A WORLD GONE MAD
A Progressive Liberal News Podcast
Veteran Television, and Radio Broadcaster Jeff Alan Wolf offers his Observations on the issues (many issues) of the week with a fearless liberal bent. His solid delivery, and dry common sense approach sets him apart from other liberals that populate Talk and Commentary Podcasts”
Jeff Does NOT Pull Punches.
He does NOT Make comments that are “SAFE”.
He tells the Truth.
(He Tells It As He Sees It)
He Is Very OPINIONATED!
He says the things Out Loud YOU’RE
already thinking.
Jeff is Unfiltered, Unspun, A little Unhinged, but offers a lot of Common Sense.
This Podcast could make you MAD.
This Podcast could make you SMILE.
Regardless, it WILL make you THINK!
A WORLD GONE MAD
Trump Calls Putin a Liar, Backs Ukraine — America Gets Whiplash
Something cracked this week. Maybe it was the system. Maybe it was your spine trying to keep up with it. Either way, welcome to the second episode of my new format — where the news isn’t just broken, it’s actively bleeding out.
You know those moments when reality glitches so hard, you check your phone twice just to make sure it’s not satire? I’ve got several.
Back to back. No commercial breaks. Just one surreal headline after another, strung together like Christmas lights in a burning house.
The old rules don’t apply anymore — assuming there were rules.
Every institution meant to protect you is now being pressure-tested like a collapsing lung.
And the people pulling the levers?
Let’s just say we’re not exactly sending our best.
This week, I dive face-first into a political mood swing so severe, it should come with a prescription.
International chaos, domestic absurdity, bureaucratic sabotage, and a surprise twist that feels like it was written by an intern having a nervous breakdown.
Some stories get coverage.
Others get buried.
Some protests make the news.
Others disappear like a bad memory.
I’m here to shine a light on the ones they’d rather you scroll past — or never hear about at all.
No safe spaces. No summaries.
Just you, me, a microphone, and whatever’s left of the truth after the dust clears.
If you’re new here, buckle in.
If you’ve been listening…
you already know better.
This is A World Gone Mad. And this week, it earned the name.
Comments, complaints, government secrets you’d like to whisper to a burrito?
If so, then email me:
📧 aworldgonemadpodcast@gmail.com
Voice Mailbox 24/7
📞 833-399-9653 — Toll-free, judgment-optional.
Been doing A World Gone Mad 3 times a week - 144 episodes a year - with zero ads, just truth.
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This is a World on Mad. This is a World on Mad, mad, mad, mad, mad. The sun came up, the chaos rolled on and the news cycle once again mistook itself for performance art. I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe, and this is a World on Mad, where reality gets rebooted hourly and somehow still runs worse than Windows 95.
Speaker 1:Case in point Donald Trump just called Vladimir Putin a liar, reversed his weapons hold and pledged support to Ukraine Again. So either he's had a sudden moral awakening or he's entered the final stage of Mar-a-Lago dementia, where the voices in his head are now arguing with each other in Russian Duh. So Donald Trump did what now? In a moment that left both allies and adversaries blinking in confusion, trump publicly accused Vladimir Putin of lying about peace talks with Ukraine. Then he reversed his own weapons freeze and announced new military aid to the country he once called a total disaster. Let that sink in. The man who literally tried to withhold aid from Ukraine the first time around and got impeached for it is now playing hawk and calling Putin a fraud. According to Trump, putin misrepresented negotiations that supposedly could have ended the war early on, claiming Ukraine was ready to deal, but the West meaning us sabotaged it. Trump says that's a lie, which is correct. But also what? Suddenly? The guy who spent years praising Putin's strength and hinting he might abandon NATO if reelected has pivoted into John McCain, but with worse hair. It's a move so abrupt. It's either strategic or neurological. The campaign says it's part of a realignment a fancy word, for we need independent voters and suburban moms to stop thinking Trump's an actual Russian asset. But don't confuse this with consistency or conscience. Trump still praises dictators like it's a Yelp review. He still undercuts US intelligence when it suits him. This isn't a worldview. It's a weather pattern, and this week the wind blew east. You know it's like watching a dog walk on its hind legs Technically impressive, but you know it's not going to last. Either way. Ukraine gets the weapons this week.
Speaker 1:In case you thought the economy was safe for five consecutive minutes, trump just slapped the world with a fresh round of tariffs, because nothing says stable leadership like a 200% tax on your blood pressure meds. Here's what's on the table A 50% tariff on copper, expanded duties on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals and a warning shot 200% tariffs on foreign-made medications. Yes, medications the stuff you need to survive or at least get through the week without your heart exploding. Trump claims the move will bring back American jobs and reduce foreign dependence, which sounds nice, until you realize we don't actually make a lot of these things domestically. Over 70% of the active ingredients in US medications are manufactured overseas, mostly in India and China. So unless Trump is planning to open a pharmaceutical factory in Mar-a-Lago between golf rounds, this is more bluff than blueprint. Also on the list semiconductors, which, if you've ever tried to buy a car, a phone, fridge or toaster since 2020, you know are already in short supply. And copper, because sure, why not declare war on plumbing while we're at it.
Speaker 1:These aren't strategic moves, they're pressure tactics. Tariffs sound tough on paper, but they're taxes, hidden ones, ones you pay when your copay goes from manageable to mortgage-sized. And no American pharmaceutical companies aren't suddenly going to start churning out antibiotics in Wisconsin because Trump yelled from behind a podium. What they will do is raise prices to offset uncertainty, blame it on foreign instability and cash in, like they always do. So the next time you pick up a prescription and your pharmacy tech whispers the price like it's a ransom demand. Just remember America is winning again.
Speaker 1:And speaking of winning, trump's team is now purging cybersecurity experts for failing the loyalty vibe check, because nothing protects America like firing the people who protect America. The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly preparing to gut up to 80% of the staff at CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. These are the folks who defend our infrastructure from ransomware, russian cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns. You know minor stuff like that. But apparently the real national threat isn't hostile foreign actors, it's career professionals who don't clap hard enough at Trump rallies. The purge is part of what insiders are calling a loyalty protocol, where civil servants, not political appointees career professionals are being evaluated based on whether they're aligned with their administration. In other words, your cyber security team is being replaced with political loyalists, because that's what every good dictatorship does we can internal defenses to protect the leader's ego.
Speaker 1:Cisa has been a nonpartisan agency since its creation in 2018. It sounded the alarm on election interference, state-sponsored hacks and critical vulnerabilities in everything from energy grids to hospital systems. But those facts Inconvenient. Some of CISA's past reports directly contradicted Trump's election fraud claims. So now, instead of updating firewalls, they're updating resumes. And if you think this stops with cyber experts, think again. This is the blueprint Purge the fact-checkers. Politicize the agencies, then claim total control while the lights flicker. We're not soft on cyber now. We're soft on democracy and the hackers. They don't care who you voted for. So first they fired the cyber defenders, now they're coming for the rest of the building.
Speaker 1:The Supreme Court just cleared the path for Trump's mass federal layoffs. And yes, it's exactly as bad as it sounds. The Supreme Court just handed Trump a blank check and the balance is payable in pink slips. In a 6-3 decision, the court lifted a block on mass federal layoffs, clearing the way for Trump's long-planned purge of government workers. Agencies on the chopping block include agriculture on the chopping block include agriculture, state veterans affairs you know, the ones that make people, make sure people can eat, stay alive abroad and get care after coming home from war. But sure, let's call it draining the swamp.
Speaker 1:Trump's plan would allow him to reclassify tens of thousands of civil service jobs under a category that strips away job protections and turns career professionals into at-will employees or, in MAGA terms, disposable if disloyal. These are not political appointees, they're analysts, inspectors, policy experts, caseworkers, veterans, hospital staff, the institutional memory of the government Gone. This is the kind of move that used to be whispered about in authoritarian regimes. Now it's being printed in press releases and backed by the highest court in the land. The ruling sets a precedent that future presidents, not just Trump can fire massive swaths of the federal workforce based on ideology, politics or pure spite. And if you think this won't affect you because you're not a federal employee, think again.
Speaker 1:The people most likely to get cut aren't the bloated top brass. They're the public servants who actually do the work Field investigators, benefits processors, it staff, food inspectors, va nurses. You know the boring, thankless jobs that quietly keep society from collapsing. But now, if they're not politically in line, they could be replaced With a tick-tock influencer, somebody's cousin who once ran an Arby's and the Supreme Court just said that's fine. We used to argue about the size of government. Now we're arguing whether it needs to exist at all. This isn't downsizing, it's demolition, and the wrecking crew just got legal clearance. So the government's clearing out its workers with the court's approval. Meanwhile, silicon Valley is doing it with a press release and a smile. Ai isn't coming for your job, it's already parked in your chair.
Speaker 1:Officially, just 75 layoffs have been blamed on AI so far. Unofficially, it's more like 20,000 and growing, according to data from Challenger, gray and Christmas. Those technological updates you keep hearing about, they're just AI layoffs With better PR. Companies aren't saying we're replacing you with software. They're saying we're embracing innovation, and innovation apparently looks a lot like a chatbot doing your job worse but cheaper. These aren't just factory workers or call centers, it's finance, marketing, it, hr jobs that were once considered safe from automation because they required judgment or emotional intelligence. But guess what? Corporations have decided these qualities are optional. As long as the quarterly report looks good, your job can be done by a clunky algorithm that confuses your boss's lunch order with a compliance memo. Don't worry, the robot's still learning. It'll screw up your job slowly, but hey, it won't ask for healthcare. And here's the trick Companies aren't reporting these as AI layoffs. They've lumped them under restructuring or cost efficiency, phrases that sound responsible on paper but mean we'd rather invest in code than people. And the media Mostly running with the headline AI boosts productivity, not. Ai quietly dismantles the middle class. So while the number, the official number, stays low, the real number creeps up behind NDAs, corporate memos and silence, because no one wants to say we're firing you so we can license an emotionalist predictive model trained on your emails. But that's what's happening. This isn't the future, it's the rollout. And if you think your job is safe because it has nuance, personality or creative voice. Well, so did 20,000 other people, turns out. Artificial intelligence doesn't have to be smarter than you, just cheaper, while tech companies replaced humans with code.
Speaker 1:Millions of Americans filled the streets on June 14th to protest creeping authoritarianism. It was loud, it was loud, it was massive, it was everywhere and mainstream media didn't miss it. They buried it. On June 14th, millions of Americans marched in small towns, suburbs, state capitals to protest the rise of authoritarianism. It was one of the largest decentralized political protests in years and unless you were there, you probably didn't hear much about it. No helicopters, no wall-to-wall coverage, no breathless pundits dissecting the turnout. Because mainstream media didn't just under-report it, they basically ghosted it. Instead of leading the evening news, it got buried under lighter stories A gas station explosion in New Jersey, a feel-good dog rescue and a 10-minute segment on whether flip-flops are bad for your posture.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, entire communities were turning out in places like Topeka, missoula and Fort Worth holding signs, marching in heat, waving American flags and demanding protection for democratic norms. This wasn't coastal elites yelling in front of courthouses. This was teachers, farmers, veterans and retirees saying enough. But because there were no riots, no fires and no made-for-cable violence, it didn't fit the narrative, and the narrative matters, because silence creates erasure. If something isn't covered, it didn't happen, at least in the minds of people who rely on media to tell them what's real. Think about it If these same crowds had been angry, armed and wrapped in Trump flags, they'd have gotten a week of national hand-wringing, but peaceful pro-democracy protesters in red state America Crickets.
Speaker 1:This is what grassroots looks like when it's not being filtered through a marketing campaign. It's ordinary people doing extraordinary things and getting quietly sidelined because they weren't dramatic enough to trend. Because they weren't dramatic enough to trend. June 14th wasn't a flash mob. It was a warning shot, and the fact that so many ignored it, that might be the scariest part. Millions marched and mainstream media blacked it out, not by mistake, because their bosses told them to. While mainstream media ignored democracy in our streets, israel made sure no one ignored what rained from the sky.
Speaker 1:Israel just launched its largest drone assault to date, hammering over 740 targets across Gaza in a single campaign. It was less a precision strike and more a blunt message we have drones, we're going to use them, all of them at once. The Israeli military called the operation surgical, which raises the question listeners, what kind of surgery involves dropping explosives on neighborhoods and hoping the diagnosis is better when the dust clears. Meanwhile, pope Francis is offered to host peace talks, because when religious leaders start negotiating ceasefires, you know the diplomats have left the group chat and expectations for those talks Somewhere between low and holding a candle in a wind tunnel. Israel says the strikes were aimed at Hamas infrastructure, but in Gaza there's no such thing as a clean war. When you hit infrastructure, you're talking about buildings with families still inside or streets where kids are playing. This isn't just warfare, it's real estate flattening with talking points.
Speaker 1:And while all this unfolds, the global response remains a masterclass in selective attention. One side yells self-defense, the other screams genocide and Western powers manage to nod solemnly while selling more weapons. Let's be honest 740 drone hits in a place the size of Detroit isn't a military strategy. It's a slow motion demolition of a boxed-in population with nowhere to run. And yet the coverage Minimal, the outrage Filtered, the humanity Barely noticed. In a war of surveillance, it turns out the world sees everything and still chooses to look away While drones lit up Gaza, elon Musk's empire lost its CEO because even loyal executives know when to evacuate a burning building.
Speaker 1:And in today's episode of Absolutely no One Surprised. Linda Iaccarino has officially resigned as CEO of X because nothing says we're doing great, like your CEO slipping out the side door before the next server outage. Insert sad trombone. Just weeks ago she was assuring the public that everything was thriving Cut to. Now she's gone. The ad revenue is bleeding and the algorithm's eating itself like a snake that forgot which end was lunch. No press conference, no strategy handoff, just one final post before disappearing like a Tesla Cybertruck delivery date. Elon, for his part, remains, because when the ship's on fire, who better to steer it than the guy holding the flamethrower? The CEO of X. She came, she spun, she vanished. She came, she spun, she vanished, leaving behind three stunned interns, two panicked lawyers and one unpaid vendor holding the bag.
Speaker 1:If you have comments, rants or offers to buy my podcast for $44 million, email me at aworldgonemadpodcast at gmailcom. I read everything, even the weird emails, especially the weird emails or call 833-399-9653 toll free and listen to my opening message with the soothing sound of my voice while I'm unwrapping string cheese like it's a classified document. Also, please don't forget to leave comments on Apple or Spotify. That helps my podcast move up in the rankings and be heard by thousands more people, because without your reviews, apple and Spotify think I'm just a guy muttering into a can of soup. This has been A World Gone Mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe. I'll be back Friday because I have a microphone, a half-eaten burrito and, unless someone changes the Wi-Fi password and unless someone changes the Wi-Fi password, I'll be good to go. Until then, stay grounded, stay skeptical and if all else fails, stay hopeful. There is chaos in the world, can't you see? And we need to stand up and preserve our democracy. This is a world gone mad. This is a world gone mad.
