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The Final Countdown – 2/26/24 – Haley Suffers Embarrassing Defeat in Home State; Vows to Stay in Race

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Ted Rall
On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Angie Wong and Ted Rall discuss a plethora of topics domestically and abroad, including Nikki Haley’s defeat in her home state of South Carolina. 
Ed Martin – Lawyer and Political Commentator
Steve Gill – Attorney 
Jeremy Kuzmarov – Managing Editor of Covert Action Magazine 
Michael Maloof – Former Pentagon Senior Security Policy Analyst 
 
The first hour starts with lawyer and political commentator Ed Martin, who shares his perspective on Nikki Haley’s loss in her home state’s primaries. 
 
Then, attorney Steve Gill joins to discuss the latest out of the Fani Willis saga, including requests for her to testify again. 
 
The second hour starts with Jeremy Kuzmarov, Managing Editor of Covert Action Magazine to share his perspective on the latest out of the Middle East, including more airstrikes in Yemen and Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah. 
 
The show closes with Michael Maloof, a former analyst at the Pentagon, to discuss the latest out of Ukraine. 
 
 

The Final Countdown – 2/5/24 – Migrant Deal and Budget in Limbo as Congress Remains Deadlocked

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Ted Rall

On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Angie Wong and Ted Rall discuss breaking news domestically and abroad, including the Congressional Budget and the U.S. migrant deal. 

 
Dan Lazare – Independent journalist and author 

Armen Kurdian –  Retired Navy Captain 
Jeremy Kuzmarov – Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine 
 
The show starts with independent journalist and author Dan Lazare, who weighs in on the Congressional Budget debacle, including House GOP’s robust Israel aid bill.  
 
Then, Retired Navy Captain Armen Kurdian shares his perspective on Biden’s win in the South Carolina primary, and the rising discontent over the president among the Left. 
 
The second hour begins with Jeremy Kuzmarov, the managing editor of CovertAction Magazine discussing the U.S. airstrikes on Iraq and Syria. 
 
 

DMZ America Podcast Ep 132: Middle East War, Could Biden Lose New Hampshire?, Dead Tree Publications Even Deader

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Ted Rall

Editorial cartoonists and political analysts from the Left (Ted Rall) and the Right (Scott Stantis) discuss and explain the latest news and events in a unique format where disagreement and debate occurs without yelling or stupid insults.

First up this week: War across the Middle East assumes a “Guns of August” vibe as Iran and Pakistan become the latest countries to launch crossborder missile attacks, with the victims being ethnic Balochis. Ted lays out how Iran is emerging as the big winner from the Israel-Hamas War. Scott pushes back from the American perspective, questioning whether the Islamic Republic is committing diplomatic suicide.

Second: The 2024 Presidential Campaign moves from Iowa to the bizarre New Hampshire primary, which is being skipped both by President Biden and Governor Ron DeSantis. All GOP eyes will soon turn to South Carolina—will the Palmetto State be the last stand for Haley, or DeSantis, or both? Meanwhile, New Hampshire threatens to torpedo Biden for his Big Snub.

Third topic: More depressing news from the world of dead trees, where the Washington Post is losing $100 million a year and the Los Angeles Times is down $50 million despite their deep-pocketed and supposedly brilliant owners. Ted asks Scott, who has worked at numerous papers, why can’t these supposed genius billionaires turn these sinking watchdogs of democracy around?

Watch the Video version of the DMZ America Podcast: here.

The Desperate Ballad of Nikki Haley

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Ted Rall

Former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Aside from her personal issues around her betrayal of Trump, is the racist and sexist GOP ready to nominate a woman of color?

DMZ America Podcast #88: Is the GOP Racist? Nikki Haley, Taking on Chinese Death Balloons and the Ukraine Quagmire

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Ted Rall

Editorial Cartoonists Ted Rall (from the Left) and Scott Stantis (from the Right), discuss the pressing issues of the week. First up: a discussion of the presidential candidacy of former South Carolina Governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, which dovetails into the question: is the Republican Party too racist to elect a woman of color? Also, the apparent inevitability of President Trump becoming the 2024 GOP nominee. Following that, Scott and Ted discuss the seemingly nonstop parade of Communist Chinese balloons invading American airspace. Ted offers a never-before-suggested solution (which is his answer to just about everything): FLAME THROWER DRONES! Lastly, Ted and Scott examine next steps in the Ukraine War, which they agree has become a quagmire and could remain one for the next decade. 

 

 

Guy Who Shot Walter Scott Video Is Selling It for 10K. And Good for Him

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Ted Rall

Originally published by ANewDomain.net:

The guy who took the video that caught a South Carolina cop shooting Walter Scott in the back is telling news outlets that they’ll have to cough up $10,000 to post or broadcast it.

Good. Good for him.

For the record: Passerby Feidin Santana, who took the cell phone video that shocked the nation and landed the police officer in jail awaiting a murder trial, gave it away for free to the family so they could pursue legal remedies, and to media organizations in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

“Now they will have to pay,” Max Markson, the publicist, said.

Let’s get one thing straight: News is big business. The CEO of NBCUniversal makes $31 million a year. Last year – which relatively sucked – brought in $91 million in operating profits to The New York Times. So it’s not like major news outlets can’t afford to shell out a few bucks.

As long as I can remember – in other words, too long – American news organizations have raked in handsome profits and paid exorbitant salaries to their executives, while monetizing video footage and other news assets created by ordinary citizens who gave them away for free. They claim that their refusal to “pay for news” is motivated by the purely noble desire not to allow money to corrupt the process.

The truth is, they’re just cheap. Newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets all around the world routinely pay for interviews, photos and videos; there’s no evidence that the ABC in which the A stands for Australia is any less trustworthy than ours. I have some experience with this: When I agree to an interview with a non-American news organization, it is not rare for me to receive an honorarium to compensate me for my time. Believe me, those foreigners aren’t getting anything different from me than the outfits based here in the good old U.S. of A.

In 2002, two French brothers sold the rights to their exclusive footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11 to CBS for $1 million. They caught a lot of flak for profiting from tragedy, but CBS got 35 million viewers to tune in to their riveting documentary of the attack on New York City. You can be damned sure that CBS made a handsome profit on that.

To reiterate, I would come down on the other side of the argument if we didn’t live in a world of corporatized mass media that keeps thousands of fat white guys, and a few fat white women, in penthouse apartments and Hamptons vacation homes. As long as they’re making money from news, why can’t the rest of us?

Abortions and Tattoos

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Ted Rall

Joining Utah and South Dakota, the state of Missouri is quickly moving toward requiring a three-day waiting period for women seeking abortions. What is the logic behind this? Do they really think women aren’t thinking these decisions through?

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