Ted Rall’s Latest Books:

“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

TMI Show Ep 33: “Deny, Defend, Depose”: Health insurance Horror Stories

The assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has shocked the nation, not because of the killing itself, but rather due to the widespread and gleeful public reaction to it. As the manhunt continues, social media and mainstream media comment sections are full of horror stories of desperately-ill people and their loved ones attempting to navigate a byzantine health insurance system designed to thwart easy access to medical care and payments to doctors. Co-host Manila Chan is out today, suffering from pneumonia as well as the vicissitudes of the healthcare system—she got worse because she couldn’t get easy access to antibiotics. Holding down the fort with co-host Ted Rall is TMI Show producer Robby West, who “enjoys” a front row seat amid the chaos and cruelty that is America’s healthcare system.
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Democrats Haven’t Really Won a Presidential Campaign Since 2012

           As Democrats survey their recent losses in the election, they should avoid drawing conclusions or floating prescriptions for fixing their party’s problems. First, they should absorb the biggest data point that is currently being ignored by both the progressive and the corporatist wings of the party: they haven’t really won a presidential election since 2012. No, 2020 doesn’t count. Not really. Read on. Democrats don’t yet recognize it, but they have effectively messed up three consecutive elections against Donald Trump. This points less to a divided country wobbling back-and-forth between two parties than to a systemic realignment in favor of the Republicans. For Democrats, this suggests a serious set of systemic problems unlikely to be fixable by nipping and tucking messaging and candidate presentation.             I am not an election denialist. Trump officially lost in 2020. But Biden, doddering even at the time as he campaigned from his basement, didn’t really win.             Covid shaped that race in two…
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DMZ America Podcast Ep 182: United CEO Killed: Vigilantism or Justifiable Homicide?

The DMZ America Podcast’s Ted Rall (on the Left) and Scott Stantis (on the Right) dig into the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Does the misery intrinsic to the profit model of companies like United Healthcare justify violent acts like this in a society where there is little recourse for justice? Or is taking the law into your own hands always inherently wrong? And is there any chance that corporate America might start to rethink its rapacious business practices?
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TMI Show Ep 32: Did Brian Thompson Have It Coming?

Yesterday morning the 50-year-old CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot to death on the sidewalk in midtown Manhattan by an unknown assailant. Even including the reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden, it’s hard to think of another high-profile murder that has been greeted with as much glee and schadenfreude by the American public. Comments sections in news stories and social media were filled with comments about how Brian Thompson had it coming, hopefully this is the first of many, and countless jokes about the bullet that killed him being a pre-existing condition. Almost no one expressed sympathy. TMI Show co-host Ted Rall and, filling in for Manila Chan, producer Robby West, explore this remarkable phenomenon. United Healthcare is one of the most hated big companies in the United States, in large part because it denies its customers claims at a higher percentage rate than any other insurer. Thompson, paid over $10 million a year, was a…
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TMI Show Ep 31: Can Putin Save Syria? An Exclusive from Inside Aleppo

Scarcely noticed by most of the world, the Civil War in Syria has been grinding on for more than a decade. A proxy war, with the central government of Bashar al-Assad, supported by its traditional ally Russia (along with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon) against an assortment of radical jihadi militias, including remnants of Al Qaeda supported by the United States under cover of going after the terrorist group ISIS, the balance of power had remained relatively stable at the front lines despite the threat of total fragmentation as Syria’s Kurds seized their own autonomous zone—until a couple of weeks ago. Now an Al Qaeda affiliate called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies have launched an offensive that shocked the world by capturing the second largest city in Syria, Aleppo. The TMI Show brings you an EXCLUSIVE look from directly inside HTS-occupied Syria with Steven Sahiounie, a Syrian national and journalist in Aleppo. What is it like to live under…
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