In short
Podcast Summary: Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - Episode 12/1/25
Episode Overview In this episode of Breaking Points, hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti discuss three major topics:
- OpenAI's financial struggles and projections.
- A shooter with CIA connections linked to Afghanistan who opened fire on National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request for a pardon amid corruption charges.
Key Topics Discussed
OpenAI's Financial Disaster
- Current Financial Status: OpenAI is described as a "loss-making machine," with estimates indicating it may not achieve profitability by 2030.
- Funding Needs: The organization might require an additional $200 billion to meet commitments, with debts accumulating to $1.4 trillion in compute commitments.
- Risks of AI Investment: Krystal and Saagar discuss the implications of the financial model driving AI investments, highlighting the potential for increased costs, inflationary pressures, and risks of a future recession tied to AI projects.
- Market Response: Oracle's significant deal with OpenAI led to a loss of $315 billion in market value, raising concerns about the sustainability of such investments.
CIA-Linked Afghan Shooter in D.C.
- Incident Overview: The episode covers a recent shooting in Washington, D.C., where an Afghan national, previously part of a CIA-backed death squad, shot two National Guardsmen, leading to one fatality.
- Background of the Shooter: The suspect was recruited at 15 to join a CIA-supported unit and was involved in morally questionable operations, including murder, while in Afghanistan.
- Implications of the Shooting: The discussion extends to the broader issues of "imperial blowback," raising questions about the mental health and integration of individuals with violent military backgrounds into American society.
Netanyahu's Pardon Request
- Corruption Charges: Netanyahu, facing allegations of fraud and corruption, has formally requested a pardon, sparking political controversy and debate about rule of law in Israel.
- Political Climate: The request has drawn criticism from opponents, suggesting it undermines democratic principles, especially as Netanyahu was previously unpopular amid protests against his governance.
- International Reactions: The episode touches on reactions from former President Trump, who expressed support for Netanyahu and criticized the perceived political motivations behind the corruption charges.
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI's Struggles: The financial instability of AI companies like OpenAI could lead to broader economic consequences for consumers, particularly regarding energy prices and inflation.
- Impact of Warfare on Refugees: The Afghan shooter's case exemplifies the long-term repercussions of U.S. military interventions and the difficulties faced by veterans and refugees in adapting to life in the U.S.
- Political Dynamics in Israel: Netanyahu's request for a pardon highlights the challenges facing Israeli democracy and the influence of external political pressures on domestic legal matters.
Final Thoughts The episode encapsulates critical contemporary issues involving AI, military ethics, and political accountability. Krystal and Saagar's discussions challenge listeners to confront the implications of these developments in their broader geopolitical and economic contexts.
For more insights and in-depth discussions, tune into Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar!
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.
0:31Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Over the last couple years, didn't we learn that the folding chair was invented by black people because of what happened in Alabama? This Black History Month, the podcast Selective Ignorance with Mandy B unpacks black history and culture with comedy, clarity and conversations that shake the status quo. The Crown Act in New York was signed in July of 2019, and that is a bill that was passed to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race. To hear this and more, listen to Selective Ignorance with Mandy B from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:28was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Sagar and Crystal here. Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election, and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show. This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else. So if that is something that's important to you, please go to BreakingPoints.com, become a member today, and you'll get access to our full shows, unedited, ad-free, and all put together for you every morning in your inbox.
2:13We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you at BreakingPoints.com. Let's turn now to data centers, more of the political world, and the news media is opening up to this live issue. And let's put this up here on the screen. Quote, the new price of eggs, the political shocks of data centers and electric bills. The New York Times starting to pay attention, actually doing a decent enough job of going over and actually interviewing some of the people who are most affected. So they actually opened the story with cattle ranchers in Georgia. Quote, they had one thing on their minds when they cast their ballots for the state's utility board to make a statement.
2:47They were irked by their escalating electric bills, not to mention an extra 50 bucks a month levied by their local utility to cover a new power plant more than 200 miles away. But after they heard a data center might be built next to their ranch 60 miles southwest of Atlanta, they had enough of Republicans who were far too receptive to the interests of the booming AI industry. first time I ever voted Democrat, Mr. Payton, 58 said. So you can see in that anecdote, the political price now, as this has propelled two Democrats in the state of Georgia to upset. You also, as I have said here before, there are opposition organic movements across the nation, Tucson, Arizona, here in Virginia, New Jersey, all the candidates here in Virginia basically were like against data centers.
3:32The power bills, just what it demonstrates, I think, is that because we have finite amounts of power for a variety of reasons, mostly corruption, but because of that reason, and we're all kind of competing against one another, and at the same time, the government is going all in, based literally on the AI industry, that this will offset a lot of their costs, which are a huge bet on AI, which may not actually be a good bet, and then socialize it to the entire United States and the consumer who's already struggling with inflation. So I think it's one of those where as power prices, you know, look, I think they're going to continue to go up or broadly stay up because of this.
4:11And a lot of the industry has continues to pour all these billions of dollars, which is good for the stock market, not necessarily good for the, quote, real economy because it's the only thing really propping us all that up. It's a huge bet that's increasing costs on the way up, and it could also increase costs on the way down if it does cause a recession. I think that's one of the most dangerous points. No. And that Georgia election. So no Democrats had been elected to that board since 2007. OK. And you have two Democrats who won by like massive. They won by like 20 points. It was not close. And so, you know, there were a variety of reasons.
4:49When I saw that, I was like, you know, it fits my own view of the world a little too closely that this would be all driven by electricity prices and by data centers. So I was glad to see the New York Times go and actually interview voters and come to find out those voters were like, yes, I am a lifelong Republican. And I cast my ballot for two Democrats because I am disgusted with the rate hikes and the data center build downs that are impacting my life directly. So I'm not saying that's 100 percent of what was going on. Part of what was going on is a low turn on election. Part of what was going on is there were some, I think, Atlanta municipal elections that drove more Democrats to the polls.
5:26Those were factors as well that led it to be such a blowout. But it certainly appears that the data center build out and the fact of consistent rate hikes and electricity bills skyrocketing led to the blowout victory of these two Democrats. Now you have, you know, other Democrats who are really picking up the message, realizing that this is an incredibly potent issue. As Sagar mentioned, you had a few trial runs in Virginia as well, where that messaging really seemed to pay off. Mikey Sherrill also ran on freezing any rate hikes on the utilities in New Jersey. So that seems to have helped to power her victory as well.
6:06Tomorrow, we're going to cover this Tennessee special election that is happening tomorrow in a Trump plus 22 district where you have the Democrat Afton Bain, who is running aggressively also on overall affordability, specifically on electricity prices. And I don't know that she's going to be able to pull it off. It is a tough hill to climb and, again, a Trump plus 22 district. But they are nervous enough on the Republican side that they've sent in J.D. Vance. They've sent in Mike Johnson. They're fundraising aggressively. They're running all sorts of very aggressive ads against her. They are nervous that this could be an upset.
6:39And the fact that she's even in the ballpark is completely insane. So we've covered here how Steve Bannon and others realize that this is an incredibly potent populist issue. and the Trump administration is driving the train in terms of the AI build-out. Republicans, of course, are always very close to corporate power. Many Democrats are as well, too, by the way. But I think this is going to become a more and more salient issue as people connect the dots of these data centers that are going in that I'm not super happy about anyway and my electricity prices going up. Yeah, of course. And one of the things that we have to keep looking behind the scenes at is what about the money?
7:20where is it going to come from? Because it's not just now. It's already fueling the data center boom. It's 10 years in the future. Let's go to the next one, please. Put this on the screen. So they say, OpenAI is, quote, a loss-making machine. Estimates it has no road to profitability by 2030 and will need a further$200 billion in funding even if it gets there. Quote, don't call it a bubble. Loss-making monster is on the hook for$1.4 trillion with a T in compute commitments. as companies start turning to debt to fund the AI craze. I actually thought that they summarized it really well and showed even within their funding because even I didn't understand the extent to which not only are the losses the problem, how even with their hundreds of billions in capitalization, that they still don't have the money to even fulfill all of their commitments.
8:08This is why I said, you're gonna pay on the way up in terms of power prices, and you're gonna pay on the way down. If we have a recession, that's gonna affect everything, and everybody's gonna get fired no matter whether you work in AI or not because that's what happened with the financial crisis too. That's what happens. Stocks start to go down 25, 30%. It's a disaster, right? Obviously. And so you can see in all of this that the signs are bubbling up. Let's go to the next one. This is one of the most important ones. We didn't cover it, unfortunately, at the time. This happened about 12, 15 days ago.
8:37But you'll remember I talked about a lot of those vendor finance deals where they announce a deal and then the stock goes up, effectively paying for it, even though no money has yet changed hands. this Oracle deal was really important. They say Oracle is already underwater on its, quote, astonishing$300 billion OpenAI deal. Because what happened is that when Oracle announced the$300 deal with the chatbot, its stock shed some$315 billion in market value. Now, obviously, market cap is not the only thing. That's not exactly saying that they lost some $300 billion. But the equivalents of, quote, Oracle shares have little change over twine.
9:17So the$60 billion loss figure is not entirely wrong. And what it has done is it's costed nearly as much as one entire General Motors or two entire Kraft Heinz. Investor unease stems from the betting of a debt-financed data farm on OpenAI. We have nothing. What they show also is that the theory goes that OpenAI is in a rush to, quote, discover AGI, and that Oracle is, quote, uniquely able to scale the compute capacity. They promise the lowest upfront costs and the fastest path to income generation. But, quote, Oracle doesn't have as much operating profit to burn as its competitors. So throwing everything that it can at supporting this one customer in exchange for an IOU.
10:01Now, the fact is, though, is that the fact that their market cap and their stock is not performing means that people are having less faith in that IOU. And you should, shouldn't you? It doesn't make any sense in the aggregate. So I don't know. I just think that the problem remains the cost is going up for all of us. And if it works, the cost will only continue to go more. But as it goes down and just increasingly looks like at some point something needs to pop, that we will be left kind of like with the wreckage of all these data centers, and then it will be put to use for what? We won't have AGI.
10:37We won't cure cancer. Well, I'll show you all what it's being used for right now. Now, C4, let's put this up here on the screen. This is new, quote, nano banana versus nano banana pro. So on the left, this is an image generator, was a previous image generator. This is a girl who was at a bar, if you're just listening. Bartender in the back. You can just tell it doesn't pass the test. It has this sort of sheen to it where it looks a little bit surreal. It looks good, but it looks a little surreal. If you have a sophisticated eye, you could look at that one and go, I think that's AI. Yeah. The one on the right, for those who are watching, that's also AI generated.
11:12It looks 100%. There's nothing in that photograph that I could be able to identify as fake. Not one. Absolutely not. The lighting is perfect. Everything in the background. It looks like the girl, whoever's sitting across from her, took a picture with their iPhone and posted it. Yes. It's indistinguishable from reality. Not a single thing passes the test on that one for me to say that that is fake. And so, yeah, I mean, that's really what it all, and this kind of remains my critique, is that everything they're doing is slop. It's just slopifying the entire economy. It's like, oh, image generation.
11:48I keep talking about the NFL. But it is important because nobody who's curing cancer is advertising on the NFL. The results are the same. Instead, they're like, hey, book a flight or whatever. I'm like, oh, so you want to replace Expedia? You basically want to replace Google Chrome? That's what they did with the ChatGPT browser. That is not worth all this money being poured and the power bills and everything, image generation. Like, I'm sorry. Yes, it's a better research tool. Cool. I think that's, I actually think it's cool. I use it often. But that's not the promise of like this breakthrough, you know, kind of thing.
12:20It could come potentially with all of that, but I'm not buying, I'm not buying it right now. Well, I hope you're right. Yeah. Because I think the actual promise being fulfilled, you know, I think is a much scarier prospect of them actually making good on their promise to eliminate all or most jobs. I don't think we're ready for that. I don't think we're ready for this. I don't think we're ready for a world where we can't tell fact from fiction. I mean, you think we have responsible political actors and an educated society to be able to parse things out? Do you think that our tech oligarchs that are running our information ecosystem, like Elon with Grok, do you think that they're going to responsibly use this technology?
12:59I think this is already where it's at, incredibly disturbing and incredibly destabilizing. For us to have a sort of shared project here, we have to at least have some metric of a shared reality. And that is under full-scale assault by these AI tools. And there is nothing in place to protect us at this point. One last thing, going back to that Financial Times piece about Oracle and the deal with OpenAI. You know, one of the reasons why this is so significant is because if you think about that infamous chart that showed all the lines going from NVIDIA to OpenAI and from OpenAI back to NVIDIA, you know, all these companies just doing deals with themselves, the way that the bubble has continued to be inflated is that every time one of those deals got done, even though no real new value was being created, investors liked it and the stock price went up.
13:52So there was some, you know, sort of theoretical value that was created, even though nothing real had happened in the economy. Because this deal, which was a sizable deal, didn't react, there wasn't a similar stock market reaction. It begs the question of whether this mechanism that they've used to inflate the bubble, inflate the bubble and keep the line going up, whether that has run its course. So one of the things that has inflated the bubble seems this is one indication that that particular mechanism may have run its course. The way they put it in the article is they say, beyond the charts, a broader question relates to whether an open AI deal is still worth announcing.
14:29A few months ago, any kind of agreement with open AI could make a share price go up. Open AI did very nicely out of its power to reflect glory, most notably in October when it took AMD warrants as part of a chip deal that bumped share price by 24%. But Oracle is not the only laggard. Broadcom and Amazon are both down following OpenAI deal news. While NVIDIA has barely changed since its investment agreement in September without a share price lift, what's the point? Combined trillion dollars of AI CapEx might look like commitment, but investment fashions are fickle. So another warning sign that possibly this thing could be running out of run my now my own opinion not being an expert in that any of this is that they are going to continue to inflate this bubble as long as they possibly can because they have to because a bunch of their fortunes are tied to it the entire u.s economy is tied to it i mean these companies already are too big to fail simply from the fact that we have as you know that our leaders have decided to bet our entire economy on this stuff.
15:34So I think they will move heaven and earth to make sure line continue to go up. But at some point, either they're going to deliver on their promise slash threat to take all of our jobs, or you're going to have a tremendous financial calamity and also perhaps both is also on the table. Yes, that's exactly right.
15:57What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you. I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, it's where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper than the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff, identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore, or loss that changes you, purpose when success isn't enough, peace when your mind won't slow down, faith when it's complicated.
16:35Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
16:54What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.
17:30It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP. It's crazy cast of disciples and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. On a recent episode, I sat down with Nick Jonas, singer, songwriter, actor, and global superstar. The thing I would say to my younger self is congratulations.
18:10You get to marry Priyanka Chopra Jonas. And also, you know, your daughter is incredible. That's beautiful, man. Yeah. Thank you. That's so beautiful. I can see that got you a little... Yeah, for sure. Our daughter, she came to the world under sort of very intense circumstances, which I had not really talked about ever. Growing up on Disney in front of a million, how did that shape your sense of self? I went blank, I hit a bad note, then I couldn't recover. And I built up this idea that music and being a musician was my whole identity. I had to sort of relearn who I was if you took this thing away.
18:50Who am I? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, let's get to Afghans. We're going to skip our fraudster block just because we've gone a little bit long. We want to make sure we have plenty of time with Seth Harp to discuss. Let's get to it. So as you guys probably know, over the holiday, two National Guardsmen were shot here in Washington, D.C., and one of them actually succumbed to their wounds. We are learning quite a bit about the suspected gunman who was an Afghan national who was apparently part of our CIA-backed death squads in Afghanistan before coming over and being granted refugee asylum status here in the U.S.
19:34So to dig into this background and what exactly the hell is going on with it, we have literally the perfect person, Seth Harp, who is an incredible investigative journalist and also the author of the also incredible book, The Fort Bragg Cartel, which we learned is being turned into a series by HBO. Seth, great to have you. Good to see you, man. Good to be with you all. Thanks for having me. Yeah, of course. So let's put E2 up on the screen. This is some of your writing on Twitter about who this guy was. As you say, he was recruited at 15 to kill for the CIA, assigned to a death squad run by the top drug lord in Afghanistan, soul destroyed, murdering innocents on behalf of a pedophile heroin cartel, then brought to live in the alienated hell world of late capitalist America with predictable results.
20:23Tell us what we know about him specifically and about the death squads that he was involved with. Well, that statement that you just showed up there might sound hyperbolic, but unfortunately, those are all accurate statements of reality around this guy and who he was and what the zero units did in Afghanistan. Ramanwala Lakan, I'm sorry, I'm pronouncing his name. He apparently was recruited at 15 to serve in what's called Zero Unit. Zero Unit No. 3 was the one apparently that he was assigned to, also known as the Kandahar Strike Force, which was headed by a U.S. ally, a warlord named Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was the top drug lord in Afghanistan, is a fair way to describe him.
21:12He ran, you know, the zero units were basically U.S. proxy forces that operated at the direction of the CIA and the special forces in Afghanistan. And they primarily did what's called night raids, euphemistically known as night raids. They're more like assassination missions. And they were used extensively throughout the country to kill people that the U.S. intelligence suspected of being Taliban, whether or not they actually were Taliban is quite a different matter. And the reference to pedophilia there is the fact that a lot of these proxy forces, proxy militias, in fact, practiced something called Bacha Bazi, which was a really despicable cultural practice where underage boys were trafficked and sold.
22:01All of this ugliness, this stuff that went on in the criminal client state that the U.S. American national security objectives in Afghanistan, the Kandahar Strike Force that he served in was in the middle of all of it. There was more stuff to it than that as well, land theft, all kinds of criminality. So it's really sad to see that stuff blowing back into the United States. Yeah. So let's put the next one, guys, up there on the screen. This is E3. This talks about his dark isolation. The community was raising concerns. Many of the people around him. Seth, I want to put my conspiracy hat on and I'll just have you kind of steel man.
22:41The official narrative is that this is somebody who was exposed to CIA death squad for years. He's brought over to the United States, suffered mental isolation. At the same time, we've seen many cases of people come to the United States. They're in a dark, they're in a fragile case. They have this killer background. Is it outside the realm of possibility? I'm not saying there's evidence or anything just based on your interpretation, your experience of covering this. I mean, is there any likelihood or possibility of being prodded or influenced by some organization or others around him? I think a lot of people are asking that question considering his background.
23:20I mean, it would be irresponsible of me to just speculate about that without evidence. I do hear what you're saying. You know, what it was the Gusanos from Cuba of the 1960s, all the Cubans that were brought to Florida to train, tried to overthrow Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs operation. Well, after that operation failed for years and years in the 1960s and 70s and 80s, those same veterans of the Bay of Pigs, those kids, they were used to carry out all sorts of off-the-books CIA and JSOC objectives. all across Latin America. They did terrorism and drug trafficking at the behest of some of the shadiest actors in the American national security state.
24:02And so when you look at the idea that 10 ,000 of these zero units, you know, doing assassination missions for 10, 15 years, that they've all been repatriated to the U.S. and are dependent on their CIA handlers for their immigration status or their special immigrant visas, you kind of wonder, you know, to what extent they're a malleable group of people that use and directed for all kinds of nefarious ends. But I don't have any specific information about this, about this killer's motives. Lock on wall is his last name. Yeah. You have pointed out, put E4 up on the screen, that there was another one of these Afghan mercenaries who you said was brought to the U.S.
24:47after Kabul fell, shot a cop in Virginia. You say, listen to the incredible rant he delivers before he snaps and watch how smoothly he draws and racks his weapon. Obviously, a professional killer at his wits end. And I believe, Seth, didn't he say something like, you know, I should have worked for the Taliban. Yeah, I should have served with the fucking Taliban before he draws his weapon on the cops. Yes, that video is very distressing and impressive. Hearing all the things that that Afghan man says, you know, he's another guy who apparently served in a zero unit or served with the special forces in the CIA.
25:22By the way, when we say these people serve with the CIA, I should point out that that's, you know, these are substantially military operations. It's what they call sheep dipping. It's where they say, okay, nominally the CIA is in charge of this mission, but we're going to attach like 30 jsoc guys and 30 green berets to this raid or whatever um and that way that they're exempt from a lot of the um rules that normally apply to military operation certain things like lining people up against the wall and just shooting them which is the sort of stuff that the zero units did but in any event this guy jamal wally apparently also served um in the same sort of capacity and in the video which is really incredible uh eight minute long video when he gets pulled over in Virginia, you can see the sort of frustrations that he faces coming to the United States.
26:10And it's hard not to sympathize with the guy because, you know, imagine being an Afghan who only knows the world of death and drug dealing that characterized occupied Afghanistan to come over to the United States and try to make a life in a place like suburban Virginia and try to figure out things like getting a job and car insurance and like he's complaining that he can't get a job that he can't get disability and that he can't get a driver's license because he doesn't have insurance which is the reason why the cop pulled him over you can just see that the guy's really you know completely at his wits end more police are arriving on the scene and the tension is building and the guy is armed for some reason he appears to be wearing his sidearm and ammunition like externally on a belt uh which you know it's that's legal in texas i don't know virginia um but when he finally makes the decision that he's going to escalate and turn this into a confrontation with the cop i mean the way he draws his weapon and and racks it so quickly and immediately is able to turn around and fire a couple of shots like underhanded across his body at the police officer standing in his window so smoothly shows you know i just watching it you You can tell this is a guy who's been in fights probably.
Read the full transcript
27:29But, you know, there was a cop at his other window who just really quickly put him down. But it's another really disturbing example of, you know, violence blowing back or emanating from these guys that were brought to the U.S. I mean, it's about the clearest example of imperial blowback you could possibly imagine. I think that's fair to say. Yeah, and I think one of the things that's been crazy about this, Seth, is that we're reading the news and it comes out. CIA at age 15. Everyone's like, oh, it was CIA at age 15. And I'm like, hold on. Say that again? Teenager working for a CIA death squad in Afghanistan?
28:04And we're just like all supposed to just accept that this is apparently normal? I mean, I didn't even know, based on your work and others later on. But at that time, nobody was going around telling the American people that this is exactly what they're up to in Afghanistan. Combined, I think, with your book, what we're watching is an organized kind of effort for all of us to deal with. Like you said in your book about the blowback of what all these special operations, the mental toll on others, that this 20-year campaign, failed campaign, ultimately accomplished and what it brought to our soil.
28:41That's the way I was looking at this. Well, the idea that they would recruit 15 is perfectly consistent with the type of logic that the U.S. military and intelligence agencies bring to bear with these conflicts, because they certainly won't hesitate to kill somebody who's 15. They treat that as a military age male. So there's no internal inconsistency there. But back now, I think, reflects the brutality and ruthlessness with which the United States wage war in Afghanistan for 20 years. Kristi Noem was asked about the killer's background. This is E1, guys. Let's go ahead and take a listen to that.
29:23Why did he do this? Why did he drive across the country and carry out this brazen attack in Washington? Well, the investigation is still ongoing and we're allowing our partnership with the FBI and DOJ to continue to reveal all of the sources of motivation. But we do believe this individual, when they came into the country, we know he was unvetted. He was brought into the country by the Biden administration through Operation Allies Welcome and then maybe vetted after that, but not done well based on what the guidelines were put forward by President Biden. And now since he's been here, we believe he could have been radicalized in his home community and in his home state.
30:05So as we continue to talk to his family and his contacts, more details will be revealed and we'll release those when it's appropriate. But this is something that for these individuals, when they're brought into our country, it's a dangerous situation. If you don't know who they are, if they're coming from a country that's not stable and doesn't have a government that can help you vet them, that we shouldn't allow it. And she indicates that he, quote, could have been radicalized in the United States, which, you know, I would say probably the radicalization came from being on the CIA death squad at the age of 15.
30:37But, you know, they have an interest in making it sound like a scary Islam thing versus a scary deep state CIA imperial blowback thing. And then obviously, like, her thing about he wasn't vetted. I mean, in the context of being part of the death squads and being brought here, et cetera, he was, quote, unquote, vetted. They knew who this guy was. They knew what he was up to. And also worth clarifying that he was actually granted asylum under the Trump administration. So they want to make it a partisan thing. They want to make it a scary Islam thing because that serves their interest in using this for a more aggressive crackdown on immigration from all sorts of countries.
31:13Trump has been talking a lot about Somalians lately, too. Yeah, I don't know what they mean when they say vetted. Vetted for what? I mean, I guess for connections to the Taliban. Right. But it can't be for like terrorism or crime. I mean, the people that the U.S. work with were the drug traffickers and the terrorists in Afghanistan. So I don't know what kind of connections they're looking for or looking to rule out. But yes, like you said, Crystal, in any event, you know, participating in death squad activities when you're still a teenager, that's sufficient to radicalize anybody. You don't have to look too much farther for an explanation, even though, you know, the precise, perhaps mentally ill reasoning that led him to that street corner in Washington, D.C., we may never know.
32:00But it's not really necessary to grasp at the idea that he might have been what radicalized in suburban Virginia. I don't I don't think so. I really doubt that radical Islam had anything to do with the shooter's motivation. I mean, that's why he was attacking National Guards. It looks like he's lashing out at the people who shaped his life with military operations and brought him to the United States and basically set him up to fail. And community where, you know, a person from Afghanistan just has little chance, especially if they're dealing with all the accumulated trauma of having participated in violence and having killed people and having seen innocent people killed and probably having friends killed as well.
32:41So, yeah, Christine Noam's statements can safely be dismissed in that regard. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us, man. We appreciate you, your book, and everything. And the work you do is just so important. I remember the first time we had you on the show for that drug trafficking story from the very beginning. I was like, man, this guy, it's one of those where you just bring together so much information, which I think a lot of us knew. But you put the facts, the words, and some of the work behind it. So thank you. Thank you so much. And the balls, by the way. Yeah, that's true.
33:09Yeah, which we also have. So appreciate and respect. Seth, thank you so much. Great to see you. Thank you guys so much. I'm a big fan of the show. I watch every day. Thanks, brother. Appreciate that.
33:22What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins. And if you can hear me is where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper than the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff. Identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore. Loss that changes you. Purpose when success isn't enough. Peace when your mind won't slow down. Faith when it's complicated.
33:59Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
34:19What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.
34:55It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP. its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. On a recent episode, I sat down with Nick Jonas, singer, songwriter, actor, and global superstar. The thing I would say to my younger self is congratulations.
35:35You get to marry Priyanka Chopra Jonas. And also, you know, your daughter's incredible. That's beautiful, man. Yeah. Thank you. That's so beautiful. I can see that got you a little... Yeah, for sure. Our daughter, she came to the world under sort of very intense circumstances, which I've not really talked about ever. Growing up on Disney in front of a million, how did that shape your sense of self? I went blank. I hit a bad note, then I couldn't kind of recover. And I built up this idea that music and being a musician was my whole identity. I had to sort of relearn who I was if you took this thing away.
36:14Who am I? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So we have some significant developments coming out of Israel, in particular, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is officially requesting a pardon. As you guys probably know, he has been mired in corruption allegations and a corruption trial for years that he has been pushing off again and again into the future by bombing various places and starting various wars. Let's put this up on the screen. This is from the AP. He, Netanyahu, requests a pardon to end his ongoing corruption trial in Israel.
36:52I'll read you a little bit of this. On Sunday, he asked the country's president to grant him a pardon from corruption charges, seeking to end a long-running trial that has bitterly divided the nation. Netanyahu has been at war against Israel's legal system over the charges, said the request would help unify the country at a time of momentous change in the region, but it immediately triggered denunciations from opponents who said a pardon would weaken democratic institutions and send a dangerous message that he is above the rule of law. Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the office of the president.
37:23The prime minister's office said in a statement, the president's office called it an extraordinary request, carrying with it significant implications. Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial after being charged with fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate cases, accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters. He has not been convicted of anything. Netanyahu rejects the allegations, has described the case as what? a witch hunt orchestrated by the media, police, and judiciary. And we can put next one up on the screen.
37:54So one of his rivals supports pardoning Netanyahu if it's conditioned on his leaving politics, which I do not think that Netanyahu would agree to. You know, for those who have followed this closely prior to October 7th, Netanyahu was extremely unpopular. The country was riven with mass protests demanding his ouster and people who were outraged over this corruption and also the changes that he tried to make to basically co-opt the judiciary in order to undercut the corruption charges against him. And our own president, of course, has gotten involved here as well. It can put F3 up on the screen.
38:31So Trump called for Bibi to be pardoned when he gave that, you know, what was basically like looked like a victory speech at the Knesset after the Gaza deal was struck, but he had also put out this Truth Social saying it's terrible what they're doing in Israel to Bibi Netanyahu. He is a war hero and a prime minister who did a fabulous job working with the U.S. to bring great success in getting rid of the dangerous nuclear threat in Iran. Importantly, he's right now in the process of negotiating a deal with Hamas. This was back from a while ago, which will include getting the hostages back. How is it possible that the prime minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a courtroom all day long over nothing?
39:05And then he says cigars, Bugs Bunny doll, etc. It is a political witch hunt, very similar to the witch hunt I was forced to endure. This travesty of justice will interfere with both Iran and Hamas negotiations. In other words, it is insanity doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu. The U.S. of A spends billions of dollars a year, far more than any other nation protecting and supporting Israel. Well, that part at least is true. We're not going to stand for this. We just had a great victory with Bibi Netanyahu at the helm, and this greatly tarnishes our victory. Let Bibi go.
39:35He's got a big job to do. So, you know, pretty extraordinary, I guess, for one of the things they're saying is typically you like go through the trial and find out whether or not the person is found guilty before you grant the pardon. So that is one part of this that would be extraordinary. But, you know, Netanyahu has pushed this thing off, pushed this thing off, pushed this thing off, pushed a reckoning over the security failures too of October 7th off and off and off into the future, and really has consolidated a lot of political power, control, and popularity within Israel over his conduct of this genocide.
40:12Yes, I think, but I think that the irony of it is that he still has to admit guilt if he wants his pardon within the Israeli legal system. And so I don't know. I mean, it's one of those where the mere pardon. One of the things that is fascinating about Trump is that the United States, when it intervenes in other countries, usually does so under much more of the veneer of respectability. But as we talked about earlier with Honduras, he's straight up like, I want this government to win. And so I'm going to pardon this guy and you guys should vote for Orin with Millay. He's like, your aid is contingent on who you elect.
40:45I mean, it's as open and shut as like, there's no Maidan conspiracy. Yeah, it's just brazen in the open. It's just out in the open. And so I guess what this admits, though, is that, yeah, Israel is a client. Like one of the things that Bibi often does is he'll be like, well, we're an independent nation, right? But that's not what this is about. Trump straight up was like, you guys need to pardon him. His contingent relationship is on this leader and making sure that he can continue to serve. Also, to all this bullshit did we hear about how throughout the war is we'll talk about October 7th after the war.
41:15Now, obviously, the war is still continuing because there's ceasefire violations happening from the Israelis all the time. But in Israel, what happened to that? Does anybody want to, you know, it's obvious that his entire strategy, it worked. Two years, led Israel through the war, okay? And now he's going to get his pardon. I don't know if he'll win re-election or not, but they're currently feuding with Ehud Barak over whether Epstein was a Mossad asset and intervening in their election. Over who he was working on behalf. Over which Israeli government he was working on behalf. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
41:51It's just, it's so crazy, you know, this entire thing. So the pardon, I mean, again, the funny part about it all for the whole Qatar thing is it all involves Qatar. Like in terms, not just in his own case, but I'm saying the corruption within the Likud party, so much of it revolves around Qatari money and bribery. And yet, of course, that's skated over by the Zionist people here in the US. So I don't know. You learn a lot from it. It's crazy.
42:21What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, it's where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper than the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff. Identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore. Loss that changes you. Purpose when success isn't enough. Peace when your mind won't slow down. Faith when it's complicated.
42:59Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
43:18What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.
43:54It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP, its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. On a recent episode, I sat down with Nick Jonas, singer, songwriter, actor, and global superstar. The thing I would say to my younger self is congratulations, you get to marry Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
44:37and also you know your daughter's incredible that's beautiful man yeah thank you that's so beautiful i can see that got you a little yeah for sure our daughter she came to the world under sort of very intense circumstances which i've not really talked about ever growing up on disney in front of million how did that shape your sense of self i went blank i hit a bad note, then I couldn't recover. And I built up this idea that music and being a musician was my whole identity. I had to sort of relearn who I was if you took this thing away. Who am I? Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
45:23At the same time, we also wanted to highlight this horrifying video that is forcing at least some sort of a response from Israel. You know, I mean, it's seldom that their war crimes actually rise to the level of them even pretending. This one rose to the level of, we're going to pretend to do an investigation. That's what this one rose to. This video is very disturbing. Before I play it, just a warning. This is deeply disturbing. I'm going to put this up on the screen. This was in the West Bank. You can see these two suspects who are exiting what appears to be a warehouse, and they lift up their shirts to show that they are unarmed and they don't have any explosives, then they are instructed to go back into the warehouse and they are executed.
46:06And then the, you know, this heavy machinery sort of drops this door on top of them. But, you know, you have two individuals, hands up, unarmed, and whoever they were, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is claiming them as their own. whoever they were, you are not supposed to execute people who are surrendering and who are unarmed. And yet that's exactly, exactly what happened in this video. And again, this happened in the West Bank. But, you know, so there are some, some in, you know, recrimination, some like, oh, we'll look into it. We'll investigate what happened here. But not everyone is even going along with that.
46:48You've got Ben Gavir, who took it upon himself. We can put this next piece up on the screen, to promote the officer in particular who sort of took charge of the scene and had his soldiers shoot dead these surrendered Palestinians. So the people who committed these brazen crimes on camera, not only are they not being punished, but Ben Gavir has promoted this officer and, you know, job well done. Great work on this. This is exactly what you should be doing. So I want people to understand, like every time some Zionist or liberal Zionist, whoever, tries to tell you like, oh, he's Ben Gavir, he's a fringe character.
47:35He doesn't represent all of Israel, blah, blah, blah. This guy has real power. He is a part of this administration. He has real and significant power and he is able to take actions such as this. There was another video I decided not to keep it in the show because it included like young children in it of Smokurch, who is another complete and total psycho going into what appears to be a classroom. And these young girls going like he's, you know, like he's the Beatles in the 60s, like going wild for him. You know, this society has just it is just captured by this. Not everyone, but captured by this genocidal media.
48:14You can see it in the polls. You can see it in the response to actions like this. You can see it in the way that they like lionize and revere Smotrich. And this is something we talked about towards the beginning, Sagar, when everyone's like, why are these IDF soldiers filming their atrocities? it's because they were celebrated and treated like heroes oftentimes for recording the cruelty, the barbarians and the war crimes that they were committing against Palestinians. So there was a domestic reward for them from those videos. Yeah. And it shows up in policy. And I think that's one of the parts where, you know, in the U.S., everyone just whitewashed.
48:48Like that video, if it, yeah, you'll see it here. You're not going to see it most places in the mainstream media or others, even with the West Bank in the way that we approach like our ambassador. It's just amazing to me the shit they get away. I'm still not over Jonathan Pollard. Are you? No. I'm still so, I'm so angry about it. The hypocrisy, they tell us, oh, they share our Western values. That's what I'm saying. They're a light of a beacon of democracy and that's why we should support them endlessly. And then you see a video like this and you're like, well, tell me about that. And the officer involved gets a promotion.
49:23How is this anything approximating the values that we're supposed to stand for. Yeah, exactly. Same with the West Bank. And that's why, here's the reason, is because if you take this in, then when they start talking about Qatar or Saudi, they're like, oh, look at the Saudis. They chop people's heads off. I'm like, yeah, that's pretty bad. It's kind of like shooting people who are unarmed or murdering innocent women and children. That's all bad, right? But the point is, is that then we start to view everybody on the same terms. That's a nightmare for them. They need their special exception and they just have to maintain this insane image, you know, here in the U.S.
49:57A lot of this, like, again, everything they accuse, a lot of the things that they accuse others, and specifically Islamic nations, they do the same shit, like in their own society. And so, yeah, you guys, you're just the same, if anything. I think it's a nightmare, actually, for their relations with the U.S. And, you know, look, us neutral observers and others, you can see that, like you actually can. And this is genuinely dispassionate, just to look at it and be like, okay, this is apparently how this nation, its people want to conduct themselves. All right, fine. But you know, you're not, that doesn't mean you get a blank check from me or, or the, you know, full force of my empire to backstop your insane dreams of greater Israel.
50:38But that's what they need to maintain. And that's why they keep up their efforts here in the West. I did want to share one piece of significant good news, which is that a Palestinian-American teenager, 16-year-old, who was being held in Israeli detention for nine months, who was in the West Bank visiting from Florida, visiting some relatives. The Israelis claimed that he had thrown rocks, which he had denied. And they held him in this prison system as known for torture and abuse. Again, an American citizen. And he was finally, finally released. And I want to shout out Jasper Nathaniel. And I want to shout out his mom, who have been relentless in calling attention to this case and demanding that American politicians act on his behalf to get him released from this unjust imprisonment.
51:29And I also want to shout out Chris Van Hollen, Senator of Maryland. I mean, this isn't even, this guy's from Florida. This isn't even one of his constituents. But he was apparently very aggressive, pushing for Mohammed Ibrahim's release here. He was 15, by the way, when they originally detained him. He was taken to a hospital. Afterwards, he was pale, underweight, suffering from various conditions that he contracted in captivity, but he's back with his family. And so that's at least one small piece of good news that this particular American hostage, which was being held by the Israelis, a child, has been freed and returned to his family where he belongs.
52:06Yep. That's, that's at the very least, it's good. But yeah, I mean, it's not like there's any outrage or campaign, barely any coverage even of something like this. Yeah, it's sick. I don't know what's going on with this relationship. But anyways, thank you guys so much for watching. We appreciate it. We're gonna get to our AMA now. And so we'll see you all tomorrow.
52:36purpose, peace, faith, and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers. Most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Over the last couple years, didn't we learn that the folding chair was invented by black people because of what happened in Alabama? This Black History Month, The podcast Selective Ignorance with Mandy B unpacks Black history and culture with comedy, clarity, and conversations that shake the status quo.
53:12The Crown Act in New York was signed in July of 2019, and that is a bill that was passed to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race. To hear this and more, listen to Selective Ignorance with Mandy B from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?
53:44I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, a.k.a. neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
From the publisher
Krystal and Saagar discuss OpenAI losing money, CIA linked Afghan shoots National Guard in DC, Bibi begs for pardon.
Juan David Rojas: https://x.com/rojasrjuand/
Seth Harp: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730414/the-fort-bragg-cartel-by-seth-harp/
To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: www.breakingpoints.com
Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.