DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - Pope vs. Dope | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Editorial cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM Eastern time. Today we discuss:• Pope Leo XIV says the world is being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” with nothing for “healing, education and restoration.” “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” Leo said, presumably about Trump and Netanyahu.• Progressive Democrat Analilia Mejia won a special election in New Jersey’s 11th District, by a landslide, allowing Democrats to further narrow Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House to 217-214. AIPAC had interfered in the primary by going after incumbent Tom Malinowski, a self-described Zionist, because he wanted conditions on aid to Israel. • House conservatives, concerned that warrantless government surveillance of foreign individuals could sweep up data on Americans, shot down an 18-month extension Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They have 10 days to talk.• Disgruntled employee Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, of Highland, California, is accused of causing $500 million in damage by setting an April 7 fire that destroyed a 1.2 million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark distribution center in Ontario. Abdulkarim, who worked through a third-party logistics provider, filmed himself setting pallets of paper goods ablaze, says the DOJ. “If you’re not going to pay us enough to [expletive] live… at least pay us enough not to do this,” he allegedly says. “I just cost these [expletive] billions,” he texted. “Luigi popped that mutherf---er,” Abdulkarim said in a call, “a lot of people are going to understand.”JOIN US LIVE ON RUMBLEhttps://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShowFOLLOW TED:https://rall.com/https://x.com/tedrallLISTEN ON SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/2kdFlw2w8sSPhKI8NRx8ZuLISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall

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Thanks for joining us. Please like, should follow and share the show. Breaking just now, the Strait of Ormuse is open. according to the Iranian government, as long as the ceasefire holds. That's out of Reuters. They're usually do pretty good work. Good morning, Jamal. Good morning. How are you doing, today? I am doing good.

All right, so busy news day, lots to talk about. So here's what we're going to touch base on. And if you have questions about these stories or anything else, pop them into the live feed in YouTube or Rumble if you're watching the 9 o'clock a.m. Eastern time hour. and we will get to all of them. Priority will go to Superchats. Okay, so Pope Leo went after Trump and Netanyahu basically saying, woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military,

economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and fill. Right. You know, no one talked like the Pope. big news out of New Jersey, a special election in the 11th district went to a progressive Democrat by a landslide. She'll probably become a new member of the squad. The Democratic minority now shrinks from to 214 to 217. So Republicans have a razor-thin majority there. Now, big APAC race, they really screwed up. And we'll talk about how They squandered $2 million and ended up ousting their own Zionist pro-Israel dude due to their own stupidity

and ended up with a pro-Gaza, pro-Palestinian lady instead. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, otherwise known as FISA, is in trouble in the House of Representatives due to a coalition of conservatives, right-wing conservatives, libertarians, and Democrats. And finally, there's kind of been, we might have a new Luigi. He was working in a paper lumber warehouse out in Inland Empire, that's in SoCal. And he set it ablaze allegedly. The place burned down caused half a billion dollars in damage.

And he basically compared himself to Luigi Mangione. And he said, complained about how poor the pay was and, you know, and said that these corporations have got. to pay. So lots of good stuff. What shall we do first? I want to start with Iran. That deal. So I am fascinated. I didn't realize that the Strait of Hormuz was open this morning. There are people who are, I would use the term Iranian triumphalists. And what I mean by that is disbelief that is what Iran is won, Iran is whip hand, Iran is control, the U.S. has lost. etc, etc, et cetera, et cetera. Now, those things may be true.

Those things may not be true. Who knows, right? It's hard to know what's going on behind the scenes in regards to the Iranian government and what they're willing to accept, even getting into the negotiation trap in the first place. Let's be honest. That deal between Israel and Lebanon is nonsense. It's a bullshit deal, right?

The Lebanese government is under the control and under the thumb of the United States and the Israelis. And that government that is under the thumb and under control of the U.S. and Israelis makes a deal with those same Israelis and say, hey, everything is right. We got a deal. And then they immediately validate the deal, right? Now, the catch becomes, what does Iran do? Because Iran is state its association and closeness with Lebanon as a factor in any kind of negotiation or any kind of deal that takes place. I think it bespeaks of something that a deal that everybody knows is nonsense between,

Israel and Lebanon, Iran is living off that to say, fair enough. You attended to the deal. We needed a ceasefire between these two parties before we can negotiate. But everybody knows the ceasefire is nonsense. So it's like, what does that mean for Iran that they're willing to accept this fake premise of a ceasefire in Lebanon and Israel? I mean, do you disagree with that? Give me your take on. I'm curious. I almost agree with that. with it completely, look, look, what you said is all right. It's true that, you know, like leaving Hezbollah out of this, of any deal is like, you know, leaving the biggest, most important party out, right? So that's true. However, you know, Iran's been coordinating

with Hezbollah in a way that they never have before, never as closely. You know, so it's, it's what it's looking like with the reopening of the straight under the ceasefire is that basically there's a de facto deal, Hezbollah. So the Iranians are letting this play out. They're saying, okay, we will play nice here. We open the straight. We'll ask our friends in Hezbollah to chill while the Lebanese-Israeli ceasefire is in effect. This gives us 10 days to talk and iron out the details.

And then we'll see what happens. Personally, I mean, I think that I'm pretty sure that's what's going on. I think it's a mistake from Iran's point of view. If I were them, I'd keep the pressure on. I would not reopen the straight. I mean, it's not going to really solve the energy crunch that we're going to see because that's been ongoing now for five to six weeks. Then it's still going to ripple through the economy.

And they can close the straight at a second's notice. I mean, we went through this last week, if you'll recall. and the straight was open for what, 10 minutes? So at the first sign of perfidy on the part of probably the Israelis, you know, that'll game off, right? So I'm sure that's what they're thinking. But- Israelis violated it within minutes.

I just, I guess I want, yeah, no, they did. And they always do. I mean, that's the Israeli way. I don't really understand why the Iranians wouldn't keep the pressure on unless there's something to the Trump. argument that they've been so battered and bruised by the military attack that they really do need some breathing room too. I mean, this does allow the Iranians to, for example, move, you know, weapons caches to rebuild some launchers, to secure some facilities that they haven't been able to

because, you know, they've got the eye in the sky watching them. The eye in the sky will still be watching them, but they can still do stuff. So, yeah. I think, you know, this is the interesting thing to me. Because, you know, I think we were, I think we were talking about it, how whatever they do now signals what's going on internally. If they thought that they had the with hand, do they do the ceasefire? Like, I don't know what's in their minds. No, it's mysterious. You were clearly in charge of this.

You don't do it. Mm-hmm. I agree. And I don't think I would have. I would say my argument would have been in the council of experts, right? Would have been, you know, we've got the West right where we want them. Don't change a thing. Right. Unless you don't have where you want. That's what I mean when I'm the Tronphilis, right? Yeah. Like, it's if the view of this, because I'm trying to keep a clear lens, I know what I want. What I want is for the U.S. to suffer. Right. That suffering needs to take place.

But we're trying to do, yeah, we're trying to figure out what's true. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And so it's kind of like, yeah, I know what I want, but is it possible that what I want? It's not going to happen. Reality on the ground and the facts on the ground. And Iran would know their situation better than I ever would know their situation, right? So I can only go about what they signal.

And if, you know, Israel violate to deal and then looks at you in the face is like, what you're going to do that? And your response is, okay, well, we're going to attempt to ceasefire. It makes it like, it's a, I don't know, it's a propaganda. It could also be a play for international approval. I mean, Iran must know that they're playing this propaganda game. You know, it's not just Lego videos. And they're, you know, they're trying to get positive global opinion on their side. They're trying to sway voters in Western European countries and so on.

So it might be that, look, we need to appear reasonable here. and we need to seem like we're being nice. Otherwise, everyone's going to hate us. And we don't want the, you know, right now the Europeans are sitting this one out. We don't want them to get pissed at us because we're squeezing global energy markets and we look like dicks. So, and then that might persuade, you know, people like Macron to join in. But they're not squeezing energy markets. The U.S. attacked Iran.

Nobody touched the Strait of Ramos before this took place. It wasn't like Iran said, we're just going to attack the strait. and take the street. It wasn't that. It was sure, but it's still their choice. I mean, they don't have to do it. I mean, you know, I'm going to just die. Right. It's not exactly. It's not the, you know, it's like, I mean, it's absurd, but you know what I mean. It's like the premise of it, right? It's like, hey, hey, I need you to be more quiet as you die. As I'm joking the show. Don't cause so much trouble. Don't be so bitey.

Yeah. I'm fascinated by this dynamic. I describe it like a wife feeder. Like if you and I are a gay couple and you beat the shit out of me for whatever particular reason. And I'm saying, I'm wondering the corner and the cop comes. And you are talking to the cop. And a cop is like, all right, well, I've spoken to the abuser. Everything seems to be okay.

And the cops just leave. Well, yeah, that's kind of like, yeah, well, that's what happened with Jeffrey Dahmer. Yes. One of his victims escaped and the cops returned him. Yeah, that's what I mean, right? It's like, oh, you lost your lunch? Jeffrey, here he is back. Well, I feel like that's kind of the way Iran is positioning itself as the cop.

Does the cop look at the spirit of an agreement or does the cop look at the technicality of the agreement? Now, technically, the agreement that Iran said, if drop site news is right, between Lebanon and the United States, the agreement that they signed had this idea of, okay, well, we respect sovereignty of states. However, Israel has the right to defend itself. And so technically you can make a case of saying, well, look, dude, they signed on to the agreement that allowed Israel to continue the attacks. By the same token, if you're on, you can look at that and say, the spirit of that agreement is nonsense. Or you can say, technically, it's a ceasefire. And we're going to intend to the fact that it's technically a ceasefire.

It's fascinating. It's just, it's just very well. R.J. Ramrod says $20 says Israel breaks the ceasefire before the end of the show. I'll take that bet. I don't think they'll break it before the end of the show. But they will break it before the end of 10 days. John Parkes asks, is it unpatriotic that I'm rooting for Iran? No.

We did the Middle East dirty for decades. And I feel awful for what we've done. Obviously, I wish the best for our soldiers. They don't deserve this either. Okay, I'm going to say a mean thing. They don't deserve this, really. You know, like, remember in Robocop after the scene where the guy gets shot to death in the boardroom? And they're going down in the elevator and he goes,

that's what happens when some stupid asshole volunteers. That's my take on the military. You're stupid assholes for volunteering. You're giving a blank check to a rogue government that will send you, no doubt, to fight and die and kill people. It's stupid wars. Don't fucking volunteer. It is unpatriotic. I don't care. I'm unpatriotic.

I would take the opposite point of view. It is very patriotic. Look, if I'm telling you there's a fire in your establishment, I'm not the bad guy, but telling you there's a fire in the establishment. It's like, there's a fire over there. It's like, will you shut up about the fire? I am the one that's an all right for making that argument. It's the most patriotic thing in the world for somebody to point out that their government has gone broke. No, I hear you. And like, look,

look, we should lose because it'll, you know, it's kind of like, you know, we're on drugs. We're, you know, we're addicted to war. And maybe we need to OD and like almost die in order to like, you know, cut it out and get and like get scared straight. Java Joe, thanks for the $10 donation. There are images circulating in Iranian media of several U.S. soldiers captured during the pilot rescue mission. Do you give credence to these stories or is it war propaganda? I guess I would want to see video of them talking. I think there's a 50-50 chance that it's real because you know, you and I talked about

the reporting around this, the messaging coming out of the Pentagon, out of the rescue mission, it was radically inconsistent, made no sense whatsoever. You know, they didn't account properly for the number of planes, the number of shoppers, the number of personnel. None of it made sense. I think it's entirely possible the Iranians have some POWs. It's possible. I mean, I guess the question becomes, why haven't they released videos?

I mean, I guess the thing is, it is contrary to the Geneva Conventions to parade them on TV and make them talk. So they might not want to do that. Flandarina says Iran doesn't want their infrastructure to keep being destroyed. That's why Israel commits war crimes. It doesn't care what the world thinks they know the other side won't want it to keep happening.

Pretty much. Yeah. I mean, but is that... Wanted to get it? Querex Internet. Cox Internet, of 300 megas, has the velocities

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mobile is reduced after 20 gigas a month. You know, at what point does pragmatism

and giving a shit about the world perspective that's in the way you're accomplishing your objectives as a nation.

The US doesn't care. Israel doesn't care. Iran knows that they've been attacked. The world sees that Iran has been attacked. I say,

dude, I understand trying to maintain a moral high ground. Yeah. Some comments. Just Zach attacks is asking, hey, a general housekeeping question, if you guys considered adding the show to Spotify, I'm a college student, and it's hard to get to the live show, but Spotify would be sick.

Hey, I think the show is on Spotify. I'll double check that. Robbie, can you look into that? But we're on RSS, and RSS that distributes to Spotify, doesn't it? It should be. okay we'll look into that but i know that i know for sure yeah i know for sure that that it goes over to apple it should be streaming over to spotify too and also um i want to say it's also going to iheart radio yeah yeah and it should be on pan on all of those things pandora everything but we'll check

thank you thank you for that um let's see uh there was there were a few more things um The interview with Professor Dan Fleming yesterday was an absolute barn burner. More of that sort of thing, please. I could not agree more. That was so interesting. We got to, you know, it's fascinating that this was about Ball. We've got to do that. Maybe Bluth Funk seconds that.

Love the interviews this week. I wouldn't mind if they're a little bit longer, too. Great guests, guys. Yeah, we've got two more guests coming next week, so at least. So we hear you loud and clear. Thank you very much for that. Okay, Manchal, thanks for the $2. Good morning.

The Pope calls out manipulators of God, so we should talk about that, while Heg Seth invokes Tarantino. It's like, and then with great vengeance, is this divine cosplay in the final stage of an administration that it has lost its moral and spiritual compass? I'm going to put Robbie up there. You know, Robbie, you know the Bible better than I do, But when I saw Pulp Fiction the first time, I knew that wasn't real.

I have no idea what Pulp Fiction is. Oh, it's a very famous movie, 1994. Quentin Tarantino's best film, probably. No, that's not his best. What is best? Inglores Basters is damn. Oh, maybe Inglorious Basters. Or Jackie Brown's way up there, too, for me.

But anyway, one of his great films, a serious genesis. Generation X landmark. And anyway, at one point, Samuel L. Jackson, who's an assassin, the show is about a pair of assassins, a movie's about a pair of an assassins. He, right before he kills this guy, he like says, I will now quote from the book of Ezekiel 25, chapter 35, verse 27. And then he's like, and I will smite my enemies with great vengeance. And it's just sort of like, anyway, the point is it's a very, very. famous scene. Yeah.

It's amazing. It's amazing. The tension's crazy because no one is more menacing in the world than Samuel L. Jackson in that scene. And anyway, the point is, this comes up like twice in the movie, right? Anyway, Pete Hankseth, that prayer, that sacrilegious prayer in favor of militarism that he delivered turns out to have been lifted not from scripture. about Trump Pulp Fiction.

Listen, this administration, let's be honest, Trump is not the first president to give the middle finger to Jesus Christ, but he's the first one to do it in public on social media. It just goes to show that nothing is sacred to this man. He is a pig of the highest order,

and I think it's just a sign of the times. Why is he not scared of his, I mean, many, a very sizable percentage of his supporters are, are Christians. I mean, they care. I mean, why isn't that worried about them? Well, do they? Do they care? How many, how many Christian Zionists? And I don't even think, I'm not even sure there's a such thing as a Christian Zionist anymore. Either you're a Christian, you're a Zionist. I don't really see how you can.

You know, if your, if your team is red no matter what, and Israel can do whatever at once because they're God's chosen people and you support militarism. So long as it's your team that's doing it, then does he really care? I don't think he cares at all. I mean, he should really care more about the condition of his soul because when he, when that fat pig, when he, when he kicks off, he's going to split hell wide open. That's why he should be worried about, but he's not. There is no, there is no fear in this man.

There is no fear in him at all. No, that's, and that's, that's not really a benefit either. Rob, I'm going to keep you on because I wanted to talk to you about what the Pope had to say. So Pope Leo the 14th, the first American Pope ever, said that the world is being ravaged by, and by the way, a conservative guy, said the world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants with nothing for healing, education, and restoration financially. Woe be to those who manipulate religion and the very home of the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and

Phil. I interpret that the tyrants and war mongers that he's talking about as being Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Do you think I'm missing it? No, I don't think you're missing it at all. I really don't. I don't think that you're missing it at all.

And the fact that Trump said that the whole reason that Leo is the Pope is because of him. I think the Council of Cardinals might beg to differ. Yeah. He was saying earlier that he loved his Pope, we got this is the Pope,

believing that he's going to have some kind of influence in the Pope. And I got to be honest with you. I dislike the Pope because it was an American Pope. If I'm being bluntly honest, but he's growing on me. That's how I feel. Yeah, I'm liking him a lot better now. Yeah. I mean, because I love the last Pope.

I thought that last book was fantastic. Oh, God, I miss Francis so much. Yeah, he was a moral authority in the way that he carried himself. He's that perfect because he's a person, right? Yeah. But from the standpoint of, you know, care about the poor, the wars, etc. I care about the class.

These are people. You know, it's funny. So I got married in the Catholic Church. And so I was the Catholic. And, you know, my, my, my fiance at the time, she didn't have any religion. So she didn't really know anything about this whole process. So we did pre-Kana. We go in to meet with the priest, who, by the way, was Indian.

And she was kind of like, priests could be Indian. I'm like, oh, they have lots of Catholic. in India, right? Anyway, the point is, at one point, he's looking for a form in his drawer, and he's like, where the fuck did I put that fucking thing? And she was like, oh my God. And I just laughed. I'm like, he's a human being, man. He's not Jesus incarnate. And Jesus, Jesus, like, lost his shit, too. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Jesus had a temper. Well, people don't realize this. You know, when he, when, when, he flipped the temple of the tables here at the temple that last time. I mean, you got to really read the text.

Jesus braided the whip. He sat down, took the time to actually make the whip before he went in there and ran out the money chamber, the money changers. And he said, no, you will not turn my house into a house of merchandise. And so that was a very deliberate, very thought out thing that he did, knowing full good and well, he's not making friends in high places when he did this. Yeah. The problem that I have with this Pope is that he's an open borders kind of guy. Now, that's the biggest problem I have for him. If you're concerned about Europe becoming more Muslim, then probably you need to do two things.

Stop fighting wars in Muslim countries, then opening up your borders to import millions of the refugees that you're creating while they bring in their religion that you supposedly oppose because you're, what's the word? Catholic. I don't think it's the Pope's place to be weighing in on border policy. Well, I mean, what the Pope should be doing, honestly, is going out and calling out people for being war mongers, which Trump is. Right. And that's what he's doing. That's what he's doing. And I think he has tremendous moral authority in this respect. I mean, if I woke up in the morning and, you know, and like I was told, you know, hey, Ted, the Pope is pissed at you. I'd be like, the who? What? I mean, I've been told that the President of the United States was pissed at me in the past, Bill Clinton. And that scared me because I was like, this man can't kill me legally and nothing will happen. But the Pope, oh my God, no.

I mean, I was beasted for a taxi in Vatican Square by a Monsignor. I was waiting in line. It was my taxi. And just as he rolls up, a Monsignor with the funny little hat and like the zillions of little purple buttons runs up and fucking steals my cab. And I'm a New Yorker, right? So I'm like, I get ready to like have at it. Maybe, maybe going to hit him. And then he turns around and gives me this glaring like Monsignor.

And he used his Catholic powers against me. Like he was just like, I'm like, no, your car. You're, you're saying he used his Catholic powers. Yeah, he just. Yeah, like even though I'm not a religious man anymore, he was like, you know, nevertheless, it was like, it's still vestigial. He like, you know, it's like, this is not. not the taxi you're looking for.

Oh, he pulled the Jedi mind trick. Yeah, yeah. He didn't want a taxi. I don't want to see. He intimidated me. I wasn't going to do. What am I going to do? Yell at a Monceania?

Like, what? Whatever. Tell I got to fuck off. I mean, I know. I should have, really. I mean, he was an asshole. By the way, you know, up has been out there screaming that the Pope

is saying that Iran should have nukes. Did you see that clip? No. Iran should have nukes. Iran needs nukes. Listen, but one of the things I would, that I would do if I was, if I was ever elected president of Iran or whatever, whoever it is actually runs the country, I'm not really sure.

Well, there's not really one single locus of power. But what I would do is I would 100% make sure that I became a nuclear power with their delivery system within a week. Well, they should have going to take. Well, they're always two weeks away. So, you know, they need two weeks. But it's one thing for them to get this. It's another thing for Trump claiming that the Pope is saying they should have news.

the pope i would wager doesn't believe that even america habits right so i did the pope is i disagree with that and blah blah blah and it's like what what are you talking about well nuclear i mean the thing is about nuclear weapons is that they're indiscriminate by their very nature and if you believe that mass murder is mass murder and that it's a wrong thing to do you should probably be against firebombing cities like we did in dresden you should probably be against the milking no the pope has the papacy has expressed their dislike of the fire bombing of Tokyo and Dresden and all that stuff. And I'm just going to answer Sky Lasky's question real quick.

Where did the Bible say close the borders? The Bible is incredibly clear about borders. I will refer you to Deuteronomy. I will refer you to Leviticus. I will refer you to First and Second of Kings. The whole point of borders is so that way you know what area of authority is that you have. And let's be honest here, people are very tribal. And so it's a good idea to have boundaries.

So that way you're able to know how far your authority goes and where it ends. In the time of the ridiculous, though, let's face it, they didn't have very clear borders. Well, they have border stones, right? So, I mean, that's one of the reasons why, for example, in the book of Proverbs is removing out the landmarks of your fathers. Because it causes problems, not only for families, if there are people, if you go and if you start changing the property line between you and your neighbor, that's a problem. It's a bigger problem whenever a country does it. That's what Israel is doing right now in southern Lebanon. they are trying to move the goalpost.

Although they claim that they don't want that. They can claim where they hell they want. I mean, the facts say otherwise. Right. No, they definitely want a buffer zone there. Robbie,

do we have any ads? We do. I'll go and pop up for you right now. Thank you. All right. So let's see. A couple of other questions. By the way,

Flanderina points out we are indeed on Spotify. So just got to look a little harder. We're there. Sir Bikes a lot. Thanks for the dollar. Good morning about Kimberly Clark. The revolution will not be organized. Let's talk about that as soon as we get done with this ad. Okay, they can cancel your accounts, freeze your cards, decide what you're allowed to buy, say, or support. Big banks and financial institutions have total control and they use it. That's why financial independence matters more now than ever.

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Rumble wallet isn't about politics. It's about freedom, ownership, and protecting what's yours. So take control today. Download Rumble Wallet today now and step away from the big banks for good. True ownership, true protection, true financial freedom. So let's go over this story that the commenter is referring to. So this guy, Chamel Abdu Karim, 29-year-old guy from Inland Empire, that's east of Los Angeles is accused, and it's important to point out that we are, this is America, and even if you

have a Muslim sounding last name, you are innocent until proven guilty. He is accused of causing $500 million in damage by setting an arson fire back in the middle of the night on April 7th that completely demolished, burned to the ground a 1.2 million square foot Kimberly Clark Distribution Center in Ontario, California. Abdul Karim, who worked for a third-party logistics provider, not for Kimberly Clark, allegedly filmed himself, setting pallets of paper goods ablaze. So that's going to be a challenge for the defense there, according to the DOJ. If you're not going to pay us enough to fucking live, he says,

at least pay us enough not to do this. then he allegedly says I just cost these fuckers billions Luigi popped that motherfucker a lot of people are going to understand the Luigi cops are calling this the Luigi effect I have to admit

that as a Marxist this stirs my loins I'm very pleased about this environmentally it kind of sucks you know that's a lot of that's a lot of greenhouse gases but and it's a lot of timber that they're just going to harvest a new but I'm actually surprised Jamarled that this doesn't

happen more often I mean between all the people who like work in Amazon warehouses are treated like shit paid really poorly you know the working conditions are disgusting people talk about there's no proper toilets they have to pee in jars We know they get paid like shit And then obviously they're working for these Billion Dollar You know individuals like Jeff Bezos and Billionaire corporations like Kimberly Clark

I'm actually surprised that this shit's not happening all the time But that said I'm going to say I'm not going to If I'm on Luigi's jury or on this guy's jury That guy's walk him If I'm on Luigi's jury he probably walks And I know that sounds brutal, and that sounds horrible because he kills somebody. But see, I guess my thing is, like, if something like this would happen more often, it wouldn't have to happen at all.

And I know that sounds strange. Like, it's, if you had enough people to say, dude, these people are being maligned economically. And you've got a certain political will behind it. You wouldn't need to do this. Like, nobody burns down a building because they want to burn. down the building. You burn down the building because something is stirring in it. And I agree with you. As a lefty, the stuff, it stirs me. Like, it's like, bring on the revolution. That's what it feels like, right? It's like, finally, someone's doing something, you know? But it's so. But it's not going to bring,

it will not stop. Yeah, it's not doing anything, but just going to prosecute it. That's all that's going to happen. Yeah. I guess, I mean, all right, let's imagine like a fight club kind of scenario, right? So let's just say for the sake of argument that this kind of thing happened every day all across the country. And that the powers that be, I think it would be more effective, honestly, if people did this who didn't get caught. That would drive the powers that be insane. That would look like a resistance movement. It's like our stuff's going up and we don't even have someone we can throw in prison over it. It's like a myth column or something.

Yeah. So, but I mean, let's just, but whatever, setting that aside. people are, if that were happening every day, do you think it would just cause even more repression? Or would it, or could it prompt reforms in the same way that like the LA riots for a short time kind of prompted some reforms to the LAPD? So I think in the beginning of your repression, because I think, if I know as a flat fact, under normal circumstances, people, their response to it is to be more brutal, war hawkish. It's the response. Often, people don't just acquiesce. It's like you try to repose it. It's kind of like to blockade, right? Okay, our first thing didn't work. What's that fallback? It wasn't like, okay, the first thing didn't work. Let's just negotiate and

throw in the towel. It doesn't make sense. Like usually, um, giving up, it's not the first response. Usually that's later down the line when you realize you can't do anything about what's effectively taking place. And also, if you had that many people willing to do that, Is that do you have enough people for a political movement and enough of itself where you don't need to do it? I guess my thing is if that's happening every day or let's say once a week, that's a movement behind the scenes. Why would you need to burn down buildings if you have that many people where you could change policy? True, true. No, I think there's, I mean, I think that's, by the way, you know, I've always, like in Orwell's 1984,

I was always thought it was fascinating, the Emanuel Goldstein figure, right? The party creates the resistance because there's no real resistance. But they feel like in order to give some hope, and this is also a way that they can trap dissidents. But they need to provide some hope in the form of a dissident movement. Otherwise, this party will lose support. That's where we are now, where there's no Emmanuel Goldstein, right? it's not even like there is no hope at all for people who want to see meaningful change in the American political system voting will absolutely not get you there protests will not get you there

and nobody's protesting anyway so I wonder if that's kind of like the seeds of its future demise is the fact that they decided to crush dissent so thoroughly that they didn't provide us there's no safety valve for people like us who or Luigi to express themselves. I mean, when my career got off the ground in the 1990s, I mean, I have the same politics I do today, right? And people like me and me included regularly appeared in the New York Times opinion section. In fact, my cartoons were literally the most reproduced cartoons of any throughout the 1990s in the New York Times. I was in, you know, I was in Forbes, Fortune, Time magazine appeared regularly on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News. And the point is, it's not just me who's

been expunged. Everybody who's got left-wing politics, they're not even allowed on MSNBC. I mean, so it's like there's no room. And I just wonder if that's building up the pressure that's going to explode. See, it's like they've, there's no room, but it's, but there's an illusion associated with it, right? Because it's almost like, okay, we're going to remove left-wing thought. So lefties and those type of things, we're going to remove them from media, we're going to pull them away. We're going to get rid of the Donah Hughes, the justice interurers. We're going to all these people. And in place of it, we're going to put what seems to be a fake contest between left and right in regard to the boundaries of debate, both Fox and Episomacy.

So it's almost like you get this fake left in lieu of the actual left to make it look as if there's opposition. The Harlem Globe, the Washington General. Associated with it. So it's almost like, technically we've pulled people off the air. But we've given you this mirage of the left, that we want you to pretend that's the left. And so when we have no King's protests,

okay, that's a lefty rally. When people like you and I. The far left, they call it. Yeah. And what they are talking about far left is just this woke stuff, right? Like, well, we believe that, um, Even though this guy has full beard and is 40 pounds. He's a hot chick.

He's a hot chick. All right. And if you say anything about that, you're being racist. Yeah, you think that's weird. Yeah, is that, right? And they say, that's the left. And people like, you and me are like, you're out your fucking mind. It's like, we're right here.

We're right here. Hello? Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I do think there's going to be an explosion. But I think the explosion is going to come when people become noncomplacist. from pain. Like where something happens

where we jumped sharp, kind of like Suez Canal issue, right? Where it becomes clear, there's a new Sherfin Town when the U.S. tells Britain to kick rocks. And Britain has to kick rocks. Well, then back then, there was an internationalist movement, an

international anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist movement. We had these colossus figures like like Che Guevara and, you know, Fidel and Ho Chi Min and I mean, God, what the fuck? These have really gone to shit.

No. I know. Oh, my God. We should probably talk about FISA, right? Yeah, betrayal. Oh, betrayal. So, yeah. Tell us about the betrayal.

All right. So the FASA thing, just for people to know, it's secret courts. Now, suppose it's America. We believe in our court systems and stuff like that. So this idea of secret courts is kind of mind-blowing. But basically, they can construct the case behind the scenes without necessarily going through the typical court system and the way they would have to go to get a warrant. And so they're able to, and this is the whole Trump stuff, right?

Well, Trump is like they were wiretapping me. They were wiretapping me. I come and find out they did have warrants at the very least going for people that were in Trump administration where they were looking and surveilling them without necessarily giving them a heads up that they were being surveilled or for that matter that there was a warrant. on them. They can do it. Now, what's while, Trump made a big deal about this. Oh, my God.

I'm going to get rid of FISA. I'm going to get rid of FISA. I can't believe they're doing that. Which, by the way, I was on Team Trump there all the way when he says that. Same here. I was like, he's right. He's obviously right. Like, meaning at the point where the evidence comes up and you realize.

And just for the record, so what this is about, this is about domestic surveillance on U.S. citizens, right? And there's, there's two kinds of it. There's like JT and I, both in the United States, we call each other. And then there's the kind where JT's traveling. He's in Germany. And he and I make a phone call. And he's considered a foreign individual because he's overseen.

And I'm here. And I get, and I'm a domestic. And the thing is, under the charter of the national security agency, the NSA, I am not supposed to have my information scooped up by the NSA because they're only supposed to spy on foreign individuals. individuals and the issue at stake here is about that. Yeah, that's not the way it works in practice. I mean, you have like unmasked, but they would say,

hey, who was he talking to? Just that, right? So, so there, so second, so back in, I guess, 08 or 07, when Congress reauthorized FISA, sort of at the height of the war on terror, they put in a sunset provision, which would be sunset now, saying like, okay, well, so at that time, Congress should reconsider it and see if they wanted to be edited or modified or eliminated.

It doesn't mean it has to be, but Trump is insisting that it be renewed word for word, and he's saying on social media, if you vote against this, you're voting against our soldiers and our police and making America less safe. House conservatives, right-winger, are like, they're libertarians, they're, they're, they're, they're wary of government overreach. And so there's a split within the GOP over this. And of course, the betrayal involves that as usual, where betrayal goes to live, the Democratic Party. Yeah. I mean, it's wild. I mean, well, see, I would say the betrayal is a Republican Party. I have no belief, from my point of view, Democrats are perfectly okay with this, right?

Democrats voted along with this. With Trump. Well, the issue, I think the reason, what I'm calling betrayal is that the idea that Donald Trump is behind us when, if you remember, he was screaming bloody murder about the fact that he was a victim of it. Yeah. It's just wild. And so it's like, how are you, A, you get elected. This is like me becoming a member of the LAPD and then I'm like beating up cartoonists on the street. Like what? It's like how last day ever all beating the shit out over the cartoonist? Right. You know better. It's like, hey, why are, why it's really? Why are it's really? choose, you know, genociding people. They should know better. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. It's that. It's that. Um, Trump's not like, you know, a child. So it's not like, you know, a child being beat and then turn around and beats his own child.

No, it's wild. It's betrayal. I mean, all of those people in Naga who effectively got on the side of we got get rid of FISA, we got rid of Faza. Here we are. Another betrayal. Always. Yeah. No, it's, it's very, very bad. way, cops and stuff were using this to look up their wives and, like, just random stuff. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it wasn't just foreign stuff that was taking place. Oh, I recommend people. People should really read about Edward Snowden's revelations again. Bear in mind, they're really old, right? That was, that all happened in 2013. You can imagine how much more advanced NSA technology is since then, right? But even what we know at the time, He was talking about and he revealed this and the NSA never denied it.

So we know it's true that CIA agents and NSA agents would sit in Fort Meade, Maryland or in Langley, Virginia. And among other things, they would turn on our cameras, on our laptops and on our television, our smart TVs. And they were watching Americans have sex and they would record them having sex with their spouses. They did this all the time just because they were bored. They were recording it. I mean, they were recording it. I mean, it's disgusting. And it's like, and it's out of control. Bob Lazar, one of the things that happened to him was they told him, by the way, your wife is cheating on you.

They had been spun on. Stop. Really? Yeah. They basically, they said, by the way, your wife is cheating on you with so and so. Like, meaning, like, they were, like, looking at his life in a way to, like, intimidate and all this stuff. No, man, the powers that they have at their disposal is astonishing. I mean, like, literally, it's worth reminding people, right?

So we know from Snowden that every phone call is captured and recorded and stored on an NSA database in Nevada, every single one. So you make a phone call. You make that call through WhatsApp or whatever. It doesn't make a difference. All recorded. NSA says their official statement is it hasn't been intercepted or listened to, unless and until an NSA agent retrieves the call and actually listen to it.

And I call that bullshit. Like, if I have the Sergeant Pepper's CD on my shelf, and I never listen to it because whatever, I just be listening to the kinks instead, I still own that. I still control it, and I could listen to it anytime I want, okay? And so, like, it's interesting.

I have it, right? And they shouldn't have it. Every single wire transfer, every fax back then, I guess now medical people still be faxing. You know, it's like every, even letters, right? There's the mail covers program. I encourage people to Google that where the post office takes into a photo of every camera, of every package and every letter and every bill that goes through the mail,

and they keep it and it goes stored. Every time you drive or anywhere, the license plate reader picks it up and feeds it into a national computer. so that like the cops know where you go. That's how they know if Bob Lazare's wife is cheating, license plate reader, reader program, right? It's like easy pass. It's spying on you.

I mean, it goes on and on. It's endless. All the, you know, on the New York City subway, there's running these ads now saying, you know, with all these pictures of New Yorkers side by side, like in the photo, it's like every car is outfitted with a camera. We've got New Yorkers back. It's like, yeah, you've got our backs all right.

But you're also recording our faces all over the place. And you're going to use that for the cops, you know, to round us up. It's terrifying. Yeah, it's disturbing. I put it in oddly. I mean, that's, and that's the rub, right? The more technologically eventually you get, the easier it is to do that shit. So it becomes easier.

Unless it's a band, unless it's a, unless it's part of your societal values to say, it says no, we don't, we don't do this. Right. But it only takes political. argument, they flip that on his head and it's like, hey, we're doing it to safety. We're doing it protection. We're trying to protect the cops. We're trying to protect you. We're trying to do like all of those things. And then it's like, oh, now we need a brain shape. It's like, yeah, fuck off. This is very relevant. Man, child, thanks for the two bucks. As the house avoids elapsed in spy powers,

is the government using the fog of war to bypass the Fourth Amendment again? Can a morally bankrupt empire ever stop spying on its own people? I mean, that is, that is the question. Because of you point out there was a sunset clause. So it's not like Trump started the war when because the sunset was coming to effect. Good point. Will we use it? It's just a coincidence. It's a coincidence. But it doesn't mean you don't use coincidences to your best interest. So they, so, so Speaker Johnson's kicked the scan down the road. They punted for 10 days. So they're going to be hashing this out. You and I both know that the government will get what it wants. It always does. This isn't going anywhere. I don't for a moment that they're going to get rid of a facie.

No. Like often the government doesn't give up powers. Never. Never. Mark, thanks for the two bucks. Get Neil from the Gnostic Informant Channel as a guest. Robbie, do you know who that is? Not a clue, but I've got to do some housekeeping here real quick. Okay, I'll let you do.

Okay. And all right, well, we'll look into that. Also, by the way, if you guys, you know, ever want us to have a guest, feel free to reach out to that person and put them in touch with us. You know, we are easy to reach. You can get to me through my website. Ari and Gordy, thanks for the two bucks. Good morning, fellas.

Thoughts on the paramedics in Lebanon killed by Israel in disgusting targeted drone strikes. I still can't believe the international community hasn't considered them a terrorist state. What the fuck? They are a terrorist state, but they should be designated such. And they should be their pariahs. I guess it'll be a nice segue to the APAC thing in New Jersey, but let's talk about that. I mean, the paramedics, I mean, ambulance drivers have been targeted in Gaza. I mean, there's the ambulance drivers who were stopped at a checkpoint and then taken off and murdered by the Israelis.

And the most horrifying thing is like there's a phone recording of one of them calling his father, He said the IDF has stopped us. I think they're going to kill us. And they buried the ambulance, if not. The ambulance and the bodies using a bulldozer. And it turned out that while they were being shot, some of them had their phones on record. And then the phones were retrieved later.

So you can hear like the Israelis laughing as they're doing it. It's disgusting beyond belief. I mean, in a war full of disgusting events, that one stands out. Yeah, it's demonic in the true sense of the term. Like the, and keep in mind, they do it because they can. Yeah. Which goes back to the Iran thing.

Like, so it's like, okay, so you guys are going to violate a deal with more. Do we accept the technicality of the deal? Do we set the spirit of the deal? The spirit of the deal is that the Lebanese government can never negotiate in real terms because the Lebanese government is not a real government in the way that we think of governments. No. It's like, do I accept it, though? as a technicality if I'm a run for hashtag reasons,

but do I feel some kind of way about the spirit of it being violated? I mean, because you murder paramedics because you don't want the ability for hospital services to get people and rescue people. Under that logic, it makes sense. It's just disgusting. It's the, yeah, it's the human equivalent, right? You don't want human, you want to kill everyone. You don't want there to be any survivors. So that's why you can't have medical care. It's the same way as like how the IDF has, has special contingents of soldiers who go into areas that have been carpet bombed,

and then they demolish the buildings that partly or in whole survived, so that there's literally nothing left nowhere for people to go back to. And people deny it's genocide. JT, we've got to talk about this election in New Jersey. Normally, I don't pay a lot of attention to these sort of bellwether, races or anything, but we're looking for tea leaves to read as we go into the midterm elections, assuming that they take place. And this one seems to continue the trend of Republicans getting their ass kicked, but this one's super interesting because of the APEC connection. So what we're

talking about here is a special election in New Jersey's 11th district where the major city is Morristown, New Jersey. This is about 45-minute drive west of New York City. And so Anna Lilia Magia was the overwhelming winner. She's a big lefty, progressive. She defeated her Republican opponent by nearly 60% to 40%. So this is a landslide win. And there was the incumbent Democrat is a guy named Tom Malinowski. Now, this is where things get interesting.

So Tom Milanosky was primaried out by APEC. And basically, he's a self-described Zionist. He, however, wanted there to be conditions on aid to Israel. In other words, I'm for aid to Israel. I'm all team Israel all the way. I love Bibi Netanyahu. He's awesome. But there should be certain conditions.

We shouldn't be just sending a blank check to Israel. But he's like self-described Zionist. For APAC, that was not good enough. They went in and they used some fake name. They dropped $2 million into this local race and they got him primaried out. Oh, well, the law of unintended consequences. And so he would have been reelected handily and Republicans would not have lost a seat and Israel would not have lost a supporter.

Instead, they now have a pro-Palestinian anti-AIDS. Apak lady. And Tom Malinowski, good for him, he supported and campaigned for her and outed APEC in an op-ed in the New York Times talking about how fucking rabid and insane they were, that he wasn't Zionist enough for them. You know, people say Apex power is unlimited. I've been saying for about a year that, like, we've seen peak APEC and we're never going to see it again. Their influence is not what it used to be. They've lost a bunch of their races. I think APAC is like, you know, on the way out.

You shouldn't have to put $100 million into a race if you were popular. Right? Like if you like me, I shouldn't have to pay you. It's kind of that, especially in the political system. But Robbie, I thought that you had a comment. Yeah. Robbie, something's up. Yeah.

So, I'm just to say this real quick, all right? If you go into the YouTube chat and you start spewing stuff about fake Jews, you are really going to start walking a line here. And I'm going to be very clear because people need to understand where there's I'm coming from. When John Kariaku is here on the show every morning, we had about 2,000 people watching over on YouTube, about 400 people watching on Rumble. You can see right now those numbers are way down.

we have fewer than 300 people watching on YouTube. If you go on and you start just spamming this crap about fake Jews, what you are doing is that you are putting a target on this channel. And if you keep it up, I will fucking bury you. I will make this very clear. I'm not a Zionist. I'm a Christian. I believe that Judaism is a satanic and evil religion.

I believe what Israel is doing is wrong in every way, shape, and form. That being said, I will not let you. you put this show in jeopardy over on YouTube because you're being a moronic dick. If you want to do that, go to Rumble where the moderation rules are not as strict. And spam away, I do not care. But if you're doing it on YouTube, I swear to God himself on high, I will fucking bury you. You think I won't do it? Try me.

Thanks, Robbie. Okay, then. So. Tell me how you feel, Robbie? I think he tells him got away about something. Yeah, he does. Yeah. So, all right, let's talk about, let's talk about, so let's talk about the APAC influence.

I mean, I agree with you on this. I think I agree with you. If you need to drop, because, you know, AAC dropped like $100 million in the last political elections. That's an astonishing amount of money. And that's the amount that we know of, right? That's not even the amount of money. And you have to think to yourself, why do you need to put that much money into races? If indeed you're that popular and if indeed the public has backed you to that degree.

Well, you need to put that money into it because you're not that popular. Well, these are brilliant analysts, right, who work there. I mean, these are people who, look, they have a great record of success. Yes. And Gaza's fucked them up because they have a very hard message to sell now. So, I mean, do they pivot? Do they adapt? Do they just keep losing?

What happens here? I don't know if they can't pivot. How do you pivot from that? I mean, you try to come up with a different message, even though you want to. And the fake names, like, you know, New Jersey moms for good, you know, cute kittens and puppies. It doesn't work.

People, you know, that's with social media, that's outed immediately. Well, and, you know, people like Cory Booker, who, there's this video of Cory Booker where he's talking about African Americans in the APAC, or let's say African Americans in Israel. And his argument is, is, well, you got to get them when they're very, very young.

That way you can orient them around. Basically, you can groom them into being genocidal supporters. That takes stuff. And that blacks tend to not be genocide supporters because they went through. No. Yeah, for obvious reasons. Yeah. Because they know.

I agree with you. Okay. And with that, and we're, I'm sure we'll be talking about this in the days and weeks to come. J.T. always a pleasure. Please have a great weekend. and I'll see you Monday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern time. See the rest of you then too. Please like, follow and share the show.

Thank you very much for your support on YouTube and on Rumble. And please stay tuned for the TMI show with me and Manila Chan coming up right now. Have a good one. Bye.