Stew Peters Show - Sands to Strongholds: Pentagon’s Epic Homeland Pivot

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Sept. 28, 2025 - Stew Peters Show

01:12:52

Sands to Strongholds: Pentagon’s Epic Homeland Pivot

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	So it seems that apparently US officials of some sort have taken upon themselves to talk to the media in this instance that we're going to explore today military times under the promise from the media that they will remain anonymous.
	They have agreed to talk about sensitive information as it relates to military involvement in places around the world.
	And it seems apparently that the president and the cabinet have announced that they're going to shift focus.
	They're going to shift focus now on the homeland, protecting the homeland, and more focus on the Western Hemisphere.
	And as you can probably imagine, that would be China.
	And so today we're going to explore a little bit of this, and we will see where it leads us.
	I'm sure that there's a goat trail or something somewhere that we'll end up down.
	Hopefully not.
	I'd like to stay on track.
	Uh, but I I do not I do not do a good job at doing that sometimes.
	So anyway, today's conversation will be uh structured around that.
	So stick with us, don't go away.
	We start now.
	We start now.
	Hey folks, and welcome here to a another installment of the Richard Leonard Show.
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	Uh okay.
	So the president has announced that they are shifting a global focus to of course the homeland, as we mentioned, and the Western Hemisphere.
	As we know that ever since 9-11, uh our Department of Defense, the Pentagon, uh, the US military, all those things have been focused on this war on terror.
	In fact, even veterans who have served in the military who took part in any of these operations anywhere across the globe, have all received the global war on terrorism service medal.
	So, what does that mean?
	That means that our focus, as far as the the world order of things, was to focus, of course, on the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, we know it was the longest war in our country's history but also all the other places around Iran of course um the the Middle East as a whole um I used to refer to it as not really the Middle East but Southwest Asia um and so I think that all of those apply um I
	don't know I don't know that it's a it's a a super stellar idea to to take away all focus on the Middle East I think that there are or let's just say the Eastern Hemisphere uh but let's just let's say that there are threats there are continued threats.
	I mean after all earlier this summer you the United States did launch uh a pretty a pretty radical I don't I shouldn't even call it radical but as a pretty gnarly mission to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran.
	So for us to say or think that we are shifting focus completely away from that part of the world uh I think would be uh not not a smart thing for us to do.
	Um of course we need to keep an eye we need to probably keep a presence in that part of the world in that part of the world in case something happens something pops off we will have troops there already uh but what does this mean?
	What does this mean that we are now going to focus on the homeland and the Western Hemisphere?
	Well, let's dissect this.
	Let's at least read through it and talk about what this might mean as far as the opinion of Richard Leonard is concerned, which isn't really, it's not a universe-altering opinion.
	I'm not a person of power.
	I'm just a guy that sits here, talks to you through a microphone, and has my own opinions based on my life experience as a military member and just a person who tries to be as observant as possible.
	Because the other thing that we do know to be true is that nowadays, if you don't do your due diligence to look for more information to shape your opinion about what's happening in the world, you are most likely going to roll with whatever lie the mainstream media tells you.
	And I think that we're also finding recently that there are many independent content creators, I guess you could say, podcasts or social media accounts or whatever you want to call it, that are also feeding bullshit to the world.
	But most importantly, for our purposes, the American people.
	And so, as usual, I do like to, when I have conversations with people, I do like to tell them, you know, you really got to take it upon yourself to dig a little bit deeper.
	And really kind of focus on what's important to you and take in all the information, read all the articles, watch the videos, and dissect them and analyze them for yourself the best you can to shape your opinion.
	And then see what all the other stuff that you're being told, if any of it makes sense.
	And some stuff just makes absolutely no sense to me based on how I perceive the information.
	Some of it makes a little bit of sense and some of it is pretty clear to me at times.
	And I think that that is common amongst most people who have made the decision to try to do their own research and try to find things to shape their opinion based on what's important to them.
	And then realizing also that the things that are important to me as it relates to government or the goings-ons of the world may not be important to you or anybody.
	anybody else for that matter at all.
	So keeping those things in mind let's uh let's check out what we got going on here.
	So here is the article in the Military Times new Pentagon strategy to focus on homeland in the Western hemisphere China remains a top national security threat according to officials that tell the military they told the military times this the Pentagon's top national security focus will will mirror that of President Donald Trump's America first agenda with multiple U.S. officials telling military Times that the department will prioritize protecting the homeland and
	the Western hemisphere.
	Counter countering China will remain key national security interest of the new defense strategy, which is expected to be released soon.
	Officials say you know, I always like when they when they just say officials or those people or those guys And and I think it's a little bit different when it's coming from somebody who's doing things like this right um Because we're not, you know, I'm I'm not a trained journalist, right?
	I didn't go to school for journalism.
	I don't have any experience working for a news outlet or anything like that.
	The experience I have is here on this camera, uh, and then at the studio I have for my other platform Three Clicks Media.
	Uh, but other than that, I have no formal training, um, other than I suppose my my bachelor's degree in public relations or communications, um, which isn't very uh, I don't believe gives me a whole lot of pedigree.
	But um who are officials and who are these people, right?
	If we're going to be a bona fide media outlet or source, do you do we have is it okay to say officials?
	Uh and they're going to outline here that these officials agreed to give information um under the the understanding that they would have anonymity.
	And I mean, I can understand it, but I don't know.
	I always feel like it's a little bit fishy when we don't have names or titles or you know, where this information came from, even if it's kind of broad.
	Um, but that's just me.
	Um the Pentagon, the Pentagon document lays out the military's plan to increase lethality, deter aggression, confront adversaries, and defend America's borders.
	A mission one official said was why Trump was elected.
	Republican voters in 2024, in the in the 2024 presidential election, ranked the economy and immigration as their most important issues, which the president has vowed to address and bring under control.
	On January 20th, on his first day in office, uh President Trump signed an executive order calling on uh U.S. Northern Command to help seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and sec and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasions, including uh unlawful mass migration, which it seems as though he's made a a pretty good dent in that.
	I mean, if the numbers that we are told from Tom Holman and his crew are accurate, then Trump is doing that.
	I mean, he said he said that that was one of the things he was going to do, which was a huge reason why I think people voted for him.
	Um territorial integrity and security in the United States, repelling forms of uh invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and traffic, uh human smuggling and trafficking and other criminal activities.
	Um so if we just talk about these couple things, mass migration, narcotics, um, other criminal activities, but human smuggling and trafficking.
	So the mass migration, I believe, if the if the information is accurate, that he's he's addressing it.
	He's addressing it like he said he would.
	Uh narcotics trafficking, according to Cash Patel last week, who testified to uh the Senate committee, uh I believe it was appropriations or uh something like that, that they have seized all kinds of drugs.
	In fact, I think one of the statistics he put out was that they have uh secured enough meth and or fentanyl to kill a third of the U.S. population.
	That's drugs that will not hit the streets.
	Those are drugs that will not kill Americans today.
	Does that mean that it's all gone?
	No.
	I'm sure that there's a lot more.
	Uh but I believe that a third of the American population uh that's a lot of drugs.
	That's a lot, a lot of fentanyl, it's a lot of uh uh of meth.
	Uh And it is good to know that if that is accurate, if it's true, it's a huge dent, not only in not only in saving lives of American people, but it's also a massive kick in the shorts to the cartels, uh, the Chinese, whoever was involved in this.
	I don't know who it was.
	They never really said, uh, but you would imagine that those things come from China.
	They come uh up into America through the southern border.
	Uh, I'm sure a lot of it comes through the northern border as well.
	Um, but this isn't gonna be a massive uh kick in the shorts to the folks who stand to make a whole shit ton of money on these drugs that are now I'm sure destroyed.
	Uh if not, they're being held somewhere for some other purpose, but hopefully they've been destroyed.
	Human smuggling and trafficking, um, I guess that's self-explanatory.
	All right.
	I don't know that we ever will know what the the true numbers are.
	I think that when you talk about things like trafficking in human beings, um a lot of it gets away.
	A lot of it is never uncovered, a lot of it is never talked about or heard of.
	Uh, but the fact that we are saving children, I think I think Cash Patel also put out a statistic that was something like 4300 children or something, or maybe it was 4900 children have been saved and found or or whatever and returned to safety and to their families since the president took over.
	And again, if that is true, that's a pretty that's a pretty impressive statistic in my opinion.
	Uh I can't imagine.
	I have four children.
	Uh I can't imagine one of them being snatched up or coaxed into some kind of online relationship to meet some pervert somewhere and then be drugged or kidnapped or beat up, um, killed, or worse, um, sold to somebody else to suffer through whatever it is they do to these children.
	Uh, and I'm sure it's super dark, and I'm sure it's super gruesome.
	Uh, and so if this is true that we saved between four and five thousand children since the beginning of this year, that's fantastic.
	Hopefully, next year that number doubles.
	Um, we can only hope that the people who are perpetrating our children are are stopped, held accountable, and then dealt the same exact uh viciousness, I suppose is a good word, the same exact viciousness that they've showed these children.
	And then a lot of people get away with it, which is even worse.
	But we can do what we can do.
	And so, again, if all of these numbers are accurate, I think it's a it's a it's a pretty it's a pretty strong statistic that the president could hang his hat on.
	Uh hopefully this stuff is true.
	What the chances of it being true, uh, I'm I'm positive are not a hundred percent.
	So um what that percentage might look like, I don't know.
	Uh, but I think that there's a lot of a lot of things that we are not told.
	There are a lot of truths that we as Americans will never know.
	We'll never know the truth about a lot of things.
	We'll never know the full truth about Epstein, we'll never know the whole truth about Diddy, we'll never know the whole truth about the Clintons, we'll never know the whole truth about all kinds of things that have happened that quite frankly, the American people deserve to know the whole truth.
	And probably now more than ever, because as we all know, uh the wool has been pulled over our eyes on a whole lot of shit.
	And I think one of the positive things about our country right now, if you know, if we can name if we can name any, is that we do have enough people seemingly in the communities across this country that care, that care about the fact that they may be being lied to.
	They care about the fact that innocent people are suffering and they're going without, they're being thrust out of their livelihoods for whatever reason.
	Uh parents losing their children, uh, spouses losing their their other spouse.
	I mean, there's just a lot of things going on, and unfortunately, I just don't think that we're gonna ever know the real truth about all of it.
	We may not never know the no we may not ever know the real truth about any of it.
	So take what we can get, and that's why I say I think it's important.
	It's important for you to get down and dirty and do your own research and and make up your own mind without being swayed by one thing or the other.
	So it's important that we that we if we're gonna pick a topic to dive into that we look at both sides of the story, look at anybody who may be in the middle of both sides, take it all in, digest it, maybe sleep on it for a day, and then formulate your own opinion, and then ask questions, and then dig a little bit deeper to find the answers to your questions.
	Sometimes they've right they're hiding right out in plain sight.
	Uh, I think that that's I think it's pretty clear now.
	I mean, we have enough technology, we have enough people who are I gotta I gotta say this quick.
	Um, ever since uh the assassination of Charlie Kirk, uh, among other things happening in this country.
	I gotta I have to give some credit to some of these internet sleuths.
	Some of these folks who sit at a computer, maybe it's after work into the night, or they sit at a computer all day and they start dissecting this and they start watching and they start formulating ideas.
	And not just in in Charlie Kirk's assassination.
	I think that there's I think that there is a whole shit ton of theories about what happened, and I think that probably 85 to 90% of them are complete and utter bullshit.
	Uh, but again, I don't know that we'll ever know the full truth.
	Uh so anyway, let's continue.
	Um defense of the American homeland has historically been the top national security priority for Republicans and Democratic Democratic presidents alike.
	To achieve this goal, the Pentagon has used a combination of projecting military power forward to meet threats where they are, building alliances to work together against common enemies, maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent, and building a missile defense capability to protect key population centers.
	After the U.S. was attacked on September 11th, okay, here we go, Washington shifted on uh shifted to a counter-terror focus as near-peer competitor Beijing continued to devo to develop its military.
	This is the interesting part.
	During during Trump's first administration, the Pentagon reprioritized the focus on great power competition with China and Russia over countering terrorism, keeping its competitive advantage over China and Russia remained the department's top priority under the Biden administration.
	One official stressed to Military Times this week that the new NDS will not will not be a complete shift away from China.
	Instead, the official said the Pentagon can use this hyper focus on the Western Hemisphere to better counter Chinese evil activity in Latin America and a region even though as it's thought of China is often thought of apparently as America's backyard.
	And I think that this is an important point because there was a massive shift after 9-11.
	Uh, and it wasn't very apparent to me.
	I mean, I was in my second year of college when uh when 9-11 went down.
	In fact, the day that it went down uh and it was all over the TV, I was brushing my teeth in my dorm room, getting ready to go to class that morning.
	Uh and then, of course, the the the universe blew up for America as we watched what happened uh classes were canceled all of these things and um you could feel you could feel the the shift you could feel the change and I will say that at that point in my life I didn't I didn't follow politics I wasn't interested in the goings ons of the world I was more concerned
	trying to get halfway decent grades and make sure I wasn't late to football practice.
	You know, and so my interest in being informed about what's happening around the world didn't come to me until I joined the military.
	And so, but this is a good point.
	We went right to a counterterrorism posture in this country.
	It seems like if you look back, it seems like for the most part, all of these initiatives that were in place to try to keep up with other world's militaries, right?
	Because part of the challenge is to make sure that you have adequate equipment, that it's advanced enough to compete in case you're attacked or need to attack somebody else for whatever reason.
	And having superior equipment and technology is something that's very important, right?
	I mean, if we think about it, just having rifles that shoot bullets and have any old tank that can fire heat rounds or sable rounds or cannon rounds, whichever ones, downrange and hit a target is one thing.
	But having equipment and munitions and lethality as high as possible.
	If you can be the most lethal military in the world, well, you'll probably be pretty safe.
	And so we went right to counterterrorism.
	And as the, as this reporter is saying, the rest of the world, the rest of our biggest enemies, China and Russia at the time continued to grow their army.
	They continued to research better equipment, better munitions.
	They began to just to, to do more to keep their lethality growing versus us who went on the, the, the offense as it pertains to terrorism.
	Was that a good move?
	Maybe, maybe not.
	It seems as though now it may have not have been the best move, but I would argue that, uh, America still has superior firepower equipment, aircraft, all of those things.
	So maybe we didn't lose a lot of ground in that sense.
	Um, but I don't know, man.
	I think that, I think that if the American military was allowed by the powers that be in this instance, in this instance, president Trump and, and Pete Hegseth in the, in the event of a war breaking out or some.
	some big battle that we need to be involved in if the U.S. military was allowed to use its munitions and its equipment and its tools of war to their full potential I don't know that there's any military in the world that can stop us I believe that part of the problem is that the bureaucrats the powers
	that be the leadership in this country and also in our military, the handcuffed soldiers.
	For example, when I went to the Middle East on my second deployment, we were stationed in Kuwait.
	It was at the time when they said the war was over and we were closing the gate from Kuwait to Iraq.
	We were pulling out.
	And so part of the mission of our brigade was to convoy into into Iraq as as far as as we were allowed or as far as was feasibly possible.
	I mean some some units, some elements went all the way to northern Iraq, but most of them I don't know went a whole lot further north of Baghdad.
	I could be wrong about that.
	And then they would bring soldiers, you know, that were stationed up there, but most importantly, equipment, um, vehicles, uh, all kinds of stuff.
	They would bring it back to Kuwait.
	The stuff that they thought was valuable enough to do that.
	I mean, don't be mistaken.
	Uh I had a few friends that were on these convoy teams that went into Iraq to close down these bases, and the things that they said we left uh was quite extensive.
	Uh much like we talk about leaving all of our equipment and our weapons and aircraft and all that stuff in Afghanistan, when we unasked that AO, I don't believe it was that bad, but we left a lot of electronics, TVs, computers,
	uh, hopefully they were all wiped, uh, a lot of vehicles, a lot of um permanent structures, uh, and even modular structures, uh, you know, places where soldiers were sleeping or officing out of all of that stuff, left millions and millions of dollars, maybe even a couple billion of dollars worth of equipment and things.
	And then when they closed down the base when the last truck was gone from a lot of these places in Iraq, they just left the gates open.
	So first come, first serve on all of America's vehicles and things that they left.
	But they did bring, they did bring a lot of stuff back.
	I saw the trucks rolling through Kuwait.
	Um so what that stuff was, I don't know.
	I wasn't part of that part of that uh element that did that stuff.
	I just know people that were there.
	So I mean, there's just a lot of there's a lot of questions, and there's a lot of contradicting information about a lot of stuff.
	I mean, the example of closing down Iraq was just one example.
	Um, look at this.
	We are out of time for the segment.
	Boy, it went really fast.
	Uh stick with us, folks.
	Don't go away.
	We'll be right back.
	We'll be right back.
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	Um let's continue uh on with the article.
	Uh just to just to make sure we get it all in.
	Uh for far too long, Russia and Iran have been active in Latin America.
	Hmm.
	And Washington's response has often been somewhere between non-existent and ineffective.
	And this came from Bradley Bowman, who is the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
	That has to be one of the longest titles of an organization.
	Wow.
	Uh anyway, that's Bradley Bowman.
	Uh however, analysis, including Bradley Bowman, caution that if the U.S. only brings a military hammer to a region that needs interagent interagency and public slash private sector support for its economic challenges, the U.S. will lose the competition with China in Latin America and waste a lot of money and military resources.
	So what does that mean?
	What does that mean?
	That if we uh where is it here?
	Uh if we only bring a military hammer to a region that needs interagency and public-private sector support for economic challenges, the U.S. will lose the competition with China.
	So this is this is a perspective of it's not just about military force.
	It's not just about uh just about occupying, it's not just about uh conducting some kind of ghost operation to take out China in Latin America, but it seems to me that they're also talking about goods and services.
	Uh that if if we only if we only go in to Latin America or Mexico or whatever, uh with military force and might.
	Well, there's a whole lot of other things that we're going to destroy.
	Right?
	I mean, we all know that if there are military operations that involved any kind of combat, there's collateral damage.
	And maybe there's something to that.
	I mean, it wasn't long ago that the president deemed um MS-13, Trend Aragua, all these other Latin gangs as terrorist organizations, all these cartels.
	And so if we're going to bring the fight to the cartel, uh, I guess I'm not necessarily opposed to that, but if it also means that we're going to lose in massively in other areas, well, maybe that's something to consider.
	But but what we do need to focus on is making sure that the overwhelming amount of of drugs and and other bullshit, trafficking, and all these other things that are coming into our country through these other places.
	What's the what's the what's the better option, right?
	Do we do we take the fight right to the cartels and just wipe them off the face of the map?
	And then maybe there's a conversation later with these other governments in South America and Mexico or whatever to help rebuild and and and revitalize their countries.
	Maybe that's part of it.
	Or maybe it needs to be more calculated.
	I don't know.
	I'm not a I'm not a military strategist, I'm just an infantryman.
	Uh, but I would not want to be one of the people that had to make these decisions because it seems like there's a whole lot of other uh uh a whole lot of other bullshit to sift through.
	Uh there's a whole lot of other people that you need to appease when you make these decisions.
	And so it seems like it ends up being uh a conversation or something that you have to be willing to sacrifice something from your side to get something that you want.
	And I would argue that as it relates to drugs, as it relates to massive migration, as it relates to human trafficking and all those things that we talked about earlier in the article.
	I don't know that we need that we want to or should be sacrificing our stance on those issues.
	Because at the end of the day, those things all lead to a whole lot of heartache and hard times for American people.
	And is it a situation where if America said, I don't care what anybody says, we're gonna stop this, we're gonna bring the fight to them, and we're going to we're gonna just end this.
	I don't know that there's enough bureaucrats, if any, that are willing to give up their seat, come next election, willing to give up any kind of donation money or anything like that.
	I don't know that there's any bureaucrat that's willing to give up money, power, or control, or all three to stop this stuff completely.
	Because we hear a lot of people talking about due process and and this and that and the other thing.
	Well, at what at what point, at what point do our leaders in this country make the decision that we need to protect our people?
	The American people deserve to be safe.
	They deserve to be protected.
	I mean, that was the old that was a whole idea, right?
	Of this place.
	That's a whole that's a whole reason why I why our founding fathers wrote the documents.
	That was the idea.
	The American people deserve to be protected and and represented fairly.
	And somewhere along the lines, clearly, we've lost that.
	And so again, we may never know the truth.
	We may never know exactly what's going on, and we may never even see any positive change in in the near future, maybe even in our lifetime.
	Who knows?
	I know things are so divided and polarized at this point uh that it almost seems like it's we're just waiting.
	We're just waiting for the hammer to fall anyway.
	So you guys do what you're going to do.
	Those of us who are just regular guys and regular gals, um, we're gonna we're gonna get ourselves in order, right?
	Because if the rapture is coming, you gotta get yourself right.
	And you and then just live day by day, do the best you can, be the best human being you can be, all of those things.
	And it does get frustrating.
	Uh, I agree a thousand percent with people who are like, well, you know, this shit just gets so frustrating, uh, because I'd like to know what it's all for.
	You know, why are uh veterans talk about it all the time.
	Why did I hand the government a blank check for my life to defend something that some say is a complete and utter lie.
	It's a it's a complete fabrication, and and none of it is ever going to equate to anything positive.
	Uh some people really believe in it.
	They believe in this idea of America and this pursuit of happiness and and democracy and all this other stuff.
	And you know, there's either you're on one side or the other, uh there, and then the third position is to be in the middle.
	Uh and I think that on a lot of issues, me personally, I'm in the middle on uh on quite a few things.
	And and probably because I don't I don't often I don't feel like there's enough information to pick a side.
	Uh a lot of times I feel like, well, you know, this these people seem their stories compelling, the words that they're saying are compelling, but it seems like there's something missing.
	Or there's some pretty big questions to be answered.
	And so it becomes hard to pick one side or the other.
	Um let's see here.
	Um, however, analysts, including Bowman, caution that if the U.S. only brings military hammer, we read that.
	Uh, Mr. Bowman also, uh, he has also warned that defending U.S. vital interests in the Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East, while adopting a more robust U.S. military posture in Latin America could quickly exacerbate existing shortfalls in U.S. military capacity.
	And I that's true.
	That's true.
	We don't have the numbers.
	We don't have the numbers to shift our focus this massively to the Western hemisphere and the homeland, and then keep up all the military operations we have, for example, in the Middle East.
	Um, we don't have enough people joining the military, even though recruitment is uh allegedly, as we're told, it's it's going up.
	Uh all the services to the best of my knowledge have have reached and some even exceeded their annual recruitment goal, and so that's positive.
	But I really don't know that we still have any kind of uh uh size, we don't have the numbers to conduct these operations all over the world, not in a way that would make them uh something that benefits the American people.
	Uh and so, of course, then if you stretch yourself too thin, that leaves you open somewhere or extremely weak somewhere.
	And so this may be a thing where we need to make a decision.
	Not we, as in you and me, but our leadership, our our our president, our government, they need to make a decision about what the focus is gonna be.
	And if you ask me, the number one focus at this point in time should a thousand percent be our borders.
	A hundred percent.
	I believe that there are people and and organizations, if you want to call them organizations, but there are groups of people in many places in this world that are looking for us to completely crumble and fail.
	And when that happens, if that happens, we're really going to be in the hurt bag.
	So something like being careful not to stretch our military too thin or overwork them, overburden them, uh, is probably pretty important.
	We saw some of that, you know, during the later stages of the Iraq-Afghanistan wars.
	Soldiers were being deployed six, seven, eight, nine times, depending on your branch of service and what your job was.
	The one thing you're never going to get, well, I shouldn't say that, because there's probably a lot of them now.
	But back when I served in the early 2000s, I believe it would have been difficult to get most people to sit out of a deployment.
	Not because they wanted to go fight tyranny and take down terrorist organizations or whatever.
	They didn't, it wasn't because they wanted to bring democracy to somewhere else in the world.
	I mean, all those are those touchy feely things that they talk about.
	But it would have been pretty hard, in my opinion, to get a bunch of soldiers to sit out when their brothers and sisters are going forward.
	I could tell you one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my military career, other than hand over my six-month-old son to uh his mother without knowing if I was ever going to see him again, was to after I got uh blown up by an IED and was told that I couldn't I couldn't go outside the wire for a while.
	I think it was three weeks while they they monitored my my concussions and my my brain and and all those things.
	It was really difficult to watch my team leave.
	I would sometimes go sit in the uh in the talk and and try to listen in on the radio traffic to see what was happening, see what was going down.
	Uh, but sometimes I wasn't allowed.
	Uh I was I was taking up too much space, maybe, I don't know.
	Uh, maybe I had too many questions or opinions or something of that nature.
	But uh it was a really difficult thing.
	And so I I believe that if we are going to stretch our military too thin, um, people are gonna get overburdened.
	Um their deployable status will diminish, and then we leave ourselves open.
	And not only that, but then let's think about what effect that has on the men and women who are strapping up boots every day and putting on body armor and going out and fighting battles or doing you know, civil affairs work or whatever it is.
	We as a country have to take care of these people after they've done all that.
	And so another consequence of overburdening our military force is that we have to then take care of them.
	Not that we don't want to take care of them, not that we shouldn't take care of them, but we already have a lot of discussion, and there's a lot of examples out there currently and and in the not so distant past and the distant past, I guess, about how veterans are not necessarily taken care of.
	Not the way that they were promised anyway.
	And so when we hear things like, you know, if we do this, this, and this, well, we could overburden our military, and that's not good because we don't have numbers to do that.
	But we don't ever talk about in these instances, there is never talk about the aftermath.
	There's never talk about how it affects the men and women who are fighting the battles, the ones that are sacrificing everything for this mission, whether they agree with it or not.
	Those discussions aren't had, and if they are had, they're not public.
	But people like me think about that.
	I think that there's probably a whole lot of other veterans slash military people, family members, those types of things that do think about that.
	And I'm gonna go on a limb and say, I don't know that if it's always really taken into consideration when these decisions are made.
	Maybe it is.
	Maybe there's a a guy or a gal in these meetings that are going, wait a minute, hold on.
	If we do this, this, and that what is the aftermath going to look like?
	You know, we've had a dis we've had discussions before about how it would be difficult to be the person uh with a whole lot of bling on your chest as far as rank goes, having some meeting with other military leaders about some operation or some battle or some something, some military operation
	and then get to the part where we talk about what are our expected losses and i tell you man that would not be a job that i want I don't want to be part of planning a military operation and then having to to come to terms with the fact that, well, okay, we're gonna send 250 soldiers here to do this.
	Um we're expecting a uh 12% uh personnel loss, uh a five percent personnel loss.
	Those things have to be part of the conversation, right?
	Because you got to talk about reinforcements, you gotta have QRF online, you gotta have air support, you gotta have all kinds of logistical support, all kinds of things.
	And so that part of the planning process, I don't know that a lot of people take that into account.
	Maybe they do, but I've never come across uh uh a conversation or been invited into a conversation about military things where people are talking about well, it'd be really sweet if we could go do blah, blah, blah, blah, and just wipe them off the map.
	Okay.
	Well, that might be true and maybe even necessary, but the the common person doesn't think about how many soldiers are we gonna lose.
	And with with the understanding that, you know, it's war, people die.
	Uh, but it still needs to be taken into account, and that is not a job that I would like to have.
	Um, let's see here.
	Uh, if we if we take on additional military commitments and requirements and don't provide the Pentagon uh commensurate additional resources, readiness will he rode, and we have seen that movie before, and it is not a good one.
	Uh, that was another thing that Mr. Bowman from here we go, uh hold your breath.
	Uh he is part of that's right, he's the senior director or whatever of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
	Man, uh as part of the new strategy, the the department will continue to focus more on drug cartels, including cartels that are tied to China, according to uh to a U.S. official.
	Uh, this official also added that China has drastically increased its footprint in in Latin America, particularly around the Panama Canal, a crucial trade route for both Washington and Beijing.
	So the strategy is still very keyed on defending against China.
	Uh, and that's probably a good thing.
	I think that uh, you know, China and Russia are ones that we need to keep an eye on.
	Uh maybe it's one of those things where we keep our enemies a little bit closer for whatever whatever that looks like for our uh our current administration and then administrations beyond.
	Uh Michael Shifter is an adjunct professor of Latin American Studies at Georgetown, and he said the Panama Canal is clearly very important to President Trump.
	Negotiations are underway to shift two ports.
	Um they're away from the Chinese to oppose controlled by the U.S. company BlackRock.
	Uh so apparently part of this plan is to get the the Chinese out of a couple ports in the Panama Canal and then turn them over to a U.S. company BlackRock.
	Hmm.
	I wonder what kind of shenanigans that's going to drum up.
	So U.S. Company BlackRock and Panama has withdrawn from China's belt and road initiative, which has extended Chinese and uh extended Chinese investment to more than a hundred nations.
	With the current administration focused on illegal drug problems in the region, Shifter hopes U.S. military assistance to Latin America will not repeat the actions of its checkered past.
	Washington's war on drugs in the 1980s, along with its determination to keep communism out of the Western hemisphere led to policies backing militaries that territori that terrorized local populations and committed human rights atrocities.
	Okay, so this is interesting.
	Let's just let's fast forward a little bit.
	The last time U.S. sent ground troops to Latin America was in 1989 to depose de facto leader General Noriega.
	Noriego was also wanted in the US for racketeering and drug trafficking.
	And Shifter is very skeptical whether the U.S. would send ground troops anywhere in Latin America today.
	I don't see that the president wants to risk American lives anywhere.
	Well, that's good.
	And a lot of people got killed in Panama.
	If he did it in Venezuela, a lot more people would be killed.
	I think that would be a huge risk that I don't see Trump being prepared to take.
	Meanwhile, President Trump on last Friday said that the U.S. military had carried out its third fatal strike on an alleged drug smuggling vessel this month.
	Okay, can we talk about that?
	We got about four minutes left in the show.
	I want to talk about this blowing up of drug boats.
	Back in the 80s, as it was outlined here, President Reagan started this war on drugs.
	And I'd like you to think about how much time and money and other resources, personnel, uh lives that have been lost to this war on drugs.
	And now the president has a whole lot of naysayers and he's a whole lot of criticism about blowing these boats out of the water.
	Can anyone s outline, can anyone talk about any kind of offensive posture that the U.S. took that that was significant enough to win this war on drugs.
	President Reagan started it in the 80s.
	At some point, it got all convoluted.
	At some times, maybe even just pushed to the to the sideline to be to be picked up at a later date.
	And now we have somebody who is making the decision.
	Whether it's right, wrong, or indifferent, is not what I'm after here.
	What I'm trying to what I'm trying to express is that we finally have somebody who has taken the reins and made a decision.
	Which I think is something that we should be talking about.
	Whether you agree with President Trump and his stance on these drug boats, for example, or not, I believe he at least deserves the credit for making the decision.
	And in my opinion, making a decision that seems to benefit the American people.
	Thank you.
	I mean, after all, folks, this is the war on drugs.
	The first word in it is war.
	There's nothing pretty about it.
	It's not supposed to be pretty.
	War is vicious, war is gruesome, it's bloody, and it takes a toll on the people that participate to fight it and win it.
	It also takes a toll, of course, on the people who participate, fight it and lose it.
	There's a lot at stake for both sides in any war.
	And ever since the eighties, when this war on drugs, uh this war on drugs was initiated, I can't recall.
	And I I mean, I was born in '82, so maybe there's a lot I don't know about it.
	But there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of uh stories about any kind of initiative that was taking the fight right to the gangs or the cartels or the governments or whoever was pushing these drugs into our country.
	And now it's come to a head.
	And the guy who's currently sitting in the Oval Office seemingly has made the decision and said, We're done with this.
	If I catch you trying it, we're just gonna, we're just gonna erase you.
	And this goes back to conversations I had uh on uh a show I did last week on Three Clicks Media.
	These folks don't understand diplomacy, they don't understand negotiation.
	These people, a thousand percent operate to to make money to secure power at any means necessary.
	And if you don't know, and you haven't looked and you haven't researched, go out and and and find some information about how these cartels treat people that they don't agree with, that don't agree with them, whatever the case may be.
	If you get in their way, they're going to kill you.
	And so, if that's the case, why would anybody be concerned about drug boat operators due process?
	Why is that even a concern for people?
	First of all, due process is something that's in the United States Constitution.
	These folks weren't American citizens.
	And after all, they've been dubbed a terrorist organization, an enemy of the United States of America.
	So just because some greasy ass politician gets on a social media platform or on a television camera and whines and cries about these people's due process and their families this and that and the other thing.
	Well, you know what?
	I feel for the families of these people who are meaning to do harm by any means necessary to you, the American person.
	I don't know that we need to feel bad about obliterating organizations or people that mean to do us harm, and by do us harm, bring in drugs that kill people very fast.
	And the ones that don't die overburden our systems.
	They, you know, walk in the street destroying property.
	Um talk about due process with a business owner in a place that's riddled with drug addicts, that's losing their whole livelihood, everything they've ever worked for because these drugs are flooding our streets.
	Talk to family members or parents of people who have been killed by illegal immigrants or killed by drugs that are coming from Venezuela on small boats to our southern borders.
	Talk to them.
	Tell them about your disdain for what the president has done.
	Talk to them about due process.
	I dare you.
	I dare you to go to a father of a young girl who was kidnapped, trafficked, raped, murdered, fed drugs, and is now gone forever.
	And if not gone forever, is forever changed, has been traumatized to deal with it for the rest of their lives.
	You go talk to that father about due process.
	Talk to a talk to parents who just buried their children because of some bullshit.
	And if it was you and it was your kids or your loved one or your whoever, wouldn't you want whoever is on the top, sitting in the top chair, to take the fight to the people that killed your kids, or your wife or your husband or your sister or brother, anything.
	Talk to them about it.
	It's real easy to be some dipshit reading through a bunch of social media posts and videos and then go out and protest and talk about this, that, and the other thing.
	You take your ass to somebody who's really been affected by whose life has been forever changed by these things, and you try to get them to understand your perspective.
	It's not possible.
	It's not possible for all these right fighters who really don't have all that bad of a life.
	...
	It's not possible for them to talk to these parents and these family members and these communities that are being destroyed by this stuff.
	You're not going to change their mind because they've lost everything.
	And those are the people I believe that when these decisions are made, these are the people that are in the minds of the decision makers.
	Or at least I hope so.
	Of course, there's all these conspiracies out there about money, power, and control, of course.
	But hopefully, hopefully, there are some places within our system that they're thinking about.
	They're thinking about the American people, they're thinking about the families that have been affected.
	You go talk to them.
	I bet you all of them, all of these families and people that have lost loved ones due to this overwhelming amount of drug traffic in our country, would love to see more of these boats blown out of the water.
	They would love to see these fishing trawlers and these small, what do you call them, cargo ships.
	Small boats that they're finding hundreds of pounds, barrels upon barrels of drugs that kill people.
	Just one time it can kill you.
	You go talk to them about it.
	If you don't get slapped in the face, you probably should.
	It's an atrocity, man.
	And so I don't believe that it's fair that we pass judgment if we haven't been directly affected.
	I mean, I shouldn't say that.
	Of course it's fair for us to pass judgment.
	But I don't know that it's fair to be out protesting and destroying property and things of that nature because the president is killing drug dealers.
	The same people that are attempting to kill you by putting their product on your street in your community, in your neighborhood.
	Just think about somebody breaking into your house and pointing a gun at you.
	And you're having this standoff, you're both pointing guns at each other, you're both standing there with knives pointed at whatever the case may be.
	And you come to this realization that I'm gonna die today if I don't do something.
	Would you hesitate?
	Would you hesitate to pull that trigger?
	Knowing that behind you upstairs, downstairs, wherever, your kids are sleeping, your wife is sleeping, your family is there.
	Are you gonna be worried about due fucking process?
	I sure hope not.
	And if you are, I hope that uh the people that depend on you for protection and safety, find a different person.
	I would argue that you don't deserve to have a loving family if you're not willing to take a life for them.
	If you're not willing to protect what's yours and what's important to you.
	I'm not saying we need to go out looking for violence.
	But I am saying that if it's you or them, I hope that your first instinct is to protect you and take their life if that's what's necessary.
	Fuck due process in that instance.
	Good night.
	Good night.
	As Christians in a Christian country, we have a right to be at minimum agnostic about the leadership being all Jewishly occupied.
	We literally should be at war with fucking Israel a hundred times over, and instead we're just sending them money, and it's fucking craziness.
	Look at the side of Israel, look at the side of Tel Aviv and look at the side of Philadelphia.
	You tell me where this money's going, you tell me who's benefiting from this.
	I am prepared to die in the battle.
	Fighting this monstrosity that would wish to enslave me and my family and steal away any rights to my property and to take away my God, go fuck yourself.
	Will I submit to that?
	And if you've got a foreign study, you go Jewel citizens in your government, who do you think they're supporting?
	Not right now.
	Would you protect the nation of Israel and protect those of us, not just our church, but every church in the world and in this nation that's willing to put their neck on the lot and say we stand with the Trump's cabinet?
	Biden's cabinet, it's full of Jews.
	I have a black friend in school.
	I have nothing against blacks.
	She has nothing against me.
	She understands where I'm coming from.
	Excuse me, I'm a Jew, and I just like to say that you know, in our Bible it says that you're you're like animals.
	The Jews crucified our God.
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