DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - JD Vance Laughs Off Civilian Deaths | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas

Episode Date: September 4, 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:• US Vice President JD Vance blurts ��sometimes things happen” when asked whether an American bombing attack was responsible for killing four people, including a child, at a wedding celebration in southern Iran. The strike has been independently confirmed.• Tensions rise between Germany and Russia. Russia will close German cultural centers, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says, in a retaliatory measure after Berlin blamed Moscow for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport. In Munich, several incendiary devices were thrown at a construction site near a building where several companies, including from the defense sector, are located. Two Bulgarian nationals were arrested.• First the Ballroom, now the Arch. Trump is breaking ground on his 250-foot-tall triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, even before a federal review panel has approved the project.• Argentine President Javier Milei escalates his country’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago and praising Trump for saying Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty.MERCHANDISE: DeProgram.MySpreadShop.comLIVE ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@DeProgramShowLIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShowhttps://x.com/tedrallhttps://x.com/JamarlThomas#tedrall #jamarlthomas #news #politics

And good morning. It's Friday, September 4th, 2026, which means it's time for D-program with Ted Raul and Tomahs. We're here Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Thanks for joining us. We go an hour every single day, except, of course, on weekend, but we would if something big broke, and I'm sure that will happen in the near future. Thanks to everyone for tuning in. Please like, follow, and share the show. If you're watching later on streaming, we appreciate you too. It's just a reminder. We'd love to have you live. And if you're interested in your daytime schedule doesn't really work for you to join us live, do consider becoming a subscriber because then if you're at the $20 level a month, you can hang out with us in the evenings the last Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. Eastern time,

which might be more convenient for people who are working 9 to 5 on the eastern time zones, or depending where you are on the planet. We have a lot of people watching from outside of the United States. And that's very, very cool whenever I see that on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, just a reminder, DMZ America podcast is coming up at 11 a.m. That's every Friday with me and Scott Stantis. Today we'll be talking about bad editors. Um, and today's , uh, uh, D, uh, uh, Q&A show has to be canceled because of, uh, doctor's appointments on, on, on both of the co-hosts of parts.

So that's not going to be happening today. No Q&A today. So it's just three hours of this left in the day. And then you're free to go do what you want. All right. So let's talk about the, I'll set up the board, the game board here. JD Vance saying some pretty Rumsfeldian-like things. Sometimes things happen when you kill innocent people in a foreign country.

Germany and Russia, all sorts of tensions rising there. The arch, the triumphal arch, is going to break ground within two weeks, according to Donald Trump. And last and not least, Argentine President Javier Malay seems to want to provoke another Falklands War, perhaps, and Donald Trump is playing a role in this. I mean, Donald Trump, I'm going to look in my, next time I look at my catch letterbox and it's really gross in there, I'm going to expect that somehow Donald Trump is responsible. He's like involved in everything. Anyway, J.T., good morning, nice to see you.

And please put your questions and comments in the live chat. If you're watching live in the 9am hour on Rumble and YouTube, we will, of course, answer your questions. Priority goes to the paid super chats on YouTube and the Rumble Rants. But we do, obviously, as you guys know, if you're watching regularly. By the way, the show is growing. Yesterday we had 7,000 views on YouTube. That's definitely really high. That's for a normal, that's no clips, no like nothing unusual,

nothing, no major news story. So that's great. Yeah, so the show. So things are moving in the right direction. Yeah, a bunch of people on YouTube. About 4,000. Like, what was the program before and what is it? Between 3,000 to 4,000.

So yesterday it was just going, it was just going good. we're getting a lot more impressions are our so what an impression is is basically how many people youtube shows a thumbnail to that that's an impression uh youtube has almost tripled our impressions uh the analytics are going up more people are picking up on the shorts uh even on rumble uh it's starting to kind of cover over there now what that means to a monetary standpoint who the hell knows at this point nobody knows yeah but from a but from a number standpoint it's making a difference and YouTube because YouTube pays more for ad revenue to what Rumble does, those clicks actually are meaningful.

That's good. That's damn good. Yeah, it's good. The last payday was pretty shitty as we just know. So hopefully that will change. Hey, that's the whole reason I started doing the whole game and thing over on YouTube and Rumble just to help pick up the slack because it just really appreciate it here. So we really, we appreciate you, Robbie.

By the way, I don't want to get into that, but there was some question as to whether that phone call with John ever happened. Yeah, it happened with me and Robbie, and it went well. So, okay. So it was good. It was good. So hatchet buried, not in anybody's head, just buried. So that's what needs to happen. Okay.

All right. This is like, you know, people have commented. We've talked too much about that or on the show. I don't agree, but I think we have certainly. It's run its course. And so, okay. We, and that's what the Q&A show is for. Anyway, all right.

So what do you want to talk about? Well, me just as well, because yesterday, but I walked into the tiger cage and closed the door, by which I'm one and happy to that again, like multiple times. I like pain. Oh, it was fun. That would never, that would never happen with the previous coach. Co-host.

That's why I like you being here, J.T. What do you mean? Well, I guess I have you asked me about the Konglau, where the hell of that dude's name is. Oh, right. Hongkow. Kunkow. Whatever's name is.

How can you forget hung cow? Seriously, I don't believe you forgot that. I think you're making that thing. God, I love that name. That's not true that you forgot that. I had a kid. I have the most memorable name in the world. Yeah, it's just great.

Listen, you snottsucker. I'm two hours behind you. I'm tired. I only have one cup of coffee, so screw you. Yeah, yeah. Get that 1775 coffee brewing up. Oh, no. No, actually we're getting a, so.

Where's, yeah, where's Jeff's coffee, man? I have been hounding him about it. So listen, want to promote it. because I am a coffee connoisseur. Anyway, the point I'm trying to get to before I derailed the show again is that that would have never happened with John because he won't jump. He just, he won't jump on you the way that you. He's too agreeable. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. And so I enjoy that. I love it. And so having you hear is. You were objectively wrong yesterday. So you had to be, you had to. I was objectively wrong. I was having made my case.

Only factually. You were objectively wrong. You were. I'm sorry, you were, which is why I bought the shit up. I mean, yeah. It's like Vietnam is different. Like, no. Listen, we have way too much to talk about today.

Okay. That'll be another show. Another day. Yeah. Q and A. Q and A. I'm trying to say as though I'm glad you're here because that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Well, thank you, Robbie.

And by the way, I wasn't trying to be a dick to you. I just was like, wait a minute. This is weird. Glad is Robbie taking this position on this. Yeah. If you took offense, Robbie, you would be wrong. Well, I'm not a xenophobe. I mean, I get why people think that.

I'm really not. But a lot of people who don't know me, though, I think that. Well, I mean, tone counts for a lot. Tone bites me in the ass a lot when people are listening to the way you say something more than they're listening to the content of what you say something, which is something I don't know. I'm 63. I don't think I'm going to get better at it anytime soon. I've worked on it my entire life, but I get it. All right, let's talk.

All right. Let's do Vance first. Let's get that. Jayne Vance is trash. He's such a hip-on-grim. He's a scoundrel. So obviously everyone remembers when, if you're old enough, when the U.S. invaded Iraq and one of the many atrocities that happened was the trashing of the Baghdad Baghdad National Museum,

which contains priceless or contained priceless antiquities, which are now sitting in rich assholes, like lofts in Soho and in Bel Air after they were looted and obviously went to the scatterers. to the four winds. Donald Rumsfeld was asked about this. It was the requirement under international law, which I know you don't believe in tomorrow, but that it's also under American law that we have to, you know, everyone sees the monuments men, right? Like, oh, we care so much about like precious cultural artifacts and treasures. And anyway, he was asked about this looting. There was no American troops were sent to guard the museum. It was a free-for-all. And as the looters ransacked the place.

And Rumsfeld said, well, stuff happens. And so I had a total flashback. J.D. Vance was asked about this bombing of an Afghan wedding party because we did that so many times. It became a joke. But this Iranian wedding party, it's been independently verified by journalists and other independent NGOs and stuff. It happened. It was the U.S. It's our fault.

They were civilians. There's no excuse for it. The end, right? Janie Vance was asked about this at a press conference. He said, well, sometimes things happened. Happened. Well, that's for sure. But in this case, it was the U.S. that made this thing happen.

I mean, he's making it look like, you know, he walked on gum and he has it stuck on his shoe or something. This is not like a random incident. And, I mean, I know nothing will come of this. You know, nobody cares about, you know, know, the loss of life among Americans, I mean, except for anti-war activists. But he should, I mean, that should be disqualifying for a run for president. Like, he should, it's so disgusting. And he claims to be Catholic, fuck him. I mean, if this was disqualifying, every president would have been disqualified.

Yes. Yes, yes, they would. He's pointing it out. Like, all of these people are murders. And, you know, when I keep pointing out, they hit that school on purpose. I don't believe that this was, oh, just a targeting era. And how can we say that when, as you pointed out, all of the wedding parties that we were hitting in Afghanistan, Donald Trump celebrating when they murdered all of those people in Yemen who were at a religious ceremony.

And he puts it on Twitter, and Twitter allows it mass murder to remain on Twitter because the president is friends with Elamaz who owns Twitter. Like, thinking if that was anybody else, any random person putting up celebrating the murder of a bunch of, you know, six people or seven people, they would never allow that, or at the very least it would be flagged to death. Totally. I'm saying they hit that party on purpose.

They knew what they were doing. I don't believe it was, and even in his dismissal of it, where he even seems at some points is skeptical that the U.S. did it and makes the point, the U.S. doesn't target civilians. That's news to me. It's news to all the dead civilians, too. Yes, especially all the drone strikes in the majority were civilians. I mean, look, you're right. Obviously, it's bullshit.

But like, let's just say for the sake of argument that it was true. How is that an excuse? Like, you know, if I go, if I get, if I'm a fucking retard driver and I keep running people over with my car, how long am I keeping my license? How long am I still walking free on the streets, right? I mean, it might not be treated as first. degree murder, but I am going to go to prison. I mean, they're going to say, Ted Rawls too dangerous to drive. He's too dangerous to be out on the street. I mean,

the U.S. obviously can't be trusted with bombs. You know, we hit too many civilians by our own standards. And look, it's not a good look, or maybe it is a good look, that Hankseth got rid of this Obama-era board, sorry, Biden-era board that was established to try to reduce civilian capital. and situations like this. I mean, of course, obviously the main issue is we're bombing countries that we have no business in and have no truck with. And so therefore, it wouldn't happen if we didn't have illegal wars. It couldn't happen. But aside from that, when we do do an illegal war, we should be trying to mitigate civilian casualties. And like the message that Hagsath is sending is we don't care about civilian casualties. That's why we're getting rid in a 1.5 trillion

billion defense budget. That's why we're getting rid of this tiny little office with not even 200 people in it. Just to be clear, did you say when we're in an illegal war, we should try to cut down on civilian casualties? Well, we should just not be in illegal wars. It's kind of like, Jamal, if you and I are going to go rob a bank, we should try not to kill anyone. We shouldn't rob the bank. We're already doing something legal, right? Right. And I think that needs to be highlighted. Like this is, some people would say, well, it's a war. And in war, some people die. And that's kind of true. But as you point out, it's an illegal war. It's a war that we started. It's a war where we of an aggression where we attack a country. Everyone who gets a bunion because of us is that's our fault. Because we shouldn't be there. It's our fault. Yes. Anything that happens. It is a billion and dazing buildings that's blown up. Any person. Any and every. would get an asthma attack from the dust.

It's our fault. It's our fault. Meaning, everybody in Iran in this case is innocent. 100%. We have no business being there. We have no business being there. There's nothing more hypocritical than a pro-life Republican.

That's just true. I mean, these same people who will go, they'll condemn women for having abortions. rightly so, in my opinion. Well, then turn right around. I've done cartoons about that. But if the fetus,

is inside a pregnant Iraqi lady. Oh, tough shit. She's fair game. Yeah, or if it's in a hospital, it's three days old. Well, you know, that's okay. Or if you're an eight-year-old girl at a school, it sucks to be you. Or if you're in the ICU in Gaza, tough shit. Yeah. Or if you start you to death because of sanctions, that's okay. I mean, Republicans are not pro-life. No. They say they call themselves for life. And that's why liberals, and I think they have a point here, they say this is a, they're up, that they say Republican opposition to abortion is largely about controlling women. Because if it wasn't, we wouldn't be able to point out these hypocrisies.

Yep. They suck. Well, I mean, I always made the argument. Republicans care for babies up to the point where the baby is born. Didn't they tell a baby fuck off? And even then, only under certain circumstances, they don't care about the baby if it's inside the belly of a homeless lady. They don't care if they don't care about the baby if it's inside the belly of a poor person.

which is at least one out of four Americans, they don't care. I mean, if it comes out malnourished or fucked up in some way, because the mother is poor and can't take proper care of her own body. It's like, how do you care for a baby up until the point where it's born? I had a conversation with a guy who was anti-abortion. But he was different, though. His thing was like, yeah, women, abortion should be illegal, but we need to take care of the babies that we have, basically, meaning this idea that the baby,

he is born and all of a sudden he just kind of don't care anymore. It's nonsense. He thought the Republican position on this was insane. Yes. Constantis has that your friend, the dude who you talk to same position, right? He's like, you got to take care of people from conception to death. And you've got to, and also he's consistently, he's opposed to capital punishment. He's opposed to, he's opposed to illegal wars. I mean, wars of, wars of aggression. Yeah. That position I understand, though. To me, that is a pro-life position. I'm like, dude, we should protect life. If it matters, it matters.

Which, by the way, I agree with. Me too. Like, this idea of life, liberty to pursue it if happen. I mean, it's fucking bringing it to the Constitution. Right. They didn't put that there for no reason. There is something to be said for society. They work long and hard on that draft.

It was not a two in the morning bender with a pot of 1775 coffee on, like making it go. They were literally 1775 coffee. They literally, they were, you know, yeah, they thought. long and hard about this shit. Yeah, it matters. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I mean, they put it in the document pursuit of happiness. That is mind-blowing. Yeah, and they also said all men are created equal, which at the time meant human beings, right? Human beings. And that is interesting, because they didn't say all citizens, all-American citizens, all-Americans. They said all men, because it was about a bigger issue. It's like

we're all as human beings we're all equal yeah the document is profound it is we don't pay attention to it right like they don't believe that shit and this is under like my hypothesis is the further way you get from a revolutionary drive and i know people will say that wasn't a revolutionary thing and i accept that but there was a revolutionary spirit right i mean yes yeah but the further you get away from it the less people believe it at that point it becomes more cynical and then this one Doon gets in, and Dune would say, well, that's why you need a religious tradition to buttress any governmental system that you run with. Meaning a belief set built into the order to keep people all under the same thing. Congress doesn't believe it.

Like, those people, for the most, but are just corrupt. And they believe in doing whatever is necessary to maintain their power base. I don't think they believe the stuff in earnest. What they believe in is power and using a mechanism in order to gain power. And, you know, these wars of aggression, just kind of springfront. it. Yeah, I mean, it would be fun to do a remake of like Mr. Smith goes to Washington, and, you know, he immediately starts getting visited and paid off by lobbyists. Did you ever see, by the way, the Eddie Murphy film, A Distinguished Gentleman?

Yes. It's like a documentary, I mean, of the way the system works, right? I mean, it's like, and even the guy that they get, I forget the actor's name, that they get to play, the head of the majority leader of the Senate or maybe he's a speaker of the House. He looks just like Bob Dole, right? But the thing is, it's like, holy shit. Like, this is like, it's like idiocracy is, you know,

idiocracy isn't fiction. Not today. No. Anyway. Comments, shall we? Yeah. Okay. F you sell, cartoon idea.

Charlie Brown and the kite eating tree, but Charlie Brown is a Palestinian child and the tree is Israel. Well, I never take ideas from anyone else, but thank you for that. I have done more than my fair share. I've had some, I actually have one Charlie Brown

trying to kick the football one that is kind of like a meme. It keeps coming up and over and over and repurposed online. I can't say, I don't know if I should be flattered by that or annoyed by it. I just sort of just is what it is.

I don't know. Okay. F you so. Thanks for the dollar. I watch on YouTube as a member on my TV fire stick on the big screen. I chat on Rumble because of censorship. You get two active viewers from me and we love you. F you so. And we appreciate your comments. Thank you for that. F you so. Also, N times Vance is the quesat had a Hatterdardt. Hatternardt. Cusat Cajara. Cud Cizac Hatterack. Caterac was a super being that was being genetically. God, man, I can't believe you. I'm write those books no i've got to my ex-wife loved them they're so good the people keel sleeper has awakened the writing in it is breathtaking do you like the first movie because i didn't well it's like a political philosophy book rdune god emperor dune even messiah i mean although sting looked cool yeah it's very sting really looked cool it's peak sting uh all right john park it's always a heavyweight title fight between Robbie and J-A-T when it comes to religious and sexuality, L-O-L.

True. Why? We just disagree. That's fine. Alexanderberg. I'm a straight-up xenophob. I don't mind tourists, but Norway is for Norwegians. Norway is a beautiful country.

I enjoy it. Blake, I missed Theodore Thursdays, so I'm just here for Teddy on FlashMe Friday. Let's go, $5. You're getting close. Only $4,972 to go. All right. In a end, and let's not forget our shit infrastructure states have no money for their residents, but plenty of money for Israel. True. If you said, odds, they kill Trump and make it look like natural causes to install Vance. I mean, low. By the way, what do you think Vance's chances are? Trump shits debate. For my point of view, he shits the bed in a presidency. And I mean that, metaphorically.

By the way, today he has some good news. The new jobs numbers, as anemic as they were, were not. as bad as expected. So what were they? 166,000 new jobs created. But you know why don't you? They're counting people pick up second and third jobs. Yeah, the quality of the job doesn't matter. It's like, you know, if you get hired as a CEO, it counts the same as if you get hired as a, you know, I don't know, some shit. Well, it's not one person working. So like, so if you're one person and you're working full-time at Walmart, but then you have to pick up a second job or then if you pick up DoorDash or something, those all count as new jobs. Oh, that's insane.

That's how they're padded the numbers. And the quality of the job doesn't matter. Fact check it. I'm not mistaken. Correct me from wrong. It's like 80% of the jobs of service. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Which, if you think about that, that means that's just 80% of the population employ. Low pay. Yeah. A more accurate, more accurate number of hours worth. Also, $16,000 isn't good anyway. No. We've lost 27,000 jobs per month on average since Trump's been in office.

Yeah. But I mean, obviously, I mean, look, if I were him, I'm going to make the most of these numbers, you know, today. Well, he doesn't care. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I should say his team cares for the midterms, right? I mean, you know that, you know that Republican House members are shitting bricks. True. They care because they're on the line.

Yeah. Donald Trump is not running for the election again that we know of. What is his incentive? Right. Well, I mean, okay. All right, but let's go back to your question, right? So he shits the bed. What are J.D.

Vance's chances for what? The nomination or for? Yeah, for the nomination. I mean, because for my point of view, he is going to be fruit from the poisonous tree. I can be wrong. I think all of them are. Rubio's plan. Okay, so I'm going to repeat the same advice that I gave the Democrats.

Okay. The right play here is to shoe Trump out in January or February. Okay. Like after the, after the midterms, say, we have heard you, America. Oh, put in advance. Put in Vance. Let Vance be president for a year and a half before the election. That's the play.

Then, okay, I mean, he either sores like an eagle or dies like a dog, but you get him in office. He has an opportunity like Kamala would have had or Al Gore would have had after Monica Lewinsky to make a name for himself. Look, he could. He is a very smart man. I mean, he could maybe figure out some ways to make some inroads with Democrats. and get some shit down on Capitol, maybe. Certainly, he's much more mentally competent

and politically competent than Donald Trump. So I'm not saying he would be able to pull this off. But given what you've got, if you're the Republicans, that that's the play. Have him resign or have him resign due to health issues or have him fall down the stairs of Air Force One and crack his nugget, whatever, fucking figure something out.

But like, you know, get Vance in there ASAP so he runs as an incumbent the way LBJ ran in 64. Agreed. That's the play. That's a great idea. That's a fantastic idea. You're right. I mean, because that was, if you can make Trump the sin eater, basically all sins orient with Trump. Right.

And Democrats are howler monkeys against Trump. And you get him out. Obviously, Vance issues a full pardon. Yeah, he probably does, even though he should. Even though he should. In fact, any agreements that Democrats make with Vance should include, we're not going to accept that. And by the way, to your point, Vance would need to work with Democrats.

Hence, what is he willing to give in order to get something actually done to better his chances when he runs again? But like, okay, but I mean, for example, Social Security is about to shit the bed in 2032, right? Yes. So, I mean, what if, what if he, what if, like, what if Vance was able to bring in Democratic? and say, listen, guys, you know, let Donald off the hug. Let's put Donald in the rearview mirror. That suits me as much as it suits you.

Let's do a grand bargain. We'll save Social Security. We'll, and we'll do Medicare for all. Is Jamarle Thomas happy with that? You just lost me because they're not going to do Medicare for them. Well, no, they're not. Because the Democrats are against it maybe as more so than the Republicans. Yes.

You're never going to get it. Yes. Yes. Because all the farm money is coming in, yeah. Yeah, that's never going to come up as a thing. It would have to be something else. And any deal that Democrats make with Vance on Social Security is not going to be a deal that Jamal Thomas and most of the public is going to be okay with it.

Yeah, no, it's going to be, it's going to suck ass. I mean, as the resident person who currently qualifies to apply for Social Security here, yeah, I'm terrified of what they're going to fucking do to it. Yeah. Keep in mind, Bill Clinton was trying to get rid of it. If it wasn't for Monica Lewinsky. True. Yeah, a little privatizing.

You know, it's precariously a place. Okay, Remy 24 is became a paid subscriber at West Glacier Gaming, and we appreciate you. But that, just because we did that doesn't mean that the rest of you all can't go support Robbie as well. Go do that. Go to West Glacier Gaming over on YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. Okay. Okay. Alexanderberg, I'm a xenophore, but there are nuances.

He's our resident Norwegian. As adopted foreign children, which I don't encourage, but I don't advocate sending them back, and marriages between Norwegians and foreigners. All right, this is too much detail. Okay. It's cute. He's like, yeah, I can accept marriage between. So if I marry a Norwegian, that's good.

He'll come to your wedding, maybe. and bring a nice gift if you invite him. Trash Panda, thanks for the $4.99. Did you see Trump's tweet about Americans having too many paid holidays off? Thank you for bringing that up. Yes, I did. Right before Labor Day, by the way. Good timing.

That's amazing. I'm never, like, Jimmy Carter gave that speech that pissed off Americans where he was like, look, you know, we've become too infatuated with TV and blah, blah, blah. The malaise speech, although he never said malaise. Yeah. It's a great speech. It is a great speech. It's a very honest speech.

It's an honest speech. Trump is doing something else. Right? Like that's not, like this is not God, man. And even going from like the MLA speech and the competence that that speech was delivered to rando tweets about Americans working not working enough. Or I don't know if you heard by the House speech where the House thing where Trump was like, no, I don't want House prices of fall because I don't want basically lazy people getting their hands on houses. They're too lazy if they can't get a house. He's a psychopath.

He's a psychopath. I mean, even just thinking something like that is psychotic. And by the way, objectively, the United States might have the lowest, but it's certainly one of the lowest number of vacation days in the country. Yes. In the world. I mean, we have like what? Nine paid holidays, nine national holidays a year.

Like Iran has like 44 or something. It's like we have like Europeans all get six months paid vacation and they get to travel the world and all that. It's, no, I mean, we have, to tell Americans that they don't work hard, how is it that, like, Hillary, I don't want to defend her, but I'm going to defend Hillary Clinton, even though I hate her. How does she catch so much shit for basketful of deplorables? How does Mitt Romney catch so much shit for his 47% comment?

And Donald Trump catches no shit for telling, you know, some of the hardest working people in the world. that they're fucking lazy. Yeah, the hardest working people in the world. Not some of the hardest work. Like, when I was in Spain, and it was during the election with, what is his name, Beto?

Beto O'Rourke, who's using the term Beto, even though he's not his Spanish. Whatever. But I mean, I think it was given to him, but it's weird because it's like Beto O'Rourke. O'Rourke. Yeah, it's like his wife or something like

that gave him his birthday. strange taking people were like he was taking it just because he was trying to get the that um he's such a fraud uh but that big side i was i was covering that election because he almost beat ted cruz it was close and my wife went out early in the morning in spain in order to get the internet card that allowed me to continue to do um the reporting on it and the coverage of it because mine effectively was going to die out spain as you know during a siesta are off like three hours of the day. Yep.

God bless him. And as a lefty, I'm like, what the F is this? What the F is this? I need to get my video card. You know, it's good for their sex lives, too, because there's nothing like afternoon to late. Yeah, fair enough. I needed to get my video card.

It puts you in the mind of like how different this is. That would have never happened in America. Well, as you know, you've traveled all over the world, right? it's like okay so we're the only country in the world where you where when you beat someone you don't know that it comes up in a conversation so what do you do as in what's your job i brought that question up at a you know i was having a great round of drinks um at a at a punk club in the 80s with some brits in london and we're just getting along and they were like they were they knew they knew i was an american because i tried to order a screwdriver and it was like you you're hey made you're

at a bar, not a hardware store, because it's not a drink in England, right? And I didn't, I don't know, I was 25. And so we started talking and so I was like, so what do you do? And they're like, what do we do? We're drinking, mate. And I'm like, okay, okay, but I mean like for a living. And they all started laughing. They think, this is England, mate. We're all on the dole. That's what they say it. Yeah, they all were laughing. That's what I mean. Like, in America, America, that conversation. My ex, I remember her and I got into this, for one, just to give a perspective. They give them, like, a month vacation at, like, a spa and stuff like that. Like, some of the stuff is just, from my reference point, it's just so extreme.

And I remember, like, her and I got into this argument that was purely an argument based upon her being in Austria and me being an American. And her thing was like, you just care more about money than us being together. And I'm like, dude, there is no safety net. Like, what are you talking about right now? Like, you are living in your nice welfare state that if anything goes wrong, they'll pay for your living expenses, they'll pay for your housing. They'll pay for all that stuff. Worse come to worse.

Yeah, capitalism is economic terrorism. You wake up in, you wake up in the morning, terrified that you may not, like, be able to eat in the future. And actually, you dream about it, well, at night, too. There's no way up it. Like, it's, it is a very difficult country. Very. Like, I get all of the thing about optimism and opportunity and all of this other stuff and blah, blah, blah,

as if that's not necessarily offered in other countries. I'm just kind of put out that it's, it's a capitalistic country. Capital is king. If you don't necessarily have it, you're not necessarily high up on the totem pole in regards to what can take place. And the people who have it, especially in the context of a political power, don't ever use it to the benefit of us. It's almost like they were there, they use it to a detriment. And that's not necessarily true everywhere else around the globe. And so no, it like him making that point, like it's just, it just smacks you in the face, whether it's the Argentinan and cows, whether

it's the B1 visas. I don't know if you were running, I mean, when they were running during a race, they were like, well, Americans are dumber. And this is coming from a corner that's living in America. Like, I have curiosity. Okay, I know why Republicans are shutting up about this, although they should freak out. But okay, it's team blue, I mean, team red, whatever. Okay, but why are the Democrats making a ad of this? There should be, yeah, and there should be ads. They should be showing this all the time.

Because they agree. It says this about Argentina. They're paid by the same people. You'll keep acting like there's a difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. Oh, I don't act like that at all. They are paid by the exact same. That's why they're just squawking. Seriously, that's exactly why.

I don't think that's true. They're both interested in being, you know, in running the show. I mean, otherwise there wouldn't be elections and they wouldn't campaign against each other. Elections don't matter, Ted. That's for public consumption. You get to vote by whoever isn't selected by the oligarchs who control the people to the first. That's all true. But it's so.

Elections don't matter. Donald Trump was going to shoot Liz Cheney. Like, that's extreme. Like, that's not like, that's not like. I mean, there is. There is a contest. I mean, look, there's a real contest. Does it really matter for our lives?

No. But there's a real, I mean, there is a contest. Coke or Pepsi? I mean, come on, it's like in sports. I mean, you know, sure, most of the New York Knicks, only one of them is a New Yorker. Okay, so it's all fake. But like, you know, but the New York Knicks play hard. They are trying to beat whoever else, right?

I mean, so. I do have a question, though, and I'll go away. way, J.T. Especially for you, you're talking about, you know, you're talking about Europe and the Austrian and stuff. Yeah. Could Austria have a welfare state? Could France, for that matter, or these other European countries, if there was not a NATO? So if they had to defend themselves, could they have a welfare? Australia is not in NATO? No, I know, but it's surrounded by NATO countries. I mean, there's no one going to screw with it. I guess the point I'm trying to say is, is without that security blanket, would Europe be able to afford the welfare state that it has? Or would they become more capitalistic like what we are?

Who is attacking Europe? Nobody. But Europeans fight each other all the time. At least they used to. Not anymore. But they don't now. And for the most part, they cooperate, especially under the European Union. I get your question.

Your question is basically, hey, if America wasn't defending it had to put money into a military budget. Yeah, we're subsidized. Yeah, could they do it? Or subsidizing them, so therefore they have a welfare state if you don't have to pay for your own defense. Yeah, but if you don't need that, if you don't need that defense that's being provided, it's sort of a, it's a service that you don't need. It's like a magazine that you're subscribing to and you never read. And then like you can't afford it anymore and you cancel the subscription. Nothing.

It doesn't matter. Yeah, it does like, nobody's at their gates. Like, let's, we're paying for this expensive service they don't need. The wars that are taking place are backed by the U.S. Like, meaning if the U.S. wasn't a part of this, there will be no enemies at anybody's gates in real terms, at least on the global scale. That's true. The war in Iran, the war in Europe, even hell, the fact that the Israelis run them up is all based upon the United States and their global, let's say, positioning around the globe and using the military assets in order to try to affect change globally or at the very least prevent this idea of a, um, multipolarity state. Nobody is at Europe's gates. And the same thing is true for America.

Nobody's at our gates. We don't have to spend a trillion dollars for our military. We choose to spend a trillion dollars for our military. As I showed, you read what's left, Robbie. I mean, several times. It's like, you know, Brazil only spends $50 billion a year on their military. They probably spend more than they need to because they have grift and graft too, right? By the way, Russian was a year. That's one two, what is that? One two hundred. of a trillion dollars and they have bigger defense needs than the united states does they have hostile borders they have big borders they have borders that are geographically almost impenetrable along in very difficult terrain we know for they do it for 50 billion we can do it for 30 billion oh for sure

i get it just no it's just the reason i'm asking that is just know up until 1940 Europeans just traditionally every generation they get bored someone just started fighting somebody else It's not the Russians Europeans fight each other all the time at least they used to and so no you can make the argument But the US has no role in preventing that now as as Jamarro pointed out of course it does we are their military Well they're not we're not we're not like if let's say France goes back to war against Germany the US isn't weighing in well yeah you do us have never allowed to happen in the first point? But I'm saying it's the EU that would never, the existence of the EU is meant to make sure that never happens again. The U.S. is a non-fact. NATO and the U.S. is about, supposedly about defending Russia from the big bad Ruskis and maybe some Arabs, right?

But it's not about internal European conflicts. Like, you know, NATO is kind of, I mean, I guess the only exception there would have been Bosnia. But we absolutely had a problem. point of view on that one. I mean, you think that the Russians might look across the border and at Prussians? I think we want that back. Do you think that the Europeans have evolved past that point? I think the European Union is a stabilizing influence on Europe. That's what I think.

And I think European Union on some level prevents. It's not foolproof. It's not fail-safe. Right. I mean, I don't think anything is fail-safe. Like any conflict can erupt between nations, depending upon what takes place in a matured material sense. But it's, it is, it is a constraint. It is a, let's talk about some related matters. The Falklands and Germany. I'm kind of just, let's let's do that. Let's like nail Germany and Russia down.

So Russia is going to shut down German cultural centers, according to Sergi Lavrov. That's in retaliation for Germany blaming Russia for these drones that were found at the Leipzig airport. sort of near and bouncing against Ukrainian planes, if we believe that story, which there's reason not to. And in Munich yesterday, a couple of IEDs were thrown at a construction site where some defense companies were, a couple of Bulgarian dudes were arrested. We don't know if they're just people of interest or witnesses or if they're suspect. I'm going to say they're probably suspects. The implication there is that the Bulgarians might have some kind of attachment to Russia, but look, let's face it, there's no, no, I mean, to me, with that rung, like, it looked to me just like, obviously, we need more information there. But there's a lot of people in Germany who are not happy with Germany's warmongering stances against Russia and generally remilitarization and all that shit.

So I this a lot of this probably doesn't have anything to do with Russia But it's probably domestic You know domestic politics It's like if someone throws an IED at you know Lockheed Martin's offices in the United States It's not Russia or China that did it or Iran you know I mean Just to piggyback on that the AFD may win because of that Like meaning they're the AFD numbers wouldn't be gaining and wouldn't be growing if Germany

needs if Germans weren't expressing a certain amount of discontent against the government, if that makes sense. Like, they're the party that is asking questions like, why are our business is closing? Why aren't we using Russian energy? Why are we fighting this war? Why are we doing this? In which case, the population says, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, to put it in perspective, the German government spying on the AFD or using the powers

of the government to try to keep them out of office, it's kind of an indication that their numbers are growing. They just shut down four Volkswagen businesses in Germany. I mean, it originates in Germany. And yet they can't even keep their plants open because the cost is soaring to such a degree. That is not just for companies. That is for everybody. And I can tell you when I was there, I was in, God, man, I think it was less than 10 years ago. And beautiful country, expensive regarding energy. The fact that they shut down Nord Stream kind of gets across. what the energy numbers may be looking like now as opposed to what they were looking like

even when I was there. And winter is coming to use it. Winter is coming. A drone that apparently a Lept drone at that, I think it was like three of them, apparently tried to take down a cargo plane in Germany. And I kept thinking to myself, are you telling me that the Russians who are blowing the shit out of pretty much anything and everything in Ukraine using jet-powered drones, the Gern drone,

that they couldn't get one right when he hit the plane in Germany. It was like, okay, this makes a good point. Very good point. They specialize in drones. Well, not to mention, right? Drones don't travel hundreds and hundreds of miles. They can't.

And that. They have a limited range in which they're going. Meaning, unless you have an area. They were launched domestically. Had to have been. It had been somewhere close. And yet, the drone was poorly constructed. And it was like, the Russians did it.

And even the other idea was like, we found a weapons cash. If I were the Russians that'd be insulted, it'd be like, you don't think we're better than that? We've been hitting Ukraine every day with drones. We've been blowing up. Everybody knows Russia's drone game is excellent. Yeah. And yet, the Germans looking at a poorly constructed drone is thinking the Russians did it. The weapons cash that apparently was set up professionally for Russian spies to get their hands.

in order to assassinate Germans. Again, they're not even assassinating Ukrainians who they're in a war with. By the way, if the Russians want you dead, you're going to have a cup of polonium tea or you're going to go out of window or whatever or your plane's going to have a problem. Right.

Hey, what's that funny sound from the engine? Right. It's going to be, right. Yeah, but Goshen learned that the hard way. Right. But it was an accident. Classified as a mistake. Right. And I just think the story is absurd.

It's a way of trying to find some fucking stupid. Listen, it's perfectly normal for there to be a grenade on a commercial plane that just happens to go off at 40,000. It happens all the time. Yeah, that's true. I mean, who can't say that hasn't happened to them

on a plane? Of course. It's kind of like an eye rate no passenger. Just last week, Clovis. I mean, we say no more. Right. All right. crap happens. Let's move on here. Crown Heights, Brainiac, thanks for the 499. Mr. Bonespurs calling Americans lazy.

Oh, the irony. So true. F you said, thanks for the dollar and an explanation. Kite-eating tree cartoon idea was because you love peanuts like me. Yeah, I'm gay for peanuts. And Israel banning it is Palestinian kids flying kites, even killing them. Yeah, you've heard about that, right? They banned.

It's amazing the politics of kite flying, whether it be Afghanistan or the Israelis. It's so absurd. Have you had an conversation with Israeli? Like where they were talking to you and they're out of when I was in heading up to Nepal, my entire trip, I was sitting beside two Israelis. Both were AdiF members.

And at the time I wasn't overly political, but I had been traveling through Egypt for the good three, four weeks. I've been Egypt for like a month. And so you see like a lot of stuff that they show you on air that they would never show you in the United the States. And so by the time I'm talking to them, I'm like, well, dude, you're destroying olive trees. You're destroying this. You're demolishing this. And at some point, he was like, you're right. I can understand what people would think about us in that particular way. And he even with further,

he was like, I lived in some of the occupied areas where they had to put up like bob wire and stuff like that in order to keep people from throwing things at them and everything else. He's like, I get it. I was like, thank you for being honest. This fits within that. It's just ways of punishing. people. Just ways of making people's lives miserable. Yeah, they're sadists. And yeah, I mean, the thing is when you, look, the thing is anybody who is radical, who is totally Zionist, just needs to go to Israel, go to Jerusalem and just look at the checkpoints and the way that they treat the Palestinians. Just do that. Just do that and tell me that it's okay and make excuse. As an American, I go through in two minutes, Palestinians wait six hours in that line.

Yeah, and it's on purpose. You know, I mean, they're fucking around. It's like it's a system, right? Okay, Douglas Hoban. Robbie's still believing in the U.S. is paying for Europe propaganda. Ritchie Doep. I think the Algo has picked up D. Program.

This is on YouTube. It's a feature channel on my feed today. What's the Algo? The algorithm. Oh, oh, okay. He said the algorithm has picked it up. Yeah, well, that would explain the big jump. That's good. I mean, yeah. That's good. That's good. Better, better a year and a half late

than never, but it's true. Thank you. Thank you. It never hit that number. Oh, no, no. Really? No, no. I mean, there was the crazy, there was the crazy month that, you know, when he first hit and was going viral and stuff like that. And the number has got like up to 5,000, something like that. So this is a, this is a new level. I mean, I think if it's stays here. If it's anything like this, it's a new, it's a new level for sure. It's good. All right. Two more stories. I don't, I'm glad we're, we're hitting our targets a little faster than yesterday. Okay, so the triumphal arch, which by the way, violates D.C. law, because it's going to be higher than the Washington Monument, right? And you're not supposed to,

nothing is supposed to be that high. 250 feet. I don't know what the height of the Washington Monument is. I'm looking that up. I just mean this arch is going to be like the one in Paris. At least 250 feet. Okay, I'm lying. It's not taller than the Washington Monument. Not even close. But it's shorter than the, it's half the height of the Washington Monument.

But anyway, I love how Trump said this is going to honor the Arlington National Cemetery because it'll be near there. I'm like, the Arlington National Cemetery is already an honor. Right. It's its own honor. It's its own honor. It is an honor to be buried in Arlington. is an honor, right? I mean, it's like, it doesn't really need to be honored and also do justice to the Capitol. I'm like, it's already the Capitol. I mean, you know, what's this adding to anything?

This is like Penn is a thing. Oh, totally. Yeah. It's also so ugly. And, you know, look, I'm going to, I'm going to go full Jamarral here. This won't happen. I mean, I remember I had a professor, Robert Paxton, fascism professor, and he told me, that there's a he was like well the thing is in a revolution right

like the revolutionaries never tear down the old shit they move into the infrastructure right so like you know the soviet the Bolsheviks

they move into you know what's it called in in palace presidential palace into the Kremlin they move into the Kremlin they move into the Kremlin

right in in France they move into you know the Elyze Palace right Everybody just sort of moves into the old shit.

And that's kind of like Democrats will at some point, presumably, be in charge again. They will not come with a bulldozer and knock down this ugly piece of shit. It'll stay there. You know, everything just stays. Even temporary shit, the Washington Square Park arch in New York City was meant to be temporary. But it was like, oh, we're just going to keep it. Eiffel Tower was meant. to be temporary for reasons liked it.

Meant to be temporary. And it was like, oh, we like it. We're going to keep it. So, you know. Wait, wait, wait. Are you sure about that? I'll look it up again, but I'm pretty sure, yeah. I will.

Because I thought it was an artistic thing that people hated in the very beginning. But it was built for a fair. It was a, it was a 1889 World's Fair. Yeah, it was intended to be taken down but it got done, but the people It was supposed to be taken down after 20 years. Oh, I didn't know that.

20 years. Nobody's taking stuff down after 20 years. Nobody's doing that. Also, by the time the 1909 permit expired, because it was built in 1889, the tower had proven too valuable as a radio antenna to tear it down. During the wars, that's right. Well, before the war, yeah. But yeah.

Yeah, so, so yeah, I mean, the point is nothing is, I mean, I would love it if just for once, Democrats are like, we're tearing down the ballroom. We're putting it down, we're putting, we're putting, we're putting, we're putting this wing back up. We're rebuilding Jackie O's, you know, Rose Garden. And the arch, we're calling out a fucking airstrike on that. Do it Trump style where it's like, we're going to do it on national television. We're going to, everybody can come and watch.

It's going to be cool. Yeah. Blow that fucker up. Tear down the ballroom. They should do that. Just out of malice. Yeah, out of malice and out of principle. But anyway, so, okay, so this is a, for people who are watching from overseas, you might say, well, why, who gives a fucking shit? And that's a fair question. And look, this, what this is, this is a, this announcement is a direct response to the Supreme Court allowing Trump to, even though the Supreme Court basically said it's illegal to build the ballroom at the White House without congressional approval, they basically punted on separation of powers. And now the, the, you know, the, now Trump is on the loose.

He's like, all right, well, I'm going to fucking do whatever I want. So he's building this with taxpayer money. I mean, you know, look, it's hardly the biggest waste of taxpayer money going on. That would be the wars. But it's still interesting. And, you know, it just shows that when you, you know, it shows that when separation of powers crumble and you have an asshole in charge who's willing to take advantage of it, that like all decency and self-control goes out the window.

And that's what we have now. I mean, God knows what this fucker is going to build now. I don't think I would care so much if it wasn't for the other stuff. Like, I don't know. Like, this seems like an ego thing. This is like penis. I don't know what this is. Well, if he wasn't blowing up Iranians for Israel, I might not care.

But, like. Yeah, but he's building random stuff almost as if a distraction. Like, hey, look at this new arch. Look at this new ballroom. Look at these things that have added. It's like, dude, you. You've cost us literally somewhere like $100 billion. He's like Saddam, like during the Iran-Iraq War.

The country's getting fucked up. And, you know, he's building monuments to himself all over the country. Well, that's what Calicula did. I mean, how does this any difference? Seriously, I mean, the man burned down half of Rome so he could build a palace to himself. Yeah. I mean, that's what Trump's doing. We should call him boots.

That's what Caligula means, by the way. Latin. Oh, I didn't know that. I mean, it means a little shoe. Boots Trump. Boots Trump. Yeah. Well, no, but Mr. Bonespurs does need better arch support. So he's getting an arch.

He's getting some arch support. I can see it. It's so good at it. Like he has literally cost each American around the neighborhood of like $1,000 because of the inflation and everything else as a result of the war so that he's effectively running. And he's building the stuff. And as you point out, attacking basically saying Americans aren't working hard enough.

Oh, we have to help the Argentinians over American farmers. Diesel is like six bucks in Richmond. And if it's six bucks in Richmond, who is typically low in regards to the gas prices across the United States, what is it in other locations? And again, this is farming, fertilizer, anything that you're going back from the store from the standpoint of grains and wheat and those type of things. That's something going to go through the roof. Totally. We've got to talk about the Falcons. So in 1982, if memory serves, the Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, which is a British colony.

And obviously, understandably, the Argentine's, Argentina claims it. It's obviously much closer to them than it is to England. Things of, you know, the Brits under Maggie Thatcher successfully kicked the Argentinians. out. It still remains a point of conflict. Malay basically is once, is now, you know, as a nationalist, is saber-rattling over Argentina. The official U.S. stance is neutrality. Like, you know, well, whatever you guys work out. It has nothing to do with us. Trump said that he might reconsider that for Argentina and then end up, you know, basically supporting Argentina's claim. I'm very torn about this.

Malay, by the way, is basically trying to sort of very trumply go after a British oil concession in the Falklands, which he claims is also draining Argentina's oil reserves, which are partly also under Argentina proper. And so he's trying to block it with sanctions and with a military blockade. So obviously tensions are rising there. I'm really sympathetic to Argentina's claim over the Falklands. You know, I'm anti-colonialist, and I think probably the Falklands belong to Argentina properly. But at the same time, I hate Malay because he's a right-wing shithead, and he's imposing massive draconian austerity cuts on the Argentine people for no good reason

while he lines the pockets of the wealthy elites. So he's an asshole. This is one of those cases in my view that the asshole happens to be right. What do you think? I think the asshole happens to be right. I think those are Argentine lands, meaning taking layout of a foot a second.

Those lands are far closer as opposed to British colonialists who are like thousands of miles away who've decided that these are now British colony. Okay, well, that's interesting. They look nothing like Britain. you're nowhere near Britain yeah if he can take it back

it's fair game it's hard to take it why don't just have the people lose their vote I mean do you ought to live with the you're able to be part of the United of the United Kingdom or the failed imploding nation of Argentina have you seen the UK recently that's a dumpster fire for sure

that's what I'm saying I guess that one is it's not the one getting well the American president bail out their food industry the problem is that you would have There's a lot of Brits who live there and they'd be allowed to vote, right? So the colonists would be voting too.

It's a lot of Brits there, but let's be honest, it's a colony. They're right beside Argentina. I don't care about Britain's claim on colonies thousands of miles away. I just don't. If Malay has a power to take Auckland's back, God bless him. If Trump helps them, even more so. I don't care for the Brits. Right, right.

No. Yeah. So it's obviously, and by the way, the United States was involved here. The Argentinians took it back from Spain in the 1811. And then the U.S. set, the, in 1831, would this have been Andrew Jackson, Robbie? The U.S. sent a warship down there to bomb the Argentinians and turn it over to the Brits. They wouldn't want brown people controlling their territory. God forbid. Yep. That's probably because of the back then, it doesn't not been the negotiations who were happening, but when they were trying to figure out the border between Canada and the United States,

that might have been a concession. Oh, like San Juan Island and all that shit? Yeah. Yeah, that could have been it. Yeah, like a tradeoff like a game of, like playing the board game risk or something. Yeah. And so that Trump is going to back the Brits. For some reason, I feel like he backed Malay.

I mean, he's backed them in everything else. He said, although all he said is, I'm willing to reconsider. Like, yeah, it's not, you know. Yeah, whatever that means. Basically, pay me. Who's going to give me what? Exactly, exactly. All right, guys, thanks for joining us.

Q&A show is canceled. The next one will be Monday at 12 noon. We'll be back Monday. No, actually, I'm lying. Labor Day is the. this coming Monday. Oh, Monday is Labor Day. That's right.

Monday is Labor Day. National holiday. Can hear on the program, we always respect national holidays. So we will see you Tuesday at 9 a.m. Easter time. Please stay tuned for TMI with me and Manila coming up right now. In one hour at 11 a.m.,

Scott Stantis and I will be talking about bad editors on the DMC America podcast. Yes, Robbie. On Monday, I'll put together I've rerun so that way you can get your deep program fix on Monday. That is. Alright guys, be safe.