The Darrell McClain show
Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one Planet; nobody's leaving so let’s reason together!! Darrell, McClain is a Military veteran with an abnormal interest in politics, economics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. He was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, and went to Edward H white High School where he wrestled Under Coach Jermy Smith and The Late Brian Gilbert. He was a team wrestling captain, District champion, and an NHSCA All-American in freestyle Wrestling. He received a wrestling scholarship from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After a short period, he decided he no longer wanted to cut weight which effectively ended his college wrestling journey. Darrell Mcclain is an Ordained Pastor under The Universal Life Church and is still in good standing, he's a Believer in The Doctrines of Grace Also Known as Calvinism. He joined the United States Navy in 2008 and was A Master At Arms (military police officer) He was awarded several awards while on active duty including an expeditionary combat medal, a Global War on Terror medal, a National Defense Medal, a Korean defense medal, and multiple Navy achievement medals. While In the Navy he was also the assistant wrestling coach at Robert E Lee High School. He's a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under six six-degree black belt Gustavo Machado, Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 3rd-degree black belt, and Former Marine Professor Mark Sausser. He went to school for psychology at American Military University and for criminal justice at ECPI University.
The Darrell McClain show
From Wrestling to Education: Linda McMahon's Role and Global Conflict Debates
What happens when a former wrestling executive steps into one of the most critical roles in education? Join us as we explore Donald Trump's unexpected choice of Linda McMahon for the Education Department, a decision that has left many questioning the future of American schooling. With a background far removed from classrooms, McMahon's appointment could signal a seismic shift in educational priorities, potentially ending the promotion of certain historical concepts and expanding voucher programs. This episode unpacks her ties to Trump's campaign and the America First Policy Institute, offering a comprehensive look at what her leadership might mean for the nation's students.
Meanwhile, on the global front, Pope Francis's call for a genocide investigation in Gaza has sparked intense debate. We delve into the Pope's historical stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the mixed reactions to his recent statements. With the humanitarian crisis in Gaza escalating, the episode also brings to light the complexities of international law and Israel's defense against these allegations. Through personal stories and expert insights, we paint a vivid picture of the ongoing tensions and humanitarian challenges faced by those in the region.
Amidst these international concerns, we shift focus back to pressing American political issues. From the military's outdated "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to the contentious debate over trans bathroom rights, we examine how these issues highlight the divisiveness in American politics. Our conversation also touches on the escalating Ukraine-Russia conflict and the ethics of terrorism and counterterrorism, questioning the morality of Western foreign policies. This episode challenges listeners to reconsider political priorities and the role of education in creating a more informed society, urging a reevaluation of policies that perpetuate global conflicts.
Welcome to the Derrell McLean Show. I'm your host, derrell McLean. Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one planet. Nobody is leaving, so let us reason together.
Speaker 1:This episode, we're going to go over a few more of the latest in the campaign cabinet picks by the incumbent President, donald John Trump. We're going to talk about the Pope calls for investigation on whether genocide is taking place in Gaza. We're going to talk about the Democrats reeling from election losses, cast blame on each other a little bit, and we're going to talk about Bernie Sanders putting a resolution on the floor about banning weapons to Israel. We're going to talk about Ukraine launching a long-range missile into Russia a couple of them, and they are coming from the United States and we're going to talk about tariffs and we're going to talk about this current fight over trans bathrooms. Let's get into the show. So we're going to start off here with somebody actually from my childhood that I'm very familiar with and that is the longtime ally of Donald Trump, lyndon McMahon. And he has picked Lyndon McMahon to run the Education Department. A friend and a financial backer of Donald Trump Department, a friend and a financial backer of Donald Trump. Ms McMahon, in the last administration, led the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term and she remained close to him during the campaign, so close that she was actually the second in charge. Now he tapped her on Tuesday and she's a former professional wrestling executive. Like I said, she ran the Small Business Administration and that is kind of what pushed her into this kind of thing for the education department. Now she is a close friend of trump and a longtime booster of his political career. She has been among his early donors leading up to his victory in 2016 and has been one of the leaders of his transition team. She's vetting other potential appointees and drafting potential executive orders, and she's been actually doing that since August.
Speaker 1:And Linda McMahon is 76, and Trump has elevated her someone who is far outside the mold of a traditional candidate for the role of an executive. Because Linda McMahon even though she ran a successful business like the WWE, but she's an executive with no teaching background or any professional experience steering education policy, other than an appointment in 2009 to the Connecticut State Board of Education, where she actually served for just one year, and, of course, a lot of those appointments when it comes to the boards in states has a lot to do with that. Linda McMahon herself is a billionaire and husband is a billionaire as well, uh, ms McMahon. And so they give a lot of money, a lot of philanthropy, to a lot of those schools, um, in Connecticut and probably other places as well, and a lot of times when you give money, part of the deal is they kind of put you on the board or they name a school after you, or it's a whole wing or something like that. But anyway, so Ms McMahon is likely to be assessed and she'll be assigned the very fraught task of carrying out what is widely expected to be a thorough and determined dismantling of the department's core functions, and she would assume the role at a time when school districts across the country are actually facing um, um budget shortfalls, many students are actually not making up ground lost during the pandemic in reading and in math, and many colleges and universities are shrinking and closing amid a larger loss of faith in the actual value of higher education. Quote we will send education back to the states and Linda will spearhead that effort, trump said in a statement announcing his decision.
Speaker 1:So she led the Small Business Administration and she resigned in 2019 without a public fallout or rift with Trump, who praised her at her departure. As one of his all-time favorites and a superstar, she stepped down from that role with the help and then she helped Trump get to his re-election. Get to his re-election. She was pivotal in the campaign and she actually became the chairwoman of a pro-Trump super PAC, which was the PAC called America First Action. More recently, she also played an influential role in laying the groundwork for a second Trump presidency as the chairwoman of the America First Policy Institute. Now the America First Policy Institute is a conservative policy group. It has offered training for prospective leaders, outlined staffing plans and drafted policy agendas for every federal agency, rivaling a similar Project 2025 effort led by the conservatives. And, of course, project 2025 came out of the conservative foundation called the Heritage Foundation. Now, since last year, trump has reportedly complained in private that the American First Policy Institute, which filed his ranks with former officials from his first term in office, owed him a portion of the money he said had it brought in by the fundraising of its political associations with him. Now, the group nonetheless maintained close ties to trump's transition team and miss mcmahon's nomination was the the latest sign of the um continued friendship, in part because of her recent policy role and her experience as the small business administration.
Speaker 1:Mcmahon has been discussed as a possible pick to lead the commerce department, and you know washington insiders are actually saying that's. What she really pushed for was the to lead the commerce department, but the role was officially offered to Howard Lutnick and Howard Lutnick is a Wall Street executive and a chairman of the Trump transition team. Now that actually happened earlier Tuesday. Now, while Trump has repeatedly called for an outright dissolution of the agency, any effort to shut it will require congressional action and support from some Republican lawmakers whose districts actually heavily depend on federal aid for public education. So on Monday, a business owner and current author, vivek Ramaswamy, who is expected to recommend a plan steep cuts to federal workforces as a leader the proposed government efficiency department, voiced support on social media for a proposal to shut down the department, calling the idea a very reasonable proposal. But the american first policy institute has set out a more immediate list of changes and it says it could be achieved through a vastly changing the department's priorities. Now those would include stopping schools from promoting inaccurate and unpatriotic concepts end quote. And that is about american history surrounding institutionalized racism and expanding voucher programs that direct more public funds to parents to spend on homeschooling, online classes at private and religious schools. In a statement announcing the pick, trump honed in on Ms McMahon's work at the American First Policy Institute, which he said focused on encouraging universal school choice across 12 states that have adopted the policy so far. He said Linda will fight tirelessly to expand choice to every state in America and empower parents to make the best education decision for their families. Hours before her announcement, mcmahon posted a message on social media praising apprenticeship programs and highlighting examples of them in Switzerland, which is often cited as a high-performing country whose model the United States should follow.
Speaker 1:Mcmahon has, for decades, been a financial supporter of Trump's political campaigns and the Trump Foundation and the charitable organization that is now defunct. She gave more than $7 million to two pro-Trump super PACs in 2016, according to data from the Watchdog Group Open Secrets. Now, in this term in 2024, she gave $10 million to the America Great Again PAC. In 2009, ms McMahon stepped down as chief executive of the World Wrestling Entertainment to run as a Republican representative in Connecticut in the US Senate. She spent heavily to fund her own campaign, winning her party's nomination, but lost to the Democrat Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and Christopher S Murphy when she ran again in 2012. Now, trump's ties to McMahon and her husband, vince, go back decades. He served as a sponsor for the WWE broadcast WrestleMania when it appeared in Atlantic City, new Jersey, in the late 1980s, and later appeared in his own storylines on WrestleMania that had him throwing punches in the ring and in one encounter actually winning this thing that I remember called it was a title battle of the billionaires, and he ended up getting to shave Mr McMahon's head. Now the two had that fake feud where Trump pretended to buy the franchise from McMahon, causing a real-life market upset for the company's stock, and then sell it back for tithes to price in 2013. Now that was actually funny, but it they. They also ended up inducting uh Donald Trump into the head of the uh education department, sticking to the um, the trump picks.
Speaker 1:Now president-elect donald trump has chosen Mehmet Oz. The celebrity physician and TV personality better known as Dr Oz pushed, you know, unproven theories about COVID-19. And, of course, it became popular about, you know, to talk about hydroxychloroquine, and that actually caught Donald Trump's eye, and that actually caught Donald Trump's eye. Now, 2022, oz ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in Pennsylvania, losing to the now senator, the Democrat from Pennsylvania. Obviously, dr Oz will work closely with Robert F Kennedy Jr to take on the illnesses and the illness industrial complex and all the whole chronic diseases left in its wake. Will be a leader in incentivizing disease prevention. So we get back and we get the best results in the world for every dollar we spend on health care in our great country. Now the pick continues to trend in the direction of Trump picking television fixtures for key administration roles, including Pete Heskett for the defense secretary and Doug Collins for the VA secretary. A person familiar with the situation granted and you know, and was granted anonymity to speak candidly said Oz was not among the early candidates on the list for the job. Former top AHS official Paul Mango, a more conventional pick, was the top candidate but Kennedy did not support him. According to this second person with knowledge of the discussions Now, oz has been a major supporter of what we call Medicare Advantage, the Medicare approved private option that has grown in popularity.
Speaker 1:Are popular among seniors, consistently provide quality care, have needed incentive to keep costs low, oz said in an AARP candidate questionnaire. In August he posted a YouTube video to his nearly 2 million subscribers on the benefits of enrolling in Medicare Advantage. 2 million subscribers on the benefits of enrolling in Medicare Advantage. As administrator, he'd have significant power over Medicare Advantage policy, including reimbursement for plans. Some hospitals and health systems have dropped the plan, citing payment delays and too many care denials. There has also been a major battle over Medicare Advantage payment rates under the Biden administration. Now Trump and insurers have accused the Biden administration of cutting payments. Cms has argued that the changes to the payment amount to payment pumps when accounting for insurer populations. Health MA plans have pulled back on their plan offerings this year, citing financial pressure. Now Dr Oz recognizes the value of Medicare Advantage and the high quality of affordable and comprehensive health care it provides for more than 34 million seniors and individuals with disabilities, and that was a quote from Mary Beth Donahue, who is a president and insurer-backed advocacy group of the insurer-backed advocacy group Better Medicare Alliance. Now the statement also said the group looks forward to working with Dr Oz to protect and strengthen the vital program for seniors. Now the Senate has to confirm Oz as the CMS administrator.
Speaker 1:Now Oz will observe and oversee broad agencies that provide coverage through Medicare and Medicaid and other programs to more than 160 million people. Kennedy does not have a clear public view on the programs, so Oz could have very significant room to move as he wants in the agencies. Oz would have significant power over Medicaid and the safety and insurance program that covers more than one in five Americans, including low-income people and those with disabilities. He'd have the power to approve states' request to change their Medicaid plans, including adding work requirements for beneficiaries. In his statement, trump says Oz will crack down on waste and fraud in the agency. Prominent conservatives in health policy circles. Experts expect the Trump administration to crack down on the so-called financing gimmicks to get more federal money. The Trump campaign has said his mass deportation campaign would actually help end the financial drain on the US health care system and ensure Medicaid can care for the qualified citizens. Oz will also oversee drug price negotiations that were recently established under the Inflation Reduction Act, which the pharmaceutical industry and business interests have challenged in court On Capitol Hill.
Speaker 1:Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, said on Tuesday that Oz seems qualified to him. Now he said that to Politico. Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican, said the incoming chair of the Senate Help Committee said in a post on X that he's glad to hear Oz has been chosen to lead the agency. Posts on X that he's glad to hear Oz has been chosen to lead the agency. It has been over a decade since a physician has been at the helm of the CMC and I look forward to discussing his priorities. This is a great opportunity to help patients and implement conservative health reforms, cassidy said. Senator Tommy Tuberbell, the Republican from Alabama, said that Trump added another all-star to his list of people that are very popular and want to help the country.
Speaker 1:Oz might not be able to rely on getting much Democratic support, though. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democrat, said that Oz's lack of experience would be one of his great number of concerns. He said he'll have to take a look at him. He certainly didn't enhance his credibility much in the Senate race. White House went on to say Senator Tim Kaine, the Democrat from Virginia, the state I happen to be standing in right now, said that he is not impressed, but I'll look forward to talking to him.
Speaker 1:Um, so this is a very big job, um, for us and because Medicaid and Medicare is a behemoth, as a lot of people that depend on the program and you know it's been something that you know some people want to keep, some people want to gut, some people want more private options.
Speaker 1:I will say this when he talked about his plan where that that quote medicare vanished for all. That would actually, if there was a medicare advantage for all, and that would actually make a very decent. It actually would would almost have a private public type of exchange type of thing going on and if that did happen, it could possibly possibly make the american health care in in in the the better than the programs that we have right now, would make it probably better than obamacare. I don't know if it'll get through, but I am very interested in that idea Medicare Advantage for All. So those are just some of the picks that the incumbent has put out and we will wait and see if they get approved. Now on to the Pope and his calls for an investigation on whether genocide is actually taking place in Gaza.
Speaker 2:Pope Francis has said that Israel's attacks in Gaza should be investigated to determine if they meet the legal definition of genocide. According to excerpts from a forthcoming book based on interviews with the pontiff, francis has privately used the word genocide to describe Israel's actions, according to people who have interacted with him. The Washington Post has reported, but his comments to the journalist Hernan Reyes Alcaid, excerpted Sunday in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, are the first time he has publicly called for an investigation. The Pope spoke to his fellow Argentine for Never Disappoints Pilgrims Toward a Better World, a book to be released in Italy on Tuesday to mark the 2025 Jubilee, when millions of Catholics are expected to visit Rome. According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. Francis said we should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies. Yaron Seidman, the designated Israeli ambassador to the Vatican, rejected the charge. There was a genocidal massacre on the 7th of October 2023 of Israeli citizens, and since then, israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens. He wrote on X in response, referencing Hamas's attack on Israel over a year ago that killed at least 1,200 people. More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the local health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Speaker 2:During his tenure, francis has offered one the strongest defenses of Israel by a sitting pope, although some Jewish critics have strenuously complained about his comments on the Gaza conflict. Last November, during a general audience in St Peter's Square, he said that the conflict had gone beyond war. This is terrorism. That statement came nearly a month after a private phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in which Francis also suggested Israel was responding to terror with terror. The Post reported Prior to his comments last year in St Peter's Square, francis met separately with groups of Palestinians and family members of Israeli hostages. During his session with the Palestinians, an attendee said the Pope used the word genocide to describe Israel's response. At the time, a Vatican spokesman had said he did not think the Pope had used the word, though he could not categorically rule it out.
Speaker 2:Israel already faces accusations that it has violated international legal obligations under the Genocide Convention. In December, south Africa filed a case to the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel's actions are genocidal in character, aimed at destroying Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group. Condemning the allegation, israel asserts that its operations in Gaza are targeted at dismantling Hamas. In the wake of the October 7 attack, in January, the court ordered Israel to do more to prevent the killing of civilians in Gaza, but did not call for a ceasefire. The panel of judges called on Israel to prevent the possibility of genocide and ramp up aid to the besieged enclave. The decision was not a verdict on the question of whether Israel has committed genocide, which could take years.
Speaker 2:The Convention on the question of whether Israel has committed genocide, which could take years. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide codifies genocide as an international crime. The 1948 treaty defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. These include killing members of the group, inflicting bodily or mental harm on a group, making its living conditions impossible, preventing births within the group or forcibly transferring its children. The majority of UN member states 153 countries have either ratified or acceded to the convention, while 41 countries have not. The Pope's comments come at a time of worsening conditions for Gaza's civilian population, which has endured more than a year of grinding conflict, the majority of its 2.2 million residents have been repeatedly displaced, living in squalid camps or in the remains of bombed homes. The collapse of the health care infrastructure has left many without access to critical care, and in the north, which has been under a harsh siege for weeks, aid agencies have described conditions as apocalyptic. Massey reported from Seoul.
Speaker 1:I think that I have somewhat made my position very clear on this particular matter and so I don't want to somewhat beat that horse. There has been episodes I've done specifically on this particular conflict, and what I do find pressing or maybe I'm using the wrong terminology what I do find telling is scrolling through social media. Sometimes you get this thing that says a few years ago you were saying this and one of the pictures that I had posted and was in my facebook memories Was a memory of actual post friend, pope Francis talking about this very issue, and this was actually when there was another uproar in Israel Palestine well, you know, between Israel and the Palestinians, and I've been paying very close attention to this issue as much as I can over the years. I think I've said it on the show several, several times. I have a natural affinity for uh Jewish people in particular. Uh, a Jewish teacher, was the. The um was the person that got me interested in politics. Uh, uh, she was the one that uh helped me get registered to vote. Uh, she was the one that uh got me bought me my first set of books, which led to me uh being a vociferous reader, and she was the one that showed me how my first public and structured debate and she was a liberal Jewish woman, a school teacher by the name of Roslyn Hoffman at Edward H White High School, and she was actually voted teacher of the year and she was my favorite teacher and so I've always tried to approach this issue with a sort of meekness because of how complex it is and also clarity about the situation, and I understand that there are different and very painful concessions, and so we will.
Speaker 1:We're watching this tragedy, we're seeing it on camera, sometimes we're watching it in real time and it is heartbreaking.
Speaker 1:And whether we agree, or whether you agree, I should say, with the Pope's classification of the word genocide, whether we agree with South Africa you know who would, who brought the charges forth and, you know, called it a genocide or so on and so forth I am somewhat heartened by the fact that people like the Pope, or people or countries you know, like South Africa, are looking at this issue and are pointing out, are asking very, very tough questions about a very tough moral situation, and so one of the other people that has been asking this question is the very popular Jewish senator himself, which is the guy that just won re-election and that is the senator from Vermont, senator Bernie Sanders, and what Bernie Sanders is actually saying is a little bit more starker than what the Pope is saying. You know, bernie's not one to hold back his views on issues, and so he is obviously on the Jewish left, the democratic socialist, and he had some very stark things to say this week, and also in a proposal.
Speaker 3:The Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act are very clear. The United States cannot provide weaponry to countries that violate internationally recognized human rights or block US humanitarian aid. According to the United Nations, much of the international community and every humanitarian organization on the ground in Gaza, israel is clearly in violation of these laws. Under these circumstances, it is illegal for the US government to provide them with more offensive weaponry. Joint resolutions of disapproval are Congress's tool to enforce those laws.
Speaker 1:So let me just be quite honest about this. Bernie Sanders, after saying that, after saying that, suggested three resolutions in order to stop this weapons sale to Israel Because the United States did it, there's nothing more, in my opinion, than a bunch of bloodthirsty warmongers. It's not going to pass. It's not going to pass. I would be shocked if it even came close to passing, but that's just the nature of the way this thing seems to work. I've watched UN resolution after UN resolution. I've watched the United States veto everything in the United Nations to ever hold Israel accountable for anything, and so I somewhat assume that they're going to, using October 7 as the pretext, block any of these resolutions as well. I may talk about it on another episode. People, I would just say, not necessarily speaking truth to power, because the Pope is very powerful and Bernie Sanders is powerful, and the truth that they speak will be heard, but they will go on a lot of ears that will become deaf. So I would just say say they are bearing witness. They are bearing witness to what is going on. They're getting it on the public record, whether it is the pontiff, you know, the Catholics believe that the Pope is literally the representative of Jesus Christ on earth, and so when he speaks it's basically as if heaven is speaking and you have the I think the oldest currently serving Jewish representative in Congress kind of letting his voice be heard while it can be in opposition to what the Israeli administration is doing at the time. And so we pray for Israel and we pray for the Palestinians and we pray for peace For the Palestinians and we pray for peace. So I may have to do like a whole show On this subject and I think I will do that, a one topic show just on this. So I'm going to go ahead and just Put it like this.
Speaker 1:So Ukraine has actually begun. There's been an escalation In this war Because Ukraine has begun using longer range ballistic missiles against Russia and those missiles are actually secretly provided by the United States of America. American officials have actually confirmed the weapons were sent as a part of a previous US support package that arrived this month and officials said they were not announced publicly and that was just to maintain operational security. So Ukraine fired a series of what is called ATACms missiles inside of russia and this was marking the first attack using us made longer range weapons in the 1000 days of war. The us officials have not been authorized to speak publicly on the matter, but they told npr that Ukraine fired seven US made army tactical missile systems into Russia, striking a weapons depot near the town of Kharkiv in Russia's uh baronesque region, about 70 miles from Ukraine. The official said Russia shot down two missiles and earlier on Tuesday Russia defense minister said Ukraine forces fired six into Russia and they said that the Russian air defense system destroyed five of the missiles mid-flight and damaged the six, whose fragments started a small fire on the ground. No injuries were reported. So you have to kind of take somewhat both of those reports as kind of a grain of salt. I don't think Russia is going to be very interested in saying what damage was done. Saying what damage was done.
Speaker 1:Ukraine President, vladimir Zelensky, did not confirm an attack but told reporters Ukraine has long-range capabilities, there are long-range drones of its own production and we now have long Neptune Ukraine cruise missiles and more than one, and we will use all this. Social media channels associated with Ukraine's military mentioned an attack on Russia Arsenals near our car keys, but did not provide details. Now, the barrage came two days after the news was reported. Now, the barrage came two days after the news was reported to a lot of outlets that the Biden administration lifted restrictions on Ukraine's use of sophisticated long-range Western weaponry to target inside of Russia. Ukraine has actually lobbied Washington for months to get permission to use those ATACMSs. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, if media reports were true, that the White House decision would spark a new spiral of tensions with Washington.
Speaker 1:Back in September, russia's president, vladimir Putin, said that Ukraine's military was incapable of deploying sophisticated long-range weapons without direct input from NATO specialists. So if Ukraine strikes deep inside of Russia, he says, this will mean that NATO countries, the United States and Europe countries are at war with Russia. Now, that being said, on Tuesday Vladimir Putin signed a decree, and that decree was actually updating Russia's nuclear doctrine, in effect expanding its options for carrying out a nuclear strike. Now that new doctrine doctrine which Putin announced in September will consider a conventional weapons attack by a non-nuclear state that's supported by a nuclear armed nation as a joint attack on Russia which could meet the conditions for a nuclear response. So that sends a warning to Ukraine, the United States and to other nuclear armed backers. Both of the news of possible Ukrainian strikes and Russia's updated nuclear adoption come for about two months before the President-elect, donald Trump, is to take the oath of office in Washington.
Speaker 1:In his campaign for the presidency, trump criticized the opened the US Embassy in Kiev. So the US Embassy will resume normal operations after it was shut down due to the threat of a significant air attack following the ukrainian firing of the american long-range atacms missiles that struck inside of russia after the us president, joe biden, removed the restrictions. Now us government sources said the embassy closure was related to ongoing threats of air attacks. The Italian and the Greek embassy said that they too had their doors closed, while the French embassy remained open but urged the citizens to be cautious. Now this comes as Ukraine has fired British long-range storm shadow missiles into russia, and this is for the first time now the independent understands as a momentum builds in the west as military support for kiev's war asset. The british made missile, which kiev has been lobbying to use beyond russia's borders for months, was fired at Russia on Wednesday, with images published by Russia's military bloggers purporting to show the storm shadow fragments in Russia current region beyond Ukraine's northeastern border. The US also announced that it would allow Ukraine military to use anti-personnel landmines as it seeks to slow down Russian advances. So the key points are the US Embassy in Kiev will resume operations.
Speaker 1:Ukraine fires its first UK storm-shadowed missile into Russia just a day after firing the US long-range missile. Russia, just a day after firing the US long-range missile, russia's intel chief has warned Russia would retaliate against NATO nations enabling Kiev strikes and the US embassy in Kiev did shut down over some airstripes. Russia issued a fresh threat to strike Kiev with a massive new missile in its grand response to hit Ukraine for using Russian weapons. The Russian military could be ready to launch. The RS-26 Rubis missile has been used in the war before now. Western missile experts have said the projectile reportedly uh flies at five times the speed of sound, making it a tricky for ukraine and us provided patriot anti-missile defense systems to actually intercept that missile.
Speaker 1:Now the US has moved to send landmines and that has been slammed by human rights groups. The humanitarian groups have criticized the use of anti-personnel mines because they present a lingering threat to civilians. Amnesty International called the US decision reckless and deeply disappointing and a setback. This is a reckless decision, a deeply disappointing setback for a president who once agreed that landmines put more civilians at a decreased risk of harm, stating and, frankly, shocking that President Biden made such a consequential and dangerous decision just before his public service legacy is sealed for the history books, said Ben Linden, amnesty Director for Europe and Central Asia for Amnesty International, us. Additionally, norway's foreign minister, espen Barth Eid, called it a very problematic because Ukraine is a signatory to an international convention opposing the use of landmines. Yeah, a lot of dangerous things going on in the foreign policy arena. A lot of dangerous things going on in the foreign policy arena. And a domestic thing Harlanda Sinhaus, who is the second oldest US citizen, at the age of 113 years old, has passed away. She was actually born February 28th in 1911. She founded the Boston Click Club, which raised money to support black students in Boston. So she's second oldest person in the United States has now passed away at the age of 113 years old.
Speaker 1:So these next two topics are going to be fairly short, and this was just a general thought about two topics that I had. The first one, big tariffs, and I postulated that consumers should consider alternatives to Walmart and Amazon, and whenever feasible, and that was because what I said is that I'm genuinely curious about what is going to happen when a society that buys everything from Amazon, walmart and Timu realizes what a 60% tariff on Chinese goods actually looked like 60% tariff on Chinese goods actually looked like. Now, I postulated this and was kind of met with the somewhat thoughts that this type of thing happened during the last Trump administration. And just to kind of put a little nail in this is we charged about 30 to 50% tariffs during the last Trump administration specifically to China, and that was specifically just for solar panels and washing machines. Now there were tariffs nonetheless, but when we charged that tariffs in 2018 to 2019, the favor was returned and we were hit with tariffs and made about 34 billion dollars. It came out of our pocket. It cost 34 billion dollars to us consumers and then we put uh, our tariffs were immediately responded to not just by China, but also by Canada and India, and they hit us with tariffs and they made $241 million and then $1.2 billion. Everything that I have seen from all the economists that I look at are very anti-tariff and everything that I've read actually says that tariffs are not paid for necessarily by a company, that the tariffs are paid for by the American consumer. So if a tariff is put on a good, that expense that it takes is actually something that is going to not lower the cost of goods but are going to make the cost more expensive. So I'm very interested to see how this whole tariff game plays out. I kind of stick with the traditional economic view on tariffs that tariffs in this particular period of the economy are a bad thing.
Speaker 1:The next issue that I'm going to talk about is something that I do find interesting in the fact that it keeps coming up, and I want to suggest that this particular issue keeps coming up because it is an election issue and it is not a real issue that most people face on a daily basis. And of course, that is the issue of transgender people in the United States. So before I get into it, I'll just state this emphatically so all the research that I looked at shows that there's approximately about 1.14% so that's 1.14% of the US population that identifies as transgender. In the current population metrics. That's about 3 million people. So 1.4% or 1.4% of people identify as transgender. When I think about that very small, small number, it makes me want to do an examination of the media's and politicians' disproportionate emphasis on this specific demographic, and I personally think that this issue and this small group of people are constantly brought up because it's a political thing. It's a small group that you know they have. They don't have the numbers to move the needle to actually change anything in a political manner. So they're next in the continuation of people that you can kind of target because they are different and you can kind of put them in a corner, cause a moral panic. Target because they are different and you can kind of put them in a corner, cause a moral panic and, uh, kind of beat up on them a bit.
Speaker 1:And I saw this when I was growing up, when it came to um, the homosexual movement, and I would see people freaking out over everything from, uh, whether you had to hire a gay person, whether you had to what institutions could they be in the boy scouts? Uh, if you were a church, did you have to hire them? Could they work with children? And there was always this, this type of um language about this specific group of people. They were just predators around every corner. It was scary because they blended in among you, etc.
Speaker 1:When I joined the military you could not be a homosexual person in the United States military. At the time it was against Article 125. Bill Clinton had put in a policy, tried to put it, you know, allowed through the back door labeled don't ask, don't tell Nobody could officially be gay, but you could not specifically ask anybody if they were. But if they told you they would be automatically processed out. So you had this kind of you can be who you are, but just keep your mouth shut, stay in the closet, type of thing, and a lot of people thought that worked well. But I can tell you from the law enforcement side of the aisle, which is what I did in the Navy it did not work well because if people were in a abusive relationship or something of that nature, they could not come to their chain of command and tell them what was going on, because the second that they did they would be processed out. And so it put a lot of sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines, coasties in very dangerous positions.
Speaker 1:Now currently in the House of Representatives there is a somewhat controversial congresswoman by the name of Nancy Nancy Mace, uh in South Carolina. Now she's making a motion to only allow, uh, biological women to use the women's bathroom. Now this is in response to a politician from Delaware named Sarah McBride, who just won a seat. Now, sarah McBride is the first ever transgender woman to be elected to Congress. Now this is where it gets to, where I say this is a posturing type of political issue. I know some of my conservative friends Will bring up an event that happened in Loudoun County and that Loudoun County is in Virginia and this was where a male claimed to be a woman and went into a bathroom and assaulted a teenage girl and that type of thing that happened galvanizes this type of issue. When you actually look at why this is kind of an issue that, at least when it comes to the Congress and the Senate, is much ado about, nothing is because representatives in Congress and Senate in the Congress and Senate actually have bathrooms in their own office that they can go to, and not only if you've ever been to the Congress and the Senate. They have male bathrooms, female bathrooms and they have unisex bathrooms.
Speaker 1:So this is kind of just an issue to get people riled up, and this is kind of what frustrates me with American politics. You have two politicians now that are going to get into some sort of a fight about something that they know has no real middle ground, and this is done just in order to toss red meat at their base, while 400,000 Americans are homeless and 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and Ukraine just used US long-range missiles for the first time in Russia, etc. Etc, etc. In Russia, etc, etc, etc. This congressperson getting into a bathroom will not stop anyone from getting raped anywhere. It won't put food on any person's table. It won't stop childhood poverty. It won't fix inflation. It won't fix the United States health care. It won't fix the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It won't lower gas prices, and the list goes on and on. Half of the country actually for a long time fought over whether the current president, joe Biden, was a pedophile, and the other half of the country still think that Donald Trump is a rapist.
Speaker 1:I get so tired of Americans' politics because I know to a lot of people these are real issues. I know to a lot of people these are real issues, but I also know they are not going to be solved when, if one politician wins, half of the country hates them, or the other person wins and half of the country hates him, by the fact that in 30 years we will still be fighting about these same things that we're fighting about today. That has no real middle ground, because what's going to happen is we will pass these battles on to the next generation, I predict, just like with the abortion fight, you're going to have states rights, bathroom policies in about six years or so and that will be the norm. And this, to me, is maddening. And when we are being put upon and issues are being pointed to us that we know there is no real middle ground on, and I want us to start to ask why am I saying this? Why is this being brought up? I'm going to end the show there and we're going to get the natural blast from the intellectual past and I will see you on the next episode.
Speaker 1:I'm going to end with a nice little quote, since we had the pleasure of talking about Linda McMahon and her taking over of the education department, and this goes as this public education does not exist for the benefit of students or the benefit of their parents. It exists for the benefit of the social order. We have discovered, as a species, that it is useful to have an educated populace. You do not need to be a student or to have a child who is a student to benefit from public education. Every second of every day of your life, you benefit from public education. So let me explain to you why I like to pay taxes for schools, even though I personally don't have a kid in a public school. Don't have a kid in a public school, and that is simply because I don't like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people. Thank you for tuning in. We're in the show with a quote from Josh Green On to the blast from the intellectual past, and I will see you on the next episode.
Speaker 4:If the United States is a leading terrorist state, if, as you say, britain is another example of a terrorist state, how do you distinguish between that kind of what you describe as terrorism and what they are saying? Osama bin Laden, who's a terrorist? Make the distinction.
Speaker 5:It's very simple If they do it, it's terrorism. If we do it, it's counterterrorism. That's a historical, universal. Go back to Nazi propaganda. Say Most extreme mass murderers ever. If you look at Nazi propaganda, that's exactly what they said. They said they are defending the populations and the legitimate governments of Europe.
Speaker 4:Let's talk about in the Middle East, for example, where Sharon says we are experiencing terrorist bombings and therefore we have to have a big operation in the West Bank and root out terrorism, and people say, hey, you're violating human rights.
Speaker 5:Yeah, this is the 35th year of a harsh, brutal and vicious occupation supported unilaterally by the United States. Constant terror and atrocities Suppose Palestinians say well, we're under terrorist attack for 35 years, therefore, we have a right to carry out suicide bombings, which is what they say. Do you accept this? Does anybody accept?
Speaker 4:it. Nobody accepts it.
Speaker 5:All right, then. How come everyone accepts the Israeli claim to be doing it, which is a much weaker claim? They are the military occupiers. Those who defend suicide bombing and there are very few have not a leg to stand on. Those who defend the Israeli atrocities including the US government, most intellectual opinion, a good bit of the West generally they don't have a leg to stand on either and they have a much weaker position.
Speaker 4:You asked us after September 11, one of your points was we've got to look in the mirror. We being America or the West, we've got to look in the mirror at our own. Was that a way of saying, look, people like bin Laden are angry at us for good reason. In other words, is there a way to justify? That's not what I was saying.
Speaker 5:The statement of mine that you just quoted is a very conservative statement. In fact, it was articulated by George Bush's favorite philosopher, jesus Christ, who, pointed out, famously defined the notion hypocrite. A hypocrite is a person who focuses on the other fellow's crimes and refuses to look at his own.
Speaker 4:I know that the US has committed atrocities. However, they did oust a more brutal regime, the Taliban.
Speaker 5:There wasn't even a war in.
Speaker 4:There wasn't even a war in. There wasn't even a war in, but is that a moral thing to do? They did get rid of a brutal regime. There was celebration.
Speaker 5:Good fine, let them bomb Israel and get rid of a brutal regime. There was celebration in Canada, good fine, let them bomb Israel and get rid of the brutal regime there. What honest people are saying is that we should pay attention to our own crimes and stop committing them. This would be true even if we were killing one person, and it's even more true when we're killing millions of people.
Speaker 4:Dewey needs a constabulary, a force, a central force. In this case it's America, because it's a superpower to sometimes use unjust means in the service of just causes.
Speaker 5:What are the just causes? What was the just cause in, for example, slaughtering Kurds in southeastern Turkey? What was the just cause? What was the just cause in supporting Soeharto when he killed a couple hundred thousand landless peasants in Indonesia, went on to become one of the biggest torturers in the world and then destroyed, slaughtered, a third of the population of East Timor? What was the just cause? What was the just cause when we invaded South Vietnam 40 years ago, ending up killing millions of people, leaving the country devastated, still dying from chemical warfare? What was the just cause? Can I continue? Yeah, the just cause for people like Kaplan is we did it. Therefore, it's a just cause. You can read that in the Nazi archives too.
Speaker 5:Let's take a look at the Middle East, but let's take a look at the facts. The facts are for 35, I repeat, for 35 years there has been a harsh, brutal, miserable military occupation In the United States. You cannot find a map. Here's what you find when you look at a map Five cantons, all surrounded by Israeli settlements, infrastructure development and so on, which also, incidentally, guarantee Israel control of the water resources. This does not rise to the level of South Africa 40 years ago, when South Africa established the Bantu Stands. That's the generous, magnanimous offer. And there's a good reason why maps weren't shown, because as soon as you look at the map, you see it.
Speaker 4:Let me just say Arafat didn't even bother putting a counterproposal on the table. That's not true. The problem that people look at now, the Middle East is, they say it's spun out of control. How do you get back to?
Speaker 5:We look at our own position and we discover what I just described that for 25 years the United States has blocked the political settlement which is supported by the majority of the American population and by the entire world, except for Israel, was still demanding a Bantustan-style settlement and rejecting the overwhelming international consensus on the position of the American people. We then discover that the United States immediately moved to enhance terror in the region. So let's continue. On September 29th, ehud Barak put a massive military presence outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque Very provocative. When people came out of the mosque, young people started throwing stones. The Israeli army started shooting. Half a dozen people were killed and it escalated the next couple of days. Israel used US helicopters to attack civilian complexes, killing about a dozen people and wounding several dozen. Clinton reacted to that on October 3rd by making the biggest deal in a decade to send Israel new military helicopters. The US press cooperated with that by refusing to publish the story. To this day they have not published the fact. It continued. When Bush came in, one of his first acts was to send Israel a new shipment of the most advanced military helicopters in the arsenal. That continues right up to a couple of weeks ago, with new shipment.
Speaker 5:On December 15th 14th, the Security Council tried to pass a resolution calling for what everyone recognized to be the obvious means for reducing terror, namely sending international monitors. The US vetoed it. Ten days before that, there was a meeting at Geneva of the high-contracting parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which has unanimously held for 35 years that it applies to Israel. The meeting condemned the Israeli settlements as illegal, condemned a list of atrocities willful destruction of property, murder, trials, torture and so on and so forth. What happened to that meeting? I'll tell you what happened to that meeting. The US boycotted it. Therefore, the media refused to publish it. Therefore, no one here knows that the United States once again enhanced terror by refusing to recognize the applicability of conventions which make virtually everything the United States and Israel are doing there a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, which means a war crime. The United States is obligated as a high-contracting party to prosecute violations of those conventions. That means to prosecute its own leadership for the last 25 years.
Speaker 4:Book writers like Bernard Lewis say what went wrong, that in fact there might be a clash of civilizations between an Islamic culture and a Western Judeo-Christian culture. They resent us. There's enormous amounts of hatred that goes back in history because of resentment.
Speaker 5:Yes, there's hatred against us. Why, in 1958, the US government faced we know from internal records three major crises in the world North Africa, middle East and Indonesia. All with oil-producing states, all Islamic states.