Title: DeProgram Show with Ted Ra
Show: DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Date: 2025-11-11
URL: https://youtu.be/oE69sAdUisw
Duration: 55:00

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[00:06] Good morning and welcome to D Program with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou. It's Veterans Day, November 11th, 2025. Thank you so much for joining us. John, happy Veterans Day. >> Happy Veterans Day. You know what? And because it's Veterans Day, I want to give a shout-out to some veterans who are important to me. First of all, my dad who hated literally every second that he was in the military and made us promise not to have the VFW do the 21-gun salute at his funeral, which we did anyway. My dad, Chris Kiriakou, Corporal Chris

[00:38] Kiriakou. But I've got three cousins on my mom's side. Um Uh Zane Argeris, Zane Sofis, Michael Sofis. All of them were in the Marines. All of them were in Vietnam and were seriously like highly decorated heroes. We're all proud of them. And my brother-in-law, Spiro, who spent um several tours of duty in Iraq during the first Gulf War and the second. 100% disabled veteran because of his service. So happy Veterans Day to all those guys.

[01:11] Wow, that's that's quite a military family you have there. >> We were poor people. There was no other way out of Warren, Ohio. Well, you know, anything to get out of Warren, Ohio, for sure. >> me about it. My my father was a a civilian in the US Air Force. Before that, he made his way up to first lieutenant and then they he migrated over to the civilian and became a a very well-known aeronautical engineer. The father of the modern Air Force, if you Google him, it will say. He's got a He's got a building named after him at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

[01:42] >> Oh my heavens. Rall Hall. Wow. Nothing like rhyming. My my big veteran in my family is my is my grand my French grandfather. He's a He's a French veteran. So formerly, he was a communist in the French Resistance, but then he signed but then he uh you know, ultimately, they were merged into the FFI, the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur, and then they they're they're considered even though they were irregulars. They were brought in in 1945 and declared to have been retroactively formal members of the

[02:14] French military who qualified for pensions and the whole thing. >> name is on the Arc de Triomphe. Um >> Oh my god, Ted. >> He's He's a true hero of World War II. That's that's a bonafide hero right there. He was. Yeah. And and there are stories and then we could do an entire show, I'm sure, on either of any of our relatives just about their military service. So cool. So yeah, for for the veterans out there, thank you. I never say this. Thank you for your service, but thank you for your service. Okay, so we have a lot to talk about.

[02:46] South Asia is blowing up. We've got explosions in in both India in the in the both the capitals of India and Pakistan. Two nuclear It's never good when two nuclear powers neighboring each other who fought several wars before are blaming each other for terrorist attacks. Trump is going before the US Supreme Court. I really want to I'm curious on your thoughts about this. I have no idea what you'll think. Jean Carroll verdict. He owes her over 80 million dollars from this verdict. I had some problems with

[03:18] that verdict with that case, to say the least. >> There were a lot of unanswered questions. And it's really old. So I mean, it's hard to see how you could launch a defense or even a prosecution. And last but not least, you know, we predicted when the war in Gaza started to wind down. I think we could just say it's starting to wind down. That it wouldn't take long before the before atrocities started coming to light. That's already happening. The ITF IDF soldiers who feel awful about what

[03:50] they were told to do or what they saw other soldiers do are starting to testify about what they did and what they saw. And they said that there was just This is not surprising, but it's it's good to have it on record that it was a free-for-all. That they were told that you could pretty much just shoot anyone between 20 and 40, especially if they were a male just for walking around. If they were walking too slow, they were a target. If they were walking too fast, they were a target. If they were two one person lagging behind two others, they were a target. So

[04:21] Anyway, as always, if you're in the group chat in the live chat in Rumble or on YouTube, please chime in with your questions and everything. Um Salone, and thank you for your donations over on YouTube. We are we funded. Just a reminder, we don't need any more money for Robbie, although it's more than welcome. I will put up that URL in a second. But Robbie is fully funded for the month of November and thank you very much for your support there. Thanks for the two bucks, Tobby J. Happy Veterans Day to

[04:51] you, too. So 2324, thanks again for the generous contribution of 20 bucks. Happy Veterans Day to all who served. Do we think Sergey Lavrov is in a gulag right now? And do you think Putin was nervous because of his influence? I don't I don't think he's in a gulag. I don't think Putin was nervous. I think there is something something happened. Something was said or done that seems to have pushed

[05:22] Lavrov out of the you know, the innermost circle. Temporarily, [snorts] maybe. I don't know. But no, I don't think so. I don't think Lavrov's in any kind of danger. I think the worst thing that could happen to him is that he's he's told that it's time to retire. He's old. >> He's old, yeah. And he you know, he's not wearing his age as well as Putin is. So >> No, that's right. I'm going to look to see how old Lavrov is. I'd have to I'd have to say he's 75. >> Oh, I was going to say 72, but he doesn't look like he and vodka are total

[05:53] strangers. >> Yeah, I would agree with that. Um >> Yeah. Hyperneurotic over on the Rumble chat, thank you for the five bucks. Semper Fidelis, happy Veterans Day. Best show around, praying that John gets a pardon and a presidential Medal of Freedom. You're as much of a veteran as us. Angel Follow Law, thank you for the five bucks, also. Um and I got to give Rebellious Rainbow Unicorn her props here. Sorry, Manya the Cat, also. Manya the Cat said not to spoil the mood, but I I shudder every time Vietnam

[06:25] War veteran is celebrated. My parents had to evacuate Hanoi many times because of the bombings as infants. Fair. That is fair. Yeah, that's fair. Uh okay, so let's get to it. What do we want to talk about first? Let's talk about India and Pakistan because that looks like it's getting worse by the hour. Yeah. So yesterday, we talked briefly about about this bombing in Delhi that killed

[06:55] people, that injured a lot. And we speculated based on nothing but our own analysis that it was probably Kashmiri separatists. I think at this point, it doesn't really matter who it was. Other than whoever it was needs to back off because things are going to get worse quickly. In the meantime, the Pakistani Taliban, which is a an indigenous Pakistani group that allies itself with the Afghan Taliban because it says that the Pakistani government is

[07:27] not Islamic enough, launched an attack in Islamabad >> [clears throat] >> aimed solely at civilians. And it's like What is it? A dozen dead and two dozen wounded so far. This is the first attack directed solely against civilians in more than 10 years. But this is what the Pakistani Taliban and ISIS-K do in Pakistan. They will attack Shia Muslim mosques. Mhm. >> They'll attack police stations. They

[07:58] tried to attack a month ago um a a training academy for for teenage police cadets. They were They were repulsed in Pakhtunkhwa, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but what used to be called the Northwest Frontier Province. So this is this is not looking good on either side. The Pakistani government immediately blamed India for this attack, saying that it was India that supported the Pakistani Taliban. Of course, the

[08:29] Indians are blaming the Pakistanis for the bombing in Delhi. And as you said in the intro, Ted, when the two sides are nuclear powers, nothing good can come of this. They need to start talking and maybe working together and coming to an agreement to not not arm, train, and finance terrorist groups that are attacking each other. Right. [snorts] Well, I mean, Pakistan, I thought was really interesting, but their spin was that they actually blamed

[08:59] India for Afghan They They said it's Afghans who work with the Pakistani Taliban. Um that is 92% probably not true, right? >> Yeah, I would think so, yeah. Yeah, okay. >> Because what do they get out of it? What do they accomplish out of this? You You go You go to you know, whatever, a hotel or In this case, it was a court building. And you blow yourself up and kill two dozen people. Okay. What What do you get out of that? No No policies are going to

[09:30] change. Your cousin's not going to be released from prison. It's It's just it's just murder. Senseless murder. There's nothing else you can call it. Although, I mean, you know, to to play devil's advocate, you know, this was part of the this was a big part of the war against US occupation forces in Afghanistan for 20 years was exactly those kind of just tactics that pre you know, that never existed in Afghanistan before 2001, right? That was suicide

[10:00] bombing was not a thing in in Afghanistan. They They did every other kind of war >> That's right. >> but not that. Um and and and seems like that tactic, you know, sort of like it came out of Iraq, it migrated into South Asia, and now it's here say, but obviously there's been like there was the the the attack at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. I mean, this has been a a back-and-forth thing generally speaking Pakistan has always tended to be more guilty of this. Yeah. overwhelmingly,

[10:32] right? Yes. And then India's to me where you blame India is that they tend have a tendency to turn up the temperature, right? Like the government of Prime Minister Modi is you know, basically you know, he he's a nationalist and this plays into his narratives about, you know, and using Pakistan as the bette noire. And you know, I mean it's I got to say, you know, when you when you go to India, right? Like you you'll people will say they hate Gandhi because he presided

[11:03] over the partition and we're still [ __ ] fighting over this [ __ ] now. And it's it's just you're right. I mean, what ultimately needs to happen is for India and Pakistan to get together and and cut the [ __ ] Um Yes. you know, and and they're also kind of I think unwittingly being used as proxies by without any question. Yes. So Yes. Yes, definitely. I agree with that completely. So it's well we're we're going to follow that. You know, there were two incidents

[11:35] in Pakistan by the way, right? The the district court in Islamabad was blown up the outside. 12 people died, 27 injured right in the middle of the lunch hour. Um and you know, that that almost certainly is you know, I would say Pakistani Taliban, right? Almost certainly. Um but the I don't think India had anything to do with it. Um the Red Fort thing, I mean, you know, they're they're going to they're going to react to this with sort of a post 9/11 kind of attitude. They just invoked

[12:06] Modi just invoked the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act which allows basically the suspension of civil liberties under Indian law, a lot more spying on Indian citizens and so on. So this is a great opportunity for it's like a Reichstag fire kind of crackdown. Man, this is not good. India and Pakistan are no strangers to to scrapping it out. But again, they both have nuclear weapons. And I'm going to go on record again, despite what the Pakistani media is saying about me,

[12:39] the Pakistanis will get their asses kicked in a in a conventional war. Well, they have every single time, right? The Pakistanis have mixed it up with the Indians on three separate occasions. That's right. Most recently, it's very personal for me, John, cuz I was literally there. I helped break the story of the Kargil conflict. It was an it was an accident. I mean, my my friend Cole and I were on a bus on the Karakoram Highway. We crossed the border from Xinjiang in China on the bus and the first thing

[13:10] that we noticed was that on the Pakistani side of the border, the border outpost was abandoned. Um you never see that. It was just it's a it's a trailer with like a Pakistani flag on it. And we walked inside and they were gone and it's like it's like the movie where the teacup was still warm and the guy had taken off. And we we drove for the better part of 24 hours before we encountered any human beings. And then finally we started seeing Afghan Taliban, you know, this is 1999,

[13:42] marching along the side of the streets and then came into a little village and there had just been some kind of battle there, a small battle. There's some dead cows and some dead, you know, some some a few dead bodies. And then we just kept going. saw and then it was like, oh god, the Taliban are here. And it's like we're in Afghan we're in Pakistan. This is the northern areas as they called it at the time. >> felt so far from home as I did there. Oh my god. >> Never anywhere in the world did I feel so far away from home as the Northwest Frontier Province. Agreed. And we got

[14:13] pulled off the bus and they were like by the Taliban. And and I and they were like, you should know better than to come to to Afghanistan. I said, this isn't Afghanistan, this is Pakistan. And he goes, it's Afghanistan now. Oh my god. >> was right at the same time that right like basically a week later when I was in Islamabad, Musharraf overthrew the the Sharif government and turned out that Musharraf appears to have made some kind of deal with the Taliban to basically open the

[14:44] border and allow the Taliban to come in and fight the Indians as proxies and that started this high altitude 1999 third Kashmir war aka the Kargil conflict. Um And it was just like but again, the Pakistanis never stood a chance. You know. >> No, they didn't stand a chance. No. You know, what what is dangerous right now well, it's and it's what was dangerous in the in past conflicts as well is that the the the Taliban government

[15:16] and the Indians are very friendly. Very friendly. Do you remember it must have been 2002, I guess. I know what you're going to say. About the big bombing in Afghanistan? Mhm. At the Indian Embassy? I mean, the crater was 30 ft deep. Yeah. Yeah. And and but there's been there's been ties, right? I mean, like for example, there was the Air India flight that was hijacked to Taliban Afghanistan and the Taliban took care of

[15:48] it. Um I've always thought it was a curious relationship because, you know, it is called the Hindu Kush mountains, Right. >> of Hindus. You know, I mean it's weird like the Afghans really seem to you know, they don't they really hate the everything that the Indians are about in terms of their religion and all that, but they don't seem to dislike the Indian people that much. I think that's exactly right. Yes. And and of course their culture is all over the place, right? Like all of

[16:19] the Bollywood movies are all over Sometimes before they're released in in India, they the bootlegs make their way to Afghanistan. It's the craziest thing. John, the first movie I saw that was ever released after the fall of the Taliban was playing at a movie theater in Kabul. I saw it open and it was I was driving by in a taxi and it was AK-47 which was a Bollywood movie. And I was and the and the guy in the taxi

[16:50] driver completely stone-faced goes, I love that movie. I feel like I could it really talks to me. And I'm like, you're Afghan, of course AK-47 speaks to you. The country's awash in them. >> [laughter] >> I you know, I was I know that you know this, but I was sent to Afghanistan by Paramount Pictures in 2007 to rescue these children who had appeared in the movie The Kite Runner

[17:23] and their families because so many Afghans are so simple that they didn't know the difference between a movie and reality. They they thought that when they saw these bootleg copies of The Kite Runner that this was this was a depiction of reality and they set out to kill the children who appeared in the movie. And so the studio had to get them out. Yeah, Afghans are not complicated >> [laughter] >> sophisticated individuals.

[17:54] >> No, not they're but they're wild they but they I have a they have like a there's something about them that I love is that they're the only people I've ever met and there may be others on the planet cuz I've hardly been everywhere, but they have the these wild eyes. Like they're wild. Like they're they're like they have something in in that human beings don't have anywhere else that's been like tamed out of us. You know what I mean? Like this sort of like ferocity. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, they're perfectly happy to pick up that AK-47 >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> and say, what did you just say?

[18:26] Totally. Yeah. And and I love their their dark cynicism, too. I mean, I was looking for an old fixer from nine years previous and the guy's like, how long's it been? And I go, nine years. He goes, nine years? He's probably dead. This is Afghanistan. Oh my god. >> [laughter] >> And he was serious, too. Oh my god. It's it's pretty crazy. All right, so let's see here. We have I'm trying to I'm just trying to like We

[18:57] By the way, we get Robbie back on Monday and not a day too soon, I got to say. And Robbie's in the chat. Robbie, we love you. We we need you. Can't do it without you. Well, we can do it without you, just not well. Um Anyways, do we do we want to talk about E. Jean Carroll? Yeah, let's talk about E. Jean Carroll. All right, so E. Jean Carroll, obviously, she was the writer for various magazines. She was a columnist in New York City. >> [snorts] >> Um and back in the mid-90s, she ran into Donald Trump. This part's all

[19:29] like not in question. She ran into Donald Trump in the street like an episode of Sex and the City. And it's like, hey Donald. And somehow they decided to walk to Bergdorf Goodman together. Maybe she was going to shop, maybe he was going to shop, but one decided to tag along with the other. One thing led to another. They end up in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, which if you're not familiar with New York City, is a huge luxurious Fifth Avenue department store. And you know, you

[20:00] might be thinking about like say Macy's or or someplace like that. It's not like that. Um so the the dressing >> example, I'm sorry to interrupt you. RT gave me a ton of money a few years ago because I lost all this weight and they told me, "Here's $10,000, go buy new clothes." Nice. Yeah, it was very generous of them. So I went out and I bought a bunch of clothes. I happen to be in New York and I went to Bergdorf Goodman's. Mhm. And I was just looking for a couple of polo shirts. Just regular polo shirts. Right.

[20:30] >> $700 per polo shirt. In the '80s, I went shopping for a pillow and I accidentally bumped bumped into there cuz I was working at a bank nearby. And the pillows were 400 bucks. And they weren't special. They're not like, you know, they don't they don't give you oral sex. It's like they're just pillows. I >> [laughter] >> was like, what the [ __ ] >> Oh my god. No, yeah. So and also, so this is key to the story. And anyway, by all by all accounts, Carol and uh well,

[21:01] not Trump. Trump claims that he didn't even know her. Right. >> We know that's not true. >> It's not true. And uh that basically there's no question. They ended up in that in that uh in that room together. Uh they fooled around. Um she said that there was uh penetrated Basically, she was all in until he wanted penetrated uh penetrated sex. That happened against her will. So she said she'd been raped. She kept it all to herself, although she did contemporaneously uh mention it to a few friends. And uh

[21:32] and within the you know, a year or two after the incident. And then uh and then years later um you know, during the whole lawfare period uh during the Biden administration, I guess Carol probably thought this was her chance. Who knows? What Who knows why? Maybe it was simply a matter of like I finally had enough and I'm going to sue. Long story short, she sues him. And obviously, the statute of limitations has long expired. But she sues him in civil court. New York State had just passed That's probably why she did it.

[22:03] Uh outgoing Governor Cuomo had just signed a one-year window for old eliminating the temporarily suspending the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits uh related to sexual misconduct in New York State. >> Yeah. >> Um so she filed that suit. That's probably why. And um And she won. Uh she kicked his ass six ways till Sunday. Um and so she was, you know, this is a civil suit based on the preponderance of the evidence, which means that the jury has to think more or less that it's 50%

[22:35] likely to have happened. Um this ultimately $5 million jury finding of sexual abuse and defamation, the defamation being that he denied that it happened. >> Right. And the $83 million defamation add-on when he appealed, the judge said, "Oh, you didn't think $5 million is enough? Uh we'll give you $83 million more." So he owes her nearly $90 million. He's in front of the US Supreme Court, John. Um I don't know what happens there and I am going to

[23:06] speculate and say I don't know that there's been any very many credible uh you know, allegations of actual rape against Donald Trump. Um creepiness up the ass, but not not rape. Um So >> the same way. But I have a serious [ __ ] problem with the fact that any human being in the United States can be dragged before a court more than 25 years after an alleged incident when it's absolutely impossible to gather, you know, evidence, um to gather

[23:39] witnesses. Uh you know, if if he had a Let's say he wasn't there. Yeah. >> be way to How is he going to be able to prove that he has an alibi, right? Like, "Oh, I was actually in Florida that weekend." or whatever. I mean, he can't He There's just no way to defend yourself. And when you're in a civil suit, you really kind of need to defend yourself. It's not really like the burden of proof is all on the accuser. >> Mhm. So um he's What do you think is I think I know what's going to happen here, but I think the Supremes are going

[24:09] to toss it. What do you think? I think the Supremes are going to toss it as well. You know, the Supreme Court doesn't like to get involved in these kind of more petty he said, she said things. They get involved where there are major and serious constitutional issues at play. And there's no constitutional issue at play here. I think that I think that this jury award is outrageous. They did it They did it at this number because it's

[24:40] Donald Trump and he has plenty of money. But um Yeah. And also, he it was like it was like the time to gang up on Donald Trump and it was It was. Yes, but I I don't think the Supreme Court is going to be at all interested in this kind of a case. I mean, could they just um could they just refuse to hear it? Oh, yeah. In fact, they refuse to hear 90-something percent of cases. Mhm. Yeah. Anybody, literally anybody can appeal anything to the Supreme Court. And a little factoid, you don't have to go

[25:12] through the process of going to the district court, then the circuit court, then the Supreme Court. You can just go straight to the Supremes. Another factoid that people don't know is that your your appeal is not based on the justice or injustice of the lower court decision. >> That's right. >> on a constitutional question. So you have It's a very short brief usually. And you basically just go to the court and you say, uh what happened here um raises uh some unresolved constitutional question that we would like you, the court, to weigh

[25:43] in on. That's right. >> And so I don't know what constitutional issue there would be. Is it statute of limitations or I don't know. But even that >> me would be the defa- I don't know if it's a constitutional issue, but like I think it's like sophistry to say that denying guilt in a case can uh can open you up to a defamation claim. I mean, at that rate, I mean, literally Why I have to >> half of all everyone who's accused of a crime who denies it is guilty of perjury

[26:14] and defamation against the victim, right? It doesn't make any sense to me at all. None. Yeah, it's it's So we'll see, but on on the other hand, I don't know that there's a constitutional issue. >> No. He should probably just pay the money and move on. Just move on. I don't know. If if he didn't do it, I wouldn't pay. My My mom taught me never admit to anything you didn't do. >> can seize, you know, a building or something. Well, John, so here Here's a Here's a question. Uh thank you very much, Toby, for your five Australian

[26:45] dollars. Um I think he might need six Australian >> [laughter] >> dollars to answer this question, John. Based on all your CIA training and frontline experience, what have you learned to be the most profound truths, plural, about human nature? That's a big [ __ ] question. >> It's a big question and I'm going to be some something of a downer here and say that um that human nature is an ugly thing. This is what I discovered, that people will

[27:16] do hideous things if they believe that they are the good guys in a conflict. And you can never trust that a person's humanity will will control their uglier impulses. I saw people do horrible things. We were going out for a raid one night in Pakistan. Uh there was this guy, Dan, who was working for me. And I liked Dan. He was a nice enough guy. Um and I said, "Dan, strap up. Let's go. We got to get going." Like, "Where's

[27:46] your gun?" And he said, "Oh, I can't go." I said, "Why not?" He said, "I'm not allowed to carry a gun." I said, "Why?" He said, "I beat my wife." I was like, "Oh, okay." So he didn't go. Because there's a rule at the CIA, if you're accused credibly of beating your wife or beating your spouse, you can't carry a gun. And if you can't carry a gun, you can't go on the raid. So he just kind of sat back at the office and waited for us to come back. Um and that was a little thing. Otherwise, you know, I I've said many many many times that

[28:17] the CIA committed atrocities, crimes against humanity. And and I've called out the people who did it. But my my ugly conclusion is that people will default to the war crime rather than to default to doing the right thing. That's the ugliest thing I've learned about human nature. It's uh yeah, I I was you know, when you when you said that, I was literally just thinking, you know, I love to collect propaganda and and military ephemera. And the belt buckle, I don't have one

[28:49] yet. Uh but the Nazi belt buckle said in German, right? Like God is with us. God is on our side. And it has the swastika on it. And everybody thinks that like if, you know, they're if if it's supporting their side, they can do whatever they want and they want and it it's justified. Yeah. >> Um you know, in the in the course of a quote-unquote higher calling. Um very very good question here. Um Jennifer PO is asking why we didn't talk about uh the fact that Nicolas Sarkozy

[29:22] Yes. >> of got out of the can yesterday. >> He was only in for like a week, wasn't he? >> Three weeks. Okay. Probably felt like two and a half. All right. >> [laughter] >> He was in so- He was in solitary, apparently, the entire time. >> Uh you would have to be. And they Really? Why? Just because he's so high profile? >> his ass kicked otherwise. I mean, who wouldn't want to be the guy who, you know, beat Nicolas Sarkozy so badly that his eyeball popped out or something? He does have a very punchable face, too. Yeah, he does. And he's a very small man.

[29:52] And you know, people think of France as like this really like sort of mellow, but the prisons are are have a terrible reputation there. Um you know, it's it's very dangerous. Um So, I could So, I I'm I don't even understand why the [ __ ] they released him, right? Basically, it's like his defense team basically just said, "Please release him pending trial." And they said, "Okay." And that's it. I mean, it's it I guess it's sort of like it's France, it's class, membership

[30:23] has its privileges. May I ask you something, too? Several times when explaining my legal situation Mhm. to Europeans, I'll give you an example. One night I I was invited to speak at the Luxembourg Film Festival. Bunch of us went out afterwards, and I happen to be sitting next to the Minister of Justice of Luxembourg. Guy was like half my age. But, he went on and on about the French system, that how how far superior the French legal system was to what we had

[30:55] in the United States or what the Brits have in the UK. And he said he said something very interesting. I have no idea if it's true, but I'm hoping you can tell me. He said that the job of the attorneys, both the prosecuting attorneys and the defense attorneys, is to get to the truth. Yes. And so, they'll they'll do the investigation together. Mhm. Then, they'll negotiate, you know, a deal, or if they can't negotiate the deal, then it goes to trial. Is that true? That is true. And in fact, the formal term is uh for a trial is that it's a judicial inquiry.

[31:27] This goes back to um the to the Napoleonic code, right? Um and and the idea is like prob- I really am sad that it's not yet available in the United States, but an officer and a spy, which is the most uh recent um film by Oh my god, uh you know, the disgraced director Oh, um uh um Roman Polanski. Yeah, Polanski. It's Polanski's most recent movie. It came out um I think in 2019 or something. It's been banned in the West and the United States because uh you know,

[31:57] because he was Me Too'd so ferociously, but the movie's fantastic. Um and it's based on the Dreyfus affair and the Dreyfus trial, and they showed this process of of how it's a it's a it's a I mean, obviously he was railroaded, but it is a it is and that's part of what what went wrong was that like there was misconduct on the part of the prosecution. They weren't really interested in the truth, as Jack Nicholson would say. Mhm. And uh the But, that is how the system is supposed to work. Obviously, you

[32:29] know, uh the hum- human beings, you know, err. But, yeah, no, I mean, that is that's the ideal. I mean, the I you know, it's it's not really adversarial uh the way ours is. I mean, in our system, you basically spin the facts in accordance with your side of the equation. Uh you know, if if you're a defense attorney, your your your client is pure as the driven snow. If you're the prosecutor, they're the devil. It's not like that there. It's more like we we want to find out what actually happened here. Now, that said, there's

[33:00] one thing that I really hate about the French system, which is you have no presumption of innocence. So Interesting. That's that's pretty ugly. Yeah. Pre- I mean, actually, presumption of innocence is kind of rare in uh in the world's legal systems. It's It's one of the things that used to make the United States special. Wow. That's rough. Oh, well, and I I don't know if you if Well, Anna Kirk- Sally Kirkland, who's an actress just died. >> just saw that. Yeah, she was in The Sting. I remember her in The Sting. She

[33:30] was quite good. The Sting is, you know, one of those movies I've been meaning to go back to. I saw it when it came out when I was a kid, like 10 years old. You are going to love it as much as you did the first time you saw it. I just rewatched it like in the last year, and I was like, "Dang, I forgot what a great movie this was." >> Robert Redford and Paul Newman. So good. Yeah. Yeah. Got to got to see it again. All right. So, I was just I I did the Sorry to get off track, but I did the Dalton Fisher podcast yesterday. It's going to come out next week. And we got sidetracked onto the onto the subject of movies, uh

[34:02] specifically science fiction movies. Mhm. And um he he he had never heard of Soylent Green. What? That's what I said. Are you kidding me? >> [laughter] >> I said, "It's one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made and one of the most important films of the 1970s." And he said, "Oh my god, I love 70s and 90s movies. They were so great." I said, "Yeah, but especially 70s movies." Even my kids bought me this coffee table book

[34:33] called called The Stewardesses Flying the Plane, Movies of the 1970s. Um and I told him what Soylent Green was all about, and he's like, "Oh my god, it sounds great." I said, "Well, I looked it up while we were talking. I said, "It's available on Amazon Prime. You have to pay $3.99 for it, but it's worth the the $3.99." And [snorts] I said, "The only thing they got wrong, because, you know, this took place in the in the far future, 19 I'm sorry, 2015 it took place in 2015.

[35:05] So, [snorts] they're imagining all these different things. Uh Charlton Heston worked in what they called the megalopolis, which was just this giant city from Boston to Washington. You couldn't tell when you leave one city you enter the next Oh, that's kind of like analogous to what they're the Saudis are building, right? >> Yes. That crazy A giant city outside Jeddah. It's called The Line, I think. >> Yeah, The Line, cuz it's all in a line, cuz they have to supply water to it. So, um I said, "The only thing they got wrong was, you know, they're in these they're

[35:35] in these police cars that sort of float, you know, they're like almost like spaceships. They float just off the ground. You don't need tires, that kind of thing." >> Hovercraft, yeah. Hovercraft, but every time Charlton Heston needed to talk to his police station, he had to pull over and use a payphone. >> [laughter] >> It's so funny. Uh John, I'm going to put up this question then and then read an ad uh while you think about it. This is from Fuso. Thanks for the buck. Does Egyptian intel work with Mossad like as in international uh assassinations?

[36:08] And I'm going to go ahead and uh and hit this ad. Here we go. Okay. Um this is uh oldie but a goodie. Still haven't tried 1775 coffee? Now's your shot. The 1775 starter kit just dropped, only 1,000 units. You're getting the bold dark roast that hits hard, the smooth medium roast, and the vitality mushroom coffee for clean energy and laser focus, no crash. All single origin, small batch, toxin-free, and mold-free. Plus, you're also getting a gold spoon clip, because freedom isn't scooped with plastic, a frother strong enough to stir up your

[36:38] coffee and your mother-in-law's opinions, and a black 1775 tumbler. $170 worth of coffee and gear yours for $99. This is for the ones who've been watching through 1775 blow up on Rumble wondering if it's actually worth it. Spoiler, it is. Go to 1775coffee.com/studio and grab your starter kit before they're gone. Bold beans, clean fuel, and a morning routine that stands for something just like Rumble does. John. Um we were talking about uh Mossad and Egypt. Uh there is uh surface

[37:10] cooperation between Mossad and the Egyptian uh GID, the General Intelligence Directorate, where GID will tell Mossad, "Look, you've got a problem with some Palestinians at the Rafah Crossing. Palestinians in Cairo are talking about an attack." You know, stuff like that. Basic immediate threat information. Mhm. They don't like each other. They don't trust each other. They cooperate when they absolutely have to cooperate. But, as as for joint operations, especially lethal

[37:41] operations, absolutely not. Uh Will Will over on the Rumble feed, thanks for the $2. I was kind of disappointed that Turkey issues they still have a plan a chance to play a role there? >> You know, I was actually surprised that that the Turks filed these charges. They know that nothing's going to come of these charges. They know that no country's going to snatch Netanyahu and turn him over to the ICC. I was surprised because, you're right,

[38:12] Turkey had been discussed very recently as

[38:45] being one of those countries that that that likely would play a large role in Gaza, whether it was peacekeeping or redevelopment or whatever. And now, I mean, politically the Israelis are going to have to keep the Turks out. I'm not really sure why they did that, unless it was just a kind of a cynical move by Erdogan to to shore up his um his conservative base. Otherwise, I don't see what the Turks get out of making a decision like that. Jennifer PO points out about French criminal law, procedure is traditionally

[39:18] written presented as written, secret, and non-adversarial. But, this law was changed a long time ago. Yeah, so maybe that's like that's why it's still in the Dreyfus affair affair movie. Um Jennifer continues, "There was no presumption of in of innocence in France when your dad lived there, grandfather, actually. But, post-2002, thanks to the Guigou law, uh named after Elisabeth Guigou, that has changed." time. Um Let's let's see. Uh

[39:49] Let's see. Oh, there was some couple there are a couple of questions if you don't mind. >> Yes, please. That's what I wanted to get to. There there's an easy one first. Um John, another SEAL Team Six guy came forward from the UBL raid and gave more praise to Alfreda Bikowsky. Did you ever work with her? If so, was she as good as described? I worked hand in glove with Alfreda Bikowsky. She was my immediate boss when I was the chief of the counterintelligence branch at the uh Alex Station.

[40:19] Um I don't want to say too much. My own personal belief, is she that good? Yeah, if the if the point is to is to kill people, yes, she's very good at killing people. Um I believe that she was a monster. I believe that Alfreda was guilty of crimes against humanity, and I don't I don't use the term lightly. Um I would not want Alfreda coming after me if I were you know, an Arab. Uh because you're going to end up on a slab in a morgue. Uh but

[40:50] Alfreda is not not my cup of tea. Uh that was number one. The other one was, "Hey guys, I have a two-part question for you both. How do you guys follow the news? What medium do you use? And how do you analyze it? How do you find all the outcomes and sift through them?" You [snorts] want to You want to tackle that one first? >> Sure. Um yeah, I mean, in in my case, uh main- mainly I read the news on my phone. I I go through um you know, I everything every news source that's basically free and in the English or

[41:21] French languages, I scan every day. Um sort of my generic is the Google News, but then I'll look at AP, uh Reuters, The Guardian, uh TF124, the French uh TV network. Um I think it's always good to have a the foreign uh thing. Always got to do the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, uh well, you know, Washington Post, New York Post is actually an important source. Um And uh you know, I try I I do not really

[41:51] do social media. A lot of people are getting their news through social media feeds. I just don't trust it. I find like there's too much much to get through. I'm old. I'm 62 years old. So, for me, I I like I still look at branded news outlets. And then like how do I analyze it? Um my brain kind of has you know, I remember we learned like in the 1970s, John, that like Soviet citizens like learned to read between the lines, and they would compare like Yes. to Izvestia and look Yes. the [clears throat] consistencies and the inconsistency. And you And that's

[42:22] sort of what you have to do now because it's you know, it's always as we you and I talked about on your old show when I guested on it, um is that it's not what they say, it's what they don't say. It's always what they leave out, right? Yeah. There there's a always stuff that's like context-free, historic free of his of history that that they just don't mention. And so to me, it's about I have a good memory, and I remember most of what I've read, and I and it and I can compare it. So

[42:53] that said, I'm sure I'm being lied to and falling for some lies, no question about it. That's my That's my short answer. I uh do just about the same as Ted. I actually get up every morning early just so I could read the papers. I'll tell you where I start. Um I start with Google News, then I go to the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Don't criticize me. I know it's a right-wing paper and they're on strike. Then I go to CNN, Associated

[43:24] Press, Fox, Politico, The Hill, the New York Post. Then I read the Greek papers, and then I read um well, the Telegraph and The Guardian. The Telegraph I have I actually have a subscription to. The London Evening Standard. Then I check some of the lesser ones, uh Raw Story, BBC, Al Jazeera, Al Monitor, Electronic Intifada. And then I look to see what my friends are writing at Consortium News. And I've got Axios there in case something's breaking. They're They oftentimes break um new news.

[43:55] And then I'm ready for the show. Gregory Batiste CFA, thanks for the five bucks and the laugh. Uh here's five bucks for a copy of the LA Times for Ted. [laughter] Mhm. Well, my my my ass is a little itchy, so I probably missed some spots this morning, so thank you for that. And some poppy seeds for John. Uh Evil Robot >> Just what I need for my next drug test. No, I'm not drug tested anymore. Just kidding. >> Evil Robot Army, five bucks. Thank you for that. What do What do we What do we think about Gavin Newsom? When AIPAC was

[44:27] mentioned on The Young Turks a few weeks ago, haven't heard you mention it. I I didn't see him on The Young Turks. I've I've got a bias against Gavin Newsom. I think he has DNC written all over him. I think he's sort of faking things right now to make himself look like he's kind of an independent progressive. I don't trust the guy. I don't like him. I don't like that Hollywood smile that he has. I hate that he banged his best friend's wife. Not cool at all.

[44:59] But so far, he's pretty much all the Democrats have. Totally agree with that, and I have a personal grudge against Gavin Newsom cuz he [ __ ] me in the LA Times. >> he did. Um Dr. Strangelove7739, John, can the CIA pressure American businessmen who live overseas to cooperate in spying against a foreign country? >> Of course, and they do it every day. Absolutely yes. That's why they have this thing called the National Resources Division. They go up to you and they say, "Listen, you're American, we're

[45:30] CIA, you're a patriot, we really need for you to do X, Y, and Z for us." They always say yes. So yeah, that's that's an easy one. Oh, yeah. Why do they always say yes? Why wouldn't they say No one ever says, "I'm familiar with the history of your agency and how you burn people, and I don't want to be burned, so thank you, but no, thank you." >> See, that's what you and I would say. But people think it's cool, it's clandestine, it's exciting. You can whisper to your buddies, you know, over beers, "Hey, the CIA approached me. I'm

[46:01] working with them right now on this cool thing." They always say yes. Ego. Yep. Uh Scary Girl, um okay, sorry, that that's an accidental one. Oh, uh is there any chance of the French monarchy being restored? No. >> [laughter] >> Same with the Greek monarchy. How come? First of all, they didn't even speak Greek. Oh, where are they from? From Denmark. That's it Monarchy is so European monarchy is so

[46:32] strange, right? Could you imagine a scenario where say the the emperor of China is from, you know, Vietnam. Like, no. >> [laughter] >> No. Or the Philippines. >> No. But but royalty was imposed on Greece uh in in 1821 upon um the uh the start of the revolution against the Ottoman Empire. And uh the first king of Greece was named Otto. As which isn't even a

[47:02] Greek name. They had to Hellenize it by calling him Othonas, which is the Greek version of Otto. He was Bavarian. He was a minor minor German prince. Um he was a cousin of Queen Victoria. So, they put him on the throne. We hated him. He was king for like 30 years, never bothered to learn how to speak Greek. So, he would give his pronouncements in German and have a translator translate it. He finally went on vacation to Germany one year, and the Greeks told him, "Don't bother coming

[47:33] back because if you do, we're going to hang you from a tree." And so he never came back. So then, Queen Victoria >> a mistake when you're a monarch to leave the country. >> Always. So, Queen Victoria imposed another king on us. Um this was a a minor Danish prince, became king of Greece. Um he actually was he served for a long time. His son became the king. His son was bitten by a monkey. Uh he was he was in Thessaloniki. This

[48:05] guy had a pet monkey. The king said, "Can I pet your monkey?" He went to pet him. The monkey bit him. And the the bite got infected, and he died of sepsis. That's so [ __ ] weird. >> [laughter] >> So, his brother became the king, promptly got the Greeks in World War I on the wrong side. Um it's a long story, but finally in 1967, when the military junta overthrow the overthrew the democratic government, they also overthrew the royal family.

[48:36] The royal family fled first to well, first to Cairo, then Rome, and then they settled in London. When I was living in London, I would see the king the exiled king in the front row, the front pew at church. And there were these rules like you can't talk to the king. I was like, "I don't want to talk to the freaking king. I don't I don't believe in royalty." So, I never said anything. Well, you don't believe that God personally annoys some random [ __ ] to take over a country. Yeah, sorry, but no, I sure don't. So, um

[49:06] the the royal family there was a plebiscite, a national referendum in 1975 after the military was overthrown, and Greece reinstated its dem- its democracy. Um and the royal family got I forget, 10%? 5%? Something like that. So, they did away with the with the royal family, and they confiscated all of their property, which was a really nice move. And so now they're renovating the weekend palace. It's called Tatoi.
