Title: Club Med Gaza / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou
Show: DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Date: 2026-01-23
URL: https://youtu.be/0D-L8O6cuwI
Duration: 59:00

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[00:10] Good morning and happy Friday. You're watching Drogram with Ted R and John Kuryaku as John and I brace for the big snowstorm. >> Seriously, man. >> I did I tell you night before last my son and I went to Home Depot. Well, I I can't find my scraper for my windshield. Oh, I always lose those. >> I must have like five of them. Seriously? >> Yeah, they're probably buried in the back recesses of your trunk under >> They probably are. So So we went to uh to Target and Target the the shelves

[00:41] were literally bare. It was like it was like CO all over again. So it's just diagonally from across the street from the Home Depot. So we went there and mind you, this is this is like 9:00 on a Wednesday night. We couldn't find a parking space at the Home Depot, first of all. >> So, we had to park where they have sort of taken the parking spaces and they use it for storage. You know how Home Depots do. >> Yeah. >> So, we went in and there's a guy holding a container of of salt, rock salt. And I

[01:13] said, "Excuse me, can you tell me where you got the salt?" He said, "Very back of aisle four, and you better get back there fast." We were like, "What?" So, we ran back there. It's a mob of people. And as quickly as this poor hapless like 70year-old stock clerk is pulling the salt out of the boxes, people are just grabbing them out of his hand. So, I got three containers, three eight pound containers, and they're in my trunk. I gave my son one. I'm going to give a

[01:44] friend of mine one, and I've got one for my car just in case. But, man, and the models are different. And I mentioned yesterday they haven't changed, at least this morning when I first woke up, they hadn't changed, but it was um the American model and the American AI model are saying um 8 to 12 in for us, but then the European model is saying um uh 20 21 to 26 in here. Let me look right now. Uh yeah, we're

[02:15] looking now at at 8 to 10 according to >> Do we know which which one do you happen to know which one tends to be more accurate? >> I remember downloading this one because the other one was inaccurate. So I'm going to say 8 to 10 8 to 12 and we'll be >> I swear by Acue weather. It's my it's my favorite weather app. >> Yeah. Um you know I like I mean it's it's almost unearly where this is the weather channel. They'll say like, you know, snow stops in 17 minutes and then

[02:46] it does. Yeah. >> Okay. I'm going to I'm going to download it right now. >> So, I think we're expecting over a foot um I guess 1 foot and 4 in in New York City and more in the surrounding areas. And it's going to be coupled with ice and severe cold temperatures. Um you know, it's going to be wind chills tonight below zero in New York City. uh and actual temperatures of like single digits in New York City. Like over the weekend, >> we have um uh low of 17, high of 18.

[03:19] >> Well, at least you know what the temperature is going to be. It's not one of those like, oh, like California, like we need layers. No, not not so much. Um well, it's gonna it's uh it's cold in Gaza, but Jared Kushner thinks it's going to be hotter. We'll we'll talk about that. Uh and how exactly this is going to look. You mentioned this yesterday and I did a deeper dive over overnight into Jared Kushner's vision for Club Med Gaza. Uh Minneapolis it is. I didn't know this was coming. This kind of snuck up on me.

[03:50] >> It snuck up on me, too. I actually didn't know it was coming. >> There's a citywide strike. Um hundreds of businesses are going to close down today. Um thousands, maybe tens of thousands of Minneapolis, is that what you call them? I don't know what you call them. Um are going to be uh are not are going to refuse to work today. Um, ICE is already complaining that they can't get hotel rooms. Their hotel room reservations get cancelled. Uh, their uh, you know, they can't get a cup of coffee. They're refused service. Um, oh, sad. It's sad to be a, you know, sadistic

[04:21] macho steroided [ __ ] Um, and, uh, Trump is turning to the left. We already kind of knew this like two weeks ago when he was talking to Elizabeth Warren, but he's looking to the left uh, on the economy. I have thoughts about that. Um, and the Department of Homeland Security kind of pulled like what Time magazine did to OJ Simpson when they darkened his picture for the cover. Uh, they this one of the three women who were uh who were arrested for um being in a protest

[04:51] against an ICE preacher that those are the two words I thought I'd go that would go there. >> Um, >> is uh that one of them they uh they tweeted out her picture. It was modified by AI to make it look like he was crying and blacker than she is. >> Right. >> So, um, all beautiful stuff. And of course, obviously, please like, follow, share the show. Um, we appreciate your donations as always. We're I think it's fair to say, John, we're we're now actually, you know, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it doesn't seem to be a train heading to run us

[05:22] over. >> Amen. The show is doing well now. And >> yeah, and thanks to everybody. >> Yes. Yes. Thanks to everybody because when we first started this, remember we started it with Michelle um and uh and I think we had five people watched the first episode literally. Quite literally. >> That's right. >> And u >> and we appreciate those five people. >> We do very much because we it was it was from that that we grew and uh and now we're able to, you know, actually pay the electric bill >> which was a concern for a while.

[05:53] >> Oh yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. And we have questions uh in the feeds. So, you know, maybe we could do what we did yesterday, John, and knock out knock out a story or two and then get to the questions. What do you think? >> That sounds like a plan. >> All right. I I'm I'm interested in all of these things, but you you you get to pick. Okay. Um let's talk about Minneapolis. I I was invited to a dinner last night uh with Ilhan Omar. there were about 20 of us and she talked about this uh this really

[06:25] what amounts to a general strike in Minneapolis today and she said something that I thought was important. Um well she said a couple of things that I thought were important that the administration has underestimated the resolve of motans repeatedly and she also said >> these are sturdy people. It's routinely 20 below zero there. She that was an important point that she made that these these ice people from DC or from where

[06:56] they wherever they are Texas or California they're they're not used to Minnesota winters and this is going to get very old for them very quickly and um you know to use a line from the Sopranos from the Pine Barons uh episode wash their balls with snow. So motans aren't afraid of these uh of these ice people in this weather number one. Number two, um motans see this as a legit attack,

[07:28] a federal attack on their city and state and they're not going to roll over for it. So, this is going to get worse before it gets better. She said that that the federal government thought people were just going to roll over. They were going to run from the screaming from the room, uh hide in their homes. That's not it at all. She said that there are thousands of people who are at least temporarily hiding people in their homes so that they can't be found.

[08:00] >> Taking a which is taking a risk. Um that's a felony. >> It's a felony. >> God bless them. >> A fiveyear sentence. God bless them. Is right. You know, I've said many times many members of my family came here as what people call illegal immigrants. and all they ever wanted to do was to make money to to care for their families. They were very happy to pay taxes. They didn't come in legally as Robbie would complain u because that option was not open to them, >> right? >> They couldn't come here legally. The answer was no. We're not giving visas to

[08:31] Greeks in the postw World War II era. No. And so, you know, I think that uh she made a couple of good points last night that that the administration isn't really paying much attention to. >> Um yeah, you know, it's I think it's always interesting um you get into trouble politically when you grind up against um a local indigenous culture. Um, I was thinking about, uh, you know, Chris Christie was a really unpopular governor of New Jersey and he pulled a lot of [ __ ] as governor, but but what

[09:03] did him in um, ultimately was two things, right? Once, one was [ __ ] with something near and dear to New Jerseyians, which is their ability to commute in and out of New York City. >> Um, that's why he did. >> Yes. And and so he did a bridgegate closing the George Washington effectively closing the George Washington Bridge. By the way, a lady died in an ambulance ambulance uh you know on that day. >> That's right. >> And then worst of all in the middle of a heat wave um closing all the beaches but

[09:35] going to the beach himself with his family. Again, New Jersey has a lot of beach communities and people really value their, you know, they're like, we might not live in a in a state that has its own TV station, but we live in a state that has beautiful beaches and all of us are no one's more than an hour or an hour and 15 minutes away from a beach. Um, and he's taking that away from us and he's using it for himself. [ __ ] you. And this is similar. I mean, Minne Minneapolis and Motans, you know, we've all heard the term Minnesota nice

[10:06] and it's it's a real thing. These are to a fault hopelessly polite people. You know, they're Scandinavian uh ethnically most of the whites are and and that's the culture that sort of you know, everybody who moves there kind of has to adapt to uh regardless of their own ethnic background. They're and and they really and you know how it is like New Yorkers don't care if you're a little gruff but like you know motans if you're if you're like that you know if you're rude and crude people hate you and um

[10:38] and and that's the exact impression that ICE made um they culturally could not have asked for a a worst more grading crash say >> seriously I couldn't agree more Um, that's why I think this is going to be a bigger deal than the government realizes and it's not like, you know, they're planning to pull out on Tuesday. This is an ongoing thing. >> JD Vance kind of um, you know, kind of uh, you know, tipped, you know, he's a

[11:09] smart guy. He can, you know, he takes the temperature. He knows what's up. And he said, you know, we want to turn down the temperature. Well, that's a new statement from the administration. They've been turning up the temperature all the way to like 600. And now um you know but the thing is they're not doing the things that are required to to turn down the temperature. Just saying you want to turn it down doesn't do anything. Um I guess this brings up the issue of the uh of the Homeland Security uh Twitter account. I mean, which by the way is a cesspool of like um you know,

[11:41] alt-right uh you know, wink wink nod nod to like neo-Nazism um and you know, sort of crazy like memes that look like they come out, you know, Norman Rockwellish kind of 1930s like you know, not that he Norman Rockwell was a right-winger, far from it, but that kind of idealized all-white American vision. Um but anyway, they they they tweeted out a picture altered of uh one of the three women who um they arrested at uh for disturbing the peace,

[12:14] I guess, basically. I think they're all going to walk. No question. Um you know, for basically yelling at this ICE preacher for being of ICE uh during a church service, right? I mean, there's I can't see what where the where the law breaking is here unless you can't charge someone with trespassing. Listen, I've become a a YouTube expert on this kind of thing. You can't charge someone with the crime of trespassing until you have trespassed them, which means you have to give them written notification that they

[12:46] are not permitted on your property. Somebody, you can't just arrest somebody and charge them with trespassing because they walk into a church and start yelling. >> Yes. >> The vampire law rule where I uninvite you and they fly out the door. Exactly. Exactly. >> Um, yeah. No, so so the so this woman, right, I mean, first of all, even if they had tweeted out her photograph, I mean, this is an agency that complains about federal employees, ICE officers being doxed, right, by by leftist

[13:17] activists. Here they are doxing a uh, you know, a private citizen, right? A uh, a person of color, a woman on top of it. So that would make that makes me really uncomfortable. But on top of that, they altered the image to look at make it look like she was in tears. She wasn't. >> She wasn't. >> And um you know, she was brave and composed and um she and they made her uh they they changed the color of her skin. They tinted her to make her look more to make her look darker. >> Um this is racist. It's a racist. It's a racist thing to do.

[13:48] >> Just racist. >> The Christy Gnome ow owes her and the country an apology. >> Yeah. Couldn't agree more. >> And this is not turning down the remember? Of of course you remember the [ __ ] that Time magazine took when they darkened OJ Simpson's uh booking uh picture, his his mug shot. >> Yeah, >> they had to make an apology and they said that it was, you know, it was a poorly thoughtout attempt to make it look more stark. And yeah,

[14:19] >> I actually knew the editor who approved that image at Time magazine because I was doing cartoons there at at the time >> and it did turn out to be kind of a production [ __ ] Um, and which you know people people don't know like when you produce something in a magazine like they you have to create what they call a match print. You're not really sure what it's going to look like until it rolls off the press. Um, and you you kind of need to print. So anyway, apparently they were late that day because of the OJ story. So they didn't have time to do

[14:50] a match proof. And then the thing, it's actually a fascinating story. It's sort of like the uh the Dean scream. I knew someone who was working at his campaign. >> The mic was malfunctioning that night. And when Howard Dean was like, you know, shouting or trying to get he was trying Yeah. He was trying to make his mic work and it kind of played into this awkward kind of uh you know image that the that the corporate media was trying to to paint of him. >> I I always liked him. >> Oh, I'm a big fan. And the 50 state the

[15:21] 50 state um >> uh strategy is the way to go for any party. >> Absolutely. Oh my god. See, the Clintons did this to the Democratic party because it was James Carville who insisted on a 50-st state uh strategy. Mhm. >> This is something, this is not a new idea. This is something that George McGovern proposed in 1960 when he first ran for the Senate. Um, and that's why the Democrats were able to elect senators from North and South Dakota, from Wyoming, from Oklahoma,

[15:52] from Utah. I mean, there were Democratic senators. >> You don't write off entire sections of the country. >> No. And what the Clintons did was they ended financing for Democratic candidates at the state representative level. >> Mhm. >> Which controls redistricting in >> and also it killed their farm system. Right. Somewhere somewhere in some state house there's a there's some lady who could be the president of the United States in 40 years. But you know, you don't we don't know that because Yeah.

[16:24] because she's not going to get any money. She'll be defeated by a Republican. Um, yeah. No, it's it's really boneheaded for a variety of reasons. We could do an entire show on that. All right, let me see um about getting into So, Robbie is just getting uh just getting to us. So, I'm going to please bear with me, guys, while I uh parse through the comments here. Much appreciated. Um K dot, I'm gonna sort of work through these u on YouTube. Uh Ted, you mentioned how one day you'd like a good documentarian to tell your story one day. The first name and channel that came to mind when I heard that was

[16:56] Andrew from channel 5 news. Uh, okay. Um, I don't know who that is, but sick. Um, if anyone wants to contact me, it's raw.comcont. Um, Nicholas Franco, John, can you explain a little bit about the situation with the stateless people in Kuwait? When I was studying for my bachelor's degree, I met two girls. They said they're refugees from Kuwait. >> Kuwaiti citizenship is a difficult thing. Um there are multiple levels of Kuwaiti citizenship. Three. There are

[17:26] first class Kuwaitis, second class and third class. Now a first class Kuwaiti is a descendant of someone who can trace his Kuwaiti citizenship to the census of 1920. Right? So they had this big census in 1920. If you want to be Kuwaiti, come and sign up. Well, a lot of people didn't bother because they were like, what is this state? this we're better ones. Everything is our state. We just move from place to place. >> This was created by the by the by the treaty of Versailles.

[17:57] >> No, it coincided with the Treaty of Versailles. >> Okay. >> Secondass Kuwaitis are descendants of people who can trace their lineage to people who were in Kuwait in 1920 but didn't register. Okay. Okay. Third class Kuwaitis are people who have been granted Kuwaiti citizenship for whatever reason. You served the royal the ruling family. You did some special thing but who do not have the privileges of first and

[18:28] secondass citizenship. And then there are stateless people called bedun. Bedun uh in Arabic means without. So they are without papers without citizenship. That's not the same word as bedawin. >> No, it comes from the same route to move. Badana, to move around. >> So bedawins kind of go through the desert, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq. They're constantly nomads. They're moving from oasis to oasis with their

[18:58] flocks. >> But the bedun tend to, you know, live in Kuwait City like everybody else does. They just don't have a passport. They don't have any rights. They have to travel on United Nations issued LZ pes. And so like uh like these two girls apparently um you get a laz p that allows you to to travel to the United States to go to school, but you are not a Kuwaiti citizen. >> Huh. Okay. >> It's rough. >> All right. Sneaker dad 10 uh 20. Thanks

[19:30] for the 10 bucks and thank um very much much appreciated. Um did you see Vance's talk yesterday? So much us versus them. Katie catastrophe red versus blue. It was sickening. Sickening. Well, that's it is sickening. I you know I mean very clearly this administration repeatedly, you know, says the quiet part out loud, which is if you're not a Republican and you're not a supporter of President Trump, we don't care about you. Um we don't care if you live or die. Um I guess the question for me, and I don't

[20:02] know, I really don't know the answer to this. Does this make Republicans or Trump supporters uncomfortable or do they love it? >> That's a good question. That's a good question. I I don't know. But you know what though? Even if it did make them uncomfortable, they would remain silent. We're not yet at a at a point. We're starting to get to this point in the Senate, but we're not yet at a point where people are comfortable enough criticizing Donald Trump. once we get past the next election in November and Trump truly is a lame duck because

[20:34] he's not running for a third term. I don't care what he says. Um then I think people will feel much more comfortable in um criticizing him. Hey, let me add one other thing. Um Elanar mentioned last night at this dinner that she had just come from a series of budget votes on Capitol Hill. We got we were getting push notifications last night. So what the Democrats did because there are utter and complete and total sellouts um is they um they demanded that the

[21:06] budget for Department of Homeland Security be stripped out of the omnibus. So she called it a minibus which I had never heard before. It was kind of funny. So >> all the Yeah. All the Democrats voted for the minibus which funded the the entire government except Homeland Security, but the Republicans were unified on the Homeland Security vote last night. And there were just enough by like by like a majority of two or

[21:38] three that they approved the Homeland Security uh budget, which includes ICE, of course. Of course. and she and she said that the only hope that the Democrats have to either block the DHS budget or to shut down the government again is on the Senate side. She said the Republicans are nowhere near 60 votes necessary to break closure. So I said, "Are you predicting a government

[22:09] shutdown brought by the Democrats?" and she said,"Not necessarily." She said, "Because many of my Democratic colleagues on the second side are sellouts and weaklings." So, we'll see what happens. Nobody's reporting this yet that there is a a real possibility of another government shutdown. Uh, when? March something. >> I would love to see some [ __ ] discipline inside the Democratic caucus. >> It's chaos. It's chaos. where where Jeff was basically like, I will kick your ass

[22:41] so far down the street if you stray from our party's official position, you won't even [ __ ] remember. Um, but yeah, that's we're not there obviously and it's not going to happen. Good question for you, John. I'm curious about this. Yeah. For a Vita, John, if an ex-source ever an ex source ever hit you up asking to meet up and talk about life, would you follow up or the curiosity not worth the risk or is it simply just not allowed? I absolutely would. I actually have >> ah

[23:11] >> uh on two occasions. One time I ran into one of my sources, an Iraqi in Dulles airport here in Washington. He says to me, "John, John, like that." And I looked and I go, I go, "Muhammad, what are you doing here?" He said, "I became a refugee and now I'm an American citizen." I was like, "Oh my god." We sat and had coffee and it dawned on me partway through the conversation. I said, "Wait a minute, you're speaking

[23:42] English." And he's like, "Yeah, I learned how to speak English." It just it didn't register in my brain that >> when you see someone out of context, I guess it's a more extreme version of like when I see my dry cleaning dude at like the bar >> and I'm like, "Right, wait, you live at the dry cleaner? I don't understand." >> Exactly. Oh my god. I was at I was at the Town Mall in Newcastle, Pennsylvania one time with my mom. I was 16 and there was this uh >> We're not allowed to use the word [ __ ]

[24:13] anymore. What do we say? >> Short person. Little person. >> There was a a little person. Yes. >> And uh we're walking down the, you know, middle of the mall and he goes, "Hey, how you doing?" I said, "Hey, how are you?" And my mom goes, "How in the world do you know that guy?" And I said, "Oh, I he must have confused me with somebody else." The truth is that he was the bartender at the bar that served minors that my buddies and I used to go buy six-packs >> at City Lights Cafe. Anyway, God bless those people. I I remember when I my

[24:45] first day at college, um 1981 in New York, the drinking age was 18 at at Columbia. I cidle up to the bar and there's like three like girls from like New Jersey drinking and they're all like they couldn't none of them could have been older than 12. So I I would the bartender was flirting with me and she's like 40 and uh and and I go, "What's up with the uh you know what about what's with these ladies?" And she goes, "I know you're new you're new to New York City." She's like, "If you're old enough

[25:15] to pay, you're old enough to drink." >> City Lights Cafe, man. and and occasionally Hanging Gardens uh bar and lounge. Hanging Gardens was good, but there was a bartender there that that knew my parents, so I tried to stay away. >> And in where I grew up, we had the best names for bars that like had plausible deniability. >> Nowhere. Hey, where have you been? >> Nowhere. >> Um the library. >> There was a whole row of bars like that on Dixie Highway in Ketaring, Ohio.

[29:28] Unfortunately, it would be a good with the weather >> and all the distraction going, this would there would be this would be a good uh great weekend for a media dump. >> Yeah, you could say that again. Um Ryan Grim was at this dinner last night. Uh Ryan is from Deadrop Media. Very, very well connected. and um somehow we got on to the topic of of Iran. And um he said he does not expect an attack on Iran in the next week or two, but all bets are

[30:00] off once this carrier battle group, the USS Abraham Lincoln, finally gets to the region. He said he he does believe that we're looking at an attack on Iran in the coming months. Yes, >> I would agree with that. Um Karak, thanks for the 10 bucks. And I John, this question is for you, but I would like to chime in on it as well. What are your rules for accepting uh Arab hospitality? I'm not sure every random taxi driver and shopkeeper actually wants to host me for tea at their home, but I'm curious. I think they actually do, but go ahead. >> They do actually. And and I'll tell you

[30:31] the honest to God's truth is I never say no. Never. Hey, I'll tell you the first time this happened. It's rude to have a shitty reputation as it is. >> Yes. It's it's quite bad form to say no. The first time this ever happened to me was I was in Damascus in 199 I don't know two or three. I it was my first trip to Syria and my boss had told me beforehand he said Syrians are so insular and so afraid of their government that you will never meet a

[31:02] nonofficial Syrian and you will never see the inside of a Syrian's home. So I went to the souk and um and this guy asked me Wayne, "Where are you from?" And I said, "From the United States." And he just looked at me like, and I said, "You've never met an American, have you?" And he said, "No, I've never met an American." So we stood there talking. I bought a tablecloth that I think my ex-wife stole from me in our divorce. And um he said,

[31:34] "You have to come to my home. you have to come to my home for dinner. And I said, "Oh, no, no, no, no. I don't want to, you know, make a problem for you." Which could have been a serious problem for him. He insisted and then he picked up the phone, called his wife, closed the shop around 9:00. We went to his house and I still remember what a wonderful time I had at that dinner. You know, even recently I was in when was I in Jerusalem? In like in 2022 um and um and a taxi driver invited me

[32:07] to his house for dinner and dropped dropped me off at uh at my hotel, picked me up three hours later and took me to his house for dinner just in time for me to buy, you know, some flowers for his wife and you know, whatever. But I never say no because they mean it when they invite you. They mean it. They mean it and it it's very insulting if you say no. Like in Japan, they don't mean it um at all. Don't say don't say yes. If you accept it, you're you're being an [ __ ] Uh but like no, in in like um

[32:37] in in Wadi Rum where they filmed uh Lawrence of Arabia in Jordan. >> Yes. >> Um I had a car accident to the Wadi Rum. >> I I I had a car accident. It was bad. The car rolled into the desert. It It was total I still have the key. Um, and the, uh, and I went through the windshield. And so, uh, it was a, it was a hell of a day. And finally, >> you went through the windshield. >> I went through the windshield. >> Yeah. I had like I had safety glass all embedded in my in my in my skull. Right. >> I I didn't know that.

[33:09] >> So, my uh, this was 2000 year 2000. This was actually, it's a funny story. You um, it has a connection to you maybe obliquely um, to the Millennium plot. So, I was staying at the Moven Pic with my wife um in uh on December on New Year's Eve 1999, December 31st, 1999 in Y2K. Um the Moven pick is at the entrance of Petra and uh we you know we were [ __ ] around Petra for a couple of days and we did the New Year's celebration with like the British ambassador to Jordan and all these

[33:39] people and um this was be so be later this accident took place but we later learned right that that hotel was targeted to be blown up by al Qaeda and that night and that uh this operation that had been disrupted by Jordanian intelligence Um they they had a list of like a dozen hotels they were going to blow up all at the same time. Um I don't know how far along it got, but anyway, the point is it was kind of creepy like feeling a bullet go by, you know, by your ear or something like Trump can

[34:11] probably attest. And >> and uh anyway, the point is rolled the car in the desert and um this guy stopped and uh this Bedawin guy stopped in his Jeep and gave us a ride. Uh he was like I guess part Bedawin because he had a house and he insisted that we you know all I wanted to do was get back to the hotel, take a bath and and pull the safety glass out of my scalp. Um but he's like you have to come to my house. I'm like literally like okay and my

[34:42] wife's like what the [ __ ] are you doing? I'm like we got to we have no choice. We have to. That's how in that's how insistent it is for sure. >> Yeah. This Syrian guy, the only thing he asked of me was that when I got back to Washington, if I would send him a postcard, which I gladly did. He just wanted to have a postcard with a scene from Washington DC. >> I don't know why Tammy's talking referencing all the young dudes, but any reference to Mont the Hoopal I will take. Famously David Bowie wrote all the young dudes to save Monta Hoopel.

[35:15] >> I freaking loved Monta Hoopel. I saw them at GW in 1982. >> They're fantastic. And Ian Hunter's solo career is amazing. >> Yeah. >> I mean, he's still going strong and his records are great. I mean, you know, it's not one of those like nostalgia things. Like, if you'd never heard of Ian Hunter and you bought like his most recent album, you'd be like, "This is a good rock album." >> Yeah. Seriously. >> Uh, okay. So, any insights on Apollo global management contacts with ICE and the government? Uh, Apollo acquired Contelis Holdings, formerly Blackwater.

[35:46] This is Unsung Pat. Thanks for the 10 bucks. I I don't know enough to answer the question to tell you the truth. Have you followed this? >> I don't know anything about it. And by the way, about Minnesota again, right? Um a little bit yesterday, I talked about how uh you know, general strike's not going to work in without a broad-based left-wing organization. But like what about I mean I guess the the part that's a little weird about this is the people who are going to suffer from all these closed businesses are going to

[36:18] be Minneapolis's economy. Yeah. >> Right. I mean the businesses themselves, >> which tells you how serious they are about this. >> Yeah. But it's almost like when there's a riot and people burn down their own neighborhood because they're pissed off at someone else. Um I mean I don't know. I mean I'm glad they're doing something. I mean, this is it seems like it puts the pressure really on local politicians, but the local politicians don't want ice there, and we already know they don't want ice there. I don't know what they're supposed to do, really. >> Yeah, I agree with you. >> Three birds, one stone, two bucks.

[36:50] Thanks very much. Where do where do we see the world in five years? Honest thoughts, though, although optimism is not entirely off the table. That's hilarious. You can go, John. I think that in one way or another, we're going to be in the process of trying to rebuild our long-standing international friendships and relationships. >> Serious damage has been done. Serious damage. For example, this morning, President Trump threw the Canadians off of the so-called peace board that uh

[37:21] he's creating for Gaza, like it's his to create. um threw the Canadians off because he's angry about the speech that Prime Minister Carney gave at uh at Davos. So, we've got a lot of work to do to try to repair these relationships. >> I mean, I think also the the body politics is has never been more divided. Um the divisions between left and right, Democrats, Republicans, uh the total distrust in the system. I mean, to me, it's very reminiscent of the stuff I've

[37:51] read about the late VHimar Republic and just like the there's just like no faith whatsoever >> in uh in the in the uh you know, in representative democracy. It just feels like it, you know, nobody thinks they care about us. Um and that's very toxic. I mean, I could see the system collapsing entirely. Although frankly I hate this system and would love to see it replaced but um you know I mean the problem is we don't have something waiting in the wings to replace it.

[38:22] That's all you know whatever however shitty your system is it can always get worse. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's right. It can always get worse. Yeah. Hey, did you happen to see that that President Trump said the other day he was talking about US Italian relations? Did you see this? >> No, I think I missed it. He was talking about USI Italian relations and he said that our relations with Italy have been excellent since Roman times. And the and the translator looks at him like what? And then and then and then

[38:54] she translates it. >> It's like I don't know if he knows how long ago that was. Um >> it's like George W. Bush with the Grecians, >> you know? We we love the Grecians. >> And the Greeks are like, "What? >> Jesus Christ." I mean, I Okay, so I know it's like the equivalent of like a you know, a pole tax or something, but I kind of feel like you should have to pass a basic history and politics test

[39:24] to be allowed to run for president. >> Yeah. Yeah, I would agree. >> Yeah. It would rule out pretty much almost everyone who ever runs. So, that's that would have that benefit. Um, John, have you ever run? Uh, Young Courthouse wants to know, and thanks for the buck. Have you ever uh uh crossed paths with a Jack Lee in the 1990s? >> No, I'm sorry. I can't say that I have. >> Uh, okay. Um, the one and only Scars. Hey, John. I'm in high school and speak Arabic. Do you recommend trying to join the CIA?

[39:57] >> That's a uh longer conversation. I'll put it this way. If if you are inclined to join the CIA >> Mhm. um in order to make changes from the inside. Absolutely. You know, I as much as I criticized the CIA and Ted and I have talked about this a million times, I loved every minute of that career. I went to 72 countries. I met with kings and presidents and prime

[40:28] ministers and had the experience of a lifetime. So if you're inclined to do that kind that kind of work knowing that you may have to stand up one day and say this is wrong and I'm not doing it and I'm making a a whistleblower complaint then go for it. The career is magnificent. >> Um thank you for gentlemen for your work. Uh and thank you for the five Canadian dollars. Um John you must mentioned the CIA uses a lot of cheap

[40:58] gadgets from Amazon. Then what's DARPA for? Ah, DARPA is for the big ticket items, the the Black Mirror robot dogs, the the soldiers, the robot soldiers that that we're developing now that the only reason they're not on the battlefield fighting is because we haven't developed a long life battery yet. That's what DARPA is for. Stuff that we haven't even thought of. But if you want to bug a room or plant a camera or something, just get it off of Amazon. Um, John, what's the website you use to

[41:28] track aircraft carriers that you have mentioned? >> Oh, let me see if I can find it again. >> Uh, Aaron Arnold wants to know, Ted, do you use a seat belt now? 100%. By the way, the car that I was driving didn't have a seat belt. Um, so there is that. Okay. No, that wasn't the one. Oh, here it is. Got it.

[42:00] It is. Yes, here it is. So, it's it's go www. You know what? Why don't I put it in the chat? >> Okay. Do go ahead and do that. Uh, unsung pat. Wow. Thanks for the 50 bucks. When it comes to the Middle East, why don't we talk about one, the Lord Rothschild letter, my family created Israel. Two, the lies after World War I that chopped up the Middle East. Three, the 1948 1950 uh yam uh yam bulk miz

[42:30] child affair. I don't know the third one. >> I don't know the third one. Um I guess maybe you can uh elaborate on that one uh Pat, but um you know I I think that like in America you lose I have lost every single historical and political argument that I've ever made that relied on someone under either knowing history or believing that I knew history or believing that history was relevant to

[43:01] today. it just doesn't have much effect. You know, Americans are ahistorical. I mean, and it's, you know, part of it's a superpower. We're always looking forward. We're not wallowing in the past. You know, we're not pissed off about the 1389 battle of Kosovo. Um but we are still um but part of the problem is you know when you try to say well this is how we the reason it's important in my view to know how we got here in any situation is because then we won't make the mistake of making the same mistake in the future and being like

[43:33] okay uh you know now everything's solved like if we know for example that a lot of the [ __ ] that Trump does is stuff that Obama did and that Biden did and that Bush did then we know that these are things that, you know, we we're not going to think that just electing Democrats is going to solve the Trump problem. Um, but like the point is that most people just they can't relate to it and not in America. This in France or any other Greece, any other country, you can Russia, you can make a historical argument and it resonates like

[44:04] incredibly powerfully. But yeah, >> I don't know how to get around that. I've just, you know, I've tried it my entire life. It never ever works and I've never see it work with anyone else. Yeah, I think I think you've hit that on the head. I agree. >> Um, relaxed garden. John, do you really think we can repair those relationships with our allies? I hope we can, but I'm not sure if they'll take us seriously anymore. >> I I do actually. I do. Um, you know, we repaired our relationships after George W. Bush, and it can be done

[44:35] again. Remember that old saying that there's no such thing as permanent friendships, just permanent interests. and our interests are going to continue to intersect. And so whether we, you know, have hurt feelings on one side or both or not, >> those those relationships will be repaired. >> And some foreign leaders will will think to themselves, well, that was crazy Trump. It's better now. >> Right. Exactly. >> Um, Cat Melvin, I hate the system and would like love to see your replace. That's me. Uh, there you go. That's why we're doomed. Everyone wants some kind of dramatic showdown. It's bad. I don't

[45:07] want a dramatic showdown. I just don't think this system is reformable. Um I would pref be very clear here. You should never have a revolution if you can avoid it. Revolution really sucks. Um but you know if but there are there are problems that can only be solved by revolution. >> Um Desert Fox 41. What would you recommend John for a history major with a polysai minor in their last semester at Satan Hall? This is very specific John. uh you know who is 5'9 and 12 147

[45:42] pounds uh with brown hair. No about what to do about a career. I am extremely concerned. Um I don't know what concerned about >> Don't be extremely concerned. I know that you feel like you're under the gun, but don't feel bad about taking a job that is going to end up being temporary. You're young. you have literally a whole lifetime ahead of you. You know, it took it took so long for my CIA clearances to come through. Even though I was sort of, you know, expedited through the the Old

[46:14] Boy network, it took 18 months for my my clearances to come through. And so I had to take a job at the Office of Personnel Management doing background investigations for other people to get their clearances. That wasn't a career. I knew it wasn't a career. It was a bunch of bozos just going through the the motions of being a pretend cop. And so, um, so don't be hard on yourself. Go ahead and take a take a temporary, uh, job that, you know, is not going to be a

[46:44] career while you do other things to improve your your lot in life. Get a get a graduate degree, a master's degree, learn a foreign language, uh, develop another skill. Just give yourself a little bit of time. Don't worry about it. >> Yeah. No. And and also the thing is your education can end up helping you in unexpected ways. I have a colleague, a cartoonist, his name uh he goes by the name Ruben Bowling. It's not his real name, but he does a strip called Tom the Dancing Bug. He went to Harvard Law School. He's never practiced law. Um and

[47:15] I'm sure that came as a great disappointment to his parents. He graduated at the top of his class. He would have been an absolutely brilliant attorney. um you know and certainly he's like freelanced as like a you know parallegal but he's never been a lawyer but his cartoons are infused with that sort of legalistic um approach and he draws on legal knowledge for his work. He's the only cartoonist who can do that. Um and it shows and it might be like one of those things like you know you could read his work your entire life

[47:47] and never know but the point is it's in there. It's part of the br the the the witch's brew that makes for this magic comic strip. Um you just never know how you're how how things are going to play out in terms of how your educ I mean you know I I I went to engineering school for three years. I have a physics u I have a physics minor. I never use it but still it informs the way I think the you know sort of the scientific method like things are you know how I ascertain whether something is likely to be true

[48:17] that's very subtle but you know it helps me in all sorts of other in in my politics um teflon money don um for both of us >> uh for viewers who may not know much about Lebanon how do you see the country fitting into the Middle East today? Well, how I see the country fitting in the Middle East is going to be vastly different from how Donald Trump sees the country fitting in the Middle East because Donald Trump's view is Israel, Israel, Israel. And you know, my position on that. I think that we have we have very strong relations with, you

[48:50] know, the the GCC countries, the Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Very uh good relations. I think we could do a lot to improve our relations with with Algeria, Tunisia, um even Egypt, relations with Morocco are very good. Lebanon's a basket case. We should be somehow working to to, you know, to bring the the Lebanese economy back to life. I'm actually going to give an interview to to a Lebanese network this

[49:22] afternoon about that very issue. >> And location, location, location, right? Lebanon's Lebanon's jammed up between Oh, I mean Syria was a bigger power, right? And um and and it will be again. >> Yes. >> But Israel, Turkey, I mean, they're surrounded by big bruisers who always push them around. >> Um on the other hand, location, location, location, they have a lot of shoreline, they have ports, they have uh beautiful beaches. Um you know, there's

[49:52] potential there. There's inherent value in Lebanon. I mean, you know, and >> agreed. >> I mean, as as a tourist destination, it could be [ __ ] off the charts. >> Yeah, without without a doubt. I mean, speaking of which, so we all remember, everybody who's watching this show, I know has seen that AI video that came out at the height of the Gaza war, um, of, you know, the Trump Trump Tower, Gaza, Trump casino, Gaza with the giant gold Trump statue and, uh, all that

[50:25] stuff. I used it in the thumbnail today. Um do you um you know yesterday or two days ago you mentioned this yesterday morning Jared Kushner uh I guess this was yesterday local time at Davos uh made a presentation that kind of echoed that leaked um uh uh Israeli document um that sort of had this vision for Gaza. It's basically full-fledged exploitation, right? It's all rubble. We're going to we're going to build

[50:55] brand new cities on over the rubble and over the bodies of the dead Palestinians. Um we're going to start from scratch. It's all going to be glitzy and luxurious and touristy. John, questions. Who's going to own this land? How are they going to get and and how will they get it? Will they will would the Israelis or the other um you know western developers who want to build there would they sort of go with the Maui model or where they exploit um the misery and uh and desperation of the

[51:26] of the property owners to get the song to get the the land at a for a song and then build there? Will the Israelis annex it and just eminent domain it and steal it? Um, or is this just all [ __ ] and incapable of happening in the same way that like the Trans Afghanistan pipeline project was never going to happen because it required going through a war zone. Um, you know, what's going to happen here? >> I'm not sure anything is going to happen here. The you're the first thing that

[51:57] you said is I think the most important in that this is not our call. We don't get to make these decisions. We can't just pretend. It's not ours. And we can't pretend that Palestinians don't live in Gaza or shouldn't live in Gaza or won't live in Gaza in the near future. >> So this whole this whole think it's a fantasy. >> I do. And I think this whole peace board or peace commission or whatever it is that Donald Trump is charging people a

[52:29] billion dollars to be a member of and then just appoints his friends and family. Um I just don't see how this could possibly carry out a policy. It would be like me just saying, you know what, uh there's this island in Papua Newu Guinea. Uh I'm going to develop it. I'm going to charge people a billion dollars to be on my board of directors. I'm going to develop this island. I don't own it. I've never been there. Uh but uh but yeah, I'm I'm

[53:00] going to do this. And then what? You expect people just to step into line? I just don't see it happening. >> Yeah. It does feel like they're high. >> Yeah. >> Um >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, it's also But you know, and then there's the politics of it, right? I mean, how are the is how are the Palestinians and those of us who care about them supposed to look at this? Um, you know, basically it's like we're, you know, you basically want to build this shiny, glittering Las Vegas

[53:31] on top of this giant grave, the graves of hundreds of thousands of dead gazins. >> Yeah. Um, and you know what of the people who are suffering horribly there now that you just don't give a [ __ ] about? >> That's right. >> Exactly right. I couldn't agree more. >> Um, we sh we should before we do some more questions. I I really want to get your thoughts about um I thought it was interesting that Trump um is reported in Politico to be looking to the left for

[54:02] ideas about economic populism. things like a cap on credit card interest, um things like coming up with a uh health, uh you know, impro improvement on Obamacare, and they're saying, "Oh, he's looking to the left rather than the right for a, you know, to in order to address the affordability crisis." Well, I mean, famously, liberals like to say that truth as a liberal bias. I wouldn't say that's true, but I I will say that uh econ that um you know caring about

[54:33] ordinary people economically has a left-wing bias. Right-wingers don't care by definition. I've just never seen an idea come out of the Republican party or out of the right that addresses issues like people are poor, they can't pay their bills, they can't pay their rent. Um they just don't have ideas for that. You know, we're still waiting for a a real health care plan. I mean, this puts this puts lefties into an awkward position, though, right? Like, if Elizabeth Warren works with Trump and he ends up selling one of her ideas and and

[55:04] she gets the satisfaction of seeing her idea become come to fruition, but she's also empowered Donald Trump and maybe improved his chances in the midterms. >> What do you do in a situation like that? >> What do you do? Yeah. I mean, I I mean, personally, I say you, if it were me, I'd say, you know, you take you take your you you take your wins where you can get them. >> Yeah, that's kind of my standing position. Yeah, I'm happy to form alliances

[55:37] wherever I can and uh and take my wins. >> Thanks for the 10 bucks, Waterways. Much appreciated. Uh much much. Um, how hard is it to learn? Desert Fox wants to know, "How's it hard to learn Lebanese Arabic?" >> Oh, it's actually not that hard. I mean, once you have a foundation in standard Arabic, many of the uh many of the films that are made that are broadcast all around the Middle East are in Lebanese or Syrian dialect and so everybody in the

[56:10] Middle East has an acquaintance with them. >> Psychonaut. Good name. John, was there any time in the past that the CIA used the company as a reference to the agency or is that just from the movies? >> Never. Ever. Ever. These days, >> never. If anybody ever said to me that they worked for the company, I'd say, "Get the [ __ ] out of here, you phony." >> Okay. >> Yeah. No, that's just in the movies. Literally, no one ever in my life ever

[56:40] mentioned company. >> Right. Is that the That's the name of a famous book, right? Inside the company. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um, Cat Melvin Bamante told Piers Morgan he would pretty much be doing the same thing as Trump if he were president. Is that reasonable? Like, is what Trump doing strategic in any sense? >> Yeah. Bamante also said literally on the same day in another interview that Trump was so insane that he and his wife and kids were leaving the United States permanently. So Bamante, the fraud that he is,

[57:14] just plays to his audience whatever he thinks they want to hear. He also said in that interview with Pierce Morgan, he says, "I'm not trying to stroke you, Pierce, but your questions are sheer genius. Can't stand our folks 92. Have you met Putin's Have you read Putin's essay on the justification for the invasion of Ukraine? Is it a genuine example of non-Americans caring more about history or just retroactive justification for a

[57:44] lands grab? Well, it's it's certainly the former. I mean, you know, Putin's a huge student like all Russians. Russians care about history. Uh history's front and present for them. Um and Putin's definitely an avid history of he wants to make Russia great again like like it's he wants to roll like it's 1350 all over again. Um >> that is right. >> Now is that so what's so then uh is it retroactive justification for a land grab? Well, it's definitely justification, right? That's what he's

[58:16] trying to do. >> Yes, >> obviously. >> Yeah, that's it. It is. Yeah. >> Um >> but you're right. You know the >> Go ahead. >> Sorry. No, no, we only have a minute left. You go right ahead. >> No, go ahead. I was going to say he understands Russians in general understand history so much better than Americans do and they have such a longer view of issues because they're their views are are rooted in history. Ours are not >> totally. Um and with that, thank you John very much as always. Hope you enjoy your weekend and that uh good weekend

[58:46] everybody stay out of the snow. Um okay so uh it is it is now 10:00 Eastern which means it's time for the tmi show with me and middleach. Please stay tuned for that. Um, we dropped a DMZ America podcast yesterday about ICE, which worked out really well. I highly recommend that you go check that out. John and I will be back here doing the program uh at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time and all next week on uh 9:00 a.m. Eastern time throughout the weekdays. So, please tune in then. Have an awesome weekend.

[59:17] Thank you very much and see you. See you later, John. >> Bye, everybody. Bye, Ted. >> Bye.
