3578 - Bondi Epstein Crash Out; Next Step in West Bank Annexation w/ Jasper Nathaniel

Summary

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3578: Bondi Epstein Crash Out; Next Step in West Bank Annexation w/ Jasper Nathaniel
Date: February 11, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into two major stories: the public and political fallout from the latest Jeffrey Epstein revelations, including a contentious congressional hearing featuring Pam Bondi, and the escalating de facto annexation of the West Bank by Israel, as explained by Jasper Nathaniel (Infinite Jazz, Substack). The first hour is dominated by scrutiny of Justice Department conduct and political maneuvering around the Epstein files, while the second hour offers a deep dive into Israel’s evolving policies regarding the West Bank—tying in Trump administration politics, global media coverage, and on-the-ground policy changes.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Headlines and Political Context ([00:13]–[04:53])

• Sam Seder and crew kick off recapping current events, including:
  • A ten-day FAA no-fly order over El Paso blamed on cartel drones.
  • Trump threatening Canada over a bridge dispute linked to lobbyist Howard Lutnick.
  • The government’s refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine.
  • A school shooting in Canada—largest in its history.
  • Ongoing economic and legislative battles in Congress (e.g., tariffs, DHS funding).
• Tone: Both irreverent and urgent, with issue after issue heaped up to show the general chaos and corruption in government.

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2. Epstein Files and DOJ Cover-Up ([05:48]–[24:30])

The Epstein Web and Political Corruption

• Sam Seder and Matt Leckie analyze new Epstein files, emphasizing the systemic protection of a known predator by American elites across political lines.
• Seder references the work of C. Wright Mills and paints the current state as a “morally decrepit” era with “the most corrupt administration in the history of the country.”
• Notable quote, Matt Leckie: “C. Wright Mills called it the power elite in the mid-century.” ([08:34])

Congressional Clashes with Pam Bondi

• Pam Bondi, recently linked to the Epstein cover-up, testifies before Congress.
• Jamie Raskin delivers a blistering opening, outlining the DOJ’s failure to release documents, redaction of abusers’ names, and inadvertent outing of victims:

  “You redacted the names of abusers, enablers, accomplices and co conspirators apparently to spare them embarrassment and disgrace, which is the exact opposite of what the law ordered you to do. Even worse, you shockingly failed to redact many of the victims’ names…” ([10:33])

• Timestamps:
  • [10:33] Raskin's indictment of Bondi/DOJ.
  • [13:06] Seder: Calculating it would take six years to review the files with four computers.
  • [14:05] Heated exchange as Jim Jordan and Bondi filibuster on investigations into Epstein’s co-conspirators.

Institutional Rot and Hypocrisy

• Sam Seder and team point out the irony of Jim Jordan chairing the proceedings, referencing his own history of covering up sexual abuse at Ohio State.

  “This is a man who multiple members of the Ohio State wrestling team accused of protecting a doctor who was molesting them.” ([15:44])

• Matt Leckie: "That was what he sold to the Republican Party—that if he could do that for OSU, he can do this for us.” ([16:45])
• Discussion on Pam Bondi’s stonewalling and playing to a MAGA audience of one (Trump), despite Democrats’ attempts to hold her to account.
  • Pramila Jayapal: Emotionally asks Bondi to apologize to Epstein survivors ([18:26])
  • Bondi’s evasive answers prompt more Democratic frustration.

Strategic Takeaways

• Repeated emphasis that Republican appointees are not directly accountable to voters and that Democrats should more aggressively highlight the hypocrisy and histories of their GOP counterparts.

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3. Fallout, Accountability, and Media Framing ([24:30]–[29:08])

• Bondi pivots from Epstein fallout to stock market boasting (“The Dow is over $50,000 right now… that's what we should be talking about.” [23:38]), which the crew skewers as tone deaf.
• Discussion of how the Trump administration’s unity in corruption is both its “strength and weakness,” with no one wanting to be the first to break ranks.
  • Howard Lutnick is noted as a possible “fall guy" being groomed for public blame.

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4. Interview: Jasper Nathaniel on West Bank Annexation ([31:56]–[65:00])

Trump, Netanyahu & U.S. Policy

• Jasper joins as news breaks of an imminent Trump-Netanyahu presser.
• Core analysis: Trump doesn’t grasp the West Bank except as donor leverage; the Abraham Accords serve as both a diplomatic asset and a potential obstacle to overt annexation.
  • Financial pressure from donors like Miriam Adelson is described as a key motivator for U.S. position shifts.

    “[Adelson] was dangling her $140 million… in front of Trump if he would provide a green light for annexation…” ([33:54])

• Advice: Israel prefers "de facto" annexation to avoid potential diplomatic blowback.

De Facto Annexation Steps

• Breaking Oslo Accords: Israel’s new cabinet decisions allow for Israeli civil administration intrusion into Areas A and B in the name of environmental protection or heritage preservation—effectively dissolving Palestinian Authority powers in those areas.

  “What it says is where there are environmental hazards or desecration of archaeological sites… the Israeli Civil Administration is allowed to go into areas A and B.” ([35:14])

• Real Estate Law Changes: Massive implications for land purchases, allowing settlers and the state to acquire land directly from Palestinians.

  • Old constraints (Jordanian & Ottoman law) requiring Arab-to-Arab sales are removed.

  “The new cabinet decision literally just repeals that. It just says that is no longer the law.” ([50:01])

• Methodology (“Decisive Plan”):

  • Three options for Palestinians: Subjugation, Emigration (with payment to leave), or Brute Force ([43:25]).
  • New real estate policies operationalize forced "voluntary" emigration via economic pressure and land purchases.

Municipal Authority Stripping & Archaeological Control

• Israeli government strips Palestinians of control around religious sites (e.g., Hebron, Bethlehem) to facilitate settlement expansion ([54:58]).
• Creation of a “Judean Samaria Heritage Authority” as a parallel body to facilitate questionable archaeology and cement claim to land ([56:58]).

Notable Quotes

• Jasper Nathaniel: “What his solution amounts to is three different options… The first one is subjugation. … Option two is emigration. … And then the third option is just brute force.” ([43:25])
• Sam Seder: “…the M.O. is just making accountability always at arm's length for everybody.” ([62:46])

Media Critique

• Nathaniel laments U.S. media failures to contextualize the ongoing annexation, despite settlers openly boasting of their progress.

  “What's funny is … Netanyahu does not typically talk about, like declaring sovereignty over the West Bank, but Smotrich and the settler leaders … say this is another move towards … Jewish sovereignty.” ([61:18])

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5. Memorable, Candid Moments

• Seder and team mocking Bondi’s pivot to the stock market amidst child sex abuse scandal ([24:30]).
• Exasperated reminders of Jim Jordan’s past as a “pedophile protector” ([15:44], [17:30]).
• Jasper’s analogy: “That's because you couldn't use Final Solution.” ([43:22]) on the cold lexicon of “decisive plans.”
• The hosts’ tongue-in-cheek apple discussion closes out the show with characteristic Majority Report banter ([73:14]).

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 00:13–03:07 | News rundown and episode introduction | | 05:48–08:34 | Epstein case: elite corruption and media evasion | | 10:33 | Jamie Raskin confronts Pam Bondi over DOJ conduct | | 14:05–16:54 | Jim Jordan, Bondi, and accountability hypocrisy | | 18:26–20:27 | Pramila Jayapal asks Bondi to apologize to survivors | | 23:38–24:30 | Bondi pivots to stock market defense | | 31:56–35:14 | Jasper Nathaniel on U.S. politics & West Bank context | | 43:22 | “Decisive Plan” – Subjugation, Emigration, Brute Force| | 50:01–54:58 | Legal changes enabling land sales & settlement | | 56:58–61:18 | Archaeology as pretext for expansion | | 62:46–64:44 | Accountability, arms-length governance & Netanyahu |

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Summary Takeaways

• Epstein/DOJ: House hearings reveal a Justice Department stonewalling on releasing key Epstein files; Pam Bondi faces withering criticism but fends off accountability by playing to Trump’s base rather than the public or the law.
• GOP Hypocrisy: GOP figures leading the investigation have their own histories of covering up abuse, which the Democratic side struggles to foreground effectively.
• Media & Elite Corruption: The coverage and fallout show the persistence of elite impunity and the inadequacy of institutional checks.
• West Bank Annexation: Through legal sleight-of-hand, parallel institutions, and explicit policy, Israel is rapidly effecting de facto annexation—pressured by U.S. donors but stage-managed to avoid direct confrontation with American political interests.
• International Implications: The world, including U.S. media and policymakers, largely ignores or deflects from the practical realities on the ground, even as settlers and right-wing Israeli politicians announce their plans openly.

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Notable Quotes

• Jamie Raskin ([10:33]):

  “You redacted the names of abusers, enablers, accomplices and co conspirators apparently to spare them embarrassment and disgrace… Even worse, you shockingly failed to redact many of the victims’ names…”

• Matt Leckie ([08:34]):

  "C. Wright Mills called it the power elite in the mid-century."

• Sam Seder ([16:22]):

  “This is a man who multiple members of… the Ohio State wrestling team accused of protecting a doctor who was molesting them.”

• Jasper Nathaniel ([43:25]):

  “What his solution amounts to is three different options [for Palestinians]: subjugation… emigration… and brute force.”

• Sam Seder ([62:46]):

  “…the M.O. is just making accountability always at arm's length for everybody.”

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For Further Reading

• Check out Jasper Nathaniel’s Infinite Jazz on Substack for granular, contextual reporting on both the West Bank and on-the-ground politics often ignored by U.S. media.
• Full episode details and links provided at majority.fm and podcast show notes.

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This summary blends sharp analysis, irreverence, and deep contextual insight, making it essential recapping for listeners or readers tracking U.S. politics, the Epstein fallout, and Israeli policy in the West Bank.

Transcript

[Emma Vigeland]

You are listening to a free version of Majority Report with Sam Steater. To support this show and get another 15 minutes of daily program, go to Majority FM please.

[Sam Seder]

The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Wednesday, February 11, 2026. My name is Sam Seder. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Jasper Nathaniel, publisher of Infinite Jazz on Substack as BB Netanyahu meets Donald Trump. Israel's west bank annexation plans finally break through the media. Also on the program today, FAA closes airspace surrounding El Paso for 10 days and then reopens hours later. And the US blames Mexican cartel drones. A grand jury refuses to indict Democrats over their video telling the military not to follow illegal orders. Economy adds 130,000 jobs exceeding expectations. Lots of backward looking revisions though. Ludnick may be the first to pay a tiny price over the Epstein association as revelations keep coming. And Pam Bondi on the hot seat. And while Republicans fail to protect Trump's tariffs, Democrats now plan a barrage of anti tariff votes. DHS funding negotiations stall two days out.

[Emma Vigeland]

From.

[Sam Seder]

Potential DHS shutdown. Meanwhile, John Thune says there are no votes to pause the filibuster in order to pass their voter disenfranchisement Save Act. FDA refuses to review Moderna's application for a new MRNA flu vaccine. Refuses to review the application after gutting the EPA measure of climate change. Trump now is going to direct the Pentagon to buy more coal. And Trump's Canadian bridge threats tied to a rival bridge owners lobbying of Howard Lutnick.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

It's just a better bridge.

[Sam Seder]

Discord announces age verification requirement to get adult only content starting in March. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Thanks so much for joining us. Emma Vigeland out today, should be back tomorrow. Should also note there was a Canada suffered its worst school shooting in its history I believe yesterday. Eight people dead, I think approximately 20 injured. The killer killed herself. So amongst the dead people are asking me about the refusal to review Moderna's flu vaccine trial results. It's insane. I mean I don't know enough about obviously about scientific trials to say whether something should be accepted or not accepted per se. But the idea that you won't even review the trial results of a potential flu vaccine, particularly following this year's flu which was and continues to be devastating. Sorry, I'm getting updated. It was 10 people dead and 25 injured in Canada.

[Matt Leckie]

Record setting pediatric flu deaths in 2425.

[Sam Seder]

The flu has been particularly virulent and we are now seeing the rollback of vaccination uptake essentially because of RFK Jr. And Donald Trump and really in many respects the Republican Party's project of returning us to the Middle Ages.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Didn't you say that pro life march was like a measles super spreader?

[Sam Seder]

There is a belief that the pro life march in January in D.C. ended up creating measles outbreaks across the country.

[Matt Leckie]

Not remotely a surprise.

[Sam Seder]

So a lot to get to today, but let's get into this. The Epstein files continue to provide a look into. Again, there's multiple aspects of this scandal, which is that you had this child predator, child sex trafficker protected by some of the country's most powerful people, some, you know, luminaries. Noam Chomsky, you know, on the left, not necessarily necessarily a guy with a huge amount of power, but certainly somebody who many on the left looked up for in terms of some sense of moral clarity, at least in the context of US and foreign relations and in the way that we treat our own people. You can't get into the head of people and understand how they're operating. But there really is no context in which one can believe that nobody knew particularly, I mean, maybe the most open.

[Matt Leckie]

Secret of the past of this century.

[Sam Seder]

Yes. And it's, you know, it's one thing like, well, I didn't Google this guy when I first met him, but I find it really hard to believe that there was enough ignorance to justify this. And I certainly like, you know, someone serves time for an offense, I can see I'm going to give this person a second chance or whatnot. But this goes a little bit beyond that. And there was, I think it's very hard to believe that there was any indication that he really had reformed. Nevertheless, what I think is also becoming clear is sort of like the.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Web.

[Sam Seder]

Of financial ties and horse trading. And it's just been revelatory into the way that certain things operate. Now I've heard some people say, like this is the deep state. No, I mean, not really. No. This is corruption amongst a wealthy elite who already live a life where they don't have to follow the rules that the rest of us do.

[Matt Leckie]

C. Wright Mills called it the power elite in the mid century.

[Sam Seder]

Yes, but I think it's been laid bare. And it also shows how sort of decrepit, morally decrepit it is. I imagine there was a time a power elite that was like, you know, I know what's best for the little Putians. And so but this is really, this goes beyond that, like Brexit is going to happen.

[Matt Leckie]

Let's buy some deals when everything collapses.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah. And you can see, I imagine, historians are going to write about the era of the last 50 years. And you could see the progression to where we have, without a doubt, I mean, by a factor of, I don't know how many, the most corrupt administration we have had in the history of the country. I mean, the President himself has enriched himself to the tune of multiple billions of dollars over the course of 10 or 11 months by just leveraging the office. And everybody's getting a taste. Pam Bondi got this job because all it took was a $25,000 donation to her as Attorney General for her to stop investigating Trump University 10 years ago. Here she is being questioned by the ranking Democrat of the judiciary. Is this on the Judiciary Committee in the House? Jamie Raskin giving an open statement. We're going to play a couple of clips from this hearing which took place this morning and still going on. This was just a couple hours ago.

[Jamie Raskin]

That will be your legacy unless you act quickly to change course. You're running a massive Epstein cover up right out of the Department of Justice. You've been ordered by subpoena and by Congress to turn over 6 million documents, photographs and videos in the Epstein files. But you've turned over only 3 million. You say you're not turning over the other 3 million because they're somehow duplicative. But we know that there are actual memos of victim statements in there. And you also took down the Department of Justice's prosecution memo from 2019. So it's clearly not all duplicative. But even if it were, why not release it? Just release all the duplicative stuff in the half you did produce. You redacted the names of abusers, enablers, accomplices and co conspirators apparently to spare them embarrassment and disgrace, which is the exact opposite of what the law ordered you to do. Even worse, you shockingly failed to redact many of the victims names, which is what you were ordered to do by Congress. Some of the victims had come forward publicly, but many had not. Many had kept their torment private, even from family and friends. But you published their names, their identities, their images on thousands of pages from the world to see. So you ignored the law. And Even with over 100,000 employees at your disposal, you acted with some mixture of staggering incompetence, cold indifference and jaded cruelty towards more than 1,000 victims raped, abused and trafficked. This performance screams cover up.

[Sam Seder]

I mean, there really isn't a lot of like opining that's going on in that. Simply the facts. The idea that the Department of justice reviewed all 6 million of the documents and decided that 3 million were duplicative in some way is patently absurd. The skiff that the congresspeople are allowed to go into where there are redacted files, apparently has what, four computers? And who did the math on this?

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

I believe it was Jamie Raskin.

[Sam Seder]

Oh, Jamie Raskin. It would take something like six years.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

To go through all seven years of 40 hours a week of doing nothing.

[Sam Seder]

But going through the files with just four computers. I mean, they. There is a law that Congress passed saying release all these documents and they haven't done it. Here is Jerry Nadler on the Judiciary Committee. He is retiring in the fall. Yes. Or I guess by January of next.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Year because he doesn't even have gray hair yet.

[Sam Seder]

Nope. It's unbelievable. It does not need a walker, although he may need a cane. He asks, how many Epstein co conspirators has she investigated? We know there's at least six that were named in these Justice Department files. Nadler asked her how many she's investigated. She seems a little defensive about it.

[Jim Jordan]

How many of Epstein's co conspirators have you indicted? How many perpetrators are you even investigating?

[Pam Bondi]

First you showed it. I find it.

[Jim Jordan]

How many have you guided.

[Pam Bondi]

Excuse me, I'm gonna answer the question.

[Jim Jordan]

Answer my question.

[Pam Bondi]

No, I'm going to answer the question the way I want to answer the.

[Jim Jordan]

Question, the way I asked it.

[Pam Bondi]

Chairman Jordan. I'm not going to get in the gutter with these people. I'm going to answer the question.

[Jim Jordan]

How many have you invited? Time again, the time belongs. Naming my time. The time belongs.

[Pam Bondi]

I think it's very interesting.

[Jim Jordan]

My time.

[Pam Bondi]

I think it's very interesting. He talks about they indicted the President, said they indicted him.

[Jamie Raskin]

Mr. Chairman, please stop the clock and. Stop the clock and restore his time.

[Pam Bondi]

Here we go.

[Jim Jordan]

The time belongs. Gentleman from New York. We will give you a few more seconds. We will do that, but when you ask a question, you may not like the answer, but she gets to the question was how many of they don't like the answer. Chairman, my time.

[Pam Bondi]

It's honest. So he asked a four minute question.

[Jamie Raskin]

Restore 45 seconds. Mr. N. Please. Mr. Chairman, you can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch. Not on our time. No way. And I told you about that Attorney General before you Started.

[Pam Bondi]

You don't tell me.

[Sam Seder]

Oh, I did tell you because we.

[Jamie Raskin]

Saw what you did in the Senate Lawyer.

[Sam Seder]

Not even a lawyer.

[Jim Jordan]

Many will be in order. I should get back at least 45 seconds. We will give you a few more seconds.

[Sam Seder]

I said that already.

[Jim Jordan]

45 seconds. Okay, I will.

[Sam Seder]

She. She called Raskin a washed up loser lawyer.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

That was Raskin who she was talking to?

[Sam Seder]

Yes. I mean look, this is a show she's doing for Donald Trump. This is their strategy. They're going to hang in there. Now we should say it. I hope the irony of Jim Jeffords, Jim Jordan. Excuse me, Jim Jordan chairing this committee is not lost on anybody. This is a man who multiple members of was the Ohio state wrestling team accused of protecting a doctor who was molesting them.

[Matt Leckie]

Several former OSU wrestlers stated that they directly informed Jordan about the abuse by Strauss. Some claiming they told him numerous times.

[Sam Seder]

Apparently Jim Jordan called one or two of them crying. Please don't tell anybody what I did.

[Matt Leckie]

Yeah, I got a clip of that like maybe playing the fun.

[Sam Seder]

I don't know how this didn't get more media attention. I think there was even a documentary.

[Matt Leckie]

Yeah. And that's why Jim Jordan is where he is. That was what he sold to the Republican Party that oh, we can get this guy in here. If he can do that for osu, he can do this for us.

[Sam Seder]

It worked for Denny Hastert. He became speaker of the House and there was definitely an awareness that this guy had been accused as a wrestling coach of molesting some of his players. And in fact I think he served some time after his time as speaker of the House. A Democratic party that functioned as well as the Republicans in terms of these things would make sure that. I don't even need to tell you all this. You would all know this as soon as Jim Jordan showed up on the screen you'd go, oh, pedophile protector.

[Matt Leckie]

Yep.

[Sam Seder]

Just like Denny Hastert.

[Matt Leckie]

Ohio still still has a athletic center with Les was Wexner's name on that was put there after a $2.5 million Jeffrey Epstein donation.

[Sam Seder]

By the way, here is Pramila Jayapal asking are trying to examine whether Pam Bondi has done anything with all this information that she has had. Now again, again, let's just. I just want to remind people that this was a campaign promise by Donald Trump. This was such a vow that they had taken that they actually released all the files in three ring binders for a couple of right wing stooges. This was their own proclamations of Doing this stuff.

[Emma Vigeland]

Here's J. Paul to the survivors in the room. If you are willing, please stand. And if you are willing, please raise your hands. If you have still not been able to meet with this Department of Justice, please know for the record that every single survivor has raised their hand. Attorney General Bondi, you apologize to the survivors in your opening statement for what they went through at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein. Will you turn to them now and apologize for what your Department of Justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information.

[Pam Bondi]

Congresswoman, you set before Merrick Garland sat in this chair twice.

[Emma Vigeland]

Attorney General Bond.

[Pam Bondi]

I'm going to finish my answer.

[Emma Vigeland]

No, I'm going to reclaim my time. Because I asked you the Attorney General question.

[Jim Jordan]

Attorney General, that I would like a.

[Emma Vigeland]

Question to answer which is will you turn to the survivors? This is not about anybody that came before you. It is about you taking responsibility for your Department of Justice and the harm that it has done to the survivors who are standing right, right behind you and are waiting for you to turn to them and apologize for what your Department of Justice is members.

[Jim Jordan]

Members get to ask the questions. The witness get to answer in the way they want to answer. The Attorney General.

[Emma Vigeland]

That's not accurate, Mr. Chairman, because she.

[Pam Bondi]

Doesn'T like the answer.

[Emma Vigeland]

So Mr. Chairman, why I have asked.

[Pam Bondi]

Didn'T she asked me Garland this I reclaiming my time.

[Emma Vigeland]

And when I will claim my time.

[Pam Bondi]

The gutter for her theatrics.

[Jim Jordan]

The time belongs to. The time belongs to the gentle lady. The gentle lady has 17 seconds.

[Sam Seder]

Thank you.

[Emma Vigeland]

You're not going to answer this question, so let me just.

[Pam Bondi]

Chairman, I'll direct it.

[Emma Vigeland]

What a massive.

[Pam Bondi]

No, I'm answering a question.

[Jamie Raskin]

Will you restore her time?

[Pam Bondi]

The witnesses interrupt the gutter with this woman.

[Emma Vigeland]

Let me have my.

[Sam Seder]

The thing that I would love to have seen the Democratic members of this committee remind Pam Bondi is that she is not elected. She is a Republican appointee. And every single person who's asking them, asking of her a question has the power of hundreds of thousands of constituents who have elected them to sit there and hold this Republican appointee accountable. This is not beanbag. And you know the Democratic Party like look, there's a lot of terrain where the Democrats have not gotten aggressive that are more in many respects more to the point in terms of impacting people's lived experience. This stuff is to some extent, to some extent eye candy and low hanging fruit. And I understand the desire and the ease in which you go at this and you want to take Trump's legs out and Congress's legs out from underneath them, regardless of what it is, go harder and not even necessarily on the substance. Remind everyone there, this is the Republican Party. And when you're addressing that chair, remind everybody that Jim Jordan has a bad history in protecting pedophiles.

[Matt Leckie]

Also, Trump's attorney generals do. Alex Acosta was the one who gave.

[Sam Seder]

He was Department of Labor, but. Yes, right, right, yes, sorry.

[Matt Leckie]

But when he was down in Florida, gave Epstein the sweetheart deal. And Pam Bondi later became, I believe, the first AG of female AG of Florida and didn't follow up on that and just allowed that deal to stand. And just surprisingly, those two Florida folks became members of the Trump administration.

[Sam Seder]

And as soon as Pam Bondi shows that she's not going to answer your questions, you just start asking rhetorical ones. Here's Pam Bondi again, protecting her job with Donald Trump. She has an audience of one here. And Democratic lawmakers need to understand that there's an audience of one. They have a much bigger audience. And if she's playing to only one person, she's going to look like a cretin to a vast larger audience. But here she is just losing it.

[Pam Bondi]

To release all of those documents. He is the most transparent president in the nation's history. And none of them, none of them ask Merrick Garland. Over the last four years, one word about Jeffrey Epstein. How ironic is that? You know why? Because Donald Trump. The Dow, the Dow right now is over. The dow is over $50,000. I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader, as I hear, rascal. The dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000. And the NASDAQ smashing records. Americans 401ks and retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be talking about.

[Matt Leckie]

But that stuff was true under Biden, too. The economy was roaring. Can you address the COVID up of the elite sex evil?

[Sam Seder]

It seems, it seems a little tone deaf when you are talking about a billionaire financier who is running a child sex ring and had commingled this with a bunch of other financiers and billionaires to be bragging about the stock market.

[Matt Leckie]

And also, are you really attacking Merrick Garland if you're saying we're just doing what he did?

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, I know. I mean, again, the audience that she's playing to is a very narrow subsection of the American population.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Did great.

[Sam Seder]

You did great. And here's the thing, you know, we've been talking about this. And Howard Lutnick is in a lot of seems to be the person that is being teed up as a fall guy. Now, maybe it was because he went out there and went so far over his skis, he may have tripped the fall guy when he was like, I found him disgusting. I never dealt with him. And yes, he was blackmailing people, of course, and maybe, maybe that's still ringing in some people's ears. But the name of the game is if they can get one resignation, if they can get one firing, the dam starts to decompose a little bit. Because if you compare the Trump administration 2024, 2025 to 2017, by this point, I don't know, five cabinet members had to have resigned because of all their corruption. This cabinet is just as corrupt and just as inept, maybe more so than the first one. But the difference is their corruptness and ineptness is both their weakness and their strength. It's their strength and that they all know we're going to sink or swim together. And so Trump just keeps them together because he knows that their number one directive is loyalty to him. And that's why she's doing what she's doing here. In a minute, we're going to be talking to Jasper Nathaniel. He's the publisher of Infinite Jazz on Substack. As Netanyahu meets with Donald Trump and Israel's slow annexation of the west bank starts to stick itself out, it starts to pop its head out of the water, as it were. We'll talk to him in a moment about that first word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar. It's a delicious low sugar snack that is sponsoring the program today. IQ Bar protein bars are the brain and body fuel you need to win your day. It is time now to transform frustration into fuel and power your day with IQ Bar. All IQ Bars are packed with clean, delicious ingredients that keep you physically and mentally fit. Things like magnesium, lion's mane, and none of the stuff you want to avoid. No gluten, no dairy, no soy, no artificial ingredients, no GMOs. This is like what I keep in my satchel as I travel around. And I think most people know I carry a bag around. That's my little shoulder bag. And you can start carrying IQ Bars. Plant protein bars in your bag. They are a smarter snack choice. They have plenty of plant protein, tons of fiber, no added sugar. No added sugar. Right now is a great time to reset. These bars are delicious. I've had protein bars that literally make you feel like you're eating cardboard and these are fantastic. And like, I'm starting to get into, you know, I don't know if it's because like a little more protein, trying to up my protein a little.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Bobby.

[Sam Seder]

They don't have a beef tallow flavor, but I know I'm trying to do more protein. I'm trying to cut out sugar. That's my big thing. Because people know I have a sugar problem. But I want to thank IQ Bar for sponsoring today's episode. Right now, IQ Bar is offering our audience 20% off all IQ Bar products, including the Ultimate Sampler pack, plus free shipping. To get your 20% off, text majority to the number 64,000. Text majority to the number 64,000. That's majority to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. We'll put this information in the podcast and YouTube descriptions and Majority FM. All right, quick break. When we come back, we're going to be talking to Jasmine Nathaniel, publisher of Infinite Jazz on Substack, about where we're at with on a day where Donald Trump or I guess yesterday claimed that he doesn't want the west bank to be annexed, we're going to talk about how much the west bank has been annexed. We'll be right back. Sam. We are back. Sam Cedar on the Majority Report. Emma Vigelin out today. Want to welcome back to the program Jasper Nathaniel, publisher of Infinite Jazz on Substack. And Jasper, you're coming on on a day where, I mean, literally any minute Netanyahu is going to exit or they'll open up the the Oval Office with Trump and Netanyahu to take questions. Theoretically, this is on a day where Donald Trump said, or I guess this is an interview gave yesterday with Axios, we have enough things to think about now in response to annexation, he said, I'm against it. We don't need to be dealing with the West Bank. Before we get into what's actually happening. What's your sense like is this just like he doesn't want this on the plate until after the midterms? It feels like to me, well, I.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Think for starters, he doesn't actually understand anything about the west bank except that his donors want him to allow Israel to annex it. But I think that Gaza and his Gaza peace plan is much more straightforward in his mind. He sort of has set his mind to this is one of the things that will cement his legacy, the West Bank. I mean, to the extent that it is relevant to Trump, as in to the extent it's in his self interest to be engaged at all. It's really twofold. One is that, as we know, Miriam Adelson and many of his donors would like him to give Israel the green light, to formally annex it. But the second thing is that the Abraham Accords, which was the crown jewel of his foreign policy achievements for his first term, which was about normalizing relations between Israel and a number of states, most notably the United Arab Emirates, the UAE has threatened to basically back out of the Abraham Accords if Israel goes forward with annexing the West Bank. And that would be a blow to Trump's legacy and his ego. So, you know, there was actually a time, I believe in 2020, at the end of his first term, when Netanyahu was moving towards some sort of a formal declaration. The UAE came out and said very loudly, we will leave the Abraham Accords if you do this. And I think that they, one of their secretaries or something actually like, wrote an op ed where they were like, this would be very embarrassing for Mr. Trump. And of course, you know, he responded to that, immediately, put the kibosh on it, and Netanyahu backed down. So, you know, that is why, you know, among other reasons, why the entire annexation project is meant to be done without ever having to formally declare annexation. Because for a guy like Trump, that means he doesn't have to think about it. As he said in that quote, and.

[Sam Seder]

We should say the reporting prior to the election was that Miriam Adelson was dangling her $140 million, $150 million in front of Trump if he would provide a green light for the annexation of the West Bank. This is sort of like a redux of their first deal where Trump bragged, like, I gave her the Golan Heights, and she didn't even ask me for it with all the money that she gave. So, you know, it's impossible to know what, what Miriam Adelson's sort of like, I guess, demarcation is for Trump to have fulfilled his promise. But. And so maybe we'll put a hold on that. But you wrote just yesterday that annexation breaks containment, meaning that it has. People are noticing a little bit more, in part because the New York Times finally wrote a piece about it. You've been to the west bank multiple times. You've complained about the failure of the media to report on this stuff. Now the Washington Post has no foreign reporters there. What it was it. What was it that breached the surface this week?

[Jasper Nathaniel]

I've been thinking about that. Why now? Because certainly what they just did, which we'll get into is a really grave step towards annexation. But it's not the first one. And as I write in that piece, every one of these moves towards this de facto annexation have been telegraphed by Smotridge and the settlers for years. And so nobody should be surprised by this. And like, in fairness to the Times and the posts and all these places like they do, they cover these events when they happen. But it's the lack of the sort of ongoing coverage that contextualizes how this is happening that I think is the problem. And so, just to answer your question, I mean, I think the reason this one really broke through is because it is the most direct violation of the Oslo Accords, which is a phrase that most people know, even if they don't actually know what it is. This one is just literally, I mean, specifically what it does is it basically says the Oslo Accords divided carve the west bank up into areas A, B and C to give the PA the authority to administer in areas A and partially in area B. And Israel has area C. And that was sort of like the nominal framework that the occupation was running through, was running within, you know, to be clear, like they were constantly violating the Oslo Accords. But one of the new cabinet decisions that just came out on Sunday, I believe, says that the Israeli Civil administration, which is the governing branch within the Israeli military or within the Defense Ministry, that Smotaric, the Finance Minister that he basically took over in 2023, they now have the right to go into areas A and B to basically control things like zoning and to order demolitions and to just take control away from Palestinian Authority in the few places where they still have it. And the way all of these policies are written, it doesn't just say Israel can now go into areas A and B. What it says is where there are environmental hazards or desecration of our archaeological sites or theft of water, then the Israeli civil administration is allowed to go into areas A and B and basically take control. And I think this is obvious, but they make those claims everywhere in the West Bank. And not just that, but they are creating those issues. So just to give one concrete example, there's a big one of Smotrich's projects right now is railing against environmental pollution from Palestinian cities in the west bank, specifically around the burning of their waste. He just yesterday, when these new cabinet decisions were announced, or maybe two days ago, went into one of these cities and did a photo near the waste burning site. And they're clearly setting the groundwork for this to be one of the places that they Go in and seize control. Now the reason that they're burning waste and the reason why they're doing all these things that are creating, that the Palestinians are potentially creating pollution and whatnot is because Israel, the occupation has completely sabotaged their waste management infrastructure. They've made it impossible for them to run their cities the way most cities run by picking up the waste and bringing them out to dumps. And all the things that you do in waste management, they've cut off those routes, they've confiscated the dumping grounds and they've left the Palestinians in these places with no choice but to burn the waste. And then they use that as their justification to say, look, you're creating air pollution. Now we get to go in and take control. So it's all a self fulfilling prophecy, basically.

[Sam Seder]

I mean that, that, that mechanism. As soon as they were talking about those exceptions and where they could go into abc, all I could think about was Chuck Schumer and Jim and Hakeem Jeffries saying you can wear mask, you can't wear masks. Except for in circumstances. There is some like those type of qualifications are the way in which this stuff sort of like it's the way that laws get degraded and other laws kick in. Here is. Let's talk about the cabinet decisions you write about that have taken place over the recent history which has sort of like creepily created almost like a de facto annexation or in the process of starting with opening the west bank as a settler real estate market.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

So just a quick refresher, you know, the west bank is governed by a military occupation, which means that the Israeli government, the Knesset does not get to make the rules over there. It's the Israeli Defense Ministry that does. Smotaric, who is this far right messianic settler whose life's goal is to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state and to take over the whole west bank, installed himself in the Defense Ministry so that he could take over all of the governance of the west bank, which is why people say he's essentially the governor of the West Bank. So for starters, the reason that all these policies are able to sort of fly through is because they're not going through the usual checks and balances that they would if they had to go through either the Knesset or even the normal military sort of bureaucratic channels. Now they're just going through a civilian chain of command put together by Smotrich, which is all settlers. So it's very easy to get things approved. So that's the sort of.

[Sam Seder]

And does the rest of the body politic the Israeli body politic, or a substantial amount of it. They, okay, they are okay with Smotric sort of inserting himself within that military regime so that they do not have to own the decisions he makes. And they are insulated from any type of accountability about those decisions because they're like, we don't have access to it.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

I think that's as good a theory as any. I mean, it also should be said that, like, interest among, you know, the sort of ostensible liberal politicians in Israel and just liberal people, interest in preventing this creeping annexation of the west bank has really plummeted since October 7th. There used to be a faction in Israel, a meaningful faction, that did not want the Settlement movement to take over the entire West Bank. And that is, such as it ever was, a strong movement. I don't know that it could ever really be considered a super effective one. But that pressure is basically gone. And so, yes, I think it's easy to just sort of wave it away as Smotrich's project. Now there's nothing they can do. But also there's just people. They're more focused on Gaza and they're more focused on security. And as far as they're concerned, security in the west bank means domination and crushing the Palestinians. And so I think that that is one of the conditions that has allowed Smoters to get away with all of this. I also want to just mention that. So, like, when I say I wish that the media did a better job of sort of contextualizing all this. Pretty much everything that we've seen from Smotrich and the Settlement Movement in the last three years fits remarkably well within the blueprint that Smotrich created for this. In 2017, before he entered politics, he wrote something called the Decisive Plan. It's called the Decisive Plan because what he says in it basically is, we've been dilly dallying around finding a solution for the west bank for all these years. It's time to come up with a decisive plan for it. And this text has become canonical.

[Sam Seder]

That's because you couldn't use Final Solution.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Exactly. Yeah. Final Solution had been used by somebody else who I'm blanking on. So they went with Decisive Plan, and it's become a canonical document for the settlers. And when you read it, and I've read it like 40 times, it's truly awful to read. But you see where all of the moves are coming from. And so specifically, what I want to just point to is what Smoter says is that there's no room for two national longings, nationalist longings, in what he calls Judea and Samaria. There can only be one. And he's actually very careful in this particular document to not frame it as violent towards Palestinians. He tries to make it a really practical document. He's like, look, let's just be real. There's no way we could have a Palestinian self determination here while also having a Jewish state here. So what are we going to do about it? And what, what his solution amounts to is three different options that they're going to provide to what he calls the Arabs of Judea and Samaria. The first one is subjugation. And it basically means that the Palestinians commit to being colonial subjects of Israel. They literally have to swear their allegiance to the Israeli state and declare that they're not interested in any sort of self determination. And if they do that, they are then allowed to live there as sort of subjects. So that's option one. Option two is emigration. And he's very generous in the document and saying, we'll pay you to leave, we'll make it easy for you, we'll grease the wheels on your way out and it'll be voluntary and it'll be natural because people will want a better place to live. And then the third option is just brute force. He basically says, for anybody who does not give in to one or two will fight you to the death. And we're the ones with the bombs and the jets and the tanks and stuff. And so most people know about everything in the west bank is it's all domination, it's all subjugation. So the first one is very clear. The third one, brute force. Also it's clear how the Israeli military is using brute force against the Palestinians, particularly in the refugee camps in the north, which they have carpet bombed. But it's the second option, the immigration, that I think that these real estate policies, the new real estate policies in the cabinet decisions, it's the second one that they focus on. And so what I mean by that is Israel has done a really effective job of making life completely miserable for Palestinians in the West bank for 60 years, really. But specifically over the past three years, they've made it. They've revoked 100,000 work permits for people who actually were working in Israel. They have strangled the financial system and the economy. They have put up checkpoints everywhere, they've hemmed communities in, they've made it really miserable for people. And now what they want to do is, is make it really easy for them to leave. Not that dissimilar from what they're doing in Gaza, where they talk about this emigration, or what I think we would call ethnic cleansing, as if it's humanitarian initiative. They want a better life somewhere, so we should give them a better life. And then once they're gone, we'll turn Gaza into the Riviera. In the west bank, what these new real estate laws do is it makes it really easy for Israelis to go directly to Palestinians in the west bank and buy their land from them. And that is significant for a number of reasons. The main thing is that since 67, there's been. Well, since before 67, actually, from Ottoman times, it was illegal for Arabs in the west bank to sell land to non Arabs, to sell their land to non Arabs. And then that also was law in the Jordanian rule period. And once the occupation began, the occupation actually has to uphold the laws of the occupied people. And so what that means is that the Jordanian law around Palestinian land not being able to be sold directly to Israelis has been in effect for all these years now. There's been a workaround, which is basically that settlers can go and register a company inside of the west bank, get what's called a transaction permit, and go through these sort of bureaucratic steps, and then they can use that to then buy land directly from a Palestinian, since now they're doing it as, like, a company. But what those bureaucratic steps did was, number one, it made it much more difficult to pull off fraud and forgery, which is really common when Palestinians don't want to sell their land. Settlers will sometimes just forge documents. But notably, what it did was it gave the Israeli military the ability to basically veto any of these purchases. And the reason that's significant is because, remember, the Israeli military, for all of its cruelty and brutality, does not necessarily have the same agenda, or up until recently, I should say, has not had the same agenda as a settlement move. They're more concerned with maintaining stability and, frankly, ruling with an iron fist. But what that means is that for settlers to go deep into a Palestinian city, for example, in Area A, where they're not supposed to be at all, that creates a problem for the military. They then have to go in there and protect them, and they're obligated to protect settlers wherever they go. And so before these new laws, what you've been seeing is settlers peeling off from their settlements, going deep into Palestinian territory, setting up what are called illegal outposts, which means they've not gotten Israeli approval for them. And then from those outposts, they go and terrorize communities, they provoke you know, a response. Sometimes the Israeli military comes in and you know, the area is eventually cleared out and then it becomes an Israeli settlement. What they've done now is created a legal route to do all of that. So anybody can now go through the records which have now been opened up. So this is another thing. They opened up the public registry so you can see who owns plots of land anywhere in the west bank, including in area A. You can go directly to these people and offer to buy it from them. And now the military can't step in and say you can't buy it there because that would create a problem for us.

[Sam Seder]

How. But how do they get around the idea that the occupied Territory law remains of not being able to sell to a non.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

The new cabinet decision literally just repeals that. It just says that that is no.

[Sam Seder]

Longer the law based on what authority? How do you repeal. How does Israel, I mean, I understand how they violate international laws, but how does Israel repeal a international law?

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Well, that's not an international law, that's, you know, a Jordanian law, but the.

[Sam Seder]

Law that the Jordanian law would supersede it. The Israel has no authority to change that law. Theoretically, but I guess it's just sort of you and what are.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

No, I mean, you're right to point that out. Technically it should not be possible, but that is literally like the system that Smotrich has built where, you know, everything that he's doing is still technically legally within the military occupation. All of it technically legally still is, you know, ostensibly towards maintaining security or stability or one of these things. In this case they're calling it an anti Semitic law. And so they give themselves sort of permission to revoke it. Preventing Jews from buying land here, even though it's preventing everybody who's not from there from prevent from buying land there. And they just create sort of like loopholes within loopholes within loopholes. So they legalize something that is a direct violation of international law. That is the way the, the entire settlement project has worked from the beginning was like finding these loopholes, building these like sort of shell or shadow governments within the military occupation to approve things that are against international law, still technically doing it within international law. I mean, it's endlessly confusing. And that's why it works. Because Donald Trump, you know, nobody's gonna explain that to him. He just, you know, he. So yeah, you get it.

[Sam Seder]

So they've basically thrown open the doors to private investors or private buyers of this land. What is the reviving state backed land purchases before that?

[Jasper Nathaniel]

I just want to Say one more thing. I want to just put a fine point on the fact that, number one, the settlement leaders have come out and just said openly, this is a huge business opportunity for us. We can now expand our industrial zones. We can build new factories, we can build new roads, we can build new health systems. So they are now looking at area A, which again, is like the maybe 20% or less of the land in the West Bank. They're now seeing this as places where they can now build. But most notably, again, the settlers, these well financed settler groups are now going to be dictating policy because the military is obligated to follow them wherever they go. So they will literally be buying up a plot of land deep in Palestinian territory. The military will then go in there with them. And now there will just be a settlement getting built in the middle of a Palestinian city with the military there. So it really is a sort of seismic change. The second thing that you mentioned, it basically it's the same idea, except it just gives the state the ability to buy land directly from Palestinians, which they have not been able to do in, I think, since the 70s or the 80s. Now, it should be said that, like, they use endless other tools like declaring something a nature preserve or a protected heritage site or any one of these things. And now they're again, just giving themselves another route to be able to buy land. And so the reason I brought up the decisive plan was because, again, if you are a Palestinian living in a community that is being tormented or your livelihood has gone to shit and your life is just much worse than it was, and somebody just approaches you with a lot of money and offers to buy you out, that is what Smoter says in his plan. We will pay you to leave and you will get a better life. And so they're greasing the wheels for that.

[Sam Seder]

Now, basically, you also cite Israeli enforcement inside areas A and B, which we talked about already. And also we can see that the real estate deals that they allow end up being the entree, like the military couldn't. They can't refuse because it's the law that they have to go and protect these settlers who have, at least in the way that the law has been changed, legally, bought this land in the context of Palestinian territory, or ostensibly Palestinian territory. Talk about the stripping of Palestinian municipal authority around religious sites. Again, I guess they're like, they're superseding whatever sort of like, laws that existed there. But the Israeli government seems to, like, be able to sidestep this stuff.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Yeah, I mean, it's focused on two areas. One of them is around the. The Ibrahim Mosque, or what is also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Hebron, which is, you know, a holy site for Muslims and for Palestinians. And it's in Hebron, which is one of the more, I'll say, interesting places in the west bank because it is a Palestinian city with a settlement literally built like, inside of it and around it. And so because of this situation, they actually had to create its own. Their own set of policies in the 90s. The Hebron protocol, I believe that's what it was called, which again, divided up municipal responsibilities. So it was like an Oslo Accords within the Oslo Accords, specifically around Hebron, because this is a sensitive area for a number of reasons, including because the Abraham Mosque is there. What they've done is now just tossed that agreement in the trash and said Israel, the Israeli civil administration now strips authority away from the Palestinian Council that had authority there, which will prevent Palestinians from building, building, prevent them from zoning, and will give the settlers there the ability to just expand their settlements into Palestinian territory. Similar thing happening near Bethlehem by Rachel's Tomb, where they are just basically stripping away the powers from Palestinians to control building and real estate and whatnot in this sacred area and just giving it over to the Israelis.

[Sam Seder]

Let's lastly talk about a bill in the Knesset that installed. You had talked about the sort of, like, the way the interplay between archaeology and the expansionist desires in Israel. And they figured out a workaround. Tell us how that all went down.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Yeah, I mean, this is. It's interesting because, like, you know, these new cabinet decisions already take care of a lot of this problem in giving Israel the right to just go into areas A and B to protect their heritage sites. But in parallel, there's been this fight going on for years where basically the, you know, archeology, as we've talked about before, is like a really big deal in Israel. I mean, if you think about it, the state of Israel, it's like claim to the land is grounded in these sort of biblical historical moments that took place in the land of Israel and in the west bank, what they call Judea and Samaria. It is in fact true that a lot of the Old Testament, such as it was written, takes place in those areas. And so Israel has long used archeology as a sort of justification to go into Palestinian villages and take control and accuse the Palestinians there of desecrating their Jewish heritage and whatnot. But one of the challenges they faced is that again, legally, the Israeli Government is not allowed to play a role in governance in the West Bank. And so what that has meant is that within the military, again what's called the civil Administration, there was an archaeology unit that oversaw the archaeology sites in the West Bank. What they had been trying to do was basically dismantle that and give all those powers to the Israeli Antiquities Authority, which is the official government body that oversees archaeology in Israel. And this is significant because again, it's basically erasing the green line and just saying that we're now treating archaeological sites here and the towns around these archeological sites like any other place in Israel. Our government can go in and they can use their normal zoning rules and demolitions and whatnot. So that is significant. What happened though is kind of interesting was that the Antiquities Authority itself, as well as the sort of the archaeology community in Israel, came out fervently against this. And the basic reasoning was because these law abiding archaeologists, and what I mean by that is the ones who are not directly violating international law by excavating in occupied territory in the west bank, they were afraid that if their body, if their archeology body was just combined with the illegal archaeology taking place in the west bank, then boycotts that are already taking place against settlers and illegal, illegal excavations would spill over to them and basically they would all be implicated. And you know, it's worth pointing out that like most of these people, with a few exceptions, most of these archaeologists and the Antiquities Authority never had a problem with the illegal archeology with the occupied excavations until it could potentially affect them in the form of boycotts. So anyway, they come out and they start railing against it and ultimately that bill stalls in the Knesset. Fast forward a year or so. This new bill that is currently flying through the Knesset basically creates a parallel Antiquities Authority. It's called the Judean Samaria Heritage Authority, I believe. And by doing that again, it in their mind insulates the Antiquities Authority and the Israeli archaeologists from being complicit in what they're doing. But it is still a government body that will be overseen by the Heritage Minor, Amichai Elyahu, who is a true fanatic. He's in Ben Gvir's party. It will then give them the power to oversee archeology in the West Bank. So they have again, Sam, found a workaround to not have to do.

[Sam Seder]

It's like a cutout to do the illegal stuff that theoretically won't in any way tarnished the reputations of the rest of the archaeology community. And so they theoretically won't put up any stink about what they're doing because they're not associated with it.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

And again, that's exactly a microcosm of the larger project that Smo Church has pulled off where he actually created a shadow government within the Defense Ministry so that he could just do, you know, fulfill all of his settler dreams without implicating the Israeli state by doing it outside the confines of the military occupation. So everything they're doing is disguised to adhere to international law, to be sort of niche policies. What's funny is that, you know, Netanyahu often does not typically talk about, like declaring sovereignty over the west bank, but Smotrich and the settler leaders are constantly, every time they put out one of these policies, they say this is another move towards, you know, declaring Jewish sovereignty across the West Bank. We have, you know, Smotrich just said, we have buried the Palestinian state once and for all. So, like, they are disguising these policies in a way that hopefully they won't get international attention in the way that like an official formal blanket declaration would, but they just can't help themselves. And they have to keep shouting from the rooftops about how they're taking over the West Bank. But that seemingly is not enough for, you know, the international community to actually, you know, put out some threats that have some real teeth and stop them from doing it.

[Sam Seder]

Well, this seems to be the M.O. right? Like, I mean, you could follow that, that dynamic of we're going to isolate the entity that's going to do the bad stuff from ostensibly the greater body politics. So it's a smotritch in the military, it's the archaeology, it's Netanyahu government as opposed to Israel. I mean, that's the M.O. just, just making accountability sort of at, always at arm's length for everybody.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

The one thing that I don't even want to say hold out hope, but like, that could theoretically be a thorn in their side, is that I think the 19th or 20th point in Trump's peace plan says that the Palestinians.

[Sam Seder]

Should.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Have a path to statehood and to self determination. And it's incredible how Netanyahu, like every day says there will never be a Palestinian state, there will never be a terror state in the middle of Israel. Smotier, like I said yesterday or the day before said, we've buried the Palestinian state once and for all. So while I do not expect Trump to get into the weeds of these laws, these little death by million cuts, annexation, but perhaps somebody could whisper in his ear, hey, they're openly talking about defying your peace plan. You've got to stop this. And again, I'm not holding my breath, but the fact that statehood, Palestinian statehood is in that plan and the Israeli leaders keep on saying it's never going to happen, one would hope that that will prove to be a thorn on their side.

[Sam Seder]

But that's number 19. And so if you get 18 out of 20, that's pretty good.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Yeah, 18 out of 20.

[Sam Seder]

Well, you made a prediction that following today's meeting that Trump would turn to Netanyahu and say, no, no annexing the West Bank. Right. And Netanyahu would just sort of smile and not really respond. I guess we'll have an opportunity later to see if that was the case. I just want to encourage people to go over and check out your substack because in addition to this latest piece, there's a great piece. I mean it's a couple of weeks. Well, it's about a month old now. But the journey that you took. And followed in the release of Mohammed Ibrahim's journey himself, a 16 year old boy, an American of Palestinian descent who had split, you know, spend summers there in this, in the way that, I don't know, people like, oh, my grandparents live up in Maine. I'm going to go up to Maine for the summer type of thing. He spent a year, nearly a year in prison. And I can't recommend enough people to go check out that story. It's a very, it's a very sort of personal story indicative of what's going on there. It's fascinating. So really appreciate it. Jasper Nathaniel, the site is Infinite Jazz on Substack and we will link to that at Majority FM and in the podcast and YouTube descriptions. Thanks again.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Thanks, Sam. Take care, guys.

[Matt Leckie]

Great work.

[Sam Seder]

Really appreciate it. All right, folks, we will take a break, head into the fun half wherein we will endeavor to have fun and we will take some phone calls and take your IMs. Just a reminder, it is your support that makes the show possible. You can become a [e-mail] when you do, you not only get the free show, free of commercials, but you also get the fun half. And you can. I am the fun half. And also if you are in L. A. Right. Brian March 22, if I remember correctly, Emma Vigland is going to join Francesca Fiorentini at what location?

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Dynasty Typewriter.

[Sam Seder]

Dynasty. Is that a place? Yes.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Dynasty Typewriter is a comedy video.

[Sam Seder]

Why do we got to be that.

[Matt Leckie]

Way is so we.

[Sam Seder]

Come on, guys.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

It's in MacArthur park in Los Angeles. It's a Premier comedy venue in the city.

[Sam Seder]

Dynasty. Typewriter. Where is it?

[Matt Leckie]

Be at franchise Penny Farthing.

[Sam Seder]

MacArthur Park. Okay. So that's sort of towards downtown, right?

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Yes, exactly.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah. We did. We didn't. That didn't even exist when I. When I back in the day when I was there.

[Matt Leckie]

I don't mean typewriters actually existed.

[Sam Seder]

Typewriters existed. Yeah. They were just coming out and so people were naming a lot of stuff after typewriters. But that's why I think it's so anachronistic now. So the name of the place again is Typewriter. What?

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Dynasty. Typewriter.

[Sam Seder]

Dynasty. Typewriter. But go see the show. You can get tickets. Are there still tickets left?

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Yes.

[Sam Seder]

All right. Still tickets available. I mean it's a month off. March 22.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

I have a link in the show notes.

[Sam Seder]

Who else is going to be on that show?

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

The flyer just says Emma and Francesca.

[Sam Seder]

I mean that's all you need. Toma Flink says Emma's going to her natural habitat. Other people's shows. Take that. Wow. All right. Also folks, don't forget. Just coffee, co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use your coupon code. Get majority get 10 off. The coupon code is majority get 10 off. Also you can also get the Majority report blend. Check it out. And I would also say check out our [e-mail] how many we we now? I think you can officially say tens of thousands of people in the Discord.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

000 last time I checked.

[Sam Seder]

Well close Majority Discord. Great place to connect with people who may be planning or dealing with ice situations or just talk about movies or maybe you're starting a campaign. You're running for something. You want to see if there's people live in your neighborhood. Let me tell you something. There are Majority Report listeners everywhere in the country and in just about every country on the globe. In the globe.

[Matt Leckie]

I would say on.

[Sam Seder]

On the globe.

[Matt Leckie]

In the globe. Sounds like they're in like a hollow earth type situation.

[Sam Seder]

Yes, it is bad timing for the Discord news wise starting in March. And this is not just our Discord. It is Discord. As a service. Discord is rolling out age verification. This is according to I think 404 Steve Bonafield. Stevie Bonifield is writing. It will automatically set all users accounts to teen appropriate unless you demonstrate that you're an adult.

[Matt Leckie]

So.

[Sam Seder]

It says quote. For most adults age verification won't be required as Discord's age inference model uses account information such as account tenure device and activity data and aggregated High level patterns across Discord communities. Users who aren't verified as adults, however, will not be able to access age restricted servers and channels and won't be able to speak in Discord's live stream like stage channels and will see content filters for any content Discord detects as graphic or sensitive. They will also get warning prompts for friends requests from potentially unfamiliar users, which is not a real bad thing. And DNS from unfamiliar users will automatically be filtered into a separate inbox. So you. One of three things will happen. One, you'll automatically be verified as an adult because of your past usage. Two, you will be required if you want more sensitive content than a teenager would be allowed, you'd have to put in your id. Or three, you just, you just do the teenage version now. The majority report Discord is I would imagine, very teen friendly. We try and don't have any sensitive information, but in the main a little scary when you have to, I don't know, whatever they'll requirement, like take a picture of your passport or something like that. I myself am a G rated person. People know this about me and so. Or pg. I think I would be so, you know, I would not do that.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

You could start a little thread on Apple, different apples that you like. That seems like what you'd be doing on the Discord.

[Matt Leckie]

Yep.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

Macintosh, that's your favorite, right?

[Sam Seder]

Get the hell out of here. Macintosh is fine.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

I didn't mean to be so inflammatory in the free half.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, no, it's. I mean it's. It's a little straightforward and it's not, it's not static. It's not static. It's not static. I mean it changes it really. Actually, honestly, it depends on the year because different apples perform better in different years.

[Matt Leckie]

It's a function of like you like the 2019 Macintosh.

[Sam Seder]

Honestly, like that, that was a good year for Macintoshes. I remember that trying to think of like what was the best Apple like Snapdragon underperformed this past year, but it was great the two years prior. So.

[Matt Leckie]

Fascinating.

[Sam Seder]

I cannot tell you how many people in my personal life say just like, are you this boring on purpose? Say it to my face. Ramona Frankenstein says, I will say it shocked me just how many Mr. Listeners are in New Hampshire. The fact that I've had multiple people be like, wait, are you the Ramona Frankenstein is extremely funny. I want all of us to do a reverse free state project thing and turn New Hampshire into a socialist utopia. Also check out the AM Quickie at AM quickie.com three days a week. Whitney and Corey provide you a great breakdown of the news. Super quick but super relevant from a lefty perspective. And if you want five days a week, it's a couple extra bucks. Matt, what's happening in the Matt Leckie and media universe?

[Matt Leckie]

Yeah. A new episode of Left Reckoning went up yesterday. Talking with Greg Stoker and Etienne Rosas about their campaigns for Texas Congress, which people should check out. And also talking with Robert Svarla about Epstein and the recent email revelations and how to think of his sort of connection. So check that out. Patreon.com left Reckoning to get our Sunday show this weekend.

[Sam Seder]

All right, folks, see you in the fun half. Three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're going to look back and go like, wow.

[Caller or Guest (possibly Francesca Fiorentini or another regular guest)]

What?

[Sam Seder]

What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on. Hold on for a second. Emma, welcome to the program. Fun Half. Matt who? Fun Half. What is up, everyone? Fun Half. No. Mickey, you did it. Fun Half.

[Emma Vigeland]

Let's go, Brandon.

[Sam Seder]

Let's go, Brandon. Fun Half. Brandon, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

I'm just a random guy.

[Sam Seder]

It's all the boys today.

[Emma Vigeland]

Fundamentally false.

[Sam Seder]

No.

[Matt Leckie]

I'm sorry.

[Sam Seder]

Women. Stop talking for a second. Let me finish. Where is this coming from? Dude? But. Dude, you want to smoke this seven egg?

[Emma Vigeland]

Yes.

[Sam Seder]

Hi. You're safe. Yeah. Is this me? Is it me? It is you. Is this me? Oh, it's me. I think it is you who is, you know, sound every single freaking day. What's on your mind?

[Jasper Nathaniel]

We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism.

[Sam Seder]

I'm gonna go smart. Libertarians.

[Matt Leckie]

They're so stupid.

[Sam Seder]

Though common sense says of course.

[Emma Vigeland]

Gobbledy gook.

[Sam Seder]

We nailed him.

[Emma Vigeland]

So what's 79, 21 challenge?

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Man, I'm positively quivering.

[Sam Seder]

I believe 96. I want to say 857. 210. 501. 1/2. 3, 8, 9, 11.

[Matt Leckie]

For instance.

[Emma Vigeland]

$3,400. 1900. 54.

[Sam Seder]

$3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game. Actually. You're making me think less. But. But let me say this.

[Matt Leckie]

Call it satire.

[Sam Seder]

Sam goes satire on top of it all.

[Pam Bondi]

My favorite part about you is just.

[Emma Vigeland]

Like every day all day.

[Sam Seder]

Like everything you do. Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We see you. All right, folks, folks, folks.

[Emma Vigeland]

It's just the week being weeded out. Obviously.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah. Sun's out, guns out. I, I, I don't know.

[Emma Vigeland]

But you should know.

[Sam Seder]

People just don't.

[Matt Leckie]

Like to entertain ideas anymore.

[Sam Seder]

I have a question. Who cares?

[Matt Leckie]

Our chat is enabled, folks.

[Sam Seder]

I love it. I do love that. Gotta jump, gotta be quick. I gotta jump. I'm losing it, bro. Two o', clock, we're already late. And the guys before being a dick. So screw them. Sent to a gulag.

[Emma Vigeland]

Outrageous.

[Sam Seder]

Like, what is wrong with you?

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Love you.

[Sam Seder]

Bye. Love you. Bye. Bye.