DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - $11 Billion a Week | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST. Today we discuss:• Pentagon officials told Congress that they estimated the cost of the war against Iran had exceeded $11.3 billion in the first six days alone. • Trump tells the G7 Iran is about to “surrender.” But Arab diplomats say Iran, emboldened by its ability to rattle the global economy by choking oil shipments, has laid out steep preconditions for any return to talks. Iran is demanding that the airstrikes stop before a cease-fire, and firm guarantees that it won’t be attacked again, reparations for damages and the removal U.S. forces from the region.• Four of six crew members died after a U.S. military KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed into another plane in Iraq. A Michigan synagogue and Old Dominion University came under terrorist attack. Dubai’s financial center is under drone attack. • Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of targeting civilian homes, killing four people in the capital and two in the east, as fighting between the two nations entered its third week.JOIN US LIVE ON RUMBLEhttps://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShowFOLLOW TED:https://rall.com/

Good morning and thanks for tuning in to Deep Program with Ted Rall and John Kirooku. I'm Ted Rall. I'm John Kirooku. How you doing, everybody? And it's good to see you, John. Enjoying a nice sunny day here on the East Coast, even though a little brisk. We're here, of course, following the war between Iran and Israel and the United States. Pentagon officials have gone to Congress.

They say in the first six days alone, the minimum cost of this war, has already been $11.3 billion. Remember that the next time that the government tells you they can't afford to do something you care about. Trump and the Iranian government both seem to be completely different opinions about who's winning. Trump told the G7 Iran is about to, quote, unquote, surrender. But Arab diplomats who say that they've been in touch with the Iranians

say the Iranians think they're winning and they are requiring a lot of very steep preconditions for even discussing a ceasefire to a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed into another U.S. plane in Iraq, killing four out of the six crew members. There were terrorist attacks at a synagogue in Michigan and at Old Dominion University yesterday that apparently seemed to be related to the Iran War. The Taliban and the Pakistanis are still fighting it out. It's been three weeks, and that war has been totally overshadowed by what's going on.

in Iran and in the Middle East. I always like to remind people, Afghanistan is not in the Middle East. No. So, although Americans always like to say that it is, and it's a little disturbing. But anyway, please like, follow and share the show. Thanks so much for your support. We're going to maybe, I don't know, figure out some way to figure out another way to take questions in the off hours. So for those of you who miss the aha slides, we'll work on that. Okay, so lots of questions. There's a few questions. Piled up from yesterday. There's many in the queue, but please feel free to pipe in with your questions in the YouTube and the Rumble chat. John and I love those and all right away we go. John, what do you want to talk about first? We probably should talk about Donald Trump's assertion to the G7 that the war is just about over.

We won and the new Ayatollah Khamenei is disfigured and probably probably comatose. Yeah. No, no and no are my responses. So, I mean, you look at this situation on the ground. There's no indication by any metric that this war is near its end. The Iranians are incredibly resilient. They can take a pounding.

This country is the size of the entirety of Western Europe. And no, it's not almost over. It's not a victory for the United States. And the Iranians, as you said just a moment ago, Ted, the Iranians are demanding as preconditions for talks about a ceasefire, that the U.S. has to stop attacks right now, that the U.S. has to withdraw from all bases in the Middle East, Mm-hmm.

Although that one seems to be a little bit wobbly. Yeah. That there be guarantees of no future attacks, which will never, ever happen. And what was the last one? Reparations. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, those are not the words of a country that thinks it's losing or in a weak position.

No. Those are solid demands. Yeah. And those are not demands for public consumption. It's not on their Iranian version of truth social. This is what they're conveying to intermediaries who are trusted. Would these be the Omanis, probably? Probably the Omanis.

Could be the Algerians, but likely the Omanis. Let me ask you a quick question, too. These reports about Ayatollah Khomeini, and I'm going to look at the Associated Press. There was just a report, just minutes. before we went on the air, that Khomeini is disfigured. Here, Hengseth says Iran's new Supreme Leader is wounded and likely disfigured. Yesterday, the administration said that he was severely wounded on the first day of the war,

and he's been comatose ever since. Does that make any kind of logical sense to you that if he were severely wounded, comatose, and disfigured that that would be the guy that they choose to be the new situation? Supreme Leader, or are we just being propagandized by the Defense Department? Yeah, I mean, obviously, I'll take B for $100, Alex. Yeah, I mean, for sure, it looks like, I mean, look, there's no reason to believe any of that. Certainly, he was there, you know, when his father was killed. Yeah.

And by the Iranians' own account, his legs were injured. Yes. But here's the thing. I think what they're doing, and this is really infantile, I think the Americans are trying to troll Kamenai and to come out and reveal himself that they want a picture so that they can try to figure out where he is so they can follow him. Yes. It reminds me a little bit. It's like the Iranian version of this is how there's been reports of Iranian cyber hackers who have been tapping into traffic cameras in countries like Bahrain to try to see where, like to help them with their targeting and say like, you know, oh, so, okay.

so that's over there. So this is about, I mean, this is a war about trying to figure out where your enemy is. And so, of course, it's like,

look, in the same way that nobody knows where Bibi Netanyahu is at any given time. Of course, the Iranians, like,

you just killed the guy's dad. You think he's going to come out and give you a selfie? Fuck you. No, that doesn't make any sense at all. No, it's totally ridiculous.

And of course, I just want to point out before we move on to some questions, John, that it's, there's no more dangerous posture in any kind of military conflict than when both adversaries believe that they're on the verge of winning. Then there is, there's no room for reconciliation, right?

You guys don't have the same understanding of the facts. And therefore, you have nothing to talk about. That's what it comes down to. The two sides are so far apart on the, listen, there's no middle ground when the one side says, we're not going to leave until you're all dead and a pro-American, pro-Israeli government is in place. And then the other side's position is we're not going to stop until you all leave the area and leave us alone in perpetuity and pay for all the damage. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why this war is not going to end soon. I mean, in my view,

I think that the Trump administration is blinking because they've made so many signals about wanting this to be over. And there's so many reports that they really are, you know, rhetoric aside, really shocked by what's happened to the securities markets and the oil futures markets. And they're really worried now about $200 a gallon, I keep saying gallon, a barrel oil. And, you know, I don't, look, even if we, even if it just stays over 100, that's catastrophic. Just a reminder. We were at six, a few weeks ago. 60, you know. Yes. A hundred is a 70% increase, almost. I mean, that is massive.

Sure, exactly. And it's going to have ripple effects in terms of, you know, I mean, it's at the base of everything, right? It's transportation. Manufacturing requires energy. That's right. Everything. You move something. I mean, even just stuff like you might think you're safe because you're in, you know,

you work for a tech firm and it's all intellectual properties and zeros and ones. But that stuff requires power generation, like massive amounts, right? So it's going, there's no one gets off Scott free here. That's right. And I know we have a ton of questions. So I'm going to move really quickly. I wanted to say I spoke with senior people in both the UAE and Qatari governments yesterday. And, you know, for the first week and a half of this war, their position was, ah, crap.

Now, what have the Americans got? gotten us into. Now the position is we need to destroy Iran before they destroy us. So positions are hardening, which has kind of surprised me a little bit. I would have expected that governments would be a little more, a little angrier with the United States because we just did this unilaterally or bilaterally with the Israelis and we sucked these other governments into a conflict that they had no national interest in carrying out. Number one. Number two is that there are not U.S. ambassadors in many of these countries. Remember, a year ago, Donald Trump fired dozens and dozens of career ambassadors.

They were never replaced. And so one of the senior government officials, senior government officials, said to me, listen, I know you have context at the White House. We don't know what these people are doing. We don't know what U.S. policy is. You've got to tell the White House, we have to have an ambassador here. Well, yeah, you're in a middle of a war. You know, speaking of conflicts, and yeah, like you said, we have to get to the questions, John.

You know, one misunderstanding or misapprehension that I, you know, I keep focusing on is the Iranians think are saying and messaging that if you are, say, Qatar and you have a U.S. military base on your territory, and they target that base. that that's a legitimate, I mean, it is a legitimate target in a military conflict, especially when attacks are against you are originating from that base. But the Qatari's are kind of like, you're attacking Qatari territory here. And the Iranians are kind of like, no, or not, we're attacking a U.S. military base that happens to be on your territory. And those two viewpoints, world views are not reconcilable. No, they're not. the Qatari's the the Qatari position just like the Bahraini position the Emirati position the Saudi

position the Kuwaiti position is that these are attacks on those individual countries and so I can see this I can either side right yeah yeah they're compelled to respond um okay let's let's shut let's together into some questions um hello John this is from yesterday love your content I've been watching you for four months now question is what do you think of the counterterrorism TV show 24 from 2001 to 2010. We used to laugh at the agency. I was still at the agency when that was on TV. We used to laugh at how absurd it was.

Like I remember this one like particularly egregious claim where what's his name, Jack Bauer? Yeah. He's on the metro. He's got a gun. He's on the metro. And people are just kind of sitting there looking at I'm like, hmm, this guy's got a gun, which was preposterous.

And then he jumps off the metro at the Arlington Cemetery Stop, which nobody uses except the occasional tourist. And he's like, you know, this. And it's like, dude, what are you doing on so many levels? First of all, you're under arrest because you can't carry a gun in the United States. You're not a law enforcement officer. You have no right to carry a gun, let alone on the subway system. There's cameras. Yeah.

Secondly, you're at Arlington Cemetery Stop. It's like the central tourism stop of, you know, of the blue line. Number two. Number three, point that got down, you idiot. Did you not pay any attention in training? They will escort you out if you walk around like this because you're going to shoot yourself in the face or shoot somebody else. The gun always has to be pointing down to the ground. Oh, my God.

that show is so bad. And also, and of course the ticking time bomb, which is not real life. Yeah, I mean, that's like, that's what they always do, right? I mean, you know, my grandfather was in the resistance in France, and he, and he, but this was, the stuff he told me, I've read is like every underground organization uses, which is, and basically, let's say someone fails to show up for a meeting. And, well, whatever plans they were involved with are considered off. they're blown. All future meetings with that person are canceled.

Whereas you assume all his comrades go to ground and assume that that guy is being tortured and telling everything he knows. So in 24, the idea is you, you know, Jack Bauer has captured the bad guy who knows where the bomb is under Times Square and he's got to get the information out of him, right? But yes. If that guy is following even 1942 protocols, right, all his plans have been canceled, right? You can say that again. Okay, all right, just checking. Okay, try comments on.

This is from yesterday, and thanks so much for the 99th, Super Chat. I watched John's 2007 ABC interview, and obviously you had to carefully select your every word. How would you have changed how you approached the interview today, knowing that you would be charged regardless? Yeah, that's a great question. And I'll tell you what, in terms of like going back and changing history, I think about that moment the most. So thank you. Who asked that question? Brian Stroud.

Thank you, Brian Stroud. That's an outstanding question. I would not have tried to hedge my language. I would have just come out and said, the CIA's torture. This episode is brought to you by Spreeker. The platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need, explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm editing audio.

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Torture is illegal. They're still doing it, and everybody's involved. Congress knows the White House ordered it. Everybody's involved, and it's a criminal act. Instead of saying, well, you know, there's this, there's that, there's the other thing. No, I tried to pussyfoot around the issue. issue. That was wrong. Besides the fact that the CIA was lying to us internally, I said that I was a beta was waterboarded once. He was not waterboarded once. He was waterboarded

times. But they had told us that he was waterboarded once. So I should have just just gone whole hog. And I didn't. I tried to be conversely counterfactual. What if he just had refused to talk to the ABC or anyone else? What do you think would have happened? They would have done a story saying that the CIA was torturing its prisoners and John Kariaku was the one torturer that they were able to identify. Oh, wow. That's why I went on. Gotcha. I said your source is either a liar or he is grossly mistaken. Big Nug 137. Thanks for the $5. John recently recommended the book House of Sade recently on Deep Focus. Do you recommend any other books? The libraries near me don't have it. By the way, may I just recommend inter-library loan? Go to your librarian.

and just if they don't have the book at your local library, they can get it from one, you know, 30 miles away. That's right. It might take a week or two. You know what? Rather than just wing that question, why don't we, you and I talk about it and we can come up with a list. Oh, yeah.

We'll do a reading list. Yeah, let's do that because there are a lot of really terrific book. I won't waste time because we're pressed for time with the questions, but yes, we'll come up with a comprehensive list. Good idea. And also for if you're in a hurry and don't want to, wait for that. We have a Rumble Premium episode where I think it's called like Ted and John talk about books or something like that. And so if you're a Rumble premium member, that's

available right now online. So Manchild 5,000. Thanks for the 99. Hilarious username. Hey, fellas, what's the likelihood of Iran using its uranium stockpiles for dirty bombs in Israel and elsewhere here? I guess we should probably define where the dirty bomb is for those who don't know. Also, So John, I really enjoyed your interviews with Biden Warwick. Oh, thank you. So a dirty bomb is basically where you don't have a traditional nuclear detonation. Detonators are actually hard to build and to obtain. And you just basically just use a conventional bomb to blow up a radioactive substance.

And then it still makes one hell of an ugly mess. What do you think? I mean, obviously Iran would have to get, smuggle the uranium, into Israel. So there's the question of could they and would, and then the question of would they? In other words, would it be something they viewed as a country that has a fatwa against nuclear weapons? Would they view that as immoral or would they view that as all fair and love and war? Yeah, that's a good question. I think that if they had the capability to do it, they would do it. Israel is tough to get into. They may not be able to get into Israel,

but they may be able to do it in a place, a soft target where they have diplomatic relations, where they could put something into a diplomatic pouch, send it out, have it arrive in, you know, let's say Vienna, Austria and just get on a train and,

and, you know, take it to wherever, London, Paris, Brussels, wherever. I mean,

it has to be in some kind of pretty big container. Yeah. Right? Because it would have to be. But you can send, I mean, a diplomatic pouch doesn't have to, be a physical pouch. That's, that's kind of what people imagine it being. It can be something the

size of a room. You know, it can be office furniture. It can be a, it can be a skiff that you're shipping out in one piece. It's just got, it's just labeled, but that it's like, that's right, that it's diplomatic. That's right. That's exactly right. So, it's like, yeah, I could, I could see it happening. And I think that, yeah, you know, fatwas can change from, from person to person. and there's a new leader now. And so all he has to do is revoke the old fatwa in issue a new one. But the old fatwa stays in force until it's revoked, yeah? Yes.

I mean, sort of like the one against Sam and Rushdie still remains in force. That's right. That's what I mean. Yes. A VNG R22. Thanks for the $25. Fancy coffee's on me, boys. Keep up the good stuff.

Thank you very much. I already had a triple shot and I desperately need another triple shot. Well, it is Friday. Waterways, thanks for the $5. Is the only way to return to a sense of normalcy will include closing U.S. bases in the Middle East? Is there a future where the Gulf kingdoms can disintegrate, can disentangle from U.S. military presence? I mean, I would love to see that. You know, funny thing, in the 1980s and until the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, there were no U.S. military bases in the Gulf except for Bahrain.

right Bahrain has always been the site of the headquarters of the Fifth Fleet but it was offshore right there was a ship out there I forget the name of it now and that one ship was the headquarters of the Fifth Fleet it just happened to be off the coast of Bahrain the Bahrainis didn't want us on land and then when Iraq invaded Kuwait literally the entire region changed and it never changed back. And so we have multiple military bases in Saudi Arabia. We have an army base in Kuwait. We have the Navy base now takes up half of Manama and it's onshore and we donated that ship to the Bahraini Navy. We have the world's largest Air Force base in Qatar. We have multiple army bases in the United Arab Emirates and in Oman even. So it's been decades now since the first

Gulf War, and it's not changing back. That's what I really wanted to know. And why wouldn't it change back? I mean, could there be, I mean, with, you know, these countries becoming Iranian targets because of these bases, right? I mean, the Iranians have said so. Like, if it wasn't for these bases, we wouldn't be targeting you. Do you think these countries don't believe the Iranians or?

Yeah, they don't believe the Iranians. Plus, look at it this way. Iran under the Shah repeatedly threatened to invade and annex Bahrain, repeatedly. And that was under the Shah. Now, the Ayatollahs in Iran have repeatedly tried to overthrow the Bahraini government. They've sent covert action teams into the Emirates through businesses in Dubai. It doesn't matter who happens to be in charge in Iran. the Iranians genuinely believe that those Gulf states are illegitimate countries and that if anything, they belong historically to Iran.

So the Iranians are always going to be a threat to the world. What's the Iranian claim there historically? Oh, my God. They go back like 2,000 years, 2,500 years and like this was all part of greater Iran. It should be Iran today. If you look at their DNA, they're Iranian, you hear it all the time. Wow, they have a lot more in common with the Israelis than you would think. Yes, indeed.

Yes, indeed. The Greeks will whisper to you that in a perfect world, Constantinople would be ours, but we don't really care about anything else other than northern Cyprus. Well, yeah, well, and I can see. Yeah, and obviously, you know, Greece needs that back. Asher Kid, I both, one for John, currently listening to doing time like a spy. Do you think this war causes tension with prison inmates? Yes.

that's a great question too yes you know the nation of Islam is huge in prison and it's it's it's seen as a religion less than it's seen as a gang um it's it's listed as a prison gang uh on the website of the bureau of prisons wow and so um yeah i mean it's funny nation of Islam guys don't really know if they're sunni or shia they didn't realize that they had to pick one and I'll tell you another thing when when I first arrived they were a group of nationa Muslim guys who were praying right outside my cell and they were on their they were on their knees and they just kept repeating Allahu Akbar Allaha Allaha Akbar Allahaqba Allaha Allahaqba Allah that's not that's not the prayer you're just making asses of yourselves by repeating God is

great God is great God is great God is great that's not the prayer there's there are actual prayers So I went up to the leader and I said, listen, I've got a degree in Middle Eastern studies and I studied Islam and I speak Arabic. I can help you with the prayers. And he goes, step back inward. And I said, you're right. None of my business. Yeah. So I let him make asses themselves for the next two years that I was there.

But yeah, they take this seriously even if they don't understand why they're taking this seriously. human beings are awesome. May Beth, 12, thanks for the five bucks. Good morning, everyone, John and 10. Have either of you heard or read the articles claiming U.S. military units were told that this was God's divine plan and that this was the Holy War? Yeah, 100%. I have heard that. Yeah.

We discussed a little bit. I mean, it is disturbing, right? I mean, there is, you know, we're a secular country, supposedly, you know, evidence, even though, but the Trump administration is there messaging externally through their Twitter feeds and internally through the military is very, you know, sort of what Chris Hitchens would call Christianist, right? I mean, it's, it's radical. It's millinerial. And I mean, do you think it's, I mean, I think it's a problem, but I'm an atheist. Do you think it's a problem? You're a man of faith. Yeah, I think this is a big problem. there's got to be a Chinese wall in between church and state.

There has to be. You know, my brother is an atheist, which would drive my parents crazy, but he's very generous in his donations to a group called Freedom from Religion. And this is something that bothers him very, very much. You remember during the very early days of the first Trump administration, there was a retired, I think he was a lieutenant general from the military. who was heading a company that made scopes for sniper rifles. And so when you look through the scope,

on the inside of the scope, they had etched for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Yeah. And people are like, what the fuck is that? In the sniper rifle in the scope. So there was talk about recalling them and they had to be, you know,

they had to grind it out of the, I wouldn't have done that. I just wouldn't have ordered anymore. And then the Pentagon was like, no, no, that's okay. That's fine. That's, yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, it's just like a, it's a, I don't know how we ever, you know, get right with the Muslim world this way. Seriously.

You know. Okay. Tammy Landrigan. Tammy, you make me laugh, Tammy. That's, that's funny. Lewis Farrakhan is most definitely not a CIA asset. Frankie and McDonough. Thanks for the 10 euros.

Did the CIA operate in Ireland during the troubles? The Clintons take credit for the peace treaty. And I never knew why. Also, who's your favorite Irish folk singer? Pete Seeger loved the Clancy brothers. Oh, my God, the Clancy brothers. And what was his name who just died a couple of years ago? Hold on a second.

I'm going to look because this is important. Here's my YouTube playlists. it is yes of course Liam Clancy specifically Liam oh my God the Clancy brothers were the greatest ever

but in my view Liam Clancy was the greatest of the great yeah okay so let's see thanks for the 999 from TJ hey guys what are each of your general politics aside from campaign

finance reform what do you think would turn around the U.S.'s decline, universal health care, free higher education, etc.? Thanks. Well, I mean, you want to take that first, John, or shall I? Yeah, my politics have changed dramatically. I consider myself a leftist libertarian. And I know that sounds contradictory to some people. I believe what Ronald Reagan said, that government is the problem. It's not the solution to the problem. And I believe that there is a role for government, and that is creating the social safety net.

But otherwise, I want the man off my freaking back. And taxes are too high because the taxes are going to pay for the war machine. Well, I disagree with none of that. And look, in an ideal world, I'm a communist. I don't think that a janitor works any less harder than a CEO. In fact, I think he works harder. I agree. And I think they should earn exactly the same amount of money.

And I think that we're all created equal, whether you believe it's under God or just under this under our big blue sky. But in terms of within our existing system, my basic feeling is that anything that is essential to human existence should be covered or subsidized by the government. So I mean things like health care, housing, food, education, transportation. If you want to buy a second house, that shit's on you. But like if you have no house, the government should be responsible for making sure that you have a place to live. Maybe not to own, but to rent at an affordable rate. So, I mean, basically, I feel like when it comes to the guy, I have no trust like you at all, John, for the government in terms of surveillance. or the police state and all that,

I'm radically, you know, paranoid of the government. I think they are not here. We've given up our liberty. We've just decided to voluntarily give up our liberty. This episode is brought to you by Spreaker. The platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need,

explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm editing audio. If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreaker makes the whole process simple. You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere people listen. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and about a dozen apps your cousin's swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones.

Start your show today at spreeker.com. Sprinker, because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it. Somebody just said in the chat, like bottom of the political compass. I've taken a number of those tests, and it's farther to the left and bottom of the political compass on the libertarian side. And I know people are joking, you know, communist John and stuff. No, I mean, I've studied, I've studied Marxism in depth. I've studied communism that was all a part of going to college. But no, I'm most decidedly not a communist. I know Ted's a Marxist, but I'm a capitalist. Sorry. Well, I mean, you guys are winning the

argument these days. Although, frankly, things are looking good for my side. Yeah, they are actually. Anyway, hey, John and Ted, hope you guys are doing well. Could you share your thoughts on the U.S. oil tanker blown up by the IRGC? Thoughts on the real threat to other tankers in the area? Thanks for all you guys do, hashtag pardon John ASAP. Thank you. I think we're going to see a lot more attacks on oil tankers. This is 1985, 1986 all over again and the attack on the Bridgeton.

you know the the iranians we should not underestimate the iranians here if they say that they have made a decision to close the straits of hormuz the the hormus is going to be closed all you have to do is sink one ship and it's closed the the shipping lane gets so narrow because it's so shallow that just sink one ship and it's all over that's what people don't understand right like so at the narrowest point my understanding is that there's a six mile wide yeah and so that's sounds like six miles, man. No ship is six miles across. But like you said, that most of that six miles is not navigable. Navigable. Right. John is a geopolitical professor Jiang on target. Thanks for the 99 from Lorraine Frost. By the way, very popular. He has several YouTube accounts.

Yeah, very popular. I only learned of him about a week ago and started watching him. I don't agree with everything he says. But yeah, he's he's credible. I think he's going to be increasingly out there because He's figured out how to take advantage of social media, something I'm still struggling with. By the way, I do want to answer that question, like, what would turn around the U.S.'s decline, John. I mean, I think if the United States started prioritizing and investing in its citizens and in its infrastructure, that would turn us around. 100% agree. Basically, we should just look at what China is doing and do that and just do that. Let's see.

John, this is from firmware, thanks for the Fiverr. Please remind us of your pal who does secure phones. I will then be able to take my dogs to the park. This is not a non-sequitur. Sean O'Brien is his name, and you can reach him at ivy-cyber.com. I-V-Y-C-Y-B-E-R.com. And he's Ted's friend, too.

That's true. Okay, James Kelly, thanks for the 20. Do you guys think that Israel is purposely degrading the global standard of the United States to become our replacement as superpower, trying to figure out the end game of all this? Also, Lindsay Graham saying move everything over there was weird. Israel can't possibly be the mouse that roared here, John. And we have, like, what? How many million people in Israel? 10?

That's what I thought. Yeah. No. Yeah. There's no fucking way. As of New Jersey. Be serious. Yeah.

But still, they're able to play us like a fiddle. And when you have these queens like Lindsay Graham just getting on his knees in front of the great Benjamin Netanyahu, you know the country's in deep, deep trouble. It is fucking, it is fucking sad and pathetic. You know, I mean, just think about like we thought it was sad that Tony Blair was like, you know, gobbling Bush's cock back in the day. Yeah. And like, at least that was England. Yeah. At least that was England.

That's right. And they had to kowtow to the U.S., of course. Thanks for the, wow, thanks for the $50 from Olenjos. As a Gen Z Greek-American, I was always curious how Turkey has evaded the settler colonial label, despite clear examples, i.e. ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Greeks of Imbros and Tenedos. Oh, man. Now you're going to get my heart racing here. Imbros and Tenedos are the only two Egyan islands that belong.

to Turkey, belong to Turkey, thanks to the corrupted treaty of, of, what was it? Not Versailles. The treaty of, anyway, one of these treaties that ended the Greek-Turk conflict of the early 1920s. I couldn't agree more. Cyprus, of course, is the obvious example, but so is Eastern Thrace, Thraki. so are Inverostentenados. The fact that the ecumenical patriarch of the Orthodox Church has to be a Turkish citizen, cannot be a citizen of any other country,

it has to be a Turkish citizen. All the Turks have to do is not give any of these Greek clerics citizenship. And then the ecumenical patriarch goes to the rights. Sorry, do you think Turkey avoided this label because of the timing of this territorial expansion? I mean, because before that, we have classic 19th century European colonialism. Yes. And then later, you know, we have sort of the, you know, the Israeli settler colonialism.

But this is sort of in between at a, you know, when that happened. And the world was preoccupied with other things at that time. And it really is colonialism. If you look at northern Cyprus, the occupied part of Cyprus, there are more Turks there now. than there ever were Turkish Cypriots. So it's almost impossible to be able to come to a peace agreement because you're not dealing Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. You're dealing Greek Cypriots and Turkish settlers.

Cameron, thanks for the 99. John Ted, I think both of you would have a unique view on this and I would love to hear your thoughts. As someone with minimal education and resources, what can someone like me do to make change? Thanks, that's a big question. a big question, but you know, look at something that Brian Becker has done with the Answer Coalition. Brian never went to college. And he's one of the most brilliant people I've ever encountered.

He has a very deep, deep understanding, not just of these issues, but of history. And he's the best organizer I've ever met. I mentioned the other day, maybe it was even last week on the show that as soon as October 7th happened, Brian could see what this was. going to turn into. And so he literally ran to the to the department of the interior and got a permit for a demonstration, the counter demonstration. And he expected, I think it was like 15 to 20,000 people, 300,000 people showed up and stretched from the White House to the capital. Another thing, When Donald Trump was in his first term, he wanted to have this giant military parade, you might recall. Oh, yeah.

Remember that? Yeah. And so Trump picked it. Yeah, whatever happened. That never happened, right? I'll tell you why. Okay. He picked a date.

And Brian got up extra early. He went to the interior department. and he stood at the window for demonstration permits before it opened, like hours before it opened, calculating that nobody in the Trump administration would have gotten permits yet. And he got, it was something like 14 separate permits for all the possible dates and for all the possible parade routes. What a beast.

Because Brian controlled the permits. Trump never got his military parade. Oh my God. That is hilarious. Deep respect for Brian Becker. Yeah, so the second part kind of undermines what I was going to say about the first part. But I mean, okay, I'm going to be a cynical bastard. 300,000 people marched against the genocide in Gaza.

And it's still going on and it didn't change a fucking thing. You know, even after Joe Biden was forced out, Kamala Harris still refused to distance herself from the Israelis. I mean, do you think, I'm not sure OG peaceful, peace police police police police police police police police police police police police police police police whatsoever anymore. I agree. I agree. But with that said, what can we do but take to the streets, you know, right? speak, lobby, March. My answer to this questioner is simply like, you know,

Lenin tried to have a revolution before it was time, right? And went to jail for his trouble. And he later wrote, you know, the job, I thought the job of a revolutionary was to start revolution. The job of a revolutionary is not to start revolution. Right. The people start the revolution. The job of the revolutionary is to notice when a revolutionary is to notice when a revolutionary

is occurring. So I guess it's basically a lot of watch, wait, educate yourself, be aware, be like Brian Becker, be opportunistic. Jake Decker, thanks for the five, was Iran really going to make weapons of mass destruction? Will this war stop them indefinitely or temporarily? I had a guess on DMZ, Iranian cartoonist Nick Kausar. And like, he hates the regime. He earned it honestly, they imprisoned him for drawing cartoons. He thinks, like, for sure that, you know, that Iran was going to develop a nuclear weapon. What do you, I mean, that's not the assertion of the intelligence. That's not the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community, right? That's right. What do you think? Who knows, right? Who knows? Yeah, it's like, it's impossible to say.

I mean, there's just, I would just say that no evidence, no solidarity. evidence that's the best way to say it to to to confirm that so that's right i mean yeah i mean i would think that if the iranians really were serious about it that this would have happened by it would have happened by now um you know and looking back on on the history of our terrible relations with one another my god there are more missed opportunities than than we could count well that's i i remember When we were getting ready to attack Iraq in 2003, we secretly, the CIA, we secretly went to the Iranians. And we said, look, we're going to attack Iraq. We're going to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

This has nothing to do with you. We mean you no harm here. And we're going to tell you in advance that some of our fighter jets may accidentally cross into Iranian territory. It's going to be an accident. Please don't shoot them down. And the Iranian said, you guys do whatever you want. Just leave us out of it. And that worked.

And we never tried to build on that. Yeah, or the time that during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, that we lost a fighter pilot and a jet over northwestern Afghanistan. Right. The Iranians went in there and cooperated with Ishmael Khan, the warlord of Harat, to go and rescue our guy. And they dutifully turned him in post-haste. You know, we were like, thank you. But again, that was a goodwill gesture. We chose not to go on it.

That's right. We ignored it. Robbie has a question. You said, if the idea is to get liberal Iranians to overthrow their government here, why are we bombing the liberal Iranians seems counterproductive? Yeah. Yes. That's right.

See, but this is an indication of how bad we are at regime change. We're just bad at it. It never works out. It's easy to overthrow a government where you just bomb the shit out of them. It's really, really hard to install another government that's going to be stable and popular. Hard to the point where we shouldn't be doing it because it just doesn't work. Although I guess we'd hit in 1953. Well, that was a temporary situation, though.

I mean, he only lasted but 25 and a half years. Yeah, but for the American mindset, that might as well be an eternity. you're only thinking about the next election. Robbie, do we have an ad by any chance? We do. I will throw that through. Let me go ahead and do a little bit of housekeeping real quick. Please. First, if we miss any of y'all super chats,

please take a screenshot and email me so that we can put at the top of the stack on the next show. West Glacier Gaming at gmail.com. That's the easiest way to make sure that it doesn't get missed. We appreciate your donations. Second, if you are going to try to troll either John or Ted in the chat, and you spill like my cat does, all you're doing is showing how much

of a retarded dick you are. So don't even try. All you're doing, you're just showing the world that you're stupid. So get a dictionary, then write your insult, and then send it off. And if it's funny, I'll post it.

And I'll get that ad for you now. Thank you. Thank you, Robbie. Okay. Thanks for the 999 for Brennell-Trap. What do you make of the administration, from my perspective, at least blatantly lying

about the asymmetrical war they are describing. I mean, yeah, you've seen all the videos and the game videos that they've released. It's like, Target Acquired, Game Over. Like, it's so embarrassing. I hate that. And I especially hate that people are releasing what is obviously clips from military games

and saying, this episode is brought to you by Spreaker. The platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need, explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm editing audio. If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreaker makes the whole process simple.

You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere people listen, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and about a dozen apps your cousin swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize. your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones. Start your show today at spreeker.com. Sprinker, because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it. Pentagon just released this from Iran. Check out how we destroyed 12 of their tanks all in a row. It's like, no, dude, this is clearly from a video game. What are you doing?

Yeah. I'm 61 years old and I recognize it's from a video game. Raisa Kumonos, thanks for the five euros. There are assumptions that Netanyahu's video released yesterday was made with AI. What do you think? Well, it's becoming increasingly hard to tell the difference, but I don't think so. It looked real to me. What do you think, John? I thought it looked real.

I kind of try to be on the lookout for AI, but I agree with you, Ted. It's, I mean, it changes almost month to month where it makes it that much harder to figure out if it's AI. I will say, I believe very strongly that Netanyahu is a coward and that if it's a coward and that If he had any balls at all, he would go back to Israel from wherever his little hiding places and lead his country. Well, yeah, and look, I'm consistent on that, too. Every leader who drags their country into a stupid fucking war should be there with their people. You know, I didn't like when George W. Bush was zigzagging all over the United States on 9-11.

I didn't like when Trump started this war and he was nowhere to be found. I don't like the fact that he hasn't given a primetime Oval Office address to the American people. I don't like that he hasn't given a proper press conference that should range for hours properly answering the media's questions. So, yeah. Agreed. Thanks, F you so for the $2. Religion conditions people to believe claims without evidence, which they called faith. This mentality bleeds into politics.

True. Ask 8420. Thanks so much for the 10 euros. John, how do you view the future of Mexico with all that's going on? And what are your main sources for live news? Thank you. I'm deeply worried about Mexico. I think that the Mexicans have gotten to the point where it's a matter of survival.

You know, there was this uneasy kind of truce between the government and the cartels. And now it's not so much of a truce, especially with the Americans being involved. And so I fear it spinning out of control. We were under threat from the Halisco cartel when I was there in Baja, filming that movie back in October. I mean, they even sent in a specific, very specific threat to the local newspaper in Los Cabos saying that if we weren't out by Friday that they were going to start shooting us. Well, we had wrapped up production.

We were leaving Tuesday, half of us on Tuesday, half of us on Wednesday anyway. But this is a problem. I've been to Mexico many, many times. been all over Mexico, except for Chappas. I've never been to Chappas. But I just feel like it's not worth the threat anymore. We should. It's hard.

It's insanely. That's America's top national security priority. We have a huge border with this country. We've had massive migrant flows over that border. We want a stable, prosperous, wealthy Mexico on our southern border. We're going to lose our ad. Okay, all right. Oh, my apologies.

You know, it gets so carried away. Here's a little inside scoop that many creators are talking about behind the seeds. It's actually one of the reasons I'm using Rumble, or we're using Rumble. They made a way to Super Chat creators, so we get paid immediately and without any fees. YouTube and Twitch take up to 50% fees when you tip creators. This method takes none. That's right.

The platform takes zero fees. We keep nearly 100% of what you send us. You can super chat with Bitcoin Tether. US dollars or even tethered gold stable coins. The tip will show up directly over the Rumble chat, which we will do our best read. All you need to do is, I don't know what that means, all you need to do is download the Rumble wallet

on the App Store. And then send the tips to your favorite creators. You go to wallet.Rumbull.com, or you can download the app directly from the app store. Seriously, what an amazing way to get rid of the middleman and help the creator economy. Shout out to Rumble for, for making this disruptive technology.

John, we have so many, even just doing this, just the Super Chats. It's like the and the Rumble premiums. We've got to fly through these. Beyond 420, thanks for the 20 bucks. Thanks, Ted, for everything you guys do. Nice to hear sober voices. How do you think this conflict will end with the current state of things? It seems like things can only escalate from here.

I agree with that. I think we are going to see escalation. And then when it's all of a sudden done, status quo. I don't think anything's going to change. It's just more people will be dead. That's it. More people are going to be dead.

And some Pentagon stocks will be, I mean, some defense stocks will be up. Yep. Soden, thanks for the 1999 again. Good morning, gents, really upset on how the Republicans and the president are going full. I'm throttle on, I don't know what that means. On guys like Massey with his record. I'm really disappointed with Trump with Trump. What do they have on him?

Sheesh. hashtag APAC fueled. Yeah, that's what it comes down to, I think, is APAC. Tom Massey is one of the very, very few people of principle on Capitol Hill. Yeah, I disagree with him on a lot, but he is a more principal. I'll tell you, I've said this before. Bruce Fine, and one of my close friends, Bruce's dad was a third baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the 50s. And so Bruce is a lifelong baseball fan.

And he has season tickets to the Washington Nationals. We go to a lot of games. And every year, Massey goes to a couple of the games with us. And he's just an awesome guy. He looks like he's a great guy. Yeah, I believe it. I'm sorry, we've got so many to go through, John. Joe Shanahan, thanks for the 499.

If we generally have super chats to make it worth your time, would we do an extra Q&A episode? If so, what's your number? Yes, we will. We will. We're already talking about that. J.P. Caldwell, thanks for the $999. Mr. Adam, thanks for the S.A.R. 50?

I don't know what, South African... Rand. John, people are so apathetic, and it seems like any rule could be broken. 2008, Epstein, Maduro, war after war. If people let everything slide, where do we go next? Robert, I'm Karim, T, U. and Ted. Well, that's, of course, the $16. That is the $11 billion a week question, John.

Yeah. Papa DuBelos, thanks for the six euros. John, do you think there will be a conflict in Cyprus between Greece and Turkey due to the rising military presence nowadays? I don't believe that there will be a conflict in Cyprus because of the military activity in the Eastern Mediterranean. I do believe that there could be a conflict in Cyprus because Turkey is jealous that Cyprus has found that it is sitting on an ocean of natural gas. J.P. Caldwell, thanks for the 499. If the U.S. is a war-based economy, shouldn't they start to profit from this new war? Shouldn't it help the economy?

There's more than one economy in the U.S. Part of the economy is a war-based economy, and it drags down the rest of us, I think. Totally. It's not helping ordinary people at all. You know, I mean, no high-speed rail, you know, nothing. firmware, thanks for the five bucks. Thanks for the info. We're off.

See ya. Okay, enjoy to whatever you're doing. F.E.O. Shutdown capitalism is the only way the elite, leads listen, do the Canadian trucker things, thanks for the dollar. Templar, thanks for the $499, whatever happened to those protests in Hong Kong right before COVID broke out. Everybody got arrested and convicted and they're all in prison. Hey, John, Papadoupleos, thanks for the six heroes. Oh, we already talked about that.

Thank you. Adrian, thanks for the tenor. John, your constant optimism in times like these helps me. I'm not sure not just me, but a lot of people listening, keep it up. you're awesome man thank you it's a struggle keep up the fight hogs candy land

but I like I like being in R&D do you Megamagora 599 euros do you think Iran might strike the American base in Kosovo since there have been rumors about the base being used for jets I don't know if they can reach it oh they can reach it through proxies

okay this was a problem for us going back to the 90s was the Iranian proxies in Kosovo. It's a big problem. John, have you tried yes hummus for breakfast? This is for regularly. I had hummus for breakfast this morning and a little bit of Zadziki with some peter bread. Excellent. My breath is terrible, but totally wicked. I bet you got to brush your teeth so thoroughly after that shit. Donnie Day is 99. Thank you so much. What do you think about Venezuela? I hate Trump, but was happy Maduro was out.

However, Delsey, her bro and Diastodo are much worse. Love the show, guys. Listen to it every morning. I mean, Maduro was a douche, but what we did was really, really fucking wrong. You know, it didn't follow a process. I mean, you know, it's like, it's for the Venezuelan people to handle. You know, I mean, they're smart people. We know they know how to have a revolution.

they've had one. I don't know. Venezuela's back Bernard now, right? It just goes on. It is. Nobody's even talking about it right now. No one gives a shit because it's just Americans can only keep track of one story at a time. Sir Sethley, thanks for the 499.

What do you make of Trump's comments on delaying the midterms? Aha, you're talking Ted Rawls' subject here. If he did that, I don't know. I don't see how this that could end without a revolution. Anarchism, baby. Yeah, this is not good. I look, I think Trump is seriously contemplating that. And he has the motives.

He has the ability. And I don't think anything would happen. And I don't think there would be a revolution. I agree. Did you see the 60 Minutes piece, CT Golan, thanks for the 499, on AHA and Savannah syndrome. Any thoughts or feelings on the program device or treatment of the victims? I did see it.

How about you, John? Yeah, I did see it. And I'll say that the people that were interviewed on it are very serious people. They're highly respected, serious accomplished people. And if they're saying that they have Havana syndrome and that Havana syndrome is a CIA directed energy weapon, I believe them. John, question for you from Sweets, 499. You've mentioned that the U.S. never spies on Israel yet. Many Israeli agents, Jonathan Parlor, have been identified in the U.S.

Are we justified to spy? And if so, why not? 100% yes. We should be on the Israelis like white on rice, at the very least for counterintelligence purposes. Absolutely, yes. So why wouldn't we? Because APEC would just kill us.

Sabra Fink, 44. Thanks for the Emirati Durhams, 74 of them. Hey, John, what are your thoughts on the Beirut explosion? I was there and have some interesting info. Have you looked into it? Not any more than what's been reported in the Western media. it kind of points to a breakdown in the entire Lebanese government. There could have been something covert about it.

At least that's what some of the accusations have been. But it looks like it was a giant shipment of chemicals that were improperly stored in the heat and it went off. That's happened before. That happened in Akaba a couple of years ago as well. John, Toby suggesting that you start a clothing brand. Thanks for the 299. Burjan, thanks for the five euros.

John, do you think that we'll have a conflict in the Balkans, since Kosovo, Albaedia, and Croatia made a military alliance, Serbia is scared. I'll tell you, if I were the Serbs, I'd be scared. Because the Serbs also have the Kosovo's to worry about. And, you know, Kosovo is little, Serbia's big, and Kosovo is still bloody Serbia's nose every once in a while. It's not good.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a little bit of a, you know, kerfuffle. As we heading to the weekend, John, we did manage to catch up with the super chat questions, but not all the questions. Ken, what do you think we're going to, what do you expect to see from Iran and the ongoing conflict between the Taliban and Pakistan? Taliban and Pakistan, I think, are going to continue randomly bombing each other. We're seeing, you know, two, three, four, five dead a day, not huge. numbers, shame nonetheless. I think that's going to continue. We're not going to see invasions or, you know, attempts to overthrow governments. It's just going to be kind of a warm conflict.

And Iran don't expect any changes. More of the same. Well, Trump's promising some big bang bang over the weekend. Do you think it's just bullshit or? Yes. Yeah. I do. Yeah. Because if you really have it, you don't announce it, right? No, you don't announce it. Just do it. Looks like there might be one more question here. Let's see. Oh, John, you look healthier now compared to photos from years ago. Question for Robbie. Well, we're going to have to leave that. Listen, guys, if we didn't get, there's a few more questions that we didn't get to from the super chats. Please, Robbie, explain what people can do about that. Yeah, sure. I mean, the best thing you can do is just email me, just a screenshot of your of your super chat or your rant. West Glacier,

gaming at gmail.com. I put it at the top of the stack on Monday. We'll get those questions first, and that way your dollars aren't wasted. Thank you very much, Robbie. Thank you, John. We will be back on Monday morning, 9 a.m. Eastern Time. We're here Monday through Friday for D-Program

with Ted Roll and John Kirooku. Appreciate you guys a lot. Have an awesome weekend. And if you are so moved, please stay tuned for the TMI show with myself and Minola Chan coming up right now. Bye, John. Bye.