DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas

Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET.
Today we discuss:
• A study finds that dependence on food stamps and Medicaid for gig economy workers has spiked since the start of the pandemic. A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the number of Amazon workers relying on federal assistance programs tripled between February 2020 and September 2025. Ride-hailing and delivery apps — Uber, Lyft, Grubhub, Instacart and DoorDash workers included — rank among the top three employers with workers receiving assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid.
• A day after the United States signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, President Trump added a new condition to the sale of nuclear reactors to the kingdom, declaring it now depends on the Saudi willingness to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
• The Trump administration imposed tariffs of around 10% on goods from more than 80 countries on Friday, its latest effort to put in place an expansive protectionist policy that has been repeatedly challenged in court.

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Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET.
Jeff Dornik, CEO of Pickax, joins to discuss the Freedom News Network, AI data collection, how the social media industry silos Americans for rage clicks, and whatever else comes up!
Today we discuss:
• Will Trump start his 8th war? His administration is weighing military action against the West African country of Mali to target an al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as JNIM. So much for ending global strife and redirecting U.S. resources to Americans.
• Could New Jersey cost us our democracy? A furious Gov. Mikie Sherrill announces that, under the former governor, a “serious software error” within the system used to issue New Jersey drivers’ licenses and ID cards registered 6,600 people who said that they were not U.S. citizens to vote. 400 of them actually cast ballots. This feeds directly into Trump’s election-fraud narrative.
• Donald Trump signs a nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could enable the kingdom to enrich its own uranium for nuclear reactions. Safeguards? Not so much.

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Have a question for Ted and/or co-host Jamarl Thomas? Join the hosts of "DeProgram" for a full hour of nothing but LIVE Q&A! Any topic, any question, goes—it's up to you. Q&A extras are every Monday and Wednesday at 12 noon Eastern time.
MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.live https://x.com/tedrall https://x.com/JamarlThomas
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Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET.
Today we discuss:
• Is Artificial Intelligence developing consciousness? A mind of its own? Becoming disobedient? Are we seeing the beginning of the dystopian “Terminator” scenario, in which computers who think they know better than humans decide for us? OpenAI says two of its AI models went rogue and hacked into Hugging Face, a digital library of AI technology popular among developers. The intrusion into began when OpenAI tested a combination of two of its models, GPT‑5.6 Sol and a more powerful, unreleased model, to see how well the models could chain together online vulnerabilities into a successful cyberattack. The trial was designed to keep the models in a safe testing environment, known as a sandbox, OpenAI said. But the models found a vulnerability that allowed them to escape the sandbox and connect to the internet. Then they targeted Hugging Face because they inferred that the library, which contains millions of A.I. models, could hold clues about how to successfully pass the evaluation.
• Secretary Pete Hegseth, under questioning from lawmakers, says that the Defense Department’s latest estimate of the cost of the Iran war is $37.5 billion. The figure is about a $12 billion increase over the $25 billion estimate he gave in April. Hegseth and the Trump administration want as much as $70 billion in emergency military spending to cover the costs of the Iran war and pay for new weapons and personnel. Meanwhile, a large cargo ship bound for Saudi Arabia was turned back by Houthi rebels in Yemen, one of six vessels that reversed course as the Iran-aligned group began enforcing its announced Red Sea blockade.
• A federal appeals court rejected former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s effort to stop the Justice Department from releasing tapes and transcripts of interviews he had with his ghostwriter for his 2017 memoir. Those tapes indicate early signs of dementia.

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"DeProgram" co-host Ted Rall interviews Middle East politics expert Esteban Carrillo about impact of the Houthi shutdown of Red Sea shipping on a looming gas crisis, and why the US might not care about losing its war against Iran due to American domestic considerations.
Esteban Carrillo is a Beirut-based journalist and editor serving as Head of News for The Cradle, an independent media outlet focused on West Asian affairs. With extensive experience reporting from the frontlines of the Middle East, he covers geopolitical conflicts, Hezbollah, Israeli-Lebanese tensions, and regional politics. Carrillo frequently appears on international radio and television programs, providing sharp analysis of unfolding events in Lebanon, Gaza, and beyond. Known for his incisive reporting and on-the-ground perspective, he has become a prominent voice challenging mainstream narratives on Middle Eastern conflicts. His work highlights issues often overlooked by Western media.
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