DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss the US/Israeli War Against Iran:

• The U.S. bombing of the Iranian elementary school that killed 165 people, many of them schoolgirls, included more targets near the school than has been initially reported. Satellite images suggest that the school was hit as part of an airstrike on a neighboring military complex — and that it may have been struck as a result of outdated targeting information. Satellite images show that the school and clinic buildings were both once part of the base. The school was separated from the base by a wall between 2013 and 2016. The clinic was walled off between 2022 and 2024. Did the U.S. ignore signs of scores of girls going to class?

• Did the U.S. commit a war crime by torpedoing an uninvolved Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena, returning from a diplomatic visit to India, in the Indian Ocean, and failing to rescue its crew—something Nazi U-boat commanders did during World War II until the Laconia incident?

• Europe is transferring assets from Ukraine to the Mideast as rising oil prices benefit Russia’s economy. Are the U.S. and Israel indirectly defeating Ukraine?

• Likely 2028 presidential contender Gavin Newsom, criticized Israel, suggesting that the U.S. should reconsider its military support for the country, which he compared to an apartheid state.

Also:

• The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed attorney general Pam Bondi, to testify about the Epstein files. The 24 to 19 vote was a rebuke to the Trump administration.

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

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Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss the US/Israeli War Against Iran:

• Iran's overriding goal is regime survival amid overwhelming military superiority from the United States and Israel. Rather than seeking outright victory, Tehran aims to impose high costs on President Trump—through American casualties, surging global energy prices, inflation, and economic disruption—to pressure him into declaring victory and withdrawing. Iran pursues asymmetric endurance by expanding the battlefield regionally: targeting oil/gas infrastructure in Gulf neighbors, attempting to close the Strait of Hormuz (disrupting ~20% of world oil/gas flows), limiting air traffic, and depleting expensive missile interceptors with cheap drones.

• If war is good for business, what’s going on? The New York Times reported that Iranian operatives have sued for peace to the CIA. U.S. stock index futures edged higher after a major sell-off, but $75/barrel oil fuels worries about global inflation. Financial expert Aquiles Larrea joins us to discuss the economic impact of the war.

• The son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei, is the front-runner to rule Iran.

Also:

• Texas Two-Time? Aggressive Democrat Jasmine Crockett is claiming election cheating—credibly—as her huge 56-44 polling lead evaporated overnight into a 53-46 loss to moderate James Talarico. Why? The Supreme Court against her campaign's request to give voters from Dallas County an extension to sort out confusion about Republican-led changes to polling locations. The GOP side heads to a runoff.

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

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LIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow

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Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss the US/Israeli War Against Iran:

• Once again, the U.S. has decapitated the leadership of a country without a reasonable plan to fill the power vacuum it created. Trump tells Iranians to “take over your government,” but there’s no organized opposition. “The plan,” a German official worries aloud, “is to have no plan.”

• Escalation: Israel, the U.S. and Iran are poised to hit more targets with more powerful weapons. At least 787 Iranians and 6 Americans have died.

• Iran threatens to blow up ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran, a major oil-exporting nation, watches oil prices soar. Gas prices are already rising. Today will be a rough day on Wall Street. Financial expert Aquiles Larrea joins us to discuss the economic impact of the war.

• Marco Rubio explains the “imminent threat” behind the war: Israel, he says, was going to attack. Iran would have retaliated against US bases. Why didn’t he tell Israel not to attack, or notify Iran of the danger from Israel?

Also:

• In Texas John Cornyn, a four-term incumbent, is facing off against the state’s attorney general, scandal-plagued MAGA darling Ken Paxton.

Democrats are facing a choice between Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who plays to the party’s base, and state representative James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian preaching a blend of Christianity and liberal values.

TO ASK A QUESTION FOR TED AND/OR JOHN BEFORE TODAY’S SHOW AIRS LIVE: https://ahaslides.com/4UJWT

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

https://x.com/tedrall

https://x.com/JohnKiriakou

LIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kdFlw2w8sSPhKI8NRx8Zu

APPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss the US/Israeli War Against Iran:

• Iran was more prepared for war than the Trump administration anticipated, U.S. officials admit. Three American service members were killed and five seriously wounded by Iran at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Flights across the Middle East came to a standstill after Iran struck at least four airports, including Dubai. Bahrain sustained minimal damage from a drone. Airports in both Kuwait and the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Irbil, were also hit. Iran hit Zayed Port in Abu Dhabi, where the French navy has a base. Two drones struck a port in Duqm, a port town in Oman. An Iranian bomb struck a shelter in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, killing at least nine people. Residential towers in Bahrain were also hit. Kuwait accidentally shot down three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets—$100 million each—down late last night. Six crew members ejected.

• The war expanded into Lebanon after Hezbollah claimed a rocket and drone attack on Israel. Israel struck the group’s HQ in Beirut and targeted weapons storage facilities. PM Keir Starmer is reversing his decision to bar the U.S. from using U.K. bases. The war has only sped up the deterioration of the trans-Atlantic relationship.

• Trump is publicly warning Americans to gird for a sustained, costly war.“Sadly, there will likely be more [U.S. deaths] before it ends,” the president said. “America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization.”

• Oil futures surged. Brent crude, the international benchmark, spiked 6.2% to trade at $77 a barrel, having briefly surpassed $82 earlier in the trading session. Meanwhile, stock futures fell. Futures for the S&P 500, the Nasdaq and the Dow were all down more than 1%. But Exxon and Chevron shares rose pre-market. Defense stocks, like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, were also up strongly.

Also:

• Pakistan bombed Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The Taliban is firing at Pakistani fighter jets over Kabul.

• A man who fatally shot two people and wounded 14 others at a popular bar on Austin’s Sixth Street, 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, wore a hoodie that read “Property of Allah” over a T-shirt bearing an Iranian flag.

TO ASK A QUESTION FOR TED AND/OR JOHN BEFORE TODAY’S SHOW AIRS LIVE: https://ahaslides.com/3XL8G

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

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LIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow

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APPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss the US/Israeli War Against Iran:

• In the run-up to the U.S. and Israeli attacks, the CIA assessed that if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated along with other top officials—which he was yesterday—he could be replaced by hardline figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, though its commander died yesterday. An interim council led by Ayatollah Alireza Arafi was announced today.

• Insiders tell The New York Times the Trump Administration’s maximalist demands, along with constantly shifting priorities and Israel’s refusal to believe Iran on anything, doomed negotiations from the start.

• Only 21% of Americans support the war.

• Trump is largely in hiding.

• Oil futures are soaring.

• Key members of Congress are pushing a war powers resolution. “Has President Trump learned nothing from decades of U.S. meddling in Iran and forever wars in the Middle East?” said Sen. Tim Kaine. House Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie are demanding a public vote. Massie said: “This is not ‘America First.’”

TO ASK A QUESTION FOR TED AND/OR JOHN BEFORE TODAY’S SHOW AIRS LIVE: https://ahaslides.com/T1S4E

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

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LIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow

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APPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran after what the Israeli military said was months of “close and joint planning.” Israel said its strikes targeted Iran’s supreme leader, president and head of the armed forces. The US is planning for several days of attacks. President Donald Trump described the US military campaign as “massive and ongoing,” warned American lives may be lost, and called on Iranians to “take over your government.” Iran launched an unprecedented wave of strikes toward Israel and US targets across the Middle East. Explosions were reported in the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar and in Dubai, where all flights to and from airports have been suspended. The attacks sparked global responses. The leaders of some US allies expressed concern, while some Arab nations condemned Iran’s retaliation.

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss:

• America’s least popular government agency, ICE, is under fire after another wild day of brutality. Another Columbia student was illegally abducted from campus housing by agents, with no warrant, who used fake NYPD badges and a forged NYPD missing persons poster to lie their way past university security. Reuters reports that ICE is hiring career criminals and members of violent street gangs as they lower standards and skip vetting procedures, as the top federal judge in Minnesota threatened to jail ICE officers who routinely defy court orders. A nearly blind refugee from ethnic violence in Myanmar, a father of two, died after Border Patrol goons dumped him at a Buffalo doughnut shop and he tried to walk home five miles in arctic weather, after BCE confiscated the cane he needed to walk.

• “Open War Between Us”: Pakistan bombed Kabul and Kandahar and assaulted Taliban border posts.

• Anthropic, which created Claude AI, will not allow the Pentagon to use it for fully autonomous armed drones or AI-assisted mass surveillance that could track dissent. Pete Hegseth is giving Anthropic until 5 pm today to cave in, or he’ll take it for free under the Defense Production Act.

• For the third year in a row, Israel is the top killer of journalists who have managed not to get laid off.

• Texas airspace was closed after the DoD used a high-energy laser to shoot down a HomeSec drone near El Paso.

• The Washington Post reports that activists with close ties to the White House are urging Trump to declare a national emergency to justify to placing midterm elections under his control, with mail-in voting canceled and ICE “protecting” polling stations.

TO ASK A QUESTION FOR TED AND/OR JOHN BEFORE TODAY’S SHOW AIRS LIVE: https://ahaslides.com/T1S4E

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

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LIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow

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APPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss:

• Filet of Pigs: Four US-based Cuban nationals who entered Cuban waters on a US-registered speedboat have been shot dead by border patrol after the speedboat's armed passengers opened fire on a coast guard vessel. Six additional passengers were wounded. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied the infiltration was a US covert operation. James Uthmeier, Florida's attorney general, said he would direct local law enforcement to investigate the incident. "The Cuban government cannot be trusted, and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable," he said.

• #EpsteinToo: Forced out of Harvard, Lawrence Summers became the latest public figure to be impacted but their implication in the Epstein Files. Others include Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp, longevity expert Peter Attia of CBS News, former Obama counsel Kathy Ruemmler, mind behavior scientist Richard Axel of Columbia, ex-Prince Andrew, UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, as well as Slovak and Norwegian officials. Who’s next? Hillary testifies today at the House, Bill tomorrow.

• Senate in Play: With just days until Texas’ primary, Republicans are alarmed that their increasingly vicious intraparty contest could cost them a must-win Senate seat. Sen. John Cornyn appears to be headed to an expensive and nasty 10-week runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, with a strong chance that Paxton wins the nomination even after national Republicans spent months airing his filthy laundry all over the Texas airwaves in an effort to boost Cornyn. If Cornyn loses the primary, Senate Republicans could be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars that could otherwise go toward key battleground races in expensive states like North Carolina, Georgia or Michigan, complicating their path toward holding Senate control.

TO ASK A QUESTION FOR TED AND/OR JOHN BEFORE TODAY’S SHOW AIRS LIVE: https://ahaslides.com/ZKWAI

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

https://x.com/tedrall

https://x.com/JohnKiriakou

LIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kdFlw2w8sSPhKI8NRx8Zu

APPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss:

• Angry due to alleged Ukrainian disruption to the Druzhba pipeline, which delivers Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban blocked the EU’s big cash package to Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia.

• SOTU: With his approval at 37%, Trump did what presidents shouldn’t do when the public is pissed off at them—he took a victory lap and told them everything is awesome. Blowing off the opportunity for a reset, Trump hammed the State of the Union Address like a gameshow host, cheering the olympic hockey team, pinned medals and ribbons on heroes, trolled Democrats, insulted the Supreme Court and presided over a Jerry Springer-like Venezuelan family reunion.

• Trump also claimed Iran are developing ICBMs “that will soon reach the U.S.”

MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live

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LIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kdFlw2w8sSPhKI8NRx8Zu

APPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss:

• Mideast on Alert: As the US has gathered 150 planes and a dozen military ships in the Middle East and may be preparing for a bloody, extended attack against Iran, the US Embassy in Beirut evacuated dozens of personnel. The US has two destroyers in the Mediterranean, one in the Red Sea, four in the Persian Gulf, and an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by four destroyers, in the Arabian Sea. Another carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, accompanied by warships. CJCS Gen. Dan Caine worries about high casualties and stockpiles depletion.

• Is Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for Islamist terrorists? Pakistan carried out airstrikes against seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban – also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as well as ISIS-K.

• U.S. ambassador to France Charles Kushner has been banned from meeting members of the French ‌government after ghosting the Foreign Affairs ministry earlier, where he had been summoned over his comments on the killing of ​Quentin Deranque.

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