The podcast explores escalating geopolitical and military conflicts, primarily focusing on Iran’s increased attacks on oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, including strikes on tugboats and tankers. Despite reports of widespread damage, official data from the UKMTO shows a significant silence, suggesting possible suppression of information to protect economic interests and market stability. The U.S. and Israel are engaged in economic warfare, using market manipulation and strategic policy decisions to mask the full cost of the wars, leading to soaring fuel prices and widespread instability. Iran is actively supporting Houthi forces with intelligence, drones, and missile technology, amplifying regional chaos. The U.S. response has been criticized as weak and unaccountable, particularly in the aftermath of a deadly drone strike that killed a U.S. service member, where officials failed to acknowledge prior warnings or systemic failures. This lack of transparency reflects broader failures in leadership, especially under Trump and Vice President JD Vance, whose responses to public scrutiny were dismissive and politically damaging. The situation is part of a wider pattern of proxy warfare involving Ukraine, the Middle East, and global economic systems, where major powers use asymmetric tactics to weaken rivals. The growing alignment between the tech industry—particularly AI data centers—and the Trump administration further illustrates how economic and political interests are intertwined, with significant financial backing tied to political outcomes. These interconnected crises signal a dangerous decline in global stability, with potential risks of a broader conflict, as economic and military systems become increasingly destabilized.
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You can sign up for the newsletter at the top for free today. Good morning everybody. Happy Monday having an amazing show for everybody today. Would we have crystal? Indeed, we do. Warships hit in the straight of four moves. Also Egypt has decided to join the fight against the Houthis alongside Saudi Arabia, so lots of get into there. JD Vance with a contentious town hall over on CBS. We will bring you the highlights in the lowlights, mostly lowlights. Trump is backing Netanyahu officially with the Israeli election just around the corner. This comes as that alert terrorist continued to assault journalist and diplomats. Just how much has your family paid for the Iran War? We have got the numbers on that and some of the political fallout. A viral exchange with Abdul Al-Sahid is shining an unflattering light on CBS news and Barry Weiss's leadership. And France has erupted along with other European cities. We've got a guest who's going to join us to break down what exactly is happening there and what we can expect going forward. Yeah, lots of crazy stuff going on in France. Thank you to everybody who has subscribed to the show breakingpoints.com and update. Let's see, we're about 30% of the way there or so. We still have plenty of time until the election as a reminder of our contest. If you are one of those 1000 people who signs up before the election, you will be a luckily attacking along. And you can bring a friend with Ryan Grimm to the fish show at MSG premium subscribers. You also have an incentive, especially to do some gift subscription and others because two of you will also be able to go. And as in one of our premium subscribers along with the guests. And I'm putting the bill for all of this, hence why the number is 1000. All right, thank you. So make sure you go ahead and sign up. And of course, if you enjoy our work as well. If none of that appeals to you. If you're watching this on YouTube, please hit subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you're listening to the podcast, please share an episode with the friend that really helps other people find the show. But with all of that, let's get to Iran. So let's turn now to Iran. Put this up here on this screen. Some very interesting attacks that are coming out from what we know in the Persian Gulf and inside the street of Ramos on the left. You'll see one of the more interesting reports that came out over the weekend. An oil tanker was attacked inside the Persian Gulf far away from the street of Ramos. A small boat approached it and then someone fired an RPG against the visseless, Javier Bloss nodes. That's basically the Somali pirate playbook. It also demonstrates how basically as long as we're at war, we are constantly going to face these types of problems for the entire oil industry. On the right, this view of another kind of interesting one. A tugboat was actually struck by two projectiles resulting, quote, in one minor casualty. It's actually the first time a tugboat was targeted and struck by Iran. No worthy that the vessel strike location is not in the typical location that is currently used for a lot of these reports. I mean, what's obviously coming out from all of this is that they are letting it fly against anything that is being used to move oil, whether you're a tugboat, whether you're in the Persian Gulf, wherever you are. The other thing that's important to note, let's put this up here on the screen because this has been significantly changed the way that we all have to talk about this, is that the UKMTO, which is a voluntary reporting system, has predominantly been the way that we are able to keep track of what's being hit and what's not. Now, in the last 96 hours, a lot has changed. Because as Brett Erickson, again, highly recommend the follow here, he says it's now been 96 hours since they reported a normal vessel being struck. This has been one tugboat, a two vessel struck in the Persian Gulf, with zero vessels reported struck in the four days, transiting Hormuz. This flies directly in the face of video that has been published online and not disputed, multiple times of different vessels that are disabled or on fire, and multiple reports of vessels that have been struck by different channels, the incompatibility of this extraordinary scale of Iranian attacks from 10-1 to 10-15. It is reasonable to assume, in my opinion, that somewhere between three to seven vessels per day are being struck by Iran. Regardless of what was being reported, then, to the UKMTO, it's a voluntary reporting system. He goes on to speculate the United States is obviously forcing companies and countries to non-report, and despite no reports public confirmed, you would be a fool to believe that this means Iran is not striking vessels on the daily. Remember, Crystal, that they also put out this kind of strange statement a couple of days ago, where they're like, "Hey, we don't really know everything that's getting struck, so just keep that in mind whenever you read our data." I mean, you could kind of read between the lines. I think Brett's opposition is not a bad one, which is somebody clearly is like, "Hey, you know, all these reports of vessels getting struck? This is common problems with the market, and even though the entire system is set up to be a warning signal for the rest of the industry and to keep public information in our oil markets, why don't we just not have any of that information?" Oh, that's out there, period, because that's easier for everybody ahead of the midterm elections. Of course, and there's an alliance between the interest of the US Empire and the interest of the capitalist class who also want to keep some of this information hidden so that their insurance rates don't skyrocket even higher. And so I'm sure they're happy to have that week and an odd. Don't worry, we're not going to tell when all of our ships ultimately get hit. But we're getting these reports all the time. We're seeing the video evidence. So it's clear this is part of what's going on. And the other thing you have to say is so much of the US and Israeli strategy has dependent on hiding the reality of what has happened in the region. There was just recently a Reuters report that again revealed the catastrophic level of damage that was done to our bases throughout the region. This is something that would have been unthinkable going into this war. Even I think by people like us who were skeptical of how the US would stack up against Iran, I could not have imagined that our bases would be systematically destroyed. Given the advance level of weaponry that we have, given our troop presence in the region, given how long standing that presence is, just given the size of our military vis-à-vis Iran and how much money we spend on this thing, you and me and all of us as taxpayers, it is truly quite shocking. So, you know, and a lot of their strategy to saga comes down to effectively market manipulation because so much of the warfare is not just the kinetic military warfare, but also the economic warfare. Iran is very determined to make the US pay economically. And so, Trump has engaged in all these sorts of market manipulations to try to keep the full cost and full disaster of this war from coming into public view, especially in his favorite metric, which is the stock market. So, you could see this as another part of that strategy and tactic from him. Absolutely. Let's put A3 up here on the screen. This was on Friday, where Brent Oil, as a result, largely of many of these reports that were coming out, touched $110 a barrel. Let me go ahead and check it. It went away this morning. Yeah, about $108, $109 a barrel, roughly. So, you know, still very, very high. And of course, it's going to translate to gas prices. Let me see where things are, about $4.30 a gallon. Nationally, diesel remains around $6.31 a gallon, only $0.20 or so off the all-time high, and obviously, catastrophically high in the long-term. Let's also just put, guys, I sent this this morning. This is a travel update from the US State Department. It came out overnight. So, let's read this carefully. He says, Americans that are currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance due to complex security environment. Be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, travel disruptions. Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports. The hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly beyond that immediate area. Americans traveling to or from the Middle East should monitor information about airport and airline operations. Iran and supported groups target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions. I mean, it's pretty impossible to read that.
I mean, they've had a lot of these as the Houthi campaign has continued. In some cases, they're like Americans don't, they're like don't do anything Saudi Arabia. They're like, especially don't record anything because that would be against Saudi law. And I think, I think the real reason why it's coming out is this. Let's put A4 here on the screen. It does appear now that the Egyptians will now, it's unclear. They're pledging their support to Saudi Arabia after the Houthi attacks. Everyone will recall, we covered it a few weeks ago. The Egyptians, the Turks, Pakistanis and Saudi Arabia, signed some sort of a defense pact. And we talked about this with Professor Payt. But obviously one of the, no worthy things about it was that they clearly no longer believe the United States would come to their aid correctly because we can't. And so they were like, well, they have to look elsewhere. But as many pointed out, you know, a defense pact only means something you're actually going to do. Anything. The Pakistanis have done nothing. The Turks, I mean, they're calling me Iranians, but they're not bombing anybody in Yemen. And Saudi is unequivocally like actually under attack and in a genuine crisis. It does appear here that the Egyptians, all have now, the defense chiefs, have pledged to support Saudi Arabia and have raised the prospect of broader entanglement. The National Defense Council, of course, which CC is himself the head of, said in a statement that they would provide all necessary and possible forms of support to defend the kingdom. But of course, did not specify what that would entail. And lawmakers will now have to discuss authorizing CC to send forces to Saudi Arabia over the coming days. And on Saturday, he actually called for an emergency session saying that any Egyptian action would be defensive in nature. So it's possible, you know, that this may not involve directly bombing Yemen. They could help them with some missile technology. I mean, everybody forgets. You know, for all the money we've been given to Israel, we've been given to Egypt too. They're on the side. There's plenty of money and weapons at their disposal, actually quite a formidable military if they ever wanted to use it. So the question really comes down to what this is going to entail. And of course, what are the who these going to say? Will the who these consider shooting their missiles down to be an act of war against them? Because if it does, I mean, this opens up a whole new aspect. All you have to do is take a look at a map and anyone want to tell me where it's who Wes Canal is, right, which has been the primary bypass route out of the Bob Almond district for the Saudis, despite the fact that they have to put them on smaller tankers. So it does definitely have the capacity to escalate dramatically. Yeah. This thing keeps growing and growing and growing. And if anybody is wondering like, why would Egypt do this? Well, guess what? They get a lot of money from us and would not surprise me behind the scenes. Trump was like, well, we can't get directly involved in this who these situations, because that's already been a disaster for us. But hey, Egypt, how about you get involved? Otherwise, we may not give you all of the aid that we've been giving you. And also Saudi Arabia, since CC has come into power, has been giving them a lot of aid. So basically, they're bought off by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. That's why they're getting involved. Meanwhile, you know, the public support for this, I'm sure, is Neil and the public in Egypt has been disgusted with their lack of intervention, doing anything with regard to the genocide in Gaza. So you have all of these very volatile situations with regimes that really don't have legitimacy with their publics, including the Saudi regime. By the way, they have their own internal divisions that are effectively papered over with money. Now that that money is not nearly as plentiful, what's going to happen there? So you're just really playing with fire in this entire region as things continue to build and build and build. By the way, with regard to Saudi and their money, they are scheduled to have this. It's called Davos in the desert in just a few short weeks. So they're supposed to decide, I think, today whether or not they're going to ultimately go forward with that. And this is all humiliating for that, like all of the money they've put to, you know, host events on their soil and also spread around the globe for their sports washing attempt. They're having to pull a lot of that back. And you know, the other thing to keep in mind as part of the petrard dollar, what they've done with their oil revenue is then to invest that money into U.S. stocks, bonds, companies, treasury bonds, et cetera. If they have to start pulling some of that back, that's going to have reverberating impacts on us as well. So all of these things are deeply interconnected. You think Jamie Dimon's going to be flying in at a rion, sitting in a conference building? No, absolutely not. Come on. It's happening. The head of Citigroup. What? The who these last time I checked, they have an internet connection. So they're like, Oh, interesting, Davos in the desert, huh? Be real shame if a couple drones had to go over there. And if the Saudis can't defend their own airport, you think they can defend the conference building? There's no chance. All right. In my opinion, even if you're coming in on a private jet, you're flying into that airport. Scary. You know, so I, yeah, I think that's probably not going to work out. As of couple days, by the way, they are all working from home in the King of Della financial district for good reason, which is that that's where the Saudi wealthy fund it, the sovereign wealth fund, the stock exchange. I mean, you can think about it. It's like a long held thing by for asymmetric war, like what do you do? You target the financial system. That's why Bin Laden targeted our, you know, the Twin Towers, the beating heart of capitalism. It's trying to strike a blow at the heart of the empire. Lisa, we should tell them about our new show. Oh my god, Lexi, we have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi, you want to wear two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa Julio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. I'm not going to get any worse than fighting. That is wild. I learned that about you today. Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my business. And I've always got something to say. If man were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. We're going to talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older, and a little wiser. We're best friends, but we don't always agree. Because you told us how accommodating you are. Obviously, I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight, but there's only so much fight I can fight. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Lie. I'm not going to be a part of this. And on to 1970s England, where intricate crop circles emerged overnight. Through our Toptober, I'll be examining strange stories of the supernatural and asking what can we learn from them today. Listen to cautionary tales on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's put A5 on the screen. This is what was kind of interesting. This is from GalaBuff. And so he says the Persian Gulf data authority is coming to governments, funds, and firms in the region. You are kindly advised to give no resources to any AI or data company, aiding invasions or killing children, no finance, equity, land, and energy, a system and face our enforcement. You know, there's a lot of different ways that you could read this. I'm assuming what they are saying is that they are going to target. It's like an entity to impose restrictions on countries and companies that would conduct business with people who are giving resources to any company that's aiding the war on Iran. Now, I don't really know how exactly that would work. I guess it's kind of an answer to the US swift system and to all of their own sanctions. But effectively, I mean, I don't think it's going to be anything real, but what I think what they're trying to say is if your country assists the United States or any of these companies are making war on the United States, then we will restrict your ships in the state of our moves. And a long-term basis. I think that's what he's trying to say. What I read into it is they've already struck a number of data centers, Amazon, in particular in the region, maybe others as well. I read this to say we're going to blow your shit up if you are a collaborationist. And we'll use this authority to sort of say these ones are good and these ones are legitimate targets. That's what I read into that is effectively a threat because they've also been talking about targeting more of the, you know, like this.
the internet cables and the communications infrastructure. They've already targeted some of the data centers, which is cause real problem for people in the region, also cause a real problem for those companies, also cause real problems for those governments, which have been looking to be part of the AI data center build out because they want to diversify away from just the oil economy. So mostly I just took this as a threat. - Very possible. Yeah, that's how a lot of other people saw it as well. Obviously, a lot of it, what it comes down to, is they're trying to make war on the economic pipelines, quite literally in the oil sense and also for the rest of the region. That's part of the reason why the Houthi campaign has been so devastating. To that point, let's put A6 here on the screen where from the Wall Street Journal, obviously lead from CIA and other sources, they say Iranian support has helped the Houthi's mouth the most potent and sophisticated attacks, yet including helping target drone and missiles, as well as training intelligence and tactical guidance. The assistance has contributed to the Houthi offensive that has produced rapid territorial gains in Yemen's and now controls the coastline on the Bab al-Mandeb. Straight. Basically, what they're saying behind the scenes is that they are giving them targeting data, help with some of their missile technology. And in their drones, I think it makes sense because they just battle-tested all of these things against the US systems, the very same systems that the Saudis are using. And so they are strategic allies. I mean, the Houthi campaign has been dramatically beneficial to Iran. Iran has not had to take a single bombing from the United States in almost weeks now, really. And yet, they still get to have higher oil prices, chaos in the region and have some sort of strategic defeat on the half of the Gulf allies, and particularly the House of South, which is their main enemy. So if you put all that together, I mean, it makes a ton of sense. It's very similar to the same proxy wars that the United States fights in the case where we're backing Saudi Arabia, where we're backing the Ukrainians. So all of this is contributing to the chaos that they want. And also, on top of everything, this just goes through our changing nature of the globe. This happened very late last night, so we weren't able to put it in the show. I don't know if you saw the Putin summit that he proposed. And so that is, I mean, look, in my opinion, it's the most honest way to actually do anything, which is the UN and all this is all fake. The big three, we will sit and we will decide the fate. And what he proposed, if you don't understand what I'm saying, is he said, we, the United States and President Xi will sit down and we will come up to an end to the war in Ukraine. And of course, the Europeans and the Ukrainians are all freaking out because they're like, well, we're not gonna have a seat at the table. And I'm like, well, you know, it's like these are three nuclear arm powers. These are the big three, which are actively engaged either by proxy and/or actively in the conflict itself. Trump is desperate to end the war in Ukraine. At this point, you know, going after Zelensky, Easing, all, did you see what he did with Lindsey Graham Bill? It's so funny. The Lindsey Graham Bill, which was passed in Lindsey's name to enable sanctions on Russia, he used the bill to wave all the sanctions on Russia. So congratulations, Senate. You gave all those extraordinary powers to Trump and he's decided to use them for those purposes. He's desperate to keep the price of oil down and from keeping this thing skyrocketing, particular with diesel. So sorry, you know, it Lindsey's legacy. That's what you guys decided to use it for. Because there's a little bit of fun irony. - Darlene has already been asked about this. So it was, didn't have a lot to say about it. - What did she say? What are you talking about? I don't know what that means. - Sorry, this isn't my lane. I don't really, you know, I'm just new to politics. I don't really understand foreign policy. - Treaties aren't, treaties, or laws which bear my dead brother's name aren't really in my wheelhouse. (laughing) - Put, yeah, so I put A7 back up. This is this article from the Financial Times that really gets into a lot of this interlocking dynamics. Are we sleepwalking into World War III? Is the question that's being asked here? And, you know, effectively tying together the crane war, which, look, the summit being proposed here by Russia exposes the fundamental nature of this, which is that this is a proxy war between the US and Russia. That is the way, that is the reason this thing was allowed to continue, and pushed to continue, is because we thought our leadership, our idiot leadership class thought, this would be a great way to weaken Russia. And they've long set Ukraine up as this sort of pawn in a post-cold war feud with Russia. So you've got those dynamics. And then obviously, you know, similar players that are involved, whether intentionally or directly in the war with Iran. And then there's all these other conflicts around the world that we pay less attention to, but there's linkages of the UAE in the Horn of Africa, and all of that's spiraling. Now you've got Saudi Arabian, you've got the Houthis that have heated back up. All of these things continue to grow and spread, and the linkages, and the overlaps between them, continue to grow. And so the other question they ask here is, you know, all these alliances, like the NATO alliance specifically, the idea was that this acts as a deterrent, because you say article five, and you make it credible, hey, if you attack one of us, we're going to come after you, and that's supposed to serve as a deterrent effect. But at this point, it's like, well, the US's weakness has been completely exposed. And Trump doesn't really have interest in these alliances. It made that quite clear. So you've got a really volatile situation and a changing world. And so I don't love the framing of sleepwalking into world war through three, because I think it denies the very intentional, terrific decisions that have been made along the way. But we could very much be headed in that direction if we're not already there. And, you know, the criteria they lay out here is that there has to be warfare across some of the major economies, major players. And you have to have all of the major world powers involved, which at this point, they are all tangentially involved. China has really tried to keep themselves out. And I do think they are providing some assistance to Iran. But they smartly have looked at global affairs for the past 50 years and said, you know, these wars haven't really worked out for these countries. So how about we don't get ourselves involved in these wars? And so far, they have really tried to hold to that. - Yeah, absolutely. I do think, Jen, I mean, the whole like World War III or not, everybody, because of what happened with the Second World War and the First World War, everybody just assumes that the Third World War would look that way. I actually think the opposite. Because of mutually assured destruction and nuclear weapons, it's actually going to look exactly like it does now. You know, great armies are very unlikely to take the battlefield against each other and invade each other's territories in the age of thermo-nuclear warfare and ICBMs. Instead, it will look exactly like it does, which is proxy conflict in non-defined treaty areas. And then it comes down to spheres of influence, of interest, of economic systems. I mean, that's why when we say a strategic defeat for the United States, for the Maga Coalition, it reminds me a lot of the way that the Germans felt about the First World War. They're like, how could we have lost the war if a single foreign soldier never set foot on our territory? And it's like, well, you're bankrupt, you're starving in the streets, your army actually did collapse, you know, outside of your borders. And if this continued to come, then yes, you would fail. It's hard for somebody in Topeka, for example, to look beyond just the price of diesel and say, how have we suffered a strategic defeat? But you and I know, it's like the rules-based international order, the law of the sea. I mean, this is this reason why your television costs $300. Like, that is the ultimate purpose of the global empire. It's like, well, now, it's not gonna look like that anymore. That's why the iPhone Duo, 24-hundred bucks. All right, it's gonna be massively expensive. Get used to it. It's probably just gonna keep going up in the age of global trade or of the decline in. - You just gotta hope you can fish one out of the street of our moves and buy it on TikTok live or my- - That's a pirate. - Yeah, unless you've got to connect to some Omani smuggler, you're screwed. And did I order one on day one? Absolutely, I did. - Absolutely. - But I won't say no. - Oh, you gotta do it. - Of course. - Take one cosplay. - Apple fanboy. Anyways, I'll debut it here on the show whenever I actually get it. Okay, I think we have a guest standing by, so let's get to him. - Lisa, we should tell them about our new show. - Oh my God, Lexi, we have a new podcast. I'm Lexi Iwanyu, we're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa de Julio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. - I'm not gonna get any worse than fighting. - That is wild. - Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my business. - If man were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. - We're gonna talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older, and a little wiser. - We're best friends, but we don't always agree. - Because you told us how accommodating you are. - Obviously I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight, but there's only so much fight I can fight. - Don't lie to me. - Don't lie to me. - Don't lie to me. - Lie. - Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care. - Hey, it's J.O. from "Laf With Me, the Podcast." So why would you choose "Laf" with me? Well, great question. Maybe you like comedy, maybe you like sports, maybe you like movies, ridiculous stories, terrible opinions, questionable rankings, and a grown man somehow turning everyday life into a personal emergency. Or maybe you just want to hear from a podcast host who has survived bad bosses, angry customers, questionable career decisions, and a pepper spray attack? Yeah, that's right.
Other podcasts have hosts with broadcasting degrees. Laugh with me has a survivor. I'm Jeremy Odom, and every week, I'm joined by comedians, friends, athletes, weirdos, experts, and occasionally, people who probably should have stopped answering my texts. Authentic, raw, and just like you. Just jokes, stories, arguments, sports, pop culture, and whatever happened to me this week. Listen to Laugh with me, a podcast of Jeremy Odom, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This Halloween joined me, Tim Halford, as cautionary tales journeys into the paranormal. We'll travel from 1800s America, where vampires preyed upon a terrified community. To a bizarre 1930s radio experiment, which broadcast telepathic messages, and on to 1970s England, where intricate crop circles emerged overnight. Throughout October, I'll be examining strange stories of the supernatural and asking, what can we learn from them today? Vice President JD Vance did a rather contentious town hall over on CBS News, somewhat surprisingly so. We've got a bunch of clips from this that we want to get to 'cause there were quite significant moments, but wanted to start with this one, which was by far the most brutal. Let's take a look. - Mr. Vice President, my wife, Master Sergeant Nicole Amer, gave her life on March 1st, 2026. I am damn proud of my wife. As you should be in the five soldiers that stood next to her, that died along the side with her. - Excuse me. - Take your time, man. Take your time. - There are now six families living in nightmare. It is hard, it is a hard price to pay. Though the Iranian drone was the weapon that killed my wife, there were a lot of mistakes, and a lot of fundamental failures that led up to that. I believe CBS has reported on that. My wife has told me things before she passed. There are other soldiers that know things that are being quiet about certain aspects of this. There's a failure in the leadership. You know, I want to know how this administration is going to start holding those leaders accountable for the actions and the deaths of the soldiers that we honor and that we love. So Joey, first of all, look, I/O and the whole country owes your family a debt of gratitude that is quite literally impossible to repay. I want for 10 that anything that I say is going to make it better or easier, but I hope it helps a little bit to know that your wife was a precious human being who served her country honorably, and I'm never going to forget about her. I'm never going to forget this conversation, and I want to continue this conversation offline because that raises the second point. When you talk about failures that were, that we were implicated, the administration, the Department of War, whoever you want to say was implicated in, I want to know about that stuff because if there were failures, and I don't doubt there were, I just, literally the first time I've heard of this is this conversation. If there were failures, this is the first time I'm hearing about this. You are vice president of the United States. I mean, this is one of the most horrible responses I could imagine. Think of all the failures we've covered on this show, and you are supposed to be one of the people in charge who are tracking all of these things. We've covered the way that some of the people, service members who were killed, felt that they were left completely vulnerable to these sorts of attacks. We've covered the fact that many of those who were injured were basically left on their own to try to seek medical care and medical care that they received was wildly inadequate. So for you to just say, oh, I have no idea what's going on. I need you to tell me more, I'll look into it. I mean, what a disastrous response. - I was the second time I used the, I just heard about that. I mean, what do you even say? It's just a full-blown disaster of a reply. By the way, I have the story here. We can put it up here in post-production. Here was the AP that ran a full investigation. This has all been out here for days. This is 12 days ago. On a sunny, cloudless morning, AP investigation, where they say soldiers and gold star families press army leadership after the deadly Iranian drone strike. I actually know exactly who that widow or was because he has publicly spoken about how his wife had told him, hey, we don't have enough protection before she was killed. So that's what makes it so devastating. And she's the one who obviously leaves behind two children along with, I mean, one of the other people killed in that attack. I mean, he was like 20 years old. And all of their families have brought this to the Pentagon. They've gone to the media. They have repeatedly tried to bring this forward. And look, first of all, politically, first time I'm hearing about it, nobody is going to accept that. Because you're literally in the chain of command, like you have to have heard of that. But second, this is the bigger problem, too, of the actual investigations that have been going on, where Trump and Hegseth have set a culture of we've done nothing wrong. So there have been no investigations. Remember this, in current investigation, the Minab investigation is ready. It's dusted. People have read it. I know three people who have read it. Everybody's like, yeah, it was obviously us. And then they goes into some of the details. They're holding it till after the midterms. They don't want to admit anything. They don't want to give any of the ammunition. On this one, you think Donald Trump is going to put his hand up and be like, yeah, I screwed those soldiers. And it's the reason that they're dead. It's not acceptable. And so that's where with JD, I'm like, he's screwed. I mean, and that's the common thing through these is that, and I remember thinking this, whenever when things started to really go south for Trump, remember how much hay they made of Kamala on the view when she couldn't say, there's nothing different I could do from Biden. Remember that? Yeah. How can he answer that question? When you have a mad man in the White House, who if you say a single thing, who is separate from what he said, well, he would shred you. I mean, JD can't say, oh, I would have done it differently. He literally literally cannot do that. It's also just, let me read a little bit from this report that you pulled up just so people know exactly the issue that we're talking about here. So they save many of the wounded from this attack that that man's wife was killed in. Told the AP commanders had been warned that this facility, a rectangular building with wooden sides at a working seaport in industrial areas out of Kuwait city, was particularly vulnerable to a drone strike that warning went unheated. Some also said higher ranking officers pushed for an all clear to be called, but it's not certain from their accounts who ultimately made the decision to move soldiers out of a safer place where they were in nearby bunkers. The wounded also would later say their serious injuries were not treated promptly or adequately in the weeks following the attack. So brutal information here. There, I mean, I am, if he genuinely has not heard of this, that is just unacceptable state of affairs. And if he has heard about it and it's just lying and say, oh my god, I had no idea, that is also an unacceptable state of affairs. And then there's a broader political point here which is, look, this is a very difficult question to field from someone who's just lost their wife and is clearly going through it and has a devastating analysis here of what happened and why his wife is now deceased and did not need to be, I mean, even putting aside the fact we shouldn't have been in this frigate war to start with like the immediate failures in this case. But you know what, a talented politician can handle these sorts of questions. You know, the first thing you do is just empathize with the man which he tried to do and say that any loss of life is completely unacceptable and we are looking into those circumstances and we are not going to rest until we ensure that every serviceman, how hard is that? Like that's what you have to do. Rather than, oh, I don't even know. Like it's not on me. I'm not even aware and we gotta talk to you more to find out more. And to your further point, this is a preview of what's to come for him because as much as when your vice president obviously you can't distance yourself. In 2028, very likely Trump is still going to be around and you think it's going to go well for you if you start casting aspersions on the Lord King, Donald Trump, not a chance. And so all of these things that you were part of are going to be laid at your feet and you're gonna have to answer for him and you are not skilled enough to be able to turn, you know, to be able to flip these things on the interviewer or be able to handle them in a nimble way. It's going to be a total disaster for him. Just had all the things he's going to have to personally account for that he was part of under Trump. - To the extent JD has any, like great political ability. It's in these situations with a CBS news interviewer arguing over some woke shit or some dumb shit. You know, like some Trump investigation. Well, and obviously to work tremendous to his benefit on the campaign trail, that all works. But this, where you're in power and you're dealing like you're saying with Ron, I, first I've heard of it, it's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. You cannot say that. I mean, even Cheney and others would not have said anything like that in the height of Iraq. So, I mean, that's the problem he's trying to distance himself. [BLANK_AUDIO]
'Cause he's trying to distance, like he knows it's bad, he opposed it internally, but he has to own it. I mean, and this, I mean, Trump fucked him. That's really where it all is. I mean, he did say later on in the town hall, he may not even run it. Honestly, watching that, I'm like, I don't know if I would. - He's going to. - I have to. - I mean, at this point he says. - Yeah. - But, you know, you ask what would Trump have said in this situation, looks, faced with the husband of the dead service member, maybe a different deal. But what he said in the past is like, yeah, but if you look at Vietnam, really, there aren't that many people who are dead. And we haven't been there for that long. This is really not a big deal. That's been his orientation. So, you know, if he tried to pull that, I don't think it would land very well either. Here's another extraordinary moment about the Iran War, where he's responding to Abdul Al-Sahid's criticism of that war. And this, I mean, this shocked me as much as anything in terms of what JD Vance had to say in this town hall was take a listen. - I see what Abdul Al-Sahid says about the war to ran. I see he criticizing decisions that the president has made, the military is made. But fundamentally, we are where we are. And you have to, in my view, I'd like to know what is Abdul Al-Sahid's solution for the problem that we have right now. It's easy to criticize something that happened seven months ago. And the reason why I think Mike Rogers is gonna make a great senator is because he's fundamentally a problem solver. - We are where we are. It's easy to criticize something that happened seven months ago, but what are you gonna do about it? That thing that happened seven months ago is the disastrous war that your administration started. And so now he's, oh, you know, it's not fair for you to criticize the disastrous mistake I made. We need to just focus on cleaning up the disastrous mistake that I and our administration made seven months ago. I just, again, utterly sort of gobsmacked by this pathetic response. - You could look at it two ways. It's just like, this is the best that they got or that, I mean, honestly, that's what I was gonna say. This is the best that you got. 'Cause I, I mean, I literally know this man. He's a smart person. I can't even, I could have handled that question better. - Yeah. - But I couldn't have a new, got my hands on you. - Well, yeah, I think this war is beyond retarded. And I could have given a better answer than that. But I mean, this shows the issue of where you are. And I mean, I really think Iran, sorry. Too much Trump in my brain. I think Iran destroyed Trump's presidency. But I also think it put, 'cause I, you know, look, things were bad and, you know, things were trending in the wrong direction for Trump. But, you know, we've talked about this with JD. Here's the main reason that he has to run. Is at the end of the day, every major candidate for American political office is literally one James Comey thing away from the, from the American presidency. You have no idea what's going to happen. Like, as bad as things look right now, I mean, who knows? I mean, Trump, look, Trump could die like he's old, like literally, like going into the office. And then who knows? He governs the country well for a year, he could win. You could have, you know, maybe Trump shocks everybody in his silent or something like that for the primary. I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe the Democrats nominated AOC and it becomes a woke one contest and JD can do a squeaker and, you know, 271 electoral votes. Like, there's no reason not to run in my opinion. Like, especially if you're this ambitious and you've already put it all out on the line. But we can only look at the things from where they are today. Many of these answers, if trends continue, which there's no reason. The current reporting is JD himself had told Trump in the Oval Office just so you know, this could go on until the end of your presidency, this entire Iran situation. If that remains the case, there's going to be a lot of questions, exactly like there should have been. Back in 2008 in the campaign, where McCain also ended up having to answer repeatedly for what happened under the Iraq war. Another example, this whole Joe Biden thing, it's his fault about gas prices, take a listen. That's actually the biggest reason why gas prices are so high is because when Joe Biden was president, we had about 20% of American refining capacity that went offline. We're slowly bringing that online, but it does take a little bit of time. If I may, Kishan's talking about this increase in gas prices just since you guys took office. It's almost been two years at a certain point. It becomes your economy, not Joe Biden's economy. Also, back in March, right here in Michigan, you said it was just a temporary blip in gas prices. How long is temporary? >> Well, look, I don't think that when this conflict is over, we are going to see gas prices come down. >> Cold comfort there. When's that going to be over, buddy? >> Even Tel Aviv Tony's like, come on, man. Just take two years. >> Like really, Biden, okay. I mean, no one's believing this. No one is believing this. The only people are like the 20% remaining die hard mega cultist. They are the only ones and you will see interviews sometimes with these people where they're like, no, it's the Democrats fault for the gas prices. Anyone with three working brain cells looking at this can directly tie the huge spike in gas prices to when this disastrous war was launched. It is very, very obvious the connection. No one is going to buy your own. We just made it the refining device. Well, no, it's not that. Trump has been out there trying to blame the Ukraine war more. It's not helping. Ukraine hitting Russian oil facilities. It's not helping. But again, everyone can look and that is not really absolving him either because he told us the Ukraine war was going to be over on day one of his presidency. But no, it's really clear what's going on here. And so, you know, a more able politician could handle these things better, but it is an impossible landscape. How do you defend a war that you didn't even support? And you know as a disaster and is obviously like wildly unpopular among the American people. How do you defend massive gas prices increase? From said catastrophic war that by the way, you ran specifically on not starting. It ultimately does end up being an impossible landscape. And speaking of impossible, this one is incredible too. So he was challenged a couple of times by Tony DeCobal about Trump and the Trump family massive corruption. And says that he sees no evidence whatsoever that Donald Trump is engaging in corrupt deals in the White House. Let's take a listen to that. Have you seen anything inside the White House when it comes to corruption that makes you squeamish? You're asking has Donald Trump's decision making been influenced by his-- No, I'm asking-- It's interesting. And I've never seen anything like that. From anybody inside the way. I've never seen anything like that from the president. The issue that voters see and that gets on their mind and that I hear what I'm out there is the president is making a lot of money off of crypto. His own IRS is barred itself from looking into his tax returns. Do you have this recent issue with the Ambassador to Greece seeming to sell access to the White House? That's why people are concerned. And if there's nothing to hide, you say you've seen nothing. First of all, if somebody's still in access to the White House, that's disgusting and despicable when they should suffer consequences. What I'm saying is-- That's an isolated issue, though. I want to make those judgments based on the facts and not based on a random news media report that I read. Fair enough. So when the facts are being investigated, let's say in January, if there's a Democratic controlled Congress, will you comply and honor subpoenas? Of course. Of course I will. Look, I mean, we follow the law. I follow the law. I'm a law-biting guy outside of speeding, which luckily, thanks to the Secret Service and the generosity of the American people. I don't drive anymore. OK. Probably good for the insurance rates in southwestern Ohio. But look, man, I think that I've seen these media reports and I have the same reaction I imagine a lot of people in this room have, which makes me uneasy when I read about my public officials potentially getting wealthy off of my public trust. And I'm telling you that, well, yes, DC is a corrupt town. Tony, you know this is as well as anybody, Donald Trump. I have not seen a single shred of evidence that he participates or sanctions in that corruption. By the way, this guy was a billionaire before he ever got into politics. He made a lot of money before he got into politics. Would anybody look at what happened to him from 2016 to 2021? They tried to throw him a jail for like 900 years and say that Donald Trump has personally enriched himself. You can make all kinds of criticisms of our policies and decisions, but I don't see a single-- I've not once seen evidence that Donald Trump has enriched himself. That is so unbelievable. I mean, just a look at his network. His network has guy rocketed since he got back in office. And it's the vast majority of its hour comes from his crypto dealing. Also, the reason you'll see the evidence because you're not investigating it, so it's a little-- Well, there is that, too. He's not going to make it on some random news report. It's difficult, if that's-- I mean, look, part of this is you have to look at some of the way the bargain was you attach yourself to Trump and you defend him. And he's a very first senator to endorse him. That's literally why he's the vice president endorse him in 2023, bet that he was going to be the person he believed that he would become the vice president. He would have massive amounts of influence. And ultimately, as with many politicians, you have to just swallow a lot of the other shit that they do. It turns out that the other shit here in the corruption angle becomes one of the most potent attacks on Trump today. I was just reading. Did you see this story? I think we should talk to Logan about it tomorrow, where a Republican-focused group talked to its own voters. And they were like, hey, what's the problem? And they said corruption and billionaires, like billionaire oligarchs. And apparently, you know, Mike Johnson's people are all shocking that it's like, oh, I don't know. Trump has literally only had that same appeal for like 10 years now in politics. But to the corruption point, his extraordinary corruption, whether it's uninvestigated, illegal, illegal, whatever, to the eye, a guy becoming filthy rich in office and then dealing out pardons for literal Ponzi scammers while everybody else is getting poorer.
What do you want to call it? It's like there's no, there's no square around it. And it's obvious, it's obvious to the naked eye. - It's the snirt, don't you? - Right, exactly. - They're getting for a Pentagon contract. I mean, it's the white collar, I mean. - But it's all the way down the line, like that, you're talking about like the top corruption. I mean, some ways the grossest stuff is the gill foil, is the, you know, it's like, it's repulsive to the character. - Publicly, why did you not in that answer immediately when he says, is there anything you've seen that's your squeamish about in the White House? He wasn't even asked directly about Trump. In some ways, this is a much softer question from Tony Ducopal than you could have asked, much sharper one, more specifically about Trump really drilled down on it. Instead he asked this broad, like anything you're squeamish about. Well, you just, Trump just forced Kimberly Gill foil out over her 100K and X-Pill. Yes, I was disgusted to see the reports about Kimberly Gill foil allegedly trading access. When we saw that, we took action immediately because this is unacceptable to us. Like, it's obviously a bullshit narrative, but at least then you're chasing down that rabbit hole. Again, in terms of being politically nimble enough to handle what is going to be a landscape littered with landmines and from someone who was less friendly to you than Tony Ducopal, frankly, was in this exchange. So, but, you know, there's tons of polling now about how even Republicans see Trump as enriching himself, using the office to enrich himself. Even Republicans feel he is looking more out for his own financial interests than the well-being of the American people. This is just not a narrative that anyone, anyone, is going to buy and he goes so hard in the pain. I have not seen a single shred of evidence, absolutely not. Donald Trump would never give me a break. We have to say it because otherwise Trump will turn on it. Yeah, and this is the thing that he knows. Trump will be sensitive too. So if he doesn't go hard and if there's any little sense of he's not defending me hard enough, that's going to be a big problem for him. Finally, B-5, this one is also a very noteworthy of where things have to go. You know, when he wants to run for president, he's going to need a shit pot of money. And the tech industry is a big, big part of that. Let's take a listen B-5 on data centers. My family and I live directly across the street from a data center. For years, we had been exposed to the constant noise from this company's daily operations. Being outdoors for any amount of time became unbearable, resulting in our yard becoming a useless patch of grass that we could look at, but not enjoy. Opening our windows to let in a breeze became a luxury that we could no longer enjoy. Even with our windows closed, the buzzing could be heard throughout our home day and night 24/7. Our children's room faces the data center. And our two small boys had to sleep through this constant noise. It was like having a vacuum in our living room. You claimed to care about communities like mine. What are you doing about this problem? I really do care about this. And I care about it not just because I can tell you, as I'm sure you can tell everybody else that when you have a three month old, who's exposed to constant noise, it can be a problem for everybody, especially mom sleep. And so very mindful of that. And I guess the way that I think about it is data centers can be good. They can also, as in your case, cause real problems. This is the issue where the dinners and the tech guys and the money, they need it. They have explicitly allied themselves, not all of tech. That would be too reductive, but a significant portion of the industry, especially the AI people, have explicitly aligned themselves with the Trump administration. They literally need Republican governance to continue, or they're like, screw it, you know? In the next two or three years, for their industry, they're going to shower as campaign with a lot of money. I mean, given the background, he's been friends with a lot of these people for over a decade. Heal is very much responsible, in part, for his rise. And so he's going to be loyal to them. And he has thrown himself in with that world. I mean, he himself is involved in that world through his own fund. But so, yeah, he's got to please Donald Trump, and he's also got to keep these tech titans on board. - I think it's more than anything else. And even beyond the teal stuff. Because this is about Altman. This is about Zuckerberg, like all of these other people who have explicitly aligned. They, remember, we interviewed, I forget the guy. There's some of the number one spenders in American politics today. I was actually reviewing campaign finance data over the weekend. The sports gambling industry and the AI people are the two of the biggest spenders on an individual level for regulatory purposes, specifically to combat some of the, or at least rig the rules directly in their favor. So this just, you know, look, this is where the reality of Trumpism, of Trump himself being dramatically unpopular, and then also of technology, being the necessary money vehicle, but being politically toxic. All of these are ingredients for devastation. You know, again, though, we can only look right now. People are really only a heartbeat away from the press. Like, if anything, if you take away from 2016, anybody can win the damn presidency for literally any reason. It only takes 100,000 votes in a couple different ways. If it rains in Georgia, somebody else could be present. Like, so I think he's gonna run. You know, ultimately, the die is cast. It's like, if you lose, or if you don't run, it's not like a, it's not like a list of slot gain or these people are gonna let you off the hook. You know, it's like, you're gonna be investigated no matter what. So you might as well go for it. I think that's, I think that's probably what's gonna happen. - I agree. - Let's get to Israel. And I'm Lisa Di Giulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. - I'm not gonna get any of your fighting. - That is wild. If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. - Obviously, I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight, but there's only so much fight I can fight. - Don't lie to me. - Don't lie to me. - Don't lie to me. - Liar. - Listen on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, I don't really care. - Hey, it's J.O. from "Laf With Me, The Podcast." So why would you choose "Laf With Me?" Well, great question. - Yeah, that's right. - Other podcasts have hosts with broadcasting degrees. "Laf With Me" has a survivor. Listen to "Laf With Me," a podcast with Jeremy Odom, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. - This Halloween joined me, Tim Halford, as cautionary tales journeys into the paranormal. We'll travel from 1800s America, where vampires prayed upon a terrified community. Speaking of negative election consequences, here is Donald Trump, near the nadir of his own personal popularity, and deciding to use that though in a country where he is still dramatically popular. Let's put this up here on the screen, an extraordinary message to the great people of Israel. Baby Netanyahu has been a great warrior prime minister and even greater partner for peace and combating the Islamic Republic, death to America, et cetera. What country can survive when things such as this are allowed to be said? Because eventually they always end up being true. He talks about Iran. It would have been only a question of time until Iran would have put that ominous phrase into effect, but they have been systematically destroyed, both militarily and financially, unless they change their ways rapidly, we will soon finish the job. If Israel has the wrong leader, which would be anyone other than Baby, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so. Baby Netanyahu has been exactly, he talks about a strong partner, somebody who has stood behind him, strong brave and brilliant. He says he is the kind of partner the United States of America is demanding of Israel, a country for which it has done so much. Please let this letter serve to represent my complete and total endorsement of Baby Netanyahu in this upcoming race for reelection as prime minister of Israel. Baby Netanyahu will never let you down. So all of this comes exactly at the time when Netanyahu himself is in a genuine dogfight for the polls, obviously don't take prediction markets or any of that too hard.
But if you were going to glance at them, he's not leading, actually, in any of their elections. The polls currently show Gowais and Khat as doing particularly well, but he also remember this, the Israeli system, forming the coalition is part of the difficulty itself. So Netanyahu has been here before from a minority position being able to create some sort of a coalition. Nonetheless, Trump, remember, is very popular in Israel. He's the very guy, literally, spent more money for them and done more for them than anybody else in Israeli history from an American perspective. And Netanyahu is certainly behaving as if this is very impactful. Here was his message in English, I'll remind you, about thanking Trump's take a listen. President Trump, my dear friend Donald, I'm so honored and humbled by your extraordinary endorsement. I could say, and that's easy, there's never been a greater friend of Israel in the White House that's an understatement, not by the longest shot. But I think America has been fortunate to have a leader of conviction, of clarity, of courage. Donald, thank you, thank you for your enduring support, thank you for your unbelievable leadership. Thank you, friend. Thank you, friend, your unbelievable leadership. So Trump trying to sway the election in BB's favor. And by the way, we shouldn't rule out that either of them will restart conflict with Iran just to make sure that BB himself gets elected. Because now that he's down again, it's totally in his, totally in his own incentive. Well, and the thing Trump said in that endorsement is very important, which he implies that if BB's not in office, I'm not doing your Iran war anymore and their Iran war, very popular in Israel. They're very existential, they're very unhappy with the state of affairs as they exist right now. So he's basically saying, like, look, I will continue doing this Iran war thing that you guys are into if we've got BB as the leader. Otherwise, I'm out. Now, whether that's true or not, I doubt it's actually true. But whether that's true or not, that's the leverage he's trying to use here. And you know, we've seen this before. This is not the first international election that he's intervened in, if you look at Argentina, Javier Malay's party was set to take a drawing. And they basically were like, look, we're going to cut off Argentina if you don't vote for the party that we want to. And it worked. So yeah, it could definitely upend the election. I will say again, prediction markets, they're not accurate, take it with whatever. But this has it really moves the needle in terms of prediction markets. So at least in terms of how investors and Israelis are processing this, they're not feeling like it's a massive game changer. But who knows? And it's also very possible that you end up with a situation where nobody can form a governing coalition. And then you have, which has happened in the past in Israel. They've been kind of in this democratic crisis. We're going to talk to someone from France about the democratic crisis there. There's been a similar thing unfolding in Israel for a variety of reasons. So you could end up sort of muddling through and Netanyahu gets to maintain power because neither side is able to fully form a coalition. So that is a possibility as well. I will say I was just looking at Twitter, and you already have centrist, like Neera Tandon, who are setting it up as like, oh, it's so important that Netanyahu lose because he's the reason why there's all these wrongs when Democrats are so upset with Israel. I'll just read you her tweet. She says, the political alliance between Trump and Netanyahu and the backhand Netanyahu is given to every democratic president are driving a lot of the dem party's concerns about Israel's actions. So the genocide is causing a lot of the party concerns, regardless of who is in charge. The people of Israel should understand for their upcoming elections that are reelected Netanyahu is a message to Democrats as well. And so I am hoping Netanyahu loses both because he's an utterly depraved and disgusting genocide Omaniac, not that I expect the next person to be better, but quite on the contrary. I think it will have to, there will have to be somewhat of a reckoning then from the liberal Zionist that no, the problem is not just Netanyahu. This is a structural, societal issue. Gadi Eisenkot, the primary rival here of Netanyahu, has the author of the Dahia doctrine, which is all about, you know, mass-curring civilians destroying civilian infrastructure. It's named after a suburb of Beirut that they leveled. So there's not a lot of, there's no peace mix that are available here. There's no one here that's committed to a two-state solution whatsoever. That idea is dead and gone. And I recommend everyone go back and listen to the interview. We did with Tretoparcy about the new security doctrine. This is not a Netanyahu security doctrine. This is a new overall Israeli security doctrine that says, we are putting the democracy part to the side. We are deeply committed to the Jewish ethno-state part of this. That is going to, over the long term, mean that our partnership with the U.S. is fundamentally unsustainable. There's going to be a break. And by the way, our response to this is to believe that every Arab state around us is illegitimate and get on a perma-war footing. That's not about this prime minister, the next prime minister. That is their overall societal view and the way the entire architecture is orienting themselves. Totally agree. And I do think that, you know, if anything, Netanyahu's loss would be more clarifying because the Iran war would continue. All of their policies in Gaza or the West, maybe on the West Bank, it would be like slightly different. Although, you know, I find it difficult to believe that they would rein them in complete. They wouldn't just, they would let them beat, but then they would just not initially come out of this state. There would be more fake investigation, more fake hand-regging, that's what you would get. Exactly. You get a lot of genuine reflecting. And again, in English, and then in Hebrew, they'd be like, well, who knows. Maybe they were asking for it. Let's go ahead and put C3 up here on the screen. This is from Barack Reved. He says some of Trump's closest advisors believe the Middle East agenda would fare better if Netanyahu lost and any better, different government was formed. Trump himself is very frustrated with Netanyahu, and yeah, sure. In private conversations, Trump blamed Netanyahu for Israel's failures to prevent October 7th. Yeah, we know. Trump called the Prime Minister, quote, "his own worst enemy and question whether Netanyahu is damaging international reputation." However, he decided to stick with Netanyahu, so that's the Barack Reved. Yeah. And Barack Reved asked covering of why we got all of these, like, oh, we so upset with Netanyahu. Oh, he's so frustrated. Oh, he's so disgusted. Blah, blah, blah. Oh, buddy backed him unequivocally for re-election. Look at that. So joke. Yeah. Last thing here was flagged by our friend, Tree Departialist, put this up here on the screen. This is the Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, where he said they are ready to strike Iran with full force and then targeting an energy infrastructure is critical to setting them back 40 years to the age of darkness into the Stone Age, to set back Iran as state several decades in order to establish a far more favorable regional balance. And so as Treeto there points out, this is bigger problem, both obviously for the Iranian monarchists who are like, oh, this is going to be so amazing. But big picture, this remains a security posture of Israel. And in particular, remember, I would not put it past Netanyahu. If he is genuinely losing, if he believes he's losing, then some sort of attack, something I think is very likely to come. Every corruption trial, he goes and bombs anything. Absolutely. Okay. So maybe it's not Iran. Maybe Obama Yemen, without MBS asking. Maybe he'll go bomb Lebanon again. I don't know. But he's going to do something. I certainly would not put it past it. Okay. Let's get to the second part here. We also wanted to return and take a look at this beating of a Washington Post journalist while on photojournalism assignment in the West Bank. You guys covered the initial footage on Friday. However, some of the more details that have come out are genuinely shocking. Let's put this up here on the screen. So the initial response from the Prime Minister of Israel's office, this is so crazy. They said the facts surrounding the confrontation during which the journalist was allegedly assaulted remain unclear and are under investigation. We unequivocally condemn violence against anyone. Those are possibly held accountable. Those serious questions remain. Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-life activists confronted approximate 40 Israeli youths. Footage shows mass individuals on both sides are like objects amid reports of fireworks fire to Jewish youth. Other footage appears to show living knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same individual. The investigation must establish the fact we will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, and this facts must determine the conclusion, not the headlines, aka, she was asking for it, and actually even though she was asking for it, the guy who pushed her over actually helped her back up. So that's why this was all okay. So then, Mike Huckabee, let's put his statement up here. The U.S. ambassador initially, his response now, yesterday, Heidi Levine suffered serious injuries from vicious and cowardly attack. Heidi's a U.S. citizen, clear ideas of journalists, details of who are under investigation, but those attacked unarmed reporter should spend years in prison. We have called for full investigation and arrest, attacking a female photographer is just physical, active terror, carried out by mass cowards, dishonorable act of senseless violence. Note where he does not name the settlers actually there. Then we have Marco Rubio, let's put a C7 here on the screen. He says, "First obviously we've seen the video, which is in the media reporting with a process of handling these things. In turns out to be a peer what it was, we have ways of communicating that to the Israelis about how we expect what we would expect them to prevent them from happening in the future. What does that even mean? The president doesn't want to see a crisis in the West Bank. We don't need that right now. Israel doesn't mean that right now." And so that's where we are. for our State Department and
Ambassador initially speak up to this ridiculous statement there by the Israelis. I will say it does appear this morning that some arrests have been made by the Israelis. Take that for what you want. Yeah. We'll track where they go on trial. I mean, this is really astonishing. This is a Washington Post-American journalist Jewish, by the way. Not that it should matter, but Jewish, by the way. We watched the video, unfortunately, I wish I didn't see it, of this middle-aged woman wearing a press vest, being beaten within an inch of her life. She sustained very severe injuries when Jasper Nathaniel was trying to, you know, rescue and get her to run and move. She said, "I can't. I can't. I just let me die." Like, that's how severe this is. And they have the gall to put out this statement, trying to blame her, again, middle-aged woman wearing a press vest for the attack and so we have to wait for the facts to come. No, we all saw the video. We saw that and she had to be rushed to the hospital. She had fingers broke, a broken rib, multiple broken vertebrae, lacerations across her body. They think that she was stabbed and we're supposed to believe, oh, it was just a mistake. She just stumbled and she was helped up by a settler. Like, we saw the video. And this is really, to my understanding, this is a new tactic, especially when you're talking about, again, an American journalist, that they, okay, they issue some words of, oh, we don't support this, but maybe it's her fault. And I think they did something very similar, too, with we just had these European diplomats who were there as well, this delegation from Europe as well, that was beaten by these settler terrorists. And they did something very similar. Oh, they were asking for it. They shouldn't have been there in the first place. Yes, exactly. And again, as of this morning, they said, I'm just reading the details, ten people were arrested in the West Bank, all in separate incidents, in addition to the assault on European diplomats. Oh, actually, in fact, I totally skipped that one over. C8, let's put this up here on the screen. Much of European diplomats were actually beaten, savagely beaten by many settlers. Can you imagine this, you know, who tolerates this behavior from any other state in the alleged West? I mean, it's impossible to even imagine. So you had a bunch of European diplomats there. I mean, this guy is wearing the French Sash there and clearly identified, and they're just beating the shit out of them. And yeah, just don't care. The Israeli Authority said that some people were arrested in Operation Olive Leaf, Border Patrol, and others were entered several aspects, items linking the suspects were seized along with several vehicles. We'll see. I don't know whether these people are taken to account. I mean, the reason why this is so crazy is that the only reason any of this is happening as even I know is that she is a white woman who happens to be a U.S. citizen. Like that's it. And same with these European diplomats, if these were like anybody, literally anybody else, they wouldn't care. They would just continue to give them weapons and support, but that's the policy. No, by the way, not just of us, the whole West, that's what's so crazy about it. Yeah. Where are these countries? You know, they're not saying anything? No. It's crazy. Yeah, it is. I mean, if they're in control, they know they can act with impunity. They know there will be no consequences. And so things that used to have at least some impact, that's why you had, you have people in Israel, you have a small group of activists in Israel who will provide what they call protective presence, where they think, if I'm there as a Jewish Israeli alongside the Palestinians, maybe they'll be able to do their olive harvest and not be attacked, these things used to be more effective. But now that you have completely psychotic Israeli regime and you have absolute impunity and no accountability from the U.S. government, no fear that there's going to be any sort of consequences from the American government. They know it doesn't matter if you're your French, you're American, it doesn't matter. We can do what we want and we're going to get away with it. And so if they behave this way on camera with an American journalist wearing a press fast, imagine what they're doing in Palestinians every single day. It's not caught on camera, that is not the subject of global international outrage that Mike Huckabee doesn't bother to tweet about, just imagine what their lives are like having to live next to these settlers, Harris. Yep, exactly. All right, let's get to Econ. But no, no, find it. He acted friendly, he talked friendly, he sounded friendly. They all knew that I did the scary boogie stuff and this is maybe she'll find out where this girl is. Listen to the devil's quarry season two in the Bone Valley feed on the IHART radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Emily Abadi. On the hurdle with Emily Abadi podcast, I sit down with the lead athletes, record holders, coaches, and everyday runners to unpack the mindset behind pushing through when things get tough. I just love to say I never know who's watching, so you want to make sure you, you through and through and you just stay true to who you are. Listen to hurdle with Emily Abadi on the IHART radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Radio 831, a romance podcast, join us, Sanjana Baskar, and Tyler McCall as we host our own Monster Romance Extravaganza. We're joined by the villain edit author Rosie Dannan and sent in an object romance expert Gracie Delgado to explore with these unexpected love stories can reveal about desire, fantasy, and what we actually want. Listen to Radio 831, a romance podcast on the IHART radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHART podcast, Guaranteed Human.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Iran is escalating attacks on oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, including tugboats and tankers, with evidence of frequent strikes despite limited reporting.
The UKMTO reporting system has been silent for days, raising concerns about deliberate suppression of data to obscure the scale of attacks and protect economic interests.
The U.S. and Israel are engaged in economic warfare, manipulating markets and hiding the full cost of conflicts, including high oil prices and destabilized supply chains.
Iran and Houthi groups are receiving military support, including targeting data, intelligence, and missile technology, enabling rapid advances in Yemen and increasing regional chaos.
U.S. leadership, especially under Trump and JD Vance, has failed to respond with accountability to military failures and civilian casualties, displaying a lack of transparency and political competence.
A growing network of proxy conflicts—Yemen, Ukraine, Middle East—reveals a pattern of strategic economic and geopolitical warfare, undermining international order.
The U.S. military’s vulnerabilities, including base destruction and poor medical care for wounded, expose systemic failures in defense and leadership.
The tech industry, aligned with the Trump administration, is funding political campaigns and supporting policies that prioritize economic interests over public safety and transparency.
Summary:
The podcast explores escalating geopolitical and military conflicts, primarily focusing on Iran’s increased attacks on oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, including strikes on tugboats and tankers. Despite reports of widespread damage, official data from the UKMTO shows a significant silence, suggesting possible suppression of information to protect economic interests and market stability. S.
and Israel are engaged in economic warfare, using market manipulation and strategic policy decisions to mask the full cost of the wars, leading to soaring fuel prices and widespread instability. Iran is actively supporting Houthi forces with intelligence, drones, and missile technology, amplifying regional chaos. S.
S. service member, where officials failed to acknowledge prior warnings or systemic failures. This lack of transparency reflects broader failures in leadership, especially under Trump and Vice President JD Vance, whose responses to public scrutiny were dismissive and politically damaging.
The situation is part of a wider pattern of proxy warfare involving Ukraine, the Middle East, and global economic systems, where major powers use asymmetric tactics to weaken rivals. The growing alignment between the tech industry—particularly AI data centers—and the Trump administration further illustrates how economic and political interests are intertwined, with significant financial backing tied to political outcomes. These interconnected crises signal a dangerous decline in global stability, with potential risks of a broader conflict, as economic and military systems become increasingly destabilized.
FAQs
You can listen to 'Hurdle with Emily Abadi' on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The podcast explores dating, relationships, beauty, and aging, featuring two best friends with different life experiences and perspectives.
It features raw, humorous stories and conversations with comedians, athletes, and everyday people about personal life, mistakes, and absurd experiences.
The podcast examines strange supernatural stories from history, such as crop circles and 19th-century vampire tales, and explores what they reveal about human nature today.
Iranian-backed Houthi groups have launched attacks on Saudi Arabia, leading to regional escalation, travel warnings, and fears of broader conflict involving key powers like the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
The ongoing military conflicts have disrupted oil supply chains, causing oil prices to rise, which in turn drives up gas prices nationwide, including diesel.
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