For the price of a single Hellfire missile, you can send an American through a public four-year college. Yet we keep making the wrong choice.
Ted Rall’s Latest Books:
Never Meet, Never Exist
The Cornell University alleged gang-rape case, and the online controversy around it, is the latest example of fear between the sexes: women afraid of men, and men afraid of women. No wonder young people aren’t dating, or having sex, at the same rates as in the past.
Customer Service
Customer service has never been worse or more irritating to American consumers, who must suffer countless indignities like A.I. phonemail trees that don’t recognize their voices. The only way out, for those who are willing to publicize their plight, is to go public on social media.
Collective Guilt, Then and Now
After World War II, the United States argued at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials—and directly to the German people themselves—that the whole nation bore collective responsibility and guilt for the crimes of Nazi Germany because, despite the risks of resistance in a totalitarian state, they could and should have risen up and overthrown Adolf Hitler. Now the same country, the United States, cannot even be bothered to hold a single substantial protest when its out-of-control president threatens to use nuclear weapons against Iran, despite the fact that Iran poses no danger to us.
America’s Achilles Heel
The U.S. war against Iran, and the resulting closing of the Strait of Hormuz, exposes America’s Achilles’ heel—its dependence on foreign oil and gas—more starkly than ever before. Looking back at previous examples of the supposedly “invincible” American military, perhaps the adversaries destroyed by the United States should have found some way to hit us where it hurts: at the gas pump.
Bibi’s #1 Fan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his strident campaign of misdirection and outright denial of the facts in the Middle East conflict at the United Nations General Assembly. You have to give him credit for moxie, if nothing else.
The Lie Master
Trump is famous for his lies, but increasingly he is not only lying about matters of little or no importance; he is lying when telling the truth would be more personally and politically advantageous.
Just Trump Being Trump
President Trump delivered a startling speech at the United Nations General Assembly in which he threatened to annihilate Iran with nuclear weapons. Even more shocking, journalists and international statesmen largely greeted this insane outburst with a shrug.
Today the Party, Tomorrow the Fast
After spending like wild men on wars, tax cuts for the rich, and ballroom renovations no one ever asked for or needed, Trump-era Republicans are getting ready to recast themselves as fiscal conservatives as soon as the Democrats take control of the House this fall.
Bombs Away
The American people are constantly being told that they can’t have universal healthcare or high-speed rail or free college or any number of other great things citizens of other countries have because we spend so much money on defense. Now, however, the Defense Department is saying they don’t even have enough bombs to fight wars. Where is the money going?
“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
Will Trump TACO on Terror Thursday? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
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LIVE: MWF 9-11 am Eastern time & 9-10 am Tues-Thurs & Streaming Anytime Trump privately debates scrapping plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan after learning the paralyzed gunman relies on a wheelchair. Why didn’t he know? Advisers warn that the grim public images could martyr the terrorist or embolden enemies, even as Trump remains firmly committed to carrying out the death sentence itself. Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET. Today we also discuss: • Cornell University suspends fraternity parties for the rest of the academic year amid explosive backlash over a 2024 gang rape allegation. President Michael Kotlikoff vows zero tolerance as the Ivy League school scrambles to overhaul its response after local prosecutors initially declined charges. How will Ivy Leaguers socialize? • Time to move? Scientists say that super-Earths orbiting cooler K-dwarf stars may prove more habitable than…
Read MoreThe Cornell Controversy (with Michael Tracey) | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
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LIVE: MWF 9-11 am Eastern time & 9-10 am Tues-Thurs & Streaming Anytime “DeProgram” invites Michael Tracey, an independent journalist and commentator known for contrarian coverage of media and sexual-assault narratives, to discuss the 2026 Cornell “Jane Doe” civil lawsuit, filed by a former student alleged she was drugged and assaulted by seven Chi Phi fraternity members on October 19, 2024. Tracey has emphasized due-process concerns, the asymmetry of naming the accused while the plaintiff remains anonymous, and reported post-incident texts in which the complainant allegedly called the encounter a “gangbang” and invoked “our body our choice.” He solicited her identity on social media, briefly posted a name he claimed to have verified, then deleted it, arguing the exercise exposed improper use of anonymity in settlement-driven suits. The move drew widespread criticism and a #IAmJaneDoe backlash. Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET. Today we also discuss:…
Read MoreWhat Is the Death Penalty For?
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Once again, the debate over capital punishment is raging, driven by the staggering incompetence of Tennessee’s would-be prison executioners, who have repeatedly failed to kill Christa Pike for a murder she committed 30 years ago, and by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s shocking announcement that the military plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood mass shooter Major Nidal Hasan. Largely missing, as usual, is the question that ought to be paramount in the mind of any citizen considering the wisdom of a government practice or policy: what is the death penalty for? Clearly, killing killers is not about keeping society safe from convicted murderers. Serial killer Ted Bundy escaped from jail twice in 1977. The 2015 Dannemora break by Richard Matt and David Sweat in upstate New York, Danelo Cavalcante’s escape in Pennsylvania in 2023 and parts of the Texas Seven escape in 2000 all made news precisely because 99.999% of murderers remain behind bars. A 2024 study found…
Read MoreHere Come the Midterms (with Steve Breen) | DMZ America Podcast | Ep 261
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LIVE 11 am Eastern Fridays, and then streaming whenever you wanna hear/watch it: Ted sits down with editorial cartoonist Steve Breen to discuss politics and political cartooning. Steve Breen, 56, was born in Los Angeles and raised in Orange County as the second oldest of eight children. He earned a political science degree from the University of California, Riverside, in 1992. He began drawing cartoons for the campus paper, The Highlander, and in 1991 won the Charles M. Schulz and the John Locher Awards. He was nearly a high school history teacher when the Asbury Park Press hired him in 1994; he became its editorial cartoonist in 1996 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1998. In 1999 he launched the syndicated strip Grand Avenue. He joined The San Diego Union-Tribune in 2001, won a second Pulitzer in 2009, and left in 2023 after drawing more than 5,500 cartoons. His work remains nationally syndicated by Creators Syndicate. Steve…
Read MoreUS to Livestream Execution of Traumatized Soldier | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
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LIVE: MWF 9-11 am Eastern time & 9-10 am Tues-Thurs & Streaming Anytime The firing squad execution of 2009 Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed December 3rd. Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET. Today we also discuss: • Unidentified ICE agents using unmarked cars surrounded a Dominican man and his 5-year-old child in his car in the Marble Hill section of The Bronx and shot him multiple times. • The Pentagon has developed plans to strike Iran’s drone and missile arsenal, energy facilities and other military sites. But Trump has repeatedly decided not to relaunch heavy combat operations against Iran. And the U.S. military response to Iran has been more muted in recent weeks. Several explosions were heard in the Saudi capital, including one at the Riyadh airport. A recent Congressional Research Service report shows that at least 81 U.S. military aircraft, drones,…
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