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Yemen Asked for Help. Why Did the U.S. Stand By? | Mike Drop Newsroom
MIKE DROP NEWSROOM | 07 OCTOBER 2026
France leads both papers again, so Mike skips ahead to the stories that matter here.
The headlines: according to the New York Times, a Yemeni general warned weeks in advance that the Iran-backed Houthis were about to push along the Red Sea coast, and the U.S. and Saudi Arabia stood by. Vice President Vance is pressing Iran for a meaningful reduction in its nuclear capability to end the war, while Iran's president calls the talks meaningless. Germany arrested its former foreign intelligence chief on suspicion of espionage and treason, and a former CIA officer pleaded guilty to exposing a top-secret source to a foreign government. Tennessee is weighing its next step after Christa Pike survived a failed execution. And President Trump says he's considering suspending the federal gas tax as diesel hits a record national average.
Mike's take: he has a theory about why the U.S. didn't help Yemen. If the Houthis take the whole country, it may be easier to fight them head-on than to prop up a government that has struggled with corruption. On Iran, he says months of "we're close to a deal" with no clear definition of success is the biggest problem with the whole campaign. He thinks the death penalty should be on the table for spies whose betrayal gets people killed, supports it for the most heinous crimes, and asks why states don't use the firing squad instead of lethal injection. On fuel, he says it's hard to argue prices would be this high without the Iran war, and that suspending the gas tax is a band-aid.
Your turn. Why do you think the U.S. stood by in Yemen? What would a good deal with Iran look like? Should traitors whose actions cost lives face the death penalty? Tell us in the comments. Mike reads them.
Timestamps
0:00 Happy Wednesday
0:15 Yemen asked for help and the U.S. stood by
1:15 Mike's theory: let the Houthis take Yemen?
2:55 Vance presses Iran on its nuclear program
4:30 The messaging problem
5:45 What would a good deal with Iran look like?
6:15 Germany arrests its former spy chief
6:40 Ex-CIA officer admits exposing a top-secret source
7:45 Should spies who endanger lives face death?
9:25 Tennessee's failed execution
10:50 Is the firing squad cruel and unusual?
11:40 Trump considers suspending the gas tax
12:05 Diesel hits a record
12:30 Is the Iran war behind fuel prices?
14:05 How diesel raises the cost of everything
14:30 Mike wants your feedback
Former Navy SEAL Mike Ritland reads the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times so you don't have to. No cable news spin, no recycled talking points, just the actual front pages and a straight take on what they mean for you.
On Mike Drop Newsroom, Mike picks the day's biggest headlines, compares how two of the country's largest papers cover them, and says what he thinks. That covers everything from AI and national security to the economy, foreign policy and the stories cable TV skips. He's not here to push a party line. As Mike puts it, if you want to put a label on him, he's an American who wants to see America succeed.
Every episode ends with a question for you. Tell us where you land in the comments, because Mike reads them and your answers shape what we cover next. Subscribe so you don't miss a morning.
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WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, good morning folks, and happy Wednesday.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's October 7th, 2026.
00:05.688 --> 00:10.149
[SPEAKER_00]: Both top stories in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are talking about France.
00:10.429 --> 00:12.750
[SPEAKER_00]: Still, we've already talked about that.
00:12.790 --> 00:23.013
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll skip over the big headline that stood out to me right below that on the Times today is the Houthis Dash for the Red Sea found many forces in disarray.
00:24.235 --> 00:38.851
[SPEAKER_00]: General, it's down to the alarm with the U.S. and Saudis stood by weeks before the Iran back to the militia found out along Yemen's Red Sea coast, sending their foes into a frenzied retreat, a Yemeni government commander called for help.
00:39.912 --> 00:42.735
[SPEAKER_00]: Now obviously the United States and Saudi Arabia.
00:43.676 --> 01:00.602
[SPEAKER_00]: have been combating the hoothies in Yemen for years, and, you know, so for many government official or general rather to call and ask for help anticipating a huge attack and, and front or forward movement.
01:01.682 --> 01:05.744
[SPEAKER_00]: And for us in Saudi to do nothing, there's, that doesn't happen for no reason.
01:06.104 --> 01:11.546
[SPEAKER_00]: So the begs the question, why would we do nothing about that, or why wouldn't we help them?
01:11.606 --> 01:11.786
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
01:13.390 --> 01:16.679
[SPEAKER_00]: There's, of course, a ton of hypotheses you could
01:18.077 --> 01:23.719
[SPEAKER_00]: or conclusions you could come to in terms of trying to figure out why that's the case.
01:23.799 --> 01:46.386
[SPEAKER_00]: My inclination is that if the Houthis completely take over Yemen, maybe it's easier for Saudi and the United States to combat them if they're running or have taken over the entire country instead of trying to help the Yemeni government combat them in their own country, that's the only thing I can think of.
01:47.518 --> 01:59.904
[SPEAKER_00]: which is kind of a crappy deal, but it does make a little bit of sense, and that trying to help these foreign governments combat in their own country forces.
02:00.305 --> 02:05.807
[SPEAKER_00]: We've tried that a ton of times in the past, and it generally does not pan out.
02:06.568 --> 02:08.569
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a ton of corruption.
02:08.589 --> 02:15.032
[SPEAKER_00]: You send them money and weapons, and that gets funneled into God knows where.
02:16.095 --> 02:25.719
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I actually can kind of understand if that's the thought process to just let it ride and, you know, if the Houthis take over the entire country.
02:25.819 --> 02:36.184
[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy for Saudi and the United States to strike and attack and defeat the entire country instead of trying to help that local or host government.
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[SPEAKER_00]: you know, combat them in their own country.
02:39.777 --> 02:50.807
[SPEAKER_00]: So that would be my prediction or, again, hypothesis, some curious, if you guys have any ideas as to why we wouldn't help fight the Houthis when they're asking for it.
02:50.987 --> 03:02.537
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I'm not thinking of anything so, by all means, let me know, kind of in that same vein, you know, Vice President Vance,
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[SPEAKER_00]: has been kind of the one of the leaders of negotiations with Iran trying to end the war.
03:09.602 --> 03:16.465
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a headline from Fox says, Vance presses Iran for meaningful reduction in nuclear capability to end the war.
03:17.425 --> 03:22.547
[SPEAKER_00]: Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. is doing extremely well against Iran for that before.
03:30.145 --> 03:36.728
[SPEAKER_00]: with the United States as meaningless citing ongoing U.S. sanctions, pressure and military actions against Iran.
03:37.888 --> 03:58.357
[SPEAKER_00]: Our Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said Tuesday that sanctions in the maritime blockade of crippled Iran's oil trade, Saudi Arabia's minister, energy minister said that as of Tuesday, 5.8 million barrels of oil per day, pumping through the East West pipeline, which is attacked by drones, was attacked by drones, originating in Iraq.
03:59.922 --> 04:00.723
[SPEAKER_00]: that last month.
04:00.823 --> 04:25.258
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we continue to have these negotiations and we've heard for months now that we're close and that everything's going great that the, you know, Iranian military is completely shot, you know, but they still have the ability to, you know, I would say hold up the streets enough to cause problems, especially with, with diesel fuel, which we'll get into.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There's another headline on that.
04:26.499 --> 04:27.880
[SPEAKER_00]: But, um,
04:29.801 --> 04:42.917
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the lack of transparency and I would say the messaging from the administration in terms of how it's going in Iran is frustrating and it's really started with
04:44.117 --> 04:47.480
[SPEAKER_00]: the beginning of the war and talking about why we're doing what we're doing.
04:47.500 --> 05:06.539
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there was a big push for us going against Iran and going into Iran and striking because of the way they were treating their own citizens, there's the nuke stuff, you know, they kind of bounce around a lot and don't tell us what success looks like or what the objectives are and when they're met, then we're out of there.
05:07.572 --> 05:25.143
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's been the biggest problem with the entire campaign is a lack of messaging and poor messaging, you know, I think the American people just want to know why we're doing what we're doing and if it seems justified they tend to get behind it, but when it bounces around you get lied to.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, say that everything's going great and you know, we're days away from from an negotiation deal and what have you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we've heard that for, again, for months now, we've heard, you know, that they're weeks away from a nuclear, you know, bomb for decades at this point.
05:46.057 --> 05:51.858
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I'd love to get your guys to take on, you know, what a deal actually looks like.
05:52.078 --> 05:57.219
[SPEAKER_00]: If we do have an offer amp with a ran and there's a deal to be made, what does that look like?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And what would be considered success and like we got the better end of the deal and it's worth, okay, now we're walking away from because it's hard for me to imagine how close they actually are and what's actually being offered on our end.
06:16.009 --> 06:17.971
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a couple of alarming things.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And one is in the Wall Street Journal ones in the New York Times.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Germany arrests expi chief over suspicion of espionage.
06:28.299 --> 06:35.685
[SPEAKER_00]: German police detained the country's former head of its foreign intelligence service on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason.
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[SPEAKER_00]: in one of the biggest scandals to engulf the spy agency since its creation in the 1950s.
06:41.927 --> 06:55.670
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there's another headline from here in the United States, and this is CIA officer arrested with gold bars, admits exposing top secret source to foreign government.
06:56.070 --> 07:01.691
[SPEAKER_00]: David Rush also acknowledged making up to making up two activities to steal 195 million
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[SPEAKER_00]: is a rest of the gold bars and cash in his home that admitted to stealing from the government and exposing a top secret source.
07:14.654 --> 07:24.357
[SPEAKER_00]: No longer with the CIA pleaded guilty, looking at some sort of plea deal on wire fraud and faces 20 years in prison in a fine of $250,000.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Or twice the gross gain of his crime.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it says, it's looking to steal $195 million.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how $250,000 is twice the gross gain of his crime.
07:37.535 --> 07:45.418
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the espionage and treason thing within the spiral is an interesting thing in terms of the penalties that are dulled out.
07:47.338 --> 07:51.260
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, it kind of needs to go into two categories.
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[SPEAKER_00]: One is that it puts Americans or our sources, lives on the line, you know, in those types of treasonous cases, I think the max penalty, you know, which traditionally is death.
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[SPEAKER_00]: should be on the table for exposing secrets and intelligence that put people's lives at risk.
08:14.384 --> 08:21.232
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're willing to put people's lives at risk for your financial gain, to me that that should be the penalty.
08:21.933 --> 08:24.616
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't talk about any of the other details in this.
08:25.658 --> 08:28.079
[SPEAKER_00]: if it's just some sort of financial thing.
08:28.840 --> 08:43.748
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, maybe you can talk about lesser penalties, but to me, when you're talking about intelligence, gathering, and the leaking of information, that that's of the highest order of magnitude when it comes to treasonous activity.
08:43.768 --> 08:46.530
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think should be penalized and treated as such.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Curious us to your guys is take on that, though,
08:51.957 --> 09:05.070
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, kind of the death penalty broadly speaking, which our next story talks about that, is that a justified punishment for treasonous activity in spy game and intelligence gathering.
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[SPEAKER_00]: To me, I tend to think that it is, you know, in that if you're putting people's lives on the line, then you should be gambling with your own, should you decide to do that?
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think that that's a fair and equitable trade.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What do you guys think?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that that's the way it ought to be?
09:26.358 --> 09:37.948
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of death penalties, Christopher Pike is awake after failed execution as her attorneys seek more information, Tennessee considers execution options after failed lethal injection.
09:38.008 --> 09:42.912
[SPEAKER_00]: Many states have backup execution plans, but failures still happen.
09:44.133 --> 09:51.939
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been a ton of failures with lethal injection as a means of execution in this country in recent decades.
09:54.823 --> 09:57.065
[SPEAKER_00]: there's two separate issues here.
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[SPEAKER_00]: One is the death penalty.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Are you for it or are you against it?
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[SPEAKER_00]: To me and in just heinous crimes where torture and murder and things that are basically unthinkable, I do think the death penalty should be on the table.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that goes against the Christian theology that is taught and believed and would say widely accepted by that faith.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I do think that it's a justified means of punishment in those severe cases, though.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I really do, I don't.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I have a hard time saying it's okay to let that person just live out the rest of their
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[SPEAKER_00]: for all of us to support that person for decades when they've done something like that.
10:51.945 --> 10:54.086
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that there should be a punishment like that.
10:54.186 --> 10:57.446
[SPEAKER_00]: In this case, though, failed execution and there's been a number of them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why the firing line isn't used.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It has to be cheaper.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What I would ask you guys is, do you think that the firing line falls under cruel and unusual punishment?
11:12.475 --> 11:13.456
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that it does.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it happens very, very quick.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a very effective means that it never fails, and it gets the job done.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I,
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think the firing line, which I read something recently that I think it was Idaho, is actually bringing that back.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think that makes sense.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what you guys think.
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[SPEAKER_00]: One is the death penalty justified in certain cases and two, what do you think the means of execution should be to ensure that it actually takes place?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Last story that I wanted to talk about has to do with fuel.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Trump says he's considering suspending the federal gas tax.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Federal gasoline taxes, 18.4 cents per gallon.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The nation's average price for a gallon of gas is $4.36.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's the average.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Talking about diesel also is flowing more freely from the streets of Hormuz, just not diesel.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For now, the distinction is paramount in American politics.
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[SPEAKER_00]: essentially talking about the skyrocketing price of diesel fuel, the national average for a gallon of diesel hit a record $6.53 in California where supplies are increasingly tight in fuel taxes are higher.
12:29.921 --> 12:32.122
[SPEAKER_00]: It reached $8.44 a gallon, $8.44 a gallon for diesel fuel in
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[SPEAKER_00]: think it's impossible to argue that had we not gone into a ran the way that we did and have done what we've done there that both gas prices at four and a half bucks a gallon and diesel at six and a half.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you can argue that that wouldn't be the case had we not done that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As far as the gas tax goes, it'd be curious, is that 18.4 cents per gallon just thrown
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[SPEAKER_00]: wherever or is there a specific thing that it goes to also how big of a dent does that put in annual tax revenue for the United States by removing that for a period of time that's still a bandaid though that the priority needs to be getting the deal done with Iran or leaving or stabilizing the region to a degree with which it's not impacting us the way the way that that is.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that there should even be a gas tax?
13:47.583 --> 13:53.305
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, but, you know, that's just one more tax that the US government puts on.
13:53.325 --> 13:55.265
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why diesel is so much more.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I get that, you know, consumers don't buy crude oil that I gasoline jet fuel and diesel.
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[SPEAKER_00]: it's amazing to me that it's gotten that high and it continues to be that high and the problem of course is that that trickles down to everything else, you know, with pretty much all products being shipped via truck or almost all of them, when diesel prices are that high, of course, it's going to make shipping way more expensive, which trickles down to the consumer and makes everything more expensive.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a tough, tough gig for sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So,
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's all the headlines for today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I want to appreciate it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I want to convey my appreciation for you guys checking in and watching these.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I enjoy them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love your feedback on how they're done.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There's other news sources I've started taking AP in Fox and Epoch Times.
14:49.072 --> 14:53.034
[SPEAKER_00]: But if there are other news sources, a different way you'd like to see them done.
14:54.109 --> 15:01.951
[SPEAKER_00]: other things to focus on really any feedback you have from a kind of strategy standpoint in terms of how I'm doing these.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Feel free to let me know.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I always value your guys' feedback and if you have any good ideas that will help this process out of them all, all yours for it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So hope you guys have a blessed and great day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Love you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: God bless and we'll see you guys tomorrow.
00:00.706 --> 00:02.687
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, good morning folks, and happy Wednesday.
00:02.727 --> 00:04.767
[SPEAKER_00]: It's October 7th, 2026.
00:05.688 --> 00:10.149
[SPEAKER_00]: Both top stories in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are talking about France.
00:10.429 --> 00:12.750
[SPEAKER_00]: Still, we've already talked about that.
00:12.790 --> 00:23.013
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll skip over the big headline that stood out to me right below that on the Times today is the Houthis Dash for the Red Sea found many forces in disarray.
00:24.235 --> 00:38.851
[SPEAKER_00]: General, it's down to the alarm with the U.S. and Saudis stood by weeks before the Iran back to the militia found out along Yemen's Red Sea coast, sending their foes into a frenzied retreat, a Yemeni government commander called for help.
00:39.912 --> 00:42.735
[SPEAKER_00]: Now obviously the United States and Saudi Arabia.
00:43.676 --> 01:00.602
[SPEAKER_00]: have been combating the hoothies in Yemen for years, and, you know, so for many government official or general rather to call and ask for help anticipating a huge attack and, and front or forward movement.
01:01.682 --> 01:05.744
[SPEAKER_00]: And for us in Saudi to do nothing, there's, that doesn't happen for no reason.
01:06.104 --> 01:11.546
[SPEAKER_00]: So the begs the question, why would we do nothing about that, or why wouldn't we help them?
01:11.606 --> 01:11.786
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
01:13.390 --> 01:16.679
[SPEAKER_00]: There's, of course, a ton of hypotheses you could
01:18.077 --> 01:23.719
[SPEAKER_00]: or conclusions you could come to in terms of trying to figure out why that's the case.
01:23.799 --> 01:46.386
[SPEAKER_00]: My inclination is that if the Houthis completely take over Yemen, maybe it's easier for Saudi and the United States to combat them if they're running or have taken over the entire country instead of trying to help the Yemeni government combat them in their own country, that's the only thing I can think of.
01:47.518 --> 01:59.904
[SPEAKER_00]: which is kind of a crappy deal, but it does make a little bit of sense, and that trying to help these foreign governments combat in their own country forces.
02:00.305 --> 02:05.807
[SPEAKER_00]: We've tried that a ton of times in the past, and it generally does not pan out.
02:06.568 --> 02:08.569
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a ton of corruption.
02:08.589 --> 02:15.032
[SPEAKER_00]: You send them money and weapons, and that gets funneled into God knows where.
02:16.095 --> 02:25.719
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I actually can kind of understand if that's the thought process to just let it ride and, you know, if the Houthis take over the entire country.
02:25.819 --> 02:36.184
[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy for Saudi and the United States to strike and attack and defeat the entire country instead of trying to help that local or host government.
02:37.536 --> 02:39.637
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, combat them in their own country.
02:39.777 --> 02:50.807
[SPEAKER_00]: So that would be my prediction or, again, hypothesis, some curious, if you guys have any ideas as to why we wouldn't help fight the Houthis when they're asking for it.
02:50.987 --> 03:02.537
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I'm not thinking of anything so, by all means, let me know, kind of in that same vein, you know, Vice President Vance,
03:03.140 --> 03:08.682
[SPEAKER_00]: has been kind of the one of the leaders of negotiations with Iran trying to end the war.
03:09.602 --> 03:16.465
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a headline from Fox says, Vance presses Iran for meaningful reduction in nuclear capability to end the war.
03:17.425 --> 03:22.547
[SPEAKER_00]: Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. is doing extremely well against Iran for that before.
03:30.145 --> 03:36.728
[SPEAKER_00]: with the United States as meaningless citing ongoing U.S. sanctions, pressure and military actions against Iran.
03:37.888 --> 03:58.357
[SPEAKER_00]: Our Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said Tuesday that sanctions in the maritime blockade of crippled Iran's oil trade, Saudi Arabia's minister, energy minister said that as of Tuesday, 5.8 million barrels of oil per day, pumping through the East West pipeline, which is attacked by drones, was attacked by drones, originating in Iraq.
03:59.922 --> 04:00.723
[SPEAKER_00]: that last month.
04:00.823 --> 04:25.258
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we continue to have these negotiations and we've heard for months now that we're close and that everything's going great that the, you know, Iranian military is completely shot, you know, but they still have the ability to, you know, I would say hold up the streets enough to cause problems, especially with, with diesel fuel, which we'll get into.
04:25.298 --> 04:26.459
[SPEAKER_00]: There's another headline on that.
04:26.499 --> 04:27.880
[SPEAKER_00]: But, um,
04:29.801 --> 04:42.917
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the lack of transparency and I would say the messaging from the administration in terms of how it's going in Iran is frustrating and it's really started with
04:44.117 --> 04:47.480
[SPEAKER_00]: the beginning of the war and talking about why we're doing what we're doing.
04:47.500 --> 05:06.539
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there was a big push for us going against Iran and going into Iran and striking because of the way they were treating their own citizens, there's the nuke stuff, you know, they kind of bounce around a lot and don't tell us what success looks like or what the objectives are and when they're met, then we're out of there.
05:07.572 --> 05:25.143
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's been the biggest problem with the entire campaign is a lack of messaging and poor messaging, you know, I think the American people just want to know why we're doing what we're doing and if it seems justified they tend to get behind it, but when it bounces around you get lied to.
05:26.194 --> 05:34.103
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, say that everything's going great and you know, we're days away from from an negotiation deal and what have you.
05:34.123 --> 05:44.295
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we've heard that for, again, for months now, we've heard, you know, that they're weeks away from a nuclear, you know, bomb for decades at this point.
05:46.057 --> 05:51.858
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I'd love to get your guys to take on, you know, what a deal actually looks like.
05:52.078 --> 05:57.219
[SPEAKER_00]: If we do have an offer amp with a ran and there's a deal to be made, what does that look like?
05:57.640 --> 06:13.723
[SPEAKER_00]: And what would be considered success and like we got the better end of the deal and it's worth, okay, now we're walking away from because it's hard for me to imagine how close they actually are and what's actually being offered on our end.
06:16.009 --> 06:17.971
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a couple of alarming things.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And one is in the Wall Street Journal ones in the New York Times.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Germany arrests expi chief over suspicion of espionage.
06:28.299 --> 06:35.685
[SPEAKER_00]: German police detained the country's former head of its foreign intelligence service on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason.
06:36.566 --> 06:41.867
[SPEAKER_00]: in one of the biggest scandals to engulf the spy agency since its creation in the 1950s.
06:41.927 --> 06:55.670
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there's another headline from here in the United States, and this is CIA officer arrested with gold bars, admits exposing top secret source to foreign government.
06:56.070 --> 07:01.691
[SPEAKER_00]: David Rush also acknowledged making up to making up two activities to steal 195 million
07:06.752 --> 07:13.454
[SPEAKER_00]: is a rest of the gold bars and cash in his home that admitted to stealing from the government and exposing a top secret source.
07:14.654 --> 07:24.357
[SPEAKER_00]: No longer with the CIA pleaded guilty, looking at some sort of plea deal on wire fraud and faces 20 years in prison in a fine of $250,000.
07:24.517 --> 07:27.898
[SPEAKER_00]: Or twice the gross gain of his crime.
07:28.139 --> 07:30.899
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it says, it's looking to steal $195 million.
07:30.919 --> 07:32.620
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how $250,000 is twice the gross gain of his crime.
07:37.535 --> 07:45.418
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the espionage and treason thing within the spiral is an interesting thing in terms of the penalties that are dulled out.
07:47.338 --> 07:51.260
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, it kind of needs to go into two categories.
07:51.420 --> 08:05.885
[SPEAKER_00]: One is that it puts Americans or our sources, lives on the line, you know, in those types of treasonous cases, I think the max penalty, you know, which traditionally is death.
08:07.335 --> 08:14.344
[SPEAKER_00]: should be on the table for exposing secrets and intelligence that put people's lives at risk.
08:14.384 --> 08:21.232
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're willing to put people's lives at risk for your financial gain, to me that that should be the penalty.
08:21.933 --> 08:24.616
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't talk about any of the other details in this.
08:25.658 --> 08:28.079
[SPEAKER_00]: if it's just some sort of financial thing.
08:28.840 --> 08:43.748
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, maybe you can talk about lesser penalties, but to me, when you're talking about intelligence, gathering, and the leaking of information, that that's of the highest order of magnitude when it comes to treasonous activity.
08:43.768 --> 08:46.530
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think should be penalized and treated as such.
08:48.071 --> 08:50.973
[SPEAKER_00]: Curious us to your guys is take on that, though,
08:51.957 --> 09:05.070
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, kind of the death penalty broadly speaking, which our next story talks about that, is that a justified punishment for treasonous activity in spy game and intelligence gathering.
09:06.784 --> 09:15.935
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, I tend to think that it is, you know, in that if you're putting people's lives on the line, then you should be gambling with your own, should you decide to do that?
09:16.275 --> 09:20.060
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that that's a fair and equitable trade.
09:20.821 --> 09:21.542
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you guys think?
09:21.802 --> 09:24.205
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that that's the way it ought to be?
09:26.358 --> 09:37.948
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of death penalties, Christopher Pike is awake after failed execution as her attorneys seek more information, Tennessee considers execution options after failed lethal injection.
09:38.008 --> 09:42.912
[SPEAKER_00]: Many states have backup execution plans, but failures still happen.
09:44.133 --> 09:51.939
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been a ton of failures with lethal injection as a means of execution in this country in recent decades.
09:54.823 --> 09:57.065
[SPEAKER_00]: there's two separate issues here.
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[SPEAKER_00]: One is the death penalty.
09:59.207 --> 10:00.969
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you for it or are you against it?
10:01.769 --> 10:14.361
[SPEAKER_00]: To me and in just heinous crimes where torture and murder and things that are basically unthinkable, I do think the death penalty should be on the table.
10:15.995 --> 10:27.664
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that goes against the Christian theology that is taught and believed and would say widely accepted by that faith.
10:30.406 --> 10:35.890
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think that it's a justified means of punishment in those severe cases, though.
10:35.910 --> 10:37.111
[SPEAKER_00]: I really do, I don't.
10:38.272 --> 10:43.717
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a hard time saying it's okay to let that person just live out the rest of their
10:46.184 --> 10:51.925
[SPEAKER_00]: for all of us to support that person for decades when they've done something like that.
10:51.945 --> 10:54.086
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that there should be a punishment like that.
10:54.186 --> 10:57.446
[SPEAKER_00]: In this case, though, failed execution and there's been a number of them.
10:58.446 --> 11:01.087
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why the firing line isn't used.
11:02.167 --> 11:03.967
[SPEAKER_00]: It has to be cheaper.
11:05.408 --> 11:11.889
[SPEAKER_00]: What I would ask you guys is, do you think that the firing line falls under cruel and unusual punishment?
11:12.475 --> 11:13.456
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that it does.
11:13.476 --> 11:16.438
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it happens very, very quick.
11:16.678 --> 11:22.743
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a very effective means that it never fails, and it gets the job done.
11:22.803 --> 11:23.163
[SPEAKER_00]: So I,
11:23.793 --> 11:30.015
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the firing line, which I read something recently that I think it was Idaho, is actually bringing that back.
11:30.876 --> 11:31.796
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that makes sense.
11:32.236 --> 11:33.397
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what you guys think.
11:33.697 --> 11:44.861
[SPEAKER_00]: One is the death penalty justified in certain cases and two, what do you think the means of execution should be to ensure that it actually takes place?
11:46.712 --> 11:50.393
[SPEAKER_00]: Last story that I wanted to talk about has to do with fuel.
11:50.513 --> 11:53.833
[SPEAKER_00]: Trump says he's considering suspending the federal gas tax.
11:54.093 --> 11:57.314
[SPEAKER_00]: Federal gasoline taxes, 18.4 cents per gallon.
11:58.174 --> 12:01.675
[SPEAKER_00]: The nation's average price for a gallon of gas is $4.36.
12:01.855 --> 12:03.635
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the average.
12:04.735 --> 12:10.496
[SPEAKER_00]: Talking about diesel also is flowing more freely from the streets of Hormuz, just not diesel.
12:12.096 --> 12:14.717
[SPEAKER_00]: For now, the distinction is paramount in American politics.
12:16.135 --> 12:29.021
[SPEAKER_00]: essentially talking about the skyrocketing price of diesel fuel, the national average for a gallon of diesel hit a record $6.53 in California where supplies are increasingly tight in fuel taxes are higher.
12:29.921 --> 12:32.122
[SPEAKER_00]: It reached $8.44 a gallon, $8.44 a gallon for diesel fuel in
12:46.838 --> 12:59.965
[SPEAKER_00]: think it's impossible to argue that had we not gone into a ran the way that we did and have done what we've done there that both gas prices at four and a half bucks a gallon and diesel at six and a half.
13:00.485 --> 13:04.227
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you can argue that that wouldn't be the case had we not done that.
13:05.088 --> 13:12.632
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as the gas tax goes, it'd be curious, is that 18.4 cents per gallon just thrown
13:16.243 --> 13:42.097
[SPEAKER_00]: wherever or is there a specific thing that it goes to also how big of a dent does that put in annual tax revenue for the United States by removing that for a period of time that's still a bandaid though that the priority needs to be getting the deal done with Iran or leaving or stabilizing the region to a degree with which it's not impacting us the way the way that that is.
13:45.242 --> 13:47.263
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that there should even be a gas tax?
13:47.583 --> 13:53.305
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, but, you know, that's just one more tax that the US government puts on.
13:53.325 --> 13:55.265
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why diesel is so much more.
13:55.586 --> 14:01.828
[SPEAKER_00]: I get that, you know, consumers don't buy crude oil that I gasoline jet fuel and diesel.
14:04.857 --> 14:26.688
[SPEAKER_00]: it's amazing to me that it's gotten that high and it continues to be that high and the problem of course is that that trickles down to everything else, you know, with pretty much all products being shipped via truck or almost all of them, when diesel prices are that high, of course, it's going to make shipping way more expensive, which trickles down to the consumer and makes everything more expensive.
14:26.769 --> 14:30.631
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a tough, tough gig for sure.
14:30.651 --> 14:30.711
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's all the headlines for today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I want to appreciate it.
14:35.106 --> 14:40.108
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to convey my appreciation for you guys checking in and watching these.
14:40.208 --> 14:40.788
[SPEAKER_00]: I enjoy them.
14:41.348 --> 14:43.590
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love your feedback on how they're done.
14:43.930 --> 14:48.192
[SPEAKER_00]: There's other news sources I've started taking AP in Fox and Epoch Times.
14:49.072 --> 14:53.034
[SPEAKER_00]: But if there are other news sources, a different way you'd like to see them done.
14:54.109 --> 15:01.951
[SPEAKER_00]: other things to focus on really any feedback you have from a kind of strategy standpoint in terms of how I'm doing these.
15:03.051 --> 15:03.911
[SPEAKER_00]: Feel free to let me know.
15:04.091 --> 15:11.773
[SPEAKER_00]: I always value your guys' feedback and if you have any good ideas that will help this process out of them all, all yours for it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So hope you guys have a blessed and great day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Love you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: God bless and we'll see you guys tomorrow.