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Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Brief. On this episode, Matthew Tierman is with us investigative journalist, a man who knows many things about many people in places all over the world. He was just in Ramala, place I haven't been to in a while, but I have been, and I'm sure it is every bit as lovely as what I was there. Tell me about your trip into the West Bank, mister Tierman, and what you learned, what you saw, what's going on.
Well, you know, Ramala is just the money laundering capital of the world. I know how long ago you were there, but you got to say it's kind of nice. Maserati's not Rickshaw's range Rovers, Mercedes, BMW's jeeps with American flags on him, believe it or not. I mean lots of Western goods and accoutreman. I mean that place is loaded. It was a little bit shocking to the degree that it was.
I could tell you I was there almost twenty years ago and it was not like that. So yeah, yeah, so.
That tells you a lot. I mean I know that, you know, I was there during these hostilities. I went in on a Polish passport, since you know, American relations are not so good. I did not, you know, telegraph that I'm an American Jew from New York, even though I don't know look at me, they might have figured that out. I ended up talking to some guys from
Chicago and New York. But I mean that place is loaded now twenty years of money laundering since you were last there, between US taxpayers, EU taxpayers, the United Nations being the the vehicle through which those laundered funds enter Ramala, American school uners, schools. The place was over the top. People were pretty friendly. It's not Gaza. The hostilities were not, you know, of the of the same sort. They certainly referred to Israel as an occupying force and they do
hate Israel and even going to Yasir Arafats too. They said that it's removable so that when they take back Jerusalem, they can remove Arafats too from Mamala and put it in Jerusalem, as per his dying wish. Uh So, it's
the place is very very odd. It's a it's a study in contrast the contrast of what the mainstream media conception of the West Bank is versus what it's like on the ground, gleaming new malls, Palestinian development bank with top quality building materials for its you know, fifteen story skyscrapers. Food was quite good, it was It was interesting. I was there with Visagrad twenty four group I do work with based in Europe, who's been covering the ongoing conflict
in the Middle East quite tightly on social media. So we were interviewing people over there and it was interesting.
What do they think the Ramalin's, I don't know what you call Ramalins and the people of the West Bank. Are they basically of the mind that Israel's going to do what it does in Gaza and business is going to continue over here. What are they saying?
Yeah, pretty much. I don't think they think that Israel's going to be coming in anytime soon and leveling it the way they are with Gaza. And even though they are supportive of these terrorist cells, whether it's in the North that has Blah or Hamas and Gaza, they don't seem as proactively involved. They like their gravy train of un money laundering and under schools, and you know, it
was funny. We're walking, We're going to the main mosque, the abdel Nasser Mosque, and we're at this, you know, the equivment of what you have in New York, a bodega, a little shop with you know, low level food and Sundrys. And you had Logan or Jake Paul's new drink Prime selling there, which you can't even get in some cities in the US because it's so sold out. And so there's a weird level of westernization there, the brand and
licensed logoing copying that goes on. There are American food operators there like Pizza Hut KFC, one of our guides suggesting KFC stands for Kentucky Fried Camel, but that was a licensed, actual American enterprise there. Popeye's Louisiana Kid was there a lot and I was there.
There was a Starbucks ripoff that wasn't spelled Starbucks.
Is that Stars and Bucks?
Stars and Bucks?
Yes, literally the main landmark of Ramala that everybody in the Middle East knows. Hey, you go to Vermala, have you been to Stars and Bucks? So the story there is the guy lifted Starbucks' logo just straight off about twenty five thirty years ago, and Starbucks came after him for license and trademark infringement, and so he just kind of tweaked it a little, so it still looks like the Green Circle, but it's now entitled Stars and Bucks
and it's a coffee shop and a shisha lounge. So he smoked some shisha and Stars and Bucks and that's overlooking the main square. There are two little squares that are connected by one of the main thoroughfares that looks like the old prototypical, stereotypical Middle East, very thin road congested small shops, and there's you know, the main square that Stars and Bucks is over, and then the square block away which where there's the monument to the martyrs.
So you know, old habits do die hard. They love the money laundering. But the rhetoric can invect is still quite aligned with the Jihattist mentality that West Bank and Palestinian affairs were built on.
Do you have any sense as to what the belief over there is not so much in the West Bank, more on the Israel side of things, but the future of net Yahoo in all of this, people have been asking me, and I always tell them like, if you think you if you think American politics are opaque and overly complicated, go check out what's going on over in Israel with the Kanesset and all the rest of it. What do you do you have any take on that?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Well, as you know, parliamentary systems are by their nature much sloppier because you need coalitions. You're very fragmented, many many parties across the entire spectrum of far right to far left with everything in between. And so net Yahoo I think it was like four or five elections they had to hold with fractured coalitions to rebuild a government that had some level stability. After October seventh,
his popularity is way down. That being said, as long as they're at war, there will not be a snap election. They are unified behind essentially the military force and the military management as it stands, which has many political appointees, so they will not be you know, the political strife we saw last year with judicial reform rearing its head again and creating catalyzing snap elections. Netanyahu has probably done.
His career is probably done, and we've said that many times in the past, but here there is a lot of antipathy after what happened October seventh, and certainly there are a lot of people who feel that he had some blame in terms of being asleep at the wheel because they were so distracted with domestic politics they forgot that their number one predicate, as you know, leaders of this country more than any other, is security and stabilizing
the security, the defensive capabilities, and there was a failure that being said, as long as they're at war and it's hot and kinetic and in the north and in the south with Gaza, probably open any snap elections. So some are arguing and rumor mongering that he has an incentive to keep the war going because as a result, he will stay in power. I think that's a little overly cynical, and I'm quite cynical, but I think that's
a little overly cynical. Well, everyone in Israel is shaken up by what happened and wants to end Hamas and restabilize the north where Husbala is continuing to be a kinetic threat.
Let's talk about what just happened with the election in Al Salvador, a country that people in the West really know about because it used to be the murder capital of the world per capital, at least close to it. Number one numbers, well, it was Al Salvador was right there. I think it was number two. Yeah, but number two yeah, okay. As I said number one, number two was one of the highest murder places in the entire.
Honduras was like I remember friends from Honduras, from San Pedro Sula, which is the second city in Honduras, and that place like laps everywhere else. It's like, you know, in Detroit, it's like, what like four out of one hundred thousand get murdered, and San Pedro Sue it's like three hundred out of one hundred thousand.
The numbers are staggering. But in Al Salvador that has completely turned around and there's probably a lesson for it. So we're going to we're gonna talk about that election and Bukeali the president once again. Here. But first a word from Tunnel the Towers Foundation. Born from a tragedy of nine to eleven, the Tunnel the Towers Foundation made a promise to ensure we never forget. Since then, it's
been committed to supporting America's heroes and their families. Heroes like US Army specialist Michael Hook, who was killed in a rock when his helicopter was shot down. He had enlisted in the military after graduating high school. He left behind a pregnant fiance who gave birth to a son he would never meet. Thanks to the generosity of friends like you, Tunnel the Towers paid off the mortgage on his family's home, relieving a financial burden and bringing stability.
The foundation helps GoldStar and fall and first responder families, as well as our nation's most severely injured heroes and homeless veterans. Join Tune of the Towers on its mission to do good. America's heroes are counting on you. Ninety five cents of every dollar you give goes directly to its programs. Go to t twot dot org. That's t the number two t dot org. Please donate today. I donate every month, and so many others out there do as well. Thank you for being here again, Matt Tierman.
Investigative journalist bou Keley wins bigly in El Salvador. What happened? Why does it matter?
Apparently? You know, much like we'll talk about Argentina with inflation, but you know, when you have a massive crime problem, the guy who actually says and then does deliver on cleaning up crime gets a big mandate. I think this's got to be the biggest mandate in any democratic systemic
election ever. Eighty five percent or something of the popular vote, fifty eight out of sixty seats in the National Assembly, which is what that's what like ninety eight ninety six, ninety six percent or so of the seats in Parliament are now you know Buukelly's party, which has been built around him. Of course, you have to worry about cultive personality,
you have to worry about dictatorial power creeping in. But so far all of the Western media sphere lies or smears that, you know, he's a dictator, the cool dictator they call him. Well is he Are you a dictator if the people vote for you overwhelmingly. We've had the debate about Victor orbon as well. You know, he keeps winning these mandates and the West says, oh, he's a dictator,
or he's an autocrat or a fascist. Weill, Bukelly has done something really pretty revolutionary in this hemisphere, especially south of that border and looking southwards, these are very dangerous areas as we're talking about massive massive cartel activity, kidnapping and ransoming, mass murder over the slightest trifling things. But again, the drug trade is the main reason human migration as well human trafficking, and he has cleaned up that area.
I mean, you know, we have this gangs in New York like MS thirteen that hearken from these regions in Central America, and we can't clean up Long Island from these drug gangs. But he's cleaned up his country very quickly within one term, and so he's gotten a second term, and so they'll, you know, say he's a dictator. But again, largest mandate popular mandate maybe in history by percentage of any country in the world. What he's doing, you're right,
is instructive. Apparently when you have high crime, tough on crime does pay. Just like Malay getting elected Argentina over economic issues.
Yeah, I want to ask you about you were down there right in Argentina. We'll get into that.
And was there for the inaugeration? Yeah?
Yeah, what is Latin America? Why can't they figure this out? Honestly on crime and on economics, specifically inflation. What do they not get? I mean, the regimes that run these countries and just across the board. Almost a few exceptions. El salvad we're talking about one and the new leadership in Argentina. But Latin America is poorly, poorly led right now, right whether you're talking about Mexico or Venezuela or Brazil or what's going on. What do they have to figure out Communists?
And we've talked about this in the past, and I did a lot on this. During the Brazilian election, there was a group, an entity called the Forum sell Palo that was charted around nineteen ninety one by Fidel Castro and Lula da Silva, the current again president of Brazil, led out of prison to run election was brazenly stolen.
There's more than enough evidence out there. And the Forum sell Palo was created to fill the gap when the Soviet Union went bust, because that was all the money that was coming into the hemisphere of these third world nations, just like in Africa, just like in the Middle East, in uh In uh In incubating the p l O
and other of the Jahada separist movements. Uh in South America, it was a Forum South Palo and they filled the gap from the Soviet Union with with Castro and Chavez running it out of Cuba, and that's how they took over Venezuela. That's how they took over in Nicaragua, That's how they took over uh, Bolivia, Brazil, more recently Colombia and Chile. Colombia and Chile, we we're kind of writy
conservative nations. Columbia was was run for many years by you know what we would call Republicans if you had to break it down to that dichotomy that we understand. And now you have Petro who was a Marxist Naco narco trafficante, a gorilla in the forests. Uh so he's an He's a full on communist. Uh uh Borich in Chile was the head of the Marxist Students League, student activist, you know, not too different than Brandon uh Brandon Marshall and uh Branda with brit To Johnson in Chicago the
teachers Union. Hack. I mean, somebody's never run anything, but all of a sudden ends up as president of a nation that again was relatively conservative economically, was very classically liberal. You had the Chicago Boys deregulating economy in Chile's great success, Argentina's been run by the Parentists, the you know Juan prone a Vita, don't cry for me, Argentina, that lady played by Madonna in nineteen nineties. They have been run by the paranist regime and its predecessors also incubated by
the Forum. So Palo Christina Kirschner, her husband Nester Kirchner, Fernandez and now Argentinians finally said, you know, after this crippling hyperinflation over the last ten ten years, I mean really thought the highest level of inflation in the country. Every day price is doubling sort of thing. The stuff that you read about in Zimbabwe, the ymar Republic, and this was a country that one hundred years ago was third wealthiest in the world after the US and the UK.
So Malay got an overwhelming mandate. The Marxist got sent packing. The reason Argentina was able to do it was quite simple. They maintained paper ballots. Paper ballots are an integral part of the electoral process. In Brazil they got rid of paper ballots. There was no audible ballot scheme was all digital, and so they cheat in Brazil.
Did the Communist cheat in Brazil?
Oh? Yeah, and you know, you know, and I talked about it. I covered it in depth a year and a half ago. It was brazen what they did. Now they stripped Balls and Hour of his right to run again. The Supreme Court, this is the Supreme Court that detained myself and the traveling party that included Jason Miller when we met with Ballsonaro like three years ago. They detained this at the airport and wanted to know everyone we
met with. So it was like full Stazi tactics. And the Supreme Court has their own law enforcement wing, and they let Lula out of prison. They overturned all his multiplicity of convictions and the guy should have been in jail for the rest of his life. And then some I mean they let out people in Lula's party that were sentenced to four hundred years for criminal corruption. So
it's gross what's going on there. Brazil is probably lost for the foreseeable future, much like I view Pennsylvania was constant in Michigan, but Argentina all of a sudden is like this bulwark now and the shining light. Malay's going to do a lot of big things. He's got the mandate.
Let me bring it home to because you mentioned that I'm gonna make you go a little deeper into it, Pennsylvania, unless you were totally kidding Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. Okay, let's talk about that. Let's talk about why you think there's real challenges there. First up, there's not a day that goes by without someone speculating about how artificial intelligence is going to change the world. We'll hear something. It could
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you say we got big problems there. I have friends who are tied into politics in Pennsylvania very intimately, and they tell me similar things, and it has to do with just the party infrastructure, voter registration advantage, early voting campaigns, et cetera. Is that part of your concern there? And tell me about the other states.
Yeah, well, I think in those three states in particular, these were you know, the purple swing states, and then twenty twenty happened and they were very very successful in taking control and Democrat like Wisconsin. The last bastion was the state Supreme Court that went Democrat with Janet Gaevich. Pennsylvania DEM governor, dam Legislature, DEM State Supreme Court. Uh,
you know the same way that they approved. Whether you believe that there was ballot stuffing or is more derivative effect of voter fraud, whether it's the media obfuscation uh or the you know, ballots during COVID going to every household uh. And the the late the late tabulation thereof that was allowable because the state legislature said, Okay, we're just gonna do it. The Supreme courts and the states said we're just going to allow it, and they they
violated the separation of powers. Well, you know, the Dems now control those three states in all of their facets politically, and even if the people want to move to the populace and conservative right, good luck, good luck. And I think you know, Arizona and Georgia, which were hard red states, are now purple. And part of it was, you know, the bankruptcy of the rn C and the candidates that Trump endorsed and brought forward. I mean, these were candidates
that would never ever win. Mastriano ahs Herschel Walker, Carrie Lake. You need to pick up independence if you're gonna win these purple swing states. And because these states in the northern Rust Belt, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have incredible Union union faithful union rank and file. It makes up such a percentage they're well organized. The Union states organized their union rank and file real well for elections, Michigan being
the greatest example, with Big Auto there. For one hundred years now, there has been a peel off of the Union support because of right to work in other states, because Trump and Bannon with economic nationalism did drive a lot of FDR Union Dems to the right in the pro Trump camp. They're not the party of Elizabeth Warren and Gavin Newsom and wokeism. But that being said again, if the people there, if you have the margin is five or ten percent, that swings it to the right.
The Union organizing the democratic policy making that will go on in those states will make them untouchable for the next generation. We will not be one of those states. And now I'm fearful that Arizona and Georgia are getting more like those three swing states than Ohio and Florida, which have been made more red.
Matt, Where can people go to follow your work? Twitter?
Instagram, social media? It's very ad hoc. Buck sextay was the Buck Brief, Yeah, brief your apartment when you're hosting Yeah, so that's right anywhere.
It sounds like I'm doing an underwear line, but actually it's a hard hitting interviews. Actually I agree. Check out my friend Matt Tyrman. Always insightful, sir, good to see you, thanks for being here.
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