Is the U.S. Navy About to Break? | EYES ON GEOPOLITICS

This episode breaks down the growing strain on the U. S. Navy, from conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and America’s shipbuilding problems to what that could mean in a potential Taiwan crisis. The group also covers Israel’s campaign in southern Lebanon, Israeli politics, and reports of possible CIA covert activity tied to drug trafficking around Ecuador and the Galapagos. Mars Men ⬇️ https://mengotomars.com/ for 50% Off AND 3 Free Gifts when you checkout. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you. Support the show on Patreon:⬇️ https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse Subscribe to our newsletter!!!! https://teamhousepodcast.kit.com/join Jack's news outlet:⬇️ https://thehighside.substack.com/ Find Jon Hackett here:⬇️ Jon's Twitter: https://x.com/jonathanhackett Jon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejonathanhackett Jon's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0C5L659N5?ccs_id=e11a2062-f8d3-498e-bfd7-7d2f3869caf6 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejonathanhackett Twitter: https://x.com/jonathanhackett Check out Mick's new podcast here:⬇️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/pub-and-porch-applied-stoicism/id1836955475 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1k3QPmkAMwnGJxMLDwUSSd?si=n6piIu8XRcag1Z0K43A3bQ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCd0Hq6QFk8CoTu5j-VU0Ong Find Mick Mulroy here: Fogbow ⬇️ https://fogbow.com/ Lobo Institute ⬇️ https://www.loboinstitute.org/ Twitter ⬇️ https://x.com/mickmulroy?s=21&t=-Ze3F_Ix2vlJ18KFvORTCA LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-patrick-mulroy-31198b52/ Whitefish security summit ⬇️ https://whitefishsecuritysummit.com Find Marc P here: https://x.com/Mpolymer Find Andy Milburn here: Twitter ⬇️ https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fandymilburn8 LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmilburn2023 Substack ⬇️ https://amilburn.substack.com/ Andy’s book ⬇️ https://www.amazon.com/When-Tempest-Gathers-Mogadishu-Operations "Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio" 00:00 - Start 00:46 - Crisis Aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln 02:47 - What Life Is Really Like for Enlisted Sailors 08:30 - Should Sailors Just “Suck It Up” During War? 11:24 - The Navy’s Logistics and Resupply Problem 14:23 - Pentagon Response and Congressional Oversight 19:40 - Is the U. S. Navy Being Pushed to the Breaking Point? 21:07 - What Happens If China Moves on Taiwan Right Now? 21:59 - America’s Shipbuilding Crisis vs. China 22:43 - Trump’s Plan to Bring Back Steam Catapults 24:35 - The Air Force One Decoy Controversy 28:37 - Israel’s Destruction of Villages in Southern Lebanon 33:08 - Could Israel’s Election Change the Wars in Lebanon and Gaza? 39:53 - Israeli Settlers and the West Bank Crisis 41:22 - CIA Operations and the Galapagos Controversy 44:48 - Why Current Covert Operations Should Stay Secret 50:43 - CIA Legal Oversight and Questions About Drone Strikes 54:20 - Why Covert Action Always Seems to Leak 57:14 - Closing Thoughts Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

  911 what's your emergency?

• 0:34Speaker 01

  Please help us they're everywhere we think they're murder hornets.

• 0:38Speaker 02

  911 Nashville returns.

• 0:41Speaker 03

  It's a homicide detective down here.

• 0:43Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground.

• 0:44Speaker 02

  With emergencies of biblical proportions.

• 0:47Speaker 04

  All since swarms upon you and upon your people.

• 0:49Speaker 03

  That's one of the plagues for Bible.

• 0:51Speaker 04

  And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville.

• 0:54Speaker 02

  Brian Philippi joins 911 Nashville all new Thursdays on ABC next day on Hulu.

• 1:01Speaker 05

  Everybody welcome to a new episode of eyes on geopolitics I'm here with Mick Morroy and Mark polymoropolis and Jonathan Hackett I fired Jack Murphy he upstaged me last week and I'm not happy about it at all so he's gone and we'll never see him again on the show.

• 1:15Speaker 06

  You better do so all your little magic he's doing.

• 1:18Speaker 05

  Dude yeah he started sharing the screen and shit nah I can't multitask like that.

• 1:23Speaker 06

  Usually take a nap after a while.

• 1:25Speaker 05

  Yeah yeah I just let you guys go so yeah a lot going on thanks Jack for covering I mean Jack will always be on the show at some at points it was a good show it's fun to actually listen to it rather than like worry about hosting it like it was good to just turn it on and listen pretty good podcast I have to say so lot happening as usual I mean there's so many things happening all the time it's ridiculous to be honest some stuff I want to cover today definitely the USS Abraham Lincoln and the controversy happening there there was reports early this week that up to six guys jumped off I don't know how true that is it wasn't confirmed we know one guy jumped off for sure right and they scooped

• 2:08Speaker 05

  them up so supposedly the conditions are terrible on there obviously probably are because they've been out 250 days I haven't seen port in 200 they're heading back or they're waiting to get relieved by a new aircraft carrier that was already planned and coming in this comes on the back of the Gerald Ford that was out there for like some 300 days and that had a big fire in it and it's probably like out of commission for like 18 months and that's like our new shiny one which is interesting lot of aircraft carrier news I wish Andy was here so I could trigger him a little bit because I know it was hatred for aircraft carriers but there was also a bit of news talking about how Trump wants to redesign the new catapult system to revert it back to the old one it's like that would

• 2:52Speaker 05

  cost probably tens of billions of dollars and probably take 20 years because we have no shipbuilding capacity capacity so a lot happening obviously the Middle East a fucking disaster we all know that little bit of like we're like kind of like a holding pattern when it comes to Iran Shado Hormuz is not open despite what everyone's saying like all like the administrative administration officials are saying Lebanon seems to be getting really bad too I mean there's just videos out there of them like basically controlled them demolishing an entire village and stuff like that so there's so many places to go also you know

• 3:36Speaker 05

  the CIA getting busy and the Galapagos that story out of Washington Post let's start with John Hackett where do you want to take it you pick whatever you like.

• 3:47Speaker 07

  Yeah so there's two interesting things behind me here one is my enlisted rank which you can see on one shoulder and then you can see there's an image up there of me standing on an aircraft carrier when I was working at the US Embassy in Jordan and we were taking the US Ambassador and the Crown Prince to go visit the flag mess on a Nimitz class aircraft carrier just like the Abraham Lincoln and I was there as a diplomat but there was a problem I was enlisted and I think what a lot of people don't understand is on a Navy ship things are very different than the rest of the military for the officer enlisted divide and I think that's what's kind of missing from all these stories about the conditions on the vessel is that it was already terrible for the enlisted it's worse now but it's not as bad for the officers and a lot of times it's the officers who are the

• 4:31Speaker 07

  ones that get to talk I mean the spokesman for the Navy is an officer right the SecDef is a retired or former officer not retired but former Reserve Army officer right there's a lot of officers Hung Kao the Secretary of the Navy officer where are the enlisted members being able to talk about what it's like on a vessel and I mentioned that because that day when I took the Ambassador to the flag mess I was stopped by a lieutenant who was about 20 years old 22 years old and he pointed at a wooden sign on the wall and it said officer country and he said what are you doing here you're a gunnery sergeant you don't belong here this is while I'm standing with the Crown Prince of Jordan and the US Ambassador right there's no question that I should be there but there was a problem it's because I was enlisted and if that is the culture on any Navy ship you can imagine

• 5:16Speaker 07

  how at 250 days of that it gets to grind on people right so there's probably a cultural morale degradation going on here regardless of how many days at sea or what the exterior conditions are but you've got high humidity high heat high stress high pressure there's no mail getting to the vessel they're not getting liberty if you could see what the showers look like they're terrible anyway the beds are terrible anyway right even if it's day one underway these guys went out on this vessel thinking they'd be back in six months it's month nine now so when you think about what can I pack in a small sea bag which is what they're allowed to bring with them a small green sack what can I pack in there they're only thinking about six months of packing they're not thinking about

• 5:58Speaker 07

  nine months they haven't gone into port except in Oman and then in Southeast Asia wants to refuel not to go on Liberty so for nine months these guys have not actually been able to go out on Liberty anywhere you can imagine the kind of things going on for the lower ranking folks down there there's probably some some would describe it as criminal activity most likely going on on the vessel just because of you know things break down over time when you're at sea right I remember a few years ago when I was in Afghanistan there was a story about a prostitution ring that someone was making a very high cash economy revenue off of this just because people are out at sea and like what else are they gonna do they have no nothing to do they don't have wifi they don't have computers they don't have telephones this is the enlisted I'm talking about remember this not the officers so these enlisted people some of them are having their kids are being born while they're

• 6:42Speaker 07

  at sea they haven't even seen an image of them let alone talk to their wives one of the sailors that jumped off that was in the water for an hour his wife is in San Diego and she gave birth on month six while they're at sea they're at month nine now he's not seen his child not spoken to his wife she shared her text messages with a local newspaper in California and that's how I know about this where he was basically over a few months talking to her and you could see the downward spiral in his communication with her over that time there's only five people on that 3000 to 5000 person vessel that are qualified mental health professionals can you imagine how much how difficult it must be to get an appointment with one of those people not only that they are also on the ship for nine months

• 7:23Speaker 07

  too they haven't had a break either right so you're talking about every single person affected kind of in a global sense on that vessel and I just want to put that context there because I think that's kind of missing from the understanding in you know the general public about I saw some people saying well they're at war isn't that what's you know what they're supposed to deal with and blah blah blah yes that's true but in places like Afghanistan I was sharing a base X tent with my team leader who was an officer he and I slept on the same ground together we had the same sleeping bags we ate the same food we suffered the same.

• 7:52Speaker 02

  Well that's the Marine Corps man.

• 7:54Speaker 07

  Absolutely and that's the Marine Corps right.

• 7:56Speaker 02

  That's the entire ethos of the Marine Corps right there.

• 7:58Speaker 07

  Right exactly. Suffer together and leaders eat last this is a really big thing and on a Navy vessel the flag mess they're eating steak they're having juice they have E7 what the equivalent of a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant which is a chief in the Navy pouring orange juice for them because the officers can't pour their own juice right and I witnessed this myself when I took the Ambassador there right very different than the question of aren't they at war can't they suck it up that's not what it's like on the ship that's not how it's designed it's a it's a series of traditions that are unshakable for the Navy at sea.

• 8:33Speaker 05

  Where did those traditions come from really like the English?

• 8:37Speaker 07

  Right these are hundreds and hundreds of years old exactly yes these are ancient traditions and even some of the things we do like crossing over certain lines of latitude and getting hazed while doing so we don't call it hazing anymore but you know going through some ordeals those are all very very ancient traditions that are still part of that that culture on the vessel and so is the criminal justice system on the vessel there are separate laws for what a commander is able to do to another American citizen on that vessel that they cannot do while they're in the United States or even in a foreign country there's a separate set of the uniform code of military justice that allows them to put certain extreme what we would describe as extreme punishments for example restriction to bread and water for a number of days that they're only allowed to eat bread and water and the amount of evidence to prove that they should require

• 9:22Speaker 07

  that sentence is very low compared to what it what any sentencing would be in the United States so it's a different world literally on a vessel and I think that's important to point out.

• 9:30Speaker 06

  Can I can I ask you guys something and and this is really applicable and I you know I did my kind of conflict zone time for you know several years and there was some certainly some hardships but I think both you guys are probably more qualified to respond to the notion of that you see in the media now especially from the right just be honest where people are saying you know you know suck it up this is war this is what happens and it goes back to just my thinking like just because let's say collectively we had it bad does that mean that the next generation has to wouldn't it be smarter to have great conditions for the men and women who have to fight I mean that's the thing I don't

• 10:10Speaker 06

  understand but you see this and it's playing nonstop on Fox News about they're trotting out veterans saying hey this sucked here this sucked there just these guys are a bunch of whining pussies and that seems to me to be missing the point that wouldn't we want to have our men and women the armed forces have as best conditions possible to fight well I mean what do you you know I mean when you see your your you know veteran brethren kind of some of them coming out and saying that kind of stuff hey we had a bad everyone else should like what is your response to that? Well unfortunately I think a lot of this is politics right so if it was you know they'd be outraged if it was a political opposition to them and they're sucking up

• 10:54Speaker 06

  buttercup if it's their guy so I mean I'm not saying that's everybody I'm sure.

• 10:59Speaker 02

  That there's plenty of vets that are saying, hey, I ate M R Es for fucking six months, you know, try that dude. Uh, and I slept in a ditch. Uh, but I, I, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. So I agree with you, Mark. I mean, obviously you should try to, you should try to make it the best scenario, best conditions for all the troops, Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Space Force, I'd say. Um, because that's what you do as leaders, right? It's the mission and the men and women that carry out the mission. That should be the ethos, and I think it is of the military very large. I think Jonathan's right. There is a different, different, different culture of the Navy. And say the Marine Corps and the Army. Um, and I, you know, I was both enlisted in,

• 11:44Speaker 02

  you know, an officer, but I remember I was a Lance Corporal, some captain was late for duty, asked to get in front of me. I was like, yeah, of course, sir, you know, whatever. And some major had seen him, but didn't see the end exchange and literally yanked him out of line. And I don't know what happened to him, but he went outside with him. Right? So that's the ethos of the Marine Corps. Like you don't, leaders eat last is anyway.

• 12:10Speaker 05

  That was the Marine Corps version of rendition.

• 12:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:13Speaker 05

  See ya, bud.

• 12:15Speaker 02

  And I, there's probably a lot of Marines that have a similar story, but that's, that's kind of like, like, you know, you're, you're nothing as a Marine officer if it, it wasn't for your Marines, period.

• 12:25Speaker 06

  What about the idea of the logistics? I mean, so then you do a deep dive and I think I read in the Wall Street Journal, like, so how has this happened? And it happens, seems to me, logistics issues, right?

• 12:34Speaker 02

  What I was gonna say though.

• 12:35Speaker 06

  So let's, let's just go to the nitty gritty, the, you know, they're, they're running out of supplies because, you know, you know, Bahrain is all fucked up and the Navy base, you know, you know, perhaps is, is not operating as effectively. And so there, there are legitimate logistics. It's not like the Navy wants to have this happen.

• 12:51Speaker 02

  Of course, yeah. To go back to the, the issue, and I may hear everything about the Marine Corps. Um, but to go back to the, first of all, this crew has done exceptional. They seem kind of, I tried to bring it up on the ABC, they don't, they don't ask the question, but, um, they're fine with the answer, but it's like, they, they have done 10,000 sorties. They've been, it's not just that they have like the longest sea deployment, it's in combat and they're like the main target. Let's just set the stage. Like, how great would it be from the Iranian perspective if they actually hit, even if they didn't, necessarily take it out of commission, but hit the, an aircraft carrier, right? So the main target, 10,000 sorties.

• 13:34Speaker 02

  They're part of the naval blockade. They certainly were a huge part of, uh, Epic Fury. So hats off to them. For the effort they put in and not just them, right? All the other, uh, sailors and Marines that are aboard these ships that are, doing this great work out there. So let's, let's start with that. Secondary, I think there is a part to this, the fact that they are in combat. Right? They, they're having a hard time getting logistically resupplied because I think, we still do most of our resupply the old fashioned, conventional way. Side by side ship shuttling stuff back and forth, right? So not what the Ukrainians are doing with multi drones, different stages, park,

• 14:15Speaker 02

  hide, uh, not humans, right? That are delivering stuff, to frontline troops. In this case, they happen to be on an aircraft carrier. So there's an element of this and we need to get much smarter on how we, do combat resupplies. We don't put people at risk and it's continuous. Because every time you do, and I have, I've seen it. So I obviously don't know the operation to resupply an underway ship. I've seen it from the, from a ship, but it looks super complicated to me. And if you're, if you're under, you know, constant threat, it'd be even more complicated. So there is an element, I think that's fair, that, the officers on the ship could be doing everything they possibly can to make sure that their troops are getting,

• 14:59Speaker 02

  their sailors, Marines are getting everything. It's still having a hard time. So let's be fair about that. It's easy to sit in, you know, Montana, talking about what's going on in the Gulf of Oman.

• 15:08Speaker 06

  There's something good to say about, about congressional oversight too. And, and this is the bipartisan issue because there was, I saw a whole bunch of Republican members of Congress saying, uh-uh, this ain't, this ain't right. This is unacceptable. So in some ways, this is the congressional oversight finally working.

• 15:23Speaker 02

  Yes. And they, and this need, so the other thing I would say, Mark, to your first question is, it doesn't do the Pentagon any good to come out and declare that everything's fine. It just tells everybody, okay, you don't really care because there's no way you could actually have done an assessment already.

• 15:42Speaker 05

  Right? Isn't that exactly what the Secretary of Defense did?

• 15:45Speaker 02

  That's not helpful at all. It just tells all the troops like, okay, so he doesn't really care. I mean, some of the issues are probably going to be exaggerated. Some might even be fabricated. I'm not saying they are, but maybe. Uh, and some are going to be real and some of it are going to be real because it's a combat situation and some maybe, there is a logistical issue we need to change, but to do a real assessment shows that you care about the actual folks that are carrying out the mission. And if there's, and it doesn't mean that necessarily anybody's done anything wrong. But the one thing that makes the U S military the best bias, but the best is a continuous self-assessment to get better. And A A R, for example, is, yeah, yeah. And A A R is all about the negatives, man. You don't go in there and say, we're great next, right?

• 16:30Speaker 02

  You literally just focus on the negatives, even if the mission was successful. Right? The best units, if you're in their A A R, you're like, wow, you guys are hard on each other. It's like, that's the point.

• 16:41Speaker 06

  For sure.

• 16:42Speaker 02

  So I think we need, I think we need to do a full set and I agree, Mark, at least to the point of the question is, it needs to be bipartisan and that's what the oversight committees do. And we've all seen them out on the front lines. You know, to give them some credit, and I know Mark has, and I imagine Jonathan has too, but I know Mark has, we've seen like, people on the House Armed Services Committee in forward operating bases during times of active conflict. I'm not saying that should be the ideal, but they can go out to ships that are underway currently in mission. They can't. I mean, there's a C N A reporter that was on there, right?

• 17:16Speaker 06

  You guys would be impressed with me, uh, uh, in a very rare occasion is that I actually did a, a trap landing on the, on the, in the G W. On, you know, it was the COD, so it was just their carry onboard delivery. And I think I was briefing the air wing on some surface to air missile threat. And we missed the arresting hook the first time and I nearly crap my pants. And we came around, they landed again. I said, you guys did that for me. They're like, now we fucking missed.

• 17:42Speaker 06

  So it's one of those times, I, I spent overnight, it was, it was, I spent a night there, um, and briefed the air wing and the captain. I remember.

• 17:49Speaker 05

  Officers are enlisted though.

• 17:51Speaker 06

  Well, this was F eighteen, it was a Marine.

• 17:53Speaker 05

  No, no, no. I'm saying, were you treated as an officer and enlisted guy? You got state?

• 17:57Speaker 06

  I mean, look, when you're, if you're a civilian.

• 17:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:01Speaker 05

  I'm just, I'm being a prick.

• 18:02Speaker 06

  No, I mean, it was ridiculous, the, the, the treatment we got, but yeah. And then it was, they were like, hey, man, you're from the CIA. You're pretty cool. I'm like, you're fucking F eighteen pilot. You're cool. We went back and forth and he's got the bigger cool factor. Clearly was not me. Um, but it's a, uh, uh, but you know, but I think you guys input on this is, is huge too, because this now has gotten totally political. And, and, and Mick, I did the same thing on, on M S now, just trying to have a nuanced conversation because the first, it's about, it's outrage. And you're like, okay, this is a little more complicated here.

• 18:33Speaker 05

  Sure. But when you have the, the Sec Def saying things like that, and then like literally like there was like a spin, uh, program going on. There were people going on, on TV, talking about spinning it. And then you have the president saying, not long enough. It's very difficult for it not to be political unless you have a, if you have work in fucking brain cells, you know what I mean? Like, cause if a Democratic guy said that, if Obama said that, they'd be articles of impeachment.

• 19:02Speaker 06

  Yeah. And if this happened under Democratic administration, the, the Hilt G O P would be outraged. And this is just the way it is. You're, I, I hope it, things are, I mean, ultimately.

• 19:09Speaker 05

  Yeah. But the fact is like, most presidents would, and their cabinet members, would not be going out and spinning this as everything's fine in terms of like this specific, uh, part. And a president, Republican or Democrat would not go out and be like, you know what? No, it's not long enough. And like, what's the excuse for that kind of comments, right? What? He's old and dotty? Like, that's not a great excuse because he's the president.

• 19:34Speaker 06

  Jonathan, I was i- i- in, in the counterterrorism center years ago, we used to, we have detailers, as you know, and we had an N C I S special agent detailee in C T C. And he had just come from six months onboard a carrier. And, and he was the resident special agent for 5,000 sailors. He said it was, I mean, it was, this is like, an urban city. There was crime, like there was prostitution, drugs, crime, fights, assaults, rapes. He said it was nuts. Cause I said, I said, were you bored out there? He said, are you kidding me? He said, there's a whole city underneath there and there's a lot of crazy shit that happened. And so, and, and you know, throw on top of that, you know, 20 hour days of, of, of, as Mick said, 10,000 sorties of combat, you know, shit's going to go crazy sideways too.

• 20:16Speaker 07

  There are entire economies that develop on there. Like they'll have like little chits that they use for money because there's no cash sometimes. So they use that to trade. They'll, they'll have gambling rings. I mean, there's a lot of creativity. It's actually very fascinating from an economics perspective to see like, how do these things just organically develop and what actually has value and doesn't have value and what can be traded for as currency? It's fascinating.

• 20:39Speaker 07

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• 22:13Speaker 01

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• 24:00Speaker 02

  911 Nashville returns.

• 24:02Speaker 03

  It's a homicide detective down here.

• 24:04Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground.

• 24:06Speaker 02

  With emergencies of biblical proportions.

• 24:08Speaker 04

  Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people.

• 24:11Speaker 03

  That's one of the plagues of the Bible.

• 24:12Speaker 04

  And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville.

• 24:15Speaker 02

  Brian Phillippe joins 911 Nashville, all new Thursdays on ABC next day on Hulu.

• 24:21Speaker 05

  It's almost like they're prisoners.

• 24:23Speaker 02

  And there's no end in sight. I mean, to kind of expand this into policy thing is like the blockade ain't going anywhere.

• 24:29Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's right.

• 24:30Speaker 02

  I mean, this, this is, we gotta fix it because it's not like, well, that was bad. Let's, let's hope that doesn't happen again.

• 24:37Speaker 06

  Well, here's something for you guys. I saw something, someone, I can't remember her name from AEI, American Enterprise Institute, who studies naval warfare. And they said that the Navy's about to break. They said, yeah, AI's, AI's product, and I can find it and send it to D to put out on our, on the site is that the Navy, this is not sustainable for the Navy to do this. They, you know, when, when Trump says, you know, great, we'll do this forever. Hex says that you can't. The Navy will break. That's kind of interesting and pretty scary concept, particularly we're not supposed to be in the Middle East. Supposed to be doing, you know, Asia, China.

• 25:09Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 25:11Speaker 06

  I mean, a broken Navy, that doesn't help.

• 25:14Speaker 05

  And isn't it our side too? Like the, the Western Hemisphere wasn't that part of the strategy?

• 25:18Speaker 02

  Coming from Indo PKOM, right?

• 25:20Speaker 07

  Yeah, actually, that's, that's the last one to leave Indo PKOM. There are no longer any nuclear powered Nimitz class vessels in the 7th Fleet AOR. So if, if China wanted to, this would be the moment.

• 25:30Speaker 02

  So like, take our national security strategy.

• 25:37Speaker 02

  Zero, zero. That's, I think they're in Vietnam. It's gonna be about nine days. That's what I'm told to get to, get to the Gulf of Oman and replace the people.

• 25:50Speaker 05

  If China wanted to take Taiwan right now, or nine days when, when the George Washington shows up in the Middle East, what would we be able to do? Nothing? Strongly condemn it?

• 26:00Speaker 02

  Not much. They know that they're kind of on their own. I was just talking to somebody who got back from Taiwan. They said their plan is to go from being able to produce 10,000 drones a month to 100,000 drones a month by 2030. Their entire plan is to basically out Ukraine, China.

• 26:18Speaker 05

  Yeah, I was gonna say like, yeah, take something out of Ukraine's book.

• 26:21Speaker 02

  A hundred percent, man. And they got money. So how would you like to be the Chinese Marine that's on the amphibious ship trying to make that journey?

• 26:32Speaker 07

  Yeah, a hundred miles.

• 26:35Speaker 02

  Two million drones coming your way from subsurface, surface and aerial? Jesus.

• 26:42Speaker 05

  And Mark, to talk a little bit about like where the Navy's at in terms of like its preparedness and stuff like that. Our shipbuilding capacity is absolutely dog shit. Especially compared to China's, right? I saw somewhere it said, China's shipbuilding capacity is 232 times ours.

• 26:59Speaker 06

  Right?

• 27:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. That is a big issue.

• 27:03Speaker 06

  On that, just saying that how, you know, how like basically it's like, okay, the Democrats are complaining about the state of the Navy, except that Democrats are blocking funding for increased. And consistently for increased shipbuilding. That's probably, that's probably fair for the general to say, but, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's, can you guys comment though? I mean, I'm not, I'm like, I don't even want to pretend to do this and I pretend to do a lot of shit on TV and even here, but this idea of like, what is up with this catapult system that, that Trump has now seized on? We're going to go back and re, is this gonna, is this completely nonsense? I mean, you know, it's going to cost us billions and this is, is ridiculous or it'll, or will this never happen after, after 28? I mean, what, what is he talking about here?

• 27:45Speaker 07

  Well, the important thing is that he could say that, but it's a congressional involvement that would be required to actually do it because this is a different appropriation from what the original appropriation was for those vessels over your lifetime. Logistically, it would have to happen at the, the midlife period, like the refitting period that these vessels have, which is every few years. So that also would push it down the line. So there are a lot of kind of spoilers that could jump in here to prevent this from ever coming to fruition in the first place.

• 28:12Speaker 06

  Or is it not?

• 28:13Speaker 07

  Well, this is a person who said that their body was like a battery and that the battery runs out if you exercise. So they, he might have a different grasp of how things work.

• 28:22Speaker 02

  I'm no expert either. I've talked to plenty of naval aviators who just shrug and say it's never going to happen. So to your last point.

• 28:31Speaker 02

  I mean, it's, it's, if you, if we had a podcast that responded to every statement, you know, like, like that's all we do. We never talk about substance. I'm not saying this isn't substance because you know, if President says that it has, but you know, they just go, yeah, it ain't gonna happen. It's, there's a 0% chance. It's, it's not even.

• 28:49Speaker 02

  That's their opinion. It's not gonna happen.

• 28:51Speaker 06

  Is this a thing that he's obsessed with like wind turbines, like the little windmills you see everywhere? He hates those. I mean, someone's got something in his head that we have to go back to World War II era steam catapults in this. And I think the, doesn't the Ford have this new system, which is actually working well?

• 29:07Speaker 02

  I understand it from talking to them, they're, they're like, the system's working fine.

• 29:10Speaker 06

  Yeah, it's weird. Okay.

• 29:12Speaker 02

  There's always going to be something that breaks on every system, right?

• 29:15Speaker 05

  You guys want to talk about that, uh, the plane switcheroo thing at all or no? Cause it's kind of old news, but we didn't do a show until after that.

• 29:23Speaker 02

  What perplexes me.

• 29:27Speaker 02

  And maybe this is, is Monday morning quarterbacking, but why not have just switched the president to the DOD plane? Let the DOD plane take off. Just keep the Air Force One. Well, I mean, how long would it take to be out of the threat area? 10 minutes?

• 29:42Speaker 06

  Right.

• 29:43Speaker 02

  Right? It's in Turkey. And then just say, announce, hey, we have gotten the president out of Turkey by alternate means of Air Force One because of a threat. Cause they know the threat's going to come out and they know it's going to be. And then they could tell the people on Air Force One, hey, you can take off on Air Force One or you can get off. It's up to you. But the threat isn't toward the, the plane anymore because the president is not on it. It's, maybe I'm being over simplistic, but they've created a scenario where they actually did use a plane as a decoy. They they didn't seem like he was on the plane.

• 30:15Speaker 06

  There there's a there's a couple of things on this. First is that I don't blame the Secret Service at all, you know, and because you know that there there's threats that come in, they have to make a decision. They have a different criteria. You know, there's all this thing that was a low confidence CIA assessment. Well, that just means it's uncorroborated. It means nothing else. Probably one source kind of thing. Second or third sourcing. And with when this threat comes in, the Secret Service and and also the Secret Service. They will take input from from the from the agency, from agency analysts, but they have their own analytic shop. That has to make decisions on threat based on their unique role. And then it goes to the kind of the protective division there. So. I mean, you know, I I don't blame them for for for what they did. I mean, it's, you know, it's a zero fail mission.

• 30:57Speaker 06

  The other part that that this is going to drive D crazy, everyone is kind of shitting all over the Israelis on this. Well, if the Israelis collected information, let's just say, and they say they legitimately collected a threat report. They didn't. They didn't make it up. I don't think they would make it up either because they would get caught doing it, but it maybe it's sketchy. Um, they have to pass it. Any liaison service that is a threat to the United States with with zero exception has to pass it to the US because if they don't and something happens, that's the end of the bilateral relationship. And so I, you know.

• 31:26Speaker 02

  And not just against the president.

• 31:28Speaker 06

  Just drug, period. It's just it's it's part. It's baked into the intelligence community, baked into relationships. And then, and you know, and then you do go, you know, forward with the process of assessing the validity of the threat. But. You know, they they had to have passed this. Um, yeah. And so, you know, I I think it also, um, there then, you know, the the the key part of this, of course, that we kind of forget is that stupid cuttery plane is totally incapable of transporting the president or anybody else safely. Um, and so that that kind of massive, but I I think this story is going to go away a little bit. It just certainly there's distrust, even more distrust between.

• 32:04Speaker 06

  The White House and and the press corps and just to kind of bookend this all, you know, this has happened in the past and then Clinton and a trip to Pakistan and the Clinton administration, they did switch planes. The press was told the press pool is small. He's only there's less than fifteen or twenty members of the press and they they they are, they can be trusted. Um, uh, and and they have been in the past, but I think this is just a reflection of the the complete lack of. Transparency and the kind of failure right now, this administration and and how they do it.

• 32:30Speaker 02

  But in that case, there wasn't a threat to the plane, right? It was just him trying to get into.

• 32:35Speaker 06

  It wasn't. Yeah, it was just it was just for for for general purposes of safety flying into Pakistan during the, you know. Um, but but, you know, it's a, uh, what a, I think this could have been handled in a much better fashion, but I don't I don't blame the Secret Service and I don't blame the Israelis.

• 32:50Speaker 02

  I don't blame.

• 32:51Speaker 06

  These Israelis are always going to try to, you know, influence the US.

• 32:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't either. I just think.

• 32:55Speaker 05

  They do a very good job of it.

• 32:56Speaker 02

  They could have done a slight modification and avoided.

• 32:59Speaker 06

  All this, right?

• 33:00Speaker 05

  Putting. I mean, yeah, he would have. He would have let Marco Rubio take the fucking hit. He didn't give a shit. He was still on Air Force One.

• 33:05Speaker 06

  There's so much good stuff like Saturday Night Live could do here or or or South Park. I mean, it's just so good. But, hey, you know, a lot of a lot of TV hits based on this.

• 33:16Speaker 05

  Yeah. Um, let's switch gears a little bit to actually not really much. We're talking about Israel and what's going on in Lebanon specifically. Uh, a lot of a lot of images coming out of southern Lebanon now. They're like wholesale, uh, demolishing entire villages that are empty. Um, and there seems to be no really end in sight in terms of like the Israeli occupation there. Uh, what are you guys tracking on that, John? You go first.

• 33:42Speaker 07

  Well, it's important to remember that Israel occupied South Lebanon for eighteen years previously. This is not the first time they've been there. And we've talked about this on the show before as well. There are symbolic. Locations there in South Lebanon where there were a lot of battles during that eighteen year period that soldiers now are returning to those positions. Up to the Litani River and the Litani River has been that kind of last line of cover concealment for the Israelis back during the eighteen year period previously. And it seems to be again. The kind of terrain feature that they're choosing as the northern limit, although they are penetrating out through that occasionally. But to your point, D, about the villages being destroyed, these villages are empty because the people were told they had to depart the villages. The IDF told them you have to leave or you will be killed. This is the the message. So these people listened. I mean, men, women and children.

• 34:27Speaker 07

  Some of them probably with Hezbollah, some of them would not with Hezbollah, some of them Christian, some of them completely unaffiliated with any political party left. Right? They're displaced. There's over a million people displaced now. Those places are empty, like literally empty of humans. So that means the IDF is going in there and destroying empty homes. The reason why would you destroy an empty home is that people can't return to them. What they're trying to do is make a military zone in the south that is a de facto border or buffer zone. That was supposed to be created with UNSCR seventeen oh one, which was the disengagement, uh, United Nations Security Council resolution. That had a component of Hezbollah would disarm, the Lebanese Armed Forces would come in, the blue line, which is the line that is the actual border of Israel Lebanon now on the ground.

• 35:11Speaker 07

  Would would go away eventually because the Lebanese military would have sovereignty down to that border area, which never occurred. Hezbollah controlled that area. If you've ever been to South Lebanon in the last several years, you would see before Nasrallah was assassinated, there was pictures of Nasrallah and Ayatollah Khomeini. Thousands of pictures all up and down the highway, the seacoast highway up down to Nabatia and these other areas, and it was absolutely one hundred percent controlled by Hezbollah governance. In addition to their militia wing, but it was not really Lebanon governing South Lebanon. And you had other groups like Amal, which is Nabi Barry leads Amal. He's the speaker of parliament in Lebanon, but he was a a warfighter back during the eighties. And he also has a controlled area that Amal controls. Amal was the parent organization of Hezbollah before Hezbollah became a group.

• 35:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:57Speaker 07

  This is all going on in South Lebanon and what Israel's trying to do is. Destroy or delete that truth, that reality down there and create a new status quo. The problem is that the Lebanese government is not being allowed to participate in that change. So that means there will be new conflict in the future because the actual country that owns that land is not being brought into the consulting process. And you see a lot of. Diplomatic activity back between President Aoun in Lebanon and the United States right now, trying to get the Lebanese Armed Forces somehow down there. There are these pilot areas and some other things being floated right now. They may work, they may not. It's it's hard to say because Lebanon has never actually had sovereignty.

• 36:37Speaker 07

  It de facto in the south. It's always been a different armed group, whether that's the IDF Hezbollah, Amal, the Syrian Armed Forces, which people forget Syria was also down there during the eighties, controlling a lot of this stuff. So what they're trying to do now is something new. And when I say they, I don't mean just the IDF. I also mean the Lebanese government and the United States. So this is kind of a new moment and it depends on who sustains longest. And if Israel is the one that has the most sustained presence there, that's who's going to have the buffer zone. If the Lebanese Armed Forces can somehow convince the United States to help. It will be the Lebanese Armed Forces and it and it should be the Lebanese Armed Forces. It is Lebanon. It should be the country's military. And there's also the internal.

• 37:16Speaker 07

  Security forces, the intervention regiments or the IRs, the sixth intervention regiment is the one that's down in the south. I actually trained them when I was there. Their mission is to actually secure the border area and make it so that Hezbollah doesn't have a place to operate. But these intervention regiments have been kicked out by the IDF. So even those groups are not down there. So all you have is the IDF down there. So I'll leave it at that. So you guys can talk about it, but that's kind of the context leading up to what we're dealing with right now.

• 37:42Speaker 05

  Which is the annexation of Southern Lebanon. Okay, let's just make sure we get the headline up there.

• 37:48Speaker 02

  Yeah. So this is, I mean, from the Middle Eastern, uh. Outlets that I do during the week, Lebanon's been the biggest. Uh, discussion. So you know, we're not talking about as much, but they are. And I don't know that I can add much of what Jonathan just said. It was excellent. A description of what's going on. I I guess what I what I could add to that is. So we're looking at an election in Israel. Uh, I think it's October twenty seventh. Uh, this obviously has a huge impact on what's going on now and what could go on in the future. So from talking to my Israeli friends, uh, even if I wasn't asking them, they're telling me, uh, it's. It it's looking like, uh, Gadi Eisenkot. And to be fair, the people I'm talking to are Gadi Eisenkot fans.

• 38:33Speaker 02

  And actual friends. Uh, and if you're not familiar with Israel, everybody knows everybody, especially if you're in the military. Um, he's very well respected. He has a, he is. You know, um, obviously he was a chief, uh, of the IDF. Um, and he has a very practical. View of things, although he certainly is hawkish as you would expect. But, um, anyway, for their their take on what's going on right now is that. His coalition.

• 39:08Speaker 02

  Yashar, I think, will get his coalition, so not just his party, which also includes Bennett and others, would get 56, whereas Netanyahu's coalition to get 51 seats in parliament. He needs 61 to basically be controlling. And there's about 11 that the Arab political parties will get. So it's not determined yet what the outcome will be, but I think Eisenkott's coalition's favored. If you look at like the prediction markets, if those are valid, he's higher than Netanyahu. A lot of, there's a lot of issues there. I don't know if we want to get into Israeli politics about, you know, ultra orthodox being

• 39:53Speaker 02

  required to serve, etc. But for what I'm being told by people, and I won't use their name, obviously, but people who know him. So what, so for relevance for us, well, what's going to be the difference? Well, he, they think is going to be much more inclined to do a phased withdrawal disarmament plan, both in Gaza and in southern Lebanon. Because right now, basically Netanyahu's like, I'm not just withdrawing anybody until they're completely disarmed. Which is just a recipe for never happening, never happening, right? Like, obviously, we don't like Hezbollah, we don't like Hamas, but we're in their shoes. We're not going to completely disarm and then hope the IDF withdraws. It's just illogical.

• 40:34Speaker 02

  So that's why in the, in the Trump peace plan for Gaza, for example, it does have a fate, like you partially disarm, you partially withdraw. It's about trust, right? So according to them, he's much more inclined, as long as it can be validated, to do that. He's also much more inclined to have very specific stated objectives for the war in Iran with a clear exit strategy. So maybe they're talking to me, so they're talking to their audience, but this is what, and I've had multiple conversations with people not in the same conversation.

• 41:13Speaker 02

  They think Eisenkott's stance would be definitely a hawk, but in my opinion, a good way, but a very pragmatic one, who would work hand in glove with the US to try to end these conflicts in a way that's obviously acceptable to Israel's national security, but not a maximalist. And the far, far right, the smolt ritz and Ben Gavir's would probably not be in that coalition. So that factor would be somewhat mitigated. That, just to add on to what Jonathan said, this other fact.

• 41:55Speaker 05

  Marco?

• 41:56Speaker 06

  Yeah, no, I mean, that, that, these are great summaries, I'm not going to, I don't want to rehash any stuff. And Eisenkott, you know, I think you can consider him as, you know, is a centrist security hawk. Certainly is going to be wildly more acceptable to the United States, most of you must think, as well as Arab states as well, too, you know, and, and, you know, the, my only kind of, and look, I mean, when I say concern, you know, Netanyahu has pulled rabbits out of his hat for his whole career, you just never know.

• 42:29Speaker 02

  Sure does.

• 42:30Speaker 06

  Survivor, so, so who the heck knows? But I think the polls, Mick's right, the polls are looking like his coalition, that his Yashar party is, you know, is going to do well. I think, just to, just to kind of, a quick sum of his strategy, which is the right one, again, is a centrist security hawk, is, you know, fight hard, but don't fight without a political end state, don't fight without strategic goals. Netanyahu has none of those. And so, you know, in some ways, that certainly would be, would be welcome. You're not getting a, someone from peace now, you're not getting a, you know, a peace nick here, because that person couldn't survive, you know, in an Israeli political election. But I think this opens a lot more possibilities. The only thing I would add is, on Lebanon in particular, there's got to be a political solution.

• 43:15Speaker 06

  It just can't be military only. And the final, final piece on this is, when you think about the missed opportunities with the Abraham Accords and any kind of expansion of it, it was simply because Netanyahu couldn't get himself to say, yes, in the year 2001 billion, we'll have a Palestinian state. And he couldn't even do that because of the members of his coalition, the extreme right. And so Eisenkott will not have that. And so you can make an argument, there is more possibilities down the line of the Saudis joining something, if, if a new Israeli government would at least say things that would be politically more palatable. It's just going to make things a lot easier for everyone. So it'll be interesting to see, and, yeah, October's a, it's a, it's a relatively big deal, but don't count Netanyahu out. And this guy is.

• 43:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're right.

• 44:01Speaker 06

  He's been, he's been, people have said he's dead politically so many times, it's just unbelievable. And here's the other thing, too. There's a big question on how much is Trump going to campaign for him? Donald Trump is wildly.

• 44:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, he hasn't weighed in yet. He hasn't weighed in at all yet.

• 44:15Speaker 06

  And so, you know, and, and Trump, I think, also knows this, and is just kind of, and likes fucking with Bibi a little bit, too. But you haven't seen kind of the, and, you know, Netanyahu has taken, you know, more than half a dozen trips here, you know, don't be surprised if he tries another, does this again, to come to the US to get this Trump endorsement, which Trump has not done. And one, on that, now you're getting me going on geeking out on Israeli politics, which is interesting, is the mess in the West Bank with these crazy settlers.

• 44:40Speaker 02

  That's also a big issue right now.

• 44:42Speaker 05

  That are being protected by the IDF, not just the settlers, they're being protected by the IDF.

• 44:47Speaker 06

  Ambassador Huckabee, who is as right wing an American in terms of.

• 44:51Speaker 05

  Out of his fucking mind, yeah, we could say.

• 44:53Speaker 06

  But Huckabee has called them, you know, terrorists. These are the settlers who are, you know, going after the Palestinians there.

• 45:00Speaker 05

  And being protected by the IDF.

• 45:01Speaker 06

  Yeah, and so even the US government doesn't like this now, so, interesting times.

• 45:05Speaker 02

  Well, settlers actually going against a lot of what the IDF is asking them to do, too. This is, this is really complicated, like, this is the plan, not supposed to be here, and they're going, F you.

• 45:16Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 45:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:18Speaker 05

  And then they protect them anyway.

• 45:20Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, in places where they, I guess, they are authorizing settlers to be, then yes. But there's also places where they are not, that settlers are going, and they're telling the IDF to get, get them out of there, and they're trying.

• 45:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, they're stealing houses, and the IDF is protecting them.

• 45:36Speaker 06

  And there's also units within the IDF who are more ideologically, you know, close to the settlers, so it gets really complicated. And I think that, and I'm going to get that wrong, it's the Central Command, it's, the IDF general in charge of this was removed recently, so it's, the whole thing is very, it's very politically messy inside Israel, but, poor Lebanon, as usual.

• 45:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:57Speaker 05

  And poor Palestinians, as usual. All right, last bit, let's talk about Mark and Mick's old firms, escapades in, in and around Ecuador, in the Galapagos, there was a report, article by Washington Post saying that supposedly CIA or CIA contractors smoked a bunch of fishermen. John, give us more context, you're very smart.

• 46:25Speaker 07

  Well, one thing to point out about Ecuador, that's.

• 46:28Speaker 06

  That insinuation gets hard, Nick.

• 46:31Speaker 02

  We need somebody to say something, Mark, Mark.

• 46:33Speaker 06

  Yeah. Let's turn to Jonathan.

• 46:35Speaker 07

  Jonathan. Well, let me distract away from the covert action discussion and talk about the facts on the ground in Ecuador, which is that Iranians can get into Ecuador without a visa. There are very few countries on earth where that's true. And if you think about cocaine.

• 46:49Speaker 02

  That was smart.

• 46:50Speaker 07

  Yeah, if you could think about cocaine shipments out of South America.

• 46:53Speaker 05

  Yeah, but I'm, I'm about to bite back at John, even though I love John, yeah, like, okay, who gives a shit? Were they Iranian fishermen?

• 46:59Speaker 07

  Well, this, this connects in because.

• 47:00Speaker 05

  Please, let me see that.

• 47:02Speaker 07

  This is a place where these guys can go without a visa, so there's obviously a reason for that. The cocaine going out of Latin America mostly goes to Dakar, Senegal, going into Europe and into Asia, which is a port controlled by Hezbollah. This is just something to kind of think about globally, about why is Ecuador important? Why, you know, obviously, the drug trade into the United States is a, is a big issue, but there is an international drug trade, and there are parts of Latin America that are not focused on the United States, they're focused on Asia, they're focused on Europe and Africa. And some of that, a large amount of it, goes out of Ecuador, over through the land or out of the water, over eastward toward Africa, so that it can be further sold or processed or moved to make more money, especially in the European Union, where these drugs are very expensive.

• 47:45Speaker 07

  So I just want to put that there, because there's a lot more to it than just the US, Latin America, drug stuff we've been seeing with the current Trump administration. This is a very deep economic, multi-billion dollar economy that goes out of Ecuador and Brazil and Colombia, not just to the United States, but to the world. And there are also a lot of precursors coming out of India and China for methamphetamine that come into Ecuador and other countries in the western part of Latin America. And during my time when I was working on this issue about more than a decade ago, there were three factories in the world that produced the precursor for methamphetamine. Two of them were in China and one was in India. The one in India agreed with the United States to not transship it without certain requirements, so that it wouldn't get put into the precursor process for meth, but the two Chinese factories

• 48:28Speaker 07

  didn't agree to that, and they sent those precursors out to places like Ecuador and Mexico. And that's part of the reason we saw the increase in methamphetamine into the United States in the last 15 years, because of this route that we're describing here, that you guys are about to talk about in great detail, about why the US might be interested in covert action in that area.

• 48:47Speaker 05

  Thank you for bringing it back. Yeah. Cause I was gonna ask, I was like thinking of a questions to like, kind of like knock off like, yeah, Europe and and Asia love drugs, right? Just as much as America does, but we're definitely the lion's share in terms of market share from Central and South America. In terms of where the drugs are coming from. And there's a reason why the CIA is operating and the US government is operating in the Pacific, in the, in the Gulf. And in Mexico, as we've clearly seen reports, you know, that ground branch guys have been on the ground there. Uh, so yeah.

• 49:19Speaker 05

  Yeah. Tell, so guys, tell us about it. Mick, tell us about every, you know, how do they plan these things?

• 49:24Speaker 02

  You know, you already know from what our previous discussion, what I think about talking about covert programs, even if they're

• 49:30Speaker 06

  He did not listen to you, did he?

• 49:32Speaker 02

  He did not. So I will repeat it for everybody else. I don't think we should be talking about covert operations that are current. Uh, I mean, I understand why the media does. I mean, that's the way the media does, but you know, uh, and I'm not even blaming them. I'm just saying that I'm here, and maybe I'm drawing a, an odd connection, but I just did a, you know, our regular Stoic podcast, we did it on the Odyssey. Well, what kicks off the Odyssey? What makes the Odyssey, the Odyssey? It's Odysseus's

• 50:02Speaker 02

  incapability of doing something without freaking taking credit for it. Right? Polythemus, you guys know the story? He gets out of the cave.

• 50:13Speaker 02

  He wounds the, the, the monster, the Cyclops. The Cyclops thinks his name is nobody to substitute nobody for covert action.

• 50:23Speaker 02

  And then he's sailing away and he has to turn around and say, you know what? F it. My name's Odysseus, the sacchar of cities. And that is why it took them 10 years to get back to Ithaca. Right? So I know it may be an odd connection, but what I'm saying is somebody who knows about this program, I'm sure it's not the actual people executing it, that knows about this program, if it exists in all these programs is talking during the program.

• 50:52Speaker 02

  Shouldn't do it. So I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll stop there, but, um, I just think that needs to be reinforced with, uh, cause I, I, I'm speaking primarily to policy people because policy people, in my opinion, are the ones that leak the most because they're not on the ground, doing covert programs. They don't see the consequences. It's all about, and this is both sides. This isn't a partisan thing. It's about taking credit. Sometimes, um, when, when the whole point of covert action is not to take credit. It's to disassociate the US government from the action itself.

• 51:35Speaker 02

  Over to brother.

• 51:36Speaker 06

  Love it. Okay. So I'm going to throw, just like Mick, whoa, all sorts of cool shit into here. Um, uh, I went to see in Philly, I went to see Camden, New Jersey, Avenged Sevenfold the other night. One of my, this is my, you know, my crazy love of heavy metal music. And the bartender at this little VIP thing, D, I get very fancy bougie. I got the VIP. And so hold on, hold on. This is all going to be tied in. Got a Marcus Aurelius tattoo.

• 52:02Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 52:03Speaker 06

  Did your tattoo dude? And he's former military, loves Stoicism. So we're chatting about stuff and Mick, all the stuff that you're doing and, and, and, and stuff like that. So that was, that was pretty wild. So that's, I had to throw that in there because we're doing Odyssey stuff. Plus I actually, I watched Troy last night. I went back to watch that Brad Pitt movie.

• 52:18Speaker 05

  Classics.

• 52:19Speaker 06

  Classic. Certainly not as intellectual as the Odyssey, but still kind of

• 52:23Speaker 02

  More of the Iliad. It's more of the story before the Odyssey.

• 52:26Speaker 06

  Kind of good stuff. Um, on, on this thing. So just, D, so that just have some fun with this. And I did this on a, on a TV hit, you know, it's basically if you said CIA Galapagos covert action. Uh, in a sentence, you know, that's not on anyone's bingo card. Um, uh, and in fact, about a week ago, my wife and I were talking and she's like, Hey, let's go to the Galapagos. We had, you know, we get all this shit from National Geographic. There's a trip there. I said, I'll check it out. And she's like, you think it's safe with all this stuff that's going on? I said, sure. And then this happens. She's like, see, we're not going to Galapagos. We're going to drone by. The old outfit's gonna fuck us up. Um, no, but, but so, but I think the, the way to do this safely in discussing this is it's not as crazy. US government interest in waters around the Galapagos is not crazy.

• 53:10Speaker 06

  Because as Jonathan mentioned, of all the, the, the drug champ, uh, uh, the, the, the drugs that move off the orders of Ecuador, but also, and I went back and I did some research on this because I was curious. Knowing that we'd have to talk about it is, you know, there, and there, I think it was, it was a British publication, might've been the Times of London, but basically fishermen in Ecuador are paid a shitload of money to take gas canisters out to meet the drug boats. And so the, okay. So, you know, is the US killing innocent fishermen if they are or whatever it is, but, but, okay. But the fishermen actually have a big part of this story.

• 53:41Speaker 05

  So we should smoke them? That's what we're saying here?

• 53:44Speaker 06

  Article is unclear. Some fishermen seem to have been missing. Others were captured and then released. So I'm not saying we should do it, but I'm just saying the substance of this is not as outlandish as, you know, CIA covert action programs in the Galapagos. And I will say, this goes back just to the overall theme. How in the world did all of us get stuck in the sandbox for 20 years when all the other people who conceivably could be having fun or doing it in the fricking Caribbean or all in these nice war areas of ships? I mean, shit, whether it's Venezuela or Cuba or Mexico, or I mean,

• 54:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, let's do drone, let's have drone programs for everything.

• 54:16Speaker 06

  No, I was saying, let's do TDYs in nicer locations.

• 54:20Speaker 05

  Yeah, I know. But I'm talking about what actually is happening. And it's like people getting bombed on fishermen, on fishing.

• 54:25Speaker 06

  You're trying to be serious and I'm

• 54:26Speaker 05

  I am. Yeah. I am trying to be serious a little bit. Yeah. I know you guys are trying to like, you know, misdirect and stuff. And I guess they teach you that at the farm and shit, but like, this is my

• 54:36Speaker 02

  Polythemus.

• 54:37Speaker 05

  Yeah, this is my show and I'm going to bring it back. So

• 54:39Speaker 06

  So I would say that probably there's, there's a lot of, you know, questions from Congress, from the oversight committees going on about this.

• 54:45Speaker 05

  I mean, question from Congress. Are we serious? Congress isn't questioning a fucking thing, Mark.

• 54:49Speaker 02

  Oh, I think the intelligence committees are going to be questioning a lot of this.

• 54:53Speaker 06

  A hundred percent.

• 54:54Speaker 05

  Have they been since we started drone striking, you know, even, even if there are narcos, even if they are narco boats? Like, have they been?

• 55:02Speaker 07

  Well, it wouldn't be public if they were because they would be classified briefings.

• 55:06Speaker 05

  Yeah. You don't think they're going to leak at least that it's happening or that the oversight committee is giving something, give them a little bit of guff?

• 55:11Speaker 07

  The thing is the gang of eight is usually pretty close lipped. They're very disciplined. So at the higher level, they wouldn't be leaking that stuff. They're, they're pretty serious about it.

• 55:19Speaker 05

  Also, I want to ask a question to CIA guys here and another intelligence, uh, uh, officer.

• 55:24Speaker 06

  But you claim you're smarter than the CIA guys. Do we know this? We're keeping record.

• 55:28Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's okay. It's, it's, we're being recorded. So, um, you know, uh, probably six months ago or so, I remember we spoke about it where like the CIA general counsel right before they designated or right after they designated cartels, uh, terrorist organizations resigned. Right? And the deputy director took over the job as general counsel.

• 55:48Speaker 06

  That's correct.

• 55:48Speaker 05

  You're telling me a CIA general counsel, you know, the general counsel of the CIA, who, you know, usually you want to get a blessing from your own internal lawyers about whether it's a covert operation or anything you're trying to do, fucks off, resigns. And then they don't pick a new guy, the guy that probably came up with the idea for doing this stuff, takes over the position. That's you're, you're flirting with things that are fucking possibly maybe illegal.

• 56:14Speaker 06

  There is a new general counsel though, who has been

• 56:16Speaker 05

  Okay. Well, congratulations on him and the job or her. But, you know, what's going on?

• 56:22Speaker 06

  When the house, all of this is going to be, there's going to be investigations on this. And there's legitimate questions. There's oversight that should be done on, on these kinds of things. It's not just the agency. It's also the US military strikes.

• 56:32Speaker 05

  I completely agree with you. I'm not saying it's just the agency.

• 56:34Speaker 06

  There'll be more kind of robust, robust oversight. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, that's just

• 56:38Speaker 02

  And just remember when that happens that the CIA responds to orders as given by the president.

• 56:44Speaker 06

  That's correct.

• 56:45Speaker 02

  So it, it, for some reason we always end up with like, it's our idea. Right? It's like, uh, no. Um, so, I mean, it, it doesn't happen to the military, right? You don't blame the military for going to Vietnam. Right? But somehow when they, when the CIA gets tasked with something by the president, although it's briefed to, you know, both committees, it, it somehow ends up like it was our idea and that we were like exclusively responsible for it.

• 57:14Speaker 05

  But at some point, the question's got to be asked, is it illegal or not? Right? Like,

• 57:18Speaker 06

  Well, that's going to

• 57:18Speaker 02

  It should be asked while it's happening.

• 57:20Speaker 06

  It has been asked. I mean, there's been, there's been a lot of congressional scrutiny, but the Democrats don't control the Senate or the House. And so I think if they do, they will have subpoena power. You'll see a lot more. Um, uh, you know, oversight over, over foreign policy. That's just the way it is. It's nothing wrong with that. It's just, you know.

• 57:35Speaker 07

  But not to mention the White House general counsel, one of the things they do is they write memos that justify these policy activities. Looking back to 2008, the torture memos and all this stuff that, you know, came out, that's what those documents were for, was to cover the guys below the policy level. So that they could go out and do those things, even if it was a veneer that was later taken down. It was so that those lower ranking guys would not be prosecuted as individuals committing crimes alone. Instead it was that, hey, there was actually a policy cover for this.

• 58:03Speaker 06

  Got to get your PLI, everyone. Professional liability.

• 58:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, we got it after that. Most of that stuff was just Seer school, by the way. Design. It was legal to do to us.

• 58:17Speaker 05

  Um, anything else, guys?

• 58:20Speaker 02

  I think we covered a lot.

• 58:21Speaker 05

  Yeah. Did we? Are we missing something? I feel like, no, maybe not. I feel like I had something in my brain that I wanted to talk to CIA guys about, but we'll leave it for next week.

• 58:31Speaker 07

  They distracted you successfully.

• 58:32Speaker 05

  Well, such bullshit. I mean, I mean, I know Mick loves Stoicism and I respect that. I know I love it. And then Mark with the other one. It's like, guys, it's so obvious what you're doing.

• 58:43Speaker 02

  I mean, I know it was

• 58:44Speaker 05

  The analogy did sort of make sense. Like I'm not disagreeing with you that, that analogy.

• 58:49Speaker 02

  Don't take credit for your act.

• 58:51Speaker 05

  Right. It's supposed to be covert out. I agree. I agree with you.

• 58:55Speaker 07

  Silent professionals.

• 58:56Speaker 06

  Yeah. But there's a point on this that actually it's a whole separate debate, but covert action usually does get leaked in, in every administration, basically every one of our programs. And so, and that's when, when people tell me there's the, there's the CIA out there that you don't know about. They're doing all sorts of shit. And like, actually that's really not true. Everything is coming out.

• 59:14Speaker 02

  Should be.

• 59:15Speaker 06

  It should be true, but this, you know,

• 59:17Speaker 02

  Maybe covert action should be eventually because, you know, people need to know, but not while it's happening.

• 59:22Speaker 06

  Well, remember what covert action is, Mick. Covert action is the thing. I mean, it's, it's, it's not clandestine. It's, it's covert in the sense of an event occurs and we don't take credit for it.

• 59:31Speaker 02

  Right. It can, it can be covert and clandestine. Those are better.

• 59:35Speaker 06

  Something happens. Yeah. So it's harder to keep that secret. You just don't brag about it, but this

• 59:40Speaker 02

  You just don't say who did it.

• 59:41Speaker 06

  Can't do that.

• 59:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:43Speaker 05

  Like smoking fishermen in Ecuador.

• 59:46Speaker 06

  I just, I just, I don't even think they care. They're probably

• 59:49Speaker 05

  The movie, the Odyssey.

• 59:50Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 59:53Speaker 06

  How many times have I seen, I've seen The Odyssey twice. How many times have you seen it, Nick?

• 59:56Speaker 02

  I've seen it once.

• 59:58Speaker 06

  Just once?

• 59:58Speaker 02

  And my, and my stoic buddy, he went and saw it on the theater that Nolan watched it. It's like the original IMAX theater with lasers and stuff up in Canada.

• 1:00:06Speaker 07

  Oh wow.

• 1:00:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:08Speaker 06

  Jonathan, have you seen it?

• 1:00:10Speaker 07

  No, because I don't want to spoil my feelings about Troy, which I love.

• 1:00:13Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 1:00:14Speaker 02

  Ah.

• 1:00:15Speaker 07

  But I'll watch it eventually.

• 1:00:16Speaker 02

  I'm a classicist and my favorite is classicist, so he's, you know, there's even, even the historical stuff to argue, I think is, is cool. Like the boating, right? Or, but and people get all uptight about it. I'm like, no, that's cool, man. If you're a historian, then you want it to be historical. It doesn't mean that.

• 1:00:32Speaker 06

  The controversy of this is so stud- in fact, the Greek prime minister actually called Chris Nolan, thanked him. Because now there's this huge interest in the classics. There's, obviously tourism's gonna go up more and this, but the

• 1:00:43Speaker 05

  Also, it's a fake, it's a myth. Everybody's freaking the fuck out.

• 1:00:47Speaker 02

  It's based on truth. It's just based on truth. The Trojan War.

• 1:00:50Speaker 06

  It's just, fuck, it's also a movie. Just go enjoy the movie. By the way, if you go and see Troy, Troy is historically incorrect as well.

• 1:00:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:58Speaker 07

  So is Gladiator, but Gladiator's awesome.

• 1:01:01Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:01:01Speaker 02

  It is, but at least it gets you back interested in the classics and yeah, totally. I thought it was very well.

• 1:01:09Speaker 05

  Yeah. So if people watch The Odyssey, that's great, but also look up that, uh, that web, that, uh, article about, in Washington Post about the, uh, Ecuadorian fishermen.

• 1:01:17Speaker 06

  Galapagos. Dee, why don't you join the CIA? You can be chief of station Galapagos.

• 1:01:23Speaker 05

  I would never pass the polygraph.

• 1:01:26Speaker 07

  They have the oldest tortoise that's alive there. It's a hundred fifty year old tortoise in the Galapagos.

• 1:01:31Speaker 05

  What'd you say? Hormuz is part of the

• 1:01:33Speaker 06

  Since we've declared Hormuz is part of, of US territory.

• 1:01:36Speaker 05

  I'm excited to visit there in the summer.

• 1:01:40Speaker 05

  What'd you say, John? We talk, spoke over here.

• 1:01:42Speaker 07

  There's a hundred fifty year old, uh, tortoise in the Galapagos. It's the oldest tortoise on the planet.

• 1:01:47Speaker 06

  I was planning on going and seeing it. Now my wife won't let me go.

• 1:01:51Speaker 05

  She said, help out. CIA covert action program down there. Okay.

• 1:01:55Speaker 06

  Look up everywhere. Kind of looking around.

• 1:01:59Speaker 05

  All right, boys. A pleasure. Uh, I want everyone to check out Mick's podcast, Applied Stoicism. Uh, The Pub and the Porch, Applied Stoicism. That link is in the description. Mark P. He's got a book. He's got a Twitter account. Follow him there if you want to rage at him over there on Twitter. John Hacke has got two incredible books, A Ran Shadow Weapons and The Theory of a Regular War. All those links are in the description. Uh, we got the Whitefish Security Summit coming up in February of 2027. Check it out. That link is in the description as well. Guys, a pleasure as always. We'll see you next week.

• 1:02:31Speaker 06

  That was a fun one.

• 1:02:33Speaker 02

  Absolutely.

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• 1:04:44Speaker 05

  Hello, everyone. If you're hearing this, uh, you are not a member of the Patreon. You can get your hands on ad-free episodes that come out early and you can ask us questions. Maybe we'll answer them. You can also watch the Team House podcast completely ad-free and early, and you can also watch it live as we interview our guests. And it's the best way to support the channel. So if you can, if you're open to it, you can go to patreon.com/the team house. That link is in the description. Uh, we appreciate the supporters and we hope you would consider being one. So it's patreon.com/the team house.

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  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalf, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says, and helping make sense of it all. Get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it and they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself and it, it isn't some, it's not a judgment thing.

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  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalf, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says, and helping make sense of it all. Get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it and they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself and it, it isn't some, it's not a judgment thing.

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  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalf, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says, and helping make sense of it all. Get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so

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  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalfe, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all. Get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't something, it's not a judgment thing.

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  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

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  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalfe, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all. Get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't something, it's not a judgment thing.

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  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

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  What's a homicide detective doing here?

• 1:15:58Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground. With emergencies of biblical proportions. Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people. That's one of the plagues of the Bible. And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville. Brian Philippi joins 911 Nashville. All new Thursdays on ABC, next day on Hulu.

• 1:16:21Speaker 06

  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalfe, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all. Get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't something, it's not a judgment thing.

• 1:17:04Speaker 06

  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

• 1:17:28Speaker 00

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:17:59Speaker 01

  911, what's your emergency?

• 1:18:03Speaker 04

  Please help us, they're everywhere. We think they're murder hornets. 911 Nashville returns.

• 1:18:09Speaker 03

  What's a homicide detective doing here?

• 1:18:11Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground. With emergencies of biblical proportions. Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people. That's one of the plagues of the Bible. And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville. Brian Philippi joins 911 Nashville. All new Thursdays on ABC, next day on Hulu.

• 1:18:35Speaker 06

  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalfe, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all. Get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest. So many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't, it's not a judgment thing.

• 1:19:18Speaker 06

  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

• 1:19:42Speaker 01

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:20:14Speaker 01

  911, what's your emergency?

• 1:20:17Speaker 01

  Please help us. They're everywhere. We think they're murder hornets.

• 1:20:21Speaker 04

  911 Nashville returns.

• 1:20:24Speaker 03

  It's a homicide detective down here.

• 1:20:25Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground. With emergencies of biblical proportions. Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people. That's one of the plagues of the Bible. And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville. Brian Phillippe joins 911 Nashville. All new Thursdays on ABC, next day on Hulu.

• 1:20:49Speaker 06

  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalf, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all, get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't, it's not a judgment thing.

• 1:21:33Speaker 06

  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

• 1:21:57Speaker 01

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval. 911, what's your emergency? Please help us. They're everywhere. We think they're murder hornets.

• 1:22:36Speaker 04

  911 Nashville returns.

• 1:22:38Speaker 03

  It's a homicide detective down here.

• 1:22:40Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground. With emergencies of biblical proportions. Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people. That's one of the plagues of the Bible. And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville. Brian Phillippe joins 911 Nashville. All new Thursdays on ABC, next day on Hulu.

• 1:23:04Speaker 06

  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalf, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all, get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't, it's not a judgment thing.

• 1:23:47Speaker 06

  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

• 1:24:11Speaker 01

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A-plus by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval. 911, what's your emergency?

• 1:24:45Speaker 01

  Please help us. They're everywhere. We think they're murder hornets.

• 1:24:49Speaker 04

  911 Nashville returns.

• 1:24:52Speaker 03

  It's a homicide detective down here.

• 1:24:53Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground. With emergencies of biblical proportions. Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people. That's one of the plagues of the Bible. And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville. Brian Phillippe joins 911 Nashville. All new Thursdays on ABC, next day on Hulu.

• 1:25:18Speaker 06

  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalf, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all, get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't, it's not a judgment thing.

• 1:26:02Speaker 06

  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

• 1:26:26Speaker 00

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:26:57Speaker 01

  911, what's your emergency?

• 1:27:00Speaker 01

  Please help us. They're everywhere. We think they're murder hornets.

• 1:27:04Speaker 04

  911 Nashville returns.

• 1:27:07Speaker 03

  It's a homicide detective down here.

• 1:27:09Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground. With emergencies of biblical proportions. Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people. That's one of the plagues of the Bible. And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville. Brian Phillippe joins 911 Nashville. All new Thursdays on ABC, next day on Hulu.

• 1:27:33Speaker 06

  Hey y'all, it's Lauren LaRosa and y'all know I always have the latest. So on my new audio series, Love Lately, I'm getting into the conversations we're really having about love, relationships, and our sexual health. Every week, it's me and Dr. Contessa Metcalf, my big sister with a medical degree, breaking down what the culture says versus what the doctor says and helping make sense of it all, get into it. Another thing me and my friends don't really talk about is like how you're having conversations with people about getting tested. I'll be honest, so many women don't feel comfortable talking about it. And they don't feel comfortable advocating for themselves. But let's go ahead and just put you in a position to where you can kind of empower yourself. And it isn't, it's not a judgment thing.

• 1:28:17Speaker 06

  It brings that peace of mind that y'all can just do what y'all do and have a good time. Yeah. I say get tested together and that's beautiful. Brings you closer together. Listen to Love Lately with Lauren LaRosa from iHeart's Ruby Studio on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Gilead Sciences.

• 1:28:41Speaker 00

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:29:12Speaker 01

  911, what's your emergency?

• 1:29:15Speaker 01

  Please help us. They're everywhere. We think they're murder hornets.

• 1:29:19Speaker 04

  911 Nashville returns.

• 1:29:22Speaker 03

  It's a homicide detective down here.

• 1:29:24Speaker 04

  Three bodies on the ground. With emergencies of biblical proportions. Oh, since swarms upon you and upon your people. That's one of the plagues of the Bible. And somebody's unleashing them on Nashville. Brian Phillippe joins 911 Nashville. All new Thursdays on ABC, next day on Hulu.

• 1:29:43Speaker 01

  I felt a jackhammering pain in my jaw. Like someone sawing my bones. Barbed wire in my shoulder. Like a cattle prod in my hip. Like I put my foot in a blender. Pain is different for everyone. But where pain starts, Gernavix Suzetragine begins. Gernavix is a non-opioid 50-milligram prescription tablet for adults with moderate to severe acute pain that reduces pain signals before they reach the brain. Before those signals tell the brain to feel Like I punched an angry beehive. And pain reduction can finally begin. Do not take Gernavix with CYP3A inhibitors. Avoid use with grapefruit or liver problems, as these may increase side effects.

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  Tell your doctor about all your medicines if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Gernavix may make certain medicines and birth control less effective. Side effects include itching, muscle spasms, rash, and elevated muscle enzymes. To learn more about Gernavix, ask your doctor, call 1-833-589-PAIN, or visit gernavix.com. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Every friend group has that one person who puts their card down for brunch and sends the Venmo requests. If that's you and your Venmo balance is popping. You need a Venmo debit MasterCard so that you can spend your balance instantly. No transferring anything, no waiting around.

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• 1:31:26Speaker 01

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.