DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - ICEd! | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST. Today we discuss:• ICE Queen Kristi Noem is out at Homeland Security. Not because she unleashed thugs on Americans or covered up their murders. Because she blamed Trump for her own self-aggrandizing ad campaign and got caught in her on-the-job affair. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will replace her. And what’s this Shield of the Americas thing she’s going to do next?• 1,300 Iranians have been killed by the U.S. and Israel. The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon rose to at least 123, as a new wave of strikes pounded the Lebanon and Hezbollah warned Israeli residents to evacuate towns within 3 miles of their northern border. Yesterday, Israel threatened residents that they should leave Beirut’s southern suburbs, prompting a huge exodus from a swath of the capital’s densely populated area known as Dahiyeh, home to half a million Lebanese.• Trump tells Axios he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran's next leader—just as he was in Venezuela. Khameini Jr. is pre-nixed. Freedom, it seems, isn’t very free.• No money for high-speed rail, new schools, the homeless, or healthcare subsidies—but the U.S. government has $2 billion a day for the Iran War. MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.livehttps://x.com/tedrallhttps://x.com/JohnKiriakouLIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShowSPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kdFlw2w8sSPhKI8NRx8ZuAPPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

Good morning. It's Friday, March 6th, 2026. You're watching Deep Program with Ted Rall and John Kariaku. Good morning, John. Good morning, Ted. Hi, everybody. If you're just joining us, the news is just breaking that the jobs market is not improving. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has announced that we are down 92,000 jobs over the month of February. That's not good, John. No, that's not good. And at the same time, We're going to be facing higher inflation, even if it's temporary, not just because of the tariffs that the president is now reimposing, but also because of the shock in oil prices. Oil prices are up 25% in the last five days.

That's significant, which so far translates to about a dime a gallon. It's going to keep. And I think those oil prices, we're not. We haven't seen that we haven't found the ceiling for those oil prices yet. Oh, no, no, no. And don't forget, right after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, oil prices went to, what, $200 a barrel? It's crazy. Yeah, there's a long way this can go. Yeah. And, of course, the thing is they go up a lot faster, as Aquila has told us the other day, they go up faster than they come down.

And that's true. So, yeah, I mean, you know, right now, if I'm President Trump and I'm focused on international affairs, rightly so, I guess, considering what's going on, I'd be, I'd say. start to worry about the domestic front going into the midterm elections. It's always the economy and, you know, already Republicans have headwinds to deal with. Anyway, we'll talk about that. Obviously, the big story of the day is America's favorite dog killer is out on the loose again. Ice Queen Christy Noem is out. Not really for the right reasons in my view, but the good news for her is she gets to, she's joined the marble super universe of heroes. She's going to be in something called the shield of the Americas. We don't know what the shield.

She's special envoy. I don't know, but. I don't know. Special envoy to the shield of the Americas. It's a made-up position. She's the first person in this made-up position, and nobody has any idea what she's supposed to be doing. She's going to be apparently fighting the cartels with her hair.

Great. Or something. I feel better. I mean, she has great hair. Or she has interesting hair. Let's put it that way. Anyway, we'll talk about that. The death toll in the U.S. Israeli war against Iran is now at over 1,300.

Meanwhile, the Israelis are bombing the crap also out of Lebanon. At least 123 people are dead there. Hezbollah is now an active, full-fledged participant in this conflict. They have threatened. The Israelis basically told everyone in the southern suburbs of Beirut that they have to leave. half a million Lebanese live there. They're on the road. People are carrying, grabbing their kids and their pets and their possessions.

A lot of them are on foot fleeing because they know the Israelis are going to level it like they did Gaza. And meanwhile, Hezbollah told the Israelis that if you live within three miles of the Israeli border with Lebanon, you got to get out because we're going to be bombing and shelling and maybe invading. Who knows what. So this is definitely spiraling. It's been a week. And this is exactly, you know, I think. no one wanted to see happen. Trump says that he wants to be,

he wants to pick and choose the next president, the next leader of Iran. Apparently, Kamani Jr. is not going to be permitted under Trump. No, not allowed. Economic stuff, according to the, the center for policy studies is estimating that the U.S. government is currently already spending $2 billion a day for the war in Iran.

To put that into perspective, we were spending about $2 to $3 billion a week on Iraq. So I remember the president's brief for coming back right after we started the the push to or the move to push Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991. I remember the briefer coming back and his words were the president was shocked to speechless when told that the war was costing a hundred million dollars a day. A hundred million dollars a day. He was shocked.

He was speechless. Yeah. And the thing is about Bush is he put, didn't Bush sort of like use some tricky Hollywood style accounting to put the Iraq war off the books? Yeah. And then got the, what he did was he got the, uh, the Arab, States to reimburse us. So it didn't, it was called burden sharing. And why do the Arabs do that for us? Why do they, I mean, you know, they're being, every time someone has like a bill, like Israel flattens Gaza,

you know, people put the touch on the Arabs. And I know, you know, it's like the Willie Horton said about, not Willie Horton, Willie Sutton said about the banks, right? That's where the money is. It's where the money is. But still, I mean, at some point, if you're like the Saudis or whatever, aren't you just like, you flatten the guys? You pay for it, assholes. I mean. I think that they stayed in their long-term interest to just fork over the money. They have it. They don't really.

They're not going to miss it. They don't really care. That's right. Okay. So, all right. Well, I think we should get Christy Noam out of the way. What do you? She's already out.

That's the way that Trump did. That's fine. Okay. So the story here, I mean, you know, one would have hoped, at least from my perspective, that she would have been fired for, I mean, I assumed it happened the day after she testified before Congress and the Democrats and some Republicans skewered her. I could tell that she was kind of in trouble when John Kennedy went after her over this ad thing, right? Like she basically spent $220 million on an ad campaign.

that basically makes her look great. And, you know, it's just like rule number one. You know, this is kind of like, remember, you know that story from history? When I think it's Louis XIV, was invited to dinner over to his finance minister's castle at his chateau. And then he gets there. And the finance minister is living better than he is. It was better than Versailles.

So he was like, fuck this guy. And so he like confiscated everything, took it for himself through the dude in jail. Yeah, he's like, corruption has its limits, even under monarchy, right? And so I think it's kind of like the lesson that Christy Noam learned here, right? Like, there's only one boss. There's only one Tony Soprano. Never outshine the master. Don't she?

And that's what she did. And so, and she's splashing herself every time you, I mean, you've been traveling recently, John, you go to the airport and there's Christy on the TSA video. She, Christy, Christy, Christy all the time. She's all over social. And then so John, it was a trap, John Kennedy said. I think the knives were out. Do you think he was told by Trump to ask that question? If not by Trump, by somebody very close to Trump.

Because they were looking for a reason to push her out. Jesse Waters said on the Jesse Waters show on Fox last night that an administration insider texted him that there were five separate reasons that they wanted to give her the heave ho. among them was, you know, the, whatever it was, $200 million she spent on the stupid advertisement. She embarrassed herself in front of the Congress. The thing with the pilot, firing the pilot for not getting her blankie, and then rehiring. The blankie gave bad.

Yeah. So it was five separate issues. Were any of those five issues, do you know, you know, the fact that she sicked tens of thousands of uneducated moronic goons onto the streets? of American cities and that some of them are murdering American citizens just for fun? He did mention that. He did mention that. He said that Minneapolis was handled very poorly. The question is how would it, how should, I mean, how should it have been handled?

In her testimony, you know, she was asked by the Democrats, you know, like, oh, are you still alleging that Prattie and Good were domestic terrorists? She doesn't answer the question. So in other words, she's basically tacitly admitting that she knows it's a lie. But she doesn't back away from it either. And it's bad. And then she was also kind of asked like, you know, have you ever had sexual relations with Cory Landowski?

Yeah. And just, oh, just say no and we'll move on. Just say no. And she's like, oh, this is tabloid crap. You can't. Trump was watching carefully, right? I mean, oh, yeah, he was. And Trump is down on Lewandowski, too.

You know, Lewandowski. They're both an embarrassment. They are. They're an embarrassment. Lewandowski is still married to the best of my knowledge. Right. Lewandowski embarrassed Trump at the end of the first term. Remember, Lewandowski was Trump's campaign manager. I was surprised that he returned. He was actively seeking payments of $1 million to ask Trump for pardons. At least Giuliani, you know, had his henchman, you know, ask the actual question. Lewandowski was just like, give me a million dollars. Give me a million dollars. corruption has its limits. So, okay, so Christy Knoem, what do you make of the fact that, I mean, I think I know that he basically, you know, he doesn't, Trump doesn't like to fire anyone because he feels like it makes him look bad.

I don't know that Trump's wrong about that. But she's, now she's moved on to this thing called the Shield of Him, the Shield of America. That's only the only way, proper way to announce it. So, in that voice. It's an anti-Carty, exactly. It's a cart. So it's an anti-cartel thing. I mean, this is just basically like, you know, you're allowing your, it's sudden sue. You're allowing your enemy a graceful exit, right?

Yes. And keep in mind, not only is there no such position, there will be no such position, because Congress has to authorize it and appropriate the money to fund it. And they've done neither. So you can say that. But would they? It's a rubber stamp. Republican Congress, right? Yeah. Well, yeah, but they don't have enough of a majority in either chamber to actually get anything done. True. They don't have, and they don't have the 60 in the Senate

to make it move forward. Even with their fellow traveler, John Federman. So what happens to Christy now? Does Christy go off to Fox News? Oh, most likely. Most likely. I mean, she's very telegenic. You know, we could add, too, that the reason why she was so gung-ho, the reason why she was spending like a drunken sailor to get her face in every airport is because she wants to run for president. That's what this was all about. Wait, of the United States? Yeah. Really? Yes. But people here know who she is. But she thought she could reinvent herself, that DHS, of all the cabinet positions she could have had, DHS would be the one to really put her on the map as one tough chick and she's going to be the first female president because she's tough and she's good looking

and you know she's in every airport and she's facing down there is in every airport yeah i wonder how long that's going to last uh not long i bet they're all i bet they're literally not going to be on today those those tsa i'm sure that's true um so okay so briefly before we get to some questions mark wayne mullen who has like you know the first name of a of a serial killer. Is Mark Wayne, middle name Billy Joe Jim Bob Monnet? Yeah, by the way, he has one of those POW MIA flags in his office in the Senate. That drives me crazy.

You know, that's like weird conspiracy shit Chuck Norris crap. There were no POWs left behind in Vietnam. But, okay, so the, so Mark, so Mark Wayne, will his policies be any different or will his approach be any different than hers. He definitely seems, I mean, he's not as charmless as she is. No, you remember he got into a very public

spat with who was it? Was it the head of the United Auto Workers? And the union leader was like, let's go outside. And Mark Wayne and Pullins like, yeah, let's do it. He's like, yeah, let's do it. That was him.

Yeah, that was him. And then Bernie Sanders is like, take it easy, both of you, it's wrong with you. You're a senator. Yeah. For Christ's sake. Thank you for reminding me of that, of that, John. Oh, my God. The reason why he appointed Mark Wayne Mullen is that he's competent enough. He's a tough guy. And he's from a state where the Democrats don't have a prayer of picking up the Senate seat. Yeah, it's a very safe Senate seat. His replacement will be appointed by a right-wing Republican governor.

That's right. And even in this special election, whomever. Why would Helen want the job? It seems like a demotion to me. I would have to agree. I was thinking about this last night. He's only in his first term, I think, in the Senate. And I'm wondering if, like we hear from so many other retiring senators, that the gridlock is just so bad that it's just not worth sticking around. They just get sick of it.

Right. It's just they have nothing to do. It's just boring. They're twiddling their thumbs. Maybe he has the same calculation that Christy Noem has where he's been a senator now. He needs the national profile. He's going to be the head of the biggest, the biggest department in government behind DOD. And then he can run for president next time too. But it's a very controversial cabinet post. It should never have been created in the first place. It's just unwieldy. There are too many agencies and bureaus that are housed in it. And then other stuff. And they're all bureaus that Americans don't like. Yeah. Like no one likes the TSA.

No one likes FEMA. No one likes ICE. Or border protection. Yeah. It's like where all the assholes live. BP. Yeah. CBP.

Customs and Border Protection. I don't know how you trans. I mean, I don't know. even if, let's say, for the sake of argument, he's super successful. He manages to really clear out the illegal immigrants, but in a more humane way that doesn't piss off everyone who's to the left of Attila the Hun. I still don't see how he monetizes that to get up to a credible presidential campaign. I don't even know how you get to the Republican nomination that way.

No, although maybe his calculation is he's young. And he is young. He's only but like 50 years old. maybe the calculation is he can be he can be jaddy vance's vice president you know let me be super naive something i try not to be on this show john is it possible that quite simply when your president calls your patriotic duty is to say yes sir you know in the old days yeah your country needs you presidents would call and say your country needs you and you say yes mr president and you do it i'm not sure that that's the case necessarily anymore but maybe with him it is maybe i mean it

It might be for someone like you and me. I mean, you know, I mean, it's like I'm old school. I'm, yeah, I was an Eagle Scout, you know, it's like, I mean, even with this president, who I disagree with on everything, you know, not everything, many, many things. Yeah. Yeah, when your president needs you, you've got to go. There's no choice. It might be that.

It could be it. Okay. So shall we do some questions, John? Absolutely. And we're getting pelted with them. We should probably try to start. Not, not pelts, let's not do pelage, not pelage. Okay, D.H. Frank, thanks for the 99. What effect would it have to on Iran and the UAE? If the UAE follows through on its threat to freeze Iranian assets held there, might it hurt the UAE more than Iran? That's a good question. It would hurt Dubai. Yeah. Something like a quarter of the businesses in Dubai are owned by Iranians. That's, it's Iran's outlet to the rest of the world. And it's something. over which the United States just chose to look away from.

So, yeah, if the UA followed up on the threat, it would cripple the Iranian economy, export, import-wise. But at the same time, yeah, it would hurt Dubai. It wouldn't hurt the greater United Arab Emirates. And knowing the Abu Dhabians, they would sort of make up the slack. I mean, who would ever want to, you know, park their money in a country that might seize it or cooperate with, you know, that kind of seizure. I mean, this is the same problem, you know, the same issue that came up with Russia and Ukraine. You know, I think that people look at Iran differently.

And they'll say, well, the Iranians are outlaws. So it's okay to seize their money. Yeah, but, you know, everybody can become an outlaw someday. I mean, as a former banker, I just, well, that. Sorry about that. Yeah, I hope that wasn't a drone strike, by the way. So let's see. Thank you very much for the 1999 from Mortis the Necro.

It was mentioned that the Saudis also approached the U.S. about this invasion. Yes, I read that too. Did they not anticipate this taking this long? I mean, it's been a week. The clock ticking about the area running out of Patriot Missiles seems like such an oversight. Yes. I talked about this last night with a guy on Fox when I was waiting to go on.

and he said the same thing. Everybody in the region thought the Iranians would have collapsed by now. And they have been far more resilient than anybody thought. And remember, they thought they would have collapsed within less than a week? Well, when you decapitate the leadership like we did, yeah, they thought it would just fall apart. Really? Yeah. I mean, do they not have any Iranians to talk to or anyone who do any academics?

No, I've long said, Ted, that this is the problem inside the CIA is they think they're the smartest people in the world and they're not. They just don't understand how resilient Iranian people are. And the government has been under siege for 47 years, right?

I mean, they've been, you know, they've gone through a lot, right? I mean, they started out with the Iran-Iraq war immediately after the revolution. They've been dealing with sanctions ever since. And they know, that they've been bombed repeatedly. I mean, you know, these are these are battle-hardened people.

Hillary Clinton said back in 2009 that Iran was not a theocracy. It was a military dictatorship. That's, she was wrong. That's just not true. It's just simply not true, but that's the conventional wisdom inside the intelligence community. Well, there almost are no military dictatorships anymore. Right. Yeah.

So Hillary Clinton's position was. And the CIA's position is that the CIA's position is that that the IRGC runs the country. There was a figurehead Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sort of above it all. But he was just a sweet old man, nobody paid any attention. And that the IRGC made the trains run on time. And that's just simply not true. No, it's not true. And another thing that they refuse to acknowledge is that,

we are never seen as liberators. We are seen as invaders and occupiers. And you can't win wars that way. No, that's, I mean, that's exactly right. I mean, you know, the thing is, we were viewed as a liberator at the end of World War II, right? And it's been not ever since. But, I mean, part of the thing is the U.S. never put its thumb on the scale of these liberated democracies quite as heavily as, it has since then, right? I mean, imagine if we had invaded Afghanistan and they said,

okay, look, we kicked out the Taliban. We've gotten rid of the bad guys. Now, you guys have an election. Let us know who your ambassador is and we'll open the building in Washington. That, we could establish that reputation. But already here, you know, we're saying, well, we're going to liberate you. But actually, it's up to you to liberate yourselves. And all we're going to do is bomb. So I don't know how you're supposed to be out in the street. Well, stay home. I don't know how you can stay home. I don't know how you can stay home. Trump told them to stay home. How are you going to stay home and have a revolution at the same time? You can't really have an Instagram revolution. How are you going to do it? And then

you've got like, you know, we're going to push the Shah, the old Shaw son, maybe. But anyway, we do, we know you want Kamadi's son, but he's out and, you know, let us know who else you're thinking of, but we'll decide, you know, we'll have veto power over that. This is ridiculous. Yeah, no, we're not viewed as liberators because we're not liberators. no we're not we're not we're exploitors we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we have an ad we should probably do before we lose it okay let's do it uh Robbie Robbie Robbie please please go ahead and put it up okay thank you Robbie okay UK

UK Armed Police is asking where do I ask a question in the super chat on YouTube right where you are in the Super Chat on YouTube is where you ask that question because that's where I'm reading it. Here we go. Here is the ad and I do not want to lose it. Okay, John still haven't tried 1775 coffee. Now's your shot. The 1775 starter kit just dropped only a thousand units. You're getting the bold, dark roast that hits hard, the smooth medium roast and the vitality mushroom coffee for clean energy and low laser focus.

No crash. single origin, small batch, toxin-free and mold-free, plus you're also getting a gold spoon clip because freedom isn't scooped with plastic. A father is strong enough to stir up your coffee and your mother-in-law's opinions and a black 1775 tumbler. That's $170 worth of coffee and gear. Yours just for $99. This is for the ones who've been watching 1775 blow up on Rumble, wondering if it's actually worth it. Spoiler, it is. Go to 1775coffee.com slash studio and grab your starter kit before they're gone. Bold beans, clean fuel, and a morning routine that stands for something just like Rumble does. Okay, Taylin 1297, thanks for the 99. Hey, Ted and John, as a graduating

CMU student, I guess Carnegie Mellon, I'm curious of your takes on massive recent increases on recruitment from companies like Palantir on campus due to government pressure on schools. Love you. Great question. Oh, that's a great question. Oh, that's a great question. question. Maybe John explain who Palantir is for me most people watching here no but still. Palantir is a high tech defense related company and intelligence community contractor. But the reason why it's so significant is because it is the first company that the CIA invested in through its venture capital arm called Incutel. So Palantir is quite literally a creation of the CIA. And Peter Thiel has, the CEO and founder has long been very close to the CIA.

Yeah. And so about the recruitment on campus, I mean, I mean, certainly there's always been, I mean, for example, when I was at Columbia,

there, ever since 1968, ROTC had been blocked from recruiting on the Columbia campus. And then the Reagan administration started pressuring the Columbia administration saying they'd take away defense contracts from Columbia. if they didn't allow Rotsi to start recruiting.

And they did right around the time when I was there toward the end of my tenure. So that pressure does happen. Do you think that's what's happening here with schools like Carnegie Mellon? I do. That's a big research school. And I think it'll change when Donald Trump is no longer president.

But yeah, it's the reality for the next two and a half years. Okay. And thanks very much for the $2.2. Someone just said bye, B-Y. All right. Well, you can say bye. to us for two bucks. Everyone who say goodbye, well, don't say goodbye. Let me bring in producer Robbie West. He has some housekeeping to do. Howdy, howdy. Good morning, everybody. So, there's some people

are asking questions about John's official TikTok account. I talked to John about this last week, and we have decided not to make a official TikTok account because there's so many scammers. It would literally be like pissing up wind or it just doesn't make any sense at all. So all of his official shorts are on his Rumble channel, his official Rumble channel that is verified because thanks to y'all support, John is a partner here on Rumble. So for all of you thinking that Rumble's only right wing, the two people, fittingly to the left of me, are lefties on Rumble. So come on over. The weather's fine. And I promise you, it will not hurt.

You'll be okay. And you'll be able to find my official. And I've got my official Rumble page up too. You do? But it's just, it's just in its infancy. So, you know. Well, hey, yes, they talk to school. Go look at Johns. Mine's not. I'll brag about mine like in a week or two. Yeah, about to work on yours. We'll make it. Okay. Yeah. It's starting now. Okay. Thanks, Robby. Thank you. Okay. So Adam's Mark, um, thank, uh, 1838. Thanks for the, uh, Emeradi, uh, Dyrums,

25 of them. What's the possibility, probability in your opinions that the Gulf states run out of their interceptor stockpiles after this weekend. That's been like a big talk, right? Like everybody's talking about like the Iranians are like everyone, the Americans are saying, oh, the Iranians don't have many missiles, but then it's like actually we do. Then it's like how many Patriot missiles are left. Zelensky wants some Patriot missile replacements. He's willing to do some swapping. And, you know, Pete Hagsette says, no, no, no, we got more. I mean, everyone says we're going to run out of munitions. That's not true. We'll never run it. What's going, I mean, is there any way to ascertain the truth here, John? What do you think is actually happening? I think that they probably

are running out of interceptors because we're sending interceptors everywhere. And the only person, the only people saying that we're not running out of them are Trump and Hegseth. And listen, I'm sorry, but I just don't believe them. So it's not like it was in 1991 when we were, you know, overflowing with Patriot missiles or even 2003. I think we are running out. Now, Yesterday, Hegsef also announced that we had sunk 30 Iranian ships, including a drone carrier. Now, the drone carrier had something like 150 suicide drones on it. And so that's 150 drones that we don't have to use Patriot missiles to take out. So we may have bought ourselves just a little bit of time.

I think they still make the Patriot in Alabama. if there's a problem with employment in Alabama, it's probably going to be solved right quick because we need lots and lots more. I'll tell Scott to get on top of that. But so there's, I mean, for me, John, I think you're, I mean, the tell is, you're right. I mean, the tell that we're low is that before, like months ago,

before there was any soupsaint that we were about to go to a real mid-east war against Iran, the you know the the the the uh pentagon went to congress and said hey we're real we're dangerously low on munitions and yeah obviously they're ramping up production and u.s industrial might is amazing thing to behold as hitler can attest um but still um that was just a few months ago and they were saying well we gave it all to the Israelis to kill the gossans so um which is true yeah it is true and we endanger And I think another thing, too, the Washington Post reported the obvious this morning, saying that the Russians were the ones providing the Iranians with targeting information. That's how the Iranians have been so successful in hitting American military installations up and down the Arabian Peninsula.

Well, of course, the Russians are giving them targeting information because we're giving the Israelis targeting information. And we targeted, we did the targeting for the Ukrainians against the Russians. So it's payback time. John, how is that viewed? Is that view, you know, like if you're a belligerent and your adversary is receiving targeting information from a third party, do you view that third party as a belligerent? Or it's just like, you just view them as assholes. Yeah, you view them as assholes.

And it's funny, too, that all through the Vietnam, war the Soviets gave the Vietnamese targeting information on Iranian troops and Iranian military installations but it never it never brought us close to war with the Soviet Union we just saw it as kind of an asshole move but you know it's wartime and that's what people do it's it's weird I have to admit I would view you as a belligerent if you did that um uh UK armed police is asking with his two, do I need bank to send my bank account details to send money? I'm putting Robbie in here. Robbie, I don't understand this question at all because this person just donated to British

pounds and is asking if they need to send bank details. But we have their two British pounds. So what are they asking? Please do not ever send this your banking information. I wonder why Robert can't get in. No, we don't want your bank information. No, we don't want your bank information. No, just keep doing what you're doing.

So you click on the little, you click on the chat box, you click on the super chat, just like what you're doing, put in the amount that you want to send and send it on its way. And that's, that's how it works. No, please, no one, please, for the love of God, do not send us your banking information. We do not want it. That's a headache we do not need. That's true. By the way, guys, you guys are going to, there's a complaint in the chat that says that I read that now I'm reading the ads to. low.

What? Yeah. Well, I should read the ads. They like that. Yeah, that'll take up most half the show. All right. I don't know. I don't understand.

Okay, I can't win. Okay. Soden, thanks for the 1999. Good morning, gents. What will be the end game with the Strait of Hormuz in how bad did we piss off the U.K. financial market? You know, that's an important question. People aren't really talking about the Strait of Hormuz, and they need to.

The President, the President, not tweeted, but anyway, posted about it on truth social yesterday. He spelled the word straight wrong. So I wondered if, anyway, forget what I wanted. It's not the gay of Hormuz. Yeah, yes, exactly. So the Iranians are threatening to close it. It can be closed just by sinking a ship.

I don't think that they would do that. And in the meantime, he's, you know, he's recalling the ghost of Ronald Reagan and sending naval escorts to bring Western oil tankers through, to escort them through the straits. But the Iranians could close them. I don't think they will. Why do you not think they will? Because they'll have to sink one of their own ships to do it.

And only if, you know, it's their last ship and they have nothing else to lose, would they do it? But even then, you know, we could, it would take a couple of weeks, but we could raise the ship in it out. Yeah, it would be a temporary setback. Well, but a temporary setback would have a huge effect on the oil markets. Yeah, but then the United States said through Donald Trump yesterday that they will guarantee insurance payments, that the U.S. government will guarantee insurance payments through Lloyds of London. And so there's, even if you get blown up, the U.S. is going to pay for your ship. So just keep as a resident I really do hate to see this kind of corporatism, right? Like, why should the U.S. government be, you know, guaranteeing private shipping?

These are big, wealthy shipping conglomerates and oil companies. You know, another reason why I don't think this will happen is more than 50% of Iran's oil flows through the strait. Their pipelines are not big enough to be able to accommodate all of their oil exports. So they would be really hurting themselves. Yeah, I think that's the big one, right? Evan, thanks for the 10 euros. And let's see. Sorry, things are moving fast here.

Panagat for both, Trump spent most of last year being hopefully openly hostile to NATO. Were NATO countries given any forewarning of the actions against Iran? I've read that NATO countries were, but the Gulf countries were not. And I can attest to that. So, you know, I was in Dubai. what, a week and a half ago, and I was in Kuwait two weeks before that, and government officials, like senior, senior government officials told me they had no idea if the United States was going to attack. And I said, I'm going to guess that yes, an attack is coming. And it could come in the next couple of weeks. Well, we've been talking about it. You definitely called it, even though you had people complaining that you were a few hours off.

It is. Chris Gough, Bonjour from Canada. You got, bonjour to you too. You guys are my favorite and I'm obsessed. I've been confused by

Mark Carney's response to support for the U.S. bombing of Iran. Can you talk about it? You know, poor Carney's under a lot of pressure. Not just from his own,

from his own party members, but from the United States as well. And I think when you get into a position of that kind of authority, you sort of have to fall into line. Look at Kirstarmer. I would compare him on this issue to Kier Starmor, where we know what your personal ideology is.

We respect that, but you're the leader of the country now. It's a time of war, whether you like it or not, whether you wanted it or not, you're going to have to fall into line. Question from aside. There were some reports about Kauram-Shar-4 hypersonic missiles being used against Israel today. However, we've not heard anything from, the Israelis about whether it hit or not. These kind of reports are constant in this and with the Israelis, right? You'll hear that missiles are incoming and then there's no follow-up. We never

know what happened. Because Western reporters are not permitted to report on it. Yeah, like for example, CNN has a whole desk there, right? Like, and literally at some point, the every now and then, they'll say, oh, the Israeli government will not allow us to report on this. Question, why are you there? It's right. Why are you there? I mean, there's no point. If you're a real war reporter, a real war journalist, you're going to report it anyway and let him throw you out. Yeah, that's true. Matt Singleton, with all the crazy and wrong things our country is doing, how do you process the ensuing sadness and shame alongside your patriotism and love of nation? This is a fantastic question. We could do an hour on that. This is something I am struggling with. It's like the, you know, it's like the problem of the good German. We're good Germans. I interviewed Muhammad Miranda

yesterday on my other podcast, Deep Focus. It's going to run, I don't know, the next couple of days. And I started off. We may not even have been recording. I don't even recall, but I started off by saying, Muhammad, I have to apologize to you as an American for what we're doing to your country. You know, I'm sickened by the attack on the girls' school.

I'm sickened by the attack on this Iranian ship. off the coast of Sri Lanka. This was a war crime. Both of these attacks were war crimes. And we just would never apologize. As a policy, the U.S. government never apologizes. Evan McDonald, thanks for the 10 euros. Oliver, thanks for the THBs. I don't know what those are. Turkish lyrics, maybe? No, no, that's THY. But anyway, love watching you guys. My family is Greek Cypriot. What is the angle of using Cyprus as a backdoor to drag Europe into the... war, F. Haristo. I think that the only reason why Cyprus will not be dragged into an actual shooting war

is that it's not a belligerent and it's not a member of NATO. It's a member of the European Union. But it's just on the outer reaches of Iranian missile range. They could hit Cyprus, they could hit southern Turkey, they could hit Sudabay and Crete, but I think it's a little bit too hard and they don't get much out of it other than maybe being able to strike the British air bases in Cyprus. I just don't think it'll happen because there's the Persian Gulf region is so target rich for the Iranians. And I think they're more focused on that. For me, you know, my answer to that question is that, I mean, about the patriotism

thing. I've been thinking about that while you were talking about Cyprus. I separate my government from my country. You know, my country will live, will go on whether this government goes on or not. You know, they're two different things. And we conflate them, but I don't. The American people, the cities, the countryside, the birds, the bees, the cats, the dogs. I mean, that's what America, the mountains, that's what America is to me. It's not, I mean, our government's disgusting, though.

Tristan R. 32. Thanks for the 10 pounds. What are your thoughts on the current U.K. U.S. relationship? Being from U.K., seems like Starmar is a pathetic leader and Trump is a bully. What do you think? Yes, to both. Here, Starrmer is absolutely dreadful, absolutely terrible. He's weak. He surrounds himself with other weak people. I don't know how the man rose to be the leader of the Labor Party. and I wouldn't be surprised if... It's been bad. Labor's been struggling for a long time, though. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make it to the end of the summer.

Do you ever think you'd miss Tony Blair? How crazy is that, right? Right. At least Tony Blair, I mean, we could disagree about Tony Blair and his policies, but at least the man was a leader. He was effective. Umar Shake 1874. Thanks for the 50 Ameradi dirhams.

Thank you. Hello, my favorite uncles. Hello, nephew. Is there anything that can stop Trump from this current war? I think we're already too deep into it. Yeah, we don't do that, right? Like, once we go, it's in. It's like, it's one way.

It's like we don't go out. You know, one thing somebody asked me is, was there any chance that Trump might just declare victory and leave? And I said, not while the current Iranian government is still in place. place. No. No. John, if I recall correctly, this is from Kikovych, you mentioned somewhere that there were Israeli Mossad handlers for members of Congress. Am I mistaken? No, I didn't say Mossad handlers. It was APAC. There's an APAC person assigned literally to every single congressional office. And then beyond that, they're now assigned to state legislatures and even to local government.

So does EOC have her own APAC handler? Without any question. A friend of mine from Code Pink told me that she went into the office of a new congressman the other day. And there was this young guy 22, 23 years old who just kind of stood up and walked over to their little circle. And she thought he was a staff member. And then finally somebody said, I'm sorry, who are you?

And he said, oh, I'm just an interested observer. And then somebody said, no, he's the APAC guy. for this office and then they asked him to leave so they're like stalkers yeah they'll send you know 535 people to just sit in the lobby of your office to to just insert himself or herself in any conversation that takes place i never heard of anything like it it's insane anyway benelis thanks for thanks for the 499 pounds john what do you think think of the UK Ministry of Defense statement that Iran did not fire at the UK base in Cyprus, but then proceeded with joining the war, lack of balls versus USA?

Or a half admission that it was a false flag operation. You know, we've heard that it's the Israelis firing at their own drone base in Azerbaijan, for example. but we've heard that it's the Israelis setting off explosions in Doha. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. We don't know. But I think it's possible that that's what we saw in Cyprus. Justine, thanks for the 50 PLNs.

Do you know what that is, John? I don't. I don't. Okay. Yep. Yes, please. 20. Thanks for the 20 bucks.

John ever had experiences with the Serbian government or any tidbits about the security and political situation in suburb? For example, its relationship with Russian intelligence, I'm an American living in Serbia, so just curious. I never worked with the Serbian service, but I backpacked with my girlfriend all through Serbia in 1985. And with my brother and my best friend in 1986, I made lifelong friends in Serbia. Shout out to Alexander Rostovich, a starving artist in 1995. who is now the chief curator of the Belgrade Museum of Art. Ooh, that's, I love stories like that.

And I still have the artworks that he gave me in 1985. My grandfather, when he was a young fishing sailor on a fishing vessel, as a teenager, his best friend ended up becoming the captain of the SS France, a giant steam liner. So it's like, I love stories like that. Mitch Lucker Forever, thanks for the 99. what do you think about the Marine who got his arm broken yesterday also you're my hero John oh thank you sickening huh and it was sickening here it snap it's like also the way i mean is it really that

necessary to attack the guy like he's fucking al-Qaeda i mean okay i understand you want him out but then you know it's just you know get enough guys and just get him to leave i mean really he knows he's going to leave. I mean, some respect. Rain Man, seven, thanks for the one 99. John has the same exact birthday as my mother. Nagasaki Day. Shehann Nasiri. John, if the IRGC collapses, do you think groups of former soldiers will take up arms and form extremist groups? This and the CIA arming ethnic groups could be chaos. Well, another great question. Two great questions. Number one, absolutely positively, yes. If we didn't learn from our mistakes in Iraq, then shame on us. Of course groups are going to form and arm themselves because we are seen as invaders

and occupiers, not as liberators, number one. What was the second part again? About arming ethnic minority groups. And last night on Fox, I was talking about how we're probably arming the Iranian Kurds. The president said, No, we're not arming the Kurds. But what the Israelis do, I have no idea, he says.

So, yeah, we're arming the Kurds. Yeah, I mean, where do the Israelis get their weapons from us? Exactly. With the idea being that we arm the Kurds, they start to move toward Tehran. They couldn't get to Tehran on their own. But they could draw out the IRGC to fight them. We carpet bomb the IRGC, and then that's the end of it.

Mugsy, thanks for the six bucks. I like Colonel Douglas McGregor's announcement. But is he being hyperbolic when he claims that all of our bases in the area have been destroyed? Yeah, he is. That has not happened. Yes, it's not happened. Okay. Thanks for the Owen for the five bucks.

Our prediction markets like polymarket used by intelligence services for predicting geopolitical and military developments, eG regime changed by March 31st, is tracking at 10%. Would they look at that? It's a great thing. I don't think so. I don't think so. actually the opposite would be true, that it's potential betters looking at tea leaves coming out of the government. Kim Pugsley, thanks for the 50 bucks.

Much appreciated. Thank you. Okay. Adam Tube, why are over, why do over 90% of the Congress and House of Representatives have Israeli fund endorsement? I guess, are, I think receiving campaign donations. from Israel. How could this have happened and be normalized?

This is a clear conflict of interest. It's our system. Yes, it's the system we've given ourselves. Yes, you're right. I agree. It's not even a, yeah, it's a feature. It's not a bug. It's a core feature.

Yeah. Only one ham. Thanks for the $10. Ted, are you familiar with cartoonist Marshall Ramsey? Yes, very much so. We know each other. I consider him a friend.

John, any chance your future speaking tour brings you through Mississippi purchased the hashtag free John Kirooku shirt and love it. Thank you guys. I'll have to wear them. Awesome. Thank you. I haven't been to Mississippi. I don't think I've been to Mississippi in 20 years. I'd love to stop in Mississippi. Me too. I mean, I had a great book signing in Jackson. So I would go back there. Great, great. I love, I actually love the South. I mean, seriously, just the food alone. Excellent. You know, so let's see. Frasmataz. It's my understanding that some Kurds serve as foot soldiers for the Ottomans in the Armenian genocide. Will the Kurds become the new Azov, Drews 2.0?

I think times have changed. Look, I'm going to admit my bias. I love the Kurds. I'm biased strongly in favor of the Kurds. I've worked with them many times over the years. They are really great people, tough fighters, smart, resilient. But, yeah, we can't deny history. Yes, they did work with the Ottomans on the ground against the Armenians and the Assyrians and, well, not the Greeks, but the Armenians and the Assyrians.

With that said, I mean, we're talking about more than a century ago and times change. I think we should also be very careful not to lump all Kurds into the same basket. Turkish Kurds, Iranian Kurds, Iraqi Kurds, Syrian Kurds, they're vastly different from one another. They've been separated from one another. Yes. And even the language that they speak is, you know, it's dialectic. It's differentiated by by geography. So that's a really excellent point. Jace Bateson, 2145. Hey, first time questioning here. Thank you. But do you think there could be a draft if this goes into a full-blown world war? I mean, anything's possible. But I think the U.S. government, the Defense Department got dragged,

kicking and screaming into the all-volunteer army, and now they love it. And they would never go back. What do you think, John? Agree completely. And if we didn't have to draft people with two simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we won't for this. No. Question for you all from Solar Biter. If Ukraine and South Korea send their patriots to the Gulf, how would it affect themselves? Yeah, that's a good question. Well, it would have a much more immediate impact on the Koreans. I'm sorry, on the Ukrainians, because they're in a hot war. It would make the South Koreans vulnerable temporarily until they can be replaced, but there's no indication that North Korea thinks it would gain anything by attacking South Korea.

Will Dem, thanks so much for the $30. The U.S. and Israel have found a way probably using Claude A.I. by Anthropic to take control of more Iranian drones, et cetera, and hit targets like Akritini that they could not usually hit. Thoughts? I like the first half of that. I think that the Pentagon has been working very hard to try to hack into the Iranian drones. I mean, that's kind of the future of warfare, really. Yeah.

It's all about drones. And it's going to be all about drones and robots. And it's going to come. And they're going to, my, what I dread is when they start coming here to the West. Of course. I mean, you know, that's where I live. Mike and Nottingham, thanks for the 20 bucks. Three labor advisors, including an MP's husband, have been arrested over the past few days

for spying for China. The world seems to get more nuts every day. I can admit that I rely on Mike for a lot of my British political news. Blake, thanks for the 20. Do you think Iran plans on continuing strikes until the bitter end, or do you think they will capitulate? Love your show. Best of luck on the pardon, John. Thank you.

I think they'll fight to the death. I know I would. I don't think there's any reason not to. And remember, martyrdom is in honor. They're not afraid of death. No, it's true. On the Sea of Soul, thanks for the $10. DJ, thanks for the HUF 1000.

Iranian TV is a violating vessel in the Strait of Armuz was hit by a drone and caught fire 30 minutes ago. Earphones asking, Ted, do you know, Joe Sacco. I know his work. We've never met. It's really weird because we do such similar work. I don't know. Maybe probably just we run with different friends, different generation. He's a little older. Brett, huge fan. I'm John. I'm vacationing in Italy at the end of this month. Thanks for the 999. Sites seeing all the major destinations. Do you have any advice? Do you think it'll be safe with everything going on right now? I do. I think Italy's going to be fine. First of all, I'm a little bit jealous.

You know, go to some of the lesser known ancient Greek sites from Naples, south, including all of Sicily. I love Sicily. It's my favorite. Oh, man, it's incredible, isn't it? Yeah. There are so many beautiful ancient sites there that tourists don't pay much attention to. Everybody runs to Rome and half the time they don't even leave Rome or they go north and go to Florence and Pisa and places like that. Milan. Go south.

And it's incredible. And the food's better in the South. That's very true. I mean, it's, you know, it's Italy. You're never going to go wrong. But still, web vets, how is Israel able to control us with Genesis 12, 12, chapter 12, verse 3? I don't know anything about it. Hold on. Sorry. Robbie. What's Genesis 12? What's Genesis 12? So Genesis 123 is the promise that God made to Abraham. So what it is is that Zionists, well, they'll incorrectly, they'll twist this passage. This is where Ted Cruz famously stepped on his dick when he said that you have to bless Israel

and God will bless you, and if you curse Israel, God will curse you. The Bible does not say that anywhere. Does it say that in Genesis? Does not say that in numbers? 12.3 specifically says that God will bless you, the man of Abraham, and I will curse you. Again, Abraham and through you will all nations be blessed. the blessing comes in the person of Jesus Christ. That's the blessing.

Islam teaches that Jesus is a prophet. We believe that Jesus is the Messiah. That's one place where both of those religions are able to come together, is that the blessing comes through Jesus. Has nothing to do with the nation of Israel. That is a ball-faced lie. Thank you, Robbie. Thanks for Ari and Gorty.

Thanks for the 499. Hey, John and Ted, want to say, love you both, and thanks for all that you do. Thank you. Do you think that another era of proxy wars is coming to the region? That's a tough one. I don't know. This is direct war. Yeah, it is.

So it doesn't seem, I mean, I guess not, really. I don't think this presages that. What do you think? No, I don't think so, actually. I prefer proxy wars, personally. Yeah. Unless. They're less hot.

Yeah, unless this one is hot, but once it's finished, you know, do we have proxies fighting the Houthis again? Do we have proxies, you know, fighting what, Hezbollah? Well, if Iran is gilded, then maybe not. Right. For the time being. Screaming, McCremy, thanks for the 99. Trump's keeps talking about Mexican cartels being a scourge to America but never really does much. we're going to have the shield of America.

Latinos and Mexican citizens would happily support stopping them. So why hasn't he? Hope John gets a pardon. Thank you. Yeah, why hasn't he? Fuck if I know. I mean, I don't know. I mean, maybe it's just too hard.

Yeah, I was just going to say, maybe the Mexicans just can't do it. And we're distracted elsewhere. We're worried about the Russians and the Chinese and the Iran. and this one and that one, and we just don't have the wherewithal to focus on it. What do you make before we step out here at the end of the show and head off for the weekend, John, of the Trump telling Axios that he needs to be personally involved in signing off on the next leader of Iran? He came right out and said it and then admitted that he chose Dulce Rodriguez in

Venezuela. There were rumors that that had been the case. I think he really believes that he can do something like that in Iran. And he can't. He won't be able to. Iran is not Iraq. And even in Iraq, we weren't able to do that. I mean, we were temporarily, but not over the long term. I don't think, I don't think it'll happen. A couple of last minute, very last minute, literally questions. Thanks for the 50 bucks jessard. Thanks for all that you, do in light of Iran and Venezuela's regime change in Japan's remilitarization, that part terrifies me. How do you think China will respond? It seems that in combination with Russia's war, it puts China in a bad spot. I don't agree. I don't agree either. I asked Muhammad Miranda Gandhi that yesterday. And, you know,

it all comes back to that onion headline. China happy to sit back and watch US destroy itself. The Chinese take a very long view of these things, and the Americans take a very short view. And I think that the Chinese believe that any war with anybody weakens the United States. We're breaking things. We're breaking ourselves. We're spending ourselves to death $2 billion a day. They're laughing. I mean, they probably think we're – I think they would like us to stop it because, I mean, China's policies, they clearly want a calm, peaceful, let's-do-bus-world.

But still, they're taking advantage of our stupidity. Last one from Joseph Campbell. Thanks for the tenor. From the 911 shadow commission to human farms. Multiple administrations have covered up the Epstein files. Do you see any way to fix the system? Why do you think Americans aren't as angry as they should be? I could ask that last question about everything.

But anyway, what do you think? Yeah. John. Nice system we've given ourselves. And we've got to demand the release of the final three million or so documents. But yeah, it's true. I mean, Mirandi in yesterday's interview kept calling it the Epstein class. It's the Epstein class that runs America.

There's something to that. That's got to change. John, thank you so much for being here with me. I always enjoy our mornings together. I guess if something bad or big happens over the weekend, we will consider breaking in and joining you. but otherwise we'll be back Monday at 9 a.m. Eastern time. We're here Monday through Friday at 9 o'clock Eastern in the morning. Thank you so much. Please stay tuned for the TMI show with myself and Manila Chan. Have an awesome weekend and see you Monday. Bye.