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Hello and welcome to DSR Daily. I'm David Rothkopf. I'm joined by Riley Fesser and Minna Stein, Riley's wearing his Cincinnati Reds hat because the reds are doing pretty well. And we're looking anywhere we can for positive news these days.
So, well done, Riley. Thank you.
“I'm glad that when Ohio sports team can bring me some joy.”
Yeah, it must have been very hard for you to watch Michigan win the NCAA basketball championship.
Yeah, you know, I've never been an OSU fan though since I didn't go there.
So, I wasn't too broken up about it. Yeah, for Washington sports fans and we'll get into the news in a minute. There is a subtext in the women's championship because UCLA won the women's championship and rather decisive fashion beating South Carolina. And one of the senior stars of the UCLA team was a woman named Kiki Rice.
And Kiki Rice, if that name sounds it all familiar, is the niece of former US National Security Adviser Susan Rice. So, see how we connect everything here? So, now give me a story about national security or lack thereof. The United States and Iran have entered a two-week ceasefire broke out. Oh, come on, that's bullshit.
All right, all right, let's play along. It's a ceasefire. Okay, yeah, go ahead. Broken by Pakistan, pausing a six-week conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and caused massive disruptions to global oil supplies. While President Trump and Tehran both declared victory,
the reopening of the state of our moves remains conditional on further framework agreements. As official peace talks are slated to begin this Friday in Islamabad. With court disputes over nuclear materials and economic sanctions still unresolved, domestic critics and Israel and hardliners in Iran remain skeptical that this fragile troops will lead it to a lasting peace.
“And I think you can also include many Americans.”
And I think that as well. I don't know. I don't want to speak for the tribute, but I was going to say three more skeptical Americans here. The Iranians had a ten-point plan. The Americans said they accepted the ten-point plan as the basis for this ceasefire agreement.
Okay, so let's just take a quick look at the ten points. Okay, I'll go through them quickly. One, the U.S. must fundamentally commit to guaranteeing non-aggression. We won't do that. We'll continue the threat. Two, continuation of Iran's control over the streets of Hormuz.
This is already the most controversial part of it. Because before this, Iran wasn't stopping traffic through the streets of Hormuz. Straight of Hormuz.
And now, they're apparently as a deal to let Iran and Oman each charge a million bucks to every vessel going through.
So two million per vessel. That's 130 vessels a day. That's 130 million dollars going to Iran each and every day. Billions and billions into Iran's coffers much more than was ever dreamed of giving Iran in the original JCPOA, the deal struck by Obama. But, of course, we're also lifting sanctions on them and other things that give them money. But there are even a lot of Republicans are like up in arms about this because they didn't have that control before. And so asserting the control is part of the deal gives you a lot more power.
Geopolitically than they had before. And Trump has been saying, "Yeah, maybe it'll be a joint venture." But he's like, "Maybe I should get a cut out of this." So that one is an issue. Acceptance that Iran can enrich uranium for its nuclear programs.
This was a core part of the Iranian agreement in the Far Sea agreement. Announcements of this.
It was mentioned.
Trump this morning said, "Oh, no, we're going to dig up the uranium and it's going to leave."
It's going to leave, you know, Iran by some means. So there is absolutely zero agreement on that one. Removal of all primary sanctions on Iran. Can't imagine that's going to happen. But, okay, removal of all secondary sanctions against foreign entities that do business with Iran.
Okay, end of all UN Security Council resolutions targeting Iran. End of all international atomic energy agency resolutions on Iran's nuclear program. Again, they think it's continuing. The US does not. Compensation payment to Iran for war gamut.
Well, maybe that'll come in the form of allowing them to charge this toll.
“But of course, I think that's going to be a tough issue as well.”
Withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region. Pete Higsef has already said U.S. combat forces will remain in the region. And that seems absolutely no possibility. That will be great too. And ceasefire on all fronts, including Israel's conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Well, Israel said it doesn't agree to that. And Israel was continuing to fight in Lebanon. And moments before we came on the air, the Iranian said, Well, that's a violation of this agreement. So here we are, 12 hours in.
Why are we 12 hours into an agreement? We're apparently there isn't actually an agreement. Well, because the president of the United States threatened genocide yesterday. Israel freaked out Republicans, Democrats, and everybody as it should, because it was the most lunatic thing we have ever heard from a U.S. president, Trump needed a way to back down.
And so they made up an agreement. This is a little bit like what they did in Gaza where they said, well, there's a 22 point plan. And so now we're going to have a board of peace and blah, blah, blah, blah.
“I love the 22 point plan. I think one or two of the points have been implemented.”
The other 20 are not agreed to yet. People are still getting killed in Gaza. Israel still controls Gaza. The board of peace is a scam. And this is what Trump is trying to do out of these things. See, what he's trying to do, he creates a crisis.
He puts a band in on it. And he tries to figure out how he can profit directly from that crisis. And if you don't believe, you know, look at what's happened with the board of peace.
We missed in the midst of all of this that the State Department took $1.5 billion of appropriated funding
and gave it to the board of peace, which is controlled by Trump. So this is a sham inside fabric of lies. You know, a big pile of complete bullshit. Does it come apart in a way that we resume fighting? Does it come apart in a way where energy markets freak out again?
“Does it come apart in a way where the only way to solve it is for somebody to pay off Trump?”
And all of a sudden we go into business with Iran? Oh, who knows? What is absolutely certain is that at the conclusion of this or for years to come. The US will be in a less good position than we were before. Our goals will not be achieved. The region will be less stable.
And Trump's war will be seen as an absolute freaking fiasco. So hey, Mr. President, congrats on the fake peace agreement, broken by the Pakistanis, who you have some weird relationship with through Steve Whitkoff and Real Estate, who were themselves fighting a war against Afghanistan last month, who have a big disagreement with the Indians about whether or not Trump had any involvement in solving the war between them. But this is just a fake and let's just keep our eyes open.
We'll cover it and start to go on, but I think it warranted a little bit of a breakdown. Man, you're not having a breakdown, are you? Not yet, but we'll see where the morning takes us. Yeah, every day it's possible.
I'm always right on the brink.
She's on the edge. We'll see if this pushes us over. Although Riley and I are always like walking on egg shells, right?
Because anything could set her off.
One bad story and then Bingo, yeah, exactly. All right, well, I don't know if this one is going to do it, so I'm safe for now. Republicans held Georgia's 14th congressional district as Clay Fuller defeated Sean Harris, but Democrats outperformed expectations in the heavily Republican seat. Signaling strong enthusiasm ahead of the midterms.
Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, liberal candidate Chris Taylor won a state supreme court race by a wide margin expanding the court's liberal majority. Together, the results suggest continued democratic momentum, even as Republicans
“maintain key advantages in certain districts and in control of the U.S. House.”
Yeah, I mean, look, the Republicans are going to win districts. They've been Jerry Mandarin. Jerry Mandarin, they've been cheating some of these districts are just deep red. But the swing in the Georgia district was 25 points, which was the biggest swing that we've seen thus far from a 2024 result to the current result.
And so, you know, that's a positive outcome. Wisconsin has becoming more institutionally solid as a liberal ballwork. That may seem distant now, but you'll recall that during the past couple of presidential elections,
the blue wall, the states that are essential to democratic victory,
were that the ones that everybody was looking at were Pennsylvania Michigan and Wisconsin. So, good news there as well, good news for the Democrats. Because country wants to change. You know, by the way, country always wants to change, just they want it a lot more right now. Well, speaking of the ceasefire and what it doesn't cover is really forces
launched a massive wave of air strikes across Central Bay Route and other parts of Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting over 100 Hezbollah sites, just hours after a ceasefire was announced in the conflict between the U.S. Israel and Iran. While mediators suggest the troops should apply to Lebanon, Israel maintains the agreement does not extend to Hezbollah, prompting the militant group to refuse adherence
until Israeli attacks cease. The ongoing hostilities have resulted in more than 1,530 deaths in Lebanon while displacing
more than 1 million people.
Yeah, it's a humanitarian catastrophe. It's also a, you know, political abomination. Israel's now controlling 12,14% of Lebanese territory. There are people in Israel saying they're going to continue to control it. It's looking a lot like what they did in Gaza.
You recall, after the Gaza quote ceasefire, "Israel kept violating the ceasefire and does to this day every single day and hundreds and hundreds of people continue to die."
“You know, I think it's very important to remember that the United States attacked Iran”
at the behest or with the support and at the encouragement according to the New York Times story about all this of Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu still has number one on his hit parade of objectives, wiping Iran off the map. Iran is, you know, an obsession for him.
It was a family obsession in his family. But let's look at this from what other point of view. Remember when Israel went in and decapitated Hezbollah in Lebanon
and however everybody said this is an incredible strategic feed.
And Hezbollah is now done in Lebanon. Well, apparently not. You know, it's a little bit like how we, you know, defeated Iran. But, you know, the deal that we now struck with Iran looks like Iran got all that wanted and we didn't get anything to do with it.
So, you know, could this blow open the whole deal? Yep, might it blow it open today? Yep.
“If it doesn't blow it open, will it be an open wound on this deal?”
Yep. Could it be a source of further tension between the United States and Israel because the U.S. wants out and wants to dial this back and wants to go conquer Cuba and Greenland and other places and peace? Yep.
And, you know, what about the Epstein files? Sorry, I just had to work that in there. Federal judge in Louisiana temporarily allowed at nationwide access to Mifipristone, which is the abortion pill, to remain unchanged, pausing the case while the food and drug
administration reviews the drug safety. The ruling reflects ongoing political divisions, including with in supporters of Donald Trump, over how aggressively to restrict abortion, particularly telehealth access to medication abortions. While the case is on hold in underscores broader legal and political
battles as states like Louisiana push new strategies to limit abortion access despite its continued prevalence nationwide.
Yep.
You know, you can't take a right that people have assumed
“was there right for half a century and just take it away from them.”
As was done, you know, when Roe B. Wait was overturned. And, you know, states are supposed to have prerogative in this. And, you know, there are some states that are trying to go back into the middle of the 19th century or the 18th century and to, you know,
strip away more and more of the rights that women have enjoyed of autonomy over their own bodies. And, you know, this battle is going to continue for a while, but, you know, it's good news that these tools are available to people because each and every one of us on this or in this country
ought to be able to make the choices that we want to make
regarding our health provided it doesn't hurt anybody else. And that's what the issue is here. And so any strengthening or reaffirmation
“of bodily autonomy is actually a strengthening or reaffirmation”
to paraphrase Hillary Clinton, minis favorite. Of a fundamental human right because women's rights are human rights. Right, Mena? I say it every day. Every day. Every day. She wears a vintage pant suits.
Every day around the deep, safe radio headquarters complex. Before we record, I put on a pant suit. I say women's rights are human rights. I take off my pant suit, put on my recording clothes and record. So it's a ritual.
It's how we got to where we are today. Riley, however, just wears the same t-shirt every day. That's right. I don't need fashion when I work from home. You're a man of the people.
It's true. You're a don't say you work from home. Say you work from the deep state radio global headquarters. Which is my home. You're destroying the whole image.
The illusion.
We're in the second sub basement of the Ministry of Snark.
Remember that? Don't pull back the curtain. Right. I forgot. That was our whole charming. Our whole charming speel back.
You know, I don't know when we started doing this. Which was, I don't know, 11 years ago. Oh, god. 11 years. It's amazing.
Like men who was in middle school. Anyway, going right. Well, some more scary news. Because ice acting director Todd Lyons confirmed the agency is using graphite. And a zero click spyware tool to intercept encrypted messages as part of its operations against
fentanyl traffic rules and foreign terrorist organizations. Lawmakers and civil rights advocates have raised alarms over the technologies invasive nature. Siding its history of being used to target journalists and its potential for misuse against domestic protesters and immigrant communities. All the Department of Homeland Security defends the tool as a vital necessity for modern law enforcement.
The critics argue that the lack of judicial oversight possibly significant threat to constitutional rights and digital privacy. Yeah, you know, folks we're in kind of the early days here. And we just don't have enough law. We don't have enough regulations to protect everybody against the potential violations of our mental rights that a lot of the new technologies can pose.
And, you know, there will be differences on this right up until the moment when there's a new administration. They said, I wonder if we should use this to target right wing extremists. At which point the GOP and the right will scream like bloody murder and demand that there be new regulations to protect them from the intrusive big brother like government, which Trump has spent every minute he has been in office trying to create. Well, it's in that uplifting today is Wednesday.
It's the middle of the week. So we have a special episode of Deep State Radio in which we're going to talk a lot about this deal. And of course, you can go back yesterday. We did a couple of special episodes of need to know including one with representative Ted Lewis, Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus who is very direct about Trump and the threat he poses.
“And, you know, he, I believe the exact term used by Congressman Lou was that ship crazy.”
Which I think, by the way, is the kind of language that legislative leaders need to use because anything less than that
Is white washing what's going on.
We also did a very interesting discussion I need to know with two veterans of the intelligence community,
“really distinguished members of the intelligence community, which made a case that goes beyond Iran,”
which is under Trump.
There has been an incredible hollowing out of our national security apparatus, including the negation effectively shutting down the national security council
about quarter of the people leaving the state department decapitation of the leadership within the department of defense. Huge brain drain at the intelligence community. And an exacerbation of all of these things by the White House and the president not actually use it.
The advisory assets of the national security council are the process aspects of the whole national security community.
“To produce informed decisions and so things atrophy on the vinas results at that. What does that mean?”
It means that we will be in a bad position with regard to decisions made on national security for the remainder of this administration. But what it also means is that to rebuild the apparatus to the level of dependability and resources that we were used to prior to Trump coming to office.
It's going to take many, many, many, many years.
It's going to be very hard to do.
“And as a result, the United States is going to be more vulnerable.”
And U.S. decisions are going to be less informed when it comes to national security at a moment of, obviously, great risk on the planet. So I would encourage you to listen to those things. Watch them on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube, watch them on the DSR network, get your friends to watch them. And join us again for everything else. We've got coming later this week for now.
Thank you, Madam Patsoots. Thank you, Madam Mr. Cincinnati Reds. And we will be with you again tomorrow. Bye-bye. (upbeat music)
