Podcasts about iran contra

Give to help Chris make Truce. The Iran-Contra Affair was a major political scandal in the United States during the second term of President Ronald Reagan in the mid-1980s. At its core, the affair involved the secret sale of arms to Iran—despite an arms embargo—in the hopes of securing the release of American hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon. These sales were initiated covertly by members of the U.S. government, who believed they could foster better relations with moderate elements in Iran while also achieving humanitarian aims. The operation violated official U.S. policy and Congressional restrictions, particularly the Boland Amendment, which explicitly prohibited aid to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. The second part of the scandal involved diverting profits from the Iranian arms sales to fund the Contras, a right-wing rebel group fighting the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The Reagan administration had viewed the Contras as essential to stopping the spread of communism in Central America. However, Congress had explicitly forbidden further military aid to the Contras, making the diversion of funds both illegal and secretive. Key figures in the affair included Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council, who helped coordinate the operation, as well as senior officials like National Security Advisor John Poindexter. When the operation was exposed in 1986, it triggered a political firestorm and led to multiple investigations by Congress and an independent counsel. While President Reagan claimed he had no knowledge of the diversion of funds, the scandal significantly damaged his administration's credibility. Several officials were convicted of crimes related to the affair, though many were later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush. The Iran-Contra Affair remains a powerful example of executive overreach and the risks of conducting foreign policy outside the bounds of democratic oversight. Sources: Nixonland by Rick Perlstein Vietnam Ken Burns documentary, especially episodes 2 and 7 Time article about the credibility gap Reagan's 1981 inaugural address on C-SPAN Reagan: An American Journey by Bob Spitz fun video about the video game Contra Brief article about the Boland Amendment PBS article about Iran-Contra Way Out There In the Blue by Frances Fitzgerald article about North's time as NRA head article about Oliver North Fox News website about Oliver North Los Angeles Times article “Religious Right Drums Up Support for North” September 3, 1988 The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald Shadow Network by Anne Nelson Battiata, M. (1987, Sep 26). "Beverly LaHaye and the hymn of the right; leading her women in support of Reagan, bork, and SDI: The Washington Post (Pre-1997 Fulltext)" article about Robert Bork Discussion Questions: What was the Iran-Contra scandal about? Why did the US support the overthrow of Nicaragua? Should politicians be held accountable for their lies? How? What crimes/ actions are enough to make you stop supporting a politician? What happens when we tie our Christian faith to politicians? Political movements? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trust in institutions is at a historic low. Turns out there are about sixty years of very good reasons for that.From Watergate and Thatcher decimating mining communities, through the cash for questions scandals of the 1990s, Iran-Contra, the fabricated case for the Iraq War, and a British Post Office scandal that ruined the lives of hundreds of people, this is a brief history of how governments, politicians, businesses, and institutions systematically destroyed the trust of the people they were supposed to serve.We also look at why not all distrust is the same, what manufactured distrust is, and give you examples of people and places that have worked to earn your trust.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/HistorysGreatestIdiots⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/historysgreatestidiots⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/historysgreatestidiots⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Artist: Sarah Chey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fiverr.com/sarahchey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Trust in institutions is at a historic low. Turns out there are about sixty years of very good reasons for that.From Watergate and Thatcher decimating mining communities, through the cash for questions scandals of the 1990s, Iran-Contra, the fabricated case for the Iraq War, and a British Post Office scandal that ruined the lives of hundreds of people, this is a brief history of how governments, politicians, businesses, and institutions systematically destroyed the trust of the people they were supposed to serve.We also look at why not all distrust is the same, what manufactured distrust is, and give you examples of people and places that have worked to earn your trust.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/HistorysGreatestIdiots⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/historysgreatestidiots⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/historysgreatestidiots⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Artist: Sarah Chey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fiverr.com/sarahchey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Constitutional attorney Danny Sheehan — the legal voice behind Citizens for Disclosure — maps the real implications of full UAP disclosure: the constitutional crisis, the citizen-diplomacy path, and the Majestic 12 successors who are now known by name. From 43 states organizing on the ground to live Congressional testimony confirming retrieved craft and non-human biologics, Danny walks through what disclosure actually looks like when it happens. He covers psionic propulsion that moves entire UFO vehicles instantaneously, the candidate-pledge strategy circumventing media gatekeepers, and the citizen-led ET-contact diplomacy bypassing the national security state. This is the disclosure aftermath nobody is yet preparing for.

  Aaron and Tonery are joined by Klonny of ParaPower Mapping to discuss Jeffrey Epstein's involvement in the Iran-contra meta-conspiracy. Check his recent article on the subject: "Jeffrey Epstein's War and the PedoFash International (Pt. II): Iran-Contra and the Year of the Spy" ParaPower Mapping is an auditory and prosaic cork board mapping the interlocks and hidden passages of the capitalist elite. Moneyed families, secret societies, intel networks, and trafficking rings. Follow/subscribe to ParaPower Mapping on Twitter and Substack! American Exception followers on Patreon, regardless of the tier, get first access to new episodes! Paid subscribers enjoy access to the entire library of the best historical analysis of deep events on the American Exception podcast.  Subscribe to our Patreon at https://patreon.com/americanexception   Music: "Poster Child" by Mock Orange Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for producing the episode!!

Everyone knows Jeffrey Epstein as a sex trafficker who died in 2019. But Epstein's story goes further back than most people realize — and includes surprising links to the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s. Today on Lever Time, producer Natalie Bettendorf speaks with Drop Site News journalist Murtaza Hussain about his investigation into Epstein's ties to Iran-Contra and how Epstein built his wealth and connections in the shadows of public power.  Listen to “President Rambo,” our episode of Master Plan about the Iran-Contra scandal. Read Murtaza's full investigation on Drop Site News. Check out Dylan Gottlieb's book Yuppies. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and extended interviews by becoming a member at ⁠levernews.com/join⁠. To leave a tip for The Lever, ⁠click here⁠. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Evans of the Behind the Bastards Podcast is back for Round 2 of the Iran-Contra Scandal. Robert and Ed tee up the uncanny conclusion to this epic saga including some questionable offers of immunity, and unveil whether accountability comes to fruition. (Spoiler alert, it won't.) And don't forget to watch on our SNAFU YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@SNAFUPodSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Evans is a delightful human. Which makes it so funny that he hosts a hit podcast about the worst people to ever exist! Today, the mastermind of Behind The Bastards Podcast joins Ed to discuss a dastardly scheme in the early 80s involving arms trafficking to Iran, facilitated directly by some of Reagan's top brass. It's the Iran-Contra Affair on part one of this mind-boggling SNAFU. And check out our SNAFU YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@SNAFUPodSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt sits down with Bill Scher of Washington Monthly for a wide-ranging discussion on the biggest political stories of the week.Key Topics Covered:— Trump's Meeting with Xi in China and Taiwan Policy Shift: Trump says he discussed U.S. arms sales with Xi ‘In great detail'— Michigan Senate Primary Meltdown: “Polls show the three-way slugfest between Abdul El-Sayed, Mallory McMorrow, and Haley Stevens is dragging them all down and creating a pickup opportunity for the GOP.” — Read Bill Scher's piece here.— Kentucky GOP Primary Drama: Trump's effort to take out Rep. Thomas Massie, Rand Paul's strong defense, the “cow money” scandal, AIPAC and big-donor involvement, and what a Massie loss (or win) says about Trump's control of the Republican Party— HondurasGate — Why Bill says Hondurasgate is worse than Watergate and Iran-Contra combined— January 6 Pardons Backfiring: Freed by Trump, the Jan. 6 criminals are preying on children and others— And MUCH more!

SPONSORS: 1) BLUEPRINT: For a limited time only, our listeners get 20% off + free shipping at https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com by using code JULIAN at checkout. #Blueprint #ad JOIN PATREON FOR EARLY UNCENSORED EPISODE RELEASES: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey CLIPPERS DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8QmWEKJ3BT (***TIMESTAMPS in description below) ~ Stu Wexler is an author and researcher. Stu's investigative journalism work over the years includes the JFK Assassination, MLK Assassination, RFK Assassination, and CIA Covert Operations. STU's LINKS BOOK: https://a.co/d/0ego1NzP FOLLOW JULIAN DOREY IG: https://www.instagram.com/julianddorey/ X: https://x.com/juliandorey JULIAN YT CHANNELS - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ****TIMESTAMPS**** 0:00 - JFK Assassination Investigation, MLK & JFK similarity, Grassy Knoll 6:26 - Sewer Shooting Theory, Stu's history with case, Devil's Chessboard 18:31 - Case Complications, “Cut the head off the dog,” Stu's father's theory 27:58 - Castro & JFK, Lyndon Johnson, the Soviets, hijacked autopsy, JFK bombshell 38:58 - How JFK Case falls apart, Curtis LeMay, Felilx Rodriguez, Truman & JFK 48:08 - CIA Cloak & Dagger Ops, Alan Dulles, 1954 Guatemalan Coup d'etat 58:54 - CIA's mask off moment, Carl Jenkins, Iran Contra, JFK vs. Castro plans 1:10:41 - Danny Jones Felix Rodriguez Sitdown, Kiki Camarena 1:24:15 - Nuclear War Threat, Harold Malmgren, Bay of Pigs 1:37:35 - New JFK Files, Why Bobby Kennedy disliked, William Harvey, Rome & the Mafia 1:47:06 - Gap in Joannides Records, David Morales 2:01:31 - Daniel Pearl, Why Bobby Kennedy taken out 2:11:07 - Lyndon B. Johnson & JFK, American Revolution post JFK & MLK, James Earl Ray 2:23:14 - MLK Assassin James Earl Ray & the gov, MLK & Charlie Kirk, Extremist Groups 2:35:31 - Extremist influence, FBI & MLK, Donald Nissin 2:46:52 - FBI Investigation, Kathy Ainsworth, Stu's take on conspiracy 2:56:35 - What was Ray supposed to do, Ray's attorneys, “Dancing on streets” after MLK 3:05:34 - Fred Hampton, FBI War, Informant knew King was going to be shot, Tommy Terrance 3:15:37 - Stu's Work CREDITS: - Host, Editor & Producer: Julian Dorey - COO, Producer & Editor: Alessi Allaman - https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ - In-Studio Producer: Joey Deef - https://www.instagram.com/joeydeef/ Julian Dorey Podcast Episode 422 - Stu Wexler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Substack Live, Matt sits down with Bill Scher of Washington Monthly for a wide-ranging discussion on the biggest political stories of the week.Key Topics Covered:— Trump's Meeting with Xi in China and Taiwan Policy Shift: Trump says he discussed U.S. arms sales with Xi ‘In great detail'— Michigan Senate Primary Meltdown: “Polls show the three-way slugfest between Abdul El-Sayed, Mallory McMorrow, and Haley Stevens is dragging them all down and creating a pickup opportunity for the GOP.” — Read Bill Scher's piece here.— Kentucky GOP Primary Drama: Trump's effort to take out Rep. Thomas Massie, Rand Paul's strong defense, the “cow money” scandal, AIPAC and big-donor involvement, and what a Massie loss (or win) says about Trump's control of the Republican Party— HondurasGate — Why Bill says Hondurasgate is worse than Watergate and Iran-Contra combined— January 6 Pardons Backfiring: Freed by Trump, the Jan. 6 criminals are preying on children and others— And MUCH more!Subscribe to Matt Lewis on Substack: https://mattklewis.substack.com/Support Matt Lewis at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattlewisFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MattLewisDCTwitter: https://twitter.com/mattklewisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattlewisreels/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhSMpjOzydlnxm5TDcYn0A– Who is Matt Lewis? –Matt K. Lewis is a political commentator and the author of Filthy Rich Politicians.Buy Matt's books: FILTHY RICH POLITICIANS: https://www.amazon.com/Filthy-Rich-Politicians-Creatures-Ruling-Class/dp/1546004416TOO DUMB TO FAIL: https://www.amazon.com/Too-Dumb-Fail-Revolution-Conservative/dp/0316383937Copyright © 2026, BBL & BWL, LLC

This is our continuing series pulled from archives going back to 2005. This week, we present a program from 2009 in which we summarized a conspiracy so vast it's come to be known as The Octopus. Originally released October 4, 2009 THE TITLE of tonight's show is a reference to the conspiracy investigated by journalist Danny Casolaro--whose death, despite the official ruling, remains a mystery. Casolaro believed it tied the United States government to the Inslaw case (a software company that accused the Justice Department of stealing its extremely powerful PROMIS case management software), the so-called “October Surprise” theory that Iran had held back the American hostages to help Ronald Reagan win the 1980 presidential election, the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, and the Iran-Contra scandal. The scheme was so vast and complex that Casolaro referred to it as “the Octopus.” Casolaro was found dead in a hotel room in Martinsburg, West Virginia in August of 1991, his wrists slashed 10 to 12 times. His death was, of course, ruled a suicide. Casolaro's story might have continued its slow fade into the dusty corners of conspiracy theory folklore, except that charges were filed this week against a Miami-based missionary to Honduras named Jimmy Hughes for the 1981 slayings of Fred Alvarez and two associates in Rancho Mirage, California. It is believed that Alvarez was killed to silence him before he could carry out a threat to expose financial improprieties and other illegal activity on the Cabazon Indian reservation in Riverside County, California. Incredibly, what happened on Cabazon land in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s reaches around the world and into the highest levels of the US government -- part of Casolaro's “Octopus”. Central to the story (especially when he tells it) is the mysterious Michael Riconosciuto, now serving a 20-year sentence for production and distribution of meth. Understanding “the Octopus” is like the old story of the blind men trying to comprehend their first encounter with an elephant: the parts you touch can appear to be completely different and totally unrelated. Running over the outlines of the case in about half an hour, we didn't even mention mainstream media reports -- published prior to 9/11 -- that FBI spy Robert Hanssen sold an upgraded version of PROMIS to Russia, which in turn sold it to Osama bin Laden. It's believed Al Qaeda used the software to penetrate databases and move funds between banks without being detected by US counterterror groups. A PROMIS derivative was also allegedly used by Chinese military intelligence to steal nuclear secrets from the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. So, like the Octopus, the tentacles extending from the modifications made by Michael Riconosciuto at the Cabazon reservation are many and far-reaching. Also: Ireland approves the Lisbon Treaty; President Obama strikes out in Copenhagen; the Ring of Fire heats up; the IMF becomes the world's central bank; and a scam in Montana. Recommended further reading: The Cabazon Nation, Jimmy Hughes, and Riverside County DA Rod Pacheco by Viginia McCulloughThe Octopus Conspiracy: One Woman's Search for Her Father's Killer by Andrew Rice (Wired, Feb. 4, 2011)The Strange Death of Danny Casolaro by Ron Rosenbaum (Vanity Fair, Dec. 1991)Wikipedia entry: Danny CasolaroWikipedia entry: Inslaw (developer of PROMIS software)Wikipedia entry: Edwin P. WilsonThe Last Circle by Carol Marshall (pen name of investigative journalist Cheri Seymour -- link is to free online copy of her unpublished manuscript)Trail of the Octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie -- Inside the DIA by Lester K. Coleman and Donald Goddard (free online e-book) Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, is fighting stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Follow us! X (formerly Twitter): @pidradio | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert | @gilberthouse_tvTelegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunkerSubstack: gilberthouse.substack.com | SharonKGilbert.substack.comYouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelationFacebook.com/pidradio JOIN US IN ISRAEL! We will tour the Holy Land October 11–23, 2026 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel. Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square foot pole barn has a new HVAC system, epoxy floor, 100-amp electric service, new windows, insulation, lights, and ceiling fans! If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here: gilberthouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to this podcast, our weekly Bible studies, and our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at pidradio.com/app. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: gilberthouse.org/video! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

Step into the shadows of power and influence as we explore one of America's most prominent political dynasties—the Bush family. In this episode, we dive deep into the theories, controversies, and hidden connections that have fueled decades of speculation.From the secretive halls of Yale's Skull and Bones society to alleged intelligence ties and backdoor dealings, this rabbit hole uncovers claims of elite networks shaping global events behind the scenes. We examine the Business Plot, Cold War intelligence operations, and the murky overlap between oil, politics, and power.We also explore controversial narratives surrounding the Iran-Contra scandal, the Gulf War, and the War on Terror—connecting dots between government decisions, global conflicts, and the figures at the center of it all. Along the way, we touch on lesser-known and more speculative theories, from covert CIA operations to rumored occult influences tied to the family's inner circle.www.stayskeptical.comWise Wolf Gold: https://www.wolfpack.gold/?ref=jvujkwgsSources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jcwvgWpPz8GqLxNwpeJM7AHqBJL2O3JWVdE8ggKK7_8/edit?usp=sharing

Rather than retreat from Iran-Contra and other scandals, conservative operatives inside the White House — led by Attorney General Edwin Meese — went on the offensive. Drawing on newly uncovered documents and exclusive interviews, we trace how Meese helped turn a fringe idea into doctrine: that all executive power belongs to the president alone. This is the origin story of the unitary executive theory. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dive into the dark underworld of the global drug trade with world-class journalist Bill Conroy. In this gripping episode, we explore the shocking realities of the U.S. government's complicity in drug trafficking to fund clandestine Black Ops, tracing covert operations from the Iran-Contra affair to the explosion of opium production during the Afghan War. Discover how multi-ton shipments cross the border through corrupt customs officials, traverse American freeways, and end up on city streets. Conroy breaks down the "whack-a-mole" nature of busting cartels, the involvement of guerrilla groups like the ELN, and the brutal reality of a criminal enterprise where the only exits are jail or death. Short, hard-hitting, and deeply revealing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millions of Americans have attended “No Kings” protests, voicing outrage that President Donald Trump has turned the presidency into an imperial platform from which to launch wars of choice, levy illegal tariffs, and unleash armed agents against his political adversaries. Isn't the American system of checks and balances supposed to prevent this?“The Kingmakers” is a new podcast hosted by journalist David Sirota that looks at how those checks have been steadily undermined. The podcast explores how the unitary executive theory, once a fringe idea that grants kinglike powers to the American president, was germinated in the Nixon administration, flowered in the Reagan administration, and is now the blueprint for Trump's power grab. “The Watergate scandal, where the president is using the various pieces of the political machine and apparatus of the presidency to target his political opponents … is seen as the zenith of the imperial presidency,” said Sirota. After Nixon's resignation, Congress tried to rein in executive powers. President Reagan responded by “making a much grander argument that any statutes that come from Congress that constrain the executive's authority to control the federal government is itself not just illegal, but unconstitutional.”Reagan's aggressive assertion of executive power led to the Iran-Contra scandal, when White House officials brazenly flouted and misled Congress. “The ideology (is) that we are above the law, the law does not apply to us. The president is essentially not a co-equal branch of government, but an elected king,” Sirota said.Sirota is founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, an independent investigative news outlet. He was the screenwriter for the Oscar-nominated film “Don't Look Up.” His new podcast is the second season of his award-winning series “Master Plan,” which examines how corruption became legal in American politics. Sirota has also worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, most recently as speechwriter and senior adviser in his 2020 presidential campaign. He credits Sanders as a mentor, teaching that “it's not really the two parties. It's really money versus everybody else.” “If you're an oligarch you try to turn the one-person, one-vote democracy into a $1, one-vote oligarchy … turning elections into auctions. That's one way you deal with the democracy problem,” said Sirota. His podcasts trace the origins of the “master plan” hatched in the 1970s “to consolidate as much power as you can in the hands of one person so that when you get into power and you use the legalized corruption system to buy that office, then you can do whatever you want,” as he described it.Sirota believes that “people are disgusted with the endemic corruption that's out there.” He cites as evidence the election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who relied on public financing in his campaign.“The pendulum swings here,” said Sirota. “We are now at a moment where anti-corruption can be a central theme with a real policy objective. We must give people a way to run for office where they can run a robust, competitive and competitively financed campaign without having to rely on oligarch money. That is possible. That is realistic.”

In this episode of UNBIASED University, we continue our look at the biggest government scandals in U.S. history and the impact they had on politics, public trust, and government accountability. In Part II, we examine three major controversies from different eras: the Whiskey Ring scandal of the 1870s, the Iran–Contra affair of the 1980s, and the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal of the late 1990s. Along the way, we break down what happened in each case, how the scandals were uncovered, and what they reveal about the limits of power and the mechanisms for accountability within the American political system. Get the facts, without the spin. UNBIASED offers a clear, impartial recap of US news, including politics, elections, legal news, and more. Hosted by lawyer Jordan Berman, each episode provides a recap of current political events plus breakdowns of complex concepts—like constitutional rights, recent Supreme Court rulings, and new legislation—in an easy-to-understand way. No personal opinions, just the facts you need to stay informed on the daily news that matters. If you miss how journalism used to be, you're in the right place. Intro (0:00) Whiskey Ring Scandal (2:22) Iran-Contra Affair (14:03) Clinton/Lewinsky Scandal (27:23) SUBSCRIBE TO JORDAN'S ⁠SUBSTACK⁠. ⁠Watch⁠ this episode on YouTube. Follow Jordan on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comJeff is a lawyer and a contributing opinion writer for the NYT, after a long run at The New Yorker and CNN. He has written many bestselling books, including True Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Oath, The Nine, and Too Close to Call. He appeared on the Dishcast in 2024 to talk lawfare, and in this episode we discuss his latest book, The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy.We recorded this episode a while back, and we're posting it this week after Trump promised mass pardons for White House staffers before he leaves office. For two clips of our convo — on Biden's corrupt pardons, and Trump's obscene pardons — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: how pardons can be a beautiful act of mercy; the varying powers among the states; Lincoln's amnesty for Confederate soldiers but not leaders; Andrew Johnson's pardon for Jefferson Davis; Johnson's impeachment; the thousand pardons of Rutherford B Hayes; Ford pardoning Nixon; Jimmy Carter pardoning resisters to the Vietnam War; the Willie Horton furlough and ad; HW's pardons for Iran-Contra; Clinton pardoning his own brother and Marc Rich; Dubya's refusal to pardon Scooter Libby against Cheney's wishes; Dubya advising Obama to have a set protocol; Trump pardoning crooks like Charles Kushner and Paul Manafort who could have testified against him; the blanket pardon of January 6ers; Kim Kardashian's role in Trump's pardons; the ICE killings in Minneapolis; and the need for presidents with some basic virtue.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Greg Lukianoff on free-speech fights, Jerusalem Demsas on the state of the left, Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, Adrian Wooldridge on “the lost genius of liberalism,” HW Brands on the life of George Washington, Ben Rhodes on foreign policy, and Tom Junod on his dad and masculinity. As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Emboldened by a landslide election, the president's men began to see themselves as 1980s action-movie heroes, willing to break the law to get what they want. The result was the Iran-Contra affair, a secret arms deal that ignited a constitutional crisis. Would Congress roll over and play dead — or actually do something? TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you thought the C.l.A.'s involvement with drugs started with the Iran/Contra affair, think again!  In this episode we take a look at the timeline and long history of involvement with global drug operations. Starting in the 40's and continuing up to current times. It's a shameful history and we look into why and how it keeps happening.Email us at: downtherh@protonmail.com

The Epstein scandal is rapidly evolving into a crisis that rivals—if not surpasses—the most infamous presidential scandals in American history, such as Watergate and Iran-Contra. Those scandals were rooted in political corruption and abuse of power, but the Epstein saga carries a darker, more corrosive weight: it implicates multiple presidents, across party lines, in a web of sexual exploitation, human trafficking, financial criminality, and intelligence-style operations spanning decades. The scope is unprecedented—its network crosses borders, infiltrates global finance, academia, politics, intelligence, philanthropy, and celebrity culture. Unlike previous scandals that were geographically contained and structurally centralized, the Epstein story touches nearly every institution that claims moral authority, revealing systemic rot rather than isolated wrongdoing. It has become a mirror exposing how power is actually wielded behind closed doors.What makes this scandal uniquely explosive is the ongoing cover-up. Americans watched both Republican and Democratic presidents minimize the story, suppress documents, seal evidence, and insist on silence despite mountains of public testimony, lawsuits, and survivor accounts. When a sitting president calls Epstein's operation a “hoax,” and another pretends distance despite private flights and personal visits, it shatters the illusion that leadership is ever truly accountable. Watergate toppled a presidency; Iran-Contra nearly did the same. But the Epstein scandal cuts deeper, because it strikes at the heart of trust—the belief that children are protected, justice is real, and leaders represent the public rather than shield a predatory elite. If the truth ever fully emerges, the political fallout could dwarf every scandal that came before it, forcing a reckoning far beyond partisan loyalties.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Epstein Files: Will Voters Hold Trump Accountable?

  Aaron and Bryce discuss the Iran War and how the Iran-Contra spectacle functioned as a Watergate 2.0 by effecting a realignment of US politics in which Zionist neoconservatism became hegemonic in the realm of foreign policy. Check out Bryce Greene's Newsletter!   American Exception followers on Patreon, regardless of the tier, get first access to new episodes! Paid subscribers enjoy access to the entire library of the best historical analysis of deep events on the American Exception podcast.  Subscribe to our Patreon at https://patreon.com/americanexception Special thanks to: Dana Chavarria, production Casey Moore, graphics Michelle Boley, animated intro Mock Orange, music IMAGE: Iran-Contra Scandal Trading Cards by Eclipse Enterprises (1988), #35: John Poindexter, National Security Advisor.

So much of what is happening these days seems utterly nonsensical, from Trump’s war crime and profanity-laced Easter rant, to the whipsaw on Iran. So, is it simply Occam’s razor, or is there more going on here than we’re led to believe? Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it. — President Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People (1913) The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson — and I am not wholly excepting the Administration of W. W. The country is going through a repetition of Jackson’s fight with the Bank of the United States — only on a far bigger and broader basis. — President Franklin D. Roosevelt, letter to Col. Edward Mandell House (21 November 1933); as quoted in F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1928-1945, edited by Elliott Roosevelt (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1950), pg. 373 I would suggest nothing we’re seeing, including (especially) the seemingly nonsensical, is ‘accidental’ or coincidental. It is PSYOP/PSWAR, a potent toxic mixture of POSIWID and chaos theory designed and intended to rapidly produce maximum chaos resulting in a ‘Clash of Civilizations‘ and The End of History and the Last Man, to ultimately bring about a ‘Novus Ordo Seclorum’1234 a la Genesis 11 → Genesis 6 → culminating in Psalm 2 → Revelation 19. Links Videos / Clips [x] = Played Trump says Americans against war with Iran are ‘foolish’ [x] 2:00–5:15 [x] 8:33–9:12 ‘Apparently I'm an idiot': Three-time Trump voter in Pennsylvania sounds off on Iran war [x] 3:15–3:45 Lucifer Has a NASA Moon Mission named Artemis. Here’s What They’re Hiding. Headlines [x] = Mentioned / Discussed Trump: “A Whole Civilization with Die Tonight” If President Trump carries out his threat to kill the entire civilization of Iran, he will join the ranks of Cato the Elder, Genghis Khan, Cortez, and other villains in history who chose the policy of destroying an entire civilization. Needless to say, this is not what Washington, Madison, Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin had in mind when they founded the US Constitutional Republic. Members of the US government—as well as We the People—should think about the reflections of multiple Roman authors who regarded the total annihilation of Carthage as an outrage and repudiation of Rome's republican values and virtues. In the Aeneid, Virgil frames the Punic Wars as a fateful conflict initiated by the Punic Queen Dido’s curse on Aeneas’s descendants. I interpret this as Virgil's way of condemning the “unspeakable” destruction of Carthage. The American people should be aware of the fact that if our US government does indeed annihilate the Iranian nation forever, it will certainly have a vast array of terrible consequences for us and for all of mankind. Among other disasters, it is likely that millions of Iranians will be forced to flee to other lands, including those of Europe. Many young men who see their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters suffer will be animated with a burning desire for revenge. I anticipate great horrors ahead for all of us. Trump's F-Bomb on Iran Joins America's Rollicking History of Presidential Profanity White House Easter egg roll Monday: How to watch live White House Easter Egg Roll honors America’s egg farmers, says President Trump | Fox News [x] Pentagon's new plans in Iran give Trump a way out of war crime accusations – POLITICO [x] Trump threatens to jail journalist who reported on crew's rescue in Iran if they don't reveal source – POLITICO [x] Iran Says US Airman Rescue May Have Been Cover to ‘Steal Enriched Uranium' Artemis ‘Launch’ April Fool’s Day / Easter – Amazing ‘Coincidence’ [x] [Published April Fool's Day! Same as Artemis II 'launch'] Did Van Allen Belts Stop the Moon Landings? Myth vs Fact – FreeAstroScience [x] Artemis II live updates: Nasa astronauts returning to Earth after seeing parts of Moon ‘no human has ever seen' | The Independent Artemis – Wikipedia “Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Innana…” & Asteroids | Fixed Stars Are the goddesses Ashteroth, Remphan, Isis, Ishtar, Belit, Anahita, Artemis, and Diana the same goddess with different names? – Quora Pan: The Complete Guide to the Greek God of Nature (2023) The Rest [x] = Mentioned / Discussed [x] Deutsche Bank – Wikipedia [x] Deutsche Bank [00:27, 17 May 2024 revision] – Wikipedia [x] Trump family faces high-stakes testimony in Manhattan fraud trial [x] At Trump Org fraud trial, ex-banker recalls ‘hunting' for Trump's business | Courthouse News Service [x] Finra Suspends Trump's Former Personal Banker – AdvisorHub [x] Rosemary Vrablic – Wikipedia [x] Jared Kushner – Wikipedia The thinly sourced theories about Trump's loans and Justice Kennedy's son (Jul 12, 2018) by Salvador Rizzo | The Washington Post [x] Why Trump Is Mentally Unfit to Be President: Pathology of Narcissism (Apr 5, 2017) by Alex Morris | Rolling Stone [x] Taibbi on the Madness of Donald Trump (Sep 19, 2017) by Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone [x] Donald Trump Is About to Be a Loser, His Lawyers Say (Mar 22, 2023) by Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley | Rolling Stone [x] Donald Trump, Trickster God (Mar 4, 2016) by Corey Pein | The Baffler [x] Kushner and Witkoff – by esc [x] IMEC: Trump's War With Iran Is About Global Trade. Period. [x] What The Iran Attack Is Really All About – Road Warrior Radio [x] Road Warrior Radio with Chris Hinkley, March 10, 2026 Hour 1 – Republic Broadcasting Network [x] Road Warrior Radio with Chris Hinkley, March 10, 2026 Hour 2 – Republic Broadcasting Network On This Day Events April 2026 Calendar of Public Holidays | Office Holidays Holidays and Observances in the United States in 2026 What day is it today? Important events every day ad-free | United States OTD On This Day – What Happened on April 7 Today in History: April 7, Rwandan genocide begins | AP News What Happened on April 7 – On This Day What Happened on April 7 | HISTORY April 7 – Wikipedia What Happened On April 7 In History? 07 | April | 2020 | Executed Today Holidays National Beer Day (United States) Historical Events 2022 – The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson – “Pizzagate” judge who was unable to define ‘woman' – to the Supreme Court, securing her place as the court's first Black female justice. 2021 – COVID-19 shenanigans: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States. 2020 – COVID-19 shenanigans: China ends its lockdown in Wuhan. 2020 – COVID-19 shenanigans: Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigns for his handling of the COVID-19 ‘pandemic’ on USS Theodore Roosevelt and the dismissal of Brett Crozier. 1994 – A day after the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi died in a missile attack on their aircraft, the moderate Hutu prime minister of Rwanda, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and her husband were killed by Rwandan soldiers; in the 100 days that followed, Hutu extremists slaughtered hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsi and Hutu moderates. 1990 – John Poindexter is convicted for his role in the Iran–Contra affair. In 1991 the convictions are reversed on appeal. 1984 – The Census Bureau reported that Los Angeles had overtaken Chicago as the nation's “second city” in terms of population. 1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran. 1970 – John Wayne wins Best Actor Oscar: The legendary actor John Wayne wins his first—and only—acting Academy Award, for his star turn in the director Henry Hathaway's Western True Grit. Known for his tough, rugged, uniquely American screen persona, Wayne appeared in some 150 movies over the course of his long and storied career. 1969 – The internet is born: With the publication of RFC 1, The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) awarded a contract to build a precursor of today’s world wide web to BBN Technologies. The date is widely considered as the internet’s symbolic birthday. 1968 – Riots continue in over 100 US cities following the Apr 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 1966 – The U.S. Navy recovered a hydrogen bomb that the U.S. Air Force had lost in the Mediterranean Sea off Spain following a B-52 crash. 1964 – IBM announces the System/360. 1963 – Tito is made president of Yugoslavia for life: A new Yugoslav constitution proclaims Tito the president for life of the newly named Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Formerly known as Josip Broz, Tito was born to a large peasant family in Croatia in 1892. 1961 – JFK lobbies Congress to help save historic sites in Egypt: President John F. Kennedy sends a letter to Congress in which he recommends the U.S. participate in an international campaign to preserve ancient temples and historic monuments in the Nile Valley of Egypt. The campaign, initiated by UNESCO, was designed to save sites threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. 1954 – Domino Theory: President Dwight D. Eisenhower coined one of the most famous Cold War phrases, held a news conference in which he outlined the concept of the “domino theory” as he spoke of the importance of containing the spread of communism in Indochina, saying, “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.” 1953 – Sweden's Dag Hammarskjöld elected U.N. head: By a vote of 57 to 1, Dag Hammarskjöld is elected secretary-general of the United Nations. The son of Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, a former prime minister of Sweden, Dag joined Sweden's foreign ministry in 1947, and in 1951 formally entered the cabinet as deputy foreign minister. 1950 – President Truman receives NSC-68 report, calling for “containing” Soviet expansion: President Harry S. Truman receives National Security Council Paper Number 68 (NSC-68). The report was a group effort, created with input from the Defense Department, the State Department, the CIA, and other interested agencies; NSC-68 formed the basis for America's Cold War policy for the next two decades. 1949 – Tony-winning musical South Pacific opens on Broadway: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opens at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The romantic musical about World War II, which touches on controversial racial themes, goes on to run for almost five years, becoming one of the most popular musicals of the 1950s. 1948 – World Health Organization established: The WHO, a privately funded United Nations agency front organization, ostensibly concerned with fighting disease and epidemics worldwide, building up national health services, and improving health education in its 194 member states. 1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by United States Navy aircraft during Operation Ten-Go, in Japan's first major counteroffensive in the struggle for Okinawa. Weighing 72,800 tons and outfitted with nine 18.1-inch guns, the battleship Yamato was Japan's only hope of destroying the Allied fleet off the coast of Okinawa. 1943 – The National Football League makes helmets mandatory. 1943 – Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches. 1940 – Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington becomes the first Black American to be honored with a postage stamp. It will take nearly four decades for a Black woman to receive a similar honor: Harriet Tubman in 1978. 1939 – Benito Mussolini invades Albania, declares an Italian protectorate over Albania and forces King Zog I into exile. 1933 – National Beer Day: Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.) 1927 – First long-distance television transmission: an image of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover is sent from Washington, D.C. to NYC by AT&T 1922 – Teapot Dome Scandal: Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall signed a secret deal to lease U.S. Navy petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California to his friends, oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny, in exchange for cash gifts; Fall would eventually be sentenced to prison on bribery and conspiracy charges in what became known as the Teapot Dome Scandal. 1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and the only one of a federal politician. 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh concludes: Two days of heavy fighting conclude near Pittsburgh Landing in western Tennessee. Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell are victorious after the Confederate attack stalled on April 6, and fresh Yankee troops drove the Confederates from the field on April 7. 1832 – The Man Who Sold His Wife: Most modern readers believe Thomas Hardy was plunging into deep fiction when he wrote about a man selling his wife. He wasn’t. Nagging wives needed to be careful in 19th Century England, for, as Hardy recounted in The Mayor of Casterbridge, her husband might put her up for sale. That's just what happened on this day to Mary Thompson, according to a local newspaper report. 1829 – Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint cult, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe. 1827 – First friction match sold: English chemist John Walker produced and sold the first operable matches. They were soon banned in France and Germany because burning fragments would sometimes fall to the floor and start fires. 1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna 1805 – Lewis and Clark depart Fort Mandan: After a long winter, the Lewis and Clark expedition departs its camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West. The Corps of Discovery had begun its voyage the previous spring, and it arrived at the large Mandan and Minnetaree villages along the upper Missouri River (north of present-day Bismarck, North Dakota) in late October. 1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and the Spanish Empire. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812. 1788 – American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrive at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, establishing Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opening the westward expansion of the new country. 1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward. 1739 – Dick Turpin is executed in England for horse stealing 1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion premiered: St. John’s Passion premieres on Good Friday at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony (now Germany). The sacred oratorio is the oldest extant Passion by the German composer. The highly popular work is a dramatization of the final days of Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel of John. 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu. 529 – First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis or the Justinian Code (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town. 30 – Scholars estimate for the crucifixion of Jesus by Roman troops at the behest of Jewish leadership (Caiaphas the high priest, chief priests, scribes, elders) on Golgotha outside Jerusalem [or April 3] Births 1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand/Australian actor, singer, producer 1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor and director noted for acrobatic stunt work in hits like “The Young Master” and the “Rush Hour” series. 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, screenwriter 1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California 1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author (died 2023) 1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (died 2014) 1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian/American sitar player, composer (died 2012) 1915 – Billie Holiday, American Jazz singer-songwriter, actress whose soulful intensity earned her the nickname “Lady Day.” Signature hits like “Strange Fruit” and “God Bless the Child.” (died 1959) 1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (died 1972) 1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (died 1969) 1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, journalist, conservationist, activist best known for her advocacy for the preservation of Florida’s Everglades region. (died 1998) 1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, ardent eugenicist, Seventh-day Adventist cult member, founded the Kellogg Company (died 1951) 1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher, communist (died 1837) 1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (died 1850) Deaths 1947 – Henry Ford, American businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (born 1863) 1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician, philosopher, and author (born 1873) 1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus (born 1810) 1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (born 1743) 1733 – Samuel Partridge, very stupid and unconcern'd From the New England Weekly Journal, July 23, 1733 — a three-month-old news item (part of a roundup of dated minor dispatches) that had to cross the Atlantic from the mother country. Ipswich, April 7. Last Saturday Samuel Partridge was executed here, for robbing Mr. Barwell of Brockley in this City, of 31l, 10s., a Horse, and other Things, in Company with another Person not yet taken. He said he was born at Debden in Suffolk, that he was about 22 years of Age, and was brought up in Husbandry; he appeared to be very illiterate, for he could neither read nor write, and was entirely ignorant of the first Principles of Christianity. He denied the Fact for which he suffered, and said he was perswaded to own the Robbery by a Soldier that was in Halsted Bridewell with him, he telling him, that if he confessed the Fact he would come off very well; and that he advised him to say, that he had made use of a Bolt instead of a Pistol, and that he had hid it in a certain Place, where it was found according to his Direction. At the Place of Execution he seemed very stupid and unconcern'd; only, as directed, he called on God for Mercy when he was turned off. Elon Musk Tweets ‘Novus Ordo Seclorum' After Donald Trump Wins Reelection. MAGA Is The Pied Piper – winepressnews.com ↩ Novus Ordo Seclorum – History of Motto on Great Seal’s Unfinished Pyramid ↩ Novus ordo seclorum – Wikipedia ↩ Annuit cœptis – Wikipedia ↩

We look at the scandal that rocked Reagan's Presidency. It looks very different with time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeffrey Epstein's story doesn't begin with the penthouse, the island, or the mugshot—it begins in the shadows of the Cold War. In the 1980s, he worked as a financial adviser for Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a man entangled in the Iran–Contra scandal and the massive Al-Yamamah arms deal. Through Khashoggi, British defense contractor Douglas Leese, and financier Steven Hoffenberg, Epstein was introduced to a world where money moved invisibly, arms were traded for oil, and intelligence agencies relied on businessmen as covert intermediaries. These early associations taught him the culture of power: secrets were currency, crimes could be reframed as strategy, and the right connections offered protection from the law.Epstein didn't invent this playbook—he adapted it. Where Khashoggi traded weapons and oil, Epstein traded access and leverage, turning young victims into bargaining chips in a network of elites. His empire mirrored the same operating principles he absorbed in the 1980s: plausible deniability, hidden money flows, and the insulation of power. This is why his story is more than personal depravity—it's proof that the system itself breeds and shields men like him. Epstein wasn't a glitch in the matrix. He was the proof that it works, and the machinery that built him is still running, still producing new Epsteins, waiting for their turn in the spotlight.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Mentor Sessions Ep. 059: The War Behind the War — Iran Conflict's Impact on Geopolitics, Energy, Money & Bitcoin | Simon Dixon & Dave CollumThe Iran conflict isn't just a military story — it's a financial renegotiation between the world's most powerful institutions, and Bitcoin sits at the center of what comes next. Simon Dixon and Professor Dave Collum join Nathan Fitzsimmons to break down the global reset already underway: why the closure of the Strait of Hormuz triggered renegotiations of 50 critical energy and resourceagreements, how 45 years of compounding market overvaluation is unwinding, and what Dubai's quiet rotation from gold into Bitcoin signals about where smart money is moving.This is the framework for understanding 2026 conflict as we shift to a multipolar world— and why the private credit game being over is actually the opening Bitcoin has been waiting for.Blog Link Mentioned by Simon: https://www.simondixon.com/blog/al-qaeda-boss-white-house-911-truth⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 - Iran War Simplest Form: China, BlackRock & JP Morgan Negotiation00:00:50 - Simon Dixon & Dave Collum Full Iran War & Markets Update00:02:43 - 12 Day War Theatrics vs Real Escalations in Strait of Hormuz00:05:23 - Strait of Hormuz Closure: Nuclear Bomb of Global Reset & Commodities00:08:15 - Financial Industrial Complex vs Military Industrial Complex Explained00:12:35 - Trump, Putin, Europe & Forever Wars Strategy00:17:13 - BlackRock Rise: ETFs, Aladdin & Shift from Goldman Sachs00:20:20 - S&P 500 Overvaluation, Nikkei Reset & Market Crash Warning00:22:42 - US Debt Crisis, 10-Year Yields & Money Printing Trap00:27:36 - Fiscal Dominance, Big Print & Coming Recession00:32:25 - Iran-China Leverage & Crashing Oil Prices for Deal00:35:34 - Iran Factions, US Bases Hit & Engineered Middle East Tension00:41:37 - Petrodollar History, Iran-Contra, Saudi & 9/11 Connections00:58:08 - Israel's Future: Weakened, Privatized in Multipolar World01:19:29 - AI Technocracy, Surveillance State & Gaza Model01:37:59 - Dubai Gold Sell-Off to Bitcoin & Self-Custody Boom01:54:54 - Private Credit Collapse, Valley of Death & System Reset02:00:29 - Final Predictions: Multipolar Deal, Bitcoin & Global TransitionAbout Simon DixonX: @SimonDixonTwittYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@SimonDixon21⁩ About Dave CollumX: https://x.com/DavidBCollum ⚡ POWERED by Abundant Mines: Fully managed Bitcoin mining. Learn more at https://qrco.de/bgYKPB

Jeffrey Epstein's story doesn't begin with the penthouse, the island, or the mugshot—it begins in the shadows of the Cold War. In the 1980s, he worked as a financial adviser for Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a man entangled in the Iran–Contra scandal and the massive Al-Yamamah arms deal. Through Khashoggi, British defense contractor Douglas Leese, and financier Steven Hoffenberg, Epstein was introduced to a world where money moved invisibly, arms were traded for oil, and intelligence agencies relied on businessmen as covert intermediaries. These early associations taught him the culture of power: secrets were currency, crimes could be reframed as strategy, and the right connections offered protection from the law.Epstein didn't invent this playbook—he adapted it. Where Khashoggi traded weapons and oil, Epstein traded access and leverage, turning young victims into bargaining chips in a network of elites. His empire mirrored the same operating principles he absorbed in the 1980s: plausible deniability, hidden money flows, and the insulation of power. This is why his story is more than personal depravity—it's proof that the system itself breeds and shields men like him. Epstein wasn't a glitch in the matrix. He was the proof that it works, and the machinery that built him is still running, still producing new Epsteins, waiting for their turn in the spotlight.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

On today's show, host Allen Ruff is in conversation with Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive, an expert on US-Cuba relations. White House threats to Cuba are making the daily news, and just this week, President Trump said he plans on “taking Cuba in some form” and doing anything he wants with it.  Kornbluh sketches the US's long antagonism toward Cuba. He says the seeds of the current situation are in the early twentieth century, when the US “appropriated” Cuba's war of independence against Spain and into a neocolonial relationship with Cuba with the Platt Amendment. Kornbluh reminds listeners that March 20 is the 10th anniversary of President Obama's historic trip to Havana.  Currently the crisis of the Cuban electrical grid is taking a humanitarian toll and the lack of fuel is impacting all areas of life on the island. Kornbluh says that Trump “needs to stop suffocating Cuba.” But Trump's “imperious attitude” makes it hard for diplomacy to proceed. He effectively created what Kornbluh calls a “sphere of intimidation” in Latin America where other countries are concerned if they could be the President's next target.  Peter Kornbluh is a Senior Analyst at the National Security Archive. He currently directs the Archive's Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects. He was co-director of the Iran-Contra documentation project and director of the Archive's project on U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. From 1990-1999, he taught at Columbia University as an adjunct assistant professor of international and public affairs. Featured image of the Cuban flag.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Economic Warfare That's Suffocating Cuba appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

‘Then they monetize it…’ What happens when quality brands lovingly crafted are then acquired by private equity and venture capital? How has golf changed in recent decades – and beyond – and how might that related to our broader society? And, might Mitzi have an opportunity to meet John Daly? All this and more on today’s Mondays with Mitzi! edition of Road Warrior Radio. Links Discussed Why Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Founder Sold Business, Retired Early – Business Insider John Daly (golfer) – Wikipedia Caddyshack – Wikipedia Let’s talk about Erik van Rooyen’s jogger pants at the 2019 British Open Championship Mac Sinise – Shenandoah – YouTube Oh Shenandoah – Wikipedia What Scottie Scheffler told Lee Trevino as a child which has now come true Grammarly: Free AI Writing Assistance Saint Patrick’s Day – Wikipedia On This Day March 2026 Calendar of Public Holidays | Office Holidays Holidays Today and Upcoming Holidays in the United States What day is it today? Important events every day ad-free | United States On This Day – What Happened on March 16 Today in History: March 16, the My Lai massacre in Vietnam | AP News What Happened on March 16 – On This Day What Happened on March 16 | HISTORY March 16 – Wikipedia What Happened On March 16 In History? 16 | March | 2020 | Executed Today Holidays St. Patrick’s Day (tomorrow, Tue, Mar 17) Historical Events 2016 – President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take the seat of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died the previous month. Republicans who controlled the Senate would stick to their pledge to leave the seat empty until after the presidential election; they confirmed Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch in April 2017. 2005 – Actor Robert Blake acquitted: After a three-month-long criminal trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, a jury acquits Robert Blake, star of the 1970s television detective show “Baretta,” of the murder of his 44-year-old wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. 2003 – 23-year-old peace activist Rachel Corrie is crushed to death in Rafah, run over by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a home. 1995 – Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to do so. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865. 1994 – Figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, avoiding jail but drawing a $100,000 fine and three years of probation. 1988 – Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. 1968 – Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. 1968 – General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, an Oldsmobile Toronado 1958 – The Ford Motor Company produced its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company's founding. 1903 – Judge Roy Bean dies: Self-proclaimed “law west of the Pecos,” Roy Bean dies in Langtry, Texas. A saloonkeeper and adventurer, Bean's claim to fame rested on the often humorous and sometimes-bizarre rulings he meted out as a justice of the peace in western Texas during the late 19th century. By then, Bean was in his 50s and had already lived a life full of rough adventures. 1867 – Joseph Lister first outlines the discovery of antiseptic surgery in an article in “The Lancet” 1850 – “The Scarlet Letter” is published: Nathaniel Hawthorne's story of adultery and betrayal in colonial America, The Scarlet Letter, is published. 1802 – President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. 37 – Caligula became Roman Emperor after the death of his great uncle, Tiberius. Births 1965 – Mark Carney, Canadian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Canada 1959 – Flavor Flav (William Jonathan Drayton Jr.), Hip-hop artist and reality TV star who co-founded the rap group Public Enemy. Made oversize clock necklaces a fashion statement. 1953 – Richard Stallman, American computer scientist and programmer, launched the GNU Project (Sep 1983), founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in October 1985, developed the GNU C Compiler and GNU Emacs, and wrote all versions of the GNU General Public License. 1941 – Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian director and screenwriter (died 2018) 1926 – Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (died 2017) 1912 – Pat Nixon, First lady who joined her husband on historic trips to China and the Soviet Union and advocated for volunteerism. (died 1993) 1911 – Josef Mengele, German physician, captain and mass-murderer (died 1979) 1751 – James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States, is born on a plantation in Virginia. At just 5‘4”, James Madison was hardly a commanding presence, but that didn’t stop him from shaping American history. Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a four-year course of study in two years and, in 1769, helped found the American Whig Society, the second literary and debate society at Princeton (and the world), to rival the previously established Cliosophic Society. (died 1836) Learn more Deaths 1985 – Roger Sessions, American composer, critic, and educator (born 1896) 1975 – T-Bone Walker (Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1910) 1971 – Thomas E. Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of New York (born 1902) 1963 – William Beveridge, British economist and Liberal politician who was a progressive, social reformer, and eugenicist who played a central role in designing the British welfare state. (born 1879) 1903 – Roy Bean, self-proclaimed “law west of the Pecos” (born 1825)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comEli is a journalist and an old friend. He's a former senior national security correspondent for The Daily Beast and Newsweek, and a former columnist for the Bloomberg View. He's now a reporter for The Free Press, a contributing editor at Commentary Magazine, and the host of his own podcast, Breaking History. He's one of the most dogged defenders of Israel in America. Who better to slug it out with?For two clips of our convo — on the double standard of US aid to Israel and NATO, and escalation of settlements in the West Bank — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: Eli's speech at his bar mitzvah on Jewish views of nuclear proliferation; his Zionist sleepaway camp; the Iran-Contra affair; the Oslo Accords; the Second Intifada; Saddam and WMDs; mugged by the reality of the Iraq War; the rise of Hamas in Gaza; the Obama-Netanyahu feud; the Iran nuclear deal; Schumer's commitment to Israel; the Golden Dome; Israel's contributions to the US; the horrors of October 7; the Judeo-fascists in Bibi's cabinet; US bombs sent to the IDF for Gaza; the 12-Day War that “obliterated” Iran's nuke facilities; the mass slaughter of protesters in Iran; the shifting reasons for the current war; the lack of any public debate or Congressional approval; the farce of Hegseth; Witkoff and Kushner's “negotiations” with Iran; international law; assassinating the leadership in Iran; Lindsey Graham's fanaticism; Tucker Carlson; the dead schoolgirls; oil prices; and evangelical support for Israel.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Matt Goodwin on the political earthquake in the UK, Jeffrey Toobin on the pardon power, Derek Thompson on abundance, Jonah Goldberg on the state of conservatism, Tom Holland on the Christian roots of liberalism, Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, and Adrian Wooldridge on “the lost genius of liberalism.” As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Andrew For America continues his conversation from the previous episode with host of the According2Sam podcast Mr. Sam Winchester. In this episode, Sam and Andrew talk about the crazy claims former Epstein lawyer Allan Dershowitz made on the Piers Morgan show, how investigative journalist Amy Robach had the Epstein story for several years before it finally broke and ABC/Disney wouldn't allow her to air it, how the Epstein story relates to Iran-Contra, former director of the CIA Bill Casey, Trump's alleged "handler" Howard Lutnick, Pam Bondi, Bill Barr, the Bush family, the Federal Reserve, Les Wexler confirms the Rothschild-Epstein relationship, Tim Dillon claims that Epstein was very into transhumanism and human experimentation, avowed Satanist Nikolas Schreck confirms and explains how the luciferian agenda is real, Monarch mind control survivor Paul Bonacci blows the whistle on the MK Ultra program, and Andrew reads quotes from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.Visit allegedlyrecords.com and check out all of the amazing punk rock artists!Visit soundcloud.com/andrewforamerica1984 to check out Andrew's music!Like and Follow The Politics & Punk Rock Podcast PLAYLIST on Spotify!!!Check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Y4rumioeqvHfaUgRnRxsy...politicsandpunkrockpodcast.comFollow Future Is Now Coalition on Instagram @FutureIsOrgwww.futureis.org

In part two of our history of Iran and the Middle East, we move from the 1979 Iranian Revolution to the bombing of Tehran today. This is the story of how America's Cold War obsession with the Soviet Union mutated into something else entirely: the gradual Israelisation of U.S. policy in the region. Along the way we trace the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, America's backing of the Mujahideen, the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq War, the Iran-Contra scandal, the Intifadas, Oslo, Netanyahu, Hamas, and the long collapse of any serious Palestinian settlement. What began as a struggle over oil, empire, and superpower rivalry became a different kind of conflict altogether, one driven by proxy wars, sectarian alliances, occupation, and political miscalculation. If part one explained how the West lost Iran, part two explains how the region was remade in the decades that followed, and how all of it leads directly to the crisis we are watching now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew For America welcomes back to the show the host of the According2Sam podcast, Mr. Sam Winchester. Sam and Andrew present a brief history of the Jeffrey Epstein story starting back in the 1990's. They play a clip of Jake Tapper breaking down Julie K. Brown's book "Perversion of Justice," and Tapper offers five key points about the case. They also talk about some of the key players in the story including Alex Acosta, Bill Barr, Allen Dershowitz, Robert Mueller, and others. Andrew and Sam also play a clip from Megyn Kelly discussing her research on the topic including testimony from journalist Vicky Ward, and they also talk about how the Iran-Contra scandal factors into this story. This part 1 of 2 people! Enjoy!Visit allegedlyrecords.com and check out all of the amazing punk rock artists!Visit soundcloud.com/andrewforamerica1984 to check out Andrew's music!Like and Follow The Politics & Punk Rock Podcast PLAYLIST on Spotify!!!Check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Y4rumioeqvHfaUgRnRxsy...politicsandpunkrockpodcast.comFollow Future Is Now Coalition on Instagram @FutureIsOrgwww.futureis.org

Political scientist, author of American Exception: Empire & The Deep State, & host of the American Exception podcast returns to Bad Faith with independent researcher focused on diplomatic history, Tonery Rose, to discuss Epstein, Iran Contra, Les Wexner, & th Zionist takeover of the deep state that helped lead to the current war against Iran. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Hawk breaks down the full arc of US-Iran relations, from the cordial diplomatic ties of the 1720s all the way to the current war that Secretary of State Marco Rubio openly admitted was triggered by Israel. Starting with Persia's constitutional revolution, American economic advisors in the 1920s, and the cordial relations that held through World War II, the story takes a sharp turn in 1953 when the CIA and British intelligence MI6 orchestrated a coup overthrowing Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh, who had nationalized the country's oil industry. The US then reinstalled the Shah of Iran and helped build his brutal secret police force SAVAK, and in a stunning irony, it was President Dwight D. Eisenhower who launched Iran's nuclear program and provided the country's first nuclear reactor and enriched uranium in 1967. The 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, the 444-day hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, Reagan's support for Saddam Hussein, Hezbollah, the Iran-Contra affair, the JCPOA under Obama, Trump pulling out of the nuclear deal, and the killing of General Qassem Soleimani all connect in a straight line to the current US-Iran war. Marco Rubio told congressional leaders that the US entered the war preemptively because Israel was going to attack Iran, and Iran would have retaliated against American forces. Rubio's admission drew reaction from Congressman Joaquin Castro and even conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who called it the worst possible thing Rubio could have said. Six US service members are dead. Hawk also shares a personal story about Sean Penn, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and a surreal afternoon in San Francisco tied directly to Iran's 2005 presidential election. SUPPORT & CONNECT WITH HAWK- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mdg650hawk - Hawk's Merch Store: https://hawkmerchstore.com - Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mdg650hawk7thacct - Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hawkeyewhackamole - Connect on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mdg650hawk.bsky.social - Connect on Substack: https://mdg650hawk.substack.com - Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawkpodcasts - Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mdg650hawk - Connect on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mdg650hawk ALL HAWK PODCASTS INFO- Additional Content Available Here: https://www.hawkpodcasts.comhttps://www.youtube.com/@hawkpodcasts- Listen to Hawk Podcasts On Your Favorite Platform:Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3RWeJfyApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/422GDuLYouTube: https://youtube.com/@hawkpodcastsiHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/47vVBdPPandora: https://bit.ly/48COaTB

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Derek and Danny are joined by Dalia Dassa Kaye to talk about the decades-long hostility between the U.S. and Iran and the current escalation between the two countries. They talk about the odds of war and the absence of clear objectives; talk of “regime change”; the legacy of the hostage crisis and the Iran-Contra hangover; the domestic incentives that make diplomacy “too costly”; the post-9/11 opportunity to mend relations and how it collapsed after the “Axis of Evil” speech; how U.S. leaders frame Iran as uniquely fanatical and unchangeable; and how Israel's interests and domestic U.S. politics constrain policy change. Read Dalia's book Enduring Hostility: The Making of America's Iran Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek and Danny are joined by Dalia Dassa Kaye to talk about the decades-long hostility between the U.S. and Iran and the current escalation between the two countries. They talk about the odds of war and the absence of clear objectives; talk of “regime change”; the legacy of the hostage crisis and the Iran-Contra hangover; the domestic incentives that make diplomacy “too costly”; the post-9/11 opportunity to mend relations and how it collapsed after the “Axis of Evil” speech; how U.S. leaders frame Iran as uniquely fanatical and unchangeable; and how Israel's interests and domestic U.S. politics constrain policy change.Read Dalia's book Enduring Hostility: The Making of America's Iran Policy.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

There's no bottom to the TrumpStein filth. Now, we know it reaches all the way back to Iran-Contra. One senses, however, that pieces are beginning to fall into place. Nitwit Nero will literally have to face the survivors in his SOtU on Tuesday evening. 

SPONSORS: 1) AMENTARA: Get 22% off your first order of Amanita muscaria at www.amentara.com/go/JULIAN with code JD22. WATCH PREVIOUS KIRIAKOU EPISODES: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-ICwfCgQ-Z1DPZs0YvPqdOTongALGXPt JOIN PATREON FOR EARLY UNCENSORED EPISODE RELEASES: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey CLIPPERS DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8QmWEKJ3BT (***TIMESTAMPS in description below) ~ John Kiriakou is a former CIA spy who was the agency's chief of counterterrorism in the Middle East prior to being prosecuted by the DOJ. JOHN's LINKS: X: https://x.com/JohnKiriakou IG: https://www.instagram.com/realjohnkiriakou/ FOLLOW JULIAN DOREY INSTAGRAM (Podcast): https://www.instagram.com/juliandoreypodcast/ INSTAGRAM (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/julianddorey/ X: https://twitter.com/julianddorey JULIAN YT CHANNELS - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ****TIMESTAMPS**** 0:00 - Intro 1:04 - John's Meme's blowing up, Mexico Movie 9:07 - The Original Epstein, Satanic “Supra” Government, Dershowitz & Krauss 21:53 - Israel Allegiance Theory, Les Wexner, Rothschilds & Epstein 32:03 - What John would ask Wexner, British Monarchy, Peter Mandelson 40:44 - Wexner Epstein Justice, The Trilateral Commission & Arms Deals 53:35 - Trilateral Commission & World Bankers, Population Control, David Rockefeller 1:03:11 - CIA Covert Ops, Operation Mockingbird in Modern Day 1:13:28 - Journalism Audience Capture, 3 Million unreleased Epstein Files 1:20:45 - Trump & Epstein, Blackmail Op, Epstein Psychology Skills, Mossad & Epstein 1:34:24 - Adnan Khashoggi & Epstein, CIA Epstein, Prince Andrew 1:50:19 - John's Epstein Death Theory, How John would have smuggled Epstein out 2:04:15 - Iran Contra, Reagan on Israel, CIA Compartmentalization on Epstein 2:18:42 - Epstein's FOIA, 9/11 Shadow Commission 2:27:18 - Bill Clinton & Epstein, Steve Bannon, Elite Emails 2:39:18 - Steve Bannon Spy? 2:46:59 - Satanic Elite Emails, Dark Code Words, Peter Thiel & Epstein, 2:52:27 - Netanyahu Israel & Ehud Barak 2:58:14 - Mossad & CIA Relationship 3:00:28 - Iran War 3:06:10 - John's Work CREDITS: - Host, Editor & Producer: Julian Dorey - COO, Producer & Editor: Alessi Allaman - https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ - In-Studio Producer: Joey Deef - https://www.instagram.com/joeydeef/ Julian Dorey Podcast Episode 388 - John Kiriakou Music by Artlist.io Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trevor Loudon Reports – Ghislaine Maxwell carried forward this legacy, partnering with Epstein in a blackmail empire. The latest Epstein file releases, despite heavy redactions, point unmistakably in this direction. Epstein's own activities link back to Iran-Contra money flows and overlap with figures like Larry King from the Franklin Cover-Up scandal in Nebraska, showing a consistent pattern of...

On today's episode, we discuss AOC's viral “this dude is not smart” jab at Elon Musk, playing her halting Taiwan‑defense answer from Munich alongside footage of a SpaceX booster landing itself and asking what it says about today's political class when one of Musk's harshest critics cannot give a coherent response on war and peace. The panel then turns to Louisiana politics: Ben unloads on Senator Bill Cassidy as a “rhino” who reliably votes with Democrats, warns that outdated Sequoia voting machines are being replaced by Dominion systems after one more election, and argues that unless the state returns to hand‑marked paper ballots, the establishment can engineer Cassidy's third term regardless of voter sentiment. In a lighter but revealing tech segment, James offers a Tesla FSD update—explaining the new “strike” policy for inattentive drivers, how profiles now live in the cloud, and why the car sometimes lets him exceed its recommended speed only after flashing on‑screen liability warnings—while Dwayne reads Grok's official description of the temporary autopilot suspensions and jokes about a future registry for “habitual bad drivers.” The conversation broadens into concerns about hacking autonomous 18‑wheelers, the promise of safer robot truck fleets, and an exploration of “Alpha Schools,” an AI‑driven homeschool model whose students reportedly test in the top 1 percent, prompting questions about whether the tool is transformative or simply amplifying already motivated families. Finally, the crew revisits Pam Bondi's handling of the Epstein files and DOJ priorities, contrasts her emotional testimony with Oliver North's unflappable Iran‑Contra performance, and debates whether limited federal resources should chase every past atrocity (from island trafficking to Russiagate) or be concentrated on a few, clearly winnable cases even if that leaves some victims without full legal closure. Don't miss it!

David Smith of Bad Press joins us to chat about the deep subject of Puharich's Ennead: Channeling the Nine, CIA Psychics, and the Occult Underbelly.   We talk about the previous work on this by Marty on Bros of the Serpent, the modern remote viewing program, Puharich the trickster, Project Pelican, Chatter, Artichoke etc, ONI, Lab 9, The Journey to Other Worlds, the MI6 Spymasters, Waldorf, Submarine stealth, the Profumo Affair in the UK and the substrate of the ether - for either tech or natural psychism - Electromagnetic waves and intuition.   In the second half we get into the Nazi's, ancient cults, dosing villages with LSD, IG Farben, the early psychic research, Gellar and stargate, channeling the Egyptian Ennead, the new class of Brahmans, the DOE, Maxwell and Pergamon Press, the national labs, Promise software, Epstein and Iran Contra, and the Gehlen network.   David is an amateur historian who is especially interested in the Cold War. He investigates the activities of the CIA and other intelligence organizations during this window and tries to put together the story of what happened.  https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bad-press--6688809   To gain access to the second half of show and our Plus feed for audio and podcast please clink the link http://www.grimericaoutlawed.ca/support.   For second half of video (when applicable and audio) go to our Substack and Subscribe. https://grimericaoutlawed.substack.com/ or to our Locals  https://grimericaoutlawed.locals.com/ or Rokfin www.Rokfin.com/Grimerica Patreon https://www.patreon.com/grimericaoutlawed   Support the show directly: https://open.spotify.com/show/2punSyd9Cw76ZtvHxMKenI?si=ImKxfMHgQZ-oshl499O4dQ&nd=1&dlsi=4c25fa9c78674de3 Watch or Listen on Spotify https://grimericacbd.com/ CBD / THC Tinctures and Gummies https://grimerica.ca/support-2/ Our Adultbrain Audiobook Podcast and Website: www.adultbrain.ca Our Audiobook Youtube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@adultbrainaudiobookpublishing/videos Check out our next trip/conference/meetup - Contact at the Cabin www.contactatthecabin.com Other affiliated shows: www.grimerica.ca The OG Grimerica Show Join the chat / hangout with a bunch of fellow Grimericans  Https://t.me.grimerica grimerica.ca/chats   Discord Chats Darren's book www.acanadianshame.ca Eh-List Podcast and site: https://eh-list.ca/ Eh-List YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheEh-List www.Rokfin.com/Grimerica Our channel on free speech Rokfin Leave a review on iTunes and/or Stitcher: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/grimerica-outlawed http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/grimerica-outlawed Sign up for our newsletter http://www.grimerica.ca/news SPAM Graham = and send him your synchronicities, feedback, strange experiences and psychedelic trip reports!! graham@grimerica.com InstaGRAM https://www.instagram.com/the_grimerica_show_podcast/  Purchase swag, with partial proceeds donated to the show www.grimerica.ca/swag Send us a postcard or letter http://www.grimerica.ca/contact/ ART - Napolean Duheme's site http://www.lostbreadcomic.com/  MUSIC Tru Northperception, Felix's Site sirfelix.bandcamp.com 

Welcome to The Daily Wrap Up, an in-depth investigatory show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (2/7/26). As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth is, or claiming they have the answer, is likely leading you astray, for one reason or another. Stay Vigilant. !function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2q643"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");   Rumble("play", {"video":"v739kyc","div":"rumble_v739kyc"}); Video Source Links (In Chronological Order): (21) Truthstream Media on X: "@TLAVagabond @XCreators @grok https://t.co/uhw54GDF1F" / X New Tab Defending Against the Next Bioweapon: the mRNA Imperative New Tab (21) Libs of TikTok on X: "The feds just discovered an illegal biolab in Las Vegas. The owner of the property is a chinese national who was previously arrested in connection to an illegal biolab in California They found pathogens labeled HIV, malaria, TB, COVID-19, and Ebola.  https://t.co/brIh0ncEKH" / X (21) biolab (from:libsoftiktok) - Search / X Las Vegas biolab: Answering some of the biggest questions still looming Property manager of possible illegal biological lab facing firearms charge Nevada judge releases property manager tied to Las Vegas bio lab F.B.I. Investigates Links to Biological Labs in Las Vegas and California - The New York Times (21) Grok / X Investigation of Fort Detrick lab finds hole in airtight suit was intentional, breakdown in safety culture | Treatment And Diseases | fredericknewspost.com Research into deadly viruses and biological weapons at US army lab shut down over fears they could escape | The Independent | The Independent Revisiting Fort Detrick/Vaping Overlap, COVID Origins, As EcoHealth Restarts Coronavirus Work New Tab Trump Admin Leans Into Self-Amplifying mRNA (SamRNA) Under Guise Of Ending mRNA & RNA In Food Arcturus Receives U.S. FDA Fast Track Designation | Arcturus Therapeutics, Inc. Self-Amplifying mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Superior Results Arcturus Therapeutics Advances mRNA Therapeutics Pipeline with Strong Financial Performance and Strategic Focus Arcturus Therapeutics Maps Near-Term Milestones for CF mRNA Therapy, ARCT-810 at J.P. Morgan Conference Stargate: Trump Partners with Technocrats to Promote mRNA Injections, AI, and Transhumanism New Tab (21) Kuşçu on X: "ABD TEMSİLCİLER MECLİSİ ÜYESİ THOMAS MASSİE: - Dün gece, Jeffrey Epstein'e ait dosyaların tam listesini içeren bir flaş bellek aldım. - İçinde her şey var; her bir milyarder, her bir kampanya bağışçısı, her bir kişi. - Şimdi size neden medyada bunun hakkında bir şey https://t.co/waXAAnVrnU" / X (21) Grok / X (21) Grok / X (21) Thomas Massie for Congress on X: "@_Kuscubasi Fake news. I don't have a flash drive. Why make stuff up when the reality itself is so shocking and disgusting?" / X (21) Kuşçu on X: "@MassieforKY Is this a lie too?" / X (21) Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons on X: ".@RepThomasMassie: "Historically, when we look back at the Epstein scandal, it's going to be bigger than Watergate, and bigger than Iran-Contra...it's longer in time, and involved multiple administrations, and that's why we have to get to the bottom of it." Agreed. https://t.co/k2r4IeFp4V" / X (21) Ro Khanna on X: "This is why I coined the phrase Epstein class. This is why the Epstein class needs to go. These people put belonging to a club of the rich and powerful over speaking out against pedophiles & the rape of working class girls." / X New Tab (21) Thomas Massie on X: "According to legal documents and emails, Epstein and Lutnick did business together and Lutnick vacationed on Epstein's island, LONG AFTER Lutnick claims they parted ways and after LONG AFTER Epstein was a known sex offender." / X (21) Micah on X: "Remember when Lutnick laughed as Trump called the Epstein Files a hoax? https://t.co/aqe2MqWZO5" / X New Tab (21) Nick's Dank Memes on X: "Honestly if this wasn't the breaking point for you, I don't really value your opinion at all. https://t.co/4VdHnUetbw" / X (21) Nightwatch N8 on X: "Catherine Austin Fitts basically tells some podcaster dude who is apparently still suffering from Qtardation "I think you're just smoking dope" (if you think arrests are coming)

Stream of consciousness this week on P.I.D. Radio! We discuss a book about “the Octopus,” a wide-ranging conspiracy that involved the US government, the Cabazon Indian reservation, the Iran-Contra scandal, and multiple suspicious deaths. For a summary of the Octopus, listen to our 2009 program called “The Octopus.” Also: Islam's slow conquest of the West and a bizarre scandal at the Winter Olympics that rhymes with “Venus Gate.” Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Follow us! X (formerly Twitter): @pidradio | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert | @gilberthouse_tvTelegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunkerSubstack: gilberthouse.substack.comYouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelationFacebook.com/pidradio JOIN US IN ISRAEL! We will tour the Holy Land October 11–23, 2026 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel. Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square foot pole barn has a new HVAC system, epoxy floor, 100-amp electric service, new windows, insulation, lights, and ceiling fans! If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here: gilberthouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to this podcast, our weekly Bible studies, and our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at pidradio.com/app. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: gilberthouse.org/video! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

At long last, Dimitri and Khalid return to the CONTRA meta-series well to answer two not-so-simple questions: who was behind the nearly successful 1981 assassination of Pope John Paul II by the shadowy Turkish hitman/Grey Wolf fanatic Mehmet Ali Ağca, and why did they do it? Western media at the time would have us believe that a shadowy “Bulgarian Connection”, masterminded by the Soviet KGB, put a hit on the anti-communist Polish Pope to terminate his disruptive influence in the Eastern Bloc - but this calls to mind CIA Director William Casey's alleged 1981 declaration that “we'll know our disinformation campaign is complete when everything the American public believes is false”. Indeed, the overall evidence leads us somewhere quite different: straight into the vipers' nest of 1980s Iran-Contra arms-for-heroin deals, Vatican Bank mafia money laundering, Licio Gelli's Propaganda Due, Operation Gladio false flag terrorism, CIA media manipulation, and the global neo-fascist plot to bring down the Soviet Union by any means necessary… For access to full-length premium SJ episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe at https://patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

In this powerful and wide-ranging episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins sits down with Ken Behr, author of One Step Over the Line: Confessions of a Marijuana Mercenary. Behr tells his astonishing life story—from teenage marijuana dealer in South Florida, to high-level drug runner and smuggler, to DEA cooperating source working major international cases. Along the way, he offers rare, first-hand insight into how large-scale drug operations actually worked during the height of the War on Drugs—and why that war, in his view, has largely failed. From Smuggler to Source Behr describes growing up during the explosion of the drug trade in South Florida during the 1970s and 1980s, where smuggling marijuana and cocaine became almost commonplace. He explains how he moved from street-level dealing into large-scale logistics—off-loading planes, running covert runways in the Everglades, moving thousands of pounds of marijuana, and participating in international smuggling operations involving Canada, Jamaica, Colombia, and the Bahamas. After multiple arrests—including a serious RICO case that threatened him with decades in prison—Behr made the life-altering decision to cooperate with the DEA. What followed was a tense and dangerous double life as an undercover operative, helping law enforcement dismantle major trafficking networks while living under constant pressure and fear of exposure. Inside the Mechanics of the Drug Trade This episode goes deep into the nuts and bolts of organized drug trafficking, including: How clandestine runways were built and dismantled in minutes How aircraft were guided into unlit landing zones How smuggling crews were paid and organized Why most drug operations ultimately collapse from inside The role of asset seizures in federal drug enforcement Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. Transcript [00:00:00] well, hey, all your wire taps. It’s good to be back here in studio of Gangland Wire. I have a special guest today. He has a book called, uh, title is One Step Over the Line and, and he went several steps over the line, I think in his life. Ken Bearer, welcome Ken. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Now, Ken, Ken is a, was a marijuana smuggler at one time and, and ended up working with the DEA, so he went from one side over to my side and, and I always like to talk to you guys that that helped us in law enforcement and I, there’s a lot of guys that don’t like that out there, but I like you guys you were a huge help to us in law enforcement and ended up doing the right thing after you made a lot of money. So tell us about the money. We were just starting to talk about the money. Tell us about the money, all those millions and millions of dollars that you drug smuggler makes. What happens? Well, I, you know, like I said, um, Jimmy Buffett’s song a pirate looks at 40, basically, he says, I made enough money to to buy Miami and pissed it away all so fast, never meant to last. And, and that’s what happens. I do know a few people that have [00:01:00] put away money. One of my friends that we did a lot of money together, a lot of drug dealing and a lot of moving some product, and he’s put the money away. Got in bed with some other guy that was, you know, legal, bought a bunch of warehouses, and now he lives a great life, living off the money he put away. Yeah. If the rents and stuff, he, he got into real estate. Other guys have got into real estate and they got out and they ended up doing okay. ’cause now they’re drawing all those rents. That’s a good way to money. Exactly what he did. Uh, my favorite, I was telling you a favorite story of mine was the guy that was a small time dealer used to hang out at the beach. And, uh, we en he ended up saving $80,000, which was a lot of money back then. Yeah. And then put it all, went to school to be a culinary chef and then got a job at the Marriott as a culinary chef and a chef. So he, you know, he really took the money, made a little bit of money, didn’t make a lot Yeah. But made enough to go to school and do something with his life. That’s so, um, that’s a great one. That’s a good one [00:02:00] there. That’s real. Yeah. But he wasn’t a big time guy. Yeah. You know what, what happens is you might make a big lick. You know, I, I never made million dollar moves. I have lots of friends that did. I always said I didn’t want to be a smuggler. ’cause I was making a steady living, being a drug runner. If you brought in 40, 50,000 pounds of weed, you would come to me and then I would move it across the country and sell it in different, along with other guys like me. Having said that, so I say I’m a guy that never wanted to do a smuggling trip. I’ve done 12 of them. Yeah. Even though, you know, and you know, if you’ve been in the DEA side twelve’s a lot for somebody usually. Yeah. That’s a lot. They don’t make, there’s no longevity. Two or three trips. No. You know, I did it for 20 years. Yeah. And then finally I got busted one time in Massachusetts in 1988. We had 40,000 pounds stuck up in Canada. So a friend of mine comes to me, another friend had the 40,000 pounds up there. He couldn’t sell it. He goes, Hey, you wanna help me smuggle [00:03:00] this back into America? Which, you know, is going the wrong direction. The farther north it goes, the more money it’s worth. I would’ve taken it to Greenland for Christ’s sakes. Yeah. But, we smuggled it back in. What we did this time was obviously they, they brought a freighter or a big ship to bring the 40,000 pounds into Canada. Mm-hmm. He added, stuffed in a fish a fish packing plant in a freezer somewhere up there. And so we used the sea plane and we flew from a lake in Canada to a lake in Maine where the plane would pull up, I’d unload. Then stash it. And we really did like to get 1400 pounds. We had to go through like six or seven trips. ’cause the plane would only hold 200 and something pounds. Yeah. And a sea plane can’t land at night. It has to land during the day. Yeah. You can’t land a plane in the middle of a lake in the night, I guess yourself. Yeah. I see. Uh, and so we got, I got busted moving that load to another market and that cost, uh, [00:04:00] cost me about $80,000 in two years of fighting in court to get out of that. Yeah. Uh, but I did beat the case for illegal search and seizure. So one for the good guys. It wasn’t for the good guys. Well the constitution, he pulled me over looking for fireworks and, ’cause it was 4th of July and, yeah. The name of that chapter in the book is why I never work on a holiday. So you don’t wanna spend your holiday in jail ’cause there’s no, you can’t on your birthday. So another, the second time I got busted was in 92. So just a couple years later after, basically I was in the system for two years with the loss, you know, fighting it and that, that was for Rico. I was looking at 25 years. But, uh, but like a normal smuggling trip. I’ll tell you one, we did, I brought, I actually did my first smuggling trip. I was on the run in Jamaica from a, a case that I got named in and I was like 19 living down in Jamaica to cool out. And then my buddies came down. So we ended up bringing out 600 pounds. So that was my first tr I was about 19 or [00:05:00] 20 years old when I did my first trip. I brought out 600 pounds outta Jamaica. A friend of mine had a little Navajo and we flew it out with that, but. I’ll give you an example of a smuggling trip. So a friend of mine came to me and he wanted to load 300 kilos of Coke in Columbia and bring it into America. And he wanted to know if I knew anybody that could load him 300 kilos. So I did. I introduced him to a friend of mine that Ronnie Vest. He’s the only person you’ll appreciate this. Remember how he kept wanting to extradite all the, the guys from Columbia when we got busted, indict him? Yes. And of course, Escobar’s living in his own jail with his own exit. Yeah. You know, and yeah. So the Columbian government says, well, we want somebody, why don’t you extradite somebody to America, to Columbia? So Ronnie Vest had gotten caught bringing a load of weed outta Columbia. You know, they sent ’em back to America. So that colo, the Americans go, I’ll tell you what you want. Somebody. And Ronnie Vests got the first good friend of mine, first American to be [00:06:00] extradited to Columbia to serve time. So he did a couple years in the Columbian prison. And so he’s the one that had the cocaine connection now. ’cause he spent time in Columbia. Yeah. And you know, so we brought in 300 kilos of Coke. He actually, I didn’t load it. He got another load from somebody else. But, so in the middle of the night, you set up on a road to nowhere in the Everglades, there’s so many Floridas flat, you’ve got all these desolate areas. We go out there with four or five guys. We take, I have some of ’em here somewhere. Callum glow sticks. You know the, the, the glow sticks you break, uh, yeah. And some flashing lights throw ’em out there. Yeah. And we set up a, yeah, the pilot came in and we all laid in the woods waiting for the plane to come in. And as soon as the pilot clicks. The mic four times. It’s, we all click our mics four times and then we run out. He said to his copilot, he says, look, I mean, we lit up this road from the sky. He goes, it looks like MIA [00:07:00] behind the international airport. But it happens like that within a couple, like a minute, we’ll light that whole thing up. Me and one other guy run down the runway. It’s a lot, it’s a long run, believe me. We put out the lights, we gotta put out the center lights and then the marker lights, because you gotta have the center of the runway where the plane’s gonna land and the edge is where it can’t, right? Yeah. He pulls up, bring up a couple cars, I’m driving one of them, load the kilos in. And then we have to refuel the plane because you don’t, you know, you want to have enough fuel to get back to an FBO to your landing airport or real airport. Yeah. Not the one we made in the Everglades. Yeah. And then the trick is the car’s gotta get out of there. Yeah, before the plane takes off. ’cause when that plane takes off, you know you got a twin engine plane landing is quiet, taking off at full throttle’s gonna wake up the whole neighborhood. So once we got out of there, then they went ahead and got the plane off. And then the remaining guys, they gotta clean up the mess. We want to use this again. So we [00:08:00] wanna clean up all the wires, the radios. Mm-hmm. Pick up the fuel tanks, pick up the runway lights, and their job is to clean that off and all that’s gonna take place before the police even get down the main road. Right? Mm-hmm. That’s gonna all take place in less than 10 minutes. Wow. I mean, the offload takes, the offload takes, you can offload about a thousand pounds, which I’ve done in three minutes. Wow. But, and then refueling the plane, getting everything else cleaned up. Takes longer. Yeah. Interesting. So how many guys would, would be on that operation and how do you pay that? How do you decide who gets paid what? How much? Okay. So get it up front or, I always curious about the details, how that stuff, I don’t think I got paid enough. And I’ll be honest, it was a hell of a chance. I got 20 grand looking at 15 years if you get caught. Yeah. But I did it for the excitement. 20 grand wasn’t that much. I had my own gig making more money than that Uhhuh, you know, but I was also racing cars. I was, there’s a [00:09:00] picture of one of my race cars. Oh cool. So that costs about six, 7,000 a weekend. Yeah. And remember I’m talking about 1980s dollars. Yeah. That’s 20,000 a weekend. A weekend, yes. Yeah. And that 20,000 for a night’s work in today’s world would be 60. Yeah. Three. And I’m talking about 1985 versus, that was 40 years ago. Yeah. Um. But it’s a lot of fun and, uh, and, but it, you kind of say to yourself, what was that one step over the line? That’s why I wrote the book. I remember as a kid thinking in my twenties, man, I’ve taken one step over the line. So the full name of the book is One Step Over the Line Con Confessions of a Marijuana Mercenary. That’s me actually working for the DEA. That picture was at the time when I was working for the DEA, so the second time I got busted in 1992 was actually for the smallest amount of weed that I ever got, ever really had. It was like 80, a hundred pounds. But unfortunately it was for Rico. I didn’t know at the [00:10:00] time, but when they arrested me, I thought, oh, they only caught me with a hundred pounds. But I got charged with Rico. So I was looking at 25 years. What, how, what? Did they have some other, it must have had some other offenses that they could tie to and maybe guns and stuff or something that get that gun. No, we never used guns ever. Just other, other smuggling operations. Yeah, yeah. Me, me and my high school friend, he had moved to Ohio in 77 or 78, so he had called me one time, he was working at the Ford plant and he goes, Hey, I think I could sell some weed up here. All right. I said, come on down, I’ll give you a couple pounds. So he drives down from Ohio on his weekend off, all the way from Ohio. I gave him two pounds. He drove home, calls me back. He goes, I sold it. So I go, all right. He goes, I’m gonna get some more. So at that time, I was working for one of the largest marijuana smugglers in US History. His name was Donny Steinberg. I was just a kid, you know, like my job, part of my [00:11:00] job was to, they would gimme a Learjet. About a million or two and I jump on a Learjet and fly to the Cayman Islands. I was like 19 years old. Same time, you know, kid. Yeah, just a kid. 19 or 20 and yeah. 18, I think. And so I ended up doing that a few times. That was a lot of fun. And that’s nice to be a kid in the Learjet and they give me a million or two and they gimme a thousand dollars for the day’s work. I thought I was rich, I was, but people gotta understand that’s in that 78 money, not that’s, yeah. That was more like $10,000 for day, I guess. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It was a lot of money for an 18, 19-year-old kid. Yeah. Donnie gives me a bail. So Terry comes back from Ohio, we shoved the bale into his car. Barely would fit ’cause he had no big trunk on this Firebird. He had, he had a Firebird trans Am with the thunder black with a thunder, thunder chicken on the hood. It was on the hood. Oh cool. That was, that was a catch meow back then. Yeah. Yeah. It got it with that [00:12:00] Ford plant money. And uh, by the way, that was after that 50 pounds got up. ’cause every bail’s about 50 pounds. That’s the last he quit forward the next day. I bet. And me and him had built a 12 year, we were moving. Probably 50 tons up there over the 12 year period. You know, probably, I don’t know, anywhere from 50 to a hundred thousand pounds we would have, he must have been setting up other dealers. So among his friends, he must have been running around. He had the distribution, I was setting up the distribution network and you had the supply. I see. Yeah. I was the Florida connection. It’s every time you get busted, the cops always wanna grab that Florida connection. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You gotta go down there. I there, lemme tell you, you know, I got into this. We were living in, I was born on a farm in New Jersey, like in know Norman Rockwell, 1950s, cow pies and hay bales. And then we moved to New Orleans in 1969 and then where my dad had business and right after, not sure after that, he died when I was 13. As I say in the book, I [00:13:00] probably wouldn’t have been writing the book if my father was alive. Yeah. ’cause I probably wouldn’t have went down that road, you know? But so my mother decides in 1973 to move us to, uh, south Florida, to get away from the drugs in the CD underside of New Orleans. Yeah. I guess she didn’t read the papers. No. So I moved from New Orleans to the star, the war on where the war on drugs would start. I always say if she’d have moved me to Palo Alto, I’d be Bill Gates, but No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was so, uh, and everybody I knew was running drugs, smuggling drugs, trying to be a drug deal. I mean, I was, I had my own operation. I was upper middle level, but there were guys like me everywhere. Mm-hmm. There were guys like me everywhere, moving a thou, I mean, moving a thousand, 2000 pounds at the time was a big thing, you know? That’s, yeah. So, so about what year was that? I started in 19. 70. Okay. Three. I was [00:14:00] 16. Started selling drugs outta my mom’s house, me and my brother. We had a very good business going. And by the time I was got busted, it was 19 92. So, so you watched, especially in South Florida, you watched like where that plane could go down and go back up that at eventually the feds will come up with radar and they have blimps and they have big Bertha stuff down there to then catch those kinds of things. Yeah. Right, right. Big Bertha was the blimp. Uhhuh, uh, they put up, yeah. In the beginning you could just fly right in. We did one trip one time. This is this, my, my buddy picked up, I don’t know, 40 or 50 kilos in The Bahamas. So you fly into Fort Lauderdale and you call in like you’re gonna do a normal landing. Mm-hmm. And the BLI there. This is all 1980s, five. You know, they already know. They’re doing this, but you just call in, like you’re coming to land in Fort Lauderdale, and what you do is right before you land, you hit the tower up and you tell ’em you wanna do a [00:15:00] go around, meaning you’re not comfortable with the landing. Mm-hmm. Well, they’ll always leave you a go around because they don’t want you to crash. Yeah. And right west of the airport was a golf course, and right next to the golf course, oh, about a mile down the road was my townhouse. So we’re in the townhouse. My buddies all put on, two of the guys, put on black, get big knives, gear, and I drive to one road on the golf course and my other friend grows Dr. We drop the guys off in the golf course as the plane’s gonna do the touchdown at the airport. He says, I gotta go around. As he’s pulling up now, he’s 200 feet below the radar, just opens up the side of the plane. Mm-hmm. The kickers, we call ’em, they’re called kickers. He kicks the baskets, the ba and the guys on, on the golf court. They’re hugging trees. Yeah. You don’t wanna be under that thing. Right. You got a 200, you got maybe a 40 pound package coming in at 120 miles an hour from 200 feet up. It’ll break the bra. It’ll yeah. The [00:16:00] branches will kill you. Yeah. So they pull up, they get out, I pull back up in the pickup truck, he runs out, jumps in the back of the truck, yells, hit it. We drive the mile through the back roads to my townhouse. Get the coke in the house. My buddy rips it open with a knife. It’s and pulls out some blow. And he looks at me, he goes, Hey, let’s get outta here. And I go, where are we going? Cops come and he goes, ah, I got two tickets. No, four tickets to the Eddie Murphy concert. So we left the blow in this trunk of his car. Oh. Oh, oh man. I know. We went to Eddie Murphy about a million dollars worth of product in the trunk. Oh. And, uh, saw a great show and came back and off they went. That’s what I’m trying to point out is that’s how fast it goes down, man. It’s to do. Yeah. Right in, in 30 minutes. We got it out. Now the thing about drug deals is we always call ’em dds delayed dope deals because the smuggling [00:17:00] trip could take six months to plan. Yeah. You know, they never go, there’s no organized crime in organized crime. Yeah. No organization did it. Yeah. And then, then of course, in 1992 when I got busted and was looking at Rico, a friend of mine came up to me. He was a yacht broker. He had gotten in trouble selling a boat, and he said, Hey, I’d you like to work for the DEA. I’d done three months in jail. I knew I was looking at time, I knew I had nothing. My lawyers told me, Kenny, you either figure something out or you’re going to jail for a mm-hmm. And I just had a newborn baby. I just got married three weeks earlier and we had a newborn baby. I said, what are you crazy? I mean, I’m waiting for my wife to hear me. You know, he’s calling me on the phone. He goes, meet me for lunch. I go meet him for lunch. And he explains to me that he’s gonna, he’s got a guy in the, uh, central district in Jacksonville, and he’s a DEA agent, and I should go talk to him. And so the DEA made a deal with the Ohio police that anything that I [00:18:00] confiscated, anything that I did, any assets I got, they would get a share in as long as they released me. Yeah. To them. And, you know, it’s all about the, I hate to say this, I’m not saying that you don’t want to take drugs off the street, but if you’re the police department and you’re an agent, it’s about asset seizures. Yeah. Yeah. That’s how you fund the dr. The war on drugs. Yeah. The war begets war. You know, I mean, oh, I know, been Florida was, I understand here’s a deal. You’re like suing shit against the tide, right? Fighting that drug thing. Okay? It just keeps coming in. It keeps getting cheaper. It keeps getting more and more. You make a little lick now and then make a little lick now and then, but then you start seeing these fancy cars and all this money out there that you can get to. If you make the right score, you, you, you hit the right people, you can get a bunch of money, maybe two or three really cool cars for your unit. So then you’ll start focusing on, go after the money. I know it’s not right, but you’re already losing your shoveling shit against the tide anyhow, so just go after the goal. [00:19:00] One time I set up this hash deal for the DEA from Amsterdam. The guy brought the hash in, and I had my agent, you know, I, I didn’t set up the deal. The guy came to me and said, we have 200 kilos of hash. Can you help us sell it? He didn’t know that I was working for the DEA, he was from Europe. And I said, sure. The, the thing was, I, so in the boat ready to close the deal, now my guy is from Central. I’m in I’m in Fort Lauderdale, which is Southern District. So he goes, Hey, can you get that man to bring that sailboat up to Jacksonville? I go, buddy, he just sailed across the Atlantic. He ain’t going to Jacksonville. So the central district has to come down, or is a northern district? I can’t remember if it’s northern or central. Has to come down to the Southern district. So, you know, they gotta make phone calls. Everybody’s gotta be in Yep. Bump heads. So I’m on the boat and he calls me, he goes, Hey, we gotta act now. Yeah. And I’m looking at the mark, I go, why? He [00:20:00] goes, customs is on the dock. We don’t want them involved. So you got the two? Yeah. So I bring him up, I go, where’s the hash? He goes, it’s in the car. So we go up to the car and he opens the trunk, and I, I pull back one of the duffle bags I see. I can tell immediately it’s product. So I go like this, and all hell breaks loose, right? Yeah. I could see the two customs agents and they’re all dressed like hillbillies. They, you know. So I said to my, my handler, the next day I called them up to debrief. You know, I have to debrief after every year, everything. I goes, so what happened when customs I go, what’d they want to do? He goes, yep. They wanted to chop the boat in threes. So they’re gonna sell the boat and the 2D EA offices are gonna trade it. Yeah. Are gonna shop the money. Yeah. I remember when I registered with the DEA in, in, in the Southern district, I had to tell ’em who I was. They go, why are you working for him? Why aren’t you working for us? I’m like, buddy, I’m not in charge here. This is, you know? Yeah. I heard that many [00:21:00] times through different cases we did, where the, the local cop would say to me, why don’t you come work for us? Oh yeah. Try to steal your informant. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So how about that? So, can you get a piece of the action if they had a big case seizure? Yeah. Did they have some deal where you’d get a piece of that action there? Yep. That’s a pretty good deal. Yeah. So I would get, I, I’d get, like, if we brought down, he would always tell everybody that he needed money to buy electronics and then he would come to me and go, here’s 2000. And to the other cis, he had three guys. I saw a friend of mine, the guy that got me into the deal. Them a million dollar house or a couple million dollar house. And I saw the DEA hand him a suitcase with a million dollars cash in it. Wow. I mean, I’m sorry, with a hundred thousand cash. A hundred thousand. Okay. I was gonna say, I was thinking a million. Well, a hundred thousand. Yeah, a hundred thousand. I’ve heard that. I just didn’t have any experience with it myself. But I heard that. I saw, saw Open it up, saw money. I saw the money. It was one of those aluminum halla, Halliburton reef cases and Yeah, yeah. A [00:22:00] hundred thousand cash. But, uh, but you know, um, it’s funny, somebody once asked me out of, as a kid I wanted to be a cowboy, a race car driver, and a secret agent. Me too. Yes. Yeah. I didn’t want, I wanted to be a, I grew up on a farm, so I kind of rode a horse. I had that watched Rowdy, you got saved background as me, man. Yeah. You know, we watched, we watched, we grew up on westerns. We watched Gun Smoke, rowdy. Oh yeah. You know, uh, bananas, uh, you know, so, um. So anyway, uh, I got to raise cars with my drug money, and I guess I’m not sure if I was more of a secret agent working as a drug dealer or as the DEA, but it’s a lot of I, you know, I make jokes about it now, but it’s a lot of stress working undercover. Oh, yeah. Oh, I can’t even imagine that. I never worked undercover. I, that was not my thing. I like surveillance and putting pieces together and running sources, but man, that actual working undercover that’s gotta be nerve wracking. It’s, you know, and, and my handler was good at it, but [00:23:00] he would step out and let, here’s, I’ll tell you this. One day he calls me up and he goes, Hey, I’m down here in Fort Lauderdale. You need to come down here right now. And I’m having dinner at my house about 15 minutes away. Now he lives in Jacksonville. I go, what’s he doing in Fort Lauderdale? So I drive down to the hotel and he’s got a legal pad and a pen. He goes, my, uh, my, my seniors want to, uh, want you to proffer. You need to tell me everything you ever did. And they want me to do a proffer. And I go, I looked at him. I go, John, I can’t do that. He start, we start writing. I start telling him stuff. I stop. I go, I grew up in this town. Everybody I know I did a drug deal with from high school, I go, I would be giving you every single kid, every family, man, I grew up here. My, I’m gonna be in jail, and my wife and my one and a half year old daughter are gonna be the only people left in this town, and they’re not gonna have any support. And I just can’t do this to all my friends. Yeah. So he says, all right, puts the pen down. I knew [00:24:00] he hated paperwork, so I had a good shot. He wasn’t gonna, he goes, yeah, you hungry? I go, yeah. He goes, let’s go get a steak. And right across the street was a place called Chuck Steakhouse, which great little steak restaurant. All right. So we go over there, he goes, and he is a big guy. He goes, sit right here. I go, all right. So I sit down. I, I’m getting a free steak. I’m gonna sit about through the steak dinner, it goes. Look over my shoulder. So I do this. He goes, see the guy at the bar in the black leather jacket. I go, yeah. He goes, when I get up and walk outta here, when I clear the door, I want you to go up to him and find a talk drug deal. See what you can get out of him. I go, you want me to walk up to a complete stranger and say, he goes, I’m gonna walk out the door. When I get out the door. You’re gonna go up and say, cap Captain Bobby. That was his, he was a ca a boat captain and his nickname, his handle was Captain Bobby. And he was theoretically the next Vietnam vet that now is a smuggler, you know?[00:25:00] Yeah. And so he walks out the door and I walked out and sat with the guy at the bar and we started, I said, hi, captain Bobby sent me, I’m his right hand man, you know, to talk about. And we talked and I looked around the bar trying to see if anybody was with him. And I’m figuring, now I’m looking at the guy going, why is he so open with me? And I’m thinking, you know what? He’s wearing a leather jacket. He’s in Florida. I bet you he’s got a wire on and he’s working for customs and I’m working for the DEA, so nothing ever came of it. But you know, that was, you know, you’re sitting there eating dinner and all of a sudden, you know, look over my shoulder. Yeah. And, you know, and I’m trying to balance all that with having a newborn that’s about a year old and my wife and Yeah. Looking at 25 years. So a little bit of pressure. But, you know, hey and I understand these federal agencies, everybody’s got, everybody is, uh, uh, aggressive. Everybody is ambitious. And you just are this guy in the middle and right. And they’ll throw you to the [00:26:00] wolves in a second. Second, what have you done for a second? Right? It’s what have you done for me lately? He’s calling me up and said, Hey, I don’t got any product from you in a minute. I go, well, I’m working on it. He goes, well, you know, they’ll kick you outta the program. Yeah. But one of the things he did he was one of, he was the GS 13. So he had some, you know, he had level, you know, level 15 or whatever, you know, he was, yeah. Almost at the head of near retirement too. And he said, look, he had me, he had another guy that was a superstar, another guy. And we would work as a team and he would feed us all the leads. In other words, if David had a case, I’d be on that case. So when I went to go to go to trial or go to my final, he had 14 or 15 different things that he had penciled me in to be involved with. The biggest deal we did at the end of my two years with the DEA was we brought down the Canadian mob. They got him for 10,000 kilos of cocaine, import 10,000 kilos. It was the Hell’s Angels, the Rock something, motorcycle [00:27:00] gang, the Italian Mafia and the, and the Irish mob. Mm-hmm. And the guy, I mean, this is some badass guys. I was just a player, but. The state of Ohio, they got to fly up there and you know, I mean, no words, the dog and pony show was always on to give everybody, you know. Yes. A bite at the apple. Oh yeah. But I’ll tell you this, it’s been 33 years and the two people that I’m close to is my arresting officer in Ohio and my DEA handler in Jacksonville. The arresting officer, when he retired, he called to gimme his new cell phone. And every year or so I call him up around Christmas and say, Dennis, thank you for the opportunity to turn my life around, because I’ve got four great kids. I’ve started businesses, you know, he knows what I’ve done with my life. And the DEA handler, that’s, he’s a friend of mine. I mean, you know, we talk all the time and check on each other. And, you know, I mean, he’s, [00:28:00] they’re my friends. A lot of, not too many of the guys are left from those days that will talk to me. Yeah, probably not. And most of them are dead or in jail anyhow. For, well, a lot of ’em are, maybe not even because of you, I mean, because that’s their life. No, but a lot of them, a number of ’em turned their lives around, went into legal businesses and have done well. Yeah. So, you know, there really have, so not all of ’em, but a good share of ’em have turned, because we weren’t middle class kids. We were, my one friend was, dad was the lieutenant of the police department. The other one was the post guy. We weren’t inner city kids. Yeah. We weren’t meeting we, the drug war landed on us and we just, we were recruited into it. As young as I talk about in my book. But I mean, let’s talk about what’s going on now. Now. Yeah. And listen, I’m gonna put some statistics out there. Last year, 250,000 people were charged with cannabis. 92% for simple possession. There’s [00:29:00] people still in jail for marijuana doing life sentences. I’ve had friends do 27 years only for marijuana. No nonviolent crimes, first time offender. 22 years, 10 years. And the government is, I’ve been involved with things where the government was smuggling the drugs. I mean, go with the Iran Contra scandal that happened. We were trading guns for cocaine with the Nicaraguans in the Sandon Easterns. Yeah. Those same pilots. Gene Hassen Fus flew for Air America and Vietnam moving drugs and gun and, and guns out of Cambodia. Same guy. Air America. Yeah. The American government gave their soldiers opium in Civil War to keep ’em marching. You know, I mean, we did a deal with Lucky Luciano, where we let ’em out of prison for doing heroin exchange for Intel from, from Europe on during World War II and his, and the mob watching the docks for the, uh, cargo ships. So the government’s been intertwined in the war on drugs on two [00:30:00] sides of it. Yeah. You know, and not that it makes it right. Look, I’ve lost several friends to fentanyl that thought they were doing coke and did fentanyl or didn’t even know there was any. They just accidentally did fentanyl and it’s a horrible drug. But those boats coming out of Venezuela don’t have fentanyl on ’em. No. Get cocaine maybe. If that, and they might be, they’re probably going to Europe. Europe and they’re going to Europe. Yeah, they’re going, yeah. They’re doubt they’re going to Europe. Yeah. Yeah. And so let’s put it this way. I got busted for running a 12 year ongoing criminal enterprise. We moved probably 50 tons of marijuana. You know what? Cut me down? One guy got busted with one pound and he turned in one other guy that went all the way up to us. So if you blew up those boats, you know, you’re, you need the leads. You, you can’t kill your clients. Yeah. You know, how are you gonna get, not gonna get any leads outta that. Well, that’s, uh, well, I’m just saying [00:31:00] you right. The, if they followed the boat to the mothership Yeah. They’d have the whole crew and all the cargo. Yeah. You know, it’s, those boats maybe have 200 kilos on ’em. A piece. Yeah. The mothership has six tons. Yeah. That’s it. It’s all about the, uh, the, um, uh, optics. Optics, yeah. That’s the word. It’s all about the optics and, and the politic, you know, in, in some way it may deter some people, but I don’t, I I, I’ve never seen anything, any consequence. In that drug business, there’s too much money. There is no consequence that is really ever gonna deter people from smuggling drugs. Let me put it this way, except for a few people like yourself, there’s a few like yourself that get to a certain age and the consequence of going to prison for a long time may, you know, may bring you around or the, all the risk you’re taking just, you know, you can’t take it anymore, but you gotta do something. But no, well, I got busted twice. Consequence just don’t matter. There is no consequence that’s gonna do anything. Here’s why. And you’re right. [00:32:00] One is how do you get in a race car and not think you’re gonna die? Because you always think it’s gonna happen to somebody else. Exactly. And the drug business is the same. It’s, I’m not, it’s not gonna happen to me tonight. And those guys in Venezuela, they have no electricity. They have no water. Yeah. They got nothing. They have a chance to go out and make a couple thousand dollars and change their family’s lives. Yeah. Or they’re being, they’re got family members in the gar, in the gangs that are forcing them to do it. Yeah. It’s the war on drugs has kind of been a political war and an optics war from the seventies. I mean, it’s nobody, listen, I always say, I say in my book, nobody loved it more than the cops, the lawyers and the politicians. No shit. In Fort Lauderdale, they had nothing, and all of a sudden the drug wars brought night scopes and cigarette boats and fancy cars and new offices. Yes. And new courthouses, and new jails and Yep. I don’t have an answer. Yeah. The problem is, [00:33:00] you know what I’m gonna say, America, Mexico doesn’t have a drug problem. Columbia doesn’t have a drug problem. No. America has a drug problem. Those are just way stations to get the product in. In the cover of my book, it says, you don’t sell drugs, you supply them like ammunition in a war. It’s a, people, we, how do we fix this? How do we get the American people? Oh, by the way, here’s a perfect example. Marijuana is legal in a majority of states. You don’t see anybody smuggling marijuana in, I actually heard two stories of people that are smuggling marijuana out of the country. I’ve heard that. I’ve heard that. Yeah. They’re growing so much marijuana in America that it’s worth shipping to other places, either legally or illegally. Yeah. And, and, and you know, the biggest problem is like, what they’ll do is they’ll set up dispensaries, with the green marijuana leaf on it, like it’s some health [00:34:00] dispensary. But they, they just won’t it’ll be off the books. It just won’t have the licensing and all that. And, you know, you run that for a while and then maybe you get caught, maybe you don’t. And so it’s, you know, it’s, well, the other thing is with that dispensary license. It’s highly regulated, but you can get a lot of stuff in the gray. So there’s three markets now. There’s the white market, which is the legal Yeah. Business that, you know, you can buy stocks in the companies and whatnot. Yeah. There’s the black market, which is the guy on the street that Kenny Bear used to be. And then there’s the gray market where people are taking black market product and funneling it through the white markets without intact, you know, the taxes and the licensing and the, the, uh, testing for, you know, you have to test marijuana for pesticides. Metals, yeah. And, and the oils and the derivatives. You know, there’s oil and there’s all these derivatives. They have to be tested. Well, you could slide it through the gray market into the white market. So I know it’s a addiction, you know, whether it’s gambling or sex or Right. Or [00:35:00] there’s always gonna be people who are gonna take advantage and make money off of addiction. The mafia, you know, they refined it during the prohibition. All these people that drink, you know, and a lot, admittedly, a lot of ’em are social drinkers, but awful lot of ’em work. They had to have it. And so, you know, then gambling addiction. And that’s, uh, well here’s what I say. If it wasn’t for Prohibition Vegas, the mob never would’ve had the power and the money to build Vegas. No, they wouldn’t have anything. So when you outlaw something that people want, you’re creating a, a business. If, if somebody, somebody said the other day, if you made all the drugs legal in America, would that put out, put the drug cartels in Mexico and Columbia and out of business? Yeah, maybe. How about this statistic? About 20 to 30,000 people a year die from cocaine overdose. Most have a medical condition. Unknown unbe, besides, they’re not ODing on cocaine. Yeah. Alright. 300,000 people a year die from obesity. Yeah. And [00:36:00] another, almost four, I think 700, I don’t know, I might be about to say a half a million die from alcohol and tobacco. Mm-hmm. I could be low on that figure. So you’re, you probably are low. Yeah. I could be way more than that. But on my point is we’re regulating alcohol, tobacco, and certainly don’t care how much food you eat, and why don’t we have a medical system that takes care of these people. I don’t know that the answer if I did, but I’m just saying it, making this stuff more valuable and making bigger crime syndicates doesn’t make sense. Yeah. See a addiction is such a psychological, spiritual. Physical maldy that people can’t really separate the three and they don’t, people that, that aren’t involved and then getting some kind of recovery, they can’t understand why somebody would go back and do it again after they maybe were clean for a while. You know, that’s a big common problem with putting money into the treatment center [00:37:00] business. Yep. Because people do go to treatment two and three times and, and maybe they never get, some people never, they’ll chase it to death. No, and I can’t explain it. And you know, I, I’ll tell you what, I have my own little podcast. It’s called One Step Over the Line. Mm-hmm. And I released a show last night about a friend of mine, his name is Ron Black. You can watch it or any of your listeners can watch it, and Ron was, went down to the depths of addiction, but he did it a long time ago when they really spent a lot of time and energy to get, you know, they really put him through his system. 18 months, Ron got out clean and he came from a good family. He was raised right. He didn’t, you know, he had some trauma in his life. He had some severe trauma as a child, but he built one of the largest addiction. He has a company that he’s, he ran drug counseling services. He’s been in the space 20 or 30 years, giving back. He has a company that trains counselors to be addiction specialists. He has classes for addiction counseling. He become certified [00:38:00] members. He’s run drug rehabs. He donates to the, you know, you gotta wa if you get a chance to go to my podcast, one step over the line and, and watch this episode we did last night. Probably not the most exciting, you know, like my stories. Yeah. But Ronnie really did go through the entire addiction process from losing everything. Yeah. And pulling himself out. But he was also had a lot of family. You know, he had the right steps. A lot of these kids I was in jail with. Black and brown, inter or inner city youth, whatever, you know, their national, you know, race or nationality, they don’t have a chance. Yeah. They’re in jail with their fathers, their cousins, their brothers. Mm-hmm. The law, the war on drugs, and the laws on drugs specifically affect them. And are they, I remember thinking, is this kid safer in this jail with a cement roof over his head? A, a hot three hot meals and a bed than being back on the [00:39:00] streets? Yeah. He was, I mean. Need to, I used to do a program working with, uh, relatives of addicts. And so this mother was really worried about her son gonna go to jail next time he went to court. And he, she had told me enough about him by then. I said, you know, ma’am, I just wanna tell you something he’s safer doing about a year or so in jail than he is doing a year or so on the streets. Yeah. And she said, she just looked at me and she said, you know, you’re right. You’re right. So she quit worried about and trying to get money and trying to help him out because she was just, she was killing him, getting him out and putting him back on the streets. This kid was gonna die one way or the other, either shot or overdosed or whatever. But I’ll tell you another story. My best friend growing up in New Orleans was Frankie Monteleone. They owned the Monte Hotel. They own the family was worth, the ho half a billion dollars at the time, maybe. And Frankie was a, a diabetic. And he was a, a junk. He was a a because of the diabetic needles. [00:40:00] He kind of became a cocaine junkie, you know, shooting up coke. You know, I guess the needle that kept him alive was, you know, I, you know, again the addict mentality. Right, right. You can’t explain it. So he got, so he got busted trying to sell a couple grams. They made it into a bigger case by mentioning more product conspiracy. His father said, got a, the, the father made a deal to give him a year and a half in club Fed. Yeah. He could, you know, get a tan, practice his tennis, learn chess come out and be the heir to one of the richest families in the world, all right. He got a year and a half. Frankie did 10 years in prison. ’cause every time he got out, he got violated. Oh yeah. I remember going to his federal probation officer to get my bicycle. He was riding when he got violated. Mm-hmm. And I said, I said, sir, he was in a big building in Fort Lauderdale or you know, courthouse office building above the courthouse. I go, there’s so many cops, lawyers, [00:41:00] judges, that are doing blow on a Saturday night that are smoking pot, that are drinking more than they should all around us. You’ve got a kid that comes from one of the wealthiest families in America that’s never gonna hurt another citizen. He’s just, he’s an addict, not a criminal. He needs a doctor, not a jail. And you know what the guy said to me? He goes but those people aren’t on probation. I, I know. He did. 10 years in and out of prison. Finally got out, finally got off of paper, didn’t stop doing drugs. Ended up dying in a dentist chair of an overdose. Yeah. So you, you never fixed them, you just imprisoned somebody that would’ve never heard another American. Yeah, but we spent, it cost us a lot of money. You know, I, I, I dunno what the answer is. The war on drugs is, we spent over, we spent 80, let’s say since 1973. The, the DEA got started in 73, let’s say. Since that time we’ve, what’s that? 70 something years? Yeah. We’ve done [00:42:00] no, uh, 50, 60. Yeah. 50 something. Yeah. Been 50. We spent a trillion dollars. We spent a trillion dollars. The longest and most expensive war in American history is against its own people. Yeah. Trying to save ’em. I know it’s cra it’s crazy. Yeah, I know. And it, over the years, it just took on this life of its own. Yeah. And believe me, there was a, there’s a whole lot of young guys like you only, didn’t go down the drug path, but you like that action and you like getting those cool cars and doing that cool stuff and, and there’s TV shows about it as part of the culture. And so you’re like, you got this part of this big action thing that’s going on that I, you know, it ain’t right. I, I bigger than all of us. I don’t know. I know. All I like to say I had long hair and some New Orleans old man said to me when I was a kid, he goes, you know why you got that long hair boy? And this is 1969. Yeah, 70. I go, why is that [00:43:00] sir? He goes, ’cause the girls like it. The girls didn’t like it. You wouldn’t have it. I thought about it. I’m trying to be a hippie. I was all this, you know, rebel. I thought about it. I go, boy, he’s probably right. Comes down to sex. Especially a young boy. Well, I mean, I’m 15 years old. I may not even how you look. Yeah. I’m not, listen, at 15, I probably was only getting a second base on a whim, you know? Yeah. But, but they paid attention to you. Yeah. Back in those days you, you know, second base was a lot. Yeah. Really. I remember. Sure. Not as, not as advanced as they are today. I don’t think so. But anyway, that’s my story. Um, all right, Ken b this has been fun. It’s been great. I I really had a lot of fun talking to you. And the book is 1, 1, 1 took over the line. No one, no, no. That’s a Friday slip. One step over that. But that was what I came up with the name. I, I believe you, I heard that song. Yeah. I go, I know, I’m, I’ve just taken one step over the line. So that’s where the book actually one step over the line confessions of a marijuana mercenary. [00:44:00] And I’ll tell you, if your listeners go to my website, one step over the line.com, go to the tile that says MP three or the tile that says digital on that website. Put in the code one, the number one step, and then the number 100. So one step 100, they can get a free, they can download a free copy. Yeah, I got you. Okay. Okay. I appreciate it. That’d be good. Yeah, they’ll enjoy it. Yeah. And on the website there’s pictures of the boats, the planes. Yeah. The runways the weed the, all the pictures are there, family pictures, whatever. Well, you had a, uh, a magical, quite a life, the kinda life that they, people make movies about and everybody watches them and says, oh, wow, that’s really cool. But they didn’t have to do it. They didn’t have to pay that price. No. Most of the people think, the funny thing is a lot of people think I’m, I’m, I’m lying or I’m exaggerating. Yeah. I’m 68 years old. Yeah. There’s no reason for me to lie. And you know, the DEA is, I’m telling that. I’m just telling it the way it [00:45:00] happened. I have no reason to tell Phish stories at this point in my life. No, I believe it. No, no, no. It’s all true. All I’ve been, I’ve been around to a little bit. I, I could just talk to you and know that you’re telling the truth here I am. So, it’s, it’s a great story and Ken, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you for having me. It’s been a very much a, it is been a real pleasure. It’s, it’s nice to talk to someone that knows both sides of the coin. Okay. Take care. Uh, thanks again. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Maureen Tkacik makes her debut on This Is Hell! to talk about her new investigative piece for American Prospect, “The Narco Terrorist Elite”, which goes into how narco terrorists have historically operated with right wing Latin American dictatorships and US imperialism and how Marco Rubio's recent actions within the Trump administration might become a new version of Iran-Contra. https://prospect.org/2025/12/23/narco-terrorist-elite-rubio-south-america-iran-contra/ We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Krystal and Emily discuss Europeans freak over Greenland, Saagar loses it over OnlyFans visas, Epstein Iran Contra explained. Blowback Pod: https://blowback.show/ To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: www.breakingpoints.comMerch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brown & MIT suspect located thanks to a tip from a Reddit user. The Epstein Files drop includes Bill Clinton & Michael Jackson photos but has hundreds of pages blacked out. Drop Site uncovers Epstein's ties to the Iran-Contra affair. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/TYT and use code TYT and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Hosts: Yasmin Khan & Cenk Uygur SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE ☞  https://www.youtube.com/@TheYoungTurks FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK  ☞   https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER  ☞       https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM  ☞  https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK  ☞          https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger PictureCanada just folded and is now doing what Trump wants in regards to steel and aluminum, Trump has all the leverage. The Dept of Labor confirms that Americans were being replaced in the work field. Trump is set to push homeownership thru the roof with a  50 year mortgage. Trump has the solution to the affordability crisis that the [CB] created, get rid of the [CB]. Trump is dismantling the [DS] world wide. The criminal syndicate was setup in many countries to make it virtually impossible to dismantle. But it is being done through peace through strength. The [DS] system is being strangled and soon those who have been held captive will be removed or come to heel. Trump is now setting the stage to bring the [DS] to justice. He has now voided out 92% of Biden orders, which means judges, other nominees will be removed. Justice is coming and the [DS] players are panicking. Economy Interesting Development – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Announces New Limits on Foreign Steel and Aluminum, With New 25% Tariff on Steel Derivative Components   Prime Minister Mark Carney is conceding defeat to President Trump and positioning the Canadian economy to be compliant with U.S-Mexico trade regulations. However, Carney is not saying that, indeed he cannot; he's spent over a year telling Canadians that President Trump's trade and economic demands are not going to be accepted by Canada.  However, what he is factually doing is exactly what President Trump has demanded. Prime Minister Carney is saying he is restricting Steel and Aluminum imports from non-free trade agreement countries, and he is lowering the tonnage of Steel and Aluminum that will be permitted for import.  His claim is that this approach will help drive up “domestic demand” for Canadian Steel and Aluminum, but that's ancillary to the real objective. President Trump has demanded Canada stop importing cheap steel and aluminum mostly from China; including manufactured component goods that are made with steel and aluminum (think autos).  Canada would not stop, because they could not stop.  Their manufacturing base, green energy and climate change economy, is more of a component assembly system now. So, President Trump hit Canada with a 35% tariff, and things got ugly.  In June Trump raised the tariff to 50%. The back and forth has gone on all year. Carney now announces restrictions on imported steel and aluminum, as well as restrictions on imported derivative goods that come from steel and aluminum, in combination with a spending plan to bolster the Canadian steel and aluminum manufacturing base.  This ends up shifting the Canadian industrial sector to making steel and aluminum products without Chinese import dependency. Source: theconservativetreehouse.com https://twitter.com/USDOL/status/1994841467345670569?s=20 https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1994556411439976468?s=20 (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1994918010197278811?s=20 https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent/status/1994478437042438573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1994478437042438573%7Ctwgr%5Ee930cbbc1182e7871f84fda0a85e43c6c0f2ca9c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F11%2Ftreasury-working-cut-benefits-money-transfers-illegal-aliens%2F   are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens, covering the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Saver's Match Credit. https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1994064168115478599?s=20 https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1994844057110262116?s=20   Prices and Taxes are DOWN. Education is being brought back to the States (where it belongs!), and our Military, and Southern Border, is the strongest they have ever been. The USA is respected again, respected like never before. All of this was brought about by Strong Leadership and TARIFFS, without which we would be a poor and pathetic laughingstock again. Evil, American hating Forces are fighting us at the United States Supreme Court. Pray to God that our Nine Justices will show great wisdom, and do the right thing for America! Political/Rights https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1994796365461758352?s=20   public that illegal entry violates 8 U.S.C. §1325 and reentry after deportation violates §1326, a felony the left avoids acknowledging. He said 60–70% of illegal aliens arrested in immigration sweeps carry prior criminal or immigration histories. With DHS logging over 527,000 deportations in 2025, Trump's enforcement surge is targeting high-risk offenders. Bovino said the radical left simply ignores the law because it undermines their narrative. DOGE Trump White House Unleashes Media Bias Tracker to Crush Fake News Narratives  The Trump administration has launched a brand-new “Media Bias Tracker” directly on the White House website. Unveiled on Friday, this tool is designed to call out and document the endless stream of false, misleading, and biased stories peddled by outlets that have spent years attacking President Donald Trump and his agenda. According to the White House, the tracker serves as a “record of the media's false and misleading stories flagged by The White House.” The tracker highlights “offenses” from major news publications, including an “Offender Hall of Shame” and a leaderboard ranking the worst culprits in spreading misinformation. Described as “a race to the bottom,” this feature ranks outlets based on repeat offenses. Topping the Hall of Shame list is The Washington Post, followed by rebranded leftist mouthpieces like MSNBC (now MS NOW), CBS News, CNN, The New York Times, Politico, and The Wall Street Journal. In response to their top spot, a spokesperson for the Washington Post said, “The Washington Post is proud of its accurate, rigorous journalism.” The page also features a “Media Offender of the Week,” currently blasting outlets for exaggerating Trump's calls to hold Democrats accountable for their seditious behavior. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/newstart_2024/status/1994506579660689812?s=20  entire Silicon Valley “tech wife mafia” and how they were used. Her exact words (full clip attached): “I don't think many of the tech mafia wives realize… they were used to set the groundwork for what Klaus Schwab calls The Great Reset. Their money especially was being conscripted through a network of NGO advisors, Hollywood, Davos, and their own companies. A really small group of people… completely blind to how their groundwork is being used to enable these Great Reset policies.” Then she turns the knife inward: “These women find their meaning through philanthropic work. I really believed I was helping Black communities and indigenous communities rise up. But now the problems have gotten worse. Crime worse. Mental health worse. The whole model is broken. At the end of the day they always go: ‘But climate change.' Social justice + climate change — it gets progressive women 100% of the time.” She even says many now believe the biggest “climate change issues” are actually geoengineering issues. This isn't some random podcast bro. This is a woman who lived in the mansions, sat on the boards, flew private to Davos parties… and is now saying: “We were the useful idiots.” Geopolitical https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1994936233878065399?s=20   with a legally possessed shotgun at a Florida shooting range, a British man was arrested, locked in a cell overnight, interrogated, and lectured that he “must understand how posts make people feel.” Police seized his computer and phone, wiping out his ability to work. Weeks later, all charges were quietly dropped because they were baseless from the start. Critics say the ordeal proves the UK has turned social media into a surveillance trap where innocent people are punished by process alone. https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1994781531244474604?s=20   terrorizing AfD. Antifa extremists descended on an AfD youth event in Giessen, attacking attendees and Bundestag member Julian Schmidt in a coordinated effort to intimidate the rising populist party. Germany has faced a wave of Antifa terror: doxxing AfD addresses, firebombing cars and threatening families. Mike Benz says Antifa is part of a transnational Marxist network weaponized since Trump's 2016 victory to shield globalist interests by attacking democratic populist movements across the West. Violence increases as AfD gains support. War/Peace   roads. His chief opponent is Rixi Moncada, who says Fidel Castro is her idol. Normally, the smart people of Honduras, would reject her, and elect Tito Asfura, but the Communists are trying to trick the people by running a third Candidate, Salvador Nasralla. Nasralla is no friend of Freedom. A borderline Communist, he helped Xiomara Castro by running as her Vice President. He won, and helped Castro win. Then he resigned, and is now pretending to be an anti-Communist only for the purposes of splitting Asfura's vote. The people of Honduras must not be tricked again. The only real friend of Freedom in Honduras is Tito Asfura. Tito and I can work together to fight the Narcocommunists, and bring needed aid to the people of Honduras. I cannot work with Moncada and the Communists, and Nasralla is not a reliable partner for Freedom, and cannot be trusted. I hope the people of Honduras vote for Freedom and Democracy, and elect Tito Asfura, President!   potential, of Honduras! Additionally, I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly. This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success. VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA FOR PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE HONDURAS GREAT AGAIN! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/1994907658021998933?s=20   a crisis. International law has no force here. Your authority, mine, and that of the scholars you cite sits on the same level: none. It is all gatekeeping dressed as expertise. The video urging people to ignore “illegal orders” made your intent clear. You stretch the term until it covers anything that suits your goal of weakening the security apparatus and pushing Trump out of office. People see that. They see you. That you all are walking free and making those posts trying to advance a color revolution is the ultimate proof that Trump is not an authoritarian… he is far too lenient. https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/1994807665147744671?s=20 https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/1994552598142038358?s=20  intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.” The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization. The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them. Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command. Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narco-terrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back. https://twitter.com/TimOnPoint/status/1994570386239852571?s=20   is probably closer to the SECWAR's office in the Pentagon. The Washington Post begins writing the story. C) a Soros-funded NGO puts billboards up encouraging military personnel to report unlawful orders… although there are no unlawful orders identified. D) out of nowhere, the Seditious Six – which includes one presidential hopeful and one former IC member who had direct involvement in the original attempt to destroy Trump – delivers to social media a “don't give up the ship” video – a public service announcement to all personnel to refuse unlawful orders. *** the video was funded and produced a Soros funded NGO. E) Senator Slotkin, the former CIA ghoul, goes on the news and is very careful to state that she can't identify any unlawful orders that have been given. F) boom, the WaPo delivers the story claiming unlawful orders. G) Friday evening, everyone on the left hits social media – with paid amplification – about the unlawful orders. H) the Sunday shows will be filled with calls for war crimes charges, impeachments, and resignations. All a coincidence, right? None of it was coordinated, right? Not all civil wars happen on the battlefield. https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1994553202767700041?s=20  https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1994957376764424644?s=20   House through a number of channels, with ongoing discussions about what future communication between the two countries might look like, multiple administration officials told CNN. Venezuela Issues Statement After President Trump Orders All Aircraft to Avoid Regime-Controlled Airspace   In Venezuela's statement, the regime accused the United States of attempting to “intimidate Venezuela” and framed Trump's announcement as an attack on Latin America as a whole. The press release ignored every factual concern raised by U.S. intelligence, including increased military involvement in cocaine transport and the regime's long-standing partnership with the Cartel of the Suns. Today's outburst from the Maduro regime is another example of Venezuela deflecting blame while its role in regional crime expands. Meanwhile, President Trump's position is clear: protect international aviation, disrupt drug networks, and stop allowing a criminal regime to use its airspace as a staging ground. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/GhostEzraQ/status/1994769781073867174?s=20   Pentagon for decades. Who do you think really armed the Venezuelan “gangs” that flooded swing states right before the election? Who flew the untraceable Gulfstreams full of product and kids out of Maturín and Maiquetía while Biden looked the other way? Same people who ran Iran-Contra, fast-forward 40 years. Trump isn't just closing airspace, he's cutting the oxygen to the deep-state money laundering superhighway that's been funding black sites, color revolutions, and child trafficking networks across the hemisphere. Land operations begin “VERY SOON.” Translation: The white hats are moving in to seize the servers, the tunnels, and the ledgers the mockingbird media swore didn't exist. The storm over Caracas is about to expose everything. https://twitter.com/xAlphaWarriorx/status/1994912948201165251?s=20   just talk…he'll detonate his/deep states entire network. Many are struggling with discernment, but the strategic reality is simple: Maduro hasn't controlled Venezuela for years. The deep state held the reins. Then the guardians caught him, flipped him and weaponized the façade of control against the deep state. They may publicly acknowledge it; they may bury it. But the aftermath will speak for itself. In the days immediately following his surrender or “death,” watch the information floodgates burst wide open…especially involving U.S. elections. The timing will be surgical. The disclosures will be coordinated. And the narrative collapse will be unmistakable. Zelensky’s Sacked Top Aide ‘Escapes’ To Front-Line To ‘Hide’ From Corruption Investigators  Andriy Yermak, the man who until just over 24 hours ago was Zelensky’s right hand man and the president’s top most powerful aid as chief of staff, and Ukraine’s appointed chief negotiator with the US on the peace process, is going to the front lines, apparently to “fight”. After his home and offices were raided by Ukraine’s anti-corruption investigators Friday related to the ongoing massive energy sector kickback scandal, Yermak announced by text message to The New York Post, “I'm going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals.” He followed with, “I am an honest and decent person.”  According to the lengthy analysis [emphasis ZH]:  Zelensky's fixer, enforcer, gatekeeper, and indispensable ally, isn't a “corruption scandal.” It's Washington slapping the table. NABU, the U.S.-trained attack dog of Ukrainian politics, didn't raid the Presidential Office by accident.It raided to remind Zelensky that the war isn't his to command, the peace process isn't his to veto, and the leash around Bankova Street is held in Washington, not Kiev and certainly not European chihuahuas. Because the real story isn't Yermak's resignation. The real story is the West turning on itself over how to end a war Russia has already won.      Source: thegatewaypundit.com Ukrainian Delegation Arrives in the US To Meet Secretary Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner for Peace Talks  Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday (29) that a peace talks delegation was on its way to the United States. The Ukrainian team, now headed by former Defense Minister and Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, will continue talks today (30) on an agreement to end the war with Russia. Zelensky expects that these talks, to be held tomorrow (30) to develop upon the previous meeting in Geneva. “U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will meet Ukrainian officials on Sunday in Florida, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.” Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1994835005357576325?s=20 https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1994938711729938444?s=20 Medical/False Flags https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1994907732890325212?s=20   let millions of illegal aliens pour into the country? But sure, keep acting like Americans are too stupid to notice what's actually going on. You really think people are that dumb, don't you? https://twitter.com/BretWeinstein/status/1994904606913302874?s=20  medicine, the debut of a lethal new vaccine platform, shredding of the First Amendment, and robotic pens used to brazenly pardon criminal masterminds—all lurk just below the surface. Thanks to @VPrasadMDMPH for stepping up.    win the Midterm Elections in RECORD NUMBERS. I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT. TALK LOUDLY AND PROUDLY! President DJT https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1994939951293895094?s=20 [DS] Agenda  President Trump's Plan https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1994543710437007421?s=20   DC) is the basis of the contempt investigation. Kash Patel says all contents of FBI Trump-Russia burn bags will be made public FBI Director Kash Patel says the contents of the burn bags containing Trump-Russia documents discovered at the FBI building will be made public one way or another. “You're going to see everything we found in that room in one way or another, be it through investigation, public trial, or disclosure to the Congress,” Patel told The Epoch Times in an interview with reporter Jan Jekielek that will air Saturday. The bureau said that the classified information was stashed away in a room at FBI Headquarters and was related to Crossfire Hurricane and also other FBI inquiries into President Donald Trump and his allies. Patel previously said that the FBI had found “several bags” containing evidence related to the Russiagate investigation. One electronic communication made public by the Justice Department in court filings related to the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey earlier this month indicated the FBI began a preliminary investigation into the discovery this summer. Source: justthenews.com https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1994913285259272493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1994913285259272493%7Ctwgr%5Ef8c44fa6520e3b2f5c1b1f5de5158fa619710e1c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fnick-arama%2F2025%2F11%2F29%2Fpass-the-popcorn-kash-patel-has-intriguing-news-about-comey-case-and-those-burn-bags-n2196663   tuned for right after Thanksgiving. And you’ll see multiple responses…” @FBIDirectorKash https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/1994967913636528531?s=20 https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1994582862176149809?s=20  fundraisers. Limiting events. Stage-managing appearances. Reducing his workload. Avoiding interviews. Even recruiting Hollywood directors Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to help with the State of the Union. They controlled everything, including who could see him. This wasn’t a presidency. It was a production. The 91-page committee report found Biden’s “inner circle” took steps to “meticulously stage-manage” his public appearances, lighten his private workload, and block lawmakers from talking to him directly. Three key aides took the Fifth Amendment when questioned, including White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who refused to answer: “Were you ever told to lie about the president’s health?” Former Chief of Staff Jeff Zients admitted under oath he didn’t even know who operated the autopen that signed approximately 92% of Biden’s documents. Trump has now declared all autopen-signed executive actions “NULL AND VOID” and threatened Biden with perjury charges if he claims he authorized them. The same people who called you a conspiracy theorist for questioning Biden’s fitness were stage-managing his every movement. They knew. They all knew. And they lied to your face for four years. TIMESTAMPS: 0:22 – Panicked Donor Calls Chief of Staff Immediately After Biden Fundraiser 1:33 – Zients Confession: “Age is the Most Difficult Issue” 2:37 – Why Spielberg and Katzenberg Were Secretly Brought In 5:30 – The Makeup and “Discipline” Strategy to Hide Biden’s Decline 7:05 – The Real Reason Biden Dodged Super Bowl Interview 9:58 – Staff Ordered to Reduce His Steps After Multiple Falls Source:   directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. Thank you for your attention to this matter! https://twitter.com/JoeLang51440671/status/1994860387108340010?s=20 (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");