DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - CIA: Putin Thinks USA Is Now Weak | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET. Today we discuss:• CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s mysterious trip to Moscow this week was preceded by fresh U.S. intelligence indicating that the Kremlin sees the US as weakened by the Iran war, offering Russia an opportunity to escalate action against American interests and allies in Europe. The CIA chief warned Russia against ramping up its war against Ukraine, arguing that such a move would backfire.• Parents say that because of the $17 billion Meta settlement, they have been robbed of seeing evidence of Meta’s awareness of harm due to its products.• The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is blaming the location of a temporary Ellipse site for an incident in early August when President Trump’s Marine One helicopter came within a mile of a passenger jet. The agency flagged twice that the helicopter attempted to contact controllers to give the typical three-minute liftoff warning to clear the airspace at 2:31 p.m. Aug. 4. The first attempt was not received by National Airport’s air traffic control tower while the second was “broken and completely unreadable.” When this failed, the helicopter attempted to relay the three-minute warning “through the helicopter facility at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which was also unsuccessful.” LIVE ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@DeProgramShowLIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShowhttps://x.com/tedrallhttps://x.com/JamarlThomas#tedrall #jamarlthomas #news #politics

Good morning. This is the program with Ted Roll and Jamarle Thomas. It is Friday, August 28, 26. Thank you very much for joining us. Please like, follow and share. And please, please, please subscribe to the show. That's what we really, really need you to do. Okay. So we have a lot to talk about as we end the week here. We know a little bit more about why the CIA director, John Radcliffe, went to Russia the other day. We have some reaction to the meta lawsuit settlement that we discussed yesterday. That's the huge $17 to $22 billion settlement. Parents of victims are pissed. The NTSB, I kind of like this story. I think we'll be able to dig deeper into it, is blaming in part that near-miss incident between the president's helicopter last earlier this month and beyond.

the Trump construction site and having, which had to relocate the fact that the helicopter normally lands on the White House grounds. It's temporarily across the street at the ellipse. That's where the Washington Monument is if you've been to D.C. And the NTSB, that's the National Transportation Safety Board, that's the entity that investigates these kinds of disasters or near disasters. And basically they're saying that communications really, really sucked. So for me, It's the story is it's interesting because of that. We now know the details of how this went down, and it's a little bit frightening. Anyway, if you have comments, please put them in the live chat.

If you're watching live between 9 to 10 a.m. On the East Coast on YouTube or Rumble, producer Robbie, we'll go ahead and put those questions up. We do really especially appreciate the paid super chats and Rumble rants because, you know, we're short of money here. It's weird. We've got the numbers. We're banging out the numbers, but the money is not coming in due to Rumble. YouTube hasn't screwed us, but Rumble has. So we're hoping that you guys will consider subscribing to us over on YouTube. Yesterday, we had our first evening exclusive hangout for those who wanted to join, and we did that last night at 7 p.m. We're going to do it again. The next one at the end of September.

Probably we'll try for the last Thursday of the month if that'll be kind of like the default. place for that unless someone can't make it, in which case we can maybe reschedule. Anyway, all right, that's enough talking. How are you doing this morning tomorrow? I'm doing okay. Can't complain. No issues. This is going to be the last day of sobriety until my birthday on Monday.

Yeah. Birthday weekend is about raging? No, it's not going to rage. Maybe raged myself. if anything, this is probably going to be lack of sobriety, hopefully getting pampered. I don't know.

I don't have anything momentous plan. And to be honest, this is the first birthday I'm in the country. Going back for like eight years. Jamarle, did you have a, I mean, you and I both have birthdays in late August. I always found going back to childhood that it was kind of a pretty bad time of the year

to have a birthday because people are all away on vacation or they're just making their way back. So nobody really, they miss your birthday, right? Like, even people who only travel for two weeks out of the year, they go late August is when they go. That's America's top travel time. And so often, like, you know, if your parents wanted to have like a little party for you

and your friends, your friends were never around and that kind of thing. See, my family was poor. So it's not like, you know, they were jet setting. Right? Everybody was always in state or in the country. Sure, but I mean, if they were trying, traveling out of state or whatever, you know. Yeah, but I mean, my mother was poor too.

Yeah. I mean, keep in mind, I was an isolated child. I didn't have to feel this one way or the other. And I didn't even when I was a kid. I didn't like being a kid and I didn't like kids in general. I preferred adults. I was that way too, only child. Yeah, I didn't like kids.

They were unpredictable. They were usually unreasonable. Violent. Violent. Yeah. I didn't like them. all that much. And so I used to hang out more with teachers or hang out more with the dogs or hang out more with et cetera. Yeah, you and I just didn't understand them if I'm being honest.

Yeah. No, it's cool. It's totally cool. All right. So should we what do we want to follow up John Ratcliffe? Do we do? Yeah, we can do that. The other story about Trump, just real quick. Yeah, yeah. I may I that would have been an irony. Donald Trump decides to go on all of these construction projects and then Donald Trump eats it because of one of his dumb construction projects. That would have been great short of people who have died on the other airplane. The irony of it would have just been his like it would have wrote itself as a story. Yeah, it's epic. President does dumb things. President does dumb construction. President protects his dumb construction in lieu of everything else that's basically taking place. President eats it

because of his dumb construction. Yeah, Icarus flew too high. Or, by the way, nobody would care. And nobody would care. Well, yeah. They would have been by the plane that died. They wouldn't have given him a ship out Trump.

Yeah, you know, I wonder if something did happen. I mean, obviously, it is, I mean, it's fair to call a maga cult at this point, based on the way they behave online. And the thing is, I wonder what their approach is going to be, if and when this Trump, this president passes into the good night, whether he dies or whatever, something else happens somewhere he just completes his term. Are they going to, you know, mourn his passing. Are they going to, you know, like when JFK died, like zillions of Irish Catholics and other people had put his picture up in their living room and there it stayed. You know,

it was like a, he stayed alive for many years after he died. I mean, we still talk about JFK. Yeah, we're still obsessed about what happened to him and what was lost. or what was not lost. You know, would Maga, as a movement, decide to, you know, basically view Trump as like a saint and just keep wallowing in him after he's gone, or would they move on quickly to something else, which would probably be the smarter move? They'll canonize him. What they're going to do is, like, what you're just talking about doing it.

It's kind of like how, you know, when that really prominent Jewish rabbi died the revi, Oh, Schneerson. Yeah. You looks like Santa Claus. Yeah. A lot of the Haban people will still go to his grave and pray to him, and other stuff. That's what the Trumpers are going to do.

They want to go to Trump's mausoleum, gilded and gold. Maybe have a nice triumphal arch. Maybe I actually build something like the mausoleum of Hadrian. They're enrolled. And just going to fall out. Won't he be buried at the golf course in New Jersey next to Ivanka? Who knows? I mean, I'm not building anything for Trump.

I'm sorry. This idea that he is, there is a difference between JFK and Trump. JFK was loved by people across the country, whether they were Catholic, whether or the other. My mom remembers the exact date that JFK died. Nobody is going to remember anything about Trump when he died. You may have some cultists who are hardcore, but they don't mean anything. They are dispersed throughout the country into these random locations, maybe in various states. But there's not going to be that energy that's there to canonize somebody who, A, wasn't even representing America who seems to be a stalking horse for another country and doesn't even give a shit about Americans.

But you have to, but you have to remember this, J.T. You have to remember the Shathe. The MAG of people think that Trump represents true Americans. I don't know what that means. But that's what they think. Not liberals. Now, if you are a red-blooded heterosexual, Israel instead. America last, the patriotic American, Trump's your guy. And they will lose,

and they will lose their minds. That is so, they're so diffuse. Like you might get a small percentage of the country. That's that way. I could be wrong. I mean, think of Obama,

right? When Obama drops dead, you will have blacks crying in the graves. True. But that's because he was the first black president. He was like the first. It's not that he did anything. He's just,

the liberal. If he was, if his name was Bill Clinton, nobody would think anything more about Obama than anything else, right? It's his race that gives him that gravitas in regards to historical context. What is Trump's claim to fame in this way? I mean, with Kennedy, it was also the, it was the youth, the glamour, you know, the new generation kind of thing. And it was the way that it's what happened to him. The country was at largely at peace at the time. Yes. And his been reaching up to the Soviets and trying to kill the Vietnam War. Like, meaning there's... And the sense of optimism and humor.

I mean, I got to say one thing that nobody should forget. I mean, I know the two of you guys have seen this, but I would recommend anybody to just go on YouTube and Google like JFK press conference film. And, you know, just any, and choose any random. I mean, you know, you'll see it's crazy. I mean, he gave a press conference pretty much every day. day that he was a president. And he's so easy going. Like he's having a great time. He steps out from behind the podium casually, like, rolls up his sleeves and he just leans up against the

podium. And he's cracking jokes with the press corps. And they're going back and forth and doing zingers. I mean, that's just something we don't have now. I mean, you know, we talked yesterday about like the, you know, the propaganda difference between, like, right-wing and left-wing messaging. There it is, right? I mean, it's like the Trump glower is not going to be missed. Honestly, he probably would have, he'd be better more fondly remembered if he was more authentically himself and, like, grinning and funny and cracking jokes and smiling. But he, but that's the real Trump, actually, behind closed.

I don't think so. I think the Trump that we got is the real Trump. It's not. You don't think so. Oh, it's an act. It's like George W. Bush with his fake, you know, Texas accent. You know, it's completely an act. Is he an act when he attacks Iran?

In a way, I mean, obviously he's actually attacking them. Yeah, he's actually attacking them. But in a way, it's not authentically him. In other words, if he felt like he had his druthers, this wouldn't have happened. You've got, the two. I don't know that. He's like, he's the puppet. I mean, you're acting as if he has no agency.

I don't buy their premise. Oh, I mean, we all have agency. I mean, when you choose to be a puppet and to be oppressed, you're choosing that decision. But he's choosing that. He's choosing to play, you know, to sec up to his donors and his supporters and to Israel. He doesn't have to, but that's the decision. That's the devil's market that they made. They sent him to destroy and mangle Social Security and Medicare.

Was that an act? See, I don't believe these things are X. I think these things are him. he is doing this stuff. I mean, you can say, well, when he's... But it doesn't matter, right? I mean, I don't care. But I think, I hear what you're saying. I don't think it matters. I mean, I think fundamentally, you're judged by your actions, right? So it doesn't matter, like, what's in his heart of hearts. I'm just saying that, like, you know, I'm just sort of observing that if we had seen the authentic Donald Trump, he might be more fondly remembered.

I don't think so. I don't even think that Trump even knows who the authentic Trump is anymore. I think he's been a comedian so much. He's completely lost his own mind. And the thing about the Trump's scowl, and I'll go away after this, you've got his punchline. I don't know if the two of y'all ever waste your life on truth social, just going through just looking at the sycophants. No. Well, I take that hit for you, J.T. So that way I'm able to understand.

So whenever you're getting stolen out of your mind, please think fondly on me while I do this. I will. I will. By the way, get that cow milk, that male cow milk also. You got to drink that. Yeah, it's not chis. Screw up. Piss off.

Not going to happen. Anyway, you know you want it. You know you're heading out right after this show. I prefer female udders. Sorry. But anyway, but Trump's whole stick now is they're not after me. They're after you. And I'm in the way.

He is the wall. He is the bulwark. He's the Theodosian walls. the hordes are right there. They're trying to scale over it. Thankfully, they don't. Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah, and although, and they're just waiting for,

basically, their mentality is that America's under siege by Iran and Russia and China. So you have this new access of evils. I guess you throw North Korea in there, depending on the day. But it's those three to four countries. They are besieging America. They hate you for your freedoms. They hate you for being.

They do. They believe it. They believe it. For them, it is a matter of faith. Now, how I look at the Bible, people look at me like I'm kind of crazy because I should believe it. I look at the Trumpers exact same way because they believe it. They want the freedom to be it to get bent over and raped by the IRS every single year. They want the freedom to have their currency destroyed. They want to have the freedom for mass inflation. And all the mile wave the flag celebrating American great. that's exceptionalism. And these other countries, they want to take all that away from you, Mr. America.

They want to take all that away from you. And so you got Trump, this big old wall protecting you. So that way the status quo is so freaking will can save you. It's from, it's fear of the other. It's true. I mean, that's part of it. It's definitely part of it.

I mean, the thing is there's a bunch of aspects to this, right? To this phenomenon. But yeah, okay, but let's talk. Obviously, Trump. did not die, kind of unfortunately for the country. And so we, so, okay, let me just go through this because it is fascinating. All right. So basically this Marine one came within a mile of a passenger jet. Now at peak, at peak speed, you know, an American passenger jet travels 600 miles per hour.

So it can travel, what is that? One mile in six seconds. So one mile, one mile, is close, okay? It's very close. And so even if it's traveling 200 miles an hour, you know, that's still 18, you know, that's still, you know, that's still, you know, like two or three seconds for somebody to respond. It's a few seconds, right? So anyway, so the helicopter is supposed to give a three-minute liftoff warning in order to clear the airspace, okay? To me, by the way, I just have to say that seems like not a lot of time to give air traffic control in a very, in the busy nation's capital time to clear the airspace. But all right, that's what they do. Anyway, the first time, I guess it used to work okay before America started to suck ass. But the first attempt, basically,

was not received by Reagan National Airport ATC at all. Like, oh, well, what do you mean? So they just didn't get it. The helicopter sends out and says, hey, we're lifting off. And there's no response. We're on the move. No answer. But they're like, all right. fine, let's go. The second attempt was broken and completely unreadable. So it sounded like an announcement on a Manhattan subway.

And then the third time, the helicopter tried to relay the three-minute warning through Joint Base Anacostia Bowling, military base. That also did not work. And they let,

fuck it, let's go. This is wild to me. So Anacosta, okay, I used to live in Anacoste, and I know the military base you're talking about. This is Virginia. So they tried to lay it through them in order to get to, I guess, the airport. And even that, there was no answer. Correct. Right.

So wait, so what if fuck was Anacoste? I'm sorry. What was the Anacosta military? Well, if it's anything like they, I mean, this report, by the way, breaks at the same time as, remember, the fatal collision between a plane at LaGuardia Airport and a bus or, you know, an internal bus? So it turns out that like at least two, maybe three air traffic controllers stepped out were away from the desk when that happened. So they didn't have enough people to handle it. And so...

It's the same thing. They didn't have enough people at the... It sounds like that. Yeah. That's wild to me. I mean, because it's... A, they tried to relay through a military base. And it seems like that didn't work, which raises this question about the military base

and the readiness of that base. Then they tried to radio it through... So this was like three or four times that they tried to... So it wasn't Trump's plane that was at fault because they tried to do this over and over and over again. Well, I mean, it is. They are at fault because they shouldn't have left. They never, look, they tried to tell everybody, hey, we're on the way. We're on the move with the president. And they didn't get like an okay. Like, we got you. It's cool from anybody. And they're like, good. Let's go. I mean, come on. That's their fault.

And also, you don't have to wait for information. Yeah, we don't need information. Like, yeah, like, there's a, yeah, if you're a, yeah, if you're ever, if you ever buy the Sex Pistols album, the great rock and roll swindle, there's like live sessions and they're doing a cover of a monkey song and someone says like, don't we have to get permission for that? And Johnny Rotten goes, we don't need permission to do anything. That was it. And so the thing is like not only were, did they not get permission, they also were leaving from an unfamiliar new location, right? So, So pilots who are really familiar with that airspace wouldn't necessarily be expecting Marine One to be leaving from the ellipse.

They'd be expecting it to leave from the White House. Right. That's wild. I mean, because you're right. Like, it's almost like the pilot says the president is ready to go. So screw it. And it's like, dude, you got to get permission. Like anybody else would have to.

Hey, he's got a small bladder. He can't wait. He's got to go. He's old. He's, you know, crotchety. We got to go. Yeah, he's Ken taker. president this is dangerous I don't give a shit if it's dangerous I need to get to so-and-so

yeah yeah I have a fundraiser to go to yeah I got to make some cash I got some I've got some Israelis to meet so televeter still you all right well you're right under normal circumstance anybody else would have to wait for the confirmation well of course right it's just like yes and it's in it's air traffic control I mean look have you ever Have you ever listened to, I don't know if they still do this on the planes, but you know when you could listen to the different channels and on when you fly, and sometimes you could hear the air traffic control. It was fascinating. And you could listen to the pilots in the region all talking to each other. You know, I mean, that's all it is. It's like, hey, I'd like to move this way. I'd like to change my altitude here. I'd like to go to this runway. You know, I've got this problem. I've got this situation. And it's like, it's like, can I? May I? Please. Yes, you can. That's literally what ATC is. And it's like, you know, obviously. I mean, this is literally the equivalent of like, you know,

you arrive at the traffic signal. All the lights are out. And you're like, you know, there's no cop directing traffic. You're like, fuck it, I'm going. Well, you might get it. This is like a red light and you're just saying, fuck it. Right, yeah, you had a red light. That's true.

Until it gets confirmation because it's a real light. It's in the sky. Right. Yeah. Yeah, when you're flying, the answer is no, unless you get a solid yes. Right. Exactly. Yeah.

Because you don't know what's in the sky. Because it's fresh. Because it's flying, which, by the way, I just like to remind everyone is we're very new at here as a species. You know, we only really started doing that, I mean, a hundred years ago, nobody was doing this commercially, right? I mean, nobody. So. I don't know. I just think it's wild.

I mean, it's the president. and the president is God emperor so he can do whatever he wants. Oh my God, I almost got hit by plane. Well, to me, what this is really a reflection on. Again, we're going back to like, this is a declining empire thing. And it ties in nicely with this Putin story. But basically, it's like, you know, how do you assess a country like that? We're a fucking joke, right?

I mean, you know, the money that we spend, like, if you heard like this happened in Senegal, you'd be like, well, that's kind of a poor country. It's like, but this is a super country. superpower that purports to tell the rest of the world what to do and who gets to have nuclear weapons. And like we can't even do something as basic as like not have the president's chopper hit commercial planes. Because in our air, we can't do something as basic as overstaff our air traffic controlled heart. They should have too many dudes. They should have so little to do that they're bored.

That should be their biggest fucking problem. You know, they shouldn't be stressed out at all. It should totally be like, I don't want to go out for us. smoke. No worries, Bob, you're good. It's like this kind of shit. It's like the same thing with LaGuardia. I mean, it ties into the fact that we don't have missiles or bombs or interceptors, even though we spend one and a half trillion dollars a year on defense. I mean, it's just, it's incompetence, right? Oh, by the way, I don't know if you saw the Navy story where the Navy is running out of money. And so they started going after people's salaries.

No. It was concerned that people that they would basically not get their salaries because the Navy has been raiding money that's supposed to go to paying people in order to maintain operations. What? So they didn't go to Congress and get an increased allocation because they probably thought Congress would be pissed, rightly so, and that even Republicans would complain. So rather than do that, they're like, yeah, you know, fuck the sailors. You know, what do they do? Well, they would have to go to Congress at some point because they can't keep that doing that shit.

And people are going to, you think families were pissed off that their family members were tweaking on boats wait till now well the only reason primarily look with robbie's son i've been doing a lot of reading up about why kids join the military right and like overwhelmingly the vast majority of people enlist in the military because of money right it's not to protect the country it's because they want money well if you're not getting money then why the fuck are you there right well here's you don't need a paycheck if you're at sea for 10 months out of the year what are you going to spend it on so i'm sure that's part of the Prostitutes.

But you're at sea. So ocean prostitutes. Sea witches. I mean, I guess maybe you can try to pay a porpoise. I'm not sure, well, that's going to work for you. Now, you're sending the money home to your family so they can pay for expenses back home. It's not for you necessarily. Plus, I'm sure there's shit that they buy in the commentary.

Okay, Steve, I see if they're on YouTube. What's your name is. What is your article? It says the U.S. Navy is running out of money because of the Iran War, League Pentagon memo says the Navy has shortfalls and payroll accounts due to the Department of Defense, quote, rating, unquote, rating them to fund the war. I mean, it's literally, I mean, like, look, if you did that at like, you know, deprogram LLC and said, like, oh, I just took them, you know, like, hey, you know, Ted, I'm sorry, I was going to pay you. but, you know, we needed new equipment. I needed a new mic instead, so I'm not being, I mean, that's illegal.

It's fraud. I mean, this is, it's embezzlement. It's, I mean, but they're unaccountable because it's the U.S. Navy. Your government, yeah, right. It's fucking outrageous. I mean, if I'm not mistaken, half of the money of the money that we spend on the military goes to salaries anyway. And, you know, now you're in the middle of operations that you don't need to be in the middle of. And you're raiding the people who are.

That's not good for morale. I mean, what about the rah-rah, the troops stuff? Like I always said rah-rah the troops stuff is bullshit. Every bit as much as the Ukraine stuff. Like, oh, we support Ukraine, just like people support the military. It's like it's bullshit. If you really support the military, you wouldn't want them rummaging around foreign countries getting themselves shot or, for that matter, having them kill other people.

Right. That's support of the military. Keep them at home. Right. And that's necessary. Nick Riviera, PhD has a comment. He says the reflection pool is ISIS's vagina. Washington's cock is Osiris's penis.

When they're in union, Osiris's penis can be seen in the reflection pool. That gives birth to their son, Oras. That's too good. That's too good to like not. The oblisque, I think is what I'm saying. Well, no, I mean, that's true. So if you go through, if you look at the way that Washington, D.C. was laid out. It's very Masonic in this design.

So it sounds crazy, but actually, though, it's real. No, it's true. I know it's true. So the Washington Monument is supposed to represent a penis, and the reflection pool is to reflect a wound. So, I mean, that is a lot of occult stuff in D.C. That's part of it. Correct.

They're not allowed to have anything larger or higher than the Washington Monuments. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. It's like a cognitive. By the way, isn't it, speaking of rank incompetence, Isn't the Washington monument like a little tilty these days in danger of falling over? Who knows? It could be.

I wouldn't be shocked at you. If you came back and said, hey, we did some measurements and it looks like it's falling over. I'd be like, that sounds about right. It's like Queen Elizabeth nine. Right. And it's like she got to her point of saying, fuck it. I'm out. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm out of here. It's the end of an era. Red blood cell. Robbie, if you ever come to Pakistan, you will be coming. greeted with hugs and warm kisses. I appreciate that. Yeah.

Yeah. What about us? What about us? Well, Amalia, always talk about how I want to go to Kazakhstan. The two of you are like, yeah,

whatever. I'm serious. I would love to go to Kazakhstan. In fact, when I was traveling, I'd be looked up going to Kazakhstan. But the beauty. That's awesome.

Well, the people only last for a month. It's got everything you need. It's got a really cool, wild cities and nightlife. It's got like vast, empty, big spaces. It's got outdoor adventure.

and hiking. It's got everything. Well, it's got deserts and forests and mountains and rivers. I'm looking at it. And by the way, it has a really interesting, weird thing in southwestern Kazakhstan is the Jewish Autonomous Region, which Stalin established, and it was supposed to be like a sort of an Israel within the USSR. And it was reduced to like basically under a thousand people still lived there. And then like young Jews started to move out there.

to try to reinvigorate it, and they're trying to, like, make it go of, like, making it work now. Interesting. So it was good. So, if you so, I do want the answer to this question. Robbie, what media is your son consuming to be so jingoistic? Groyper, we should expose these channels. And thanks for the don't know. To be honest, I don't think it's any real media at all.

I think it's just a big part of what it is. I think it's a couple different things. You know, my family has a long military tradition. Like, though, we fought in every war this country has been in. And by we, I mean, the, the male members of my line from pre-colonial Indian wars through the Korean War. I mean, it's just all the way through. I mean, they fall on both sides of the war northern aggression. And so that's not a secret.

We have a family Bible where we got no mal. No, we got the discharge records and stuff. Got letters written. So I'm like 150 years old. And so I think it's just a big part of it. He's just part of it's economic. Part of it is because he feels like he wants to be a part of something bigger than himself. He wants to have a life of service.

So he's bought in on the idea of what America's supposed to be, not what it really is. You could serve God. Why do you have to do this? Like, a life of service to what? It's that part. You can be a service to the church. You can be a service to the homeless. You can be a service to the homeless.

You could be a service to your family. You could be a service to all sorts of stuff. Family lore is powerful, though. Right? I mean, I think about my grandfather in the French resistance. And that always, you know, informs me whenever I'm, you know, thinking, oh, like, oh, should I sue the L.A. times? Well, my grandfather would have fucking killed them, not to sue them. So, like, the least I could do is sue them.

I mean, there's, I think that, like, you're definitely, you know, you're thinking, like, my father, you know, was a notable engineer and problem solve. or as an aeronautical engineer. And so, like, again, I think of myself as like, oh, I can handle this thing technically. I have my dad's genes. I mean, you think about these things. You just do. You think about those things, those things are in your genes.

Yeah. Like, my dad wasn't anything. He wasn't even a good father. He wasn't even a father at all. And if you're talking about my grandfather, my father was not a good father either. Yeah. I mean, you, I guess my thing is, sure, service, great,

but service to what? that's not random right like there's all sorts of things that you could serve but you got to think about it's how we talked about before right is the symbolism there's a reason why the symbols matter for any for any nation or empire true that that's what it is he's in love with the idea of what america is supposed to be and he wants to protect what he thinks america's supposed to be what america actually is as a factor in yeah why does he think that though I mean, at this stage in 2026, why, I mean, where would he be getting the information that America is like, you know, has the adhered, even makes an attempt to adhere to its supposed ideals? I've asked that question to him many, many times.

And he's just like, we have got enemies. We've got to defend the country against. Right. I think he misses the point of domestic or exterior. Oh, that's what. Ignoring the domestic. Sure. Well, that's what I told him to join ice.

So if you want to do this, join ice. You can travel the world right here in the United States and defend the country against people against a real threat. I guess my point is the real threat. Join the Marines. Are the people in Congress, the real threat of people in our politics. It's the people, like, meaning those are the corrupting influence on this particular system. And I've got to be honest with you, if I'm married to somebody and she's 400 pounds,

why am I going to act like she's a supermodel? don't you have to love her as is? Like if you love your country that much, you have to love it warts and all, but you have to acknowledge the warts. You can't just pretend that shit doesn't exist in order for you as a basis of operation. Well, listen, I agree.

I've got to think of mind. Have you ever met a 17-year-old that doesn't know everything? Yes. Oh, that doesn't know everything? Yeah. No. Have you ever met a 17-year-old who does not have all the answers to the world?

You can't clean your room, but you can solve geopolitical problems. Think about what I just said. a reason why they go after teenagers there's a reason why oh yeah lower the voting age it's because it's all about testosterone it's about it's about feelings it's about uh it's about all these things and also you got one thing you got kind of keep in mind there's thinking about the question that what can be it is that that he is consuming uh i've read a lot of the a lot of the history books and stuff and it's very militaristic and the way that it's the way that's the way that's the way that's written the way

this point, the way that it's pushed out by the Department of Education. It's just, it, the idea of America being the city on the hill, the one bright spot is something that you always see. That's just, that, that's just a part of this baked in. That's what I have for, for next week that was inspired by Robbie's son, uh, enlisting in the Marines. So it's, uh, if you're having trouble reading this or you're just listening, uh, it's a kid in a recruitment office. He goes, at age 17, I can't drink or gamble or vote or smoke or rent a car or buy a gun or work as a bartender. And then the recruiter goes, because your judgment can't be trusted. And the kid goes, but I can enlist in the military. And the guy recruiter goes, same reason.

Yes. I'm serious. I mean, that's a big part of it. No, it's just it is a very difficult thing. Like yesterday was his first day going to PT. It was him with a bunch of Marines and other people who are signing up. And he said, Dad, I ran four miles yesterday with weights on my back. And I feel great. And I said, well, what makes you feel great about it? Because it showed me what I was able to do. And I feel like I'm a part of something bigger than what I am.

Those are very powerful drives, especially for a young man. That's true. Silly drives. Yeah, it is A sweet drive. Well, not to mention my argument in my column this week is there's a lot of other ways to scratch that itch though.

Yes. You know, I mean, there's a lot of other government and non-government organizations that allow you to be part of something bigger that allow you to have that sense of camaraderie to exert yourself physically, to travel the world and meet interest. other people and not kill them.

There's, you know, I mean, there's a lot of ways. And I just think that, like, you know, yeah, the thing is, you can be driving down, you know, a street in Callisbell and you'll see the recruiting office in a strip mall. You're not going to see the Peace Corps office in a strip mall. And I think that's exactly the problem. Like most people, they're just not really aware. But, I mean, honestly, if you're 16 or 17 and you're like, hey, I'm 16 and a half, years old and I want to get the fuck out of my little town and I want to go see the world and do some

crazy shit. Go on to Grock and just ask like what are my options? You know, I don't have much money. I come from a poor family. There are many, many options. Listen, at the end of the day, you want that people think of first. I mean, it's because they advertise like crazy. And I do get the itch of like a government doesn't want testosterone field, 17 euros in the country. They want them away. meaning these are going to be problems in your society in general just because of how they are, how they are structured, the things that they want to do. Great.

Organize them and send them out to kill other people. That's what we need to do. When we bring them back into the country, they will be older, they will be more mature, and hopefully they will be less inclined to kill the people who are around them or commit crimes. I get the logic of it from a government standpoint. I don't. Because if you're lower to testosterone, the best way you can do it is incentive by people to start families, get married. Married men of less

house foster on the non-married men do. So if that's your biggest insert. But also, that's true. At a young age, men tend to be more ruffing it. I think that's not true. It's nonsense. They tend to be far more

aggressive. They tend to be far more getting involved in the crimes and committing, you know, just random shit. From a government's point of view, send them away. Send them and put them where they were going against people. And also, these are people who are robs, I mean, they're suckers. I mean, you know, let's face it, if the mandatory recruitment age didn't start until 30, good luck. Right now, only 10% of, of 17-year-olds,

according to the polls, are amenable or open to the possibility of joining the military, right? So, 9 out of 10 are not. That number is down, by the way, significantly, and it's a concern for military recruiters. It used to be more like 13, 16, 20%. So that number keeps dropping due to you know, all the bullshit that the government's up to and all their lies. But imagine if it was 30. Imagine. It'd be like 1%. Nobody would do it because they all know that even if you want to go and kill, you know,

dark-skinned people, you know, you know the government's going to lie to you. They're going to throw you away like a snot rag. They don't give a shit about you. They see the homeless people who are all vets sleeping on the streets. I mean, it's just like, you know, they know about the stories about how the VA sucks. you know, they know that they break their promises. They know that they manipulate you. They, you know, I mean, it's very, honestly, they treat you very disrespectfully.

I mean, you should be able, honestly, like any other employer, you know, if you're like, oh, I'll choose what, you know, what city to work in. No, not there. You don't even get to choose what hemisphere you work in. You know, oh, you get to choose what job you do. Like, oh, I'll take this job or I won't take this job. No, the military's like, no, we, you know, we know. We know you like this, but you're doing that. I mean, your life talks to the government.

I mean, but it's understood that way. It has to be that way. You can't get choice in the military because otherwise you wouldn't do this shit that they tell you to do. Lots of militaries in the world. Do you provide options, though? They provide some options, but at the end of the day, if they say go kill so-and-so, or we need you to die in this situation, meaning that can't be an option for you. That has to be at the leisure, at the pleasure of the state.

otherwise the shit doesn't work hey we need you to go to hawaii i don't want to go to hawaii right how does that work if that if they need you in hawaii hey we need you to go to japan i don't want to go to japan it doesn't work that way then they maybe they pay you more to go to ohia or japan well thomas wants to travel that that's part of the allure but i told me if you want to travel it goes you're in the navy i'd be at sea like 10 months out of the year you can go sell over the gulfo the arabian sea and you you can see all the porpoises that you want and you can you can see all the porpoises that you want enjoy i mean so that's something you're able to do when he took his as fab he tested just under an 80 which is pretty good and when he's talking to recruiters and yeah

so he said i show up a lot of things like you could do air traffic control said if you're going to do this get yourself into a job that will translate into the civilian world when you leave like don't don't be a parachute rigor don't right don't be a rivalman now do something if you're going to do this get a skill that you can take with you every day of your life And so he qualified for, for engineering, because Thomas is smart. And I'm just saying that because he's my kid. Like, he's legitimately intelligent, he's much smarter than I am. And he, he qualified for engineering.

He qualified for the CB construction units. He qualified for air chapter control. I said, if you're going to do this, go to some of those things. Don't get to armor. That's stupid. What are you going to do when you get out? That's retarded. If you're doing this for economic advantage, give yourself into a career that you

can take with you and at least make that case. And one thing, and I'll say this and I'll go away, how we were talking about a few days ago about how some people go knock on your door and try to evangelize you. I'm one of those people that does that. Hi, my name is Rob. I'd like to invite you to come to church. Have you heard about Jesus? That's me. And where this is relevant, when I was- Is I never ever saying, no, I've never heard of Jesus? Tell me about this Jesus fellow. Tell, we have immigrants south of Wazoo, man. There's a lot of people. This is not Ohio in the 1960s.

Okay, what immigrants have never heard of Jesus? Anyway, let me let me tell the story. So when I was going in and I was talking to the recruiter, because I'm used to people kind of looking at me like, who the hell are you and why you're saying this? I then gave him my concern. Thomas is right there about what he's doing, about how do not support the government and how and how he this marine recruiter swore an oath to defend the

Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and he's blindly serving a government that violates the Constitution that he's sworn oath to I said that is my biggest concern I said you take a good long look at the mirror about the hypocrisy that you and the other people like you have because if you so if you support if you swear an oath to defend something and then you actively support without question a man who violates it or a system that violates it or a government that violates it, you are a hypocrite of the highest order. Well, hypocrisy is baked into military service, right? Of course it is.

For example, you can't, you're supposed to disobey an illegal order. But if you would disobey an order, you can be court-martial. For sure. They can get their story straight, right? Oh, 100%. And then I give them a link to the D-program show. So you need to tune in and show this with your buddies. I'm that kind of guy.

Yeah, that's great. Hey, hey there, Mr. Recruiter, man. All right, a few more comments. Manchild, no, Ted, it was an antenna issue with the helicopter's new position on the eclipse. Please do your research. It worked fine on the lawn. Line of sight got disrupted. But I said that.

It's the location of where it left from. And what I said, these are all from the Washington Post, those quotes. but I gave you. So it's not like I made a lob. I did do my research. Not that I don't make mistakes, but I don't think that's one of them. Sir Bikes a lot. There's some good news.

The Marines do have a culture unlike the Army. Please be there for your son when he comes home. Thanks for the dollar. Yeah, I know Robbie will be 100%. Okay, so John Ratcliffe, he went to Moscow. There was speculation as to why he went. first it was assumed that he would be there to try to work on the Ukraine thing. Now, then they said, well, probably it was more like about Iran.

And now we're being, then we were told that it was probably in order to warn Russia not to attack Europe, not that there's any evidence to my knowledge that Russia was planning to do so. And now the latest, I mean, I expect this story to change a few more time. times by the end of this broadcast. But the latest was, don't attack, don't ramp up your war against Ukraine because we will be mad if you do that. I'm not sure how that would manifest or how why this would be something that the Russians would care about. But they said, but anyway, it's the meaty part of the story and the reason that I thought we should talk about it, Jamal, is that a CIA's official assessment right now is that Russia views the United States

has dramatically weakened by, you know, let's face it, it's strategic defeat in the Middle East. And, I mean, you know, I mean, it's not, it's interesting because it's like that means this is the assessment within the corridors of power and it's viewed as serious enough to be actionable enough to send the CIA director to meet with the FSB. Yeah. So I think there are a few things. they are trying to hide the actual reason in a body of some of these stories are just nonsense. Like there was one story where Ratcliffe went in order to give Putin an assessment of the war in Ukraine because we in the CIA and our bleeding hearts don't believe that the Russians

or the Russian president is getting an actual honest assessment of what is happening on the battlefield. Oh, that's so nice of you to do that. That's so adorable of you to come here and give us. an assessment because my troops are not telling me the real story. Dude, it's like, if you honestly believe that Vladimir Putin is listening to the CIA director's assessment of what is happening in the Ukraine war, they are dumber and more incompetent than we realize. There is nothing in the Russian edifice that is going to listen to anything coming out of the United States, about anything pertaining to the Ukraine war. So that was that story that was floating. Then it was, well, we were warning you about attacking NATO. And as you point out, there's no evidence

that Russia's planning on attacking NATO. In fact, Putin seems to be doing everything possible to avoid hitting NATO, despite everything in NATO's power, to bring that about. So there's that. And if you're looking at the Russian Duma or the Russian population, if Putin did hit a NATO target, they would back him on it. True. Far to the right of Putin in regard to this war. So then there was that story. Then it was, we are coming to get your help about Iran, which is what I really suspect this is about. I mean, it could be all those things, right? But I really suspect it's this. It wouldn't be shocking to me if the CIA came to lie to Putin about the assessment of the battlefield from the U.S. or Ukrainian perspective. Okay, that's not shocking. CIA lies, cheats, and still for a living. I don't think they're going to have a receptive audience. They didn't even get to meet Putin. And if anything, the director of whoever's intelligence for the Russians probably just told Putin this is nonsense this is BS right with the exception of Iran which is what I think this boils down to with the US not having a looks weak we look weak but we are weak we are weak we are weak in this case right

Trump tries to take down a government it doesn't work he backs away to a blockade it doesn't work now he's to this nonsense, you know, what does it call it? Operation Isolator. No, Operation. I forget the exact name of it, but it's dumb. But the idea of taking all of these countries off to SWIFT system and passing secondary sanctions is nonsense. If the countries don't go for it, then you're left with your thumb in your ass. And then you're forced to actually do it when you realize all of this stuff isolates the United States and backfires on the United States when the largest economies of the world says, F off. You're already in a trade war of Canada. You're going to end up in one with China. Russia doesn't care what you do at this point. And India is probably going to try to defend their sovereignty. Even Pakistan, who is a client state, said F-R. You're going to look like an idiot.

And so it sounds like this was a message about Iran that all of this other stuff is being used to try to cover that particular message. Putin is supposed to be meeting Peshjian in Kurdistan. I'm sorry. Yeah, Kyrgyzstan. Now, keep in mind, Possackian, unless he wants to start internal war in the country with the Supreme Leader, is somewhat isolated and what he can ultimately do. He's after making speeches about peace. That is not the way the Supreme Leader has set up his entourage at this point. These guys are preparing for larger and longer war. So Ratcliffe can go and give that message. Putin is going to meet Positgian. I would imagine that whatever that message was, Putin is going to relay it to possession. I don't know how much leverage Russia has over Iran at this point because Russia's support for Iran has been little to nothing. I mean, sure, I mean, let me modify that. Little to nothing in an overt sense. Sure, they've given intelligence, but it's not like they've been getting in weapons systems and these type of things that the Russians can use to pressure Iran to stop. And let's also be honest, regardless of what Russia says, it is a Russia's interest for the war in Iran to continue. Who knows? I would love to be a fly on the wall. I do think this is probably.

Me too. Let me mention something to you that I came across, Jamarle, and I apologize for just dropping this down to you, but I know you can handle it. So the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been dropping like a stone, right? And it's currently at 289 million barrels. Within three weeks, before the end of September, the last of the government, the last of the government, its emergency release will be gone. It will then be at about, there's a statutory floor, I didn't know about this, 252.4 million barrels.

Under a law called the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, at that point, the president no longer has any authority to order routine economic drawdowns. That triggers oil export bans in order to protect the U.S. oil and gas industry. Yes. That creates an immediate, severe supply shock to Europe and Asian countries that buy our products. So the shit doesn't hit the fan here first. It hits Europe first, not that it's all, obviously it's all interconnected. I thought this was like, I was wondering, like, when does the shit hit the fan?

It looks like the shit hits the fan around October 1st. Right. Yes. Yeah, this is rational. Right? Like a country is not necessarily going to eat itself before it allows other countries to get eaten. I mean, unless you're Europe. Europe will set itself on fire for the United States. What if Trump signs an executive order? I guess then it gets litigated in the courts, right? Yeah. But from the U.S. perspective, it makes all the sense in the world. It's like, hey, we've run out of oil. We need to stop exporting. Right. The problem with the logic, though, is that we don't, we need our oil process in order to be used, if I understand this correctly. Like, if I understand, if I, if I, if my reading on this is correct, we, even though we process a lot of oil, it's not surely the type of oil that we ourselves can just put in our tank and use.

That's exactly it. Like, when we say we're energy dependent, we're energy dependent, independent in, in raw numbers. But it would be kind of like, I think the analogy would be like, let's say you have chickens and you can, you know, you have as many eggs as you can fucking deal with. But that's all you've got. So you, you know, you could subsist on the caloric intake from just eggs and chicken meat. But, you know, at a certain point, you need a more varied diet or you're going to die. So you have to trade for other kinds of foods. That's where the United States is.

We don't pump the kind of oil that we need for everything. so we have to be part of the global energy market. So we sell it for season. We have to buy from other countries. And by the way, the floor for the SPR, Strategic Patrol and Reserve, that floor is there because of the pumping issue. But you need that certain amount of volume in that in order to pump that in a particular way. Otherwise, you're going to damage, I guess the containers or whatever,

the process that they use in order to pull that oil. Yeah, there's only so much capacity. Yeah. So he can do this, meaning Trump could continuously draw down. down over and over and over and over again, but it will come to a head. Iran is running an economic war. That's what it is. And so it's not like they're going to bomb New York, or they're going to bomb D.C. It's more so we are going to put an economic tax on you that is going to get worse and worse and worse. And right in time for the midterms.

For the mid, well, in general, I mean, Professor Morandi was making the argument this war may last to the next president. And by the way, they've done this before. If you remember, Jimmy Carter, they kept those hostages up until Ronald Reagan comes in the office. And obviously, Reagan was making back deals to basically say, keep holding the hostages. We'll make a better deal when we get in, right? But regardless of the illegality of that, it's the same process with the same thought. We're holding this into the next president. We're going to damage your presidency. We're going to make it hurt. And when you have gas prices, going to $6 a gallon, et cetera, et cetera, or when oil goes to 150 a barrel, or when diesel spirals in the $8, $9, famine, the inability to get food, paying more so for things like cereal and wheat and grain, et cetera, paying more for cows. All of these things start to come into

play and start to eat. I mean, we'll see. I mean, we'll see how bad it gets. For the longest time, Trump has been able to manipulate the oil markets to keep the prices arbitrarily low. I don't know if you can keep doing that, especially the moment that reports the SPR is dry or the SPR can't supply anything else. Yeah, so choices are going to start to go really up. I mean, not that they haven't already. I don't want to diminish the pain at the pump. It's 35% increase is a big raise, you know, in a matter of months. But the white pick a fight with Canada, who's one of the world's largest oil exporters.

And also, this country has a building a new refinery in over 40 years. I'm not sure we can build one anymore. We can't build transformers anymore for power plants. transmission lines. So even if we were going, even if we wanted to build new refineries, which we should be doing anyway. Well, there's major environmental concerns

about building new refineries, right? That's, there's a, there would be a lot of environmental opposition. Ignore. I mean, I mean, I mean,

listen, national security matters more than your tree hugger. I mean, exactly. Yeah. It's like, you will get the national security. I mean,

you would get if you'll find some state where you can put it anyway. Yeah. Well, if oil was 250, there will be no refiner. If oil is eight bucks, nobody's going to care for the climate. True. True. Seriously, why pick a fight with Canada now above? Well, you tell me.

It makes no sense. You tell me. I think what is a distraction. One of Trump's superpowers, and this is one of the things I really admire about him, he's able to change the topic anytime that he wants. And so I think the reason why he's punching Canada in the face right now is because he's stalled out in Ukraine. He's lost war in Iran and so he's desperately trying to change the topic. Well, he's always changing the topic. No, uh-uh.

You think that there's a mind behind this behavior. I think he is radically incompetent, full of hubris and narcissism. And because Canada and Europe has given him everything that he wanted, the moment that Canada balked, he kept pushing. Meaning it's almost like, this person gives me everything that I want. They're a push over. They're, you know, I see them as a pussy. I don't see them as an equal to me.

And so when we're making a deal, I don't have to keep my deals with you. What are you going to do about? It's that. It's the same thing with Iran. It's the same behavior with Gaza or with Lebanon. And it's the same behavior with the European Union. It's the same behavior with Canada. The only difference is Canada is like, you know, we have a penis too.

Right? But you're not going to treat us this way. But do that? Do they have a penis? Does Canada? No, they apparently do. We didn't know. But now we find out.

They do. I mean, maybe it's a micro penis. Maybe it's finally starting to drop. I mean, who knows? But the point of which I'm not trying to find out that they have one. I mean, listen, now we do. Listen, I'm not saying that Trump's competent. I'm saying he's a showman. He understands media. And so that's what this is, it's distraction. It's flooding the zone. Yeah. Yeah. I see that's what it is. And correct me from wrong. When I hear flooding the zone, I hear it in the sense of Trump is trying to change the conversation by having a fighting match with Canada, as opposed to Trump is radically incompetent. and he believes that he can do whatever he wants, and he keeps running into Edwin. I think they're both true. I think he ran to headwind. I think he's just sort of like he's a narcissist,

and he wants to be the center of attention for all things. We've seen that time after time where some story did not involve him and he had to insinuate himself into that story in order to get the attention. And I think the effect of it is that nobody, everybody's exhausted, nobody can react to all of his bullshit

because it's flowing so fast and furious, but also he's stupid and incompetent. Let me ask you. Do you think that he thought Canada would give in when he made his last demands? Yeah. Europe did. Exactly. Canada, I mean, look, honestly, that's a more reasonable presumption on his part than many of his other presumptions because, you know, the Canadian economy is minute compared to the size of the United States.

I mean, you know, the economic dependence that Canada has on us as an import nation, is massive. So, I mean, I'm sure they're like, and they're like, we're in NAFTA, we're OG, right? Like, but it's like, no, it's like, so I think Trump did not think that the Canadians would bite back.

He didn't consider their own domestic political concerns, which is just like, you know, we've been living like we're such, we've been America's bitches for so long, to the point that even our coins are the same size as theirs. And like, we've got, got to like, you know, now like little Timmy's growing up, right? Like no more, mommy.

You can't hit us in the, you can't touch us in the bad place anymore. That's all this is. Turn of the worm. The turn of the worm. It's too much. It's like, when the worm turns and they're like, what are you doing, raising up on me like this? This is not our relationship, right? Like you get so accustomed to somebody being your bitch.

And then when finally you hit it something where they're like, okay, even me, this is too far. And then you're like, what do you mean this to far? You've taught them, right? But you've taught the bully to be the bully. I feel the same way about the Russians, right? Like all of the talk about red lines and Putin says this and Putin says that. When Europe does something that is overtly provocative, especially if it crosses a red line, you're teaching them that your red lines doesn't mean anything, which invites them to go further in regards to the attacks that they do.

At some point, you will hit a red line, in which case the Russian response is going to be with the right. But maybe you wouldn't have gotten to that withering response if you didn't allow them to cross your rail lines in the first place. This is true for Europe. This is true for Canada. This is true as a basis of operation of reality. True. And that's where we leave it this Friday, except Q&A show coming up at 12 noon here on Deep Program. What's up?

Can Robbie take my space in a Q&A? Robbie, can you take Jamaral space in the Q&A? He says, yay. All right, Robbie and I handling Q&A. tomorrow you're off the hook until Monday. See you then at 9 a.m. We're here Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. Eastern Time. TMI coming up right now with Manila and myself. DMZ America back at its regular time at 11 a.m. this morning, Eastern Time with me and Scott Stantis. We'll be talking about the fucked up situations, rulings coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court, and we'll have a legal expert in to talk about why they've become so overtly partisan. All right. Thanks, thanks, everyone. And talk to you later. Bye. Let's Timala.