You are listening to t W M and H thirty four point three, Get
command, Gut do get so treenly Don Matzille giving Here we go. Welcome
everybody. We are live. Today is Tuesday, September nineteen, twenty twenty
three, and this is Matt Connerton unleashed, coming to you live from the
studios of w M n H ninety five point three f I'm in glorious downtown
Manchester, New Hampshire, also on Comcast ninety seven. If you're in Manchester,
and hello to all of our online listeners across the nation and around the
globe. You can go to my website Matt Connerton dot com for all of
your live streaming options, social media links, contact info, show archives,
etcetera, etcetera. Did I say Comcast ninety seven or did I say channel
six? I still can't get used to that. We're on Comcast channel six
if you're in Manchester. I think I slipped again and said uh and said
ninety seven. Oh boy, by the way, Oh and I just got
a message from so uh there. That's a brand new intro there. Of
course, our friend Jerry Robinson from Jerry Robinson and the scumbags sent me,
his producer mister B sent me the brand new intro, the shortened version version
of the track from the album that we were using as my intro. So
I love the I love the new version there. So that's what you just
heard, the remix of the new intro for the The Commander to the Supreme
Leader of Jerry Robinson's Rock and Roll Army. That's me. I'm the Commander
to the Supreme Leader. It's a very prestigious position and very powerful. There's
great power that comes with it. But like I always saying, anyone who
is worried about that, just trust me. It's fine. You can trust
me with great power. So it's all good. It's all good. But
yeah, so welcome everybody. And I was not live yesterday. Yesterday was
a best of some things came up to, some boring business stuff, but
it made it. I try I try to not miss shows. I try
very hard to not ever miss a live show. But yesterday was just there
was just a lot going on, so I had to deal with some stuff.
But I think we have our first call of the day of the week.
Really, Matt, let me tell you, Seth in a very president
speaking Oh my goodness, into there is really helpful. It was fake news.
Unbelievable. Oh well, so that that wasn't don't play me, sir.
That was a comedian named John Walsh. She he did that, But
what do I know. I'm too busy with my lawyers anyway. But it
sounded also hurtful, unbelievable. My friend, listen, everybody knows that I'm
innocent. I'm gonna walk on water because that's what I do. Ah.
Well, of course, like the Eddy Money song, if I could walk
on water, listen, my friend, dat quit your day job. Believe
me, radios where it's at just not just singing. I understand, mister
president. Well, I will take that under advisement, sir. Oh listen,
it's time for yard call. I have to go. I don't want
to miss out on my honey buns and like smokes if you know what I
mean. Thank you listening. Would talk to you later, and don't forget.
We need to make a man great again. Goodbye, all right,
goodbye, mister Trump. Wow, I thought that was somebody else. It
turned out to be a former president, Donald John Trump. That is remarkable.
He sounded like he's like he's got a bit of a cold today,
but excellent, excellent. I'll have to I'll have to make a note of
that when when I see that number on the caller ID. It's not necessarily
who I think it is. I will make a note of that going forward
for real. But wow, what a what a nice surprise, what a
nice surprise. I mean, listen, he's a candidate for the presidency and
we are the first in the nation primary at least last I knew that might
be changing. We'll see. Got into a whole big thing about that last
week on the show. But stay strong, New Hampshire. We need to
keep our first in the nation status. That's what I say anyway, So
welcome and the studio line. If you'd like to join us six zero three
two five zero six zero seven six zero three two five zero six zero seven,
you can also text me at six one seven nine one seven four four
seven six. I'm on social media at Matt Connerton. You can email me
Matt at Matt Connerton dot com, and of course you can interact endo Pine
in the Facebook live chat. But the best thing to do so that we
can hear and enjoy your dulcet tones is give us a call at six three,
two, five, six seven, and we've got a lot of time
today. Don't have an official guest today of any kind, so it's just
me flying solo. So I do have a specific subject potentially two actually,
that I want to get into, and it is an issue where I'm looking
forward to getting some feedback from the audience on the matter because it happens to
be something that I'm not sure how I feel about it, and to me,
those are perhaps selfishly but those are the most interesting subjects I find to
explore, and I'll tell you what that is in just a couple of moments.
But well, we do have so no guests today officially, However,
we do have tomorrow. We've got musical guests the rest of the week.
Tomorrow, of course is Wednesday, which means we'll be spending the first hour
with my favorite conservative Eric Pilcher from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And then in
the second hour we have an in studio guest to Marvel, Prone great band.
They've been on the show before. They will be joining us tomorrow live
in studio in our number two. Looking forward to that. Thursday, we
have Iron Jaw, a great Texas band. They've also been on the show
before and they'll be skyping in. Looking forward to talking to those guys.
And then Friday on the show, we have another band who's been on the
show before, Crooked Cash. We'll be here with us live in studio.
So a lot of a lot of great musical guests this week, repeat offenders,
it just so happens, but really looking forward to that. By the
way, the track that I played to open the show today before the Trump
parody by comedian John comedian John Walsh, was a track called Delusia and that
is from Eons and Coded, and Nolan Coda from Eons and Coded was on
the show recently and really loved getting to hang out with him. But I
think at the break today, at the top of the hour, I'm gonna
play something from our guest who was with us on Friday, Able Blood.
I'm gonna I love those guys, what a cool band. I'm gonna play
something from there as at the at the top of the hour as we go
into the second hour. But let's say hello to everybody on the Facebook live
chat quickly and then we're gonna get into something. Andy Barker joins us in
the Facebook live chat and says what's up y'all. Hello Andy, Ronda Favero
from the great state of California joins us, says, California Present, Welcome
Ronda, Texas. Mike joins us in the Facebook live chat and says,
did my civic duty and standing at the polls for my candidate for mayor?
Yes, I do want to tell people, and if you're watching online you
might even be able to see. I've got my little I voted sticker.
We do have a primary election today in the city of Manchester, New Hampshire,
where we are, so Jenny and I went and voted. We actually
went and voted right before the show because she Jenny's not here in studio with
me, but she was meeting a friend downtown. I guess I can say
who because it's at someone you all know if you're a regular listener. She's
always in the chat room and she's been on the show Mariam Banish. But
so, uh, but Jenny and I went and voted, and uh,
it was, you know, in and out really quickly. I'm just saying
that because if you're in Manchester, if you're in if you're one of these
people who's like, uh, do I really want to bother to go vote.
Let me tell you something. For a for a primary election in this
city, it's so easy. There's no line, You just go in,
you show your ID. Of course, if you don't have an ID,
you have to sign it an affidavit that it really is you. That's how
we do it in New Hampshire, which I think should be the model for
the nation. But uh, you know, if you don't have an ID,
do the affidavit. So if there's any question about it later, well
you've signed a swore an affidavit that. That's how I think it should work.
Anyway, I digress. But it's quick and easy. I mean we
were in and out of there so fast. It was a very short ballot.
So if you are local polls clothes at seven pm, I believe you're
in u in the city of Manchester. I'm not gonna discuss that any further
than that, because on this program is regular and longtime listeners. No,
we don't discuss local Manchester, New Hampshire politics on the show. We stick
to national politics and you know, maybe some state stuff, but we don't
do local politics here. So I'll say no more on that subject. Specifically,
not going to tell you who I voted for or anything like that.
But but I would encourage you to get out and vote. And again,
if you're one of these people who's like, I don't know, listen,
it couldn't be any simpler. Seriously, you'll get in and out of there.
I'm sure no matter what word you are in in the city of Manchester,
you'll be able to get it in and out of there nice and quickly.
It's very efficient. And you get a little I've voted sticker. Come
on, So there you go. That's my that's my sermon on voting.
Get out and vote. There you go, and it's a beautiful day.
You have no excuse not to go. It's not like it's sometimes people,
you know, if they don't feel like it, they'll say, oh,
it's raining or it's knowing or whatever. This is perfect weather, per perfect
weather. So get out and vote. All right, That's that's my sermon.
But good for you, Texas, Mike, let's see. Jay fed
joins us from the great state of Vermont, says good afternoon everyone. Hello.
Isaac Banks, who I believe, if memory serves, is from Greensboro,
North Carolina, says good afternoon. Hashtag Jason how are you doing.
Isaac likes to interact with our friend Jay Fed from the Great State of Vermont.
Sometimes they get into arguments in the chat room. They're a bit one
sided. Something Jay Fed will say something that triggers Isaac Banks. Isaac also
says good afternoon, Matt Connerton, good afternoon, hashtag Jen coffee, how
are you doing? OMG, it was SNL. By the way, no
comedian John Walsh with his Trump parody that was not on Saturday Night Live.
He put that in at the end, but it was a joke. Perhaps
he's trying to get on Saturday Night Live and it's trying to get their attention.
Let's see. Hans Smith, of course, Saw from Sepsis says,
hey Metal, Matt, Hello, Hans, nice to see you. Isaac
Banks, who is very loquacious and voluble, says good afternoon, Adele Oh
I'm sorry. Addie, Good afternoon, Addie Sellers, how are you doing?
And Tory Stressman, good afternoon. Hope you can get the messages from
me. Good afternoon, Meredith Graves, please do chat message me. You
know, I feel like Isaac Banks is he's using our chat room here to
kind of make a little bit of a love connection, if you will.
He's trying to get all these all these ladies chat with him. Hello Chua
Chris from the band Edgewise, who joins us in the Facebook live chat as
well. Oh, Isaac says, yes, I am from Greensboro, North
Carolina. Also, Jason and I are cool. While very good, very
good. I'm glad no fighting in the chat room. That's not allowed.
I'm totally It's actually one of my favorite things ever, is when a brawl
breaks out in the chat room. I've actually sometimes if I see a fight
going on it looks like a heated argument, I'll actually go back after the
show and be like, oh, I gotta see what I missed in the
chat room. Truth is I love it. I love it. If you
really want to know what that says about me is a person, I'm not
exactly sure. Probably nothing good, But I do love a good chat room
fight. Oh, Isaac Bank says, maybe a little love connection for me?
Ah and Jen j Fed says as the funds, Hey, oh boy,
now now see that's gonna trigger Isaac Bank says, what they fight over?
Who does the Happy Days character impressions? Around here? All right?
Six zo three two five zero six Z seven is a studio line six two
five six seven. One other quick thing by the way, Because I wasn't
here yesterday, I didn't get a chance to do it. But happy birthday
to Peter White of the Morning Show with Peter White, which you can hear.
Of course, weekday is from seven to nine. I am with a
replay from two to four pm right before this show. I believe yesterday was
his birthday, at least according to face. I'm terrible at remembering birthdays,
I really am. But Facebook tells you when people's birthdays are, which is
a wonderful thing. So I saw that it was Peter's birthday yesterday, so
I texted him and wished him a happy birthday, and so I wanted to
mention that it's funny though with the Facebook thing, So you don't know unless
you know me personally. You don't know when my birthday is because Facebook doesn't
tell you when my birthday is because in my privacy settings I have it set
so my birthday is not visible. But my uncle, who also happens to
be named Matt Connerton, his birthday is visible. And every year there will
be people who there will be people wishing me a happy birthday because they see
that it's his birthday and they think keys me, which is weird because if
you look at his picture, I guess we look somewhat alike. We're related,
but he's obviously much older anyway, kind of funny. Isaac Bank says,
hashtag Jason Fetterson, you know that you can be completely a comedian sometime?
Oh did you know that, j fed you can be completely a comedian?
Wow? Very good? All right, here's the subject I want to
discuss, my friends. There is something that's been in the news that is
a pretty big deal. And the reason I want to talk about this today,
and I've been wanting to get to this it's it's a it's an issue
that I have an opinion about it, but I don't have a strong opinion
about it. And what I mean by that is, sometimes, to me,
the most interesting things to discuss, and I like to get audience,
you know, feedback from the audience on these matters via the studio line and
of course the chatwoman. However else you choose to communicate the tech wine or
email during the show or after the show for that matter, because we can
always come back to it later. The issues that I find most interesting or
to discuss are the ones where either I haven't made up my mind about them
yet myself, because maybe I have mixed feelings, maybe I'm conflicted, or
maybe I do have a position, but I'm a little ambivalent about it because
I hear the arguments from the other side of you know, people who have
a different opinion on the issue, and I think, you know, that's
a good point. They make a good point to me. Those are the
most interesting things to kind of examine, and I think it's a great way,
of course, to get some dialogue going with all of you. It
is a little unconventional, but that's also part of the reason I like to
do it. And when I say it's a little unconventional, I just mean
that typically in political talk radio, you're not supposed to Well, not that
I consider this a political I don't call this a political talk show. I
don't put that label on it. It's a show where we talk about politics,
but it's not a political talk show. What's the difference. Well,
this show, yes we talk about politics, but we also have a lot
of musical guests, and we we do other things, and we have Eric
Pilch's film reviews, and sometimes we have segments that are humorous and light and
you know, so we do a lot more than just politics, but politics
is kind of the center of it ultimately, it always has been. But
usually in any kind of political programming, at least on radio, you have
a host who you know, where the host is, where they're coming from
ideologically, whether it be usually it's either liberal or conservative, or there's some
libertarian programming too, although I think Free Talk Live, which is the big
libertarian show. I think Dave Ridley said that's actually slowly going away. But
conservative talk radio of course dominates talk radio. They they've really got the monopoly
on that. But you have a host with a specific point of view,
and you already know where they're coming from, and you can predict it and
whatnot, and you know, and then that host proceeds to have on guests
and take calls from people who agree with the host's position, and it becomes
this sort of exercise in group think. But that's what most political talk radio
is. I like to do something a little bit different, where when I
find an issue that I have some ambivalence about and maybe I have an idea
of how I feel about it, but I'm not exactly sure. I find
it much more intellectually stimulating instead of just sitting here and yapping at you about
what I think about something, to be able to kind of explore something that
I have mixed feelings about, not knowing where my feelings about it are going
to end up at the end of it, or yours or what you think
about it. And again, it's a great way to get some interaction going.
And I think it's also something that makes this show unique because, like
I said, most shows don't operate that way where you have those who will
come right out and tell you I'm not sure how I feel about this one.
Now. The subject that I'm talking about is and again I have a
I have an idea of how I feel about it, but I'm ambivalent.
The subject is, of course, the Lauren Boubert video. You know,
I kind of liked it. No, no, no, I'm kidding.
I'm totally kidding. That's not what I No, that's not what it is.
That that was a joke, although there's a part of it that's no
never mind, no, not appropriate for this time of day, I suppose.
No, I'm kidding. It's not the Lauren Boubert thing. It's the
deal with Iran to get back these uh, these five hostages that they had
been holding and the prisoners swapped deal. And this has been obviously in the
news quite a bit, and I will just tell you before we get into
it in any depth. And again, I this is something where I really
want to hear from from all of you who choose to weigh in on it.
You can call me at six zo three two five O six zero seven,
and of course you can you can discuss it in the chatroom and so
forth. I am basically in favor of it, and I think it was
the right thing to do. Now as I'm saying that to you, you
can hear, I'm sure the hesitation and the ambivalence in my voice, because
there are some who say it was the wrong thing to do, and they
have arguments in that regard that they have laid out, and it's got me
a little conflicted because I hear them make their arguments against it, and I
think that's a good point. Maybe they're right, I'm not sure. So
that's what the subject is. By the way, there's another subject too that
we might get into in the second hour. We'll see that. I also
kind of although the other subject I'm thinking about it's something where I really don't
have any opinion and I'm just kind of like whatever, But I am curious
what you all think about it. So we're gonna get into this. We're
gonna get into this today. Hans Smith and the Chat Room says, I
am more often enough don't think about politics. In my early twenties, that
was a big thing, but now all of my focus is music and life.
Well, yeah, I mean, I've gone through phases in my life
where I was less interested in politics, but it's but I'm kind of a
political junkie really, And of course, now that I've been doing this show
for all these years now, I don't have a choice. I really can't
even take a break from it, not that i'd want to. Isaac Bank
says, politics to politics whatever. Oh, very insightful. Okay, So
if you don't know, well, let's look at this first. So just
for people who aren't clear on the details, and plus it might remind me
of something, Let's look at this first, just so we all know what
we're talking about here. This is from Reuters. Iran and the US reached
the prisoner swap deal. Oh easyg is in the chatman says welcome back,
thank you. So how is this just gives us some quick details on this,
we'll get us all caught up. Well actually, wait, maybe I
have something better. Oh no, now we'll go with this, all right.
This will get us, This will get us all on the same page
here, all right, implementation of the deal again, this is from Reuter's
was triggered when qatar And by the way, I pronounce it qatar. I
know a lot of people in media pronounce it cutter. I find that strange.
And now, by the way, I notice on NBC they've started like
it's like they've created an amalgam of the two pronunciations. I heard Natasha Bertrand,
for example, saying, oh no, I'm sorry. She's not on
NBC anymore. She's on CNN now. But I heard her saying like,
uh, guitar like or gut no? How did she say it like gutter
like trying to combine cutter and qatar, which ends up sounding like gutter gutar.
It's like, why would you Why is that any better? I don't
know. Why don't we just call it qutar? I remember about twenty years
ago, when I started hearing people in media, they stopped pronouncing not the
guitars in the news every day, but I noticed say they stopped pronouncing it
qatar, and all of a sudden, a sudden, started pronouncing it cutter.
And it's like, why are you why when you say CUTTERR? I
think if somebody who cuts themselves, you know, because they have a mental
illness, and not that I'm making I don't want anyone to take that wrong.
I'm not making fun of that. I'm just saying that's what I think
of. I would never make fun of that. I struggle with depression myself,
so I don't. I don't make fun of mental illness. I'm just
saying, though, that's what I think of when you when you call the
country cutter. It's like, what why do you call it that? But
I remember noticing too when the change happened. It reminded me of when people
started, like when people stopped saying harassment and started saying harassment. It's like,
why are you calling it harassment? What's wrong with calling it harassment?
I mean, people still pronounce it the old way too, but it's like,
I don't know where this new pronunciation came from or when people when people
the planet uranus, when people started pronouncing it uranus, and it's like,
I'm not sure that even sounds better. I met somebody once who pronounced it
uranus, and it was only she was the only person I ever met who
said it that way. But I was like, yes, that's what you
want to go with. If you don't want it to sound weird, if
you don't want to say uranus and you don't want to say uranus, go
with uranis. I like that, But that one never caught on. She
was literally the only person I've ever heard say it that way. I am
digressing. Forgive me if I've transgressed with my digress being anyway, it was
all about Qatar. Let's go back to the beginning. Implementation of the deal
was triggered when Qatar confirmed that the funds had been transferred to bank accounts in
Doha, a source briefed on details of the matter told Reuters. Doha's and
Qatar City in Qatar. Under the deal, the five of Americans with dual
nationality are expected to leave Tehran for Qatar's capital, Doha, and then fly
to the United States. In return five Iranians held in the US will be
released. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday. Two of the Iranians
being released would return to Iran, while two would stay in the US at
their request. One d who would want to leave here to go back over
to there? I mean, I guess maybe if you're wealthy or something,
you've got a lot of money in Iran. I don't know. I say,
why don't they all just stay? Just stay in America. Oh.
Tony Petrello joins us in the face book Live Chat, by the way,
and has a great example. He says, same with advertisement. Yeah,
at a certain point people started saying advertisement, It's like why do you change
what? Like, why are you changing the you know, you're you're It's
like you're to my ears, you're putting the amphosis on the wrong salabal.
That's from a movie. I think I didn't make that up. I'm not
that clever. I should just not say anything, though, and take credit
for it, because wherever I got that from, no one's ever called me
on it, so maybe nobody knows. That's probably something obvious. Jay Fed
says, yeah, and tomato, Oh, tomato, tomato, let's just
call the whole thing off now except nobody. That doesn't count, though,
j fed because nobody actually says tomato, like nobody like you say it when
you're singing that song Tomato, Tomato, Potato, potato. Nobody ever actually
says tomato. It's just like nobody ever actually says potato, and if they
do, they're pretty weird and you probably associate with them. I mean,
in all seriousness, you know, I like to think I'm a pretty inclusive
person. But if I were having a conversation with someone and they said,
uh, yeah, I like tomatoes in my salad, I would be like,
WHOA, you're crazy. I like tomatoes in my salad, but you
say it funny, and I don't think we can be friends based solely on
that good day to you. And then I would run away from them because
I would assume that, because they're so weird, they're probably also extremely dangerous.
Rondo Fervero says vehicle versus vehicle. Now, I do like to say
vehicle. I don't know why I like to get that H. I feel
that, look, the letter H is there for a reason. I understand
you can have silent letters and words, obviously, but I feel the H
is often undervalued, so I will say vehicle just to get that H in
there. I think it's the right thing to do, at least in certain
circumstances. I'm also a big fan, of course of Triple H the wrestler.
He's a New Hampshire guy from Nashua originally, so so he's obviously awesome.
I don't mean because he's from Nashua. I just mean because he's from
New Hampshire. There's a there's a reference in there that I'm not gonna but
we're not gonna go there. And it's nothing against the city of Nashua,
trust me, just against someone they've voted for more than once. We don't
need to get into that. Oh, Isaac Banks says, good afternoon,
Cheryl Mitchell Walker. Now, oh I'm sorry, how are you doing?
And hope you are safe? Yes, we all hope that Cheryl Mitchell Walker
is safe. Thoughts and prayers, all right, getting back to this,
Okay, So again, this is from Reuters. The transfer of AS funds
has drawn Republican criticism the President, Joe Biden, a Democrat, is an
effect pain ransom for US citizens. The White House has defended the deal An
important unanswered question is whether the deal may lead to future agreements and disputes that
range from Iran's nuclear standoff and the US to Tehran's influence across the Middle East,
including Hezbollah, It's heavily armed proxy in Lebanon on Israel's border. So
how was the deal negotiated? The agreement was the culmination of months of diplomatic
contacts, secret talks, and legal maneuvering, with Qatar at the heart of
the negotiations. Yeah, they acted as an intermediary or as a mediator if
you will, sources and officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters. Doha hosted
the eight I'm Sorry at least eight rounds of clandestine indirect meetings from Tehran and
Washington since March of twenty twenty two. The earlier rounds were devoted chiefly to
Tehran's nuclear dispute with Washington, but over time the focus shifted to prisoners as
the negotiators realize that nuclear talks would lead nowhere due to their complexity. The
first public glimpse of the deal came on August ten, when Iran allowed for
detained US citizens to move into house arrest from Hran's Evan prison, A fifth
was already confined at home. A month later, Washington waived sanctions to allow
the transfer of Iran's funds to banks and Qatar, which will have a monitoring
role to ensure Iran's clerical rulers spend the funds on non sanctioned goods. So,
in other words, Iran is not allowed to say, Hey, we
got this cash, let's go buy a bunch of nukes or make a bunch
of nukes. Hans and the chat room says, like the good old New
England days, we would say we're going to stove, not the store,
lol, going to stove. Okay, who are the prisoners? Actually,
we're gonna skip that part. Okay, this part is very very important.
Why were I Run's funds frozen in South Korea? It's it's really important to
understand this specific detail. In twenty eighteen, then US President Donald Trump ditched
to Ron's twenty fifteen nuclear deal with six world powers. That's JCPOA, which
I supported. Uh, some people didn't like, including Israel's net and Yah
who didn't like the deal. I thought the this is a little bit of
a sidebar, but I thought the Trump administration made a horrendous error in judgment
by ditching that, even if they weren't happy with it. You know,
there's an old saying, don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.
And I thought it was maybe not a perfect deal. But you know,
the I A e A, the International Atomics, International Atomic Energy Agency,
it's hard to get that exactly right. It's easier to just say ia EA.
And even though that's not that easy to say E I E I.
Oh. You know, they were doing the inspections. Everything was the Iranians
seemed to be holding up their deal, so at their end of the deal
as far as we're aware. So I thought it was a mistake by of
the Trump administration. I mean, so much of when they came in seemed
to be, well, let's do everything, let's undo everything. Obama did
a little bit of a sidebar. But so in twenty eighteen, Trump comes
in ditches that deal, or he waited until, I mean he'd already been
in for a little bit. But he also reimposed tarsh Us sanctions designed to
choke off Iran's oil experts exports. Rather as part of a maximum pressure campaign
on the Islamic Republic Soul South Korea, normally one of Iran's largest oil customers,
received a waiver in twenty eighteen from the US to continue purchases of Iranian
oil for several months. However, after Washington placed a total ban on Iran's
oil exports and sanctions on its banking sector in twenty nineteen, Iranian revenues of
seven billion dollars were blocked in Seoul. Okay, so that money was frozen
in that bank, and Soul Tran has lost nearly one billion of its initially
deposited assets and sold due to the depreciation of the South Korean currency against US
dollar. Iranian authorities have said, so that's why we talk about six billion
instead of seven billion. Okay, last part of this and then we'll this
is from Reuters. I just want to get the facts out there, and
then we'll we'll discuss where where I agree with the deal and where I'm ambivalent
about it all, okay. Hostility to the US has always been a rallying
point for Iran's clerical establishment. They liked to chant things like death to America
and so forth. Despite political isolation and sanctions related economic hardship. Since Washington
severed ties with Tarran, shortly after the nineteen seventy nine Islamic Revolution, Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamani could tolerate a limited thaw with the quote Great Satan,
that's what they like to call it. It's actually I think it's fun to
have a nickname Great Satan plus good name for a band. It's probably taken
anyway, a limited thought with the Great Satan amid growing public anger over severe
economic challenges. But normalization of ties with Washington would mean crossing the Islamic Revolutions
red line. Iranian insiders have said the clerical leadership fears that normalized relations with
Washington could weaken the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic and its influence in the region,
as well as harming the authority of Kamani domestically. They said, So
that kind of catches us up on the whole thing. Isaac Banks and the
chat room says also, Ion Venom four says hello to you from them,
Well, hello to Ion Venom four. All right, So these are the
facts, this is what this is what the deal was. Now, let's
take a look at the where the controversy is. Tony Petrello says, why
is most of the news by Reuters. Whatever happened to the AP news?
Oh, I have that as well. Actually have a story here from the
AP which we might get to later if we have time. Charles Richardson says,
hello everybody, good afternoon. Hello Charles. Actually Reuters might get some
of their articles from the AP because it's it's all a little bit incestuous,
but a lot of these services they share very often literally the exact same articles.
And with AI, you're gonna be seeing even more of that. By
the way, Oh, the chat rooms acting weird. It's I'm seeing messages
already. Saw Let's see I said hello to Charles, right, Charles Richardson.
Okay, let's get to the controversial part. Now, this is from
USA today. Americans are freed from Iran. So why is the prisoner swap
controversial for Biden? Now, if you're just joining us, we're talking about
the prisoner swap. Part of why I wanted to discuss this issue specifically today
is I have some ambivalence about it, and so I'm really curious to get
feedback from the audience on what you all think about this subject. I basically
am in agreement with the administration on doing this, but the arguments I'm hearing
against it are not unpersuasive. They've planted seeds of doubt in my mind.
So I'm a little bit conflicted. I'm a little bit ambivalent, and I'm
curious here or what you all think. But this is from USA Today just
explains some of the controversy. President Joe Biden is facing heat over his decision
to go through with the controversial prisoner exchange between the US and Iran. The
deal could pave the way for better relations with the bitter adversary adversary, but
it's also put Biden at further odds with congressional Republicans and provided new fodder for
his presidential rivals at issue the release of six billion dollars and frozen assets.
Republicans have equated the swap with Iran to the administration paying out a ransom for
the freed Americans. America has a policy of not paying ransoms, and they
say Biden's administration cannot guarantee that the money will not be used to fund Iran's
nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Russia's war against Ukraine, or terrorism. Biden's
critics are also warning the policy could lead to the unjust arrest and attention of
more Americans. Now let's stop stop on this for a moment. So and
there's there's more to the way USA Today breaks down the controversy. But before
we do that, just some quick thoughts. So I my support, tepid
and hesitant as it may be, for what has gone on here, is,
first of all, it's you know, good to get Americans released,
right. I mean, these are human beings, and you know, somebody
who's been locked up for eight years, it's good to get them out.
Oh hello to Mike from my Queen City cabinetry, who joins us in the
Facebook lap chat and says, good afternoon everyone. So it's good to get
good get Americans released, right, and it's good to see the administration making
the effort to do that. That's a good thing. So I'm supportive of
that in principle. And there is always the hope that this will lead to
something else. I really think unfortunately, it's going to be difficult though,
in the future to re establish you know, we talked just a few minutes
ago about the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal that was negotiated under the Obama
administration, and then the Trump administration came up and to be precise, didn't
exactly blow up the deal, just withdrew the United States from it. So
Europe tried to stay in the deal with Iran even though we had withdrawn.
But and that held for a little while. But without the United States a
part of it, it really isn't worth much in the end, apparently,
because it eventually it did disintegrate. I think it's going to be very difficult
to Well, let me put it this way. If we want to make
some sort of new arrangement with the Iranians, how do you do that when
we've already we already went through this. Once we had an agreement, they
were abiding by it as far as I know, unless I missed something,
All the reportings suggests that they were abiding by the deal. Now, maybe
you don't like the deal, but they were abiding by what was agreed to.
And then the next administration comes in and says, no, we don't
like the deal, and we're out. I don't know how in the future
we can ever get Iran back to the table for something like that, knowing
when they know that they can't necessarily in good faith believe Well, let me
put it this way, they can't trust from their perspective, I'm sure that
the United States is negotiating in good faith when the next administration could come in
and say, oh, this new deal that you guys did, Yeah,
we don't like this either, and we're going to withdraw from this. So
I don't know, I don't know how you get there. So when we
talk about the hope that this will be the beginning, see when John Kirby
was on I think it was Andrea Mitchell who was asking him on MSNBC about
will this is this scene as a potential stepping stone to getting a new deal,
a new arrangement worked out a new agreement in terms of a run enriching
uranium for nuclear weapons. Kirby said no, and he was very clear about
it too. There was no ambivalence from him. He was very clear those
are two separate issues and this has nothing to do with it, and this
should not be seen as having anything to do with that, which was discouraging
to hear. Frankly, I was hoping that the former admiral would say,
why, yes, we are hopeful that this can be the beginning of some
further cooperation. I mean, he might have said something about further cooperation because
there are more prisoners we can work on exchanging, and there are other things
that we can do too. I'm sure, but I have a suspicion that
the reason they're not saying that we're hopeful that this might lead to some sort
of new deal is because probably nobody thinks it's possible, because it probably isn't
because we already screwed that up. That's that's my view of it. Oh.
Hello to Melanie law Liberty in the Facebook live chat. Hello. So
if you're arguing in favor of it, and again I'm I'm in favor of
what they've done, sort of like I said, I've doubts too. I
would not argue that this is the beginning one of my arguments in favor of
it. Actually, my key argument would be it's good to get Americans back
who have been unjustly imprisoned. That's a good thing. But I probably wouldn't
bother to try to argue with you that, well, I think this is
the beginning of a new, a new budding relationship with Iran. I don't
see how we get that back. Not well, I shouldn't say it that
way. We never had that but I don't see how we get back to
the negotiating table with them when we already had an agreement in place and then
we pulled the rug out. So now the part here about so Republicans have
equated the swap with Iran to the administration paying out a ransom for the freed
Americans. I want to focus on that a little bit too, because,
first of all, just to be clear, and I've been pleasantly surprised,
I'm not seeing and hearing a lot of this yet. But back during the
Obama administration, when the Iran nuclear Deal had been negotiated, a similar thing
happened as to what's happened here with this deal, where funds that were being
held they were frozen in escrow that belonged to Iran, but those funds had
been frozen due to sanctions and so forth. I don't remember the exact circumstances
those funds were released, and that was part of the negotiation for the Iran
nuclear deal. That was part of the equation that everyone agreed to these funds
would be released. Unfortunately, a lot of bad faith actors in media and
politicians who were arguing against that deal. They I'm not even gonna say they
twisted it. They lied and claimed over and over again. You could turn
on probably Sean Hannity on any given day and hear Sean Hannity claiming that the
United States paid all this money. There were even photoshopped images online today you
could do it with AI. There were photoshopped images online of an airplane full
of cash that was allegedly about to be flown overseas to Iran to deliver all
this money that we had paid them, And that was very deceptive, completely
deceptive. That is not what happened. They were frozen assets that had become
unfrozen. So that's an important point. However, having said that, that
doesn't mean that the critics who are saying that this is effectively a ransom,
that doesn't mean that they're wrong. And that does get to the part where
I'm a little concerned and I'm I'm I'm not quite certain about my own position
on this, but I think our friend Charles is on the line, Hi,
Charles, Hey, what's up? What's up with you? So that's
this listening, and I kind of come down to the own conclusion of you
pay a kidnap for a ransom, They're just gonna go ahead and do it
again because they know you'll pay. And what's the I mean, what's the
difference now between Iran and prisoners that we have over there that we want to
get released. You're paying money to a potential evil tire that we do not
see eye to eye with. You've given them funds too, and like you've
mentioned, that could definitely fund their nuclear program, and I mean, what's
what exactly is right about that? Okay, so we get American streets,
congratulations, But at what cost? What cost is this? And where's the
whole We don't negotiate with terrorists, you know rule I mean, am I
onto something? Or am I completely off base? No? I mean you
are. You're you're making an argument very much like what a lot of critics
of this arrangement are making. And there's a there's a lot of merit to
it, which is why, like I said, I support the deal uh
in principle, but I do have a lot of ambivalence and I'm conflicted about
it because of the very points that you just raise, Charles, those are
valid points because does this send a signal to the Iranians or perhaps other bad
actors in the world that yes, we are willing to pay ransom now,
and again we should we should be clear though, we're not actually paying them
money. We're just we're unfrozen. We're unfreezing frozen assets that were being held
in escrow because of sanctions. We're releasing that money, which ultimately is supposed
to go to them anyway. But does that distinction even matter? Is it
still un Can it still be construed as a ransom payment because they are getting
money for releasing these hostages, And I think that is. I think that's
a perfectly valid concern to have, and I'm worried. I am worried about
that because these ones were frozen for a reason, they have a change or
heart just to go ahead and release them. That's still money they shouldn't be
getting their hands on if it's frozen for a reason, and if they broke
a sanction, they should be getting a B and C. Well, oh
we have an American hostage or American prisoner. Oh okay, we're released a
B and C for this guy or these guys, or you know what I'm
saying. They they shouldn't be right, No, very very valid argument.
Now one could say, I'll put on my diplomacy hat to counter that argument,
I would probably say, and I say I would probably because again I'm
not firm in my position on this, but I think what I would say
is if I were arguing on behalf of the Biden administration, that the point
of sanctions is ultimately to try to change or influence the behavior of the bad
actor whom you have sanctioned. So if you can get that bad actor to
do something good by either removing the sanctions or by removing some of the money
that got caught up in the sanctions, then that's good. Otherwise that money
just sits in escrow forever and you're not doing anything productive with it. Whereas,
if you can get said bad actor in this case Iran to do something
positive and productive that you want them to do in exchange for releasing some of
that money, why wouldn't you do that that I so that would kind of
be the counter argument. Also, there's uh, the something like a good
something like a good faith payment, like we'll do this, but you gotta
be good. Yeah, yeah, you got that. Yeah, we're we're
willing to work with you, but but you gotta but you gotta do something
to show that you're willing to act in good faith. I guess that would
be that that that that seems like handing over your debit card with a lot
of money on it to an ex girlfriend that's cheated on you ten times.
I don't know, right well, I don't hand my debit card to anybody
ever. But I mean, yeah, but no, but your points are
very valid, Charles. And like I said, it's got me, it's
got me conflicted. Yeah, I hear you. Unless there's something good that
came out of it from us. I mean, okay, fine, we
released the funds, and unless there's like a backside agreement that we don't know
about, or maybe a sanction has been lifted because it was maybe too harsh.
Listen, I agree, America has been running with an iron fist.
We're the ones that determine the rules we want, and there's a lot of
stuff that Americans do, or the American government does to enforce its will.
And I agree that, you know, maybe that iron fist needs to be
let go a little bit and let countries run the way they want instead of
US always interfering. But I ran just one of those It's just one of
those countries that man, I don't know. You give them too much leeway,
you don't know what they're gonna do that. I don't know if they
could be trusted. Well, the fear is that you give them too much
leeway and they're gonna start building nukes with they're enriched uranium, like they haven't
already. Well, as far as we know, they have not, but
that doesn't mean they won't. Yeah, they they have, they know it,
we know it. Just like you know, everybody's got nukes. Let's
just put bring it right out there. Everybody's got them. It's just what
are you gonna do with them? Because we got a ton of them.
Rush's got a ton of them. Are we gonna use them? No?
Why would we have them if we're not if we're gonna use them, or
if we're not gonna use them, well, because if you use it,
then everybody's gonna use it, then everybody loses. So this, this whole
nuclear war and arms race, this that I think it's a big belly ache
over nothing, because let's be real, if anybody has any common sense and
that Putin really is going nuts, you know he'd launch them all if you
really went nuts. I'm just saying there's there's leaders with common sense, and
yes, that does include Kim John over there in North Korea. You launch
one nuclear warhead to destroy something, everybody's launching it, everybody dies. Have
a nice day, mutually assured mutually assured destruction, also referred to as the
balance of terror. Yes, although I'll let you go. Although mistakes happen,
mistakes happen too. All right, Charles, I appreciate the call,
though, Thank you so much. All Right, you two, bye bye,
all right, very good. Nice here from Charles Richardson from the Great
State of Florida. And uh yeah, so Charles, it sounds like he
is, uh, he is arguing against uh this deal. And like I
said, the points that he made are are absolutely valid. Melanie Liberty and
the chat room says, every time you say bad actor, I think of
Paris Hilton. All right, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take
a break. We are just past the top of the hour. I'm gonna
play a track from the band that was here with us Friday because I love
this so much. The song is called mental Note. Great track from able
Blood, who was our musical guest on Friday. So let's give this a
listen, and then we're gonna show some love to our amazing sponsors here at
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We are well in our number two numerow Doose of Matt Connerton Unleashed and we
are live from the studios of w m n H ninety five point three FM
in Glorious at downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, also on Comcast Channel six.
If you're in Manchester, and hello to all of our online listeners across the
nation and around the globe. You can go to my website Matt Connerton dot
com for all of your live streaming options, social media links, contact infosh
archives, etcetera, etcetera. Today is Tuesday, September nineteen, two thousand
twenty three, and by the way, it is primary election day here in
Manchester, New Hampshire, so if you are local in Manchester, polls are
open I believe until seven pm this evening. Jenny and I went and voted
before the show, and quick and easy, in and out. It's a
very small ballot. It's a primary ballot, so so you know not you
don't have to worry about big lines at the polls or anything like that.
You can get in and out of there quick. It's very very easy.
So please, if you're thinking about voting, go ahead and do it.
The weather is perfect, so I have no excuse. You can't say,
oh it's raining. You can't have democracy in the rain. No, no,
no, it's a beautiful day outside, so please buy. All means
that's it. I don't like to try to guilt people into it or whatever.
If you don't, if you really don't want to do it, then
I don't know what to tell you. But I would encourage you to do
so. But I only mentioned that it's easy because if you're one of these
people and y'all know who you are, you sit around going I'd like to
vote, but oh, it's such a pain. No, it's not.
You get there. There's plenty of parking. I mean, I assume it's
the same in every ward in the city. I assume. Maybe I shouldn't
assume that, but I'm sure it is. You go. There's not a
lot of people. It's a primary election. It's middle of September. There's
not a lot of people. It's it's you're not gonna be in line for
very long, actually very unlikely, highly unlikely, you'll be in line at
all. Jenny and I wouldn't voted. There was no line and there were
plenty of voting booths wide open. Well they have the curtain drawn and then
you know, you go, but you can see if there's anyone standing in
there anyway. The point is, couldn't have been simpler, couldn't have been
quicker. We were in and out of there in like three minutes. I'm
not kidding, So go vote. Don't be lame. You're lame if you
don't know. I said I wasn't gonna do that. I said I wasn't
gonna guilt trip anybody. But not voting is pretty lame though you have to
admit. I mean, unless you just you know, unless you're not allowed
to vote for whatever reason. But assume you can. You should anyway,
and you can register. You know, we have same day registration here in
New Hampshire. I think we do it right. You know, if you
don't have you do have to show your ID. But if you don't have
an ID, you sign an affidavit saying that you really are who you are,
so that if there is ever any reason to challenge your vote in the
future, while you sign something legally binding saying that you are who you are,
so if you're not really who you are, that's going to be a
problem for you. And I think that's a good system. I think we
do it right here in New Hampshire. Scott Robinson joins us in the Facebook
live chat and says, you know what assuming does, Matt, It makes
an ass out of me and you. Yes, I've heard that several thousand
times, Scott, but thank you. Nice to see you in the Facebook
live chat. If you'd like to join us on the studio line six zo
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am here all by my lonesome, so it's a good day to call into
the show. We do have some great guests, so coming up during the
rest of the week. Tomorrow, of course is Wednesday, so we have
in the first hour, I'll be joined by my favorite conservative, Eric Pilcher
from Cedar Rapids, Iowa via Skype. And then we've got a great musical
guest in the second hour tomorrow, Marvel Prone. We'll be here with us
live in studio. Thursday on the show, our musical guest is Iron Jaw,
a great band from Texas. And then Friday we have a live in
studio Crooked Cash. We'll be returning to the show. So lots going on
this week on the program. And today on the show, we've been talking
about the deal, the deal that we made with Iran to get five prisoners
out of their out of prison in Iran, and we've been talking about that.
We've spent a lot of time on that, well actually all the time
really in the first hour, and we will spend some more time on it
now because it's a big subject and I do want to hear from you six
three two five O six zero seven if you are just joining us. I
did establish during the first hour my position on this is I'm in favor of
it. But part of why I wanted to discuss this today and really get
into it in some depth is it is an issue that while I'm in favor
of the deal and I support the deal that the Biden administration has made in
this instance, I do so with some degree of ambivalence. I understand the
arguments against it, and I do think they have merit. So while I
basically do support this this decision, I am very much open to. I
mean, I try to always be open to arguments from the other side of
things, but on this issue in particular, i'm very I am persuadable,
let's put it that way, by some of the counter arguments that I've heard.
Our friend Charles Richardson had called her in the first hour, and he
said a lot of what other critics are saying about the steal, for example,
that does making a deal like this, Does this actually encourage countries like
Iran and others to take Americans hostage because they know that we'll pay some sort
of ransom. Is this helping to set up a structure where globally it becomes
open season. Oh you know, you can take an American hostage and they'll
pay for it. So which I think, again a very valid concern to
have, and I do think that argument has merit. That's what Chris Christie,
of course U Republican candidate for the presidency, not that he's going to
be the nominee obviously, but he continues to do well in the polls here
in New Hampshire, but defining well, as you know, a very very
very very very distant second to Trump. But Christie did overtake to Santis but
here in New Hampshire. But uh, you know that that's been his argument.
He says, Look, this set it's a terrible precedent. So we've
been discussing this today. It's a big subject. It's complex. Again.
I fall on the side of supporting this action, but I have some I'm
conflicted. I have some doubts, I have some concerns, and I do
think that the arguments in the other direction are again very valid and have a
lot of merits. So that's what I think makes it such an interesting subject
to me, at least perhaps selfishly, but to me, the most interesting
subjects to discuss on the show are the ones where you know, I'm either
not sure how I feel, or I do think I know how I feel,
but but I have some doubts. That makes me want to hear arguments
either pro or con or maybe some of you are you have that same sort
of ambivalence about it that I do, where you feel one way a little
bit more than the other, but you're not entirely convinced. Six zero three
two five h six zero seven. If you would like to chime in on
this, this is the article that CNN has up about this. Five American
prisoners were freed by Iran on Monday, and a Qatar mediated deal that also
included the transfer of some six billion dollars in frozen Iranian funds and the release
of five Iranian prisoners in the United States. The careful, choreographed agreement was
years in the making and is being seen as a major diplomatic breakthrough for the
two foes, but in a sign that the pact is no indication of a
wider thought in relations, a senior Biden administration officials said that the deal quote
has not changed our relationship with Iran in any way unquote. Soon after the
American prisoners took off from Iran, the Biden administration slapped new sanctions on the
regime. The prisoner deal is, however, an example of a new method
of written arrangements between Washington and Tehran, analyst say, and Tarran of course
the capital of Iran. If you don't know where smaller mutual concessions are exchanged
in the absence of a wider formal agreement like the one reached in twenty fifteen
and abandoned by the Trump administration in twenty eighteen. That's the JCPOA, of
course, also commonly referred to as the Iran Nuclear Deal. A new wide
ranging agreement may be difficult for both both sides to achieve as the US heads
to presidential elections in November twenty twenty four, and I talked about that earlier
in the show, in the first hour two. I don't see how we're
ever going to get the Iranians back to the table after, you know,
if if they know, as they know from recent precedent, yeah, we
can negotiate a deal with them. The current administration can negotiate a deal with
them. But that doesn't mean that the next administration is not going to come
in and say, no, never mind, we don't like this and we're
walking away, it says here. Such a pact would likely face resistance from
Congress, whose approval it would need, and from Iran's perspective, efforts to
forge a new pact with a US administration that could potentially be ousted in those
elections would be feudal if the next president abandons it. The Biden administration is
unlikely to engage in meaningful revival of the twenty fifteen nuclear deal, said Sonam
the Kill, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Chatham
House think tank in London. She said, quote instead, it is already
agreed to an understanding that is unwritten, where Iran is rolling back uranium enrichment
in exchange, the Biden administration is looking away and allowing Iran to increase its
oil sales unque that allegedly Melanie, what you said in the chat room allegedly
pictures or it didn't happen. That's what the young people say. I think
the deal comes amid a significant dialing back of tensions between Iran and the US.
In recent months, attacks by Iran and its proxies on US interests in
the Middle East have almost ceased. That's true. They have settled down,
haven't they. The Iranians and Iran's oil exports have risen despite Western sanctions on
its oil industry. Meanwhile, Iran's uranium enrichmond under its nuclear program has reportedly
slowed. Ali Vayez Ali VIA's Iran project director at the International Crisis Group think
tank, said a de escalatory understanding between Washington and Tehran has created a more
stable context for progress, calling it a no deal, no crisis status quo.
Iran has been slowing down the pace at which it is enriching the uranium
its uranium to weapons grade levels, several US outlets reported last week citing a
confident I'm sorry a confidential report by the UN Nuclear energy watchdog the International Atomic
Energy Agency YA. At the same time, and by the way, they're
responsible for doing the inspections to make sure that they're not doing anything that violates
the deal. Melanie said, what he gets to make stuff up, but
I can't. I call bs alternate facts, I say to you. At
the same time, Iran has been boasting higher oil output and exports despite Western
sanctions. Iran's Minister of Petroleum Yavid Augie, on Sunday said that Western sanctions
are gradually losing their effectiveness. That's interesting. It gets into the weeds a
little bit here on the oil production part. Okay, let's skip down to
this here again. This is from CNN. Lack of trust, even an
unwrit arrangement can prove delicate, analysts say, given the ongoing disputes between the
two nations, that could undermine the recent reduction intentions. Trust between the two
sides appears to be week two. Western frustration with Iran is mounted. Over
the past year. The Islamic Republic has sold drones to Russia amid its war
on Ukraine, and is violently crushed protests at home against the mandatory hijab law
drawing Western ire to Ran Is also informed the IAEA that it will bar several
agency inspectors tasked with conducting verification activities in Iran IAEA director Raphael Mariano Grossi Toll
said Saturday, strongly condemning Iran's decision. Iranian Foreign Minister spokesman Nasir Kanaani on
Sunday said his country would continue its cooperation with Nuclear watchdog within the framework of
the signed agreements, without providing details. Now, by the way, that's
interesting, so I learned something from that. It sounds like there has still
been some adherents to the Iran nuclear deal even though the US pulled out of
it. I know that when after we pulled out, Europe said we're staying
in and we're going to encourage Iran to stay in, and I thought that
it all kind of disintegrated. But it sounds from this, if I'm understanding
this correctly, there was still something there. But now Iran is saying,
well, no, we're not going to let the IAEA and consistently after all,
which would make me very suspicious. It says here. Under Monday's agreement,
which has already prompted criticism from the US Republican Party, Iran can only
use the released funds for humanitarian purposes. Biden administration officials have stressed that the
funds, which have been transferred to accounts in Qatar, will only be able
to be used by Iran for humanitarian purchases, and that each transaction will be
monitored by the US Treasury Department. That some of the criticism of this deal
that I do think has merit is about that part specifically. There is some
skepticism about how that all works. But we'll come back to that, But
it says here. In an interview with NBC last week, Iranian President Ibrahim
Rice said his government would decide how and where to spend the six billion dollars.
Asked if the funds would be used for humanitarian purposes, including food and
medicine, Rice said that, quote, humanitarian means whatever the Iranian people needs,
So this money will be budgeted for those needs, and the needs of
the Iranian people will be decided and determined by the Iranian government unquote. There's
also some expation here. Again it gets into a little bit into the weeds
about how the Qataris will be controlling. First of all, it's not like
all that money gets released at once, and the Qataris will be in control,
continuing in their role as sort of intermediary and almost like they're controlling the
bank here, they're in charge of releasing that money over time. It's not
you know, it's like when you win the lottery. If you win the
lottery and you win six billion dollars, you don't just get it all at
once, or you could. I think they give you a choice. You
can get all at once or over time. It says here. When the
Uranians request the money to purchase food and medicine, for example, approval will
have to be sought from the US before the purchases go through, adding that
the terms of the agreement are so strict on Iran that they are humiliating.
Parsi said, quote the biggest thing this administration fears is to be accused of
being soft on Iran. In order to balance the fact that they made a
deal to secure the release of Americans, they're imposing sanctions and doing things that
make them look really tough. Unquote. Okay, the part about this is
again one of the criticisms of the deal that we're hearing, the part about,
Okay, we're letting them have the money, we're unfreezing the money,
but they can only use it for specific things. They can only use it
for humanitarian purposes because we don't want them doing the obvious, which is to
say, hey, let's use this money to build a bunch of nukes in
other words, or let's build let's use this money to manufacture some more drones
that we can then sell to Vladimir Putin for his war in Ukraine, for
example. Or hey, let's use this money to fund some terrorism. No,
you have to use it for humanitarian purposes. The criticism of that that
I'm hearing is even though there is a system, there is a structure in
place to monitor that, and the release of funds has to be approved,
and there's a whole system here, it's got to I can't imagine there aren't
going to be ways to easily get around that, you know, with some
creative bookkeeping. Uh you know, probably maybe some some similar approaches to it.
And in terms of you know how they do it, how organized crime,
uh, how they do it where uh money isn't always uh well,
look, I mean have you ever watched The Sopranos. I think it's the
greatest show in the history of television. You know, a lot of creativity
in the bookkeeping. Right, There's there's ways around, Uh. If money
is only supposed to go to a certain thing and you want to make it
look like it went to something else. You can do that. The thing
is too if let's say, this is a very easy way around this,
and I'm sure the Iranians are already I'm sure they've already got this planned.
Let's say, Okay, so you've got the money's not all being released at
once. So let's say you got a million dollars. You just got a
million dollars that you can get access to that's going to be released, but
it can only be used for humanitarian purposes at first million dollars. So we're
going to release the first million of the six billion. We're going to release
the first million, and see what you do with it, and are you
acting in good faith? So that money is released, and they do they
use it for humanitarian purposes. But here's the thing, so they use it
too, well, let's make it really simple. They use it to buy
food. The Iranian economy is not doing great. Probably food insecurity is very
high there right now. So they I don't have any idea what they have
for social programs there, but let's say they have a Let's assume they have
a program to feed starving people so they're gonna so, all right, we
gotta take that million dollars and use it to buy food for these starving people.
But they're already spending a million dollars on that program, coming from somewhere
else in their budget. But now they don't have to spend that million dollars
that they've been spending. They can spend a different million dollars. They can
spend the million dollars that's being released to them by the Qataris, thus leaving
the million that they would have spent untouched, which they can now then take
that untouched million and go buy a bunch of drones to sell the Russia at
a profit, or go and build some nukes or whatever they're gonna do.
You see what I'm saying. Okay, we're gonna give you this money to
use for humanitarian purposes, so you don't have to spend the other money that
you would have already had to spend on those same purposes, thus allowing you
to spend that other money that you would have spent on humanitarian purposes to spend
on something bad that we'd rather not be doing. See what I mean,
it's the easiest, it's unless I'm missing something here. It seems to me
like this is going to be very easy for them to get around unless I
mean, it's almost like a way of laundering money in a sense. Right.
Anyway, so the skepticism, Oh, j FED says they wouldn't do
that. No, we can trust them. So anyway, that part that,
that's one of the criticisms. Now, we were looking earlier at this
USA Today article that explains some of the criticism. Okay, so prisoner exchange
rewards to run for imprisoning Americans. Biden's critics say the number of Americans who
are being health hostage or are wrongfully detained abroad is unknown. The James W.
Fully Legacy Foundation is tracking fifty five publicly disclosed cases. While terrorists kidnappings
have declined in recent years, the organization found foreign governments have been increasingly wrongfully
detaining US citizens for more than a decade. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCall,
Republican of Texas, said he was very concerned the six billion dollars will
incentivize hostage taken in the future, and that we discussed her earlier. McCall
said in a Monday statement. Quote. Even though the administration claims these funds
are limited to humanitarian transactions. We all know that transactions are difficult to monitor
and that money is fungible. He's not wrong, That's the point I was
just making. You can account for things creatively, you can do all kinds
of stuff. It's going to be very difficult to manage that, to monitor
that. Rather. He also said, quote, there was no question this
deal will free up funds for Iran's malign activities unquote. The Biden administration is
insisting that the funds which came from Iranian oil revenues parked and overseas bank accounts,
can only be used for humanitarian purposes. Nevertheless, Republicans are not confident
the money will be used for purchasing food and medicines. Critics were further incensed
after the Iranian presidents at his government would determine what constituted humanitarian aid quote humanity
are means whatever the Iranian people need unquote. The president of Iran told NBC
News in an interview with you, by the way, that might be,
I don't know. I don't know anything about the president of Iran. Rac
Is that how you say it, Racey Racy? I don't know how you
say it, r Ai Si that if if you want to take him at
his word, well, let me put it this way. If you want
to believe that he is a good faith actor in all of this, you
might say, I'm not saying this. I'm saying if you want to believe
that he is a good faith actor in all of this, you might make
the argument that he is saying this for the benefit of those watching in Iran.
Because remember, in Iran it's you know, state controlled media, just
like in Russia. Right, That's why Russians broadly support the war in Ukraine
because the media and Russia tell them, yeah, Ukraine, they were going
to New Cus or something, we had to go in. Obviously, it's
bs same thing in Iran. So is he saying that for their benefit when
in reality he intends to adhere to the agreement. Now I don't believe he
intends to adhere to the agreement, but I'm just saying if I were to
try to argue that he did, that's how I would do it. In
an interview with USA today ahead of the prisoner swap, US Ambassador to the
UN Linda Thomas Greenfield said the US has been categoric that it will control how
the funds are used. To quote, they will be for humanitarian purposes.
I have no doubt unquote. President Donald Trump withdrew from the US with through
the US. He hasn't withdrawn from the US. I'm sorry, and I
don't think he's a flight risk. Uh sorry, a little reference to h
some of his own legal problems. He withdrew the US from the nuclear deal
that the Obama administration entered into with Europe in twenty fifteen. The former president
also reimposed stiff sanctions on Iran. Republicans generally support the use of sticks rather
than carrots when it comes to Iran and argue that deals like the one Biden
broker project weakness. In social media posts, parts of which were all in
caps, that's kind of his thing. Trump argued Monday that Biden was getting
I'm sorry, I was setting a terrible precedent and once you pay, you
always pay, and many more hostages will be taken. Backers of Biden's deal
see the return this week of the five Americans as evidence that the previous administration's
maximum pressure campaign on Iran was not constructive and that Biden's policy of pairing of
diplomatic negotiations with sanctions is more likely to produce better cooperation from Tehran. I
do agree with that, and that's part of why I kind of land on
as much as I'm as much as I'm conflicted on the issue, I kind
of land on the side of the administration on this because I do agree the
maximum pressure approach never it never yielded anything. You don't get anything from that
other than you keep pushing. You know, if you want your enemy,
your adversary to do something, to do something constructive and productive and useful or
positive, and you're you're not going to change their behavior by just by continuing
to push them away and trying to hurt them. You've got to find some
way diplomatically to get them to modify their behavior. So the maximum pressure campaign
it all it does is push them, push your opponent, in this case
Iran, further into extremism and wanting to pursue becoming a full fledged nuclear power.
That's that's my opinion, said Mohammed Marandi, an adviser to Iran's government
on nuclear and foreign policy issues, said in a brief what'sapp message that the
prisoner exchange represented an opportunity for the US to cooperate further with Iran in other
areas. However, Randi said that from Iran's perspective, quote, it's unclear
if Team Biden has the political will to use this opportunity unquote. Biden's foreign
policy towards America's enemies hinges on establishing open lines of communication to avoid misunderstandings,
but he is running for reelection and cannot afford to lose support from swing voters
who cast their ballots for him against Trump in the last election. Samak Namazi,
one of the Americans released, encouraged Biden on Monday to use the bully
pulpit from the United Nations this week to prevent hostage taking from happening in the
first place. Namazi, in a statement, quote, it is only if
the free world finally agrees to collectively impose draconian consequences on those who use human
lives as mere bargaining ships that the Iranian regime and its ILK will be compelled
to make different choices. Sadly, until then, we can anticipate more Americans
and others falling victim to state hostage taking, a horror that thanks to you,
my family and I will strive to put behind us. Starting today,
Biden was already clashing with Congressional Republicans over Ukraine and the slow pace of the
counter offensive. The administration is in a standoff with Republicans in the House over
twenty point six billion dollars in funding for Ukraine it asked for over the summer.
The money is intended to support Ukraine's military and humanitarian efforts through the end
of the calendar year. With the fiscal year coming to a close at the
end of September, however, the US government could be headed for a shutdown,
fueled in part by utes over the request. Republicans and Congress are divided
over whether it is of idal US interest to keep funding the war, and
even among those who do support the aid, Biden has come under criticism for
refusing to provide Kiev with long range weapons sooner. Biden can't win on that.
I mean, you know, in the UN speech today the US President
will again. Okay, this was before Biden already spoke at the UN.
I heard some of it, but I was falling asleep listening to him one
other quick thing on this, and I just happened to see that This just
popped up on media. Trevor Reid, a Marine vet held captive by Russia,
shuts down critics of Iran hostage deal, saying this was a win.
So here this is an argument on the pro deal side. Trevor Reid,
who was unlawfully detained in Russia in twenty nineteen and released in twenty twenty two,
had supportive words for President Joe Biden and his administration following the release of
five American prison who had been imprisoned in Iran. Biden has been criticized for
the seemingly uneven trade, which saw five Iranians released in exchange as well as
six billion dollars of frozen funds. While it has been explained repeatedly that the
funds already belonged to Iran and we're not some ransom provided by American taxpayers,
plus the stipulation that the funds be spent on humanitarian efforts and that spending would
be monitored, critics still said it would mean open season on Americans traveling abroad
in the future. Read knows a few things about this situation, however,
and offered up a more seasoned explanation on social media, concluding that the trade
was quote a win for the US and democracy, and I'm glad we have
leaders with the courage to do what is right when they know they will face
criticism unquote. All right, So here's I'm gonna read it. And by
the way, I did not get a chance to preread any of this,
no pun intended, because his name is read Rever Reid. I've not seen
any of this, so I'll be hearing this for the first time myself.
Okay, So this is Trevor Reid's statement. Congratulations are our citizens being freed
from Iran. Those of you would say we lost this exchange would do well
to remember that the US government is willing to bring back hostages when it may
not be financially or politically lucrative for the administration, or even disadvantageous politically.
That is what separates us from the animals and what makes the United States a
great country. The Russians, the Iranians, the Chinese, the Venezuelans,
the Syrians, the North Koreans would laugh at the thought of doing anything that
would damage them politically in order to help their citizens, and that's why they
will never be great. Additionally, the United States did not give Iran any
taxpayers money. This was Iranian money that was frozen by the US sanctions.
Countries will continue. Oh sorry, give me a second here. I had
to click that to get to the next paragraph. This is a longer statement
than I realized. Now I'm waiting for it to load. Here we go.
Countries will continue to take Americans hostage, regardless of the willingness of the
US to negotiate their release. Hostages and wrongful detainees must be returned home,
and at the same time, deterrence must be discussed in order to aid in
preventing hostage diplomacy. This was a win for the US and democracy, and
I'm glad we have leaders with the courage to do what is right when they
know they will face criticism. And I want to go back. Okay,
so that's a statement from Trevor Reid, but I want to go back to
this first paragraph. I want to read that again because this is why he
kind of what he says here is what appeals to me in terms of why
again with ambivalence, I fall on the side of supporting what has been done
here with this deal. I want to read that first sentence again. Congratulations,
first paragraph, Congratulations on our citizens being freed from Iran. Those of
you who would say we lost this exchange would be well to remember that the
US government is willing to bring back hostages when it may not be financially or
politically lucrative for the administration, or even disadvantageous politically. This is the important
part. This is the part that speaks to me. This is what separates
us from the animals and what makes the United States a great country. The
Russians, the Iranians, the Chinese, the Venezuelans, the Assyrians, the
North Koreans would laugh at the thought of doing anything that would damage them politically
in order to help their citizens, and that's why they will never be great.
I like it says here. Reid had previously criticized. Again, this
is from Mediaite. Reid had previously criticized the Biden administration for it's handling of
w NBA player Britney Griner's and Paul Whalen's releases from Russia prisons, saying that
they were not doing enough to get them out of captivity. He later said
he was cautiously optimistic that Biden would have a solution. So there you go.
So that was Trevor Reid, Wayne and he had been he had been
held captive. All right. I think the thing that I didn't get to
that I had mentioned I might get to today, but we're about out of
time, so we gotta go. The AP is reporting Senate Ditch's dress code
as Fetterman and others choose casual clothes. I don't have a strong opinion about
this one way or the other, but I do think it's kind of weird.
I guess Fetterman the reason he dresses the way that he does, he's
so he's such a big guy that it's really difficult for him to find suits
that fit him and and not be horribly uncomfortable. But at is odd.
And the other thing that we didn't get to, uh, this is also
from the AP. Ray Epps X marine targeted by Jan six conspiracy theory is
charged with a misdemeanor in the riot. If the name Ray Epps is a
little bit familiar but you can't quite place him, he's the guy who Tucker
Carlson claimed was actually an FBI informant or was an agent provocateur put there by
the FBI, you know, because Jan six is anyone's fault except Trump,
right, one of the one of the theories, of course, being that
the FBI stage the whole thing, or at least provoked it, and Tucker
Carlson singled out ray Epps as an example, thus ruining ray Epps's life because
everyone associated with the guy who thought he was a trumper like them, wanted
to kill him, or at least we're going out a lot of threats,
and he had to go into hiding, and it's a whole thing, and
he's actually last I knew he's actually suing Tucker Carlson for defamation, but apparently
now he's been charged, and that even further disproves the nonsense that the pretend
journalist Tucker Carlson was putting out there about ray Epps. Although I almost don't
think they should charge him. I think he's I kind of feel like he's
been through enough. But anyway, we'll look at that more closely. Maybe
maybe we'll get to it tomorrow. Maybe we'll bring it up when our friend
Eric Pilcher was with us. Don't forget tomorrow on the show. Of course,
tomorrow is Wednesday. So our first hour we are joined by my favorite
conservative Eric Pilcher, and then in the second hour we have a great musical
guest joining us, Marvel Prone and let's see if you are listening live on
Tuesday. Immediately after this show on WMNH, we have of course Through the
Stage Store hosted by the great or Rob Dion, and immediately following that is
a replay of Retro Spectrum Radio with paulc. And we had a great time
on Friday night, as we always do. So if you missed the show
on Friday, you can hear it tonight at seven pm right here on WMH
ninety five point three FM. And if you missed any part of today's show,
you can get the archive at WMH radio dot org or at my website
Matt Connerton dot com. And I guess that's gonna do it for us for
now. But you know what I think I'm gonna do. I think I'm
gonna close. I never do this, but I'm going to close the show
with our brand new intro. H. This was sent to me by a
Jerry Robinson's producer, mister B. So if you missed it, we have
a brand new intro for the show, an official new intro, and I'm
actually gonna play it to close the show today because i just want to hear
it again. It's so good. I absolutely love it. I absolutely love
it. So we will close with this, thank you all, and I'll
talk to y'all a little bit later. By everybody you are listening to Tom
three, come in and get it. Don't get so crazily down, Matzille