Battles over academic freedom and executive power today’s episode of “DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou.” Texas A&M bans advocacy of “race or gender ideology,” an Indiana professor is suspended after a Trump-allied senator intervenes over a graphic labeling “Make America Great Again” as covert white supremacy, Senator John Fetterman is hospitalized again, a secret 40-page DOJ memo with odd reasoning justifies Trump’s lethal boat strikes, and new DNA analysis of Hitler blood reveals a rare genetic marker linked to delayed puberty, undescended testicles, and possible Kallmann syndrome.

• Texas A&M Censors Professors: Texas A&M System regents unanimously vote to prohibit courses from advocating “race or gender ideology” without presidential pre-approval and ban teaching anything inconsistent with the approved syllabus. This follows months of GOP accusations of liberal indoctrination and comes after a lecturer was fired in September for recognizing more than two genders. Faculty call it a direct assault on academic freedom; administrators insist it merely “clarifies” existing policy.

• Indiana University Censors Professors: Indiana University suspends social-work lecturer Jessica Adams from teaching after U.S. Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) complains about a pyramid graphic labeling “MAGA” as covert white supremacy. The complaint invokes Indiana’s new “intellectual diversity” law, prompting the dean to file the formal grievance against Adams. Adams says the 20-year-old graphic is standard in social-work education and warns of growing censorship driven by Trump-aligned politicians.

• Time To Resign?: Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) is hospitalized after falling during a morning walk, triggering a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that temporarily stops his heart from pumping correctly. Doctors keep him for observation and medication adjustments; the 56-year-old jokes about his bruised face. This marks another serious health episode following his 2022 stroke and 2023 light-headedness hospitalization. He’s already dodging constituents and behaving erratically. Is it time for Pennsylvania to get new representation?

• Secret DOJ Memo Uses Pretzel Logic to Justify Trump Boat Strikes: Echoing the Bush Adminstration’s “torture memo” by John Yoo, a classified 40-page Justice Department memo justifies Trump’s lethal naval strikes that have killed 80 suspected drug smugglers (and fishermen) by declaring the U.S. in armed conflict with “narco-terrorist” cartels—relying almost entirely on unverified White House claims. The memo treats drug boats as lawful military targets and provides immunity defenses against future murder charges. Critics call it legal cover for extrajudicial killings with no congressional authorization.

• Hitler DNA Reveals Rare Gene: New genetic analysis of verified Hitler blood from his 1945 bunker couch reveals a rare PROK2 mutation linked to Kallmann syndrome, delayed puberty, and possible undescended testicles/micropenis. The study definitively debunks Jewish ancestry rumors and finds extraordinarily high polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia, autism, and ADHD. Researchers stress the findings explain nothing about the Holocaust and warn against stigmatizing these conditions.

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou examine the late child predator Jeffrey Epstein's claims that President Trump "spent hours" at his house with victim Virginia Giuffre and "knew about the girls," Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s belated condemnation of "shocking" settler attacks, and the Trump Organization files for a record 184 H-2A/H-2B foreign workers in 2025—up from 121 in 2021—for Mar-a-Lago servers. Is it really that hard to find good help here at home?

• Epstein-Trump Emails: House Democrats release explosive emails from Epstein's estate, asserting Trump "spent hours" with victim Virginia Giuffre at Epstein's home and "knew about the girls," including underage victims, in exchanges with Ghislaine Maxwell and Michael Wolff dating back to 2011 and 2019. Republicans fire back by unveiling over 20,000 pages of documents, denouncing the selective Democratic picks as a "hoax" timed to overshadow the government shutdown's resolution. Bipartisan momentum builds for a full Epstein files vote next week, despite Trump's vehement denials and White House claims of a smear campaign. Also: what about the rest of the Epstein Files over at the DOJ?

• West Bank Settler Violence: Better decades late than never! Israeli President Herzog finally condemns "shocking and serious" attacks today, where masked settlers torch dairy trucks, farmland, and a mosque in Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf, clashing with soldiers and wounding four Palestinians during olive harvests. Army chief Eyal Zamir echoes the rebuke, pledging to halt the "minority of criminals" diverting forces from counterterrorism, as UN reports October's 260+ incidents—the highest since 2006. Police arrest four Israelis, releasing three while probing arson and assaults, amid accusations of far-right government complicity. Meanwhile, the big question is: why do Israelis live in the West Bank?

• Trump Hires Hundreds of Foreign Workers: The Trump Organization requests a record 184 H-2A/H-2B visas for this year, staffing Mar-a-Lago, golf clubs, and Virginia estates with foreign servers, farmhands, and housekeepers—up from 121 in 2021, totaling 566 approvals. Trump justifies "talent" imports on Fox News, countering wage concerns, yet faces backlash from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's X criticism of worker replacement. This follows his September H-1B fee hike to $100,000, highlighting tensions in his deportation push. If the nation’s most prominent critic of immigration can’t find Americans, what’s really happening?

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou cue up the long-awaited Epstein files vote; a Trump Administration investigation of UC Berkeley over a skirmish at a Turning Point protest; the torture of 252 Venezuelans in El Salvador at the behest of the US; JNIM's fuel blockade highlights the rise of Al Qaeda in the Sahel in the wake of French withdrawals.

• DOJ Investigates UC Berkeley Protest Incident: The Justice Department announces an investigation into UC Berkeley after protesters confront Turning Point USA event attendees, with civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon labeling demonstrators as Antifa operating with impunity. Protests outside Zellerbach Hall feature chants against Trump, a brief scatter from fireworks mistaken for gunshots, and four arrests including one violent off-campus incident. The probe may fold into ongoing UC system scrutiny over antisemitism and diversity practices, while the university condemns violence and cooperates with FBI. Will the White House babysit Turning Point everywhere they go?

• Epstein Files Discharge Petition Reaches 218 Signatures: Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva affixes the final signature to the bipartisan discharge petition led by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna immediately after her swearing-in last night, triggering a seven-legislative-day countdown for the bill forcing full DOJ Epstein files release to hit the House floor. Senior aides estimate a contentious December vote, despite Speaker Mike Johnson's pivot to opposing it and Trump downplaying the matter as a hoax. Three GOP women—Boebert, Greene, and Mace—remain supportive amid White House pressure, with Massie predicting passage and potential Johnson allowing vulnerable members to vote yes.

• Venezuelans Tortured in El Salvador Gulag: A Human Rights Watch and Cristosal report reveals over 252 Venezuelans deported under Trump's policy endure systematic torture, sexual assault, beatings, and inhumane conditions at CECOT mega-prison. Detainees face prolonged incommunicado detention, inadequate food, and abuses after visits by officials like Kristi Noem, with the US paying $4.7 million to El Salvador despite known abuse. Groups demand independent DOJ investigation and halt to third-country deportations, comparing it to Abu Ghraib and accusing Trump administration complicity.

• JNIM Blockade Paralyzes Bamako, Mali: Al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM seals highways since September, imposing fuel blockade on Mali's capital, causing soaring prices, power cuts, school closures, and resident desperation. Ambushs burn tankers, abandon vehicles clog streets, and Western nations evacuate staff as JNIM leverages discontent to pressure military government toward negotiations. Analysts see growing JNIM hold aiming for regime change in Mali and Burkina Faso, with local deals in regions allowing siege lifts for taxes and non-cooperation with forces.