Our elected representatives spend little to no time addressing, much less solving, the actual day-to-day problems of the American people. Instead, they address made-up fake problems that don’t exist at all.
Ted Rall’s Latest Books:
Communism Doesn’t Work
It’s a cheap tactic that frequently works for the US: when a nation espouses a rival ideology that capitalists don’t like, they sabotage, isolate, and attack it so it never stands a chance. Then, when it fails, they blame the system rather than what the US did. We’re seeing that playbook at work in Cuba right now.
Now We Really Do Have To Kill Them All
Leave it to the US government to wallow in pretzel logic. Just as the Bush Administration refused to release detainees it knew were innocent because it had abused them so badly in custody that they might now be radicalized against us, the Trump Administration is worried that Iran might have to be finished off entirely because we’ve gone and royally pissed them off beyond repair.
Cheering for Darth Vader
As America continues its unprovoked war of aggression against Iran, American citizens find themselves feeling the uncomfortable emotions of the “Good German.” What do you do when your country is clearly in the wrong and goes to war?
If-Based Foreign Policy
American foreign policy wallows in paranoia. If Saddam lied and kept WMDs, and if he gave them to terrorists, and if those terrorists could somehow bring those WMDs to the US, then Iraq would be a threat. Twenty-three years later, it’s the same bizarre logic when it comes to Iran. Meanwhile, countries that really do hate us and really do have WMDs don’t use them against us.
To the Troops
American troops deployed to places like Iran are frequently said to be defending “our way of life.” But who is this “our,” and whose way of life are they actually protecting?
Iranians Hurt our Fee-Fees
Many Americans, particularly conservatives, insist they can’t tolerate an Iran where crowds chant “Death to America!” and label the US “the Great Satan.” Rarely, however, do they pause to consider why Iranians feel compelled to express such sentiments.
Avenge The Soon-To-Be Fallen!
Barely a day or two into the US–Israeli war against Iran, the deaths of half a dozen American servicemen were announced under mysterious circumstances. Administration officials immediately called for revenge—offering, retroactively, the very justification for war that had never been convincingly provided to the American public beforehand.
Democrats’ Nexus of Nuance
As they always do, Democrats bent over so far to give credence to the Republican argument—this time, in favor of starting a war against Iran—that they wound up tacitly agreeing with them. Perhaps they never notice that Republicans never give credence to the other side, no matter what.
An Eminent Theory of Imminence
Under international law, war is legal only in cases of self-defense or an imminent threat of attack, such as an enemy army massed on your border. As Bush did before Iraq, the Trump Administration cobbled together a ludicrous string of theoretical what-ifs to argue that someday, perhaps, under some scenarios, Iran might threaten the U.S.
“The Stringer”
graphic novel
by Ted Rall & Pablo G. Callejo
“Political Suicide: The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party”
by Ted Rall
“Bernie (Revised 2020 Edition)”
by Ted Rall
With a Victory Like This… | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou
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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: • In his first major speech about his war, Trump said U.S. military objectives were “nearing completion” in Iran, and repeated that it would end “shortly” without offering a timeline. He said that there would be more strikes on Iran and that in the next two to three weeks, “we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages.” There were more questions than answers. • Trump repeated his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. • A majority of Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s argument against birthright citizenship. JOIN US LIVE ON RUMBLE https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShow FOLLOW TED: https://rall.com/ https://x.com/tedrall FOLLOW JOHN: https://www.instagram.com/realjohnkiriakou https://x.com/JohnKiriakou LISTEN ON SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kdFlw2w8sSPhKI8NRx8Zu LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall
Read MoreAmerica Is Fascist
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It happened here. The United States is officially a fascist nation. Leftists, in the 1960s and 1970s, loved to throw around the F word. Johnson was fascist, Nixon was fascist, Amerikkka was fascist, the cops were fascist. As a history student and the son of a woman who lost her childhood to the objectively fascist collaborationist government of Nazi-occupied France, I could not ignore the chasm between the systemic racism and authoritarian tendencies of the police in this country and the goose-stepping militaristic mania of Fascist Italy and Hitler’s Germany. As I passed into adulthood and middle age, however, the United States kept moving Right—under presidencies of both political parties. As power increasingly concentrated in the clutches of the executive branch, the Pentagon launched ever more wars of choice with fewer attempts at justification and the most extreme dystopian nightmares morphed into banal reality, liberalism and leftism became distant memories. Right-wing extremism became normalized in culture, then in the press,…
Read MoreQ&A | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou
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Have a question for Ted and/or John? Join the hosts of “DeProgram” for a full hour of nothing but LIVE Q&A! Any topic, any question, goes—it’s up to you. Beginning today, Q&A will be every Monday and Wednesday at 12 noon Eastern time.
Read MoreRegime Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou
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LIVE 9:00 am Eastern time, Streaming Anytime: Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST. John is out this morning, but will be co-hosting for the new Q&A-only show starting today at 12 noon Eastern time, and, from now on, Mondays and Wednesdays at 12 noon ET. Today we discuss: • Regime change is a forced transformation of government or leadership that results in structural alterations in policies, politics and governance. In Iran, the theocratic leadership remains in place. Yet the White House—looking for a way out of the war it began—claims regime change has occurred. “This new regime, because regime change has occurred, should be wiser than the last,” says Hegseth. “We’ve had regime change, if you look, already because the one regime was decimated, destroyed,” says Trump. • Trump is considering a military mission to seize Iranian uranium that has been enriched to 60%. It could…
Read MoreIsrael Legalizes Lynching | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou
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LIVE 9:00 am Eastern time, Streaming Anytime: Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST. Today we discuss: • No one can question that Israel is a far-right apartheid state now that the Knesset has made death by hanging the default sentence for murder—but only for Palestinians. Jewish Israelis who commit the same crimes like West Bank settlers who lynch Palestinians to steal their land, will get to live. Execution by hanging will occur within 90 days of sentencing, with some right to delay but no clemency. Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954. The only person executed in Israel after a civilian trial was Adolf Eichmann, in 1962. • Spain blocked U.S. military aircraft involved in the Iran War from using its airspace, marking the latest rupture between Washington and Madrid. Spain already had refused to allow use of the strategically critical Rota and Morón…
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