What's REALLY going on in Syria? | Redacted with Natali Morris

Summary

Podcast Summary: "What's REALLY Going on in Syria?" | Redacted with Natali Morris

Episode Information:

• Title: What's REALLY Going on in Syria?
• Host/Author: Redacted.inc
• Guests: Kvork Almassian, Ben Swan
• Release Date: March 10, 2025
• Description: Redacted aims to provide unfiltered news, challenging mainstream narratives with independent journalism. In this episode, hosts Natali and Clayton Morris delve into the complexities of the Syrian conflict, the intersection of free speech and anti-Semitism in the U.S., sanctions on journalists linked to Russian media, and the looming threat of war with Iran.

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I. Introduction

The episode begins with a brief, light-hearted exchange before Clayton Morris introduces the topics for discussion. He emphasizes the importance of uncovering the truth behind major global conflicts and domestic issues, setting the stage for a deep dive into Syria's ongoing turmoil and other pressing matters.

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II. The Syrian Conflict

A. Overview of the Situation (00:15 - 06:10)

Clayton Morris outlines the dire state of Syria, highlighting the numerous casualties and the involvement of various terrorist factions. He introduces Kvork Almassian, an award-winning journalist and an Armenian Orthodox Christian born in Syria, who has been warning about the escalating violence for over three years.

B. Insights from Kvork Almassian (06:10 - 16:03)

Kvork Almassian provides a detailed account of the atrocities committed in Syria, particularly focusing on the actions of Jelani—a self-appointed president—who has deployed Al Qaeda-affiliated gangs to suppress Alawite civilians in Latakia. He cites an estimate of 7,000 innocent civilians killed, including Christians and Alawites, emphasizing that these executions are often public and documented for psychological warfare.

Notable Quotes:

• Kvork Almassian: “The number of the casualties in Syria is with thousands. Today, a European MEP estimates the death toll by 7,000 innocent civilians between Christians and Alawites in the coastal cities of Syria.” (06:10)
• Kvork Almassian: “The videos we receive from Syria overwhelmingly show civilians being executed in daylight. The goal is not only to kill but to take pleasure in killing ordinary people.” (07:57)

C. U.S. and EU Narratives (08:55 - 18:50)

Almassian critiques the U.S. and EU for their surprising condemnation of the Syrian regime despite their historical involvement in arming factions that have led to increased violence. He references Hillary Clinton’s WikiLeaks admission where she indicated that a sectarian civil war in Syria could benefit regional powers like Israel.

Notable Quotes:

• Kvork Almassian: “Hillary Clinton admitted that a sectarian civil war in Syria could benefit Israel in the region.” (08:55)
• Kvork Almassian: “If Assad returns tomorrow, Assad loyalists will kill him because they see him as a traitor.” (09:10)

III. Free Speech and Anti-Semitism

A. Current Policies and Concerns (22:06 - 36:53)

Clayton shifts the discussion to the rising concern over free speech being curtailed under the guise of combating anti-Semitism. He references the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian man accused of being a pro-Hamas student at Columbia University, questioning the legitimacy of such actions without concrete evidence.

Notable Quotes:

• Clayton Morris: “We are looking for proof. No more will the American populace accept warmongering without proof.” (22:06)
• David: “If the Epstein files are released and Israel's involved in any way, that's going to see an increase in anti-Semitism.” (30:21)

B. Historical Context: The Skokie Case (11:09 - 14:00)

Clayton revisits the infamous Skokie case, where a Jewish lawyer, David Goldberger, defended the right of Nazis to march in Skokie, Illinois. He draws parallels between past and present struggles over free speech, emphasizing that protecting offensive speech is crucial to safeguarding broader First Amendment rights.

Notable Quotes:

• Clayton Morris: “The Skokie demonstration did not happen in that town, but in 1978, it did happen in Chicago. Nazis and anti-Nazis showed up to protest each other because that should happen in a free society.” (11:39)
• Clayton Morris: “If we don’t fix this and correct this, it can be applied to any news organization that the government simply deems they don't like.” (36:43)

C. Modern Implications and Debates (30:53 - 36:53)

The hosts and guests discuss the blurred lines between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism, arguing that labeling critical speech as anti-Semitic sets a dangerous precedent. They highlight concerns about potential government overreach and the suppression of dissenting voices.

Notable Quotes:

• Clayton Morris: “Anti-Semitism in its truest form is hating people that come from the origins of Semitic languages... We can say and think whatever we want as long as we're not inciting true threats and violence.” (23:27)
• Unnamed Guest: “If Israel is going to be a problem if Israel shows up on the list, why are they on the list? Don't be on that list.” (35:36)

IV. Sanctions on U.S. Journalists Associated with Russian Media

A. Explanation of Sanctions (50:33 - 54:22)

Clayton introduces Ben Swan, a journalist sanctioned by the Biden administration for his work with RT (Russia Today). Ben explains that these sanctions target American journalists and entities associated with RT and Sputnik, severely limiting their ability to collaborate or broadcast.

Notable Quotes:

• Ben Swan: “The sanctions remain in place, essentially saying that if you are an American citizen and you attempt to work with RT for anything, it is a crime against the US Government.” (51:26)
• Ben Swan: “If you slap the label national security on just about any issue, it is then deemed, well, this is necessary.” (57:00)

B. Implications for Free Speech (54:22 - 58:41)

Ben discusses the unprecedented nature of these sanctions and their implications for journalistic freedom. He argues that such actions set a dangerous precedent, allowing the government to sanction any media outlet it deems unfavorable, thereby stifling dissent and independent reporting.

Notable Quotes:

• Ben Swan: “This is something where it's clearly a violation of law. It's clearly a violation of constitutional rights.” (55:52)
• Ben Swan: “Under the government binary speak of criticism, criticizing Israel equals support Hamas... We have to fight against making it so.” (58:41)

V. The Potential War with Iran

A. Current Administration's Stance (36:53 - 44:05)

Clayton addresses the ambiguous signals from the U.S. administration regarding the possibility of war with Iran. He references conflicting statements from President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hoeketh, illustrating the internal divisions within Washington about military intervention.

Notable Quotes:

• Clayton Morris: “We are either being warmed up for a war with Iran, or we are being accused of standing down with a war with Iran.” (41:29)
• Pete Hoeketh (ciiting Introduction): “Iran remains a threat to regional security.” (44:05)

B. Host and Guest Discussions (44:05 - 58:41)

The conversation explores the lack of evidence supporting Iran's possession of nuclear weapons and criticizes the U.S. and its allies' aggressive stance. They compare the current situation to the prelude of the Iraq War, urging listeners to demand concrete proof before supporting military actions.

Notable Quotes:

• Clayton Morris: “How do we know that Iran has a nuclear weapon? We've been over this before.” (44:05)
• David: “Who are we to tell who can have a bomb like a nuclear weapon? It's none of our business.” (44:05)
• Clayton Morris: “In 10% of the Syrian territory, all this money went into one place where Jalani used to control millions of them... it’s a complete sham.” (16:03)

C. Comparisons to Past Conflicts (44:05 - 57:00)

Using historical references, Clayton underscores the dangers of entering wars based on dubious intelligence and the manipulation of public opinion. He cites Tucker Carlson’s critique of the media’s role in pushing pro-war narratives without substantial evidence.

Notable Quotes:

• Clayton Morris: “Just like we saw with the false flag weapons of mass destruction, we can't trust them. We need to see proof from original source material.” (39:07)
• Tucker Carlson (as mentioned): “Why is Iran our biggest threat? Try to find how many Americans have been killed by Iran on American soil.” (44:05)

VI. Conclusion and Call to Action

Clayton wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of seeking truth and demanding evidence before accepting governmental and media narratives. He encourages listeners to engage critically with the information presented and to support independent journalism.

Final Remarks:

• Clayton Morris: “We are not going to buy any bullshit here. We are not buying any bull. Honky, bull. Honking. Not for sale on Redacted. We want proof.” (39:03)
• Clayton Morris: “Let us know what you think of this. If you see proof that this person had been guilty of crimes and should then, in fact, face the music.” (32:13)

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Notable Highlights:

• Syrian Atrocities: Detailed accounts of violence by Al Qaeda-affiliated groups against minorities, questioning the U.S. and EU's surprise and condemnation.

• Free Speech vs. Anti-Semitism: Exploration of how current policies may be infringing on free speech, using historical precedents to argue against restricting criticism of Israel.

• Sanctions on Journalists: Insights from Ben Swan on the unprecedented sanctions against journalists affiliated with Russian media, highlighting threats to journalistic freedom.

• Potential War with Iran: Critical analysis of the U.S. administration's ambiguous stance on Iran, advocating for evidence-based decisions to avoid unwarranted military conflicts.

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Notable Quotes:

1. Natali Morris (00:03): “You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.”

2. Kvork Almassian (06:10): “The number of the casualties in Syria is with thousands. Today a European MEP estimates the death toll by 7,000 innocent civilians between Christians and Alawites in the coastal cities of Syria.”

3. Clayton Morris (22:06): “We are looking for proof. No more will the American populace accept warmongering without proof.”

4. Ben Swan (51:26): “The sanctions remain in place, essentially saying that if you are an American citizen and you attempt to work with RT for anything, it is a crime against the US Government.”

5. Clayton Morris (44:05): “How do we know that Iran has a nuclear weapon? We've been over this before.”

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Conclusion: This episode of Redacted News delivers a comprehensive examination of the Syrian conflict, the precarious balance between free speech and anti-Semitism, the troubling sanctions on journalists linked to Russian media, and the contentious discourse surrounding a potential war with Iran. Through in-depth discussions and expert guest insights, Redacted inc. underscores the necessity of seeking truthful, evidence-based narratives in an era dominated by misinformation and geopolitical complexities.

Transcript

[Natalie]

You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Clayton]

Hey, everybody, welcome to Redacted. Thank you for joining us. It's a busy news week. Busy news Monday. If you read the newsletter, you know, let's see, war in Syria, war in Iran, war everywhere. War in the United States over free speech. We got a lot to talk about and we're going to do that. So hold on to your butts. You only have Natalie today. It's just me, but I have David with me also online. And Philip Clayton is traveling today. So it's 3/4 of your redacted team. Well, I guess it's 4/5 because Grim is here. But he never speaks. But he's with us always. His thoughts are with us. So thank you so much for joining us. It's busy. Let us know where you're joining us from. Let us know what you're here to discuss, what you'd like to see. I really want your opinions on these things. We're going to talk about Syria's war. The United States and the European Union are like, oh, my God, there are terrorists in charge of Syria. How did that happen? What, what's going on here? Also, the sky is blue. So we're going to talk to Kvork Almassian about this because he's been warning about this how the United States, yes, they used your tax dollars to fight al Qaeda in Afghanistan and fund them in Syria. Who would have thought that that might backfire? Also, we're going to talk about the free speech trap that is anti Semitism because the Trump administration is deporting people for anti Semitism. Is that real? Is that a real thing to. I mean, of course anti Semitism is real. I am not demurring on that subject at all. But is this something that could lead to a free speech trap for all of us? Also, there are mixed signals about whether or not we want a war with Iran. What the hell is going on there? There are some that are messaging that we want diplomacy with Iran. There are some who are saying, let's just go bomb the crap out of them. What is going on? Well, you know what our role is when we have this. Well, we can fast rewind the clocks rather for about two decades when we had WMDs. What do we need to do, guys? What did we learn from WMDs? We need proof. That's what we're going to ask for. So we're going to look at the different mixed messages and then say, where's the proof? Raise your hand if you want a war with Iran. Also, the Biden administration sanctions on Russian media are still in place, harming Americans. We're going to talk to someone who has asked the Trump administration, please lift these. And the Biden administration, they said flat out, we're doing this to win the election. We're doing this so that there is no opposition media that has a voice and that we are more likely to. Well, they didn't. So shouldn't those sanctions be lifted? We're going to speak to Ben Swan who actually has sanctions on his company and he's trying to wave the flag like, hey, Trump administration, over here. I'm still being punished by the Biden administration. Can you. You let me out of, let me out of this, please. So I'm looking forward to speaking to Ben Swan for the first time on Redacted, first time guest. Looking forward to talking to him. So it's busy, it's busy. We got a lot to do and no time to waste. So before we talk about Syria, because again, it's bloody in Syria right now, thousands of people have died. We need to speak for every civilian, right, no matter what their skin color, religion, creed, civilians being killed in an utterly predictable way. Something that's not surprising if you have studied the, the US Long war on, on Syria. So we're going to talk to Kavor Galmasian about that for in just a minute. But first I want to tell you that Redacted is brought to you by Moink, which is an awesome movement to get you fresh meat to your house. Now, if you're a meat eater, carnivore like us, then you know you're always looking for the cleanest type of meat. And of course, four companies control 80% of the U.S. meat industry. 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So if you head on over to moinkbox.com redacted that's M O I N K moinkbox.com redacted then not only are you supporting American farmers and joining the Moink movement, but they'll also give you the best wings you've ever tasted for free for a limited time. So free wings. So again, check them out. Learn for yourself. That's moinkbox.com redacted the United States and the European Union are acting so surprised that the Syrian regime has allowed killing of innocent civilians in Syria. Even though the people who run Syria now after the overthrow of Bashar Al Assad are known Al Qaeda terrorists. The State Department has long since known that we are not surprised and neither is Kavor Kalmasian, our next guest. He is an Armenian Orthodox Christian who was born in Syria. Award winning journalist who has been warned about this on redacted for more than three years. He joins us to discuss this of course this violence that was easily foreseeable. Cover thank you for joining us and can you explain the scope of what's happening and whether or not it's ancient? Maybe it's nation to the news, but not us.

[Natalie]

The number of the casualties in Syria with is with thousands. And today European MEP member of European Parliament who was in Syria, he's from Greece. He estimates the death tol by 7,000 innocent civilians between Christians and Alawites in the coastal cities of Syria. Basically what happened is Jelani who is now self elected or self selected president of Syria. He sent his gangs, Al Qaeda gangs to Latakia in order to suppress the Alawite civilians there under the claim that those are regime remnants. The videos that we receive and the footage we receive from Syria are overwhelmingly of civilians, kids, children, even newborn babies and women and men. They have been executed in daylight, in the streets and all documented on video because the goal is not only to kill but is also pleasure. They are having pleasure by killing all these ordinary people. And we have warned about this for a long time because we have cases in the past that we can build on and see on which side received all these weapons. Basically they are Al Qaeda affiliates. The leader of this group is the founder of the Al Qaeda offshoot in Syria. He was the partner of Abu Bakr Baghdadi, he used to send car bombs in Iraq in Shia neighborhoods in order to kill civilians. Therefore, we have a track record that we can build on. However, Jake Sullivan in 2012, he said Al Qaeda is on our side in Syria. In his email to Hillary Clinton later, we have Hillary Clinton herself admitting that civil war, sectarian civil war in Syria is not necessarily a bad thing because then this could benefit Israel in the region because this will lead to that.

[Clayton]

We Learned this from WikiLeaks. I'd like to bring that up while you're talking. Please continue.

[Natalie]

Yeah, and in this case, Hillary Clinton knew that this type of warfare that they have waged against Syria, by giving all these weapons to the radical elements in the Syrian society and importing all these introduce multinational Takfiri jihadi groups into Syria. This will lead eventually into mass murder of the religious and ethnic minorities because the Takfiris do not see the Christians and the Alawites and the other ethnic and religious minorities as human beings. In their minds, once you open your eyes and you were born a Christian, they can kill you. This is in their ideology, therefore giving them weapons and then acting surprised and shocked that something like this happened. Imagine the audacity of the European Union, that they not only act shocked, but they blame the victims. They said this killing in Syria happened due to the Assad regime remnants. And like all these civilians were killing.

[Clayton]

That's what they're calling them. They're saying that they're actively protesting on behalf of Bashar Al Assad. That doesn't look like the case to me. It looks like they're actively trying to live their lives. Can you explain that nuance, please, Natalie?

[Natalie]

When Saddam Hussein was overthrown, this was a terminology used by the United States in order to follow the resistance in Iraq and kill them by saying those are Saddamis or those are the Saddam regime remnants. And now they copy this experience in Syria and this is being repeated also by Arabic press that those are the supporters of Assad. But the truth of the matter is, if Assad returns tomorrow to Syria, I assure you the source, so called Assad loyalists and Assad regime remnants, they're the ones who are going to kill him because he abandoned them and he fled to Moscow. So in their eyes of this resistance who is fighting against Jelani's gangs, Assad is a traitor. This is how they see it. But in the press, because they want to normalize the killing and bring legitimacy to the Jelani regime, they are trying to tell us that Assad in Moscow is waging an insurgency against the elements of this Jolani gangs. No, Jelani kicked out the Alawites and the Christians from their jobs. People are poor and their people cannot even secure bread. So the people reach to the edge because they have lost their jobs. There is no any government support for them. And they are being persecuted now by these gangs. Of course, those who used to be in the Syrian army in the past, they will try to defend their families. But if you watch the footage, have you seen one militant from the former civilian army soldiers in this footage? They're killing civilians. They're going from one door to another, taking people out first torturing them, humiliating them and then killing them under the sunlight. This is, this is very horrendous. And I just want to say one thing. If Tulsi Gabbard by any chance is watching, she knew about it and she told the truth about, about Syria. That's why they demonized her. That's why they called her. She's the Assad darling. She knew who Artist Cody.

[Clayton]

Which was. Yes, which was what? Bari Weiss called her. An Assad toady. A monstrous Assad toady. Yet Barry Weiss has said nothing. Or any of these, you know, so called pro. I don't know what we're going to call them. We're not going to give them a label. Have said nothing about the, the killing of these innocent civilians. I want to ask you a little bit about how it must feel to see the State Department condemning this right now under Marco Rubio again. When people inside the Trump cabinet have.

[Natalie]

Predicted this, I'm not surprised that Marco Rubio condemned it because we have to read between the lines of this statement. He mentioned four minorities and said the United States stands by them. He mentioned the Druze, he mentioned the Alawites, he mentioned the Christians and he mentioned the Kurds. And those are the four ethnicities and religions that they want to create mini states for them in Syria. Therefore the creation of a sectarian civil war. War in Syria, where Jalani has an exclusive right for all these weapons and he has the most weapons. He will wage these atrocities against the minorities. They knew he will do it. That's why they wanted him to come to power. So when he persecutes the Christians, the Alawites, the Kurds and the Druze, then Israel and the United States can present themselves as the savior of these minorities. Now Israel says that they will protect the Jews. The US Says they will protect the Kurds and the Christians and the Alawites in the coast, they will be under the protection of the Russians and Probably also Greece. So what they're trying to do is they are preparing the way for the Balkanization of Syria, the separation of Syria as a nation state into mini states. And inside Syria there is no military or political power which can resist this project. Therefore, it is highly likely that, that the U.S. israel and other powers, including Russia, by the way, may be cooperating in order to divide Syria into different mini states. In order. Some people have probably goodwill to save the minorities. But for me as a Syrian, I'm an ethnic Armenian, but I was born and raised in Syria. I believe in the Syrian nationhood, I believe in the Syrian identity. And now it's all destroyed. So we don't have a nationhood any longer.

[Clayton]

Well, the president of Syria saying he will launch an investigation into this matter. What do we make of. Okay, you're laughing. So that's the answer. What do you make of this?

[Natalie]

It's like, it's like Israel says that they have formed an independent investigation to see about the tragic events that happened in Gaza. Have you, have we received the results of these investigations after one and a half year after atrocities? None.

[Clayton]

Because people will forget about Netanyahu says that Colleen, for an investigation makes you a deep state actor, of course, and.

[Natalie]

Anti Semite as well. So we have to be careful with our words when we speak about Benjamin Netanyahu. In this case, they know that when they form a committee and it will take time for them to investigate, people will forget about it. New events will happen. It will erase the past atrocities. Those are all smokescreen. Imagine the head of Al Qaeda appointed members in this committee, one of which he has a public statement on Facebook. He is not criticizing the minorities. He's condemning the minorities few years ago, saying that they're waging war against the majority Muslim population. So in his rotten and very backward mind, he thought that the passive wars, which was a CIA engineered regime change war, was basically a war between minorities and the majority of Muslims. Therefore the Muslims have to rule over them, which is this, this mindset that they want to establish a majority dictatorship over the minorities. This has nothing to do with democracy, but rather establishing a Socratic authoritarian regime headed by Jolani. Probably he will have control over Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Idlib. But he already lost control. For on the rest of the country, no other sane people, civilized people will accept to live under Jollani's rule in Syria.

[Clayton]

Now in 2015, President Trump said, look, Assad may be protecting people there. We don't know who would be coming in. They could be worse. But we did know, because the Obama administration is the one that sold us this idea of arming moderates. Al Nusra is an arm of Al Qaeda. So Americans should feel incredibly pissed off. I do. That we were fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and arming them in Syria and then pretend that we didn't think that this would happen. So can you please remind us what the tenets are of Al Nusra as an extension of Al Qaeda? I'll get you out of here on this.

[Natalie]

Actually just an interestingly that Abu Muhammad Jelani ended up in American American prison. CIA led a prison in Iraq in 2017, three or five alongside Abu Bakr Baghdadi. And then they released him only the same year when the war started in Syria and then sent them both to Syria, one of which created ISIS and the other one created Nusra in 2012. Obama knew when he put his signature on Operation Timber Sikomeh, which is a covert CIA operation in Syria for the regime change. He knew that they are arming radical Islamist elements in Syria. The Defense Intelligence Agency has given him the report telling him that the driving force behind the insurgency in Syria are the Al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood jihadists. And he knowingly put his signature on the operation, hence giving $1 billion per year weapons and ammunition and training to these jihadists in Syria. And this is only the CIA program. Then we have in parallel, the Pentagon also trained separately half a billion dollar worth of program do all these jihadists in Syria. And then we have the regional countries. Qatar spent tens of billions of dollars in arming them. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, which now pretends to come in this in the in as a savior for the minorities. When the former Mossad head of Mossad was asked on Al Jazeera why did you guys receive the Al Qaeda elements in in your hospitals and given them the treatment? He said it's a tactical move from Israel that they are dealing with this Al Qaeda elements. And then the Israeli press themselves confess that Israel given them light weapons. They have given them cash. Usaid. How much money USAID has given to these people? Billions of dollars. In 10% of the Syrian territory, all this money went into one place which is the one, one small governorate where this Jawlani used to control millions of them went to this jihadist through corrupted NGOs claiming to be humanitarian, receiving the money and then paying the salaries of the officers and the commanders of these Al Qaeda groups. It's a complete sham. It's a complete lie, Natalie, that they have sold to the American people. Now we lost our country and the world has become a more dangerous place because if this example is copied in the Middle east, what kind of message they are sending to the rest of the Arab people and the Muslim people in the Arab world that in order for you to come to power, you have to become one of these Al Qaeda elements and remove your previous regimes and for you to concur and become to power and then they will normalize it. You know, this is very dangerous precedent, what's happening in Syria.

[Clayton]

Definitely. Well, you've been warning about this. We always appreciate your voice on this matter. You can follow Kevork at Kavor Galmasian on X as well as he's the host of Syriana Analysis, same tag. So thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you talking to us as this news story comes to a head.

[Natalie]

Thank you very much, Natalie, for the opportunity.

[Clayton]

All right, so let me know how you feel about that. Are you mad as snakes? I am. Raise your hand if you are mad as snakes because you knew that supporting Al Qaeda was probably not going to work out for us. Probably not going to go so well. Right. Okay, so we have more news to get to. We're going to talk about this, this free speech threat under the guise of anti Semitism. And I want to tell you a little historical fact, a little historical context about anti Semitism that I think really fits well in this moment. I'm excited to tell you this story. I'm always excited to share what I read in books. I, I'm glad that you're here to participate in this conversation. So don't go away. As soon as Natalie says she's going to share things with from books, please stay. So we're going to talk about that. We're also going to talk about war with Iran. Do we want it? Do we not? What the heck is going on there and what are the mixed messages coming out of the Trump White House? Also, journalists who are still sanctioned for having ties to Russian media, not state media, but just media, are waving their hands saying, hey, can we get these sanctions removed because they were Biden era sanctions, because it's not right. So we're going to talk to Ben Swan, who was one of those who was punished by this also. Yeah, that was a scary time. Right? The Biden administration did that to win the election and it didn't work out for them. So we need to revisit that to make sure that never happens again. So. Okay. Before we do that, though, I want to remind you that our show is brought to you by Hillsdale College. Because if you have a passion for learning, which clearly you do, nobody comes to redacted. Who doesn't have a passion for learning? Every single one of you watching us right now, you guys know something. You come here with an educated opinion and I love that. And if you want to continue the learning process, then Hillsdale College is a great place for you because they offer more than 40 free online courses. That's right, totally free. You can learn about the works of C.S. lewis, stories in the book of Genesis, the meaning of the US Constitution, which is something we're going to talk about in the news right now, right here, right now. The rise and fall of the Roman Republic, the history of the ancient Christian church. All of this is offered within Hillsdale's free online course you may really enjoy at this juncture in modern history, Introduction to Western philosophy. It's a 14 lecture online course where you explore the works of the most important philosophers of the West. So all of these courses are self paced. You can start whenever you want. And again, I say it's free. So go to Hillsdale Edu redacted to enroll. There's no cost. Easy to get started. That's Hillsdale Edu slash redacted and enroll for free. One more time. Hillsdale Edu redacted.

[Natalie]

You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Clayton]

Well, free speech is under attack under the guise of anti Semitism from the Trump cabinet. Now the White House is saying that ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil. They're calling him a radical foreign pro Hamas student who was on the campus of Columbia University and that this is the first of many arrests to come. Now, I'm not going to demure whether or not this person actually committed crimes or not. We are looking for that. We are looking for proof. No more will the American populace accept warmongering without proof. So we should say to the Trump White House, what did he do that was illegal? Because just saying that you are pro Palestinian two state solution could be construed as being pro Hamas, which should be a protected belief and opinion and thing to say in the United States. So we're going to talk about him more in a moment. But first, again, I think it seems pretty clear that this is being done by the US Government to stop criticism of Israel. Here's how Caitlin Johnstone puts it. She says the US Is launching an assault on free speech to silent criticism of Israel. Now, last week, Jewish journalist Dan Cohen said that criticizing Israel is not anti Semitism, and inflating the two hurts Jews.

[Ben Swan]

People are very critical of Israel because of the genocide that they've carried out over, you know, the last year and a half. So if that's the metric, then sure, but that's not anti Semitism per se. That is just criticism of a foreign country that all of our American tax dollars are funding. So it's, you know, it's totally. It's totally disingenuous. And in fact, I mean, it actually creates anti Semitism.

[Clayton]

Okay, first of all, anti Semitism in its truest form is hating people that come from the origins of Semitic languages is abhorrent, but it is allowed in a free society. Also, given that Arabic is a Semitic language, anti Semitism should apply to Palestinians, too. But semantics aside, we live in a free society. We can say and think whatever we want as long as we're not inciting true threats and violence. Now, keep that in mind. True violence and threats. You can think things about a group of people. You can think bad things about a group of people. It is our right. And if it's not, we are all in trouble. So how, I ask you, can the Trump administration argue against the Black Lives Matter movement as divisive, Argue against the Biden administration's crackdown on free speech when it comes to saying a man is a man under trans ideology, and then restrict freedoms based on this shifting notion of anti Semitism? Caitlin Johnstone puts it this way. Trump's supporters are falling all over themselves to justify Trump's assaults on free speech, the same way Bush supporters fell all over themselves to justify the authoritarianism of the Bush administration. Republicans haven't changed. They think they have, but they haven't. So in this vein, I'd like to tell you the story, an important story in American history and the history of our. Our fierce defense of free speech of the Jewish lawyer named David Goldberger. If you don't know his story, he is famous for defending the First Amendment rights of the National Socialist Socialist Party of America in Skokie, Illinois. In other words, the Nazis. He is a Jewish man who defended the rights of Nazis. Nazis to organize with swastikas. His client, this man here that you see on the far right of your screen, is named Frank Collin, pictured here with the armband. Colin had asked the town of Skokie, Illinois, for a permit to have a Nazi presence in the fourth of July on the front of Village hall, and the town sued him to block it. Now, his application. Now, you're maybe you're like, oh, maybe they weren't really outright Nazis. Oh, no, they were. Take a look at his application for a permit. Clearly stating he's planning a group of 30 to 50 people. They promise not to block the sidewalks for pedestrians, but clearly state their intention to wear swastikas on their clothes, put them on banners, and protest on behalf of white people. Now, the town sued to stop it, but the ACLU took the case to defend it with a lead lawyer that was Jewish. And in fact, the ACLU demanded that Goldberger take the case. And here is why. They said the First Amendment principles are straightforward and even more so when you restrict anticipated speech, even if it is offensive and hateful. Central to the ACLU's mission is the understanding that if the government can prevent lawful speech because it is offensive and hateful, then it can prevent any speech that it dislikes. In other words, the power to censor Nazis includes the power to censor protesters of all stripes. Do you disagree? Come at me, bro, if you do, because I don't see any other way to interpret free speech. Now, there were even Holocaust survivors. Many protested the permit, but many spoke out on behalf of the Nazi Party. One of them was Aaron Cohen. And I want to say now, I got these images from Google Images, so I'm not completely clear this is him, but he is a real person. And let me tell you his story. He was born in Bulgaria, 1929. He told Newsweek that he opposed the Nazis, but believed. If you start. This is a direct quote. If you start banning speech, you open a dangerous door. Jews know that better than anyone else. He saw this as a test of American democracy tied to his escape from Nazi oppression. Another was Erwin Frankel, who lost family in Auschwitz. He was a writer who said that banning the march risked. Risked eroding free speech, which he saw as a safeguard against tyranny. He told the Jewish Forward that he feared that a precedent would hurt Jews later of banning Nazis. Okay, so the ACLU defended the Nazi Party, won the case in the Illinois Supreme Court, affirming their right to hold the march. The Supreme Court did not take the case up, which effectively upheld this ruling. Now, the Skokie demonstration did not happen in that town, but in 1978, it did happen in Chicago. Both Nazis and more anti Nazis showed up to protest each other because that should happen in a free society. Did it get violent? Yes. Counter protesters through rocks and bottles and other objects. People were arrested for the violence. They were not arrested for their beliefs and what they came to speak on behalf of which was their first amendment right. Now, this is an important case in American free speech and it holds today. So will we throw this all away now because the u. S. Won't allow criticism of Israel? Now, what is at risk here when they say we must prevent anti Semitism? Are there anecdotes or real proof of people actually being harmed? Those things absolutely should be protected if anyone's being harmed, threatened or hurt. But we don't have proof of that. We have proof of the idea of rising anti Semitism. This comes directly from the anti defamation league. They say anti Semitism is on the rise. But how do they prove it? Well, they say that 83% of Jewish college students have experienced or witnessed some form of anti Semitism, but their definition includes anything from seeing vandalism. So if you see something you don't like, that's anti Semitism by their definition, or being the victim of physical assault, even though there is not an incident in this report of a physical assault. Now, this is what gives me the most pause. They define anti Semitism as hearing problematic comments about Israel. This is what they say that students report is the most common incidents of anti Semitism. Anyone want to ring in on that? That's anti Semitic to say something problematic about Israel.

[David]

Have you seen on X where they're saying, like, if. If the Epstein files are released and Israel's involved in any way, that that's going to see an increase in anti Semitism. So that's kind of why they don't want to have that in the documents.

[Clayton]

I mean, that's an easy thread to pull, Right? But we should be able to say anything we want about any government, including our own. And so if we say something we don't like about Israel, then that. And that is anti Semitism. This is entirely problematic. Go ahead.

[David]

Yeah, and real quick, before, like, where does it stop? Because we're talking on this show, you know, a lot about what's going on over there. Is it going to come for us next?

[Clayton]

Right, of course. Go ahead.

[Unnamed Guest]

Well, I was just gonna say, like, if the Epstein files come out and my name is in there, I mean, one, I'd be absolutely surprised because I never met the guy. But two, like, I would expect that, you know, to, To. To get some hate. And the thing is, like, if I, if I want to avoid that, I avoid that by making sure my name would never appear on such a list. So if Israel, if it's going to be a problem if Israel shows up on the list, why are they on the list? Don't be on that list.

[Clayton]

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, again, this idea. I just want to leave this screen up. Can we go back one more time? They're saying that the most frequent incidence of antisemitism is hearing problematic comments about Israel. That turns my stomach, you guys. That's not anti Semitic. That's criticizing a government, which we should be absolutely free to do. And there's no proof that that is hateful of people who feel represented by it. I criticize the American government all the time. I love Americans. That's not. These two things are not. You can't make a straight line between that logic.

[David]

Like you. You should have the right to. Even if it's not the government.

[Ben Swan]

You.

[David]

You can say what you want about another person, as long as you're not, you know, like any group.

[Clayton]

I can hate any group. I can say, I hate French bulldogs. I don't. Exactly. Right. But I'm allowed.

[David]

But.

[Clayton]

Right, Okay. I don't want to go down that. But please, I don't hate French bulldogs. Don't send any hate to me. Okay. Also, ask a Holocaust survivor if anti Semitism includes problematic comments about Israel. Israel didn't even exist during the Holocaust. They had no real feelings about anti. Semitism. This is not. Come on. This is. This is. If that's how you're defining anti Semitism, that is an insult to people who have actually been persecuted for being Jewish. I would say. Okay, again, does the Trump administration mean to change our right to make problematic pro. Again? And what is problematic, right, for who? Netanyahu or hostage families? Problematic for who? Okay, now the Justice Department says not only that it's canceling grants and investigating Columbia University for failing to combat anti Semitism. Here's AG Pam Bondi's tweet about it, as well as her link to the case. And again, if Jewish people are being harmed by crimes, please do prosecute those criminals. But in America, thought crime is not a crime, and we should all fight against making it so. With that in mind, now we turn to the arrest of the Palestinian man on a student visa who had his green card. Well, they say they revoked it, which is interesting because the Department of Homeland Security doesn't have that right. Neither does the State Department. He has to go to an immigration judge for that. So we'll see if he gets gets due process. His name is Mahmud Khalil. He is one of the lead organization organizers of the sit in at Columbia University. His wife is an American citizen, eight months pregnant, and she too was threatened by ice, according to Reports. So what did he do? Did he incite violence? We're not being given these. Despite asking copious times, we're not being given anything other than he was pro Hamas. And I would like to know if being called pro Hamas is only an equation for criticizing Israel or do you have overlapping beliefs, such as a belief in a two state solution, does that make you pro Hamas? Like, I need to see it. I need to see some real connection.

[David]

I mean, knowing the, how the Hamas was formed in the first place and who funds them, wouldn't that actually be. If you're pro Hamas, you're pro Israel. Pro.

[Clayton]

Good point, good point. The United States and Israel both created Hamas, so that makes us all, I guess, complicit in creating Hamas. You're right about that. And you know, people are saying online, oh no, you know, if you have a green cold card, you are, you know, automatically you can't be connected with terrorism, blah, blah, blah. True. But you still have a right to due process. And so, you know, these sort of Trump administration loyalists are like, just get him out. You know, he just. We, we. You can't say you only are against illegal immigrants, but you're otherwise, you know, pro legal immigration and then not speak for the civil rights of somebody who is a legal immigrant. Right. Those two things don't go ahead.

[Unnamed Guest]

Oh, just, just to point out, like what a special case this is. Like if I were to go to a campus and like, as if any immigrant, say a Cuban immigrant wanted to do an anti Cuba protest on campus, are they going to get deported? What about an Argentinian student visiting? If they want to. If they want to. You know, like if an Argentinian student is visiting and they held a protest against Venezuela, are they going to get deported? No, it's just this one specific case. Like, it is absolutely, like against free speech, but it's targeted. Absolutely targeted.

[Clayton]

Right. And so again, if he's guilty of crimes, please let us know that. And, and then we may change it. Right. We need to see it. It can't just be that he is being punished for political beliefs against one state. And think about how much the Biden administration waved around Russians who were anti Russia. We were, we loved that and that was fine. Right. So go ahead, please.

[Unnamed Guest]

Well, so like with the, the fact that if, if he's got a green card, he's here legally, if he commits a crime, it's the, it's the prosecutors, it's the police. This, that's who goes and gets him. They send ice.

[Clayton]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

So this is, they're not targeting a crime that he's committed. They're just targeting the fact that he is an immigrant that is pro Hamas. Otherwise they would. He would be charged with a crime.

[Clayton]

Yes, again, you know we're holding out for proof. Okay, then show us. Right, because if you can deport him based on his politics, the rest of us are in trouble too, based on the case that I just showed you that has already been litigated through the courts in the 1970s. Now, not only that, we all should be speaking out against this. Hello, Edward Snowden. You get another point on your I was right board. Axios is reporting that the State Department is launching an AI fueled catch and revoke effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups. So they're going to use AI to track you Surveillance state didn't again, Edward Snowden warn us about this. And again, under the government binary speak of criticism, criticizing Israel equals support Hamas. We should all be afraid of this. Not only will this violate some first amendment rights, but it will have the chilling effect as free speech group Fire points out of encouraging self censorship by people who fear reprisal of the government. So let us know what. What you think of this. If. If you think I'm off base by this, let me know how. If you see proof that this person had been guilty of crimes and should then in fact face. Face the money. What is the expression? Face the music. Yeah, face the music. I was gonna say face the money. There's no face the money, face the music for this. Then let's look. We are open to seeing everything. What we're not open to is, oh, yes, this person's guilty of thought crime. The government doesn't ordain buy. Get out. So again, let you know. Let me know what you think. All right. Speaking of mixed messages, we're going to talk about mixed messages about a war with Iran. Are. Are we doing this based on what? Right, Again, we're here to look at proof. This show. We all learned our lesson from the false flag weapons of mass destruction. We will now only look for proof when we are sold to war. I don't think we've bought into any wars yet. No, any wars we like you guys. I don't know. Sports wars. Yeah, I can't think of one.

[David]

I kind of like the war you guys were having on the IT crowd.

[Natalie]

That.

[David]

That's kind of a fun. A fun war.

[Clayton]

Oh, yeah. So if you guys have ever watched the IT crowd or the IT crowd, we fight over how to pronounce that. Coming up next week, we're going to have a interview with the show's creator, Gran Linehan and he sets us straight on how to say it because the boys ganged up on me. I love that show. Let us know if you watch that show, too. That show has brought me great joy in my life. All right, we're going to talk about the war with Iran. We're also going to talk about sanctioning U. S Journalists and we're going to stop that now that the biden administration is no longer in power. You think it's time. But before we do that, we want to remind you that Lear capital is the sponsor of redacted. And hey, gold just hit an all time high because again, as the Trump administration tries to make sure that the dollar is not based on this nebulous collective belief system and is looking into what the United States has in terms of gold reserve, well, you know, you've hedged your bets by owning precious metals because those are tangible. Those are not backed by just a system of belief system, the system of Federal reserve. So don't be complacent. Learn about how you can protect your hard earned money by investing in metals. Lear can help you with this if you call them at 1-800-613-3557 or head on over to learn and you can call them knowing nothing. All you need to know is what are your, your goals? What have you got to work with? What would you like to learn? They'll not only send you a free guide to gold and silver as well. Silver is performing just as well as gold. It's just we've been telling you and it turns out to be true because turns out that, you know, real things are valuable. Who would have thought? So again, that's why we wanted to make sure that you're proactive and protect your money. So don't be complacent. Give them a call. Just you don't have to do it today, but say I'm going to learn this today. I'm going to get this and I'm going to set it aside and when I have some money, I'm going to learn this or I'm going to call somebody and ask a bunch of questions. No question is a dumb question. Head on over to learedacted.com or call them at 1-800-613-3557.

[Natalie]

You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Clayton]

So we are either being warmed up for a war with Iran, or we are being accused of standing down with a war with Iran. And there are mixed messages right now, which is very dangerous place to be. We find ourselves on at this place where we were maybe 20 years ago when we had the Dick Cheney archetypes running around trying to drum up support for a war with Iraq based on lies. Only this time it's Iran. And then there are people who don't want that. So let's try and read the tea leaves, shall we? Because we're not going to buy any bullshit here. I'm sorry I said that word, but that's what I meant. We're not buying any bull. Honky, bull. Honking. Not for sale. On redacted. We want proof. Uh, so this is our WMD moment, guys. Let's pay attention. So President Trump is saying he would like to have diplomatic discussions with Iran, but he's not saying that like a friend, like, I'd like to take you to lunch. He's saying it like, hey, neighbor, we better have a conversation or we're going to litigate over the fence. Kind of like that. So here he said to Fox News, I hope you're going to negotiate because it's going to be a lot better for Iran. And I think they want to get that letter because he's saying, he wrote a letter. He said the other alternative is either we have to do something because you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. I've written them a letter saying, I hope you're gonna negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it's gonna be a terrible thing for them. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Now that I, I mean, I haven't read the letter, maybe it's much nicer than that. And he's summarizing it in kind of a tough way. But the Ayatollah responded to these reports, not to the letter. He's responding to the idea of it saying this is a bully tactic. So some questions we should all want to know. How do we know that Iran has a nuclear weapon? We've been over this before. We've shown you the International Atomic Energy Agencies inspection reports that do not show Iran enriching uranium to a nuclear weapon grade. We have been over the sanctions of mass destruction that the Obama administration put on Iran killing people. People die when you put sanctions on, oh, medicine or hospital gear. I won't re litigate this. You can find it all on redacted or you can Reach out to me on X and I will send it to you. So it is time. Is this the time? I guess I'm asking and telling you. Is it? Do you, do you agree with me that it is time to think about a war with Iran and open our eyes? Here's what Tucker Carlson said over the weekend. Go ahead before we read, Tucker.

[David]

Yeah, I just get so frustrated because it's like, like who are we to tell who can have a bomb like a nuclear weapon? Like the only reason they want that is to protect themselves from us. I mean, we're the only country in the world that has actually used them, so we should not be allowed to have them. So I don't understand where we get off being able to tell anybody whether they can or cannot have a weapon like that. It's none of our business.

[Clayton]

Well, Israel has a nuclear weapon and we seem fine with that. So. And we, we are not supposed to send arms to any nuclear nation, but we do that anyway. That's, those are against international rules and our own rules. We do it anyway. So why do we care? Why do we let Israel in that region have them and not Iran? And why are we poking Iran to hate us? And then it, it's these questions don't make sense. Right. So let's take a look at what Tucker Carlson said over the weekend. He said that Fox News has wall to wall coverage with dead eye, dead eyed politicians telling you that Iran is a dangerous sponsor of terrorists softening up the base for war. He says, but why again is Iran our biggest threat? He said, here's one measure. Over the past 20 years, how many Americans have been killed by Iran on American soil? Try to find that number and then compare it to the Americans killed by ODs or suicide or illegal aliens or carjackings, diabetes, something else that I'm not going to say on this platform and then let you and then think is Iran still our greatest threat? Now for this, he has Zionists coming for him full throttle. Read the comments on this post telling him he's the dumbest person ever. But while on the campaign trail, President Trump said we have no business going to war with Iran on inauguration Day. He promised to avoid new wars. But meanwhile, just last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth said he had a call with Israel's Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, and that both leaders agree, agreed that Iran remains a threat to regional security and agreed to work together on this challenge. So this suggests a pro war, anti war faction inside Washington right now. So what are we peons to do? About it. We ask for proof. That's all we can do at this point. Just like, you know, no weapons of mass destruction lies, don't trust the legacy media because they withheld exculpatory evidence about Saddam's attacks abroad. We can't trust them. We need to see proof from original source material. That's all we can do. And, you know, I think that it becomes more and more clear we saw that, that our own Department of Defense is being led by Israel to want this war with Iran. That's what Pete Hegseth said. That's out of the horse's mouth. So I think that people who are pro Israeli government, pro Zionist government are really scared right now of the crumbling of that narrative. Just today, people who are people such as this defense contractor Joe Lonsdale said that Israelis are scared because people who don't agree with Israel, like Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Candace Owens, are platforming what they call dangerous conspiracy theorists, which again suggests that they see support of Israel's wars abroad being eroded and the fact that there may be people in that region. Right. Who want us to launch wars abroad in that region in general who are losing the ability to do that. So let me know what you think about this. Are the, Is there proof here that we can see from the Trump administration that we need to follow? Is it, is there, are there warring factions within the Trump administration, some that want a war and some that don't? I think that's a dumb question. Clearly there are, clearly there are neocons who infiltrate the, the government, but who is it that doesn't? Right? And, and what, what can we look for in terms of, of proof? So let me know what you think of that. All right, well, that's going to do it for that story with Iran for now, keeps developing. We're going to talk about sanctions on U. S. Journalists because we're going to talk to a guest who is currently under sanctions from the Biden administration. They're kind of stale now. We don't need them anymore. The Biden administration did that hoping to win the election on false fears of wars with Russia. We don't need that now. We're trying to make diplomacy with Russia. So can we maybe let these guys off? Is it time? We're going to talk to someone who was affected by that in just a minute. I'm looking forward to that. Before we do that, I want to tell you about my sponsors over at American financing because, look, thousands of homeowners have talked to American Financing. They're doing that every month because they just are barely making ends meet and drowning in high interest debt. And of course, it's hardly your fault. 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[Natalie]

You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Clayton]

Well, my next guest is Ben Swan, who was sanctioned by the Biden administration for the crime of being a journalist. The Biden State Department placed sanctions on Russian news organizations and they said so that they were doing this in order to avoid misinformation in the run up to the election, which is code for they wanted to continue to sell you a war so that they could win based on your fears. And so they sanctioned journalists who would not go along with that narrative. So that didn't work. But the sanctions remain in place. Ben Swan's company is a contractor for RT that was sanctioned and he now is asking the Trump administration to remove these sanctions. Thank you so much for coming on Redacted to tell us about this.

[Ben Swan]

Thanks for having me on.

[Clayton]

Tell us a little bit about what happened to you by the Antony Blinken State Department and where it stands now.

[Ben Swan]

Yeah. So the sanctions themselves, as you rightly said, were put on RT right as A news organization. So it's really three entities. It's rt, which is a television network that broadcasts internationally across cable around the world. Even without being in the United States, without being in Western Europe, where they haven't been for three years now, they still reach 800 million people around the world, which is a pretty incredible number. It's one of the largest, if not the largest TV network in the world. So they had already put a sanction there. They also put a sanction on Sputnik Radio, which is the radio version of it, and an entity called TV Novosti. And TV Novosti is the actual entity that oversees both RT and Sputnik. And so the Biden administration put these sanctions in place in September of last year, essentially saying that RT had helped to get Trump elected the first time and that Russia had interfered with the elections. All of those lies, which we know are not true. And so they had pushed these ideas for a long time. My company contracts with them. So we're not under sanction. But what we are not allowed to do is work with rt. We had American journalists and American producers and writers who were creating shows that we were selling to RT, and these were being broadcast again to 800 million people around the world every single week. And yet those sanctions remain in place, essentially saying, if you are an American citizen and you attempt to work with RT for anything, it is a crime, is a crime against the US Government. You can be thrown in prison for it. You can have your bank accounts frozen and seized. You can't work for them at all. You can't appear on their air. And so it is this very bizarre thing that's taken place, because before these sanctions were put in place, no American journalists, no American news entity, and no foreign news entity had ever been sanctioned by the U.S. treasury Department or the State Department, ever. It had not happened in the past. Not when we're talking about. You know, I heard your segment earlier about Nazis, right? There's been no Nazis who have ever been sanctioned. No news organization associated with Venezuela, with China. Right now, Al Jazeera obviously broadcast in the United States. There's never been a sanction against Al Jazeera. And so we've never seen this before. It's totally unprecedented. And it goes in the theme of everything you're talking about today, Natalie, which is that essentially these sanctions create an incredible example of where if we don't fix this and correct this, it can be applied to any news organization that the government simply deems they don't like the message. So they're Going to ban them.

[Clayton]

Yeah. I guess I will admit to you that I have been a guest on RT shows before, and these sanctions scared me, because you don't know if they're gonna hurt your children, if they're gonna harm your ability to, you know, make a living for your family. What are they going to do to me for just being a voice on a show that I can't reach? So what is there? So you're asking the Trump administration to rescind these, obviously. Is there, do you think, some surreptitious reason why they'd want to retain these in place?

[Ben Swan]

I don't think they do. Listen, I would give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt. They've been in office, obviously, for what, six weeks now, but not a very long time. J.D. vance, the Vice president, went to Europe. He gave a tremendous speech in Europe about free speech and the rights of Americans to speak, whether you agree or disagree with what they have to say. And he talked about this specifically with social media. You know, we see what's happening right now across the uk People are being arrested and thrown in jail for things they've posted on Facebook. They make a comment on Facebook or on Instagram, and then that's a crime in the uk. And so the Trump administration has done a very good job of speaking out against that and telling Europe, listen, we have to uphold these kind of Western beliefs in free speech and the rights of citizens to speak. I believe that this particular issue is something that was kind of overlooked when Trump first came into office. Obviously, there's a bigger issue here with the war in Ukraine. I don't think that they're going to drop these sanctions before they come to some kind of a ceasefire agreement. I don't think that will happen for practical reasons, but one should not be tied to the other. In my opinion, it should not be a. Well, until we get a ceasefire, we're going to continue to violate constitutional rights of Americans in this country. But I do believe, and from some conversations that I've had with various people in the administration, that the administration does not believe in this. They are against it. They think that Americans have the right to speak, and they believe that RT has the right to broadcast. And I believe they will remedy that.

[Clayton]

Yeah. And I. I don't want to. I don't know if this is a correct generalization, but RT seems to honestly cover the Trump administration. And, you know, Trump is always accused of seeking out the media that he likes. So, you know, I don't think that the Trump administration themselves would have an ax to grind over specific, specifically that out those outlets. But it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't, it really shouldn't matter. Free speech is, is free speech and journalism is journalism. But you say that the bullying of social media companies by the Biden administration was corruption on display. Was there litigation on behalf of, I mean, we see the litigation on, of the social media companies, but was there litigation on behalf of the media companies you're, you're speaking for?

[Ben Swan]

Well, I'm not sure I understand the question. What do you mean?

[Clayton]

Like RT and Sputnik, did they, did they litigate back? Is there like, can we, will we ever see a court ruling or we really need administrative action, executive action on this? Sorry, I asked it in a dumb way.

[Ben Swan]

No. So, so it's a fair question. And I think that, look, I've had conversations with a number of lawyers about this, whether or not there is a lawsuit to be had here. I believe there is. I believe there's a very strong case here to be able to sue. The problem is, first of all, it would take years and years to ever get to a point where it could be settled. It would be much easier to settle it with executive action because it was instituted with executive action. Right. Biden issued an executive order and then it's been upheld through the Treasury Department, State Department, and ofac. Having said that, I have had some very disappointing conversations with some lawyers about it who have said, listen, I agree with you on face value. You're right. This is something where it's clearly a violation of law. It's clearly a violation of constitutional rights. However, because of precedent, no court in this country is going to reverse a sanction that was put in place in the name of national security. And of course, all sanctions and pretty much everything that government does these days, they do utilizing the claim of national security. And so it's disappointing to me to hear that, but I think we can be realist about it. That's where we are in this country. If you slap the label national security on just about any issue, it is then deemed, well, this is necessary. And so I can't think of a single example where courts have overturned executive action saying, no, this really isn't national security. So especially since 9, 11, we've grown in terms of that bureaucratic state and in terms of that part of our system to say there's far too much leeway given, in my opinion, to the executive branch and even to Congress to be able to deem anything national security. And, and it's it's upheld by the courts. It's upheld by everyone.

[Clayton]

I guess that's disappointing because it feels like we are all in a game of whack a mole at the whim of whoever's in the executive office. So as much as I don't have an appetite for litigation, I would like the courts to say, you can't do this full stop so that we're not. Because, you know, if a Democrat gets back in office, they'll, you know, they can sell you the war with Russia anew. So I guess I get what you're saying, though, that it just. This is the way it has to be right now because Americans are currently being sanctioned. So thank you so much for bringing this story to us. Follow Ben Swan on X. It's Ben Swan with two N's, underscore, because he's been not. He's posted this open letter. Maybe you can, you know, elevate that in any way that you can if you have an ex account. So thank you so much for bringing us this story.

[Ben Swan]

Natalie, thank you.

[Clayton]

My pleasure. All right, well, that's gonna do it for redacted today. Thank you so much for joining us. Clayton will be back tomorrow. He's just had a single day of travel. I hope it wasn't too quiet in here. I mean, I wasn't quiet, so the boys were a little bit quiet, but the chat wasn't. I love seeing your comments. Thank you so much. What are you laughing about, David? You had a joke that we were quiet a little. It just feels quiet to me because there's. There's not El Jefe here telling me what to do. So. Yeah, we always have, like, little arguments. Like, you say you end the show. You end the show. You don't let me talk. So I can talk all I want right now, but I will not worry.

[David]

You didn't leave your water bottle on the table. I guess there's not a shop that would show it, though, so.

[Clayton]

I guess there is not. But I'll show it to you anyway. If you want to see my water bottle, my daughter gave me this little sticker. It said, crush your goals when I go to the gym. Okay, well, that's enough of show and tell. You can, I don't know, tag me on X with your water bottle if you want to show and tell. I love that kind of stuff. Also, don't forget we have a daily newsletter. It'[e-mail] and we write it the. And it is released the mornings that we have the live show. Because we want you to have original source material to study. Whatever we're going to going to show you for the day, it's not. It's mostly not bikinis, despite that little thing right there. That was just a little feature about the Sports Illustrated model. Mostly it's serious news, but sometimes it's fun news like that Kevin Hart. So anyway, fun news, real news, original source material. I really try hard to link you to original source material to the best of my ability. So go to redacted.inc. put in your email address and you'll get it it every single day. And yeah, again, we try and just. It's free. It's for you. There's nothing behind a powerwall. I prom Powerwall. Somebody just said something about Natalie being a power something. I appreciate that. There's nothing behind a paywall. The. The redacted newsletter is free. When I say free, I mean it. Take it to the bank. All right. Thank you so much for being here with just little old me. You'll see little old us us tomorrow. And we will be here. Thanks again, everybody.

[Natalie]

You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.