Two blowhard pontificating Trump sycophants in one show!! Neither would make a good pimple on Whitney Webb’s ass. They dug themselves a hole for no apparent reason. Trump derangement was a bad look for Sam Harris and his credibility is in the toilet. Walter and Weinstein have completely shit on objectivity and will be similarly banned from adult conversations. Matt should end his association with this sad groupie, Walter Kirn
I can enjoy listening to a conversation without necessarily agreeing with everything they say. In terms of objectivity, Walter and Matt provide an interesting contrast.
And it was really interesting to hear Walter's description of the blatantly performative aspect of many of the senators in the nomination hearings.
Snowden had to choose between The Law and The Constitution. Judge Nap said that in a case like this, The Constitution is elevated, so Snowden did the absolute right thing.
Yes, that’s exactly what the Judge said, and it was the most succinct and useful observation I’ve heard on the Snowdon case. By the way, don’t miss today’s talk with Larry Johnson who offers, with equal eloquence, the best answer Tulsi could have given to the absurd Senator trying to humiliate her.
I just want to know if Musk's "the Pentagon is spending $600 million a year on sushi" has anything to do with sushi, or is "sushi" code for "black ops projects?"
Also enjoying how USAID aided EcoHealth Alliance as they built that nifty Covid virus that was recently all the rage.
During the Hillary Email Leak - there was a $200K order for wieners. Alex Jones went all... Well, Alex Jones - Screamed that it was a P-File ring. If it was real - may be a typo - there would be 1M rotting hot dogs, if there wasn't - it was a kick back scheme. Just need to follow up - was the invoice paid? Where was the delivery? Did the delivery really happen? What happened to the hot dogs. NYT reported only on the Alex Jones part - no follow up. Per Deep Throat - Follow the Hot Dog...
I think he's laying the groundwork for reasonable doubt in case DOGE focuses an audit on Ukraine that he knows he'd never pass. I also think large chunks of that Ukraine aid did do walkies. Right back into the Swiss bank accounts of Americans.
I'm getting the feeling that some folks got real rich bilking the government or some black ops got lifetime funding or both. Over $200,000 for Starbucks? Seriously.
You're probably right, although there were also hammer stories. These days a $600 toilet seat is only mildly outrageous. (I'm in the middle of a bathroom remodel, and I've looked at a lot of fixture catalogs.)
But it's never enough. That's why the CIA had to control opiates in SE Asia and Afghanistan and cocaine in Latin America with death squads. Was that a feature or a bug? Fentanyl is so much more potent and easy to make and smuggle... but I'm sure the CIA has gone straight or turned it over (for a cut) to USAID and NGOs.
I don't think "bilking" is a strong enough word. "Entitlement" + "ethics free." Accompanied by their own version of "Can't touch this . . ." Because they have been metaphorically "bullet proof." They are all in it together, therefore ---- safe.
Trump is attacking USAID because it costs too much, not because it is morally wrong.
Anyone who has followed all our US foreign "aid" and NGOs over the years realizes that they are basically CIA, endlessly supporting color revolutions and installing US puppet dictators. They create terrorism, and support ISIS, al Qaeda, al Nuestra, etc. attempting constantly to undermine the modernization of the Global South (to protect "US democracies! like Ukraine, Israel, Libya, Egypt, Bosnia and Honduras-- just a few recent examples." America is against self determination of any country. These machinations were justified to stop the fake communist dominoes from falling during the Cold War, but the US has doubled down, no doubt because of corruption and war profiteering since the Soviet Union fell.
USAID has historically been involved in some "CIA-like" programs, as discussed in a (possibly pay-walled) 2014 NY Times article (1). Two of the opinion pieces associated to that article (2, 3) discuss the training of foreign right-wing militias, training in torture techniques, and covert political influence operations in Cuba using social media. The NY Times article was motivated by an AP article on the Cuban operation (4).
Whether USAID is actually a CIA front or not may not matter much in light of its history.
NJH6945: By the way, the authors of four of the five short opinion pieces associated to the article I mentioned in my previous comment all recognized that "apart from humanitarian motivations, foreign aid is a form of 'soft power' and proto-political influence", as one author put it. He added "The U.S. is not unique in this, of course."
Little more than a decade ago, there was a frank acknowledgment in the mainstream press that U.S. foreign aid was mixed up with political "funny business", and honest debates about the pros and cons; nowadays, we're fed fairy tales.
Federal grants are not confidential information, e.g., agencies that award grant $ for specific purposes them must have an open competition & review process for proposed work. You can request to see the winning application. It is public information. However where few viable grantees are capable of performing the work, $ may be granted without active competition for an acceptable work proposal. I would bet that many USAID grants are not competitive & $ can be awarded with little over site…. But even this does not make the proposals, work plans or progress reports confidential.
US foreign aid is mostly for US benefit not for the people getting the "aid". Just like the IMF and World Bank they are controlling agencies for US, Israel and NATO interests, much like pedophiles running and administering many children charities.
I wonder where was Ilhan Omar and her constitutional understanding of the government spending process when Biden tried to put the taxpayers on the hook for billions upon billions of student debt without anything resembling congressional authorization.
Remember Senator Biden succeeded in putting American STUDENTS on the hook for billions upon billions of debt by making student debt not dischargeable by bankruptcy (that was only for businesses and political donors, like Trump at the time).
It would be interesting to know the demographic statistics on the students whose debts were "forgiven" (i.e., paid by taxpayers). Virtually everything the Biden administration did was steeped in DEI, so I imagine that they took race and other "identify" characteristics into account in doling out that money.
The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.
I fucking love these guys. They provide interesting context and details about the tsunami of information we are in. They don’t with a dry wit that makes the medicine go down.
And NIH. I worked there six years in the early 90s, and was told NIH was the most efficient government agency! (Hopefully that is not true!) NIH was honeycombed with byzantine untouchable fiefdoms (despite that, the people on the bottom sometimes came up with good work).
Why is Matt not addressing the unprecedented censorship and removal of scientific information that this administration is currently engaged in? In the past week, thousands of scientific articles and dozens of data sources have been removed from access by researchers, including the Area Heath Resource Files (which one of my students needs in order to quantify the number of OB-Gyns and Nurse Midwifes by county for her dissertation analysis), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the Household Pulse Survey (Census bureau), etc. This is widespread, without precedent, and much of the missing information/data has little to do with "gender ideology", "dei", or other topics of that nature. Seems like this would at least merit a mention on a show that is devoted to the free exchange of ideas and information.
Or how about the executive order allowing deportation of persons on student visas who engage in pro-Palestinian/anti-Zionist protests on campus? This is a frank violation of these students' First Amendment rights (and, yes, the First Amendment applies to non-citizens on American soil) and an egregious attempt at government censorship whether or not you agree with the student's views. But I have heard no comment on any of this from Matt or Walter.
I have followed Matts writing for close to two decades and have been a Racket subscriber since the beginning, but over the past several months it has largely devolved into a biased and one-sided critique of liberal/democrat policies and activity, with barely a whisper of dissent or criticism of the Trump administration--the group that are actually now in power. It is very disappointing.
I despise most of the current Dem crop and have actively despised Biden for decades for various reasons. When the idiotic DNC floated him in in 2020 (and anointed HRC in 2016) I practically threw up. But the current Repubs are not the solution to the problem. I might have been impressed had the current Republican administration hired 100,000 competent professionals to audit the DOD for waste and fraud, but Musk and associates? Please.
Walter: you talked about corrupting the guy who knows where the check is sent. - made me wonder - what shit do they have on a $25mill a year - 1hour show a week Rachel Maddow?
Hey Matt, I have a BA in Political Science with a minor in International Relations from the University of Virginia. Would I qualify to be one of your reporters in DC? God I would have loved to have that job. Unfortunately, I graduated in 1973, right in the middle of Watergate. My interests were elsewhere at the time. Great show tonight. I’d volunteer to do it without pay if I thought I had the stamina. Great show tonight!!
Hey Walter, good conversation with Bret Weinstein. Your revelations about what it's really like in a congressional hearing room are important.
Love how Walter made Brett laugh out loud, in an uncharacteristic way :)
Two blowhard pontificating Trump sycophants in one show!! Neither would make a good pimple on Whitney Webb’s ass. They dug themselves a hole for no apparent reason. Trump derangement was a bad look for Sam Harris and his credibility is in the toilet. Walter and Weinstein have completely shit on objectivity and will be similarly banned from adult conversations. Matt should end his association with this sad groupie, Walter Kirn
I can enjoy listening to a conversation without necessarily agreeing with everything they say. In terms of objectivity, Walter and Matt provide an interesting contrast.
And it was really interesting to hear Walter's description of the blatantly performative aspect of many of the senators in the nomination hearings.
Why are you waisting your valuable time responding to this guy?
Why are you wasting your valuable time responding to me about wasting my valuable time responding to this guy? ;)
Chuck, so that’s all you’ve got? Don’t be shy; tell everyone how you really feel.
🙄
Exactly!
Snowden had to choose between The Law and The Constitution. Judge Nap said that in a case like this, The Constitution is elevated, so Snowden did the absolute right thing.
Yes, that’s exactly what the Judge said, and it was the most succinct and useful observation I’ve heard on the Snowdon case. By the way, don’t miss today’s talk with Larry Johnson who offers, with equal eloquence, the best answer Tulsi could have given to the absurd Senator trying to humiliate her.
Do you have a link to the talk with Larry Johnson that you mentioned? I haven't heard of him.
I’ve been following him for 3 years, straight shooter, high integrity person. Sonar21.com, and his channel is CounterCurrents on Rumble or YT.
It was on the podcast, February 3,
Judging Freedom, with Andrew Napolitano; it’s towards the end of a 25 minute interview.
I just want to know if Musk's "the Pentagon is spending $600 million a year on sushi" has anything to do with sushi, or is "sushi" code for "black ops projects?"
Also enjoying how USAID aided EcoHealth Alliance as they built that nifty Covid virus that was recently all the rage.
During the Hillary Email Leak - there was a $200K order for wieners. Alex Jones went all... Well, Alex Jones - Screamed that it was a P-File ring. If it was real - may be a typo - there would be 1M rotting hot dogs, if there wasn't - it was a kick back scheme. Just need to follow up - was the invoice paid? Where was the delivery? Did the delivery really happen? What happened to the hot dogs. NYT reported only on the Alex Jones part - no follow up. Per Deep Throat - Follow the Hot Dog...
Speaking of fraud did you see The Zelensk interview where he says that only $75 billion made it to Ukraine. The rest has apparently gone walksies.
Yassar Arafat died a very rich man, no?
As do most US puppets.
But what about those news stories about how we're guaranteeing Ukrainian pensions, and paying Ukrainian teachers and whatnot?
What about those stories about top Ukrainian officials buying luxury cars and yachts?
Zelensky is being disingenuous here. I suspect he knows where a lot of that money went.
I think he's laying the groundwork for reasonable doubt in case DOGE focuses an audit on Ukraine that he knows he'd never pass. I also think large chunks of that Ukraine aid did do walkies. Right back into the Swiss bank accounts of Americans.
I'm getting the feeling that some folks got real rich bilking the government or some black ops got lifetime funding or both. Over $200,000 for Starbucks? Seriously.
It's more than a feeling. I'm old enough to remember the $600 hammers.
I thought it was the toilet seats were $600...and not the bidet kind!
You're probably right, although there were also hammer stories. These days a $600 toilet seat is only mildly outrageous. (I'm in the middle of a bathroom remodel, and I've looked at a lot of fixture catalogs.)
The hammers we’re gold
"So you know what you can sell
To the Yahoo, to the Pentagon
Yes you know what you can sell and they’ll make you a millionaire..."
The numbers in the song should be updated for inflation. ;)
But it's never enough. That's why the CIA had to control opiates in SE Asia and Afghanistan and cocaine in Latin America with death squads. Was that a feature or a bug? Fentanyl is so much more potent and easy to make and smuggle... but I'm sure the CIA has gone straight or turned it over (for a cut) to USAID and NGOs.
Yep. Nancy Reagan should have been targeting her "Just Say No" bullshit directly to Langley.
Wasn't there a drug cartel that was trained at Fort Bragg?
And, if I'm not mistaken, the US is still funding Afghani opium farmers on the down low.
I don't think "bilking" is a strong enough word. "Entitlement" + "ethics free." Accompanied by their own version of "Can't touch this . . ." Because they have been metaphorically "bullet proof." They are all in it together, therefore ---- safe.
Hope you also get a chance to discuss the developing destruction of the CIA front formerly known as "USAID".
Trump is attacking USAID because it costs too much, not because it is morally wrong.
Anyone who has followed all our US foreign "aid" and NGOs over the years realizes that they are basically CIA, endlessly supporting color revolutions and installing US puppet dictators. They create terrorism, and support ISIS, al Qaeda, al Nuestra, etc. attempting constantly to undermine the modernization of the Global South (to protect "US democracies! like Ukraine, Israel, Libya, Egypt, Bosnia and Honduras-- just a few recent examples." America is against self determination of any country. These machinations were justified to stop the fake communist dominoes from falling during the Cold War, but the US has doubled down, no doubt because of corruption and war profiteering since the Soviet Union fell.
Trump is probably attacking it because it was and is a funding path for the censorship apparatus that attacked him, Musk and all of democracy.
They probably fund the liberal party of canada as well.
What evidence do you have that USAID is a CIA front?
USAID has historically been involved in some "CIA-like" programs, as discussed in a (possibly pay-walled) 2014 NY Times article (1). Two of the opinion pieces associated to that article (2, 3) discuss the training of foreign right-wing militias, training in torture techniques, and covert political influence operations in Cuba using social media. The NY Times article was motivated by an AP article on the Cuban operation (4).
Whether USAID is actually a CIA front or not may not matter much in light of its history.
[1] https://apnews.com/united-states-government-5661cee3232a4fd09c930e1548861be3
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/15/when-is-foreign-aid-meddling/when-us-aid-undermines-local-voices
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/15/when-is-foreign-aid-meddling/secret-programs-hurt-foreign-aid-efforts
[4] https://apnews.com/united-states-government-5661cee3232a4fd09c930e1548861be3
NJH6945: By the way, the authors of four of the five short opinion pieces associated to the article I mentioned in my previous comment all recognized that "apart from humanitarian motivations, foreign aid is a form of 'soft power' and proto-political influence", as one author put it. He added "The U.S. is not unique in this, of course."
Little more than a decade ago, there was a frank acknowledgment in the mainstream press that U.S. foreign aid was mixed up with political "funny business", and honest debates about the pros and cons; nowadays, we're fed fairy tales.
I applaud your support to an organization dedicated to creating believable lies.
Asking what evidence Damien McKenna has for his assertion about USAID does not imply that the questioner supports USAID.
Check out Mike Benz.
He has a channel on Rumble.
I think the USAID thing is going to be very informative to the American people.
I guess we aren't entitled to know how generous and caring we are to other peoples and cultures throughout the world? Shhhh. It's a secret.
I don't care who opens the books --- Musk, high school kid on a field trip. Open the books!
Federal grants are not confidential information, e.g., agencies that award grant $ for specific purposes them must have an open competition & review process for proposed work. You can request to see the winning application. It is public information. However where few viable grantees are capable of performing the work, $ may be granted without active competition for an acceptable work proposal. I would bet that many USAID grants are not competitive & $ can be awarded with little over site…. But even this does not make the proposals, work plans or progress reports confidential.
US foreign aid is mostly for US benefit not for the people getting the "aid". Just like the IMF and World Bank they are controlling agencies for US, Israel and NATO interests, much like pedophiles running and administering many children charities.
I wonder where was Ilhan Omar and her constitutional understanding of the government spending process when Biden tried to put the taxpayers on the hook for billions upon billions of student debt without anything resembling congressional authorization.
Remember Senator Biden succeeded in putting American STUDENTS on the hook for billions upon billions of debt by making student debt not dischargeable by bankruptcy (that was only for businesses and political donors, like Trump at the time).
It would be interesting to know the demographic statistics on the students whose debts were "forgiven" (i.e., paid by taxpayers). Virtually everything the Biden administration did was steeped in DEI, so I imagine that they took race and other "identify" characteristics into account in doling out that money.
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/347129
The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.
Frank Zappa
I know it's off topic, but unfortunately he died of prostate cancer at only age 58.
I fucking love these guys. They provide interesting context and details about the tsunami of information we are in. They don’t with a dry wit that makes the medicine go down.
Incredible work
Incredible people
Thank you and thank God 🙏
I can't wait for DOGE to dig into the Department of Energy. I worked there in the 1990s.
And NIH. I worked there six years in the early 90s, and was told NIH was the most efficient government agency! (Hopefully that is not true!) NIH was honeycombed with byzantine untouchable fiefdoms (despite that, the people on the bottom sometimes came up with good work).
I really enjoy seeing the Democrats standing out on the freezing cold curb screaming to the wind.
Meanwhile, back in America, people are dying on the ground in their homeless tent encampments.
USAID desperately needed for the above....send all pertinent dossiers....
Why is Matt not addressing the unprecedented censorship and removal of scientific information that this administration is currently engaged in? In the past week, thousands of scientific articles and dozens of data sources have been removed from access by researchers, including the Area Heath Resource Files (which one of my students needs in order to quantify the number of OB-Gyns and Nurse Midwifes by county for her dissertation analysis), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the Household Pulse Survey (Census bureau), etc. This is widespread, without precedent, and much of the missing information/data has little to do with "gender ideology", "dei", or other topics of that nature. Seems like this would at least merit a mention on a show that is devoted to the free exchange of ideas and information.
Or how about the executive order allowing deportation of persons on student visas who engage in pro-Palestinian/anti-Zionist protests on campus? This is a frank violation of these students' First Amendment rights (and, yes, the First Amendment applies to non-citizens on American soil) and an egregious attempt at government censorship whether or not you agree with the student's views. But I have heard no comment on any of this from Matt or Walter.
I have followed Matts writing for close to two decades and have been a Racket subscriber since the beginning, but over the past several months it has largely devolved into a biased and one-sided critique of liberal/democrat policies and activity, with barely a whisper of dissent or criticism of the Trump administration--the group that are actually now in power. It is very disappointing.
I despise most of the current Dem crop and have actively despised Biden for decades for various reasons. When the idiotic DNC floated him in in 2020 (and anointed HRC in 2016) I practically threw up. But the current Repubs are not the solution to the problem. I might have been impressed had the current Republican administration hired 100,000 competent professionals to audit the DOD for waste and fraud, but Musk and associates? Please.
Good points.
I, for one, love you two 'wing-nuts' ! Keep winging it.
Walter: you talked about corrupting the guy who knows where the check is sent. - made me wonder - what shit do they have on a $25mill a year - 1hour show a week Rachel Maddow?
Hey Matt, I have a BA in Political Science with a minor in International Relations from the University of Virginia. Would I qualify to be one of your reporters in DC? God I would have loved to have that job. Unfortunately, I graduated in 1973, right in the middle of Watergate. My interests were elsewhere at the time. Great show tonight. I’d volunteer to do it without pay if I thought I had the stamina. Great show tonight!!