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Moe Tkacik joins us to talk about her important article,  “The Narco-Terrorist Elite: Why is Marco Rubio so hell-bent on making Iran-Contra again?”. American Exception followers on Patreon get first access to new episodes, and paid subscribers enjoy 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 We are also on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@americanexception9407 Special thanks to: Dana Chavarria, production Casey Moore, graphics Michelle Boley, animated intro Mock Orange, music

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.

Durante décadas, Hugh Hefner fue vendido como el símbolo de la liberación sexual. Pero detrás de las fiestas de la Mansión Playboy se ocultaba una oscura red de abuso, drogas, chantaje y cámaras ocultas. En este episodio explosivo descubrimos cómo el fundador de Playboy tenía cuentas en Castle Bank, una entidad controlada por la CIA para financiar operaciones secretas con dinero del narcotráfico. Exploramos las conexiones entre la Mansión y depredadores como Bill Cosby y Roman Polanski, las muertes sospechosas que la rodearon, y cómo el escándalo Iran-Contra demuestra que el Estado usó drogas para financiar guerras clandestinas. ¿Fue Playboy una pieza del aparato de inteligencia estadounidense? ¿O simplemente un nido de monstruos protegidos por el poder? Prepárate para descubrir que la verdad es más extraña —y más perturbadora— que cualquier teoría conspirativa. Y además... Ciencia de Vanguardia, con Pablo Fuente. Cuentos Fantásticos: El espejo y la máscara, de Jorge Katz. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Missed signals are costly; misplaced confidence is worse. We open by unpacking the concrete indicators that war planners watch—carrier deployments, airspace changes, and last‑minute strike deliberations—and what they tell us about the real likelihood of a U.S. hit on Iran. From there, the conversation widens to a quieter battlefield: development frameworks that trade normalization for access. Our guest, Matt Wolfson of the Libertarian Institute, explains how the Isaac Accords mirror the Abraham Accords across Latin America, offering water tech, finance, and modernization while pulling states into a specific geopolitical lane. We trace how these packages play out on the ground—smart cities and smart villages that promise efficiency but often centralize control, displace farmers, and refit local economies around external capital. The throughline is leverage: funding and technology become tools to align foreign policy, not just build infrastructure. Tying this to current flashpoints, we connect Venezuela's isolation and Iran's containment to a paired strategy that narrows options for countries considering alternative blocs. Whether or not missiles fly, the architecture of influence expands through boards, grants, and MOUs. Personalities and networks add sharp edges. Reports pointing to Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller as key drivers reflect long-standing alliances among neoconservatives, Zionist donors, and anti-communist exile circles, stretching from Iran-Contra to today. We weigh that ideological push against a president's resource-first instincts and aversion to quagmires, a tension that explains dramatic reversals and transactional messaging. The big takeaway: sovereignty can erode by clause and contract as surely as by cruise missile. If we care about costs and consequences, we need to scrutinize the financing vehicles and “nonprofit” corridors that precede the headlines. If this breakdown sharpened your lens, follow the show, share it with a friend who tracks foreign policy, and leave a review with the one question you want answered next. Your feedback shapes what we tackle in upcoming episodes.

An Acid Western about a 19th century American mercenary overthrowing the government of Nicaragua is one of the angriest farces ever committed to film, reflecting on not only the historical attrocities, but also the then on-going attrocities tied to the U.S. Iran-Contra scandals. It's the film that killed director Alex Cox's chances at a mainstream career, but what a way to go. Starring Ed Harris, Richard Masur, René Auberjonois, Peter Boyle, Miguel Sandoval, and Marlee Matlin. Written by Rudy Wurlitzer. Directed by Alex Cox. Music by Joe Strummer.

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

The year is 1992, the film is Bob Roberts... a political mockumentary satire. The director, first-time filmmaker (and star) Tim Robbins. And it's also the first film role for a lovable gent named Jack Black. We dig into the parallels between Bob Roberts and present day American politics and consider the right wing folk songs that were, at one point, comedic in their absurdity. Plus, we get into it with the MouthGarf Report, and play a nice round of I See What You Did There.Additional Sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Robertshttps://www.cracked.com/article_40869_when-tim-robbins-tried-and-failed-to-be-the-most-controversial-snl-host.htmlPlease give us a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts! Want to ask us a question? Talk to us! Email debutbuddies@gmail.comListen to the archives of Kelly and Chelsea's awesome horror movie podcast, Never Show the Monster.Get some sci-fi from Spaceboy Books.Get down with Michael J. O'Connor and the Cold Family and check out his new compilation The Best of the Bad Years 2005 - 2025Next time: First Attempt at Time Travel

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.

Fentanyl WMD: Trump's War Drums in Venezuela – Iraq Lies, Iran-Contra Echoes, and Deep State Conspiracies Unleashed   Today, we deep dive into President Trump's bombshell executive order from December 15, 2025, declaring illicit fentanyl and its precursors a "weapon of mass destruction." Yeah, WMDs. And with fresh news breaking as of December 30, 2025, things are heating up fast—strikes on Venezuelan soil, escalating tensions, and wild new conspiracy theories swirling. This ain't just about drugs; it's borders, cartels, regimes, and potential wars. We're covering implications for Mexico and Venezuela, comparisons to Bush's Iraq WMD lies and the Reagan-Bush Iran-Contra mess, and every conspiracy out there.   Web Site: www.DontTreadonMerica.com https://linktr.ee/DontTreadonMerica Email the show: Donq@donttreadonmerica.com DTOM Store (Promo code DTOM for 10% off) Sponsors: www.makersmark.com www.NordVPN.com  Promo Code: DTOM www.alppouch.com/DTOM www.dubby.gg Promo code: DTOM Social Media:   Don't Tread on Merica TV   DTOM on Facebook   DTOM on X    DTOM on TikTok    DontTreadonMericaTV   DTOM on Instagram    DTOM on YouTube  

Dimitri and Khalid explore the later career of chief cyberculture impresario Stewart Brand from the early 1970s to today, including: Fred Turner's 2004 book "From Counterculture to Cyberculture" highlighting tensions between the New Left and the "New Communalists"; Stewart Brand running the livestream on the Mother of All Demos with SRI computer pioneer Douglas Engelbart in 1968; predicting and championing the “personal computer” revolution in Rolling Stone in 1972; Brand's late ‘70s obsessions with CIA suslord Gregory Bateson and orbital space colonies; launching the WELL (the first self-described ‘online community') with Larry Brilliant and throwing the first Hackers' Conference with John Brockman in 1985; how Grateful Dead lyricist/Mormon cattle ranching heir John Perry Barlow shitposted his way to cyberpunk stardom and CIA consultancy gigs on the WELL; Brand's fateful run-in with MIT Media Lab founder/brother of an Iran-Contra mass murderer Nicholas Negroponte; chief Brand acolyte Kevin Kelly launching WIRED magazine; and the 1990s formation of a bicoastal Long Now/EDGE Foundation “digerati” network that would eventually link up with Robert Maxwell's daughters and “science philanthropist” Jeffrey Epstein on their way to capturing the commanding heights of the 21st century's New Economy… 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.

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

SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS "MUZAK CHAIRS II" IN ITS MIND-BOGGLING ENTIRETY!SPOILER WARNINGS FOR SEASON I OF THE CHAIR COMPANY:File this one under:Fisher Roby head honcho Jeff Levjman and music A&R scammer Stacy Crystals being clear substitutes for Jeff Epstein & Leslie Wexner, down to nominative symmetries. Jeff Levjman having an Ashkenazic Yiddish name; Stacy Crystals (immensely valuable jewels) = Leslie Wexner (Wexner derived from "weksler", which means "moneychanger" or "banker"). Under the Silver Lake similarities in Stacy Crystals' schemes. "Just to see Mickey. We had a special pass to cut the kids" -> evoking Aquino's Tinkerbell pics, Maxwell w/ Donald Duck doing kids charity work in the UK, Epstein and Piglet, etc... An unexplained "Mighty Mouse" codeword or nickname in a sus email Epstein sent between two of his Gmail accounts. The Chair Co. sequence where Ron ends up at Asher's house in back-to-back scenes (one dream, one corporeal) after falling unconscious while chasing after Baby, who he learns is actually named Minnie Mouse and belongs to this discomfiting dude Asher, only to later discover that Ron has inadvertently returned the dog to its abusive owner... A scene with a jumpscare inside Asher's shed with a "brand new shape" glowing in some light array on the ground that evokes Wexner and his Dybbuk, "the churning", shpilkes, etc. Jeff Levjman's stag night in Sedona with Danny Donovan et al clearly seeming like a riff on Epstein's ties to Santa Fe and Zorro Dude Ranch. Stacy Crystals' bilking of the bourgeoisie built upon the unfulfilling alienation of capitalism which also smacks of the fantasies that Epstein curated for his associates...Dalton School impropriety allegations, pimp coats, Donald Barr. Noam Chomsky rec letters. Epstein talking up how his rep has increased since #MeToo, self-styling as a cancellation consultant over email with Joi Ito. Lawrence Krauss. Ron's theory that Tecca is smuggling poppy stalks and thebaine into the country in voids where the chair appendices are supposed to go evoking a whole host of Iran-Contra connections involving Wexner, Epstein, Delaware, and Ohio. Summit Aviation, Ohioan Cessna dealers, DuPonts, a crash in Nicaragua. Steve Hoffenberg. Epstein's ties to Adnan Khashoggi, Douglas Leese, and Stan Pottinger. The Arthur Shapiro Contract Hit in Columbus. Southern Air Transport - a CIA proprietary airline that was once co-owned by the same shell company that owned Airs America & Asia and which was heavily involved in Iran-Contra drugs-for-guns smuggling. Epstein and Wexner's role in its relocation to Rickenbacker in Columbus. All of this evoking the possible Hungarian connection and Tecca's thebaine. Oliver North. Felix Rodriguez. Donald Gregg. Bush. Another Cessna shot down by Sandinistas, this time Southern Air's (which would relocate to Ohio and handle The Limited's cargo in a few years). The Arthur Shapiro Murder File and Wexner, DeBartolo, Shapiro's law firm partners, city council president Jerry Hammond, the Major Chord Jazz Club, Jack Kessler, Frank Walsh, DeBartolo, and the Genovese-LaRocca Pittsburgh Crime Fam appearing all over it. MAST Industries, Marty Trust, and Sri Lankan textile slave labor. Gov. Voinovich. Local journo Bob Fitrakis's various exposes. Actual sexual blackmail appearing in Chair Co. Episode 5, the insane True Detective esque oner at Oliver Probblo's apartment, where Ron is forced to kiss a woman on camera after walking in on an affair. The bugs. PROMIS. Palantir. Carbyne/Reporty. Actual Ohioan pharma companies that may be inspirations for Brucell. The Delaware City officer that chases Ron down during the '50s Cop Hop at City Hall possibly alluding to Wexner's influence and off-duty employment of a racist-af policeman from Gahanna, Franklin Co. Sheriff Deputies, and an ex SpecOps guy. Major comparisons between the ecological greenwashing of Fisher Robay and Wexner/Kessler's New Albany Company. New Urbanism. And much much more.FULL NOTES ON PATREON

Eugene Hasenfus died this week. He had been part of a covert operation to supply weapons to the anti-Sandinista group known as the "contras." As part of this activity, he was in an airplane shot down over Nicaragua while doing an arms delivery. His capture exposed a massive scheme by the U.S. government to sell arms to Iran in exchange for freeing U.S. hostages taken by pro-Iranian militias in Beirut and use the money to fund the contras war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. It became known as the "Iran-contra" affair, or "Iran-contraGate." It reached the highest levels in the U.S. government. And led to a number of convictions (and, later, presidential pardons.)In our latest, we look into the history of Reagan's wars in Central America, the Iran-contra scandal and subversion as foreign policy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

In the 1980s, the United States wreaked havoc in Central America. Backing authoritarian dictatorships. Fueling massacres and violence. Funding, training, and organizing the Contras, a paramilitary organization created to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The US government was spending billions on its interventionist policies across Central America in the name of fighting so-called communism.But people pushed back across Central America. And they also responded in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets against US intervention in the region. It was the Central American solidarity movement. BIG NEWS! This podcast has won Gold in this year's Signal Awards for best history podcast! It's a huge honor. Thank you so much to everyone who voted and supported. And please consider signing up for the Stories of Resistance podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, or wherever you listen. And please take a moment to rate and review the podcast. A little help goes a long way.The Real News's legendary host Marc Steiner has also been in the running for best episode host. And he also won a Gold Signal Award. We are so excited. You can listen and subscribe to the Marc SteinerShow here on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.Please consider supporting this podcast and Michael Fox's reporting on his Patreon account: patreon.com/mfox. There you can also see exclusive pictures, video, and interviews. Written and produced by Michael Fox.Resources:Under the Shadow podcastNicaragua, 1980s. Revolution | Under the Shadow, Episode 10, Part 1Some clips of this episode of Stories of Resistance were taken from Episode 10, Part 2 Nicaragua, 1980s. Contra War | Under the Shadow, Episode 10, Part 2Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Host Vince Citro welcomes San Francisco attorney Jim Brosnahan to discuss a career shaped by formative childhood illness, early reading struggles, and an outsider's sense of empathy. He describes his path from Boston College athlete to Harvard Law School, where he met his wife, Carol – later a judge – and reflects on early work as a federal prosector that affirmed his love of the courtroom. Brosnahan offers an inside account of his role as the lead prosecutor in the Iran-Contra case against Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger, and how President George H. W. Bush's last-minute pardons abruptly ended the case. He also discusses representing John Walker Lindh and how client abuse disclosures shaped the defense, as well as the broader duty of lawyers to defend constitutional principles. Throughout, Brosnahan highlights the value of civility, public service, and trial advocacy—grounded in preparation and a commitment to continual learning.

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?

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?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Danny Sheehan is a legendary constitutional attorney, public interest lawyer, author, educator, and activist and has been at the center of some of the most important legal battles, government disclosures, and paradigm-shifting conversations of the last five decades. From his work on the Pentagon Papers and Iran-Contra, to his groundbreaking involvement in UFO/UAP investigation and disclosure efforts, Danny is one of the most informed voices on these topics and today he's in the tent to discuss why government disclosure has stalled, encounters with non-human intelligence and what he believes about the existence of God. Welcome to Camp!

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?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

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");

On this episode of the Chuck ToddCast, Chuck breaks down the latest in Washington as the government shutdown nears its end—and the political fallout begins. Democrats have shown more backbone than expected, while Donald Trump’s strategy has Republicans quietly questioning his grip on power. From his push to cut SNAP benefits for his own voters to his increasingly distorted view of the economy, Trump’s disconnect from reality is starting to cost him. Chuck also looks at the Democrats’ strong showing in the recent elections, what it says about voter sentiment heading into 2026, and whether we’re witnessing the beginning of Trump’s lame duck era. Plus, the ripple effects of Trump’s policies—from affordability to the upcoming World Cup—and what Mike Johnson’s loyalty to Trump means for the GOP’s future. Then, Chuck sits down with journalist and historian Garrett Graff, host of The Long Shadow, to unpack how America’s political scandals—from Watergate to Trump—have shaped the presidency and public trust. Graff reflects on the slow process of uncovering the truth about Nixon’s 1968 interference and how those lessons apply to Trump’s open defiance of the Presidential Records Act. The two dive into why history takes decades to judge leaders, how government secrecy really works, and why even the most shocking revelations—like Iran-Contra or January 6th—take years to fully understand. Graff also discusses the ripple effects of past scandals, from Monica Lewinsky’s mistreatment to the rise of political figures forged during the Clinton impeachment, and how the legacy of Trump may take a generation to contextualize. The conversation ends on the future of media itself—how O.J. Simpson changed television forever, how algorithms broke the internet, and what it means for truth in an age where everyone’s chasing clicks. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the surrender of the Ottoman Empire after World War 1 and the lasting implications for peace in the middle east, answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and breaks down the weekend in college football. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Got injured in an accident? You could be one click away from a claim worth millions. Just visit https://www.forthepeople.com/TODDCAST to start your claim now with Morgan & Morgan without leaving your couch. Remember, it's free unless you win! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:30 End of the government shutdown seems imminent 02:15 Democrats have had a stiffer spine than expected 03:00 Surprising that Trump fought to cut SNAP, many were his voters 04:30 Trump ran on protecting benefits, has done the opposite during shutdown 05:15 Trump keeps claiming the economy is better than it is 06:00 Is Trump in an information bubble that’s not giving him reality? 07:00 Trump being out of touch is making Republicans start to distance from them 08:45 Mamdani’s election was not “the most important” result 09:45 New Jersey governor result was more revealing than Mamdani’s 10:30 Democrats win in Nov 4th election showed it was a referendum on Trump 12:00 Democrats should take the win and cut a deal to end shutdown 13:00 Are we entering the lame duck period of Donald Trump’s presidency? 14:45 Trump’s handling of the shutdown has been terrible politics for Republicans 16:15 The affordability message penetrated, culture war didn’t at all 17:30 Trump’s policies are creating a mess ahead of the 2026 World Cup 19:00 Trump is more focused on his image rather than affordability 19:45 Some Republicans are realizing they’ll have to break with Trump 22:15 Mike Johnson has basically become Donald Trump’s puppet 23:30 Trump is either losing his grip on reality, or trying to remake it 25:00 Trump falling asleep in meetings is a big deal 35:15 Garrett Graff joins the Chuck ToddCast 37:15 Getting started with The Long Shadow podcast 38:15 The importance of going back and covering recent history 41:00 Looking at pivotal, fork in the road moments in history 44:30 It took 50 years to answer two central questions about Watergate 47:15 Extent of Nixon's treachery in '68 wasn't exposed until recently 48:30 Watergate led to destruction of White House taping system 50:15 Trump is actively skirting the Presidential Records Act 52:45 Mike Johnson excuses Trump's corruption because it's in the open 54:15 Thoughts on looking back into Iran Contra? 56:45 CIA afraid that copping to Oswald could unravel other bad actions? 58:30 History says that meddling in Venezuela will go extremely poorly 59:45 Government conspiracies presuppose limited competence 1:00:30 Government can keep big secrets briefly or small secrets a long time 1:03:15 Is there more to be covered on Monica Lewinsky & impeachment? 1:04:45 No greater victim in a scandal than Lewinsky, Clinton's never apologized 1:07:15 Much of the Supreme Court got their start with Clinton impeachment 1:08:15 The view of presidents changes greatly over the decades 1:10:15 Judging past presidents relative to poor recent leaders 1:12:15 The politics of the author color presidential biographies 1:14:45 The historical telling of January 6th won't be ripe until Trump dies 1:15:45 There are so many January 6th villains whose stories must be told 1:16:45 Chuck's "Love/Hate" relationship with Roger Stone 1:17:45 The best way to interview a serial liar 1:19:15 The only good sources around Trump always remain anonymous 1:21:15 How worried are you about the future of American democracy? 1:22:00 We're underestimating how bad things are 9 months into Trump 1:23:45 We'll never be the country we were before Trump, but still reason for hope 1:24:45 Trump has a strong grip on a weak hand 1:26:30 Don't know whether we're in the beginning, middle or end of Trump story 1:27:45 Trump is too lazy to build a lasting movement 1:29:30 Democrats won't admit that Trump voters aren't wrong about some things 1:30:45 Democrats put asterisks next to elections they lost to Trump 1:33:45 Any interest in covering anything outside of politics? 1:34:45 OJ Simpson fundamentally changed the TV news business 1:37:30 Chasing ratings made the audience the editor for TV news 1:38:15 What Garrett is working on - Why algorithms broke the internet 1:46:15 Chuck's thoughts on interview with Garrett Graff 1:47:15 November 11th, 1918 World War 1 ends 1:48:00 Surrender of Ottoman Empire is largely forgotten, hugely consequential 1:49:00 Terms of surrender were incredibly harsh 1:49:45 European powers began carving up the middle east 1:50:30 Europe stopped fighting, the middle east didn't 1:52:00 In the US, World War 1 is only taught as a prequel to WW2 1:53:00 WW1 is the reason the middle east is still a mess today 1:55:00 We need to improve how we teach the history of World War 1 1:56:00 Ask Chuck 1:56:15 Can you explain why the senate has 60 vs. 50 vote thresholds? 2:01:30 Should the Virgin islands join with other islands to become a state? 2:02:30 Love for the election night livestream 2:03:45 Why haven't the 2026 federal appropriations been approved? 2:06:15 Chuck's experience at Vets for Tech event 2:15:30 College football reactionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd sits down with journalist and historian Garrett Graff, host of The Long Shadow, to unpack how America’s political scandals—from Watergate to Trump—have shaped the presidency and public trust. Graff reflects on the slow process of uncovering the truth about Nixon’s 1968 interference and how those lessons apply to Trump’s open defiance of the Presidential Records Act. The two dive into why history takes decades to judge leaders, how government secrecy really works, and why even the most shocking revelations—like Iran-Contra or January 6th—take years to fully understand. Graff also discusses the ripple effects of past scandals, from Monica Lewinsky’s mistreatment to the rise of political figures forged during the Clinton impeachment, and how the legacy of Trump may take a generation to contextualize. The conversation ends on the future of media itself—how O.J. Simpson changed television forever, how algorithms broke the internet, and what it means for truth in an age where everyone’s chasing clicks. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Got injured in an accident? You could be one click away from a claim worth millions. Just visit https://www.forthepeople.com/TODDCAST to start your claim now with Morgan & Morgan without leaving your couch. Remember, it's free unless you win! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Garrett Graff joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 Getting started with The Long Shadow podcast 03:00 The importance of going back and covering recent history 05:45 Looking at pivotal, fork in the road moments in history 09:15 It took 50 years to answer two central questions about Watergate 12:00 Extent of Nixon’s treachery in ‘68 wasn’t exposed until recently 13:15 Watergate led to destruction of White House taping system 15:00 Trump is actively skirting the Presidential Records Act 17:30 Mike Johnson excuses Trump’s corruption because it’s in the open 19:00 Thoughts on looking back into Iran Contra? 21:30 CIA afraid that copping to Oswald could unravel other bad actions? 23:15 History says that meddling in Venezuela will go extremely poorly 24:30 Government conspiracies presuppose limited competence 25:15 Government can keep big secrets briefly or small secrets a long time 28:00 Is there more to be covered on Monica Lewinsky & impeachment? 29:30 No greater victim in a scandal than Lewinsky, Clinton’s never apologized 32:00 Much of the Supreme Court got their start with Clinton impeachment 33:00 The view of presidents changes greatly over the decades 35:00 Judging past presidents relative to poor recent leaders 37:00 The politics of the author color presidential biographies 39:30 The historical telling of January 6th won’t be ripe until Trump dies 40:30 There are so many January 6th villains whose stories must be told 41:30 Chuck’s “Love/Hate” relationship with Roger Stone 42:30 The best way to interview a serial liar 44:00 The only good sources around Trump always remain anonymous 46:00 How worried are you about the future of American democracy? 46:45 We’re underestimating how bad things are 9 months into Trump 48:30 We’ll never be the country we were before Trump, but still reason for hope 49:30 Trump has a strong grip on a weak hand 51:15 Don’t know whether we’re in the beginning, middle or end of Trump story 52:30 Trump is too lazy to build a lasting movement 54:15 Democrats won’t admit that Trump voters aren’t wrong about some things 55:30 Democrats put asterisks next to elections they lost to Trump 58:30 Any interest in covering anything outside of politics? 59:30 OJ Simpson fundamentally changed the TV news business 1:02:15 Chasing ratings made the audience the editor for TV news 1:03:00 What Garrett is working on - Why algorithms broke the internetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

En entrevista para MVS Noticias con Ana Francisca Vega, Einat Kranz-Neiger, embajadora de Israel en México, reveló que la Guardia Revolucionaria de Teherán planeaba un ataque en su contra, el cual fue neutralizado por los servicios de seguridad mexicanos.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reagan's Pragmatic Cold War Victory, Don Regan's Disastrous Tenure, and the Iran-Contra Near-Death Experience. Max Boot discusses how Ronald Reagan had no patience for communism, and in his first term, his policy toward the Soviet Union was somewhat unsuccessful, though it improved in 1985 with the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan's genius was recognizing that Gorbachev was a different communist leader he could "do business with," and they established a rapport that allowed them to constructively reduce nuclear armaments and peacefully end the Cold War. The transition into Reagan's second term saw a catastrophic personnel decision when Reagan allowed Jim Baker and Don Regan to swap jobs. Regan lacked political instincts and presided over problems that culminated in the Iran-Contra scandal. Reagan was highly exercised by American hostages seized by Hezbollah, and National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane suggested shipping weapons to supposed Iranian moderates in exchange for hostage releases, which was a fiasco. The scandal intensified when McFarlane's successor, John Poindexter, and Oliver North diverted the profits from the weapon sales to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua. This incident could have led to impeachment, but Reagan's salvation was his reputation for being hands-off and disengaged. Reagan also faced criticism over a human rights double standard, speaking eloquently about violations behind the Iron Curtain but being less exercised about apartheid in South Africa.

When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President, from Nixon to Trump by Elie Honig https://www.amazon.com/When-You-Come-King-President/dp/0063447363 "[A] deeply researched, keenly analytical, and frequently provocative chronicle of this singular judicial entity. . . . A senior legal analyst for CNN and former assistant U.S. attorney, Honig is well-suited to the task of providing a historical overview of the special counsel's function with the ever-evolving context of politics, partisanship and political skepticism." —Booklist (STARRED review) "A fascinating, fast-paced insider's account....[a] riveting, deeply reported book.” —Anderson Cooper “Every page hums with gripping anecdotes and breaking news journalism." —Douglas Brinkley Imagine you've been put in charge of investigating your own boss—who also happens to be the most powerful person on the planet. You might unearth information that will be politically, professionally, and personally devastating to your subject, and you alone hold the power to indict and potentially imprison him. At the same time, the boss can fire you and end the case—and might even turn the tables and launch an inquiry aimed at you. As the lone-wolf assassin Omar put it in The Wire: “You come at the king, you best not miss.” That's the crucible for any Special Counsel. For decades, the Department of Justice has appointed outside prosecutors to handle our highest-stakes cases. But do these independent investigations lead to just results? In When You Come at the King, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig delivers a fast-paced, insider's account of the most important Justice Department investigations of the past fifty years, based on dozens of on-record interviews with firsthand participants. A Watergate prosecutor reveals she hid copies of key documents at home to guard against potential destruction of evidence by the president's allies. A member of the Iran–Contra prosecution team explains why they made a shocking election-eve revelation. A defense lawyer for Donald Trump details his private meeting with Jack Smith just days before Trump was indicted. From Ken Starr's investigation of Bill Clinton to modern cases involving Patrick Fitzgerald, Robert Mueller, Jack Smith, and more, Honig charts how the Special Counsel system developed and evolved over time. We know the maxim that a nation can be measured by how it treats its weakest members. This book explores an inverse corollary: A nation reveals much about itself by how it holds accountable its most powerful leaders when they've done wrong. Now, with the future of Special Counsels in doubt, When You Come at the King addresses the most important question of all: Can the system evolve to better serve the call for justice?About the author Elie Honig is CNN's Senior Legal Analyst. He previously worked for 14 years as a federal and state prosecutor. Honig provides on-air commentary and analysis for CNN on news relating to the U. S. Department of Justice, major criminal trials, the Supreme Court, Congressional and grand jury investigations, national security, policing, and other legal issues. In 2022, Honig was nominated for an Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the category "Outstanding News Analysis: Editorial & Opinion." Honig is the national bestselling author of two prior books published by HarperCollins: "Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor's Code and Corrupted the Justice Department" (2021) and "Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It" (2023). His third book, "When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President, from Nixon to Trump," publishes in September 2025. Honig writes a weekly column on legal news for New York magazine and CAFE. He hosts the popular true-crime podcast, "Up Against the Mob," and a weekly legal podcast, "The Counsel," both productions of Vox Media. Honig graduated from Rutgers College (where he ...

Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode:  Mastercard buys Zerohash for around $2b Fiserv has a catastrophic day Bitwise launches a Solana staking ETF Is there another regional banking crisis? EthZilla sold some ETH to buy back shares Will there be activists with the DATs? Are prediction markets structurally doomed? Sen Tillis introduces the Ensuring Fair Access to Banking act Could you go back and time and trade effectively? Bessent's great peso trade What's going to happen with Venezuela? We review the Iran-Contra scandal Content mentioned in this episode: Sen Tillis, Fair Access to Banking press release  

John is joined by Jeffrey Toobin, celebrated author and legal analyst, who reflects on his extensive career in law and legal journalism.  First, Jeffrey describes his legal background, including his clerkship on the Second Circuit which led to his years working for the Independent Counsel investigating the Iran Contra scandal (which led to his first book, Opening Arguments) and his years as an Assistant US Attorney.  He also describes his years writing for the New Yorker and covering the OJ Simpson trial which led to his second book, The Run of His Life.  Jeffrey then explains the writing process that has allowed him to complete nine books so far, including his strategy of writing about topics that have not been covered extensively by other authors, his absolute commitment to write 1,250 words per day for the project he is working on, and his habit of beginning to write each chapter in the middle and only writing the opening of the chapter later.  John and Jeffrey then discuss why books on trials are so popular, including how trials are “perfect dramatic stages” and good trial lawyers are experts in both emphasizing the dramatic elements in stories and making issues interesting and meaningful to non-lawyers.  Finally, John and Jeffrey discuss their favorite books about trial lawyers and personal insights into the most unforgettable lawyers Jeffrey has met including Johnnie Cochran, Barry Scheck, F. Lee Bailey and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

June 8th, 1987 ... Day Eighteen of the Iran-Contra hearings … Congressman Lee Hamilton is presiding … and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North's secretary is testifying. Lee Hamilton: "Ms. Hall, I understand that you have an opening statement. Am I correct?" Fawn Hall: "Yes, sir." Lee Hamilton: "You may proceed." Fawn Hall: "My name is Fawn Hall, and I reside with my parents in Northern Virginia, where I was born and raised. I attended Annandale High School and graduated in 1977. I started working at the age of 15, and at 16, while still in high school began my career in government, working for the Department of the Navy. During this period, I also held various part-time jobs, including modeling." Now, nearly four decades later, Oliver North is 82 years old … Fawn Hall is 66 years old – and — he's no longer her boss ... and - she's no longer his secretary ... Oliver North and Fawn Hall just got married! – to each other! For those of you with no idea who we're talking about .. and for those who know exactly who we're talking about – their marriage gives C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly" a reason to remember the blockbuster Iran-Contra hearings that dominated politics in the summer of 1987. What did Oliver North say about Fawn Hall? And what did Fawn Hall say about Oliver North? Find out in the latest episode of C-SPAN's "The Weekly." Find C-SPAN's "The Weekly" wherever you get podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Faust Checho exposes how Bill Clinton's rise from Arkansas governor to president completed the Bush–Clinton blueprint: turning the Boys on the Tracks cover-up, Whitewater, Waco, and the Oklahoma City bombing into milestones in the creation of America's modern security state.This is Part 5, the finale of Faust's explosive series exposing how the Bush–Clinton machine evolved from covert wars to total domestic control.As the Bush–Clinton dynasty tightened its grip, Arkansas became the prototype for covert power — a proving ground where autopsies were altered, investigators silenced, and scandals rebranded as reform. In this explosive finale of the Bush-Clinton corruption series, Faust traces how scandal in Saline County evolved into the Clinton Body Count, how REX 84 and Operation Night Train foreshadowed a domestic war machine, and how policies like the 1994 Crime Bill, NAFTA, and the Telecommunications Act transformed America into the surveillance state we live in today. From Mena to the Rose Law Firm, from Haiti to Kosovo, the same networks of money, drugs, and blackmail that fueled Iran-Contra were refined under Bill Clinton — and exported worldwide.Topics in this episode include:

SPONSORS: 1) GHOSTBED: Right now, as a Julian Dorey listener, you can get 25% off your order for a limited time. Just go to http://ghostbed.com/julian and use promo code JULIAN at checkout. 2) MINNESOTA NICE: Minnesota Nice wants to help you find harmony—go to www.mnniceethno.com/julian and use code JD22 for 22% off your first order! PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey (***TIMESTAMPS in description below) ~ Scott Horton is the director of The Libertarian Institute and editorial director of Antiwar.com. He's the author of Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terror and Fool's Errand, and one of the leading voices challenging America's endless wars. SCOTT's LINKS: X: https://x.com/scotthortonshow YT:  @scotthortonshow  PROVOKED:  @Provoked_Show  SUBSTACK: https://scotthortonshow.com/ WEBSITE: https://scotthorton.org/ BOOKS: https://amzn.to/3T9Qg7y Antiwar.com: https://antiwar.com/ 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**** 00:00 – Intro 01:25 – Piers Morgan, Iran Contra, Waco, Oklahoma, UN & Korea, Cheney, America's Decline 11:24 – China's Strategy, Smart Power, Psychology of Empire, Abandon Control, U.S. Overreach 23:18 – EU Self-Correction, $37 Trillion Debt, Cold War Promise, The Big Lie, Putin, Warsaw Pact 33:08 – HW Bush, CIA Overstep, Black Budget, World Empire vs Republic, 1,000 Lies 45:16 – T0rture Committee, John Brennan, 9/11 Saudis, Yemen War, 50lb ‘Scalpel' Bombs, Al Qaeda 58:10 – Arab Spring, Hillary & Yemen, Obama Alliance, 300K Deaths, Trump's Continuation 01:09:37 – Trump Airstrikes, Afghanistan, Northern Alliance, Anti-Fragile Terror Groups 01:36:05 – Neocons, Israel Ties, Six-Decade Pattern, Israel Lobby, Policy Influence, Corp Funding 01:46:25 – Iraq & Israel, Iran Destabilization, Clean Break, Office of Special Plans, Cooked Intel 01:57:14 – Saddam Lies, Oil Motive?, Pentagon Strategy, Cheney vs Powell, Cheney Driving Force 02:04:48 – Saddam's Real Threat, 9/11 Excuse, GW Justifications 02:18:17 – Rebuilding America's Defenses, Bojinka Plot, FISA Warrants, 9/11 Missed Prevention 02:32:30 – Freedom Fighters vs Terrorists, Pearl Harbor Debate, FDR Manipulation, Churchill 02:41:58 – WWII Revisionism, Power over Evil, FDR Treason Claim 03:02:51 – Next topics 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 344 - Scott Horton Part 1 Music by Artlist.io Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

**Founding Members can listen to the entire Reagan series now: sign up at therestispoliticsus.com.** In the final episode of the Reagan series, Katty and Anthony dive into the explosive Iran-Contra scandal — the secret arms deals, shredded documents, and the moment Reagan's presidency nearly unraveled.  Yet while scandal swirled, Reagan was also signing landmark nuclear treaties with Gorbachev.  How did he survive politically? Was it his charm, myth-making, or distance from the details?  And what about his legacy? We explore how Reagan reshaped the Republican Party, left behind a model of tax cuts and billionaire politics, and whether he ultimately set the stage for Donald Trump.  Sunny optimism gave way to grievance;  but did Reagan light the path? Become a Founding Member: Go deeper into US politics every week with ad-free listening, members-only miniseries, early access to live show tickets and a bonus members-only Q&A podcast every week. Sign up at ⁠⁠therestispoliticsus.com⁠⁠ Revolut Business To save your company time and money, open a Revolut Business account today via www.revolut.com/rb/therestispoliticsus, and add money to your account by 31st of December 2025 to get a £200 welcome bonus or equivalent in your local currency. Feature availability varies by plan. This offer's available for New Business customers in the UK, US, Australia and Ireland. Fees and Terms & Conditions apply. For US customers, Revolut is not a bank. Banking services and card issuance are provided by Lead Bank, Member FDIC. Visa® and Mastercard® cards issued under license. Funds are FDIC insured up to $250,000 through Lead Bank, in the event Lead Bank fails. Fees may apply. See full terms in description. For Irish customers, Revolut Bank UAB is authorised and regulated by the Bank of Lithuania in the Republic of Lithuania and by the European Central Bank and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules. For AU customers, consider PDS & TMD at revolut.com/en-AU. Revolut Payments Australia Pty Ltd (AFSL 517589). Instagram: ⁠@RestPoliticsUS⁠ Twitter: ⁠@RestPoliticsUS⁠ Email: ⁠therestispoliticsus@goalhanger.com⁠ Assistant Producer: India Dunkley Producer: Fiona Douglas Video Editor: Kieron Leslie  Social Producer: Charlie Johnson  Senior Producer: Callum Hill Head of Content: Tom Whiter Head of Digital: Sam Oakley Exec Producers: Tony Pastor, Jack Davenport  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Note from JamesThis is a crazy story. Martin Suarez holds the record for the longest continuous undercover assignment in FBI history. He went undercover as a cartel drug lord—smuggling billions of dollars' worth of cocaine while posing as “Manny.” At one point, the story even starts with a gun to his head, convinced his cover was blown.The book Inside the Cartel: A True Crime Tale of Espionage, Undercover Operations, and a War Against Billionaire Drug Lords—co-authored with journalist Ian Frisch—captures it all. Martin's voice may be difficult to catch at times because he's been battling ALS, but every word is worth hearing. Ian also joins to help tell the story. This conversation had me on the edge of my seat.Episode DescriptionFormer FBI agent Martin Suarez spent more than a decade living undercover inside Colombian cartels. Known to the underworld as “Manny,” he laundered money, smuggled cocaine, and survived assassination attempts—all while secretly working for the U.S. government.In this episode, James sits down with Suarez and his co-author Ian Frisch to explore how an ordinary Navy veteran became the FBI's ultimate undercover agent, why deception works in high-stakes negotiations, and what lessons from cartel infiltration apply to everyday life.What You'll LearnThe psychological techniques Martin used to maintain his cover for years inside violent cartels.How undercover work creates “alternate realities” to control narratives and shift blame.Why confidence and self-belief are critical in negotiation, business, and personal life.The role of deception and patience in both undercover work and real-world persuasion.How Martin and his family managed the risks and sacrifices of a life lived undercover.Timestamped Chapters[03:00] A gun to the head: the moment Martin thought his cover was blown[07:00] Surviving a cartel hitman[10:00] From Navy to FBI: the start of an undercover career[12:00] Why Martin was the “perfect” undercover agent[14:00] Smuggling versus intelligence gathering: the FBI's strategy[16:00] How to move cartel shipments without breaking cover[18:00] The art of deflecting blame and creating alternate realities[22:00] Cartel power and control in Colombia[23:00] U.S. government ties and the Iran-Contra era[25:00] Using FBI agents as “girlfriends” to gather intelligence[27:00] Facing long-term risks—and the bigger battle with ALS[30:00] Marriage, trust, and sacrifice during undercover life[32:00] Art theft undercover operation in Europe[36:00] Fooling even the CIA with a perfect legend[41:00] How legends are built in the digital age[44:00] Negotiation, seduction, and cartel psychology[45:00] Ian's lessons on confidence and self-convincing[47:00] Applying undercover strategies to everyday life[49:00] The role of greed in cartel decision-making[50:00] Marriage, grounding, and long-term support[51:00] Are cartel leaders truly evil—or just highly educated?Additional Resources

The Iran-Contra affair captivated this country in the late 1980’s and the two central figures from that moment in history, have just privately wedded. It’s Amy’s favorite story of the week, that you may have missed! Oliver North and Fawn Hall are newlyweds, their friends say they reconnected at Oliver North’s wife’s funeral last November, but his children say they weren’t invited to the wedding, and in fact, had no idea they were even dating. Despite the mystery behind their love story, it’s one we are rooting for.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Iran-Contra affair captivated this country in the late 1980’s and the two central figures from that moment in history, have just privately wedded. It’s Amy’s favorite story of the week, that you may have missed! Oliver North and Fawn Hall are newlyweds, their friends say they reconnected at Oliver North’s wife’s funeral last November, but his children say they weren’t invited to the wedding, and in fact, had no idea they were even dating. Despite the mystery behind their love story, it’s one we are rooting for.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Iran-Contra affair captivated this country in the late 1980’s and the two central figures from that moment in history, have just privately wedded. It’s Amy’s favorite story of the week, that you may have missed! Oliver North and Fawn Hall are newlyweds, their friends say they reconnected at Oliver North’s wife’s funeral last November, but his children say they weren’t invited to the wedding, and in fact, had no idea they were even dating. Despite the mystery behind their love story, it’s one we are rooting for.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Sundays, we try to bring you fresh conversations and stories from the archives that give you a little context on the news playing out in front of us. Today, Jody and Niki discuss the very dish-y news that Oliver North secretly married Fawn Hall, 40 years after they worked together and testified during the Iran-Contra scandal. Then, we rerun our episode from 2021 about North running for Senate in 1994.Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits.https://thisdaypod.substack.com/Find out more about the show at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.comGet in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypodOur team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Iran-Contra affair captivated this country in the late 1980’s and the two central figures from that moment in history, have just privately wedded. It’s Amy’s favorite story of the week, that you may have missed! Oliver North and Fawn Hall are newlyweds, their friends say they reconnected at Oliver North’s wife’s funeral last November, but his children say they weren’t invited to the wedding, and in fact, had no idea they were even dating. Despite the mystery behind their love story, it’s one we are rooting for.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Howdy folks of the interwebs! Welcome back for another shenanigan infused journey into the mind of this particular Garbage Can Dood!Tonight's discussion is an Occult and/or Esoteric review of the 1993 cinematic masterpiece "Striking Distance"!Where Bruce Willis reprises his character of "Die Hard" 's "John McClane" but this time as a homicide detective for Pittsburgh PD, investigate'n a "serial killer" dump'n bodies in the rivers!It's a tale complete with the standard conspiracy culture coverup tropes! Lone nut, orgy of evidence, crooked cops, family feuds, and much much more! All brought to us by an international gangster & Iran Contra figure Arnon Milchan! We even take a deep dive into a Sarah Jessica Parker focused "Transvestigation"!Anyhow, folks of the interwebs thank for join'n me to get a lil GCD! An Occult and/or Esoteric Review of the 1993 cinematic masterpiece "Striking Distance"! w/Julia host of the Cosmic Peach podcast & (NOT-Bill) Colby host of Conspiracy Playtime podcast!Enjoy the show! Links for Julia - https://linktr.ee/xpeachLinks for "NOT Bill" Colby - https://www.conspiracyplaytime.com/https://x.com/Conspiracy_PlayLinks for JJ - https://linktr.ee/operationgcdLinks from show:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striking_Distancehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vXaq00fq1whttps://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/kentucky-woman-accused-of-cutting-up-cooking-mother-due-back-in-court/https://people.com/health/ellie-kemper-jogs-in-new-york-city-two-weeks-after-giving-birth/https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOA/comments/duvhzu/phyllis_smithbba_used_to_be_a_burlesque_dancer/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWq_wY2TQkM

Ed opperman interview Mark Shaw about the murder of Dorothy KilgallenWas What's My Line TV Star, media icon, and crack investigative reporter and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen murdered for writing a tell-all book about the JFK assassination? If so, is the main suspect in her death still at large?These questions and more are answered in former CNN, ESPN, and USA Today legal analyst Mark Shaw's 25th book, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much. Through discovery of never-before-seen videotaped eyewitness interviews with those closest to Kilgallen and secret government documents, Shaw unfolds a “whodunit” murder mystery featuring suspects including Frank Sinatra, J. Edgar Hoover, Mafia Don Carlos Marcello and a "Mystery Man" who may have silenced Kilgallen. All while by presenting through Kilgallen's eyes the most compelling evidence about the JFK assassinations since the House Select Committee on Assassination's investigation in the 1970s.Called by the New York Post, “the most powerful female voice in America,” and by acclaimed author Mark Lane the “the only serious journalist in America who was concerned with who killed John Kennedy and getting all of the facts about the assassination,” Kilgallen's official cause of death reported as an overdose of barbiturates combined with alcohol, has always been suspect since no investigation occurred despite the death scene having been staged. Shaw proves Kilgallen, a remarkable woman who broke the "glass ceiling" before the term became fashionable, was denied the justice she deserved, that is until now. More about the book may be learned at thereporterwhoknewtoomuch.com or thedorothykilgallenstory.org.Part Two Ed Opperman interviews Daniel Hopsicker, Author of Barry and The Boys, about Barry Seal the CIA cocaine smuggler durring Iran Contra and the subject of the Tom Cruise movie American MadeNOTE: Chapter 35 is intentionally missing from the printing of this publication. This was intentionally done by the publisher and is not a printing error.This is the story of Barry Seal, the biggest drug smuggler in American history, who died in a hail of bullets with George Bush's private phone number in his wallet...The Wall Street Journal called Barry Seal "the ghost haunting the Whitewater probe." He was far more than that.Based on a 3-year long investigation, Daniel Hopsicker discovered the secret history the American Press was afraid to tell Seal, the most successful drug smuggler in American history, was also and not coincidentally a lifelong CIA agent, one of the most famous who ever lived, active in everything from the Bay of Pigs to Watergate to the Kennedy Assassination. And all this before becoming famous for importing tons of cocaine through Mena, Arkansas in the Scandal that wont go away.The story of Barry Seal is the story of what happens when guys we pay to protect us CIA guys go into business with guys were paying them to protect us against.."Made" guys. Mobsters Organized Crime.Ripping the official story on the so-called "Clinton Scandals" to shreds, Barry and the Boys breaks the biggest scoop of all about the Arkansas Drug Connection: where the money went.And goesDid the big-time "players" in small backwards Arkansas Bill Clinton, Vince Foster, Jackson Stephens, Jim Blair, Don Tyson stand idly by while Barry Seal made billions of dollars importing cocaine through their state?Or were the "goings-on in Mena" of Barry and the boys just the continuation of business as usual?Americas Secret HistoryRevealed:Youll learn about the incredible involvement with Seals narcotics smuggling organization of top officials in both major American political parties Republican Attorney General Ed Meese Democratic National Chairman Charles Manatt Al Gores Campaign Chairman, Tony CoelhoYoull discover why a young Arkansas Attorney named Bill Clinton signed a "get-out-of-jail-free" personal recognizance bond for Barry Seal, after Seal had been jailed for drug smuggling in Menain the 70s.And youll learn of the suspicious and long-lasting link between smuggler Barry Seal and the Bush Family, Senior and Junior.Most importantly, youll discover why a photograph taken by a night club photographer in a Mexico City nightspot ten months before the Kennedy assassination holds the key to the shadowy organization responsible for the massive corruption in Bill Clinton's Arkansas twenty years laterCommenting on the CIAs affair with the Mafia, L.B.J.s press secretary, Bill Moyers said, "Once we decide that anything goes, anything can come home to haunt us."After youve read Barry and the boys youll understand what he meant.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

TALK TO ME, TEXT ITDid you know Oliver North is still alive—and just got married? At 81, the Iran-Contra figure secretly wed his former secretary Fawn Hall, 40 years after they became household names during one of the Reagan administration's biggest scandals. This surprising union kicks off our Tuesday news roundup that blends nostalgic political history with contemporary viral moments.Remember that Coldplay Kiss Cam couple that had everyone talking? Turns out there's more to the story. The woman's husband has confirmed they were already separated and filing for divorce before the concert even happened—a perfect example of how quick we are to create narratives without knowing the full picture.The state of modern journalism gets a critical eye as we dissect a puzzling article about Hershey Park's oldest roller coaster. Despite multiple paragraphs, the story somehow manages to say absolutely nothing substantive about the "off-ride guest issue" mentioned in the headline. It's no wonder reading habits are declining when content this empty fills our news feeds.We also examine the contrast between message and actions as AOC's campaign reportedly spent thousands at luxury hotels while headlining "Fighting Oligarchy" rallies with Bernie Sanders. The $3,500 stays at upscale accommodations raise questions about consistency between political messaging and practical choices.This marks our 901st episode, with just 99 more to go before we reach our planned conclusion at episode 1,000. Have you been with us from the beginning, or are you just joining our morning conversations? Either way, we'd love to hear about the most luxurious hotel you've ever stayed in—mine was the Bellagio in Vegas, and I still dream about that spa experience!Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREE Thanks for listening! Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to anamericanistblog@gmail.com and you'll be featured on the podcast. Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREESupport the showTip Jar for coffee $ - Thanks Music by Alehandro Vodnik from Pixabay Blog - AnAmericanist.comX - @americanistblog

رونالد ریگان: بازیگر، فرماندار، رئیس‌جمهور و یکی از تاثیرگذارترین چهره‌های قرن بیستم آمریکا.متن: معین فرخی، علی بندری با راهنمایی آرش رئیسی‌نژاد | ویدیو و صدا: DASTAN GROUP - www.dastanads.comبرای دیدن ویدیوی این اپیزود اگر ایران هستید وی‌پی‌ان بزنید و روی لینک زیر کلیک کنیدیوتیوب بی‌پلاسکانال تلگرام بی‌پلاسمنابع و لینک‌هایی برای کنجکاوی بیشترمستند رانلد ریگان PBSEp. 310. Ronald Reagan and the American DreamEp. 311. The Road to WhitehouseEp. 312. Reagan, Iran-Contra and the Cold WarLRB Podcast - Ronald Reagan's Make-BelievePresident Reagan: The Role of A Lifetime - Lou CannonThe Reagan Revolution: A Very Short Introduction - Gil Troy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.com

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.com

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.

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.

The White House has declared war on Latin American drug cartels. Although this seems like great news, has anyone stopped to ask if the goal is to shut down competition? Recent executive orders from May stripped regulations for domestic pharmaceutical production in the United States and attempted to create a direct-to-consumer purchasing program to subvert insurance companies. This is in a country that consumes more pharmaceutical drugs than any other on planet Earth. Likewise, the opioid crisis was created by the same industry. There are more bad actors than just the stereotypical south of the border drug cartels as we also learned with Iran-Contra. HHS secretary RFK Junior is furthermore being praised for cutting 22 mRNA programs and saving $500 million, yet few are catching the crucial details about his openly stated agenda to create a universal Covid and flu vaccine instead, or the coincidental nature of that amount of money being exactly the amount needed for the Stargate gene therapy program. Meanwhile, as we have seen recently with more genetically modified mosquitoes being dropped in Hawaii, the Chikungunya virus is supposedly spreading in China; and US media, while saying there is no threat, has blamed it on mosquitoes the same week that an active shooter roamed the streets near the CDC headquarters. The shooter took his vaccine and blamed it for why he got sick, creating a PR campaign backed by the pharmaceutical companies to call him an anti-vaxxer who had mental health issues. Something strange is brewing. *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITECashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

New on Fringe Radio Network: BAD PRESS.  From Trevor Lohman (Happy Fools) and author of God's Eye View.  In this inaugural episode, Trevor talks with guest David about U.S. involvement in the Guatemalan Civil War through the United Fruit Company.  What do bananas, communists, the CIA, and the Dulles brothers have in common? Well, the Guatemalan Civil War of course! David drops some serious knowledge on us about this tumultuous and horrific time in Guatemala's history. If you want to listen ad-free, check out our substack at hemisphericpress.substack.com. 

In 2023 and 2024, there were many things that were unsayable. Perhaps the most unsayable—at least in legacy media circles—was that the President of the United States was not capable of being president, because he was no longer mentally fit. Those people who did break the taboo—who dared to notice Biden's countless gaffes, his stiff gait, those who recognized the reality of old age, including Special Counsel Robert Hur—were written off or smeared. Videos of the president—clips of Biden tripping or misspeaking—were rebranded by The New York Times as “cheap fakes.” People were told to disbelieve their eyes and ears. It's now the spring of 2025. Trump is the president. Biden dropped out. And now the unsayable things are being said—most dramatically in Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's new book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. Tapper, of CNN, and Thompson, of Axios, interviewed more than 200 people for this book, which illuminates Biden's mental decline, his enablers, and how the country was effectively run by committee in the midst of his clear cognitive impairment. For those of us who thought it was bad—it was actually much worse than anyone could have imagined. Alex and Jake have chosen to call the effort to hide Biden's decline a “cover-up.” Those are choice words from two mainstream media insiders, invoking memories of Watergate and Iran-Contra. And the cover-up they are referring to is that of the Biden family and the close circle of advisers around them, many of whom are still delusional about Biden's state. But cover-up might be the word that many Americans would use to describe the press's coverage of Biden. How did ordinary people see more than people with White House press passes? And, what does it all say about human nature, transparency, and groupthink? This is a really illuminating conversation about presidential power, the lengths some will go to keep it, and how the media failed to report the story of a lifetime. Header 6: The Free Press earns a commission from any purchases made through all book links in this article. Go to groundnews.com/Honestly to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on today's biggest news stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alan McPherson author of The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy joins to discuss the Iran-Contra affair and how it plagued both the end of Regans Presidency and George H. W. Bush's, but also how it ties into the politics of today. Also, Pete Hegseth is a dirty dirty boy, or at least has a dirty dirty line.  Plus, its an Antwentig.  ⁠⁠⁠Join The Gist Team⁠⁠⁠ Produced by Corey Wara Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com⁠⁠⁠⁠To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠sales@advertisecast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to The Gist: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to The Gist Instagram Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠GIST INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow The Gist List at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pesca⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices