1 00:00:22,199 --> 00:00:22,879 Speaker 1: And welcome. 2 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 2: Hi. 3 00:00:23,559 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: How are you welcome to the Big St Patrick's Day 4 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:35,240 edition of the Tom Sullivan Podcast on this Tuesday, the 5 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,960 seventeenth day of March, Year of Our Lord, twenty twenty six. 6 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,280 I already said my name Tom Sullivan. Let's get this 7 00:00:43,439 --> 00:00:46,280 show on the road. Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you. 8 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,240 It's crazy here in New York because it's the biggest 9 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:56,719 parade in New York has lots of parades, but this 10 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,920 is the biggest parade today. Goes down Fifth Ave, starts 11 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,719 at Saint Patrick's Cathedral and works its way up from 12 00:01:05,159 --> 00:01:08,640 the forties to the eighties up by Central Park. And 13 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,959 it's a huge crowd. I mean a huge crowd that 14 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:17,079 turns out for this. So anyway, it's it's always exciting 15 00:01:17,239 --> 00:01:20,159 in New York or Saint Patrick. If you're if you're 16 00:01:20,239 --> 00:01:22,439 coming to New York around Saint Patrick Day, make sure 17 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,439 and mark down the parade, for it goes all day 18 00:01:25,439 --> 00:01:28,200 long and it goes for hours in any case. So 19 00:01:28,239 --> 00:01:31,239 we've got that nice place to start. As opposed to war, 20 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,000 but we'll get you up to date on the war 21 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,040 and also Cuba. You know, we're so focused on everything 22 00:01:38,079 --> 00:01:40,560 going on in the Middle East. But the issue with 23 00:01:40,719 --> 00:01:45,959 Cuba is it's they're out of power. They're their power 24 00:01:47,239 --> 00:01:51,200 supply has their power grid has totally collapsed. So we'll 25 00:01:51,239 --> 00:01:54,799 get to that. Update you on oil prices, update you 26 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:59,879 on the lines at the airports in some I mean there. 27 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:06,159 I saw Atlanta today. It's crazy. And it's not just Atlanta. 28 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,280 There's all kinds of problems at the airports that are 29 00:02:08,319 --> 00:02:12,000 going on. So let's let's dig into it. We've got, 30 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,719 first of all, let's start with the Iran and what's 31 00:02:15,759 --> 00:02:20,639 going on there. Plus there's a big sting today because 32 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:26,719 the head of the counterintelligence department in our government has resigned. 33 00:02:26,719 --> 00:02:28,879 His name is Joe Kent. I want to get in 34 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:30,879 to that with you as well as we go through 35 00:02:30,879 --> 00:02:33,719 the program. Let's start. Rebecca Heinrich is with the Hudson 36 00:02:33,759 --> 00:02:39,560 Institute and that's her field of study is watching everything 37 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,120 in the Middle East. Here's which she said about where 38 00:02:42,159 --> 00:02:46,360 we are with Iran and the fact that overnight we 39 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:52,080 took out two of their leaders. One of them was 40 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,759 a guy by the name of Solimani. I don't know 41 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,360 if he was related or that's a common name or not, 42 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,919 but the other one was Laren Johnny who was the 43 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:07,159 de facto leader, and he's the guy who ran a 44 00:03:07,199 --> 00:03:09,919 lot of the government, so we were expecting he was 45 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,439 probably running things right now. And Solimani was the guy 46 00:03:13,719 --> 00:03:17,719 who was running the mowing down of the citizens. So 47 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,680 they're both gone. Rebecca Heinrich chimes in on what that 48 00:03:23,719 --> 00:03:24,319 all means. 49 00:03:25,039 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 3: Well, First, clearly, President Trump is saying, look, we've done 50 00:03:27,599 --> 00:03:29,879 a lot, We've accomplished a lot of our military objectives. 51 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:31,840 And this is the key part. He said, we want 52 00:03:31,879 --> 00:03:34,120 to make this more permanent. And you saw this from 53 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:38,159 Admiral Cooper, the Sentcom commander who's leading this mission against Iran. 54 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,560 He said something similar yesterday, which was that we've moved 55 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,759 into a second phase, which is destroying the military production capability. 56 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,960 And some of this is in the deeply buried, hardened targets, tunnels, undergrounds. 57 00:03:50,159 --> 00:03:52,439 We want to make sure that we destroy that so 58 00:03:52,479 --> 00:03:55,599 that the effect of these strikes are longer lasting. And 59 00:03:55,599 --> 00:03:58,120 that's what President Trump, I think is alluding to, which, Yeah. 60 00:03:58,000 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: I'm glad. If we're going to do this, let's do 61 00:03:59,879 --> 00:04:04,000 it right. Let's not just do a haphazard approach to it. 62 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:06,680 Take out a few people and then say victory. I 63 00:04:06,719 --> 00:04:08,919 know he likes to talk that way, but he's staying 64 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,360 and I hope he does to take up the deep 65 00:04:12,639 --> 00:04:17,120 down delivery systems that they have built in Iran that 66 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:18,680 are way underground. 67 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:23,959 Speaker 4: Here's Brett McGirk on the latest. Well, Sarah, iarn created 68 00:04:23,959 --> 00:04:29,079 a system with no indispensable officials. That's the design's distributed power. 69 00:04:29,439 --> 00:04:33,040 But in fact Ali Larjani is about as indispensable, about 70 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,240 as irreplaceable as you can get. He's had a whole 71 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,839 career across the entire system, from the Revolutionary Guards, which 72 00:04:38,879 --> 00:04:41,600 we've talked a lot about, to the Supreme Leader's Office. 73 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,439 He was the longest serving speakers of Parliament, his family 74 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,879 has positions throughout the government, and he has been the 75 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,399 figure in this crisis going back to the June War 76 00:04:51,519 --> 00:04:54,120 and now this most recent conflict. He has been out 77 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,000 front kind of like basically everybody believes he's the power 78 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:59,279 behind the throne, with a couple others behind. Most of 79 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:01,959 the new leader who has not been seen. So it 80 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,720 is hugely significant to wake up to this news. And 81 00:05:04,759 --> 00:05:08,279 we're heading into no Rus the Persian New Year this weekend. 82 00:05:08,879 --> 00:05:10,800 We'll see what happens. I mean, Iranian has usually come 83 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,680 out in the streets and celebrate the besieged militia, and 84 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,120 the leader of the besiege militious there was also killed 85 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,480 last night in a strike. That is, the internal apparatus 86 00:05:19,519 --> 00:05:24,600 that maintains internal security is responsible for those crackdowns against protesters. 87 00:05:24,639 --> 00:05:27,639 So really dynamic situation. I think this war is going 88 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:29,079 to go on for some times. I think we're maybe 89 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,160 at the halfway mark, but this is a significant development. 90 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,920 How it plays out, we have to see. I'm too 91 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:36,000 early to draw a conclusion. 92 00:05:36,519 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: Okay, So again, they took out the top leaders of Iran, 93 00:05:41,319 --> 00:05:43,560 and then they brought these two guys who have been 94 00:05:43,879 --> 00:05:46,480 top leaders but weren't taken out on day one. They 95 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,759 were taken out last night. So anybody want to fill 96 00:05:50,879 --> 00:05:54,319 low shoes. I think people might be a little bit hesitant. 97 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:56,680 But the news is getting a lot of headlines today 98 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:01,680 is about this guy named Joe Kent, who was the 99 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:06,240 head of the counter Intelligence Division, and in his resignation 100 00:06:06,399 --> 00:06:11,800 letter he basically said there was no imminent threat to 101 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,319 buy Iran against US, and he doesn't believe that this 102 00:06:16,439 --> 00:06:20,399 is the right thing to do, so he threw in 103 00:06:20,399 --> 00:06:23,839 the towel. Now, Joe Kent. I couldn't believe it when 104 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,040 Trump appointed him the head of the counter intelligence apparatus 105 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,720 because he's from the state of Washington. I got to 106 00:06:32,759 --> 00:06:37,800 tell you, he has an amazing background. As far as 107 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,720 he's a veteran is a small way of saying it. 108 00:06:42,759 --> 00:06:49,519 He served eleven times in Iraq, but he has been 109 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,879 anti war all the way along from the state of 110 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,319 Washington down in the southern part of the state of Washington, 111 00:06:57,399 --> 00:07:03,519 just above the Oregon border. He ran twice for Congress 112 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:09,240 and he lost in a very Republican, mega pro Trump area. 113 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:15,959 He lost twice to Marie Glosen camp Perez. And if 114 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,480 you know anything about her, she's different. Let me just 115 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:22,680 put it that way. She's a Democrat, but she's not. 116 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,519 Even the Democrats are scratching their head. She's kind of 117 00:07:26,519 --> 00:07:33,279 a hippie, dippy lady from south west Washington. And they 118 00:07:33,639 --> 00:07:36,920 looked at her versus Joe Kent, and they voted for her. 119 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,560 This is mega country. So he's a strange guy. He's 120 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:47,560 a very strange guy, and he's been writing. So he 121 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,720 was in the military and served, like I said, as 122 00:07:52,399 --> 00:07:57,639 an intelligence officer. I think is a soldier that was 123 00:07:57,839 --> 00:08:03,240 radicalized by wars that he came to the conclusion that 124 00:08:03,319 --> 00:08:07,000 were senseless. He wrote articles about how the Iraq War 125 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,639 was senseless and now this war is senseless. And he 126 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,199 makes clear that his enemies in the columns that he 127 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,040 has written are general Are you are generals? Us generals? 128 00:08:19,639 --> 00:08:23,639 He blames our generals for the deaths of family and friends. 129 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,360 He thinks that the wars that we have fought have 130 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:35,320 been against middle class America. He thinks that Black Lives 131 00:08:35,399 --> 00:08:40,759 Matter and Antifa are organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations. 132 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:48,120 So he he positions himself as a class warrior. But 133 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,919 but he's he's just an odd guy. And when I 134 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,799 saw that the President Trump appointed him to be the 135 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,840 head of the counter intelligence, they went, really that one's 136 00:09:01,159 --> 00:09:03,840 that one's was a headscratcher. Some of the art he 137 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:09,039 wrote articles for CNN, for Breitbart, for Fox News. He 138 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,639 kept asking through these articles, was war worth it for 139 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,879 our nation? And what have we gained? And war is 140 00:09:16,919 --> 00:09:21,799 hard to justify. He's a big election denier. Maybe that's 141 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,559 what Trump saw in him. That he liked big jan 142 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:30,159 sixth defender of the people that stormed the Capitol. So 143 00:09:30,799 --> 00:09:33,159 that's how he got to be the head of all 144 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,039 of this. But now he's done the same, He's still 145 00:09:36,279 --> 00:09:39,399 being the same Joe Kennedy was. He doesn't like war. 146 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:44,080 Yet he was a soldier, and yet he got radicalized 147 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:50,399 against war. Probably not the only former battlefield soldier who 148 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,559 doesn't like war. Here's the president's reaction. 149 00:09:53,879 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 5: I always thought he was a nice guy, but I 150 00:09:55,519 --> 00:09:58,360 always thought he was weak on security. What I read 151 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,559 a statement, I realized that it's a good thing that 152 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,919 he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. 153 00:10:05,759 --> 00:10:09,519 Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat 154 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:11,559 Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted 155 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:12,759 to do something about it. 156 00:10:13,159 --> 00:10:16,399 Speaker 1: Back to Rebecca Heinrich responding as well, well. 157 00:10:16,399 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 3: Respect to Joe Ken's service, he's an American veteran, but 158 00:10:19,159 --> 00:10:21,279 he never should have been in that position of leaderships. 159 00:10:21,279 --> 00:10:25,679 He was leading a counter terrorism unit, and Iran is 160 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,679 the greatest source of terrorism, not just regionally but across 161 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,600 the world, responsible for the maiming and killing of Americans 162 00:10:32,799 --> 00:10:37,480 through proxies in Iraq and Afghanistan. And even at last year, 163 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:39,679 Joe Kent even alluded to the fact that the Iranians 164 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,480 were trying to assassinate President Trump. So clearly he should 165 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:45,480 never have been in that position of leadership, and it's 166 00:10:45,519 --> 00:10:47,360 a good thing that he has decided to step aside. 167 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: Let me assure you the left, all the Democrats are 168 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:55,600 jumping on this, going see see see this is wrong. 169 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:00,759 So Mike Johnson was asked about it. We had a 170 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,960 speaker's news conference today and people said, hey, what do 171 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:05,559 you think about Joe Kent. 172 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,759 Speaker 6: So we all understood there was clearly an imminent threat 173 00:11:08,879 --> 00:11:14,000 that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability, 174 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,000 and they were building missiles at a pace that no 175 00:11:16,039 --> 00:11:18,320 one in the region could keep up with. They were 176 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:23,759 far outpacing our allies and friends in US in our 177 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:28,639 defense capability because we had personnel installations, members of the 178 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:32,279 armed services and civilians in the region. Iran was building 179 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:34,440 up ballistic missiles at such a rapid pace, and we 180 00:11:34,519 --> 00:11:37,720 knew that their plan was to fire them upon Americans. 181 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: That's my sense of it. They've been building this storage 182 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:46,480 of missiles drones to the point where there would have 183 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,240 come a point where we would not have been able 184 00:11:49,879 --> 00:11:54,559 to override that. They would have had more firepower than 185 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,240 we have ability to stop it. So I mean we're 186 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,000 having a tough enough time trying to stop all their firepace. 187 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,559 It's working, but you have to get them before they 188 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:09,000 got even bigger and stronger. Ed roll Mark Fox kind 189 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,399 of weighs in with similar view, Well, bad things happen 190 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,600 to bad people sometimes. Wow, that's the only way I 191 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,399 could put it. Well, I think whoever steps up into 192 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,240 that will probably meet a similar faith. Oh, you know, 193 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:25,279 this campaign, let's put it in context. This is probably 194 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:30,720 the most remarkable air campaign ever waged. Back in Desert 195 00:12:30,759 --> 00:12:33,840 Storm we were airplane how many sorties per target? Back 196 00:12:33,879 --> 00:12:37,559 in Iraqi Freedom we had shifted into precision weapons and 197 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,360 how many targets per sorting They've taken this to an 198 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,879 entirely new level. Now, this is unprecedented, and so in 199 00:12:45,919 --> 00:12:48,559 spite of the fact that yeah, tech Iron is twice 200 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,360 the size of Texas, it's a large country, a lot 201 00:12:51,399 --> 00:12:54,080 of people, and they've built a lot of very bad 202 00:12:54,159 --> 00:12:57,320 things that need to be eliminated. Back to the discussion 203 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,720 of the succession of leaders, I think that as long 204 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,840 as the Iranian regime as it is known today, they 205 00:13:06,879 --> 00:13:09,320 will always be They don't think the same way that 206 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,279 you and I think. This is the regime that set 207 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:16,919 little boys with plastic keys. In the Irana Rock War 208 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,919 back in the nineteen eighties to clear minefields that was there. 209 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:25,320 They set little boys out to die to clear minefields, 210 00:13:25,519 --> 00:13:27,879 and they gave them little keys to the kingdom. That's 211 00:13:27,919 --> 00:13:30,440 the kind of people we're dealing with. So we may 212 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:32,200 have to kill a lot of them in this. 213 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:36,279 Speaker 7: Regime to be able to accomplish our objectives, but we 214 00:13:36,399 --> 00:13:38,440 must not grow weary of doing what we know is 215 00:13:38,519 --> 00:13:41,679 ryan well. The straight up horror moves is. It's a 216 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,960 solvable problem, but it takes time. The geography is set, 217 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:48,559 it is what it is, and we need to have 218 00:13:49,039 --> 00:13:52,480 an absolute godlike awareness of what's going into the water. 219 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,399 I haven't seen or heard any reports of minds going 220 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:59,360 into the water, and we've also destroyed their small boats 221 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,919 and their layers, so I think in terms of mind 222 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,600 I think we're probably okay. But the ships that have 223 00:14:07,639 --> 00:14:10,759 been damaged have been hit by these drones and by 224 00:14:10,879 --> 00:14:13,519 coastal defense cruise missiles, and we still need to continue 225 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:16,639 to eliminate them. But if you look at the how 226 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:19,840 many weapons that they're expending as supposed to what they 227 00:14:19,879 --> 00:14:23,960 started with, the curve is in the right direction. We 228 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,559 are eliminating their ability. 229 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:30,559 Speaker 1: Yeah. So again, as he says, always just be patient. 230 00:14:31,159 --> 00:14:33,799 This is a test of wills and we've got to 231 00:14:33,879 --> 00:14:37,639 go through. And the military is going through methodically checking 232 00:14:37,679 --> 00:14:41,240 off the punch list to get rid of their ability 233 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:47,159 to make war against other people. So it's been it's 234 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,960 been eighteen days. That's it. So I know you expect 235 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,039 things to wrap up in one hour like a TV show. 236 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,440 So while we're watching that, keep an eye on Cuba. 237 00:14:58,559 --> 00:15:03,919 The power is out. Their power grid has absolutely collapsed. 238 00:15:06,559 --> 00:15:13,639 Dan Hoffman, former CIA talks about what's going on inside Cuba. 239 00:15:13,879 --> 00:15:17,879 Speaker 8: Yeah, and Cuba's been suffering blackouts for years, frankly, and 240 00:15:18,399 --> 00:15:22,279 every time that happens, we see some protests on the ground. 241 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,240 Particularly over the past five years when we shut off 242 00:15:26,279 --> 00:15:29,559 the supply of oil from Venezuela to Cuba. That gave 243 00:15:29,639 --> 00:15:34,080 the United States the leverage we needed to impact conditions on. 244 00:15:34,039 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: The ground in Cuba. 245 00:15:34,879 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 8: And that's why you saw Secretary of Rubio reportedly conducting 246 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:44,039 discussions with Raoul Castro along the lines of figuring out 247 00:15:44,039 --> 00:15:47,039 where we might be headed with some sort of a 248 00:15:47,159 --> 00:15:50,600 change in the regime in Cuba, maybe a soft change 249 00:15:50,639 --> 00:15:54,679 where the current leader of Cuba, the president is forced 250 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,200 out and maybe there's some political freedom there all in 251 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,679 return for US enabling Cuba maybe to import some of 252 00:16:01,679 --> 00:16:04,080 that oil that they need to get their economy going again. 253 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,000 I mean, this is the best chance we've ever had, arguably, 254 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,120 And the key thing that I would highlight is it's 255 00:16:11,159 --> 00:16:15,440 not just Venezuela that was supporting Cuba's China, the Cuba's 256 00:16:15,519 --> 00:16:18,559 largest trading partners China. China, in return for that trade 257 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,360 and the subsidies to the Cuban government, receives land to 258 00:16:22,399 --> 00:16:26,000 conduct signals intelligence operations against the United States. Cuba is 259 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,559 an outpost for Russia and for China to spy on us, 260 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:33,000 and that and the criminal gangs in Cuba. We need 261 00:16:33,039 --> 00:16:35,039 to put a stop to that, and this is probably 262 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,480 our best chance that we've ever had with the leverage 263 00:16:38,519 --> 00:16:40,840 that we have to impose some change on Cuba, which 264 00:16:40,879 --> 00:16:43,399 would benefit the Cuban people as well. 265 00:16:43,399 --> 00:16:45,919 Speaker 1: Obviously, So if they're an outpost for Russia and for 266 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,000 China to spy on the United States, which makes sense 267 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,639 right next door, what is Russia and China going to 268 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,039 do about the fact if we try and take some 269 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,039 sort of control over the Cuban government. 270 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 8: I just expect to see the same sort of perfunctory 271 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:09,039 comments from Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov that we've seen about 272 00:17:09,039 --> 00:17:12,519 Iran and about Syria before the government to Bashar al Asadefeld. 273 00:17:12,559 --> 00:17:16,440 Russia doesn't have the throwweight anymore to influence events outside 274 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,279 of their war against Ukraine. Their barbaric invasion of Ukraine. 275 00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:23,440 The Russians have suffered over a million casualties. That's where 276 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:28,160 they're focused, and they cannot project power beyond that war. 277 00:17:28,759 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 1: So Marco Rubio is heading up whatever the negotiations are, 278 00:17:32,759 --> 00:17:38,359 the talks with the Cuban leaders, and since he came 279 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:44,240 from a Cuban family and he speaks perfect Spanish, let's 280 00:17:44,279 --> 00:17:46,160 find out what Marco has to say. 281 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,039 Speaker 9: The bottom line is their economy doesn't work. It's a 282 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:52,119 non functional economy. It's an economy that has survived. It's 283 00:17:52,519 --> 00:17:55,200 for forty that revolution, it's not even a revolution. That 284 00:17:55,279 --> 00:17:58,519 thing they have has survived on subsidies from the Soviet 285 00:17:58,599 --> 00:18:00,960 Union and now from Venezuela. Theyn' get subsidies anymore. So 286 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:02,640 they're in a lot of trouble and the people in 287 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:04,880 charge of they don't know how to fix it. So 288 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:06,440 they have to get new people in charge. 289 00:18:06,839 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, they're in a real pickle. They have run out 290 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,680 of everything, and as he said, they've been subsidized. That's 291 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,240 how they've lived ever since Castro took over back in 292 00:18:17,319 --> 00:18:23,680 nineteen fifty nine. The Venezuela, Russia, China, all these places 293 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,839 have been giving them subsidies, giving them money, giving them oil, 294 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,119 and now they're out of subsidies. Here's General Keene. 295 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 10: We can bend this regime to our will in a 296 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,920 way that we've never been able to do since Batista 297 00:18:39,079 --> 00:18:41,960 was deposed by Castro. You know, they've been giving us 298 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,680 the finger for decades and posing their will on the people. 299 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,079 We can change their behavior fundamentally. 300 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 1: And the President is only say things the way he 301 00:18:52,519 --> 00:18:56,880 says things, says that he wants to basically do with 302 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,400 it whatever he feels like. Here's the president. 303 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,079 Speaker 5: I do belie, I'll be the honor of having the 304 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:07,079 honor of taking Cuba, A big good honor. That's a 305 00:19:07,079 --> 00:19:10,519 big honor, taking Cuba, Taking Cube in some form, Yeah, 306 00:19:10,559 --> 00:19:14,400 taking Cuba, I mean whether I free it, take it. 307 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:16,640 Think I could do anything I want with it. 308 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: I think your best plan would be figure out a 309 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,880 way to hand it back to the people so that 310 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,400 they will have an opportunity to select their own leaders. 311 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:30,400 Same thing with Iran, same thing with Venezuela. Let the 312 00:19:30,559 --> 00:19:37,079 people decide. A US reporter who lives in Havana. He's 313 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:42,640 the bureau chief for CNN. His name is Patrick Openman. Yeah, 314 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:44,799 he lives there. So this is what he has to 315 00:19:44,839 --> 00:19:46,400 say about the condition totally. 316 00:19:46,559 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 11: And you begin with the blackout. Of course, the power 317 00:19:49,759 --> 00:19:52,799 goes out all the time here. We've had island wide 318 00:19:52,839 --> 00:19:55,200 blackouts before, but not like this. 319 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:56,799 Speaker 1: Under an oil. 320 00:19:56,599 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 11: Embargo from the United States. According to Cuban officials, it's 321 00:19:59,279 --> 00:20:01,759 been three months any oil has come into this island, 322 00:20:01,799 --> 00:20:04,279 and that is just going to complicate efforts to get 323 00:20:04,279 --> 00:20:09,079 this aging power system back online. Only some pockets of 324 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,680 power have been restored so far across the island. The 325 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:14,680 majority of the island is still in the blackout. And 326 00:20:14,759 --> 00:20:18,799 of course, as the days go on, people's fuel runs 327 00:20:18,799 --> 00:20:20,440 out if they're lucky enough to have a generator, the 328 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,119 batteries if they have those, run out, and their food 329 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:25,880 begins to spoil in their fridge, and so this comes 330 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,000 not an inconvenience, but it becomes quite a dire situation. 331 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,119 In last night, it was completely dark across Havana, and 332 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,480 for anybody who need to go to hospital had an emergency, 333 00:20:36,759 --> 00:20:40,720 it gets something of a dangerous situation. Cuban's worst done 334 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,160 when I told them, because of course, people really aren't 335 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:47,039 connected at the moment about President Trump's comments and about 336 00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:48,720 reports in the New York Times in the Miami Herald 337 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,920 that Trump is demanding the Cuban's president, Miguel dis Canal 338 00:20:53,279 --> 00:20:55,519 step down, that he and others and the government are 339 00:20:55,519 --> 00:20:58,240 seen as an obstacle to change. And that's part of 340 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,640 the negotiations they're carrying on with the representatives and family 341 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:05,559 members of Raul Castro, who, though retired, is still seen 342 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,079 as the ultimate authority in this country. And so Cuba 343 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,000 is very much under pressure at the moment. 344 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:13,359 Speaker 1: And what we heard. 345 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,319 Speaker 11: President Trump say, many US presidents over the years have 346 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:20,480 claimed that the Cuban government was going to end communism here, 347 00:21:20,559 --> 00:21:23,960 was going to end on their watch. Certainly, though in 348 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,000 this case, we have not seen the Cuban government in 349 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,319 such a weakeed position in many, many years. 350 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 1: So what will Raoul will do? And I mean they've 351 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:36,799 been in charge for a long time, and just to 352 00:21:36,839 --> 00:21:40,440 say okay, especially to the United States, here you go. 353 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,720 We'll send your people in and start running the island 354 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,200 of Cuba. It's going to be fascinating to watch to 355 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:54,680 see again. I believe Castro overthrew a dictator by the 356 00:21:54,759 --> 00:21:57,319 name of Baptista. I think it was nineteen fifty nine, 357 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:06,480 so we're talking sixty seven years. Maybe rab Wolf's gotten 358 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:09,000 so old that he doesn't care anymore. Maybe he's giving 359 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:11,319 up and is willing to throw into toel. But it's 360 00:22:11,319 --> 00:22:13,039 going to come to a head very quickly. Like the 361 00:22:13,079 --> 00:22:16,000 guy said that they don't have electricity, their food is 362 00:22:16,039 --> 00:22:19,440 going to spoil. They don't have any power. I mean, 363 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,119 you can live in the dark at night, but you 364 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:29,960 can't live without food. Meantime, you're traveling. Are you going 365 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,839 somewhere for Spring break? Spring starts this Friday, I believe, 366 00:22:35,319 --> 00:22:38,680 So you're going to get on a plane or not. Well, 367 00:22:38,799 --> 00:22:43,200 the airports are bad, and it's because of TSA. There 368 00:22:43,279 --> 00:22:48,240 was a report that at one of the airports, I 369 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:54,440 believe it was Houston, they normally have dozens of TSA 370 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:58,759 officers sitting there At the first point that you check in, 371 00:22:58,839 --> 00:23:01,559 you show them your ID, and you show them your ticket, 372 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,039 and then they move you on to the next place 373 00:23:05,039 --> 00:23:08,200 to check your luggage and all that. Well, normally there's 374 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,319 dozens of them, and instead this morning there was two 375 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,160 two and as a result, the lines were just as 376 00:23:18,279 --> 00:23:22,720 far as the eye could see. Remember Chris Sanunu, the 377 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,839 former governor of New Hampshire, Well he timed out so 378 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:31,279 he got a job running a being the head of 379 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:36,400 some airline association. Here's what Chris Sanunu had to say. Well, 380 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:37,240 they should vote yes. 381 00:23:37,319 --> 00:23:40,920 Speaker 12: So remember there's no there's no funding over ice issue 382 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,559 here in that ice is already funded. It was funded 383 00:23:43,559 --> 00:23:45,440 in the Big Beautiful Bill. So that's not going to 384 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,759 fundamentally change. This is a purely political play and so 385 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,160 the poll numbers speak for themselves. Over ninety percent of 386 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,960 Americans want TSA agents paid. Over ninety percent of Americans 387 00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:59,720 want this nonsense to end. You can't get ninety percent 388 00:23:59,759 --> 00:24:02,960 of it gets their crea almost anything, but this is something, 389 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,680 and so I think the data is there, the demand 390 00:24:06,759 --> 00:24:08,720 is there, even that we're going to see record numbers 391 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,160 of travel over the next forty five days. We're showing 392 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,279 that spring break mode. People are spending money. We're going 393 00:24:14,279 --> 00:24:16,839 into the summer pretty soon. So there's a record number 394 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,279 of bookings coming in this summer. So the pressure on 395 00:24:19,319 --> 00:24:23,119 the system is there, the demand is there, and the political. 396 00:24:22,759 --> 00:24:23,799 Speaker 1: Opportunity is there. 397 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 12: Right because the issue was folks wanted to see a 398 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,160 change it at Homeland Security, they're going to get new leadership. 399 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,000 They wanted the Minnesota issue to calm down and be 400 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,599 better managed. They're getting that. They wanted body cameras, they're 401 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:38,359 getting that. So, whether you want to call it, the 402 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,880 White House or the administration has kind of given in 403 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,720 and made some changes that folks wanted to see. Well, 404 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,759 now pay your own federal workers that have nothing to 405 00:24:45,799 --> 00:24:48,480 do with this, and that's your TSA agents. And again 406 00:24:48,519 --> 00:24:51,400 you see those lines, you see the pressure on the system. 407 00:24:51,519 --> 00:24:54,000 You know, I was a governor. That's what negotiation is. 408 00:24:54,079 --> 00:24:55,480 You go in and saying, Okay, what am I willing 409 00:24:55,519 --> 00:24:57,920 to give in on one side is given in. The 410 00:24:58,319 --> 00:25:00,440 Democrats really aren't coming to the table, So I'm not. 411 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:01,839 I don't want to put blame on one side of 412 00:25:01,839 --> 00:25:04,599 the other. We don't care. We're agnostic as to who 413 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,880 delivers the best result. But the answer is say yes, 414 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,559 this bill sitting right there, say yes, fun fund these 415 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,079 these opportunities. Keep managing you have the new secretary coming in, 416 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,480 keep managing homeland security with some new policies or whatever 417 00:25:17,519 --> 00:25:20,279 you want to see that with the new secretary coming in, 418 00:25:20,319 --> 00:25:23,079 but get the system operating. It's kind of the basic 419 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,799 fundamental of government to fund and pay your own employees. 420 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, I looked it up. The airport that I was 421 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,880 referring to was Atlanta, where they normally have dozens and 422 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,400 dozen Atlanta is the busiest airport in the country. By 423 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,519 the way, they have dozens and dozens of TSA officers 424 00:25:38,599 --> 00:25:41,119 checking you in. There were only two that showed up 425 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:46,680 this morning. According to TSA, they've had a record high 426 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:51,960 level of callouts and they've had three hundred and sixty 427 00:25:52,039 --> 00:25:56,480 six TSA officers who have called in to quit. I 428 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,119 don't blame them. I mean this is they just went 429 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,319 through this a couple of months ago. Adam stall is 430 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:08,440 the acting head of TSA, and this is his comment. 431 00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,160 Speaker 13: We're doing absolutely everything we can. We have a National 432 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,880 Deployment Office force and we've fully depleted that. So at 433 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,720 this point we're fully stretched and so frankly, there's not 434 00:26:18,839 --> 00:26:22,079 much else we can do as the weeks continue. If 435 00:26:22,079 --> 00:26:25,799 this continues, it's not hyperbole to suggest that we may 436 00:26:25,799 --> 00:26:29,079 have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, 437 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,359 if call out rates go up and we can't a 438 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:33,839 lot of these officers can't afford to come in. 439 00:26:34,319 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: You heard right, He said they may have to shut 440 00:26:36,279 --> 00:26:41,079 down smaller airports just the call out rate continues. By 441 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:47,480 the way, there is there's an opportunity to do something different. 442 00:26:48,319 --> 00:26:53,759 San Francisco, Kansas City, and not the main airport in Orlando, 443 00:26:53,799 --> 00:26:57,680 but Sanford Airport, and that handles a lot of private 444 00:26:57,759 --> 00:27:02,119 jets and general aviation. They all have private security. Yes, 445 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:07,079 San Francisco, in Kansas City private security. They had to 446 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,359 go through a lot of hoops because that's we used 447 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,079 to have private security before nine to eleven, and they 448 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:18,279 did a lousy job. So these private security companies apparently 449 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:24,279 are managed by TSA, but the bodies that show up, 450 00:27:24,319 --> 00:27:27,680 the people that work for these security companies do not 451 00:27:27,839 --> 00:27:30,720 work for the government. So guess what if you're living 452 00:27:30,759 --> 00:27:33,920 in San Francisco or traveling to San Francisco, they're fine. 453 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,480 They've got all their security agents are there. They look 454 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,240 like TSA, they wear blue shirts, but they are not 455 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:49,640 government employees. Same with Kansas City. So well, maybe that's 456 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:52,160 the answer. Take it out of the hands of government. 457 00:27:52,559 --> 00:27:56,640 So all this seriousness and you know, tensions and all 458 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,440 these problems facing our country. But again I go back 459 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,319 to where I shore. Today is Saint Patrick's Day and 460 00:28:04,319 --> 00:28:07,400 it's the biggest parade in the country. It's the biggest 461 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,160 parade in New York. Saint Patrick's Day. Parade goes for 462 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:16,759 hours up Fifth Avenue. It starts at Saint Patrick's Cathedral 463 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:23,559 and out in front. Alexis McAdams, who works for Fox, 464 00:28:24,519 --> 00:28:27,319 was running around reporting on what she saw out there, 465 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,200 and she went up to one of the NYPD. Because 466 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:34,519 the NYPD has a big group of members of the 467 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,839 NYPD that are in the parade. It's not oh, they're 468 00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:40,680 doing security and everything else, but they also have a 469 00:28:40,799 --> 00:28:44,279 bunch that belonged to some Irish group and they're marching 470 00:28:44,319 --> 00:28:47,519 in the parade. Heres. Here's what the officer had to 471 00:28:47,519 --> 00:28:47,880 tell her. 472 00:28:48,039 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 2: It's and has Irish heritage himself. Tell me just how 473 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,359 important this is to let everybody know about those roots 474 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:55,480 you have within the NYPD. 475 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: Milwaukee this way. 476 00:28:56,599 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 14: I think it's it's super important, right, so we're not 477 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,000 just New York City. New York City costs to trace 478 00:29:01,039 --> 00:29:05,039 our heritage back the police Department's been around before it 479 00:29:05,079 --> 00:29:07,559 was predominantly Irish, but there we did reach a point 480 00:29:07,759 --> 00:29:11,160 where it was predominantly Irish, mostly immigrants luck of the 481 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:13,279 draw and no one wanted to hire any Irish but 482 00:29:13,319 --> 00:29:15,640 they spoke the English language, so they ended up taking 483 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,359 the job and built the city. The sand Hoggs Construction 484 00:29:19,759 --> 00:29:22,640 Fire Department, the New York City Police Department mostly built 485 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:23,559 with Irish right. 486 00:29:23,599 --> 00:29:25,799 Speaker 2: And you would sell people who are interested in being 487 00:29:25,839 --> 00:29:28,359 within the NYPD to sign up because there's lots different 488 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,599 experiences that you can have and look at all these 489 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,720 great people that are out here that protect our city 490 00:29:32,759 --> 00:29:33,200 every day. 491 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:34,839 Speaker 14: I think it's a great job. I've been doing it 492 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:36,920 for almost thirty years and it's one of the great 493 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:38,440 I think it's one of the best jobs ever. 494 00:29:39,599 --> 00:29:43,279 Speaker 1: So at one point the Irish cop, yes, it was 495 00:29:43,319 --> 00:29:45,440 more than just the same, and truly was. The NYPD 496 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:51,200 used to be majority Irish men. That's what it was. 497 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:56,960 So today is the two hundred and sixty fifth Saint 498 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,839 Patrick's Day Parade in New York City has started back 499 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:06,640 in the seventeen hundreds. They have Guinness, the big Irish 500 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:12,039 beer company, says that on this date they will sell 501 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:19,000 thirty eight million pints of Guinness. That that adds up 502 00:30:19,039 --> 00:30:22,000 to four hundred and twenty one million dollars of just Guinness, 503 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,480 not just beer, but Guinness beer, which if you've ever 504 00:30:26,519 --> 00:30:29,359 been to Dublin, they have a huge, huge factory right 505 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:34,440 there to go have an Irish pint, as they call it. 506 00:30:35,079 --> 00:30:38,799 So happy, Saint Patrick's stay to you. Let's see if 507 00:30:38,839 --> 00:30:43,119 people on Wall Street were happy today. Well, looking at 508 00:30:43,119 --> 00:30:45,960 the numbers that they weren't. They weren't unhappy. It's just 509 00:30:46,799 --> 00:30:49,160 compared to the roller coaster that we've had a big 510 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:53,119 swings way up and way down, it was rather tame. 511 00:30:53,279 --> 00:30:58,240 The Dow was positive, up forty six, green eraws up 512 00:30:58,319 --> 00:31:02,440 forty six to forty six thousand and nine ninety three, 513 00:31:02,839 --> 00:31:07,720 the SMP was up sixteen, the Nasdaq up one hundred 514 00:31:07,839 --> 00:31:11,039 and five, the price of gold was up four dollars 515 00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:15,720 to five thousand and six, and oil continuing to climb 516 00:31:16,359 --> 00:31:18,920 up another two and a half bucks a day now 517 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,000 at ninety six dollars and some change for one barrel 518 00:31:22,039 --> 00:31:25,279 of oil. So that's it for today. Thank you for 519 00:31:25,359 --> 00:31:28,759 coming by. We will be back again tomorrow and I 520 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:30,079 hope to see you then.