind of a big deal, right? It's sort of like how car theft is uh you know is is is a direct error to horse theft and it's cons and you're basically stealing a man's livelihood. So it's

[3:30:00] considered >> yeah not cool really serious. And stealing a man's home is the same way. Um this question from Nick. Um what are our thoughts about all the recent trade deals? the tra, you know, I I told my sister this the other day. I can't believe Trump is actually getting away with it. >> I know. >> People were saying, "Oh my god, he's nuts and the tariffs 100% and 50%. Oh my god, he's coming to deals with all these countries and they're deals that favor the United

[3:30:31] States." I can't believe I'm saying it. >> So, yeah. No, I I I I don't have anything to add to that. That's that's very very very true. Um, all right. So, finally, um, but maybe not least, um, Donald Trump issued an executive order, uh, stating that he's, uh, very upset about the the the explosion of homelessness. >> Yeah. >> The executive order actually understates the problem. It says that there's 250,000 homeless people in the United States. They're actually 770,000.

[3:31:02] >> I was going to say, by a factor of three or four. Yeah. >> And and it's gone up a lot. That number was 550 for years and then it shot up um over really over the last four years since since COVID and prices shot up and uh people got priced out of housing. That's not counting the millions who are couch surfing hidden hidden homeless. But he's he doesn't care about that. He he said it's a bad look in DC for foreign dignitaries to see tent cities as they drive in from Reagan airport. He's right. Um he he

[3:31:32] says that it's uh you know it's it's it's disturbing and dangerous for law-abiding citizens to see people pissing and [ __ ] outside. >> Yeah. Nobody wants to see that. But you know >> that's capitalism for you. >> That's capitalism and you can't keep cutting the budget and starting with with services, >> right? So, so, so here's what he So, Donald Trump, I think, is really good at diagnosing problems like, hey, factories in the Midwest have closed and we haven't retrained anyone and everybody's

[3:32:03] just depressed and and poor and uh addicted to opiates. >> Yeah, >> that sucks. >> Yeah, >> for me, but he's and he's right and and honestly, that is not a small thing. Being able to diagnose the problem is very, very important. Like, I didn't see Joe Biden doing that. I didn't see Kla Harris doing that. Okay, good for you. But Trump's very bad at coming up with the um with the cure and the treatment, right? And so here he want he's basically the thesis here is that the vast majority of public homeless people

[3:32:34] are mentally ill, uh emotionally disturbed, uh drug addicts, or some combination thereof. That's probably true. If they aren't before they get on the street, they rapidly deteriorate. I've seen that happen in my neighborhood here in New York. So what do we So the question is what do we do about it? His answer seems to be forcible commitment. Now I'm not the kind of liberal who's going to say that someone should has their has a moral and legal right to sleep outside in Manhattan when it's five below zero,

[3:33:06] >> right? >> No. No. I want them picked up, >> dragged off and and taken somewhere, but I want them taken somewhere safe >> and nice and warm. I don't want them to be abused, treated like [ __ ] humiliated, um attacked, raped, whatever. So, the problem is that there's no facilities here. So, it's a two-part thing, right? We've got drug addicts and we've got um mentally ill people. And he's like basically reopen the insane asylums like the old Creedmore, you know, scandal from the

[3:33:37] 70s. >> Oh, yeah. >> Where people were chained to, you know, to their beds and stuff. Yes. >> Well, the point is, >> Mr. present. There are no facilities, right? Where are you going to put them? This reminds me of the mass deportations. There's no facilities to handle the mass deportations. There's no facilities to handle the mass removal of the homeless from American city streets. I mean, where are you going to put them? And and that goes double for drug addiction. There's no treatment really available. There's no services

[3:34:07] available. If you want to create a massive infrastructure, a massive safety net to deal with these people, God bless you and I will help you and I will support you and I will scream it to the heavens. What a great president you are. But I don't see that happening. >> No, I don't see it happening either. Um, our our viewers are making a lot of really good points here. First of all, the the tent uh right behind the executive office building. Uh there's also another one now up at uh Union

[3:34:38] Station. Same idea. My guess is he'll find some pretext to to move them out. Uh you know, Reagan, well, it started really under Carter where the Supreme Court ruled that people could not be held against their will if they were not a danger to themselves or to others. But a lot of them are a danger to themselves or to others. And they're deserving of mental health care. >> Yes. >> So what what do we do? Do we >> do we make it easier to force people

[3:35:09] into mental health care? And then on the other side, >> lots of abuse, right? I mean, >> lots of abuse. I had when I was a little kid, my neighbor, he decided that it was like a lot easier and cheaper than paying alimony to have this wife who was perfectly wonderful and lovely and sane forcibly committed. And she spent six months at the local asylum in Dayton before she managed to get out. Um, that kind of [ __ ] used to happen all the time. >> Yeah. >> So, I mean, you don't want to make it too easy,

[3:35:39] >> but you don't want to make it too hard either. >> California suffered with that for many years. many many years. And it was in the 1970s that they finally changed the law so that the police couldn't forcibly commit you. Can you imagine the cops just ring your doorbell and then by force take you and put you in a mental institution and there's literally nothing you can do about it? >> Well, I mean in in a sense in a sense that does happen now. I don't know if you've seen the Netflix I think it's Netflix the movie we care a lot but it's >> Oh, I have. Oh my god.

[3:36:10] >> A real phenomenon, right? >> Yes, it is. Like so basically um these nursing homes they they they they conspire to have power of attorney. >> Yeah. And and and it's for people often who've done ab who are perfectly fine, nothing's wrong, but they target them because they're rich and they're going to take their money >> and they do they take their money. Uh but you know we we really we we spend scandalously little money on mental health and in fact

[3:36:41] >> even though it's even though mental health parity is in the Affordable Care Act completely uninforced >> completely uninforced and in most counties I I read this I think at the Rutherford Institute website um in most counties in in America >> forcing into mental healthare shall be done after mental health care is vastly improved if at all. If at all. Exactly. That's right. >> So, in most counties in America, there are more mentally ill people in the county jail than there are in mental hospitals.

[3:37:12] >> Yeah. Well, there just aren't enough mental hospitals. And the mental hospitals that are there suck ass. >> Yeah. >> So, um Yeah. I had a I had a friend her um she discovered her ex-husband had committed suicide. She walked in on him >> and um and uh and found him. The guy had almost took a butcher knife and nearly hacked his own head off in his kitchen. >> Oh my god. >> Unsurprisingly, she freaks out, runs into the streets of Brooklyn screaming

[3:43:53] this, you work it all out, then you get to go home." And anyway, so he left them there. And they were kind of kept prisoner. >> Yeah. And >> but he but he did give them soccer balls. I remember that. >> But he but they were getting really desperate. And finally he was like, I tell you what, there is a French restaurant called Low Bears. It's just south of D South Dayton. It's the only French restaurant in Dayton. You guys, you fellas can all go down there and you can have a good meal, but

[3:44:25] you got to sign you got to sign the agreement. >> And uh so Slaban Malloic and the rest, they were like, "Man, I gotta have me a good meal. Dayton sucks." So they so they all signed and um and and like so they I grew up like you know I don't know quarter of a mile from Lil Bear um and they so I used to walk by it on my way on my way from my house my mom's house to uh to my school every single day and anyway so they they went to

[3:44:56] Loberish and and and had a nice kind of old-fashioned too much sweet sauce you know old style French place it's gone now at Town and Country Shopping Center and And they had they used to have a seating chart like with, you know, they showed like where all of the diplomats sat. >> That's cool. >> Where Clinton was and all that, what what type of wine they had. But I always always like I laughed at that. I was like, "This is like French food diplomacy. We're hungry. We can't eat this shitty base food anymore." >> No. No. It gets to be too much.

[3:45:30] >> Yeah. And by the way, uh, totally true. Uh, two toes. >> Yeah. That's a surprisingly excellent museum. >> That is big. It's not like a, oh, pop in for 30 minutes and you'll see everything. That's a half day event and it's good. I mean, it's also got a strong uh aeronautics aspect to it also. Um, and also uh and also all the the space stuff is amazing, too. >> Um, >> yeah. >> So, someone I lived in Dayton then. The story back then is that Mallik insisted

[3:46:02] something needed to be signed. I think it was Clinton, but I don't know. Who knows? Who knows? All we know is that people were hungry. They ended up at Loberge. >> Indeed. >> But um yeah, and it was a boring place. Um but anyway, yeah, I love that story. So um so let's talk a little bit before we should wrap it up. The um the the the the homeless executive order. >> Yeah. Um, this could be an opportunity for

[3:46:32] Democrats to say, "You know what, Mr. President, you're right. Homelessness is a is a national shame for the world's richest country. Um, we shouldn't have anybody sleeping outside. Let's let's work together on this. Um, that's that can't happen, right?" >> No. Yeah. There was a piece in the post today saying that, you know, it's all fine and good to sign an executive order, but the the truth of the matter is that this is a a state issue and he might be able to to fiddle with what

[3:47:02] little federal funding there is, but there's nothing he could do to force, you know, tent cities to be removed or to force people into mental institutions or whatever. He can't do anything. Now, if he wants to make a proposal to take abandoned or mothballled military bases and turn them into housing for the homeless where maybe they can undergo some job training, get mental health uh care, whatever, and then be reintroduced into society. I guess that's something else.

[3:47:34] But I think this is mostly talk. >> I agree. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's one of those things that can get done this way. Very I think we could maybe ask answer this last question. I think we need to and then we should be on our way and start our weekends. So what do you think what do we think about Trump saying Obama could be arrested over the Russia election scandal? >> Well, thanks thanks to Donald Trump going to the Supreme Court. A president can't be arrested for anything. >> Correct.

[3:48:05] >> Issues done closed. >> If it was ex Yeah. All that Obama would have to argue is that he did it in the exercise of his functions as president of the United States. >> Yes. Now, John Brennan is another issue. Just before we started this show, I interviewed um Matt Taibbe for for my other podcast, Deep Focus, and Matt says I I I sort of lamented the fact that that what the Justice Department um has had referred to it is um misdemeanor charges against Brennan and Comey. um

[3:48:37] related to allegedly lying to Congress. And he said, "Yeah, that's true." But he said what he's hearing now is that they are actively pursuing felony conspiracy charges against at least Brennan and maybe Brennan and Comey. >> Wow. >> Yeah. And I'll tell you what, I mentioned to you offline the other day, I will go to Brennan's trial every single day. I mean it >> with a big fat grin on your face.

[3:49:11] >> Karma is real and she's an evil [ __ ] >> And I think that's a perfect place to start our weekend. John Kuryaku, thank you so much as always. It's a pleasure to be here with you. >> Yeah, it's always fun. Uh we're we're we're deeprogram. We're going to be here again next week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday 5:00 pm Eastern. Maybe we should try for the week the the whole every day the week after maybe. But >> sure, we could try that. >> Okay. All right. So, Monday, Wednesday,

[3:49:41] Friday, Eastern 5 o'clock. Um, please like, follow, and share the show. Seriously, please share it. Like, you know, just find the link and pass it around. Massive thing for us. We're trying to get it. I mean, the numbers are definitely go in the right direction, but um, anything you can can do to make them go there even faster would be much appreciated. Um, as always, thanks for your questions. It was always fun to answer them. We have the best fe the best viewers. Love you guys. Take care.

[3:50:11] >> Thanks everybody. >> Hey there. >> I'm Ted R and I'm here for a D program along with John Kuryaku. Uh, he's the CIA whistleblower. I'm the editorial cartoonist. Uh, thank you so much for joining us. It's Wednesday, July 30th, 2025. It's 5:00 pm on the East Coast. Thanks for joining us on the Rumble feed, on the YouTube feed, and everywhere else you're listening also to uh people just listening to the audio. We appreciate you, too. Please like, follow, and share the show. Lots to talk

[3:50:43] about today, as always. Um, we talked about that this might happen, John. I I didn't think it would happen this fast. >> No way. >> The UK is almost certainly going to recognize Palestine at the UN General Assembly this September. Well, that's our lead. Uh we're going to be talking about interesting news out of Iran where Iran's leading the way in abandoning US tech, namely GPS. And uh you know, we could see a lot more of this kind of thing coming in the very near future from all over the world. Um super

[3:51:14] interesting uh look into the future. Um is Israel losing the American right? The evangelicals who've been their loyal supporters. Marjorie Taylor Green is criticizing the Gaza war as genocide. She's right, of course, but it's amazing to hear her and people like her saying anything like that. Um, two CIA related stories that there's no way I'm going to let you off the hook, John, from talking about. Tom Sylvester is out at the CIA and uh Sandy Grimes, the lady who caught

[3:51:46] Aldrich Ames, died at the age of 80. We'll talk about her legacy and we'll talk about breaking news and anything else that comes up. And of course, if you have questions, please put them into uh the feeds and we always pick up on them and post them and talk about them. But uh we've got lots of stuff to talk about. So Kirsty um he kind of like gave it kind of give some people are interpreting this as a wussy move but he basically said he'll recognize Palestine uh in September unless uh Israel comes

[3:52:18] to its senses and agrees to a ceasefire. They've been the ones who've been breaking all the ceasefires up until now. And um so you know obviously Israel's not going to do that. So, by definition, the UK will will join France. And there's a whole pel of other countries who are interested in doing it, too. So, let's get to it. >> Yeah. Let's let's start, if you don't mind, with Tom Sylvester. >> Oh, thank you very much, Marble. >> Let's do Tom Sylvester.

[3:52:48] >> I just want to get this out of the way because we have so much to talk about related to uh to Gaza. Tom Sylvester is the uh the CIA's deputy director for operations. And in that position, he's you can argue the number three or number four U official in the CIA. He's in charge of all CIA operations around the world. This is a job that every CIA case officer aspires to. Um and by all accounts he's been very um popular uh

[3:53:23] among the rank and file. Well, if you've been the deputy director for operations, your final pre-retirement job is normally that you're named station chief in London. That is the one job that everybody in the CIA aspires to. Everybody wants to be the station chief in London. So he was named station chief in London um several months ago, but over the course of those several

[3:53:54] months, he gave an interview to Tim uh Weiner, who uh is the the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of several books on the CIA. Uh there's one coming out soon called the mission that um thank you Eric that um several outlets are excerpting and apparently CIA director John Radcliffe didn't like the fact that he spoke with Tim Weiner.

[3:54:24] Now, normally the director of the CIA will instruct his officers to to work with with authors, especially with Tim Weiner. But whatever it is that Tom Sylvester said, it apparently pissed people off. And so the job was unceremonious unceremoniously yanked from under him. He will not be the CIA station chief in chief in London. Uh, Director Ratcliffe informed MI6 apparently yesterday that Sylvester will

[3:54:57] not be the CIA station chief in London. And so today, Sylvester announced his retirement effective immediately. He's just going to take his pension and go home. Now, most of the time, senior officers, even if they're disgruntled, will keep their mouths shut. The fact that he's already spoken to Tim Weiner makes me think the story's not over. We're going to hear more. Uh so that's that.

[3:55:28] >> So my fathering >> my father worked in government specifically in the US Air Force for for years at at the upper echelons and he told me and John tell me if this is correct that um usually when you know you're about to retire that's your one chance to vent and blow up. you know, you're going to retire anyway and you've had stuff that you wanted to say. You've got one big thing you want to do, someone you want to blow up, some boss who was an [ __ ] >> and then this is when you do it and then

[3:55:58] you you retire and they can't get you. Is that basically what what happened here? >> 100%. 100%. And I I'll tell you my own experience. My last tour uh when I resigned from the agency was at the United Nations in New York. And um my station chief, Mary Margaret Graham, and I did not like each other, even not a little bit. And so a couple of days before I I left, she

[3:56:32] threatened me. threatened me with with putting out what's called a burn notice against me. >> Oh, >> I saw that TV show. >> Yeah, she she threatened me with a burn notice and I laughed at her. I was in her office and of course she had her little witness there, the chief of operations who was a just a little dwarf. So, um I said uh I said I'm not afraid of your threats.

[3:57:02] burn notice. I said, "Come on. You forget that when I made this recent recruitment, you congratulated be me by telling me to take petty cash and go get myself a blowjob." I said, "What do you think the Washington Post would say about that >> or the New York Times? Because as God is my witness, I'm gonna call them and tell them." >> And she immediately backed off. >> Wow. So, uh, >> by the way, I do want to answer, uh, maybe you can answer this question. Um,

[3:57:34] Marble is asking, "Why is London a desirable post?" It's like the top post, right? It's the post >> because you get a gigantic mansion to live in. You get a chauffeer driven um, uh, Jaguar limo that that they drive you around in. You have the largest entertainment budget of any station chief in the world. Nobody's trying to kill you there. >> And MI6 is the closest um alliance,

[3:58:05] right? Intelligence ally that we have >> without any question. MI6 CIA is the closest friendship in the world. >> So it's like it's analogous to in the State Department, right? Ambassador to the Court of St. James. It's the same kind of thing. It's the job. >> Yes. Exactly right. It is the job. I mean, >> it's like for an editorial cartoonist like New York Times, you know, like that, >> right? And and so Hans, I absolutely positively did not. I've never paid for it in my life and I'm proud to say that. So, although we all pay for it in different ways, that's

[3:58:36] >> nothing's free as my working girlfriends used to tell me. But even at lower levels in London, like I I did I I've spoken about this operation I did with Christopher Steel back in 2000 and my my I was in Athens at the time, but I would travel to London every week. And then my counterparts in the station um who were, you know, just whatever GS12, GS13, GS14, uh they were living high on the hog,

[3:59:07] too. you're living in Nightsbridge or you're living in in Paddington and this beautiful uh muse house and life is good and like I say people aren't trying to kill you on the way to work. >> Gota love that >> refreshing. >> Um how by the way what do you what do you think of uh Tom Sylvester and what do you think of Tim Winer? Tim Weiner Winer Weiner. >> Um you know honestly I like them both. Uh Tom Chilester was a was an inspired

[3:59:37] choice to be the deputy director for operations. The guy's been he was a station chief I don't know six times, seven times all around the world. He was a specialist in Soviet and then Russian um operations and um and really quite the good uh ops guy, careerlong ops guy. Spent almost his entire adult life overseas. Uh Tim Weiner I actually have a great deal of respect for. I gave him an

[4:00:07] interview uh for his his previous book about the CIA and he treated me with great respect. So um I you know >> I read that book. Yeah. It's a it's a solid read for sure. >> It's it's a solid read and and read and it won the National Book Award which is a very big deal. >> Yeah. >> Very big deal. I mean, it's it's definitely not a fun read, unfortunately. And I and that's my kind of idea of a fun read, but >> yeah, it doesn't, you know, I mean, I love I mean, that's all I read is that

[4:00:38] kind of thing, but >> I love it. >> Yeah. But I mean, the pros doesn't sing, but I would say it's worth it's worth >> a little bit on the dense side, but he footnotes the daylights out of his books. >> I appreciate that. >> He backs up everything he writes. It's It's quite impressive. >> And then his books are like 800 pages long. >> Yeah. I mean, I'm a sucker for those long books. Uh I've been hearing that like uh word counts are dropping at books. Like uh 100,000 120,000 words

[4:01:09] used to be a standard like fiction book. Now 60 or 80,000 is like closer to a novella because people's attention span is so short. But the biographies and and political non-fiction still is the outlier. They're getting longer and longer all the time. Um, >> can I ask can I answer Eric um who real quickly? >> Um, Eric, the um the rule on the Peace Corp was written in granite. There could be no contact whatsoever

[4:01:40] between the CIA and the Peace Corp for several reasons. First of all, everybody already accuses the Peace Corp of being CIA, right? So, it's dangerous enough. Secondly, the Peace Corps has no protection. They're out there in the sticks. You're you you are out there in the sticks doing God's work and there's nobody to protect you. So, we were not permitted to even like say hello if we ran into somebody from the >> good. I mean honestly that is a good rule that you guys had because I mean

[4:02:12] you know it's to me the analogy is the uh journalism the journalist embedding programs >> without a doubt >> violently opposed to um and you know it's like the the as soon as that started in Afghan in well in Iraq um anytime you went anywhere you know the the locals would say like well you're just uh you know you're with the US soldiers you're you know you're a propagandist you're I can't trust you why shouldn't I kill you and it's like I mean It's so dangerous. And then, you know, with a as a journalist, the only weapon you have is your your camera or

[4:02:43] your or your your laptop. I mean, >> that's it. You're on your own. >> You're really like your your dick is waving out in the wind. I mean, it's bad. >> It's bad. >> Um Oh. So, uh do you want to talk do you want to talk about do the others? Do you want to do Sandy Grimes or should we save her later? >> Let's do Sandy Grimes. You know, Sandy Grimes, Sandy Grimes is another kind of legendary figure and she never really set out to be. Um, Sandy started off as a secretary uh in the days when I think

[4:03:13] she started back in ' 67 is what I read, but those were the days when women were not permitted to have leadership roles. Not just leadership roles, they were not permitted to really do anything of import. They were only secretaries and clerks, file clerks. So, she started off as a secretary and then rose up to be one of the the greatest mole hunters in CIA's history. And she's the one who caught Aldrich Ames, one of the most despicable

[4:03:45] traitors in modern American history. So, u and she she was totally unsung. She didn't. Even inside the building, if you would say to somebody, "Hey, so which one of these people over here is Sandy Grimes?" Nobody would know because she wasn't about the fanfare. Her job was to find the mole. And by God, she found him and he got life without parole. I remember George Tennant saying one time in a meeting that Sandy had

[4:04:16] gone to him. George, of course, was the director at the time. And Sandy said, "I've identified him. It's Aldrich Ames." And it just so happened that George had to attend a White House briefing at which Ames was a participant. And um and George said that he just couldn't look Ames in the eye. He knew he was a traitor and he knew that he was going to be arrested in just a couple of days.

[4:04:47] And so he was determined only to look at Ames's shoes so as not to give himself away. And he said he couldn't help but to see that the shoes were um oh the shoes that that OJ Simpson wore those like $500 shoes. Do you remember what those were? >> Oh god. Um I don't remember what those were. I had never heard of them at the time. I had neither. But they're like Prada Prada shoes.

[4:05:17] >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. And then a couple of days later, uh >> that's always the thing, right? I mean, these guys, these these moles >> Yeah. >> they have too much money. Um they're living too high. That That's what it's like the mob, right? That's what attracts the wrong kind of attention. >> Absolutely. I'm gonna I'm gonna Google it real quickly. OJ Simpson's shoes. And while you're doing that, let me just bring in Robbie uh to talk about >> Bruno Mali. >> Bruno Mali. That's it. Well,

[4:05:48] >> shoes. >> Let me bring in producer Robbie. Uh guys, we just have to ask you a quick little favor and we're going to explain this to you. Okay. Robbie's our producer, Robbie West, who I'm going to see next week in Montana. Um, so, uh, we basically are trying to to get some money here. And with the existing audience that we have, if we can get people to go over to Rumble and watch us on Rumble, same exact experience. There's a there's a live feed, it's exactly the same thing. Um, instead of YouTube, which pays not nearly as well,

[4:06:18] uh, John and I will have a little easier time paying our bills every month. >> You want to explain it? >> Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. Thank you all for popping for popping me on. All right, so just real quick, I'm going to try and make this as precise and not boring as possible. So, YouTube pays you based off of ads. And basically, whenever you click on a video, whenever an ad pops up, they will literally throw a few pennies to uh Ted and John here onto the channel. What I'm working on

[4:06:49] doing is getting deprogrammed into the Rumble content creator program. And I want that for a couple of different reasons. One, Rumble is a free speech platform. So what does that mean? It means that Rumble will not one day decide that John and Ted are being too controversial and pull the plug. So if you like John and Ted, go to Rumble and listen to them and they'll be uncensored. Second, Rumble pays you based off of your watch hours. On YouTube, watch hours mean nothing. So

[4:07:19] it's kind of like TV or radio. So the more people that watch, what happens is that they get paid literally hundreds of dollars per hour watched as opposed to maybe six or seven dollars over on YouTube. And like Ted was saying, the experience is exactly the same with one big exception. When you're on Rumble, if once you're in the creator program, they have to do five hours of Rumble only premium content. So what does that mean? If there's a topic that's particularly

[4:07:50] controversial that you're all interested in hearing, then you can see it live on Rumble and be able to continue supporting them and be able to help them pay some bills. I mean, y'all know what's going on with them. Y'all know that that they lost their income. So, while we ask y'all to go over to Rumble, drop some follows. We have thousands of people here watching on YouTube. If only it I'm I do not kid y'all. If 20% of y'all do what we're asking, it would make a radical change financially

[4:08:22] for Ted and for John. That's all I got for you. Now, drop the link in the chat. >> Okay. Uh the chat that it's it's in here. It's rumble rumble.comc inexplicably dprogramshow, but you can just go to rumble and just search for dprogram and Ted Roller or John Kuryaku and you will find it. Robbie, thank you so much for that. Um, okay. Sorry for the ad guys. I mean, it's like we're getting to be like NPR John. Anyway, you were saying about Sarah about Sandy Grimes. Yeah. So, here she catches one of the

[4:08:55] most prolific uh moles in modern American history. And then the next day, she came into work and just went about her normal job looking for the next mole. So, I felt bad when I saw she died. I didn't realize that she was 80 years old, but God bless her. She was really one of those unknown heroes, those unsung heroes at the CIA. You know, every once in a while the CIA will give out something called a trailblazer award. I never understood these things. And most of them will be, you know,

[4:09:26] white men who were station chief like, you know, in Havana when the when Batista was overthrown or station chief when the last guy was pulled out of South Vietnam on the helicopter. And then they'll they'll toss one to somebody like Bonnie Hersburg. I worked for Bonnie uh in the office of leadership analysis. Bonnie was a terrific analyst. She was an okay manager. What she what trail she blazed, I will

[4:09:59] never ever ever understand because she was just kind of a typical run-of-the-mill manager. But then you have people like like this who um you know are unsung. But anyway, that's the CIA today. Lot of news coming in CIA today. What what is what is before we move on from from her I mean what is the what are the personality traits that are required to catch a mole like what skill set is required I mean it's not you have to

[4:10:29] navigate also you're you're in the case of an Aldridge Ames you're you're bringing down someone who's uh you know got title uh position above your own a lot of institutional resistance no one wants to hear it right >> no one wants to hear it and I'll tell you But there are no bigger secrets than the counter intelligence center at the CIA. Um, that's a very important question you've asked, Ted. The the mole hunter at the

[4:11:00] CIA has to be somebody who is obsessed with secrecy to the point where you don't even talk to yourself like in your own head. Like for me, I'd be I'd go to the credit union and say, "I'm taking you down, Ames. you bastard. You know, I would never fit in in a position like that. >> Um, >> and you have to and you and you have to not really care about like people telling you, "Shut up, Kiriaku." Like, you're you're you just don't like that

[4:11:31] you don't like games because you don't like his politics. You don't like the cut of his jib. This is personal. You're going after a good patriot, someone who's doing God's work for America, and you're being an [ __ ] >> That's right. That's right. Um and and listen, somebody in counter intelligence is akin to somebody in internal affairs in a police department. >> I'll give you another >> No one likes you. >> I I'll give you an example. On my uh on my first at the end of my first full

[4:12:02] week at the agency, my boss walked me around both the new headquarters building and the old headquarters building just to point out where everything was. Right. Here's the cafeteria. Here's the credit union. There's medical services. This in the lobby of the new building is it's it's all glass like a glass atrium and they have windows and one window says health insurance and one window says life insurance and one window says sports tickets, right? And then there were a couple of other windows. He said this is

[4:12:34] where you go if you want to buy baseball tickets, basketball, hockey, football tickets, right? And then there was another one that said, well, I shouldn't say what it said, but it was the window that you go to if maybe you have a little bit of a drinking problem >> or you've got a problem with your credit or maybe you're taking care of your elderly parents and it's too much of a burden. He told me, "Don't ever go to that window." I said, "Why? It's nice

[4:13:05] that they do things like that." >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he said, "Because the people at that window work for counter intelligence and they don't give a [ __ ] about your elderly parents. They want to know if you're in a bad enough spot that you're going to turn mole." So this is so this is a little bit like uh in the cultural revolution let a thousand flowers bloom >> where the Chinese communist party and said oh we're opening up to ourselves to

[4:13:37] criticism you know all you academics all you people who might be accused of being counterrevolutionaries step forward the party's a big tent we want to hear from all of you guys then you step forward >> off to a May 4th farm >> nobody ever Easy again. >> Yeah, >> that's right. >> Wow. That is I mean that's some dark cynical [ __ ] >> That was my first week. I'm like, "Holy shit." I never even went in there to to buy a a ticket to the ball game. I was just afraid of somebody just seeing me

[4:14:08] going in there. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. You can That Ticketron is for um or Ticket M or whatever the [ __ ] it's called now. >> That's exactly right. >> Oh, man. That is that is so so dark. Um >> All right. Should we uh should we talk about um Palestine? I mean uh we have >> you were right, Ted. You were right about Kier Armor. And frankly, I didn't think he had the guts to do it. But then he kind of made a half step, if you don't mind my, you know, taking over the conversation, >> please. >> He said, "We're going to we're going to

[4:14:40] recognize Palestine in September unless the Israelis let food in and and are nicer people about it." >> It's a decision to sign by committee, right? You can tell that and um you know and but I think it's probably very easy to agree to. I mean it's it's kind of like well okay fine. I mean the Israelis are not going to do this. I mean it does have kind of I mean I don't like it either because I feel one of the commenters uh deep down in the thread pointed out that really uh this recognition should just be based on uh

[4:15:12] not as a reward a punishment for Israel but it should just be a statement of self-determination for the Palestinian people. Couldn't agree more. >> In the original documents that led to the creation of Israel, and there's even a YouTube video of of Harry Truman talking about this, it says that Israel is going to be created, you know, today, whatever 1948, and Palestine will be created as an independent state pending further discussion. Okay, that was 1948

[4:15:45] and we're still talking about it. Now that said, we are there's 153 nations. I guess it's going to be 155 soon. Um, Australia is apparently uh cir is uh getting ready to go to shoot to to pull the trigger. Um, Luxembourg is getting ready to pull the trigger. >> I didn't see that one. >> And uh and and there's there's a whole pel of other European countries that are Croatia. >> Yes. Croatia. Spain. >> Yeah. Spain's already in. >> Well, they're already in.

[4:16:16] >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I think basically, uh, it's like you said, it's going to be just the Axis powers of Germany and and and Japan and Italy who are going to be out with the US. What a what a what a mly crew. And, um, you know, but but so, yeah. No, it's it's a big deal. I mean, I think the the pressure built so fast on Starmer. That's what I I mean, I knew it was going to happen. I just didn't think it would happen this quickly. And you know what started it was these pictures that

[4:16:46] ran in the BBC of starving children that just opened the floodgates. I I really believe that. >> Yeah. Well, let's talk about that. Someone brought it up and I apologize because this was further down, but I'm glad that someone uh asked about this question. So, um, there was this very one particular photo of this one kid who was really, really, really sick and with these haunting eyes. And you can see why the why this particular photo went viral. And um, the New York Times and

[4:17:17] other corporate media organizations have walked that back obviously in response to Zionists who've complained that the kid aside from suffering from starvation also had other diseases at the same time. Right? So therefore, but those other So the implication being maybe that these other diseases are wasting diseases, but they're not. Um but the kids was really really sick and he's starving. So um and he's that's which is why he was at the hospital. But um you

[4:17:48] know, look to me it's kind of like well what do you you know what do we make of that? My answer to that is I think it's the you know it's the last gasp of a dying regime. I mean, I think Israel is in real trouble now. >> I I agree. I agree. And I don't think that they really realize just how deep they are. I saw an interview. Well, maybe you saw it, too. It's it's Tucker Carlson's latest interview. Uh it just dropped and it's with John Mirshimer who

[4:18:19] is absolutely freaking brilliant. And Mirshimer essentially said that. He said that the Israelis just don't realize how how deep they're in. And and on the contrary, they're talking about this concept of a greater Israel, which is like includes the bottom third of Lebanon, the southern third of Lebanon. It includes, you know, another 50 miles inside of uh of Syria. It includes the

[4:18:51] entire West Bank. and it includes the Gaza, I'm sorry, the uh the Sinai Peninsula. It's like, wait a minute, you guys should be thinking about your survival here and about your country falling apart because you're carrying out a genocide and you've got people who are in government talking about greater Israel. Mir Shimemer made another important point and this is how unhinged the American evangelical Christian community is where

[4:19:22] you've got the likes of Ambassador Huckabe or Speaker of the House Mike Johnson >> saying that Jesus wants us to support Israel and Israel's policy. Well, last week Israel's policy was to utterly and completely destroy one of the last surviving Christian villages in the West Bank, drive out all the Christians and steal their land. So, you're saying Jesus wants wants the Jews to drive out

[4:19:52] the Christians, >> and that's what we're going with. >> It makes absolutely no sense at all. And so many Americans don't know how many Christians there are in Palestine. A lot of them. Um the by the way though% >> I do want to say and one of the things you wanted to talk about was uh the you know the the the split now the growing split on the American right over Israel. And I do want to be fair to Ambassador Huckabe. He's the US ambassador to Israel. He went to the West Bank and visited that town that's been repeatedly

[4:20:23] attacked by violent fascist settlers. Probably most of whom are from like my neighbors from Brooklyn. >> They're from New Jersey and New York. >> Yeah. and those and those those those scumbags who've been uh you know mur murder murdering, raping and pillaging over there. Uh but at least he went there and he was he expressed concern and he was I think turned off by what the the settlers were doing. They showed up. Um Joe Rogan, who I think is unfairly characterized as a right-winger, but he's boycotting

[4:20:54] apparently he's not allowing BB Netanyahu to come on a show he who BB wants to come on. Um, you know, I mean, I I think they're losing the thread, the Israelis. Um, I mean, I mean, we're talking about a country that is uniquely, right, it's unique, right? It's the only country that's currently on the face of the planet that owes its existence to the United Nations. It's the only complete welfare state that owes its entire ex economy to the United States of America. It's ignoring the UN and its resolutions. It's ignoring

[4:21:25] public opinion in the US, the tax among the taxpayers who are paying that bill to the Israelis. I mean, these people are biting, chomping, stabbing, and hacking at the hand that feeds them. >> And, you know, I mean, they're a rabid dog. And, you know, I mean, I I I wrote a column this week that's called that Israel no longer has the right to exist. And >> yeah, I read that >> and thank you. the the argument that you know I'm trying to make here is in the community of nations there are some

[4:21:56] things you just that people can't tolerate like you know when Napoleon disrupted Europe um all these disperate powers who had competing interests got together to defeat him even though they hated each other you know World War II uh you know the US and the USSR were not buds but they had to come together to fight Nazi Germany not to stop the Holocaust because I mean the US certainly didn't care about it. I mean, certainly the Russians cared more about it because it happened on their ter in their territory. But the, you know, they

[4:22:27] came in and they got together because Nazi Germany was so militarily aggressive and violent and out of control and disruptive, they just had to be put down like a rabid dog. I mean, same and imperial Japan the same way. That's exactly the scenario that we have now with Israel. They're such a destabilizing force in the Middle East, right? I mean, literally, even if you count like Iran, you know, and the Axis of resistance and all the shenanigans they had going on with the Houthis and all that. >> Yeah. >> It's nothing compared to Israel, right?

[4:22:57] I mean, just in the last few months, right? They bombed Iran. They did they overthrew the government of Syria and now they're bombing the new government that they installed. >> Yes. >> I mean, these people are nuts. >> They are nuts. And you know, I have to say, uh, where did I just see it? It was uh well, thank you everybody first of all for for going on to uh there it is. What what nonsense says USA sex predators flee to Israel. Oh boy are you right. So

[4:23:29] listen to this. I was in prison with a a pedophile. This disgusting horrible pedophile. He had graduated from Harvard and Harvard Law School and he was an attorney in Moscow. Um he to make a very long story very short he um was a an afficionado of the ballet and so he offered to pay the tuition for a 12-year-old Russian boy but he

[4:24:01] insisted that the boy live with him. The parents were like, "I don't know about that." But they were poor and this kid was like a once in a generation gifted ballet guy. And so they allowed their 12-year-old to move in with a guy, um, Ken Kenneth. So, uh, 12 hours later, Ken was raping this kid. And this went on for five years. Finally,

[4:24:31] um, the kid told the FBI what was happening. They issued an arrest warrant. By then, Ken was back in Philadelphia where his parents were exceedingly wealthy, big humanitarians. They, you know, donate to the museum, whatever. He ran immediately to Israel and the Israelis would not extradite him >> because they >> would not the Israelis don't extradite Jews. It's a it's a it's a law in Israel. They don't care what he's

[4:25:02] accused of. They're not extraditing any Jew. So, we asked for the extradition. They said no. Um and then Interpol came up with an idea that was absolutely genius. I love when I hear about these these brilliant operational ideas that people come up with. This was my favorite thing to do at the CIA was just to sit around thickening up ideas with with my colleagues. They decided to

[4:25:33] they decided to sponsor a ballet show in Cyprus and they used a dummy email account to email him an announcement of the ballet >> to lure him >> and they lured him to Cyprus and they grabbed him at the airport and the criates extradited him >> and he got 20 years. He's still in that bastard. >> But the Israelis will not extradite Jews. Period.

[4:26:04] >> That's pretty gross. I mean, I just Yeah. I mean, I I think look, I think the I think we're we're done here. So, look, what's what do you think is going to happen? I mean, by the Okay, so September now feels really far away. >> It does. I agree. And it's not it's four and a half, five weeks, >> right? So the so the UN so it's going to be Labor Day. The UN's going to come here to New York and [ __ ] up all the traffic and no one's going to be able to move. And in that traffic, it's going to be a lot of new allies of or at least

[4:26:34] friends of Palestine. >> Um how many countries do you think it's going to be? It's going to be like the m our migration over to Rumble. Everyone's subscribing over there. Um yeah, Palestine's signing them up. Um >> Oh. Oh, and by the way, I I did want to ask you a little bit about this statement that broke. I don't know if you had a chance to hear it because it just happened right before we went on the air, but uh Arab and Muslim states u a member of the Arab League, the EU, and 17 more countries have supported a declaration signed at a UN conference

[4:27:06] that was hosted by Saudi Arabia and France that basically uh is calling, this is also includes this cutter, Saudi and Saud Saudis and Egypt. They're calling for Hamas to disarm and give up power and basically turn over all authority to the Palestinian Authority, which of course is Makuda Abbas, who's what, 92 or something like that. >> Yeah. I always say he's he's 16 years into a four-year term. >> Nice. He and he and Zalinsky have a nice democracy they they're working on.

[4:27:36] That's right. And and anyway, so they Yeah, he's over there. Um so Makmoud Abbas, the sort of the the head of the I I guess it's like the Vichy kind of government of the West Bank kind of >> corrupt. >> Yeah, they're corrupt and they don't really do anything. But basically, that's what all these countries are calling for. Like they don't want to recognize Hamas. >> I mean I mean that's not it's not going to happen, right? I mean because first of all that's fat and they can't rule in

[4:28:07] Gaza. The Gazins don't want them. >> No. No. The Gzins have made it clear by voting Hamas in and the PA out. The PA is not the answer to this problem. you know, Harets two or three weeks ago ran this article saying that one of the things that's being discussed, and I think it isn't actually being discussed, I think they just put it out there to see what the reaction was going to be, um, was to have Hamas disarm and then to have Saudi Arabia administer Gaza while

[4:28:40] Israel continues to actually own Gaza. And then after a day, nobody really commented on it. And can I say something too about Cypress? This this thing that that the uh Israelis said about northern Cypress being an Israel problem. Um they they mean something actually contemporary on that. The Greeks, I am utterly ashamed to say that the Greeks and the Criates are 1,000% pro-Israel. And the reason that they're pro- Israel

[4:29:12] is severalfold. Number one, it's because um it's because the Israelis and the Turks hate each other. So if the Turks hate Israel, then the Greeks have to love Israel because the Greeks hate >> the enemy of my enemy is my friend. >> There it is. The other reason is because the Criates are sitting on an ocean of natural gas and it stretches into Israeli waters. And so the Greeks, the Cri and into Palestinian waters, right?

[4:29:43] >> Gazin waters. >> Gazin waters. Yes. And just like one little vein into Lebanese waters. >> So the Greeks and Criates don't have the money to uh to lift this gas, but the Israelis certainly do. And so the three countries have entered into this joint venture that's already well underway to lift this gas and it's going to make Cypress one of the wealthiest countries in the in the in the world over the course of years. So

[4:30:14] we just I'm not going to say celebrated, I'm going to say commemorated the 51st anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cypress. >> Oh wow. Um the the Turks invaded Cypress, killed thousands of Criates. 17 American citizens are still missing from the Turkish invasion 51 years ago. >> Yeah. This was in the 70s. Yeah. >> 1974. >> Yeah. >> And um >> I never understood what was the what was the >> what was Turkey after? I mean besides just territory,

[4:30:46] >> there were a lot of moving parts in this thing. So these were were literally the final days of the Greek military dictatorship. >> And as it was in its death throws, it overthrew the democratically elected government of Cyprus and installed a strong man by the name of Nikos Samson, who had been an assassin in sort of his previous life. So Samson announced a military dictatorship in Cyprus. The Turks saw that as the green

[4:31:18] light to invade and overthrow Samson, which they did in a matter of days. So the the democratically elected president returns to Cypress. He'd only been in exile a week and the Turks never left and they've just kept onethird of Cypress, the northern third of Cypress. So, what we're seeing here, um, what we're seeing here with the Israelis saying, "We have a problem with northern Cypress." There is no such thing as northern Cypress with a capital N. Um,

[4:31:51] the Turks call it the the trunk, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cypress. It's not recognized by any country in the world except Turkey, >> right? It's Turkey. It's Turkish annexed. It's Turkish annexed or Turkish occupied Cypress is what it >> is. just occupied Cyprus. Yeah. And so because the Israelis and the Greeks and the Criates are all in business together, the the Greeks and the Criates went to the Israelis and says, "Hey," they say, "Hey, we we need your help on on Cyprus. You need to say the right

[4:32:22] thing about the Turks." And so the Israelis hate the Turks like the Turks hate the Israelis. So they jump in on the side of the Greeks and the Criates. It's awful. >> Let's ask Let's I do want to answer this question uh by God. >> Yeah. Yeah. Why would anyone Sorry, not that too. Um, I'm Okay, we'll answer this one. Why would anyone trust Saudi Arabia to administer Gaza? Um, they wouldn't >> is the short answer. >> They wouldn't. I wouldn't. >> Okay. >> Yeah, they're not. >> And then and then also um Yeah, that the

[4:32:52] scroll is moving so fast I'm having a hard Oh, here we go. Um, can you find your can you can we explain what what what happens as uh you know with countries recognizing Palestine? >> It's really I mean it's so it is symbolic. it doesn't change the facts on the ground and there is the concern that um you know in the case of of the republic of pal the future republic of Palestine or the present republic of Palestine depending on how you want to look at it it's divided right I mean it's literally um there's two governments there's the Hamas government and there's the Palestinian Authority um

[4:33:23] that's kind of an issue because you're supposed to know who you'd be able to talk to u but you know I guess like that's not being but I mean it what happens is it's legitimate right So the big thing is if you're a country that has a deal with Israel or is thinking of making a deal with Israel, once you recognize Palestine, you have to go through all of your trading agreements and everything that you have with Israel to see if anything in there is wrong or illegal or challenging to Palestine. So

[4:33:53] a good example of that would be let's say so Israel produces wine. They produce it in uh occupied territories for example in the Heights, which Yeah. Which is, by the way, I have to admit, I've had uh this treason wine. It's it's really good. >> Yeah, it's really good. So, the Golan the Golan wine is um you know, for example, you would not if you've recognized Syria as an independent country, which most of the world does. Well, you can't import that wine into

[4:34:26] your country. And it's just a million little things like that and they add up. I mean, and there's more to it than that, too, right? If there's a genocide taking place um in your country, uh in in you're recognized by another country, you can call their ambassador and say, "Listen, I need your help. Um you know, there's stuff that we we need we need your cooperation. Can you help help us with intel? Can you you know, there's can you can you stop drecognize Israel?" There's lots of stuff like suddenly the

[4:34:57] doors are open. You're not isolated. Um, it reminds me a little bit of a strange uh meeting I had with the Afghan ambassador to uh Usuzbekistan during the Taliban period in and this was like in 2000 it was in 2000. So it was the first >> was healed. >> So he was a he was a northern alliance guy. So I'm So he had the embassy in Tashkant and um and so I so I asked him like well you know technically you're supposed to

[4:35:28] be getting support from the US and he said oh yeah he goes um we're supposed to be and I said what kind of support do you get and he opens up his desk drawer pulls out a yellow envelope and he's like here you go. I open it up and inside there's a map of Afghanistan and I'm like it's just and he goes that's the only support I have ever gotten from the US government. Like that's it. And I go well it's a it's a

[4:35:58] pretty good map. He goes it's out of date. He said the Soviet ones are better. >> He's like and uh and I was like so how do you pay for all this? And he was like hemming and hawing. And I was like you guys mine rubies. And he's like, "Yeah, in Badakshan." So that's, you know, that's how they were subsisting. But yeah, but I mean, so I don't know. I mean, what do you think is I mean, what does it what's the practical meaning of of recognition for the Palestinians?

[4:36:28] >> I think um it opens the door for Palestine to be a member state in a lot of different international organizations, which gives them a voice on the international stage that they otherwise wouldn't have had. uh it makes them eligible for uh for financial aid both from international organizations and from uh individual countries. And uh you know we used to have a Palestine liaison office here in in Washington. Uh Donald

[4:36:59] Trump closed it in his first term and expelled the Palestinian diplomats. Uh, I would love to see Palestinian diplomats on the circuit again in Washington or in London or Madrid or, you know, Canbor or anywhere else where they're recognized >> and they could be and they could eventually have like one of those rotating seats at the Security Council um at the UN. >> Exactly right. Exactly right. So they

[4:37:30] would be they would be the representative of the Asia group on the UN Security Council. Oh my god. Could you imagine? >> Huge. >> Huge. Absolutely huge. When I was at the CIA, it was Libya's turn. And we went apeshit over the notion that Muamar Gaddafi would be represented on the United Nations uh security council. And so we started this international lobbying effort and we got the Asia group to to deny

[4:38:02] seeding Libya on the security council and Egypt got it two terms in a row. >> Ridiculous. >> There were no other countries in all of Asia, >> you know, that should have been represented on the UN Security Council. >> Right. Right. By the way, uh really uh I think good point here from Sky. Uh after September, the US will be the only permanent member of the security council not to recognize Palestinian statehood. >> That is a very good point. >> That's a very thing is Israel is going

[4:38:33] to be a pariah. The question for President Trump and for the United States and really frankly Trump we shouldn't pick on him on this because Democrats are equally guilty for how he supported Israel. >> Absolutely. And this whole genocide started under Biden and he encouraged it and he funded it and he armed it. So, uh, you know, Trump just happens to be holding the bag right now. But the question for the US is going to be, do we want to be at the pariah table with little Israel or do we want to be with

[4:39:03] everyone else? >> Well, you know, in these in these votes in the UN General Assembly, it's it's not just us in Israel. It's also Naru and occasionally Costa Rica and uh you know one of those little countries in the Pacific that I can't pronounce. So we're not always standing alone, right? >> Like Vanuatu. >> Vanuatu. Where would we be without Vanuatu? >> Well, Vanuatu, I think Vanuatu is the uh closest to the international dine. So on

[4:39:35] New Year's Eve, they always are like, "Well, Vanuatu celebrated 23 and a half hours ago. You've seen that? >> Unbelievable. Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's It's I'll answer I'll answer Yellow Banana's question. I'll be in New York City Labor Day weekend. How bad will traffic be for the UN? >> Horrible. Espec if you're staying on the up on the east side. >> East side. >> The east side is in Manhattan is is terrible. If you're like somewhere else, honestly, if you're up like I'm on the upper west. >> I had a I had a UN badge and I had

[4:46:23] use ways in Iran because ways is owned by an Israeli company. But any GPS the Iranians, >> right? Ways was purchased by Google. It's now part of Alphabet. Yeah, >> correct. Um, it was founded by an Israeli company. >> That's right. >> So, uh, >> I always hated it. I never understood it. I didn't understand like how it like the interface makes no sense to me. Maybe, maybe you have to read from right to left or something. maybe. But I think it's they're worried about GPS's in general now just because >> they believe probably rightly that the

[4:46:55] US and Israel have the technology to be able to um interface with the satellites >> and target Iran. >> Well, there are satellites, right? I mean, >> Bill Clinton, right? This was this was military and covert technology, right? Until Bill Clinton decided to publicize it. Um, I think wisely he was convinced that this was going to open up all sorts of technological innovation and it it has. I mean, if you think about something like, you know, you look at real estate listings and, you know, you can see a map of where the house is or

[4:47:27] whatever. It's it's amazing. But that technology, it's American and it can be it can and was weaponized against the Iranians. So now they're looking for a Chinese or other alternative. Um, right. This story is not about Iran. This story is about the US having technological dominance. >> That's right. >> And and then that dominance being undermined by the US's willingness to weaponize that dominance um for short-term gain, losing sight of the

[4:47:57] long-term impact, which is that if you come off as a non-neutral arbiter, uh you know, you're not the rest of the world isn't going to want to trust you anymore, and then you're going to lose your advantage. I mean, you know, we invented the phone. That's why our area, that's why our country code is one. Um, you know, we we we have I mean, this is exact it's analogous to the dollar, right? We weaponized the US dollar. So now Russia, everyone else who's thinking, well, one day I could fall a foul of I mean, Belgium, you could fall

[4:48:28] a foul of the United States. You don't know. And then, you know, they could just decide to turn off the spigot and screw us and steal our for our reserve currency. Like, we can't have that. So you know get you know swift or all these bank all these systems that if you want to control them and and take a little piece you can't like put your thumb on the I mean the example I'm thinking of is like you know how did Constantinople become rich right well it's like right on the Bosphorus and they just collected

[4:48:59] tolls right from the Silk Road and just waited for ships to go through and everybody had to pay and what made it work was they let everyone through and they charge to everyone. If they had started to say like ah you know the the [ __ ] those Sagdians let's nail them. Um then like that wouldn't have worked. Other people would have been like well we have to overthrow the the Constantinople or we have to do an end route. We have to figure another way. >> Yeah. The US just doesn't I don't know.

[4:49:29] It seems really really shortsighted. >> Very very shortsighted. And we had the same conversation last week about sanctions. Countries have gotten to the point where sanctions just simply don't hurt them anymore because we are so heavy in the way we we levy sanctions against countries that they're forced to come up with the way around them. And let me interrupt our conversation for one second. Uh just as we were going on the air, exactly 60 60 minutes ago, Prime

[4:50:00] Minister um Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, announced that Canada would recognize Palestine. >> Holy [ __ ] That's amazing. I just had a little tingle there in my in my upper back. That's so great. >> It's It's happening. You're right. It's There's a hole in the dyke. >> The flood. >> It's It's coming. It's it's you know to take a story from uh from the from from from northeastern Russia it's it's a

[4:50:30] seismic shift. >> It's a tsunami. I mean but it is I mean no >> and Canada is also I mean diplomatically a very important country. I mean, you know, Canada is the country that when you're a backpacker and you want to travel to like you're an American backpacker and you want to go to like Afghanistan and not be thought of as an [ __ ] you wear the you put that Canadian flag on your backpack, right? Canada is considered neutral. >> I did that. I sewed a Canadian flag on my backpack in the summer of 85.

[4:51:03] >> Everyone thinks Canada is is chill. Um I'm wondering what can cander strike means here. Canada is following orders from whom, I wonder. >> No, that that doesn't make sense to me. >> Yeah. Well, you can pipe in uh we'll we'll put that up whatever you if you reply to us. Um but yeah, so yeah, exactly. Houdini is like always say you're Canadian overseas like oh like yeah I like hockey. Um but yeah, so we'll we'll see what

[4:51:34] happens here. Um Oh, so yeah. So, there's so much cynical cynicism here, right? I'm not buying it. These elites that back to genocide already can't do good. >> Um, look, it's not because they're good people. It's because they read polls >> and like they know that basically the world isn't this. I mean, if they were good people, they would have come out against this [ __ ] on October 8th, 2023. I mean, you know, this is like because it was already obvious what the what the

[4:52:05] Israelis were going to do from within hours. I mean, they were they were having a great time, you know, they were looking forward to it. >> Yeah. >> So, um >> you know, I wonder if some of this is a swipe at Donald Trump, too, from from the Canadians. >> I wonder. >> It could be. It could be. Well, they have reason to be pissed. >> Right. Right. >> Um I think Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I'm not ruling out that Donald Trump is going to distance himself from Israel. I

[4:52:35] don't It's not like he's going to like recognize Palestine, but he's right. >> I think the weapons flow has to come to an end. >> It does. Alyssa Slotkin, some a couple people have mentioned Alyssa Slotkin in the uh in the uh chat. She's the senator from uh Michigan, former CIA colleague of mine. Uh she, you know, Alyssa's complicated. She's Jewish. She was not endorsed by any of

[4:53:07] the Jewish groups in America uh in her campaign. Uh but she won. She won relatively easily in a in a year when Donald Trump carried her state. Um but she said that she would be willing to vote for a cut off of offensive weapons uh to to Israel. That's not going to happen. We saw a week ago there was a vote to cut off offensive weapons to Israel and

[4:53:37] it got like six votes in the House. So, it's just not going to it's not going to happen. >> Well, I I don't think it's going to happen quickly, but I think I think by by Christmas time, I think we're going to see we're going to see some movement or it's gonna it's going to slow down or something. Do you do you think do you think that if it keeps happening if if country after country you know not including of course Hungary, Italy, Germany, the United States, but if these

[4:54:08] other countries continue to recognize Palestine, do you think that this could threaten the Netanyahu government? >> Yeah. Um >> because somebody's going to have to take the blame for losing the international community, >> right? And that has to be that has to be BB, right? I mean, um, I I did a deep dive into Israeli opinion polling, as you know, because you read my column. Um, yeah. And 76.5% of Israelis as of June um, totally have

[4:54:40] no problem with the genocide. They're like a okay with it. And they don't think that Palestinian uh, that the the needs of the Palestinians and their misery should even be taken into consideration in military planning. Right. So, this is um you know, let's let's be clear here. Even what passes for the Israeli left, they're not demonstrating against the genocide. They're demonstrating because the hostages haven't come home. Yeah. And and also they don't like Netanyahu um and and his corruption. But that's what

[4:55:11] this is about, right? Um, so we looking at it from the, it's hard for me to see this from the point standpoint of the Israelis who basically have their heads up their asses while the whole rest of the world is appalled and disgusted with them and they don't see it. But I do think if from their point of view, if they're involved in an existential battle to expand Israel, drive and get Gaza for themselves, um, which obviously all is Israelis aren't stupid. They know that's what this is about.

[4:55:42] and that that project is going to be deeply hampered by losing US and international support. Yeah. Yeah. Who else are you going to blame? I mean, you can't alard it, say, "Well, this is Ben Gvere, but not, you know, but not Netanyahu." It's like, it's all of them. The government's got to go. >> I mean, it's not like we're gonna they're not going to be replaced with liberals, but >> No. No. There aren't any anymore in Israel. >> No. >> No. If there's a ceasefire, does BB go

[4:56:12] to prison? Well, if BB if BB is out of government >> if he's out of government, >> BB goes to trial. >> Yes. >> And then probably he goes to prison, I think. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And this is a good point. Oh, thank you, Candace Strike. Thank you very much. Um, uh, where did I just see it? It we're we're getting so many comments I can't keep up. Yeah. Um, hug droid mix. don't think they can admit wrongdoing on anything. It's a mountain of war crimes.

[4:56:43] That's exactly right. >> No. Well, that's for sure. >> And and and that's why that's why Netanyahu can't risk not being prime minister. >> Here's a big question for you. You know, back in the old days, people like Edamin would go into exile in places like Saudi Arabia. >> That's right. I saw him in Jedha in the in the vegetable market. >> What? >> I was like, "Oh my god, that's Idiam." and he was there with his wife like >> shopping for ears. >> Seriously, right? What a monster. >> You know, there's a there's a famous

[4:57:14] story uh I forget if it was Time or Newsweek, but one of them interviewed him and uh at and on the back porch of his presidential palace and uh at and he um at one point uh was presented with a plate of human ears with tomato garnish and said like, "This is a delicacy in our country. Would you like one?" >> Oh my god. I remember reading an article once saying that in a conversation with a reporter, he he was talking about the saltiness of bush meat and he said, "Monkeys are salty. Leopards are very

[4:57:47] salty, but nothing is as salty as a human being." >> Yeah. He was a famous cannibal. Um did you ever see the that movie with the f by the French brothers? Um the it's in the criterion collection. It's just called me dada. It's one of the It's one of the most amazing film. It's a documentary. So, this is amazing film, right? So, basically >> for six months, these two French brothers were given unfettered access to Ediamin. They followed him everywhere. Um they and this was right after uh the

[4:58:20] antbi uh mission by the Israelis and >> odd's brother was killed >> and and and it changed him apparently Ediamin um like for the filmmakers had his army recreate the antbi mission from and they brings out helicopters and [ __ ] You got to watch it. It's like it's the and and also he swims. Is it the Zambzi? Um he he's swimming >> like next to crocodiles and like every morning and he like pushes them out of

[4:58:52] the way like get out of the way you [ __ ] rascals and but the most to me the it's it's completely you can't take your eyes off it but the best moment for me is there's a cabinet meeting and you can hear the air conditioner like rolling. He's going around the the room and it's kind of like got that sort of East German kind of decor like you know sort of that uh lives of others kind of vibe and he's like okay so secretary of transport minister of transportation um sorry minister of education you're doing good job keep it up uh defense

[4:59:23] everything's looking good and he's going around and he's like transportation and the guy starts quivering like a leaf and he's you know the service in the still getting complaints about the bus service in the capital just you have my number right my four-digit number and he tells it like 3224 you you I tell you you have a problem you call me morning do and night you get it have you ever called me even one time you never call and nothing ever gets

[4:59:55] better and then the scene cuts and there's the guy's body floating in the river it says the next day transportation minister So and so was found floating in the Zambesi. >> I mean, >> it's unbelievable. But anyway, >> oh my god, >> it's crazy. So, okay. Well, so does BB Netanyahu can he fly to would the Saudis take him in as a as the as could they as the uh you know prime minister of a Jewish state?

[5:00:26] >> Never. >> Okay. >> No. Never. >> So there's some decency. There are limits. There are rules. >> I You know what? I think that the reason why they wouldn't ever do it is because their own people would overthrow them. >> Well, yeah. >> They did something like that. >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah. No, he's more likely to end up, you know, in in the US. I I was I was in Oldtown Alexandria, Virginia one time. Now, this is this is 20 years ago.

[5:00:57] And I saw Perves Musharf and his wife just window shopping up and down King Street. Like, so this is where you ended up, you war criminal. >> Oh, he's a Yeah, he's a he's a Yeah, I could go on about him. Um, you know, because uh I've you know, I'm a commentator. I don't really break news. Um, the news that I broke ever was the was the Perves Masharf coup. Um, so I was down the street in Islamabad uh at a

[5:01:27] cafe just eating and um there was I just gotten down the Kakorum Highway. It taken like three or four weeks with my friend. Um and so we're like hanging out. We finally arrived in Islamabad and there's gunfire down the street and uh you know small arms fire. And so I asked the waiter, the waiters always know everything. I said, "What's going on?" And he goes, "Oh, they are overthrowing the the government." I'm like, "What?" He goes, "Yeah, Omar Sharif, he is finished." Like he's it's

[5:01:58] like he will be killed. I'm like, "What?" It's like I'm like, "Right now?" It's like, "Yeah, that's them now." So So I got up with my camera and went and took a bunch of photos and talked to some soldiers. that indeed like Omar Sharif's in the van like like while I'm talking outside I'm like outside the van they're taking him off to be tortured right they did torture him and um so Perves Mashar uh you know and I knew because when we came down the the uh Kakorum highway we saw Taliban soldiers

[5:02:29] all over the place in and you know we were stopped at a checkpoint and uh we're like and they're like oh you're you're in Afghanistan I'm like this is a KKH we're not in Afghanist we're in Pakistan and the guy starts joking and he goes sometimes Afghanistan comes to you and um because Perves Bashar came to power by by with as an alliance with the P with with the Taliban and he allowed the Taliban to enter northern Afghan northern Pakistan to go as proxies to go

[5:03:01] fight the Indians and basically say we didn't attack you guys we don't know anything about it was called the third Kashmir war with the Cargill conflict you all this but this is for the this is for the audience. >> Um >> oh my god >> and it's like yeah [ __ ] Perves Mashara I mean after 911 right Pakistan was so responsible for what we they what happened to us more than any other country. Did they get justice? No. They got a raise. >> Nope. That was it. They got a raise.

[5:03:31] >> Yep. And like every exiled Pakistani leader, >> he's now in Dubai, which is exactly where um uh what was her name uh went? Um Prime Minister uh Oh, come on. We were just talking about her last week. Why am I having a >> Which country? >> Pakistan. >> Oh, BH. >> Prime Minister BH and her husband. >> Yeah. back and forth between Pakistan and Dubai, presidency and exile, you

[5:04:03] know, crimes against humanity and all that stuff. >> Lovely fellows all around and ladies. >> Yeah, she's dead. Musharv's dead. They're all dead now. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's true. >> She took a a bullet to the brain is what did her in. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, that it is a I mean, Pakistanis are spicy. >> Oh, yeah. It's a tough It's a tough gig. >> You don't want to cross them. >> No, it's a tough gig. I mean it's like I mean I I every moment I was in Pakistan I had the feeling that a riot could break out any second any second. Someone

[5:04:36] who just could just walk down the street and start screaming something in Erdo and the next thing you know people are out there with sticks and [ __ ] and you had guns out there like it's on and you don't even know what's going on. Um all right so all right where's Hamid Carzi? Hamid Carzi is still in Kbble living happily next to the Taliban. M's got balls of steel, but >> his brother's got a restaurant in uh Baltimore if anyone wants to go check it out. It's actually pretty good. >> I do like Afghan food quite a bit. Um

[5:05:07] but well, not not the Afghan food there for the most part, just because >> the Afghan food in America is head and shoulders better than any Afghan food. >> It's like Cuban food. Cuban food sucks in Cuba. >> It's terrible in Cuba. >> Yeah. >> Like how much zucchini can you eat? >> Or boiled chicken. Yeah, tell me. >> And and Bad Yellow Rice. Um, all right. So, >> what's your take on Immran Khan? I actually like Imran Khan. I liked and respected him. His problem is that

[5:05:37] anytime he has a problem, whether it's riots in the streets or an ingrown toenail, he blames the United States. >> I think we're gonna we're gonna leave that that there for the deprogramming for today. Um, just a reminder to everybody in case you missed it. Um, it would mean a lot to uh John and I and in the most important way, which is to say financially, if you guys were to watch this same exact show, the same exact way over on Rumble instead of YouTube. Um,

[5:06:08] you know, obviously if you can't for whatever reason, we love you on YouTube, too. But, um, we get paid a zillion times more over on Rumble than we do its pennies on YouTube. There's no comparison. So, um, you know, if you go over to Rumble and just watch this exactly the same way, it'd be much appreciated. You don't have to remember this weird URL. Just go to Rumble and search for John or Eisen my name or the show andor the show and it'll come right up. And so, thank you very much. We're here Monday, Wednesday, Friday, five

[5:06:40] o'clock Eastern time. We're going to be going in two weeks to a Monday through Friday schedule, uh, 5:00 pm. So hopefully uh you guys will stick around for that. We love this show and we love you guys. We have the best fans and the best watchers and viewers. So, and we're fans of you guys, too. So, it's a mutual admiration society. Um anyway, John, always a pleasure. Hang in there. And >> fun as it always is. >> It It flies. Time flies. >> It does. >> All right. And >> thanks everybody. >> By the way, O Canada,

[5:07:12] >> that's right. Kudos to the Canadians. >> Hello. Well, good afternoon depending on where you live. We're assuming you're living somewhere in the afternoon, but if it's morning where you are, good morning. >> I'm John Kuryaku is here too. Uh we're the deeprogram show. Michelle Woody's out this week. She'll be back next week, we hope and trust, although these days no one can trust or hope really in anything. Um anyway, it's uh Thursday, April 10th, 2025. Thanks for joining us

[5:07:42] here as we try to deprogram you from all the propaganda and assorted BS that we're all subject to these days increasingly. Um it's uh it it there was breaking news even like three minutes ago right before we came on uh concerning Columbia University uh which is just a stones throw from where I'm speaking to you John. Um I can you know walk on my hands and knees and get there. Uh and it's where I graduated from. Uh the federal government, I mean,

[5:08:12] appears to be uh entertaining the possibility of subjecting it to oversight, federal oversight, effectively seizing Columbia University at an Ivy League school. Um and uh yeah, I mean, the details are are not quite known yet, but the Wall Street Journal is reporting it. It's uh obviously something the administration is at least toying with. Um so >> I'm gonna I'm gonna look at that piece right now. this there there are very few things that sound crazier to me than

[5:08:45] seizing >> agreed >> a university because you don't like some of the political positions that some of the students have taken. I mean that's really what it comes down to here. It is exclusive Trump administration wants to install federal oversight of Columbia University in an unusual move. The government is aiming to legally bind the school to changes as they negotiate over federal funding. So what the Trump administration apparently is proposing is if you still want the what was it,

[5:09:15] Ted? $400 million in federal funding or some some amount like that. >> That's right. That's exactly right. >> Then there will be no freedom of speech whether it's among students or or faculty. That's what it that's what this is coming down to. Stunning. I can't believe it. I can't believe it either. I mean, you know, it's uh another story we're going to talk about this lawyer who was um uh inter uh interdicted at the uh at the uh the Detroit airport.

[5:09:45] >> At the Detroit airport. >> Yes. >> I mean, to me, I you know, I think of like, you know, America, you know, we think we're a democracy, but you know, all societies have a cast system. >> Yes. And uh and you know you know the homeless are at the you know the untouchables at the bottom of the cast system but you know attorneys are of are usually a protected class. Um multi- trillion well multi-billion dollar endowed Ivy League universities are at the absolute apex of the protected classes. Um and you know let's talk

[5:10:17] about Colombia. I mean, to me, the grotesque irony here is, I mean, aside from the fact that there's still yet to be proven one single anti-semitic incident that happened at that school, which is actually kind of shocking. You would just think considering that it's about the Israel Palestine conflict that there probably would have been some [ __ ] kid who would have said something anti-semitic. It may have happened, but it's sort of like the returning veterans from the Vietnam War having been spit upon by by by uh by

[5:10:48] hippies. Maybe it happened, but there's zero evidence that it ever happened, right? And there's no evidence. Um so maybe I'm not saying it didn't, but it's kind of like, you know, there's no evidence that this that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist either. But the irony here is that the university has been so one-sided on the uh Israel pro-Israel side and so mean to the pro Palestinian side that it's like that's what's so weird. It's like so the university had these protests. It the it was definitely

[5:11:20] ground zero for the pro Gaza protests and it inspired the rest. There were this big encampment in the in the central quad. >> Um by all accounts mostly peaceful. Um the university asserted that there was some damage to Hamilton Hall when some of the students broke in. That's a proud tradition at Colombia. Breaking into Hamilton Hall goes back to the divevestature protest that I was part of in the 80s um and also back to 1968. It's just sort of like what what you do. And um it's not that big a deal. $30,000

[5:11:52] of damage. Basically, it came down to some broken doors and uh some chairs and some few windows got broken. They shouldn't have done that. grant >> and punishment. I think probably you know maybe some some but anyway the university came down like a ton of bricks on the on the Palestinian protesters. Jewish voice for peace and other think about it Jewish voice for peace and other pro Palestinian voices the these these groups were banned by the university administration. Students

[5:12:22] were expelled. They were suspended. uh gra graduated students had their their had their diplomas freshly printed revoked by the dozens. Um the there were some a lot of incidents of violence on the part of pro-Israeli students who attack who attacked these no there were there was no sanction whatsoever against them. Um the university president at the time Claudine Gay uh was that no that was Harvard I keep forgetting uh this was um

[5:12:53] uh Mino Minous Minute that's right Min >> that's right yes I remember >> she went up there to Capitol Hill went to the McCarthyite hearing where and she was asked to fire a specific professor for being pro too pro Palestinian she said okay and she did nevertheless that wasn't enough for them. She she they ultimately she got pushed out. Um but what's so baffling is what do they want this university to do? Shoot these

[5:13:23] students? They called in the police not once but twice on them to brutalize them and drag them out. They they they've expelled them. They fired professors not just once, several have been pushed out. Free speech has been obliterated. basically, you can't speak about you, you know, the Palestinian cause on the Columbia campus or you're going to be in deep [ __ ] Um, they they've even hired a new 30 person goon squad to supplement the normal campus security guards to

[5:13:55] crack down on pro Palestinian protesters. This was one of the conditions of the Trump administration. It's kind of like, why are you punishing the university? The university is doing your bidding. I don't that's the part that's so mysterious to me. >> Ted, last night I went to um uh this annual uh banquet banquet party um hosted by the ArabAmerican uh foundation, >> American Arab ArabAmerican Heritage

[5:14:27] Foundation. It's uh in celebration of ArabAmerican Heritage Month, which is the month of April. And every year they have they have this beautiful dinner and speakers and then music and and folk dancing. It's it's a wonderful event. So this year it was scheduled to be held in the auditorium at um Amazon headquarters. Amazon 2 it's called here

[5:14:57] in Arlington, Virginia. >> Yeah. Isn't that where that that was originally supposed to be located in Queens and then AOC said no thank you. >> Exactly. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And dog on AOC I wish it had stayed in Queens. So um 48 hours before the event uh Amazon sent a letter to the uh ArabAmerican Heritage Foundation cancelling the event. You can't come here. So when they called and said, "What's up? We we booked this a year

[5:15:28] ago. We paid for it. They said, "Nope. No discussion, no explanation. You can't come here." So, in 48 hours, they had to find another venue for 600 people and then get all the word out that it's been moved. They ended up moving it to the banquet hall at the St. Peter and Paul Antiochan Orthodox Cathedral in PTOAC, Maryland, which was a magnificent venue. But it's nowhere near a subway station

[5:16:01] >> and so about a hundred students from DC area universities who had bought tickets could not go. >> Um we had Rashidita TB um she came and gave a talk and um Andy Shal who's this beloved um uh restaurant tour here in in the Washington area. He's got eight uh restaurants called Bus Boys and Poets which are progressive combination bookstores. Yeah, it's a a wonderful venue and Andy's just a wonderful human

[5:16:32] being. He spoke and a couple of other people spoke and there was a tribute to Um Kum and then there was Syrian folk dancing which was wonderful. But the point is they were they were cancelled and they were censored only because they're Arab, not for any other reason. Now this organization has been around for 40 years and it's made up of doctors and lawyers and engineers and bankers and all

[5:17:03] professional people all wearing suits. They're all like, you know, from 40 upward in terms of age, and they were just cancelled only because they're Arabs. There were a couple of brief mentions of Gaza, but really the the event, the night was about, you know, the contributions to American culture that that ArabAmericans have made. And, you know, that that we've got to stick together and work together. And I I'm I

[5:17:34] say we I'm not an Arab, but I'm certainly a supporter. And uh you know, it was like any other black tie or semi-lack Thai event that you might go to. There was nothing controversial about it in any way, but they were cancelled just because they're Arabs. Now, that was last night. today, Columbia University. We're going to see a lot more of this in the coming weeks and months as the Trump administration gains more solid footing and comes to realize that there's no

[5:18:06] significant push back. >> That last part is the part that I wanted to focus on, right? I mean, this is a story we've seen before. I mean, you know, like you, I I love history and I'm a I'm a student of World War II. My mother grew up in Nazi occupied France and >> wow >> cowardice is the you know it's we saw that back then although not nearly as much as here um you know I think about like you know when Hitler came to power

[5:18:36] um he still had to contend with the socialist and and communist parties >> that's right >> they had armed wings um they they they marched in they were militant they had street battles with the Nazis in the streets um you know people would die um you know obviously American politics doesn't do that. Um I I'd say I would argue for the better except maybe at times like this. Um but we don't you know we don't do that where it's like I was also reading about another law firm that just coughed up another

[5:19:07] hundred million in free le, you know, uh in proono work that Trump could pretty much cash in like a like a coupon for any of his him or any of his friends who needs free legal work done. I mean, you know, I mean, they basically just become wholly owned subsidiaries of the Trump administration. What I mean, was were was this like built is this structural a structural problem in American politics that we're not built for resistance? I mean, is is that sort

[5:19:38] of we just don't have >> I think it is, Ted. >> I think it is. And then, you know, when when you've got, for example, uh protesters exercising their rights to free speech at Cop City outside of Atlanta, being charged with, you know, RICO charges, and facing sentences of of life without parole, you've got a problem. when you've got a couple of of um uh eco activists in in Oklahoma City going up to the um to the balcony of an

[5:20:11] oil company's headquarters and throwing glitter uh to protest uh you know shale uh oil exploration and then being charged with terrorism which carries a life sentence. Yeah, we've got a serious structural problem in this country. I mean, so, so yeah. Well, that's the oppressive side. That's the oppression side, which is way over the top. And then, but then, you know, okay, so last Saturday there were >> there were some beautiful rallies uh organized by some Democrats.

[5:20:43] >> The most beautiful rallies that have ever been seen. >> Gorgeous rallies. I mean, honestly, you know, it's it's good for people to protest. It's good for people to get to know each other. Get get some fresh air. get some, you know, get out there and walk around, you know, maybe get your 10,000 steps in. >> Yeah. >> But, but really, >> what good is it? I mean, there's, you know, those same people today that, you know, people are just like, oh man, they even people who well informed, they're going to hear this story and they're going to be like, "Oh, that's weird."

[5:21:14] And then it'll be like sort of like 1936 with the Nermberg laws. Wow, Jews aren't allowed to go to the park anymore. That's weird. You just can't own radios anymore. >> Yeah. And and then they say, "Well, it doesn't it doesn't affect me, so that's that's a they problem, not a me problem." >> And next thing you know, >> society. That's right. >> It's an everybody problem. I mean, >> that's right. I mean, you know, I used to I used to fantasize about these scenarios and I

[5:21:46] think maybe and I always thought the only power that could ultimately bring a US a fascist US to heal would be the EU through armed intervention. >> That's probably it. >> But then you've got these elements of fascism within the EU as well. Look at Hungary and Poland and is it Slovenia? France has an enormous far-right. Uh >> the problem is in France in France the the center left under Macron is acting like fascists by not allowing free elect

[5:22:19] the free election of a possible fascist. >> That's right. >> So >> that's right. >> You know you look back too at the at the 1930s and 40s United States. We had farright elements that were involved in politics. We had Huie Long for example or Father Cochland and you and I have talked about Father Cochland in the past and they were allowed to just sort of you know go on the air and hang themselves with their own words. >> There was no there was no move by the Roosevelt White House or by the Supreme

[5:22:50] Court or or the Justice Department to try to silence these people. Why now? Why do we try to silence alternative voices now? Whether from the left or from the right? Well, that's obviously that shows the insecurity of the of the powers of the ruling elites. They don't think that they're worried, right? I mean, they weren't I mean, they weren't scared about I was the most reprinted cartoonist in the LA in the New York Times all throughout the 90s. I know this because my editor, uh, John Landman, he told me. And I said, "Oh,

[5:23:22] how do you know that?" He said, "Oh, well, we we we had we had we did an internal audit and we counted all the paychecks in an Excel spreadsheet and you had the most of them, one paycheck per per cartoon." I was like, "Oh, that's nice." You know, like now there's no way I can get into the New York Times. I mean, maybe maybe if I'm arrested, I'll make it into the New York Times. >> Um, >> exactly right. >> But I mean, it's it the the spaces have shrunk. So, you know, I mean, if I'm the if I'm a trustee of Columbia University, I mean, a lot of those trustees are I

[5:23:54] mean, it's they've had a conservative pro. I mean, people think Columbia University is like hot bed of radicalism, >> right? It's not. >> The students are sort of some of them a quarter, but like the but the administration, they're they're right-wing corporate corporatist conser very a lot of them very Zionist. um and they've been pressuring people. But if you're a trustee of this university, if you have the smallest IQ, you've got to see that this is an existential threat to your un to your university. I mean,

[5:24:24] to the brand, like if you consent to federal oversight already, college recruiters are saying that people who were accepted to Columbia University are choosing to go to like smaller name schools because they don't want to be attached to the brand. Not because they're worried about being viewed as anti-Semitic, but because they just think the place is falling apart. It's becoming chaotic. I mean, you know, normally when the Department of Education subjects a school, like typically it's an inner city school that's in deep crisis, typically a high

[5:24:57] school or a junior high school. >> Yeah. >> People graduate and they can't read, they can't do basic math. That's right. >> Right. Yeah. It's a it's a as Trump would say, it's a [ __ ] hole school. Yes. >> So, CL Okay, so granted I haven't set I haven't set foot in a classroom there since 1991, but Columbia University is not a [ __ ] hole school. Um, you know, it's it's one of the premier educational institutions in the world, a major research university that just added a whole new

[5:25:28] brand new science campus very recently. Um they've got they've they they have to resist. Yeah. But they won't they'll probably say like, "Well, we want to cooperate. We we we don't like anti-semitism." I mean, it it's literally like they're they declared war on on like the on like the tooth fairy or something. There's no anti-semitism at these protests and these protests are no more. There are no protests for there to be anti-semitism that wasn't there. And now you're now you're gonna go. So

[5:26:00] why are what are you subjecting them over to oversight for? Why? >> Do you think that that's a question that a federal judge is going to ask in the coming days? >> It has to be. >> Well, I mean, assuming that there's a a plaintiff in the form of Columbia University's trustees, they have to they have to fight this, right? Yes. And they they may not. I'm not sure that they will. >> Oh my god. Can you imagine the precedent that would set set if they didn't fight it? >> Well, that's

[5:26:30] >> federal takeover. >> That's one advantage of the Ivy League, right? Because the the purpose of the Ivy League is they all they do talk, right? They have a I mean, it's not just a it's not not just a it's a it's an actual organization. >> Interesting. >> Interesting. I didn't know that. >> Oh, yeah. It's not like just sort of like a term like if it was like a term for like you know elite schools then say you know um Stanford would be in it but it's not um so >> Right. Right. That's a good point. >> So like yeah know it's it's a it's an

[5:27:00] organization they cooperate on things like they try not to admit too many of the same kids like oh here at Cornell we're going to admit John but uh you know maybe you pen you you don't admit him like that. So, so they they they they collude and um so they've got to be on the phone. They've you know these these presidents have to be the presidents don't have any power though as we've discovered recently. They used to but um it's all the trustees and the donors who are running everything. So there's got to be a deep division there

[5:27:32] between sort of the money people and the uh and the former and the academic oriented people. That's a that's a you know what Mark's called like a division in the ruling class. That's that's the crisis that we're seeing and I I don't know how it plays out >> because I don't know what >> worried >> what I'm very worried. I could see them not resisting. I could definitely see them resisting lamely >> like sort of filing you know a request for an emergency injunction. But then I could see the judge saying you know it's

[5:28:03] the Department of Education they have the right to do this. But I mean, this is so shortsighted. Don't you think that that that would then open the door for a president, you know, Pete Buddha Judge or whomever, to to try to federalize Liberty University, let's say. >> Absolutely, >> man. This is dangerous, dangerous territory. >> It's not good. And so I have to know, I mean, I would go the, you know, like in

[5:28:34] Star Trek when it's like when Kirk is like, "Okay, you want to take over the ship? >> [ __ ] off. I'm I'm self-destructing the ship." >> Yeah. >> What if Columbus University did the same? You want to take us over? Fine. We'll shut down. >> We'll just close the doors. We're out of business. >> Come and anyone want to buy some desks? We're out. And I mean, I think it would be so shocking it couldn't be ignored. I think that's I think that's actually the only proper answer.

[5:29:05] >> Wow. >> I mean it's like I mean I mean we don't have federal control of universities in this country. >> No, we don't. >> Ted, is this is this all about federal funds? >> Well, I mean it's about like you know they Columbia University didn't even get the $400 million back no matter even though they sucked up to the administration so badly. Um they they just uh they just they they all they're getting is a seat at the table which apparently is not a good seat the way it

[5:29:36] looks. From here it's looking like a seat with like bird droppings on it way up high behind the jumbotron with no view at all. It's a seat you probably don't even want. But yeah, it's about the $400 million. And that's confusing to me. Okay. So, as an alum, you know, I know a lot of alums and a lot of them, like my ex-girlfriend when I was in college, she's rich as [ __ ] She's the head of aviation finance at one of the three biggest mega banks in the world. >> She she and her she and her husband

[5:30:06] donate tens of millions of dollars to >> Oh my god. >> Barard. Now, I know that if she got a call and and and and they and they and they said, you know, the the Trump the Trumpies have [ __ ] us. We're out $400 million. Are you good for $20 million? She and her husband would just write a check. There's and she's one of tens of thousands like that. What I'm trying to get at is they probably could get the 500 the $400 million and more back just

[5:30:38] by playing the victim. I mean, even I I've never donated to Colombia. I I have my issues with them. I'm much more likely to donate money to my uh to my son's college because they've been very generous to to him and like I'm I'm an only I'm an only I'm a single father. I've struggled. They were really understanding and cool, generous financial aid package. But still, if Colombia called me and said that, I'd be like as undermployed as I am right now, I'll cut you a check. I mean, so I think there's they would have so much

[5:31:10] sympathy. So the fact that they're and and do they need it really? I mean, right, >> they have a 15 trillion dollar sorry 15 billion dollar um I'm I'm trying to make sure I I get this right. Yeah, 15 billion dollar endowment. Now, they can't spend that like a piggy bank. Granted, >> they have it. They can borrow against it. There's all sorts of things they can do. They get a revolving line of credit. that $400 million wasn't going to all come in at once, right? >> So, you know what I mean? They're not like that. They could hike tuition a

[5:31:40] little bit. Um, there's things they could do. They could they could cut the budget, lay off some lay off some adjunks, whatever. They could they could cut the fat. There is fat there. So, why are they not they're choosing not to you? They're choosing to roll here. This is because there's some of the trustees really believe this anti-semitism garbage. >> That's sad actually. That's sad.

[5:32:10] >> You know, people and so many people >> coming from inside the house. That's the problem. >> So many supporters of Israel in this country have been successful at publicly equating support for Palestinian human rights as support for Hamas. It's stunning to me. >> I wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal, which they killed um but whatever. I syndicated it. Um about this, you know, the ADL um which is basically in the hands of this maniac uh

[5:32:40] uh pro-Israel, you know, the ADL was a very respectable organization. >> Oh yeah, it was. >> And then this guy Jonathan Greenblat took over. He's the CEO. And he and even within the ADL, there's been a lot of of anger. He he redefined all criticism of Israel as anti-semitism. So if you look at the stat he there's this stat that he put out after October 7th 2023 where he said like maybe about six months later there's been a 700% increase in

[5:33:13] anti-semit anti-semitic incidents in the US over the last year. Okay, that's, you know, obviously that's catnip for editors and it's a big story and it's shocking if true. The problem is that starting in Octo on October 7th, he redefined all anytime someone called in and said, "Oh, I saw a sign that said from the river to the sea, >> right? >> That's an anti-semitic incident." All of those have been counted that way. There's no discreet and they were not

[5:33:44] counted like that previously. Well, so obviously there were there were so obviously you're going to get that spike. You know, if I start if I start counting Blue Jays as terrorists in spring, >> well, you know, there's going to be a spike in the spring because there's more Blue Jays in the spring. Um, I mean, that was just they just it was on purpose. They and and you know, every media organization stretched thin but always lazy to begin with, they they're just like they dutifully cut and pasted, oh, the ADL, they're legit. And it's like, but it's not like these numbers

[5:34:15] are not real. I don't know if there's been an increase in anti-semitism overall. I would suspect probably, but but it's not been 700%. And um you know, we don't know what it is because nobody's keeping reliable statistics. The FBI's um hate crimes numbers take a few years to come out, so we don't really know. >> So um that's much more reliable, but that's only about violence. That's not about like someone feeling sad because they seem they don't like. So, >> you know, it reminds me of when you're a little kid and and you're like, "Mom, he

[5:34:45] looked at me." That's what this is. >> He hurt me. >> Yeah. >> It is like that. And like, so I mean, and look, I think I've read the arguments for why, you know, anti-semit anti-ionism is anti-semitism. And look, we can we we can and should have that debate, but they don't want that debate. What they want is to the Zionist side wants to bully and get their side. They don't want to can get buy in. They don't want to convince anyone. They just want

[5:35:16] to I mean, there's a there's an argument to be made and they should probably make it, but they're not. Uh or maybe they feel like they made it and they lost, but whatever. They're resorting to bullying. And oddly, Trump with his personal history of, you know, racism and housing and everything is like trying to present himself as the hero of the Jewish people. It's all so bizarre. >> It is. It's bizarre. >> It's bizarre. And uh you know, I I'd like to transition just a little bit if

[5:35:48] we could. Yeah, >> you know, you can't criticize Israel for anything or you're labeled as being anti-Semitic. But then the Israelis attack these ambulance uh workers, EMTs, they have lied about this attack at literally every step of the way. The And there's video of the attack, >> right? >> And it's the Israeli press that has been breaking the story. and the story's

[5:36:18] developments >> Israeli the Israeli press does yman's work um ha aretsz is it does >> amazing >> great work in a very insular society very brave >> um you know yeah >> so there are these ambulances >> driving down the road lights are on they're marked with big red crosses on the >> there's video >> yeah there's video and the Israelis stop the ambulances is pull everybody out. It

[5:36:49] was 14 or 15 people. Line them up and execute them just like the Germans used to do. >> Mhm. >> You know, as an aside, >> one of my closest friends in the world is also my my cousin Mark Kiryaku. Shout out to Mark. And Mark's dad died recently. He was in his early 90s, but he was a he was shot by the Nazis and and had a terrible scar on his on his gut from when the a Nazi soldier shot

[5:37:19] him. Um Mark is in the process right now of translating letters that his dad wrote during the period. And and just to read about the Nazi occupation of Greece, it's it's sickening. It's sickening to me. Anyway, much of what >> Yeah. Yeah, the brutality. >> These letters describe the brutality. >> It's what's happening in Gaza today. You can't line ambulance workers up on the side of the road and execute them. That's what the Nazis did. And then not

[5:37:50] only did they execute them, but they then dug holes, put the bodies in the holes. >> That's what Nazis >> and buried the ambulances so nobody would know. >> Yeah. >> And word got out. >> They were in a hurry. And um I mean it's kind of I mean it's really sad but also kind of awesome that uh they didn't search the bodies because that's how we have the video. One of the uh cell phones belonging to one of the workers was on the body and I guess it was night

[5:38:21] and they were probably in a hurry uh to cover things up. >> Cover up their genocidal war crime. >> Yes. And so but that's where we know we have the where the the the Israelis claimed there were the the vehicles weren't marked that they had no emergency lights on but the this person the victim he was he was um you know taping he he was videoing his the the the convoy moving through Gaza and you can very clearly see everything is not the way the Israelis said and um and

[5:38:54] that yeah and that's the evidence that has proven I What do you think the Israelis were? Why' they do it? I mean I mean you mentioned the Nazis and I I I I don't like to give credit to them, but I don't really and I've read a lot of I mean I've read if I had a if I had to carry all the books about Nazism I've read I couldn't. Um it's like I don't remember them really targeting you know health workers that kind of that's not really their thing. >> That was not a thing for the Nazis. No,

[5:39:24] you're right. So why what what's what are the Israelis what are they trying to accomplish here? They they just didn't want them to respond. They could have just blocked the road and detained them and said get the [ __ ] out of here or shot you know. >> Yeah what what what was this about? >> And to murder them in cold blood like that. And I'd like to know who who sanctioned this. How how high up does this go? >> Um >> right. >> You know was this a governmental decision? Was this a a a rogue military unit,

[5:39:55] >> right? Was this like a like what was his name? Uh in uh Cali in >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. >> The MI massacre. Yeah. I don't know. It It's clearly a war crime >> and clearly don't want to account. They don't want to hold anyone accountable for it. I mean, so I I the conversation one would hope that would be occurring at inside the IDF would be sort of like like an argument, right? Like where

[5:40:26] there would at least be someone at the table, some general hopefully who would say, "Yeah, I know these are our guys and you know they're fighting this these horrible Arabs whom we hate, but still I mean this is like we can't have this. we've got a court marshal and it's like no no everyone that'll discredit someone else is saying that'll discredit the entire war the world will hate us even more um the Americans will get pissed they'll be bad in the media you know I mean but I don't even know if they're having that kind of debate I mean you

[5:40:59] you got to judge people by their actions and their actions are that they're not no they're not even throwing >> even the little fish who usually get court marshal in situations like this nothing's No, even the fall guy that you would expect. That's right. >> The stupid grunt. >> That's right. I I just don't get this at all. But there's also no outrage from the American government. I I'm not aware of any statement that has come from the government. You know, we're seeing we're seeing coverage in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and elsewhere. Uh

[5:41:31] but we're not we haven't heard Donald Trump, for example, condemn uh this this war crime. Not a word. I don't get it. I don't get it at all. >> Yeah. Well, >> I don't get it either. Um Well, what about the I mean, and also I'm not really seeing the American media hold like, you know, during the Nixon years whenever, you know, the like Ron Ziggler was the press secretary for the

[5:42:02] administration. He was so famous for stonewalling that to Ziegler became a verb in the American Heritage dictionary. That's right. Um I think it's been retired. But to Ziggler, someone was just basically to keep dodging and you know and not and just not answering the question. But you know the the the reporters used to like let's say we were both in the White House press corps and you asked a question that like Ziegler refused to answer then I would ask the same question even if I had a different question because just we to we'd all watch each other's back and

[5:42:34] then if like they didn't answer it when I asked it then it would go to Michelle and Michelle would ask it and it would just keep going like that right that doesn't seem to have that same there's no one really holding the feet the you know the the the White House feet to the fire they could go in there and every single briefing just ask about this. >> Yes. >> But they don't. They don't. >> Nobody will do that. Nobody. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Just awful. Shocking. >> So, >> and not shocking at the same time.

[5:43:05] >> Well, yes. It's shocking that it's not shocking. What are we gonna I mean, what's is there help? I mean, we have the ICC. Um, we have the UN, but basically the nothing will happen, right? >> No, nothing will happen. Nothing will happen. >> The the By the way, the audio is absolutely chilling. Uh, where you can the the cell phone, you can hear him at one point saying, "Dad, please help me. The Israelis have targeted us."

[5:43:37] >> Oh my god. >> And you know, and then you hear the the the hail of bullets. They go on for five minutes on the audio tape and then uh and finally the phone goes dead. >> Oh my god. >> So So in other words, the the the phone was probably in his pocket. >> Yeah. >> He hit record or he just left it recording >> and then while the whole thing unfolded >> these really Yeah. I mean, what can I even say? I mean, >> there's nothing

[5:44:07] >> there's there's got to be some kind of justice and there likely won't be. >> I know. I also it's I I and I can't even imagine that this is being widely reported in Israel because liberal Israelis they read hets and they're already against the war. Um and and but there aren't and you know I mean that's probably nowadays it used to be half and half. Nowadays it's maybe one out of four Israelis is liberal I would say. Um the other three out of four they're they're militant. They're so hardened

[5:44:37] they just don't care. No, they don't they don't care. You know, I the last time I was in Israel, I asked an Israeli reporter that I was visiting about that and he attributed that to the gigantic influx of um of migrants from Russia and Ukraine that they were so conservative to the point of irrationality when they moved to Israel and they moved in such numbers that they were

[5:45:09] essentially able to take over the electorate. and then by extension take over the government. That's amazing to me. >> That's actually in part. That's why there's no viable um labor party anymore. There's socialism is dead in in Israel. You know, when I was in college, so many of my my Jewish friends had spent a summer at a kabutz, for example. It was like this right of passage that so many people did. >> Yeah.

[5:45:40] Nobody even talks about kabutzas anymore. >> It's all done. All done. >> It's it's it's it's crazy. Um that's an interesting theory. Demographics is destiny. I think um we should talk a little bit about this attorney uh in Detroit. >> Yeah. This is bad. >> It's bad. Yeah. So, this guy, his name is Amir Mak. He was uh traveling. He went to the Dominican Republic uh for a vac spring vacation with his wife and two daughters.

[5:46:10] >> Um seven years old. Um you know, family man comes back from the DR. Um he's a local attorney there in Detroit. He has a one somewhat high-profile case. It's this white college girl at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor who was part of the Gaza protests and he's defending her against presumably whatever charges she's facing um related to her role in the protests. Um she he's pulled out of he presents his passport. He's then

[5:46:42] told, "Oh, you're going to have to go with this special anti-terrorist task squad." They pull him into uh a into a detent into an interrogation room and they inform they hand him a piece of paper that says oh you know we well they first they say we know you're a whole a high-profile attorney. He's like no I'm not I'm a local attorney. It's like well we need to see your phone. We need we need to go into your phone and get everything. So So at first he says he he refuses. He says there's privileged

[5:47:12] information in there. Uh I'm not giving you the the phone. And then they hand him a piece of paper that says, "Oh, we have the right to take your phone." Which I I know that's well they say that >> unfortunately. >> Yeah, I think they basically do have that right. Um but um he and you know and it's important for people who are watching this and wondering what they should do to know that if your phone is like password protected and like let's say an iPhone fairly recent vintage pretty much they're not going to be able to get in there. So they can take it >> but they can't get into it

[5:47:42] >> and they can keep it. They can keep Well, I guess they have to return it eventually. >> Eventually they But it I saw I saw a report recently that they kept one guy's phone. He refused to to open it up like biometrically and they kept it for six weeks. >> Yeah. I'd be like, "Bye-bye phone." >> Yep. >> I mean, you know, I mean, these days with the tariffs, the new one's going to be three grand, >> right? >> But okay, fine. Maybe I'll get a flip phone. Probably be good for me. Um, but it probably be the best thing that ever happened to me. Thank you, ICE, or in

[5:48:13] this case, BCE order. >> I'm gonna get one of these unplugged phones that I mentioned in the last podcast. They're a thousand bucks or 900 bucks. They're being marketed by Eric Prince, who I loathe, whom I loathe. But that's okay because they've got this feature where if if the the feds demand that you turn over your phone, you could hit a button and it just zaps everything. >> I love that. >> I'm doing it. So, I guess the whole thing is like if you get detained while

[5:48:43] you're being marched to the detention center, power down your phone. >> Yep. >> And then you have some power because otherwise they can hold the phone up to your face and force you. >> That's right. >> Although you can always deactivate that. You can you don't have to have that on. You know, >> people don't realize that. You can redo it later. It'll take your you know, probably be more accurate in case change. >> Right. Right. Exactly. So anyway, um so it's good to good to be fair. Anyway, they take this guy in, they detain him for a couple of hours. Um and then say

[5:49:14] finally he negotiates and says, "Okay, how about if you just look at my contacts?" And they say, "Okay." But then they disappear with his phone. He signs on a legal p paper. Okay, you have the right to look at my contact. I'm not going to tell you who they are. But they take off with the phone. You know, they took everything. You know, they drained it. Of course they did. Of course they did because the courts allow them to. >> This has not yet gone to the Supreme Court, but there have been two separate circuit courts of appeals who have said they can take your phone >> or your laptop or both.

[5:49:46] >> So the the final word isn't in, but as the law stands right now, >> that could happen to you anywhere within a 100 miles of a of a border with the US. Right. That's right. That's like 80% of the country lives within the that range, right? Because people live on coasts. >> Um, so like yeah, you could be you could be driving on Interstate 95 in the Northeast pulled over in like New Haven by at a and be like, "What? What the [ __ ] is this New Haven?" It's like, "Is

[5:50:17] these are these Connecticut State Troopers?" No, this this could be BC Border and Customs Enforcement. That's right. And they could do this to you. They could do that any and there have been some cases like that. >> Yes. where they've done these checkpoints. So, I felt like the I felt like the the the undertone when I saw the the lawyer being interviewed was he kind of knew he'd been had, you know, he he had that sheepish >> I got the same I got the same impression >> like ah [ __ ] >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I mean, look, >> I think he was so taken by surprise that

[5:50:48] he didn't have a minute to get his thoughts together. >> That's right. they take advantage of that and you know but I think it's kind of like you have to be like all right you know I'm just not gonna give it to you you know you got to go you have to go with the kuryaku rule >> I'm protected by I'm I'm represented by council and I don't talk to cops cops >> yeah that is >> exactly right >> that's going to be my rule whenever I encounter those [ __ ] >> they eventually give 90 90% of the time

[5:51:20] they just like ah [ __ ] you and then they they walk away. >> I'm sure. >> Yeah. >> And you don't you don't have to be a dick about it. You just, you know, say, "Look, with all due respect, I'm represented by council and I don't talk to cops." And you just repeat it. It might make them a little bit angry or they'll pretend to be confused like, "What's this crazy position this person's taking?" And then they just walk away. >> Yeah. >> Because they all think they're the good guys. >> But yeah, that's what I do. And it works.

[5:51:50] >> Yeah. So, I mean, okay, so we're seeing a very rapid escalation here. Um, lawyers are a protected have always been a protected class in this country. They, the administration lied and said, "We didn't target him." It was like random. >> That's clearly not true based on what they told him. Um, they told him that he had been targeted. So, that's not true. And so, um, but obviously this is send a message. You know, my friends say, "Oh, you don't have to worry. They're just going. they're only interested in these

[5:52:21] Gaza protests and like uh and the people related to them. And I'm like, okay, for now, >> but you can see the escalation, right? I mean, we're in the Martin Neoler poem. I just don't know what verse we're at, but the question which verse I'm at, >> but I'm in I'm in the poem >> and I'm not at the end of the poem. I'm closer to the, you know, I'm between the end of the poem and where the poem is right now. >> That's right. So, so where where do we you know I mean the question is where what happens next? What you know

[5:52:52] basically the administration is is dipping their toe in to see how cold the water is. So far it's been bath water. So they can keep doing this and and they will. I mean they they I mean they've already gotten major law firms to take the knee. >> So now what I mean yeah what do you think their next targets are going to be? Journalists >> probably. Yeah. I I would say definitely actually not even probably journalists. Journalists and lawyers if you can cow the lawyers then you can cow anybody.

[5:53:26] >> And you know how much journalism is corporate now? I mean so few Americans read alternative media. >> So they have nothing to lose. >> Yeah. And and let's face it, the corporate attorney, the corporate journalists, you know, it's not Jimmy Breeslin anymore, right? These aren't hardbitten working class >> Jack Anderson. Yeah. >> [ __ ] you. I don't give a [ __ ] about you. They're not those people. >> Nixon talked about assassinating Jack

[5:53:57] Anderson. >> That's how much he hated Jack Anderson's muck raking, but we don't have journalists like that anymore. >> I I should take pride. Uh what was his name? The um Oh my god. Allan Keys. Alan Keys. >> Oh, I remember Alen Keys. Yeah, he was a nut. And he said he said that I should be executed by the US government. >> Oh, Senator Kit Bond said that I should be hanged from a tree when I blew the whistle on the >> Yeah, he's torture program. Yeah, I I wear that as a badge of honor.

[5:54:27] >> Well, it's all good times until the, you know, until until it's dawn. >> Yeah. >> But I mean, yeah. So, I mean, they're going to So, I guess the question is, do they go after I mean, like going with the universities, they didn't go after, you know, [ __ ] Reed College. They're going after, you know, >> Colombia, >> the big boys, Harvard, Colombia, Yale. Um, with these law firms, they didn't go after, you know, um, >> no, they went after. >> Yeah. They went after the biggest law

[5:54:59] firms in the world, >> right? So, I mean, it seems to me like, you know, if you if you kill the king, you own the castle. It's probably their philosophy here. So, it seems like maybe you and I are in a little bit less danger than if you're say uh, you know, an op-ed writer at the New York Times. >> I have to agree. Yeah, I think that's right. Hey, we're running a little bit short on time, but we've got to talk about talks day after tomorrow in Muscat, Oman between the

[5:55:30] United States and Iran. Now, Donald Trump said that the talks were going to be direct face-to-face talks. The Iranians said that is not true. They're going to be indirect talks. The US delegation will be in one room. The Iranian delegation will be in another room. And the Omanis are going to be shuttling between the two rooms. I mentioned a couple of days ago, I'm 100% sure that that the Iranians are are right on this. There there won't be direct talks, but talks of any kind are

[5:56:01] good. Here's the problem. >> The problem is the Iranians have a demand and the demand is that they be treated with respect. And Donald Trump doesn't >> talk to anyone with respect. >> I know, right? And Donald Trump doesn't treat anybody with respect. He's going to go in there. >> You're asking for some You're asking for a product I don't have to sell. We're all out. >> He's bombastic. He's threatening. He's bullying. And he said that if there are

[5:56:31] if there is progress, then all is good. If there's not progress, we're going to bomb the [ __ ] out of the Iranians. Or we may bomb the [ __ ] out of the Yemenes, the Houthis, because they're generally viewed as an Iranian cutout. Where do you think this is going? Well, or why not bomb Hezbollah again? Just >> Oh, yeah. For what that's worth, if there even is a Hezbollah that still exists for any for all intents and purposes. The reason I ask what you think is going to be accomplished is because we've not seen any indication in

[5:57:04] any media that there's an agenda, >> right? >> So, what are we going to just stare at each other? >> That's a good question, right? It's sort of like uh you know, it's like a date where there's no there's no agenda. It's >> it's like we're we're doing six minute dating. We'll see if we like each cut of each other's jib. Maybe we'll go home together. Maybe not. Who know? Whatever. It's it maybe there is a secret agenda. Maybe maybe it's maybe it's just or maybe it's to meet in order to to feel each other out and just sort of see. I

[5:57:35] mean, look, I'm sure the Iranians are serious. >> They're serious people and they're always and you know, they're all and their government's always serious >> and they don't agree to talk slightly. you know, they they held off the Biden administration seemingly forever because because they were burned by Trump won in that he immediately withdrew from the JCPOA and the and the Biden people weren't offering, you know, automatic re-entry into the JCPOA. I mean, the problem with, you know, Trump and his

[5:58:07] ADD presidency is that even if he even if his heart's in the right place and he's like, I really want to normalize relations with Iran, >> I mean, you know, he's dealing with Russia. He's dealing he's trying to take over university. He's got so much on his plate. How does he focus? And and you know, this Iran thing, there's a lot of components, a lot of moving parts. And Iran is as you know um you know the ultimate country with a Byzantine governmental structure with overlapping structure several like four to five

[5:58:38] discrete overlapping sort of all of them and it's kind of hard you can't just make a handshake deal like with the dictator of Turk Menistan like if he says it it's done. It's not like that with the Iranians. Um so you know it's not a dictatorship at all. >> It's not. Hillary Clinton once famously called it not a theocracy but a military dictatorship that the IRGC, the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, controls every aspect of the Iranian government and economy. And that is not true.

[5:59:09] >> Not even a little bit true. >> Not even a little bit. >> Right. >> It's a democracy whether we like it or not. >> It's disturbing that she Yeah. But I I always like to say there's more political cartoonists working at newspapers in Tehran in their very vibrant press than in the entire United States of America. So um you know my personal canary in the coal mine. Um yeah. So it disturbs me that she was ever Secretary of State, but I can say that about so many of them recently. Um

[5:59:39] yeah. What do you I mean I'd like something good to come out of it. I mean, should we read anything into is is it related the fact that Russia and the United States were able to have a prisoner swap um recently? I mean, and that apparently the talk is that the US State Department and their Russian counterparts are, you know, in the foreign ministry are trying to uh normalize relations with Russia. I'm I'm not really sure normalization is really the right word because we don't we never sever diplomatic relations. Um and normally when you normalize you, you

[6:00:10] decever them. But this would be like I guess about getting rid of getting rid of sanctions and um you know that kind of Oh, let me I think I need >> Hey, sorry my my >> bizarre >> my computer went down just on its own. I don't know what the happened. >> That can happen. Okay, let me uh So, it's really funny. There's like you're in the little square now. Uh let's see if I can figure fix this. All right. You're Well, that's because I think you're on the phone. >> Yeah, I'm on a phone. >> All right. There's nothing much I can do. So you're skinny. Um it's like

[6:00:44] remember in TV when they used to show the 70 millimeter movies and they were squished and everyone was like really >> I do. >> So >> So anyway, um all right. So, I guess you probably didn't hear what I was saying, but um should we read I mean is is there reason for optimism for for the US Iran talks in the fact that Russia and the US are apparently trying to normalize relations uh these talks that resulted in the recent recent prisoner swaps uh basically and normalize relations I

[6:01:14] don't think is the right word because um you know we'd never sever severed them but um >> the Iranians did though >> but I'm talking about Russia Russians. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. Improving. Yeah. >> I literally biked by the US consulate today uh before the show and it's >> Yeah. Yeah. The the the Russian embassy here in Washington is up and running every single day. >> Yeah. There's some weird protesters out in front. I didn't even know what they were I zipped by. Um but anyway, the you know, my um I guess the question is if

[6:01:46] they're uh you know, if the Trump administration's posture is basically like generally speaking, we're we're open for business. Marco Rubio. We'll send little Marco over to talk to you guys or his people. >> Um I mean that's that seems to be where they're at, right? >> Yeah. >> For the time. >> I think it is. And you know, I have to >> talk to anyone but Colombia but Columbia University. >> Yeah, that's right. And I have to think that Steve Woff is not stupid. That that

[6:02:20] these talks, USRussia talks and US Iran uh Iran talks are not exclusive of one another. That there has to be a bigger idea behind it. And so >> what is that idea? um that we really can normalize normalize relations with countries that have been deemed to be enemy countries

[6:02:51] even if that normalization is solely related to trade. You know, we can end the war between Russia and Ukraine. we can lower the temperature in in US Iran relations and everybody ends up being happy or semihappy and maybe making some money. And remember I said this again I said this day before yesterday but I'll say it again >> and and Donald Trump is obsessed with winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

[6:03:24] >> The North Korea thing didn't work out for him. You notice we're not even pretending to try to talk to the North Koreans u despite the love letters from six years ago. >> So I'm I'm wondering if this is about Donald Trump's legacy. >> Yeah. Because if it's just like with North Korea, there'd be something for him to win Nobel wise if there were if there were a crisis, but there isn't. >> There isn't. No. So yeah, it's not just about like making things good again.

[6:03:56] It's got to be about fixing a war. I would think that the Russian thing would be lowhanging fruit for him. >> Yeah, that's an easy one. I agree. I agree. You just beat up on Zalinski until he finally agrees. >> He finally agrees to give up territory in exchange for peace >> and that's it. >> Yeah. >> Peace. >> Yeah, I think that's it. But Iran, I mean, that this could this could turn into something big if Donald Trump is actually serious about about pursuing

[6:04:29] some sort of normalization. >> Yeah. No, I mean, the Iran thing is long overdue. The whole thing is stupid. There's a lot of money to be made with uh I mean, but apparently at the same time, our relationship with China is China is obviously [ __ ] >> It's bad. Yeah, it's bad. >> The Chinese are really pissed. >> Yeah. >> This isn't posturing for them anymore. >> No. No, definitely not. >> And um you know, I think they feel

[6:04:59] picked on. I mean, you know, I think from their point of view, >> singled out. >> They haven't been militarily expansionist. They have been playing by all the rules. They've converted over to capitalism just the way we always said we wanted them to. We're probably regretting that now. Uh we outsourced. We They did what we wanted. We're like, "Please take our dirty industries." Uh which we don't want anymore. We're de-industrializing. You take them. We're going to outsource them. They were like, "Okay, we did everything that was out." And it's like they did everything that was asked of them. They made some money

[6:05:31] in the process and now that their economies of all weak were beating up on them. Mhm. Yes. Exactly right. >> We're kicking them when they're down and they're not liking it. I I wouldn't either. >> No, I wouldn't either. I wouldn't either. But, you know, I wonder too if the Chinese have calculated that that they can handle this kind of conflict longer than we can. >> And I I went to the Treasury Department. >> They only need to wait three years.

[6:06:02] >> Yeah. Right. They would have to wait. I don't think I don't think President Vance would continue this policy. >> I I don't either. I don't either. I don't think anybody would. >> No. >> 125% 140% tariffs. Come on, man. >> Absolutely [ __ ] our economy if they wanted to. They're the They're the second or third largest uh holder of government bonds, treasury bonds. >> Yeah. And let's face it, we have the trifecta of financial misery right now. Never have I seen um you know I used to

[6:06:33] work on Wall Street. Never have I seen stock market go down at the same time as treasury bonds and not exactly right at the same time as the dollar collapsed. >> Yes. >> Those last two are where you go when you're when equities go tits up. >> That's right. That's exactly right. >> So like and what's that about? It's because every everyone thinks that we're run by a madman >> and so they're they're running away screaming, you know. Um the the euro is is doing surprisingly well despite all

[6:07:04] of their problems over there. the uh the Greek prime minister made a statement yesterday that Donald Trump seized on um the prime minister Kiryakos Mitagis. He's a conservative um he's been prime minister for a long time since 2019 and uh he's in his second term right now. Uh but he said he told uh Gati Medini which is the New York Times partner newspaper in Athens that this isn't this situation with the tariffs.

[6:07:35] This is not the crisis that many people think it is. This was Donald Trump's demand that everybody sit down, literally everybody in the world sit down and negotiate better trade deals. He said, "Look, Donald Trump is right. There has been a trade imbalance. Um, if I were the American president, I wouldn't want these imbalances, you know, in favor of China or in favor of South Korea or in favor of of Japan, for example, or Germany. I would want

[6:08:06] something that was fairer to my people. And um and Trump said, "Well, I know him. He's a very wise man and he's he's right." And so the Greeks are kind of perplexed like, well, what do we what do we make of this? Donald Trump just complimented the prime minister. We're not sure we like that. But but you know, I think he's probably right. >> Well, I mean, that's an interesting

[6:08:36] thing, right? It's sort of like I I don't know if you had this feeling when you first took economics, probably like me in high school the first time. Uh, forcibly definitely one of my favorite subjects. So boring. Um and I was and I was a very avid student. Um but like uh when it you know the idea of the trade deficit I was like >> what is it like why is it a concern? I understand why >> why are we worried about this? >> I understand why a national debt is a problem but why do you care? I mean it's

[6:09:06] like it's like I have a trade deficit in my favor with the New York Times. They buy my things sometimes. I never you know I don't pay that much for the paper. you know, are they being screwed? I don't really think so. That's not really Or, you know, Lasso, whose name I mispronouncing and I know you pronounced correctly. >> Oh, Lutu. >> Lutu. >> Only because I knew a woman from Lutu. That's the only reason I know how to say. >> You knew the woman from Lasu. >> Yeah. The one woman. >> So, so Lasutu is like, okay. So, they

[6:09:38] have a We have It's not like the US suffered from the fact that we bought probably handiccrafts primarily from there. I heard it was raw raw textiles. >> Textiles, right? Yeah. So, >> so we're buying a lot of textiles, raw material, but that's all. Yeah. I mean, they don't have the money to buy stuff from us, so we can't sell them Lexuses or whatever. Not that ours. So, like I mean, it how does that harm us? So, it's sort of like I mean, a trade imbalance, I guess, writ large. If you're always

[6:10:08] have a trade, you don't produce anything. Yeah. then your GDP ultimately is going to drop and and then it'll be a problem. But sort of country by country, it doesn't really matter, right? Is that basically right? >> Right. Yeah. Right. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't >> I don't even know if they should have ever talked about it. It's one of those metrics that it's sort of like, you know, it's sort of like the cholesterol numbers that they made too much of. It's like actually cholesterol is not for most people really a big deal. You can have just eat some eggs if you can

[6:10:38] afford them. >> Yeah. matter. >> Right. Right. Exactly. >> So, probably we should have just been told like, "Don't worry about it." >> Yeah. No, >> it's no big deal. >> So, we're going to be watching these all these stories. We'll see. Um this is our last show for this week. We'll do we'll do one. We'll be back next week with a couple of shows, I'm sure. Um we're going to be doing uh we're going to look at see what happened in Muscat over the weekend with the Iranians. Um, that's a process that's gonna be

[6:11:09] >> It sure is. >> It's going to be Yeah, it'll take some time. Um, >> the Russians might be a little faster maybe. Um, >> I suspect they will be. Yes. >> And I I mean, when can we start seeing I guess the next step will be sanctions coming down, right? >> Fingers crossed. Trump has twice spoken about um reducing or eliminating sanctions, but he always ties it to progress uh at least uh with regard to a ceasefire. >> So, yeah, >> the proposal is out there. It's on the

[6:11:40] table, >> right? And um I guess I don't know if anyone's telling Putin like, you know, I'm sure he has smart adviserss um that are, you know, but someone I think he has smarter adviserss than Trump does. uh you know telling him like you know the the American president's getting impatient >> and you have an opportunity here with him that you might not have in the future. If I were if I were the Russians I I I'd jump on this. >> Yeah. >> You know >> agreed. >> So and you know Trump is battling the neocons in his own party.

[6:12:10] >> So he's he is I do give him credit for that. And then um and then we'll see what happens with this uh the Columbia University thing that just started at the beginning of the show. Um, and I mean I'm just I'm gonna I'm I'm so ashamed, you know. I'm Class of 91. Roar, Lion, Roar. [ __ ] those guys. >> Yeah. You know, >> it's just crazy. >> Wow. All right. >> I hope they don't buckle.

[6:12:40] >> I think the only way out is is the poison pill. >> Yeah. >> Like we'll close. >> Mhm. >> It's like you can't do that. watch us. I mean, and a school can close and reopen. Antioch College in my uh hometown of Dayton, Ohio, just Yellow Springs, just east of Dayton, they closed and reopened >> and that's and you know, you can >> I mean, you know, >> okay, good. That's a strategy. Then >> there would be an outcry massive maybe just like, well, you know, we're going

[6:13:12] to graduate our kids May 15th. That's graduation day. Um, you know, if you're if you don't have your diploma yet, you might want to transfer somewhere else. We're we're closing our doors. I mean, the the political I mean, can you imagine Mayor Adams here in New York? What he they would be like, "What?" I mean, New York Columbia University is the second largest land owner in New York City. I mean, it's a massive contributor to the economy. I mean, you can't do that. >> Yeah. >> So, I don't know. All right.

[6:13:42] >> Good luck to them >> with that. Uh I guess we will we will consider everyone to have been sufficiently deprogrammed for now. >> Thanks for joining us everybody. >> So much that you have to be deprogrammed for. You have to come back. >> Thanks everyone for uh checking us out. Uh follow us on the socials and all that. Uh please subscribe, please share, please promote it. We're trying we're independent. We're trying to make this work financially. Um, you know, maybe we'll have a big backer in the future, but in the f but in the time for the time being, we really need your help or

[6:14:14] you know, we can't do it forever. So, >> thanks everyone. >> Indeed. >> Thank you. >> Bye.
